keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the
commander-in-chief’s great ability showed itself. The British could and
did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the
General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground
for whatever fighting spirit there was.
The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When
Washington assumed command of the forces before Boston, he “found a
mixed multitude of people … under very little discipline, order, or
government,” and “confusion and disorder reigned in every department,
which, in a little time, must have ended either in the separation of
the army or fatal contests with one another.” Before he was well in the
saddle his general officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning;
there was such a scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for
some months to do anything; and the British sent people infected with
small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that
pest.
Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken
such pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political
folly recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over.
Again and again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for
short periods left him at the most critical moment. Very typical
occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut troops could “not be
prevailed upon to stay longer than their term (saving those who have
enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a
dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all
surprised at any disaster that may happen,” and when he described how
in his retreat through New Jersey, “The militia, instead of calling
forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to
repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return.
Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole
regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time.” Another instance
of this evil occurred when “the Continental regiments from the eastern
governments … agreed to stay six weeks beyond their term of
enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of their attachment to their
country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten dollars per man,
besides their pay running on.” The men took the bounty, and nearly
one-half went off a few days after.
Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another
was that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were
without discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of
Brooklyn the “Eastern” soldiers were “plundering everything that comes
in their way,” and Washington in describing the condition said, “every
Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own
Troops who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers
and Inhabitants than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the
Continental Teams; the Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores,
even the Quarters of General Officers are not exempt from Rapine.” At
the most critical moment of the war the New Jersey militia not merely
deserted, but captured and took with them nearly the whole stores of
the army. As the General truly wrote, “the Dependence which the
Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly injured, and
I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul
themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have
attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings on
sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads
universally, and introduces abominable desertions.” “The collecting
militia,” he said elsewhere, “depends entirely upon the prospects of
the day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not
move.”
To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part
in the selection of officers, and Washington complained that “the
different States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an
officer, quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are
not fit to be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member
of Assembly.” As a result, so he wrote of New England, “their officers
are generally of the lowest class of the people; and, instead of
setting a good example to their men, are leading them into every kind
of mischief, one species of which is plundering the inhabitants, under
the pretence of their being Tories.” To this political motive he
himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments was given
when a man was named “because he stands unconnected with either of
these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you
and me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,” and he
asserted that “I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family
connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.”
To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first
service he had deserters and plunderers “flogged,” and threatened that
if he could “lay hands” on one particular culprit, “I would try the
effect of 1000 lashes.” At another time he had “a Gallows near 40 feet
high erected (which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am
determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or
three on it, as an example to others.” When he took command of the
Continental army he “made a pretty good slam among such kind of
officers as the Massachusetts Government abound in since I came to this
Camp, having broke one Colo, and two Captains for cowardly behavior in
the action on Bunker’s Hill,—two Captains for drawing more provisions
and pay than they had men in their Company—and one for being absent
from his Post when the Enemy appeared there and burnt a House just by
it Besides these, I have at this time—one Colo., one Major, one Captn.,
& two subalterns under arrest for tryal—In short I spare none yet fear
it will not at all do as these People seem to be too inattentive to
every thing but their Interest” “I am sorry,” he wrote, “to be under a
Necessity of making frequent Examples among the Officers,” but “as
nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am
determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to prevent them in
future.” Even when plundering was avoided there were short commons for
those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote Congress
that “they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity of
Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months together
without Vegetables, or money to buy them;” and again, he complained
that “the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse food but
Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition of
the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but]
accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce
frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho’ it
did not excite a mutiny.” Even the horses suffered, and Washington
wrote to the quartermaster-general, “Sir, my horses I am told have not
had a mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten
up their mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,)
scarcely able to stand.”
Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the
soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army
mutinied, and nothing but Washington’s influence prevented the disorder
from spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton,
“the army had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due
provision and a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject
of their pay,” the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them
justice, writing, “the fortitude—the long, & great suffering of this
army is unexampled in history; but there is an end to all things & I
fear we are very near to this. Which, more than probably will oblige me
to stick very close to my flock this winter, & try like a careful
physician, to prevent, if possible, the disorders getting to an
incurable height.” In this he judged rightly, for by his influence
alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful measures
to secure itself justice.
A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found
largely in the circumstances of Washington’s appointment to the
command.
[Illustration: LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON]
When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had
been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about
Boston. To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of
New England, and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting
that body to assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts naively put it, “we have the greatest Confidence in the
Wisdom and Ability of the Continent to support us.”
The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts,
without our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let
Massachusetts pay her own bills, was their point of view. “I have found
this Congress like the last,” wrote John Adams. “When we first came
together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the
Massachusettes in particular, suspicions entertained of designs of
independency, an American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty
other things. Our sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution,
and seemed to make but little impression.” Yet “every post brought me
letters from my friends … urging in pathetic terms the impossibility of
keeping their men together without the assistance of Congress.” “I was
daily urging all these things, but we were embarrassed with more than
one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the petition to the
King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a third
party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy
against a New England army under the command of a New England General.”
Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and
Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an
adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of
commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace,
and only because “we could carry nothing without conceding it.” There
was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should
receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old
companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and “more than one,” Adams
says of the Virginia delegates, were “very cool about the appointment
of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very clear and full
against it” Washington himself said the appointment was due to
“partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;” and, hard
as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for
which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
lessened by Washington’s frank criticism of the New England soldiers
and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England
delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington
pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the
troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made
from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone,
and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not
otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and
that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given
them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the
price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress,
who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the
officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions
was like a red rag to a bull.
A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger
of a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become
popular with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted “the
_jealousy_ which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which,
if reports are right, some members labor to establish.” And he
complained that “I see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that
the commander-in-chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation,
to give the least assurance of reward for the most essential services.”
The French minister told his government that when a committee was
appointed to institute certain army reforms, delegates in Congress
“insisted on the danger of associating the Commander-in-chief with it,
whose influence, it was stated, was already too great,” and when France
sent money to aid the American cause, with the provision that it should
be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a writer states,
“the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not satisfied that
the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition to his
military power.”
His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence
and mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question
“Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for
expunging it; the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for
retaining it. There appeared through this whole debate a great desire,
in some of the delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New
Jersey, to insult the General,” and a little later the Congress passed
a “resolve which,” according to James Lovell, “was meant to rap a Demi
G—over the knuckles.” Nor was it by commission, but as well by
omission, that they showed their ill feeling. John Laurens told his
father that
“there is a conduct observed towards” the General “by certain great
men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The
Commander in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all
that is known by Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling
circumstance, for him to collect the most important intelligence
piecemeal, and as they choose to give it, from gentlemen who come from
York? Apart from the chagrin which he must necessarily feel at such an
appearance of slight, it should be considered that in order to settle
his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should take into
view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not
leave him in the dark.”
Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, “I am informed
that it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown
out against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than,
in the opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just,
the best way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of
our strength, and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the
enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually wanting for the army.”
“I can assure those gentlemen,” he said, in reply to political
criticism, “that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw
remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy
a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or
blankets.”
The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year
it crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal.
The story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is
known concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way
it has been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the
aid of the Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the
aid of such votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which
should lessen the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to
resign. Separate and detached commands were created, which were made
independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a
scheme which the General called “a child of folly” was undertaken.
Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would be
forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies,
with powers “in effect paramount,” Hamilton says, “to those of the
commander-in-chief,” was created It is even asserted that it was moved
in Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington,
which was defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by
which the balance of power was lost to the Cabal.
Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
maintained. “I am very confident,” wrote General Greene, “that there is
party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I
doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;” again writing,
“General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin’s to injure
your Excellency’s operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality
of what I suggested to you before I came away.” In 1779 John Sullivan,
then a member of Congress, wrote,—
“Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against
you in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect
strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak
not from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take
every method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys
the full and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people
with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to
convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound
you.”
But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and
slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to
vote him out of office. For once a Congressional “deal” between New
England and Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote,
“I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this
junto will recoil on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some
matters to light which by getting me out of the way, some of them
thought to conceal,” In this he was right, for the re-elections of both
Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were put in danger, and for some
time they were discredited even in their own colonies. “I have happily
had,” Washington said to a correspondent, “but few differences with
those with whom I have had the honor of being connected in the service.
With whom, and of what nature these have been, you know. I bore much
for the sake of peace and the public good”
As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years
of command, and, as he said, “fifty thousand pounds would not induce me
again to undergo what I have done.” No wonder he declared “that the God
of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a
speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet
retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which
will accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent
prayer of my soul.”
The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he
phrased it, “translated into a private citizen.” Marshall describes the
scene as follows: “At noon, the principal officers of the army
assembled at Frances’ tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander
entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling
a glass, he turned to them and said, ‘With a heart full of love and
gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your
latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have
been glorious and honorable.’ Having drunk, he added, ‘I cannot come to
each of you to take my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of
you will come and take me by the hand.’ General Knox, being nearest,
turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and
embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each
succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility,
and not a word was articulated to interrupt the majestic silence, and
the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the
corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited
to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute and
solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the
barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a
silent adieu.”
XII
CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the
appointment of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of
which, according to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a
year. The office was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required
the holder to live in a frontier county, to travel at times, as
Washington in his journal noted, over “ye worst Road that ever was trod
by Man or Beast,” to sometimes lie on straw, which once “catch’d a
Fire,” and we “was luckily Preserved by one of our Mens waking,”
sometimes under a tent, which occasionally “was Carried quite of[f]
with ye Wind and” we “was obliged to Lie ye Latter part of ye night
without covering,” and at other times driven from under the tent by
smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to a friend
by writing,—
“[Since] October Last I have not sleep’d above three Nights or four in
a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the
fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had
with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy’s he
that gets the Birth nearest the fire there’s nothing would make it pass
of tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every
Day that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six
Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long
stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have
never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except
the few Nights I have lay’n in Frederick Town.”
In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a
salary of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This
in turn led up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held
almost continuously till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and
this position had been held by Washington’s great-grandfather, father,
and elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the
head of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755,
while on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount
Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and
asking him to “come at Colo Fairfax’s intentions, and let me know
whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.” “If he does not,
I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably
good.” His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had “mentioned it to me in
Williamsburg in a bantering way,” and he begged his brother to
“discover Major Carlyle’s real sentiments on this head,” as also those
of the other prominent men of the county, and especially of the
clergymen. “_Sound_ their pulse,” he wrote, “with an air of
indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of _mine_.” “If
they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things should be
drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor
some other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.” Apparently the
county magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the
county.
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON’S JOURNAL]
In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in
which Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered
himself as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he
had saved Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by
the Indians, he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for
the massacres of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to
protect, but in this very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling.
He himself confessed that he had several times “strained the law,”—he
had been forced to impress the horses and wagons of the district, and
had in other ways so angered some of the people that they had
threatened “to blow out my brains.” But he had been guilty of a far
worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were based
on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing
“the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to
the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and
vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit
for service,” and he wished that “the new commission for this county
may have the intended effect,” for “the number of tippling houses kept
here is a great grievance.” As already noted, the Virginia regiment was
accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that
accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men
when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. “Were it not
too tedious,” he wrote the governor, “I cou’d give your Honor such
instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers,
as wou’d astonish any person.”
The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as
he offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the
leadership of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in
Winchester for at least one hundred years, united to oppose him.
Against the would-be burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen,
whom Washington later described as “a man of great weight among the
meaner class of people, and supposed by them to possess extensive
knowledge.” As a result, the poll showed Swearingen elected by two
hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but forty
ballots.
This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the
young candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took
a leaf from his enemy’s book, and fought them with their own weapons.
The friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as
also that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity.
Scarcely less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the
following detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia
statutes forbidding all treating or giving of what were called
“ticklers” to the voters, and declaring illegal all elections which
were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at
Washington’s charge—
40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn 7 0 0 15 gallons of Wine @
10/ pr. galn 7 10 0 Dinner for your Friends 3 0 0 13½ gallons
of Wine @ 10/ 6 15 3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3 4 4½ 13 Galls. Beer
@ 1/3 16 3 8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6 0 12 0 Punch 3 9 30
gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall 1 0 1 hhd & 1 Barrell of
Punch, consisting of 26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/ 6 10 0 12
lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6 18 9 3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr.
gall 3 9 10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each 1 5 0 9 half pints of
rum @ 7½ d. each 5 7½ 1 pint of wine 1 6
After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that “I hope no
Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were
alike treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with
too sparing a hand.” It is hardly necessary to say that such methods
reversed the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten
votes, and Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from
now threatening to blow out his brains, there was “a general applause
and huzzaing for Colonel Washington.”
From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and
forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at
each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the
night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted
in his ledger are, “54 gallons of Strong Beer,” “52 Do. of Ale,”
“£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,” and “For cakes at the
Election £7.11.1.”
The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee
to draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester.
He was very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part
in the proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that
when the time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood
third in order among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a
year later, in the delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood
second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote only, and all the other
delegates less.
This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than
to those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, “I
served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before
the revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never
heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the
main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders
to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of
themselves.”
Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its
thanks to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the
distinguished military services which he had rendered to the country.
As soon as he took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this
duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to
express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as
to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered
for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by
saying, “Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and
that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.”
This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
Congress should “appoint a General,” and added, “I had no hesitation to
declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
command, and that was a gentleman whose skill and experience as an
officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent
universal character, would command the approbation of all America, and
unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies better than any other
person in the Union,” he relates that “Mr. Washington who happened to
sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual
modesty, darted into the library-room.”
So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that “this
great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the
leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could
scarce make out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had
often read it before,” and Fisher Ames wrote, “He addressed the two
Houses in the Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of
a solemn kind. His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty
actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to
call for close attention,”
There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of
speech in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, “You have, I find,
broke the ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if
you have a mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak
seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate
to your constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly
master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your
sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry
conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.” To a friend writing of
this same speech he said, “with great pleasure I received the
information respecting the commencement of my nephew’s political
course. I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it
has made, as to become a babbler.”
Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved
an election to the Assembly.
“I do not suppose,” he wrote, “that so young a senator as you are,
little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence
in a populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of
different views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your
attendance (and duty to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to
hear dispassionately and determine coolly all great questions. To be
disgusted at the decision of questions, because they are not consonant
to your own ideas, and to withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or
to neglect our attendance at them, upon suspicion that there is a party
formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to the true interest of our
country, is wrong, because these things may originate in a difference
of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our
suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every
patriot to counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.”
In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, “Washington was
prominent, though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in
meditation on his country’s fate; but a positive concert between him
and Henry could not more effectually have exhibited him to view, than
when Henry ridiculed the idea of peace ‘when there was no peace,’ and
enlarged on the duty of preparing for war.” Very quickly his attendance
on that body was ended by its appointing him general.
His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon
elsewhere, but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention.
Very early he had said, “At a time when our lordly masters in Great
Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of
American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be
done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have
derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the
purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should
scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a—s in defence of so valuable a
blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my
opinion.” When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to
collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, “unhappy it is, though
to reflect, that a brother’s sword has been sheathed in a brother’s
breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are
either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?”
Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
then only by such “flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
Norfolk,” which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776,
he thought “the game will be pretty well up,” but “under a full
persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea,
that it will finally sink, tho’ it may remain for some time under a
cloud,” and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained
that “nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do.
A peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a
peace of war.”
Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said
that, “upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General
Washington’s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the
United States than to the command of their armies,” and this is
probably true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if
his “circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I
am informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the
judicious choice he has generally made of persons to fill public
stations, he possesses the two great requisites of a statesman, the
faculty of concealing his own sentiments and of discovering those of
other men.”
To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this
work, but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made
to his use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a
“public trust” is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin
Harrison, who asked him for an office. “I will go to the chair,” he
replied, “under no pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever.
But, when in it, to the best of my judgment, discharge the duties of
the office with that impartiality and zeal for the public good, which
ought never to suffer connection of blood or friendship to intermingle
so as to have the least sway on the decision of a public nature.” This
position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, “I must
caution you, my dear Sir, against having any dependence on my influence
or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has influence with the
President. He seeks information from all quarters, and judges more
independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance to
the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I
shall never see the time that any man will have influence with him
beyond the powers of reason and argument.”
Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
“Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the
deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is
danger of proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the
ablest, most influential, and best characters in the Union.” In this he
was quite correct, for the first President’s appointments were made
with a view to destroy party and not create it, his object being to
gather all the talent of the country in support of the national
government, and he bore many things which personally were disagreeable
in an endeavor to do this.
Twice during Washington’s terms he was forced to act counter to the
public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made
by the French minister to break through the neutrality that had been
proclaimed, when, according to John Adams, “ten thousand people in the
streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington
out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel
it to declare in favor of the French revolution and against England.”
The second time was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great
Britain, which produced a popular outburst from one end of the country
to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve an iota from what
he thought right, writing, “these are unpleasant things, but they must
be met with firmness.” Eventually the people always came back to their
leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that “such is the popularity
of the President that the people will support him in whatever he will
do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything
but their feelings towards him.”
[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA]
It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above
considering the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness.
John Adams asserted that “General Washington, one of the most attentive
men in the world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion
of his celebrity to this circumstance,” and frequently he is to be
found considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he
said, “I have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to
many points in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid
bringing on a too frequent discussion of matters which in a political
view ought to be kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made
too much the subjects of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and
overcome customs and prejudices of long standing—they must be got the
better of by slow and gradual advances.”
Elsewhere he wrote, “In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as
he would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he
is in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;” of a
certain measure he thought, “it has, however, like many other things in
which I have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided
without falling on the other;” and that even in small things he tried
to be politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he
accepted an invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the
next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, “a jealousy subsists
between this town (where the Legislature alternately sits) and
Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have made it necessary
to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements
having been otherwise made, I could not.”
Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick
Henry a position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner
that it would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he
understood good politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made
when the French revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of
introduction to the American people. This was not, for political and
personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet he did not
choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,—
“C. Volney
needs no recommendation from
Geo. Washington.”
There is a very general belief that success in politics and
truthfulness are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington
prospered in politics, and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the
popular statement that at six years of age George could not tell a lie.
Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his
imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington partially
outgrew the disability in his more mature years.
When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington
in his journal states that he “let the young Indians who were in our
camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half King,” a diplomatic
statement he hardly believed, which the writer says “had its desired
effect,” and which the French editor declared to be an “imposture.” In
this same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which
acknowledged that he had been guilty of assassination, and this raised
such a storm in Virginia when it became known that Washington hastened
to deny all knowledge of the charge having been contained among the
articles, and alleged that it had not been made clear to him when the
paper had been translated and read. On the contrary, another officer
present at the reading states that he refused to “sign the Capitulation
because they charged us with Assasination in it.”
In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was “greatly
enraptured” at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man’s “hearty
attachment to our glorious Cause” and his “Courage of which I have had
very great proofs.” Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor,
Washington said, “the letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but
this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.”
With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
Washington objected to a letter received “because there is one
paragraph in particular in it … which appears to me to contain an
implication of my having deviated from the truth.” A more general
charge was Charles Lee’s: “I aver that his Excellencies letter was from
beginning to the end a most abominable lie.”
As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781
“much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir
Henry Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and
boats in his neighborhood.” “Nor were less pains taken to deceive our
own army,” and even “the highest military as well as civil officers”
were deceived at this time, not merely that the secret should not leak
out, but also “for the important purpose of inducing the eastern and
middle states to make greater exertions.”
When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
diary, “Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday—and finding
that parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to
attend me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting
the time of my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to
do it before eight o’clock; but I did it a little after five, by which
means I avoided the inconveniences above mentioned.”
Weld, in his “Travels in America,” published that “General Washington
told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part
of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
thickest boot.” When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr.
Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on
Washington’s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that “a
gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General
Washington made the observation referred to, told me that he said, when
describing those mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they ‘bit through his
stockings above the boots.’” Whoever invented the explanation should
also have evolved a type of boots other than those worn by Washington,
for unfortunately for the story Washington’s military boots went above
his “small clothes,” giving not even an inch of stocking for either
mosquito or explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that “I do not
recollect that in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or
broke a promise made to any one,” and at another time he wrote, “I
never say any thing of a Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying
_to him_.”
From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty
years, Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he
died he still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there
were but seven years of his life in which he was not engaged in the
public service. Even after his retirement from the Presidency he served
on a grand jury, and before this he had several times acted as petit
juror. In another way he was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon
he invariably attended the election, rain or shine, though it was a
ride of ten miles to the polling town.
Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty.
Jefferson said, “his integrity was most pure, his justice the most
inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity
or friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed
in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.”
Pickering wrote that “to the excellency of his _virtues_ I am not
disposed to set any limits. All his views were upright, all his actions
just” Hamilton asserted that “the General is a very honest Man;” and
Tilghman spoke of him as “the honestest man that I believe ever adorned
human nature.”
INDEX.
ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power,
deal arranged by,
dislike of Washington,
quoted,
——, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
Agriculture, Washington’s fondness for,
Ague, Washington’s attacks of,
ALEXANDER, Frances,
Alexandria, assemblies at,
Washington builds in,
lots in,
ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
Alton, John,
Ames, Fisher, quoted,
Appleby school,
ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
ARNOLD, B.,
Asses, breeding of,
_Aurora_,
BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
Balls,
Bank-stock, holdings of,
Barbadoes, Washington’s visit to,
BARD, Dr., quoted,
BASSETT, Burwell,
——, Frances,
Bath, Virginia, lots in,
_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce,
Billiards,
BISHOP, Thomas,
BLAND, Mary,
——, T., criticises Washington’s bow,
“Blueskin,”
Books,
Boston, siege of,
BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,
mentioned,
Bounties,
BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of,
march of,
mentioned,
Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
British forgeries,
Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
Brooklyn, battle of,
CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,
visit to Cambridge,
remarriage,
Cambridge, head-quarters at,
mentioned,
CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
Cancer, George Washington’s,
Mary Washington’s,
Capital. _See_ Washington City.
Cards,
CARLYLE, Washington’s friendship for,
——, Major,
——, Sally,
CARROLL, Charles,
CARY, Mary,
“Cato,”
“Centinel,”
Charity, Washington’s,
Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,
jackass at,
CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,
marriage of,
Children and Washington,
Christ Church,
Christianity, Washington’s view of,
CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
CLINTON, George, Washington’s investment with,
——, Sir H.,
Washington’s relations with,
Clothes, Washington’s taste in,
Clubs, Washington’s share in,
COBB, David, quoted,
at Yorktown,
COBBETT, William, quoted,
Colds, Washington’s treatment of,
Commissariat,
Congress, Continental, Washington’s relations with,
jealousy of Washington and the army,
endeavors to insult Washington,
part in the Conway cabal,
Washington’s election to,
Washington in,
Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
“Conotocarius,” Indian name for Washington,
Continental army,
sickness of,
farewell to,
small-pox in,
threatened mutiny of,
Conway Cabal,
CONWAY, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
CORBIN, Richard,
CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington’s relations with,
Craigie house,
CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington’s friendship for,
bleeds Washington,
CULPEPER, Lord,
Culpeper County,
CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,
marriage to L. Lewis,
quoted,
——, G.W.P., education,
quoted,
acts,
——, John Parke, relations with Washington,
education,
——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
——, Martha (“Patsy”), relations of Washington with,
death,
treatment of,
property,
—— property,
Dancing, Washington’s fondness of,
DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
——, Mrs.
DEANE, Silas, quoted,
DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
Democratic criticism of Washington,
DENT, Elizabeth,
DICK, Dr., quoted,
Dismal Swamp Company,
Distillery at Mount Vernon,
District of Columbia,
Dogs,
DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
Duelling, Washington’s views on,
threatened,
DUER, W.A., quoted,
DUMAS, M., quoted,
DUNLAP, W., quoted,
Duquesne, Fort,
“Eltham,”
Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
FAIRFAX, Ann,
——, Bryan, Lord,
——, George William,
——, Sally, 90-1,
——, Thomas, Lord,
——, William,
Fairfax County,
Fairfax Parish,
Farewell Address,
drafting of,
Fauntleroy, Betsy,
William,
Federal city. _See_ Washington City.
Fees, Washington’s gifts of,
Fertilization, Washington’s value of,
Fish, Washington’s fondness of,
Fishery at Mount Vernon,
Fishing,
Flour, Washington’s pride in his,
Forged letters,
authorship of,
Bache reprints,
Fort Necessity,
Fox hunting,
FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
Frederick County, Washington stands for,
Fredericksburg,
residence of Mary Washington,
French and Indian War,
French language, Washington on,
FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
GATES, Horatio, Washington’s relations with,
mentioned,
General orders, quotations from,
Genet episode,
GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
Germantown, battle of,
GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
Great Britain, Washington’s attitude towards,
GREEN, Rev. Charles,
GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,
quoted,
GRYMES, Lucy,
Half-King,
HAMILTON, A., mentioned,
quoted,
Washington’s relations with,
HARRISON, Benjamin,
letter of,
asks office,
——, R.H.,
HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
HENRY, Patrick, quoted,
mentioned,
offered office,
Herring, sales of,
Hickey plot,
Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
Houdon bust,
HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington’s relations with,
Humphreys, D., quoted,
relations with Washington,
HUNTER, J., quoted,
Hunting,
Independence, Washington on,
Indians,
Washington’s diplomacy with,
James River Land Company, Washington’s interest in,
Jay treaty,
JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
opinion of Washington,
helps Freneau,
quoted,
mentioned,
JONES, Gabriel,
Kenmore House,
KNOX, Henry,
relations with Washington,
LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,
Washington’s relations with,
quoted,
——, G.W.,
——, Virginia,
Land bounties,
—— companies,
Latin, Washington’s knowledge of,
LAURENS, John, Washington’s relations with,
quoted,
LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
Lawsuits, Washington’s dislike of,
LEAR, T., friendship for,
quoted,
LEE, Charles, Washington’s relations with,
libels Washington,
quoted,
——, Henry, friendship for Washington,
anecdote of,
warns Washington of Jefferson’s conduct,
——, R.H., opinion of Washington,
re-election of,
——, William, Washington’s body-servant,
LEWIS, Elizabeth,
——, Fielding,
——, ——. Jr.,
——, Howell,
——, Lewis,
——, Robert,
Lexington, battle of,
Liveried servants,
Lotteries, Washington’s liking for,
LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,
quoted, 288.
“Lowland Beauty,”
LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
McHENRY, James,
McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
MACLAY, W., quoted,
MADISON, James, relations with Washington,
quoted,
drafts papers,
“Magnolia,”
MARSHALL, J., quoted,
MARYE, Rev. T., Washington’s teacher,
MASON, George, quoted,
Massachusetts, difficulties of,
“slam” at officers of,
MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
Mather’s _Young Man’s Companion_,
Matrimony, Washington’s views on,
Medical knowledge of Washington,
treatment of last illness,
Medicine, Washington’s aversion to,
MERCER, George, quoted,
MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
mentioned,
Military Company of Adventurers,
—— science, books on,
Washington’s knowledge of,
Militia, evils of,
“Minutes of the Trial,” authority of,
Mississippi Company,
Monmouth, battle of,
allusions to,
MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,
friendship with,
——, Robert,
——, Roger,
Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,
division of estate by will,
invitation to visit,
history of,
name,
house at,
grounds,
additions to land,
management of,
absence of Washington from,
system at,
work at,
fishery of,
distillery at,
stud stable of,
live stock of,
profits of,
desire to rent farms of,
Washington’s superintendence of,
Washington’s life at,
slaves at,
overseers of,
British visit to,
hunting at,
shooting at,
MOYLAN, S.,
MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
Music, Washington’s fondness of,
“Nelson,”
Nepotism, Washington’s views on,
Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,
New England, opposition to Washington,
jealousy of,
arranges deal,
journey in,
conduct of troops,
officers,
New Jersey troops, desertion of,
New York, Washington’s visit to,
borrows money for journey to,
head-quarters at,
warfare at,
_Minutes of the Trial in_,
proposed attack on,
farewell to army at,
presidential house at,
Newspapers,
Nuts, Washington’s fondness for,
Oaths, Washington’s use of,
Office-seekers,
Ohio, march to,
journey to,
_Journal_,
Ohio Company,
_Old Soldier_,
PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
Paper money, depreciation of,
Pension of Mary Washington,
PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
Philadelphia, visit to,
fever at,
proposed attack on,
capture of,
Presidential house in,
Washington’s attempted purchase near,
PHILIPSE, Mary,
PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
Pohick Church,
Potomac Canal Company,
Presidency, Washington in the,
duties of,
hospitality of,
Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
Raffles, Washington’s liking for,
RAMSAY, W.,
RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington’s relations with,
quoted,
——, John, forges letters,
REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,
relations with Washington,
quoted,
Revolution, Washington’s service in,
ROBIN, Abbé, quoted,
ROBINSON, Beverly,
——, John,
ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
Ross, James, quoted,
“Royal Gift,” jackass,
Rules of civility,
RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,
Washington’s relations with,
quoted,
RUTLEDGE, E.,
St. Clair’s defeat,
St. Paul’s Church,
SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
Servants, Washington’s,
Shad, sales of,
Sharpless portrait,
Sheep at Mount Vernon,
Shooting,
Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
Slavery, Washington’s views on,
Slaves, Washington’s,
runaway,
carried off by British,
sickness,
laziness,
punishment,
rations of,
thieving by,
Small-pox, Washington’s attack of,
SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
Southern tour,
Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
SPEARING, Ann,
STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
STEWART, R.,
STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington’s face,
quoted,
Stuart portrait,
Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
——, W., quoted,
Sunday, Washington’s observance of,
SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
Taverns, Washington’s view of,
Tea, Washington’s fondness for,
THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
Theatre,
THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington’s relations with,
quoted,
Tobacco, Washington’s crop of,
Trenton, battle of,
TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
Truro Parish,
University, National, Washington’s wish for,
Valley Forge,
VAN BRAAM, J.,
VARICK, Richard,
VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
Virginia, social life of,
clubs,
British invasion of,
convention,
land bounties,
elections,
agricultural system of,
deal with New England,
Washington’s office-holding in,
estates, Washington’s opinion of,
—— Regiment, drunkenness of,
VOLNEY, C., Washington’s diplomacy with,
WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
“Wakefield,”
Walpole grant,
WANSEY, H., quoted,
Warm Springs, visit to,
WASHINGTON, Augustine,
——, Augustine (Jr.),
——, Bushrod,
letter to,
——, Charles,
——, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding.
——, Frances,
——, George, ancestors of,
birth of,
his resemblance to the Balls,
relations with his mother,
his dislike of public recompense,
views on public office,
financial help to relatives,
will of,
views on drinking,
loans,
care of Custis property,
adoption of Custis children,
physique,
weight,
eyes,
hair,
teeth,
nose,
height,
mouth,
expression,
gracefulness,
complexion,
pock-marked,
modesty,
manners,
portraits of,
strength,
illnesses of,
his last,
medicine, his dislike of,
fall of,
hearing,
education,
handwriting,
spelling,
surveyor,
secretaries of,
journal to the Ohio,
messages,
farewell address,
languages,
music,
reading,
religion,
church attendance,
Sunday conduct,
hunting,
tolerance,
love affairs,
poetry,
Barbadoes, visit to,
Ohio, mission to,
Boston, visit to, (1756)
New York, visit to, (1773)
marriage,
appointed commander-in-chief,
matrimony, his views on,
morality,
forged letters,
agriculture, fondness for,
[agriculture] system,
[agriculture] study of,
coat-of-arms of,
as farmer,
land purchases of,
invents a plow,
humor,
income,
accounts,
property of,
bounty lands of,
investments in land companies,
borrower,
speculation, liking for,
lotteries, liking for,
raffles, liking for,
interest in Potomac Canal Company,
wealth of,
slaves of,
[slaves] care of,
slavery, views on,
charity,
social life,
headquarters life,
dinners,
levees,
bows,
ceremony, hatred of,
conversation,
tea, liking for,
dancing, fondness of,
staff,
simple habits,
dress of,
Rules of Civility,
neatness of,
food,
horsemanship,
fishing, fondness for,
card-playing,
theatre, fondness for,
embarrassment,
library of,
newspapers,
abuse, sensitiveness to,
friendships of,
godfather,
pall-bearer,
Indian friends,
[Indian] name,
assassin,
temper,
quarrel of Hamilton with,
children, relations with,
enemies,
[enemies] duelling and,
drinks toasts,
intrigues against,
attacks on,
insulted,
Presidency,
judgment,
liveried servants of,
courage of,
swears,
Fabian policy,
rashness of,
indecision of,
lack of military knowledge,
generalship,
severity to soldiers,
relations with Continental Congress,
New England, dislike of,
farewell to army,
adjutant of Virginia,
burgess,
stands for Frederick County,
elected,
election expenses of,
drafts law,
inability to make speeches,
stage fright,
inauguration,
in the Continental Congress,
attitude towards Great Britain,
threatened,
popularity of,
diplomacy of,
truthfulness,
serves on jury,
attends elections,
honesty,
——, George Augustine,
——, Harriot,
——, John,
——, John Augustine,
——, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
——, Lawrence (2d),
——, Lawrence, Major (3d),
——, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
——, Lund,
——, Martha, sickness of,
meets Washington,
engaged,
Washington’s letters to,
marriage,
character,
Washington’s fondness for,
wealth,
clothing,
housekeeper for,
orthography, 93,
children,
visits to head-quarters,
social life,
mentioned,
dower slaves,
drafts of letters for,
receptions,
——, Mary (Ball),
——, Mildred,
——, Robert,
——, Samuel,
——, Thornton,
Washington City,
WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
Weaving at Mount Vernon,
WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
WELD, Isaac, quoted,
Wheat, Washington’s production of,
Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
William and Mary College,
Williamsburg,
lots in,
Washington goes to, for medical advice,
WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
WILLING, Ann, quoted,
Winchester, lots in,
election at, 295,
WOLCOTT, Oliver,
WOOD, John,
Yorktown, siege of,