THE STOCKMAN
A various times in his career Washington raised deer, turkeys, hogs,
cattle, geese, negroes and various other forms of live stock, but his
greatest interest seems to have been reserved for horses, sheep
and mules.
From his diaries and other papers that have come down to us it is easy
to see that during his early married life he paid most attention to his
horses. In 1760 he kept a stallion both for his own mares and for those
of his neighbors, and we find many entries concerning the animal.
Successors were "Leonidas," "Samson," "Steady," "Traveller" and
"Magnolia," the last a full-blooded Arabian and probably the finest
beast he ever owned. When away from home Washington now and then
directed the manager to advertise the animal then reigning or to exhibit
him in public places such as fairs. Mares brought to the stallion were
kept upon pasture, and foal was guaranteed. Many times the General
complained of the difficulty of collecting fees.
During the Revolution he bought twenty-seven worn-out army mares for
breeding purposes and soon after he became President he purchased at
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, thirteen fine animals for the same use. These
last cost him a total of £317.17.6, the price of the highest being
£25.7.6 and of the cheapest £22.10. These mares were unusually good
animals, as an ordinary beast would have cost only five or six pounds.
In November, 1785, he had on his various Mount Vernon farms a total of
one hundred thirty horses, including the Arabian already mentioned.
Among the twenty-one animals kept at the Mansion House were his old war
horses "Nelson" and "Blewskin," who after bearing their master through
the smoke and dangers of many battles lived in peace to a ripe old age
on the green fields of Virginia.
In his last days he bought two of the easy-gaited animals known as
Narragansetts, a breed, some readers will recall, described at some
length by Cooper in _The Last of the Mohicans._ A peculiarity of these
beasts was that they moved both legs on a side forward at the same time,
that is, they were pacers. Washington's two proved somewhat skittish,
and one of them was responsible for the only fall from horseback that we
have any record of his receiving. In company with Major Lewis, Mr.
Peake, young George Washington Custis and a groom he was returning in
the evening from Alexandria and dismounted for a few moments near a fire
on the roadside. When he attempted to mount again the horse sprang
forward suddenly and threw him. The others jumped from their horses to
assist him, but the old man got up quickly, brushed his clothes and
explained that he had been thrown only because he had not yet got
seated. All the horses meanwhile had run away and the party started to
walk four miles home, but luckily some negroes along the road caught the
fugitives and brought them back. Washington insisted upon mounting his
animal again and rode home without further incident. This episode
happened only a few weeks before his death.
Like every farmer he found that his horses had a way of growing old.
Those with which he had personal associations, like "Blueskin" and
"Nelson," he kept until they died of old age. With others he sometimes
followed a different course. In 1792 we find his manager, Whiting,
writing: "We have several Old Horses that are not worth keeping thro
winter. One at Ferry has not done one days work these 18 Months. 2 at
Muddy hole one a horse with the Pole evil which I think will not get
well the other an Old Mare was not capable of work last summer. Likewise
the Horse called old Chatham and the Lame Horse that used to go in the
Waggon now in a one horse Cart. If any thing could be Got for them it
might be well but they are not worth keeping after Christmas." No doubt
a sentimental person would say that Washington ought to have kept these
old servants, but he had many other superannuated servants of the human
kind upon his hands, so he replied that Whiting might dispose of the old
horses "as you judge best for my interest."
Now and then his horses met with accidents. Thus on February 22, 1760,
his horse "Jolly" got his right foreleg "mashed to pieces," probably by
a falling limb. "Did it up as well as I could this night." "Saturday,
Feb. 23d. Had the Horse Slung upon Canvas and his leg fresh set,
following Markleham's directions as well as I could." Two days later the
horse fell out of the sling and hurt himself so badly that he had to
be killed.
Of Washington's skill as a trainer of horses his friend De Chastellux
writes thus: "The weather being fair, on the 26th, I got on horseback,
after breakfasting with the general--he was so attentive as to give me
the horse he rode, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly
commended--I found him as good as he is handsome; but above all,
perfectly well broke, and well trained, having a good mouth, easy in
hand, and stopping short in a gallop without bearing the bit--I mention
these minute particulars, because it is the general himself who breaks
all his own horses; and he is a very excellent and bold horseman,
leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick, without standing
upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse run
wild,--circumstances which young men look upon as so essential a part of
English horsemanship, that they would rather break a leg or an arm than
renounce them."
Comparatively few farmers in Virginia kept sheep, yet as early as 1758
Washington's overseer at Mount Vernon reported sixty-five old sheep and
forty-eight lambs; seven years later the total number was one hundred
fifty-six. The next year he records that he "put my English Ram Lamb to
65 Ewes," so that evidently he was trying to improve the breed. What
variety this ram belonged to he does not say. Near the end of his career
he had some of Bakewell's breed, an English variety that put on fat
rapidly and hence were particularly desirable for mutton.
During his long absences from home his sheep suffered grievously, for
sheep require a skilled care that few of his managers or overseers knew
how to give. But sheep were an important feature of the English
agriculture that he imitated, and he persisted in keeping them. In 1793
he had over six hundred.
"Before I left home in the spring of 1789," he wrote to Arthur Young, "I
had improved that species of my stock so much as to get 5-1/4 lbs of
Wool as the average of the fleeces of my whole flock,--and at the last
shearing they did not yield me 2-1/2 lbs.--By procuring (if I am able)
good rams and giving the necessary attention, I hope to get them up
again for they are with me, as you have declared them to be with you,
that part of my stock in which I most delight."
In 1789, by request, he sent Young "a fleece of a midling size and
quality." Young had this made up into cloth and returned it to
the General.
In 1793 we find our Farmer giving such instructions to Whiting as to
cull out the unthrifty sheep and transform them into mutton and to
choose a few of the best young males to keep as rams. Whiting, however,
did not manage the flock well, for the following February we find
Pearce, the new manager, writing:
"I am sorry to have to inform you that the stock of sheep at Both Union
and Dogue Run farms are Some of them Dicing Every Week--& a great many
of Them will be lost, let what will be done--Since I came I have had
shelters made for them & Troughs to feed them In & to give them salt--&
have attended to them myself & was In hopes to have saved those that I
found to be weak, but they were too far gone--and Several of the young
Cattle at Dogue Run was past all Recovery when I come & some have died
already & several more I am afraid must die before spring, they are so
very poor and weak."
Washington, according to his own account, was the first American to
attempt the raising of mules. Soon after the Revolution he asked our
representative in Spain to ascertain whether it would be possible "to
procure permission to extract a Jack ass of the best breed." At that
time the exportation of these animals from Spain was forbidden by law,
but Florida Blanca, the Spanish minister of state, brought the matter
to the attention of the king, who in a fit of generosity proceeded to
send the American hero two jacks and two jennets. One of the jacks died
on the way over, but the other animals, in charge of a Spanish
caretaker, reached Boston, and Washington despatched an overseer to
escort them to Mount Vernon, where they arrived on the fifth of
December, 1785. An interpreter named Captain Sullivan was brought down
from Alexandria, and through him the General propounded to the caretaker
many grave inquiries regarding the care of the beasts, the answers being
carefully set down in writing.
[ILLUSTRATION: Bill of Lading for "Royal Gift"]
"Royal Gift," as he was duly christened, probably by the negro groom,
Peter, who seems to have considered it beneath his dignity to minister
to any but royalty, was a large animal. According to careful
measurements taken on the porch at Mount Vernon he was fifteen hands
high, and his body and limbs were very large in proportion to his
height; his ears were fourteen inches long, and his vocal cords were
good. He was, however, a sluggish beast, and the sea voyage had affected
him so unfavorably that for some time he was of little use. In letters
to Lafayette and others Washington commented facetiously upon the
beast's failure to appreciate "republican enjoyment." Ultimately,
however, "Royal Gift" recovered his strength and ambition and proved a
valuable piece of property. He was presently sent on a lour of the
South, and while in South Carolina was in the charge of Colonel William
Washington, a hero of the Cowpens and many other battles. The profits
from the tour amounted to $678.64, yet poor "Royal Gift" seems to have
experienced some rough usage on the way thither, arriving lame and thin
and in a generally debilitated condition. The General wrote to the
Colonel about it thus:
"From accounts which I have received from some gentlemen in Virginia he
was most abominably treated on the journey by the man to whom he was
entrusted;--for, instead of moving him slowly and steadily along as he
ought, he was prancing (with the Jack) from one public meeting or place
to another in a gate which could not but prove injurious to an animal
who had hardly ever been out of a walk before--and afterward, I presume,
(in order to recover lost time) rushed him beyond what he was able to
bear the remainder of the journey."
No doubt the beast aroused great curiosity along the way among people
who had never before set eyes upon such a creature. We can well believe
that the cry, "General Washington's jackass is coming!" was always
sufficient to attract a gaping crowd. And many would be the sage
comments upon the animal's voice and appearance.
In 1786 Lafayette sent Washington from the island of Malta another jack
and two jennets, besides some Chinese pheasants and partridges. The
animals landed at Baltimore in November and reached Mount Vernon in good
condition later in the month. To Campion, the man who accompanied them,
Washington gave "30 Louis dores for his trouble." The new jack, the
"Knight of Malta," as he was called, was a smaller beast than "Royal
Gift," and his ears measured only twelve inches, but he was well formed
and had the ferocity of a tiger.
By crossing the two strains Washington ultimately obtained a jack called
"Compound," who united in his person the size and strength of the "Gift"
with the courage and activity of the "Knight." The General also raised
many mules, which he found to be good workers and more cheaply kept in
condition than horses.
Henceforward the peaceful quiet of Mount Vernon was broken many times a
day by sounds which, if not musical or mellifluous, were at least
jubilant and joyous.
Evidently the sounds in no way disturbed the General, for in 1788 we
find him describing the acquisitions in enthusiastic terms to Arthur
Young. He called the mules "a very excellent race of animals," cheap to
keep and willing workers. Recalling, perhaps, that a king's son once
rode upon a mule, he proposes to breed heavy ones from "Royal Gift" for
draft purposes and lighter ones from the "Knight" for saddle or
carriage. He adds: "Indeed in a few years, I intend to drive no other in
my carriage, having appropriated for the sole purpose of breeding them,
upwards of twenty of my best mares."
Ah, friend George, what would the world not give to see thee and thy
wife Martha driving in the Mount Vernon coach down Pennsylvania Avenue
behind four such long-eared beasts!
In all his stock raising, as in most other matters, Washington was
greatly hampered by the carelessness of his overseers and slaves. It is
notorious that free negroes will often forget or fail to water and feed
their own horses, and it may easily be believed that when not influenced
by fear, slaves would neglect the stock of their master. Among the
General's papers I have found a list of the animals that died upon his
Mount Vernon estate from April 16, 1789, to December 25, 1790. In that
period of about twenty months he lost thirty-three horses, thirty-two
cattle and sixty-five sheep! Considering the number of stock he had, a
fifth of that loss would have been excessive. During most of the period
he was away from home looking after the affairs of the nation and in his
absence his own affairs suffered.
Hardly a report of his manager did not contain some bad news. Thus one
of January, 1791, states that "the Young black Brood Mare, with a long
tail, which Came from Pennsylvania, said to be four Years old next
spring ... was found with her thigh broke quite in two." This happened
on the Mansion House farm. On another farm a sheep was reported to have
been killed by dogs while a second had died suddenly, perhaps from
eating some poisonous plant.
Dogs, in fact, constituted an ever present menace to the sheep and it
was only by constant watchfulness that the owner kept his negroes from
overrunning the place with worthless curs. In 1792 he wrote to his
manager: "I not only approve of your killing those Dogs which have been
the occasion of the late loss, & of thinning the Plantations of others,
but give it as a positive order that after saying what dog, or dogs
shall remain, if any negro presumes under any pretence whatsoever, to
preserve, or bring one into the family, that he shall be severely
punished, and the dog hanged.--I was obliged to adopt this practice
whilst I resided at home, and from the same motive, that is for the
preservation of my Sheep and Hogs.... It is not for any good purpose
Negroes raise, and keep dogs; but to aid them in their night robberies;
for it is astonishing to see the command under which the dogs are."
After the Revolution, in imitation of English farmers, he made use of
hurdles in pasturing sheep and milk cows. Thereby he secured more even
distribution of the manure, which was one of his main objects in
raising stock.
Washington's interest in cattle seems to have been less intense than was
the case with some other kinds of stock. He always had a great number of
cows, bulls, oxen and calves upon his farms--in 1793 over three hundred
"black cattle" of all sorts. He was accustomed to brand his cattle with
the letters "G.W.," the location of the brand on the body indicating
the farm on which the beast was raised. To what extent he endeavored to
improve the breed of his cattle I am unable to say, but I have found
that as early as 1770 he owned an English bull, which in July he killed
and sold to the crew of the British frigate _Boston_, which lay in the
Potomac off his estate. In 1797 he made inquiries looking toward the
purchase of an improved bull calf from a cattle breeder named Gough, but
upon learning that the price was two hundred dollars he decided not to
invest. Gough, however, heard of Washington's interest in his animals,
and being an admirer of the General, gave him a calf. An English farmer,
Parkinson, who saw the animal in 1798, describes him in terms the
reverse of enthusiastic, and of this more hereafter.
A large part of the heavy work on all the farms was done by oxen. In
November, 1785, there were thirteen yoke of these beasts on the Mount
Vernon estate and the number was sometimes still larger. In 1786
Washington recorded putting "a Collar on a large Bull in order to break
him to the draft.--at first he was sulky and restive but came to by
degrees." The owner always aimed to have enough oxen broken so that none
would have to be worked too hard, but he did not always succeed in his
aim. When they attained the age of eight years the oxen were usually
fattened and killed for beef.
The management of the milk cows seems to have been very poor. In May,
1793, we find the absent owner writing to his manager: "If for the sake
of making a little butter (for which I shall get scarcely anything) my
calves are starved, & die, it may be compared to stopping the spigot,
and opening the faucit." Evidently the making of butter was almost
totally discontinued, for in his last instructions, completed only a few
days before his death, he wrote: "And It is hoped and will be expected,
that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another
year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 Cows actually
reported on a late enumeration of the Cattle, that I am obliged to _buy
butter_ for the use of my family."
In his later years he became somewhat interested in the best methods of
feeding cattle and once suggested that the experiment be tried of
fattening one bullock on potatoes, another on corn, and a third on a
mixture of both, "keeping an exact account of the time they are fatting,
and what is eaten of each, and of hay, by the different steers; that a
judgment may be formed of the best and least expensive mode of stall
feeding beef for market, or for my own use."
During his early farming operations his swine probably differed little
if at all from the razor-backs of his neighbors. They ranged half wild
in the woods in summer and he once expressed the opinion that fully half
the pigs raised were stolen by the slaves, who loved roast pork fully as
well as did their master. In the fall the shoats were shut up to fatten.
More than a hundred were required each year to furnish meat for the
people on the estate; the average weight was usually less than one
hundred forty pounds. Farmers in the Middle West would to-day have their
Poland Chinas or Durocs of the same age weighing two hundred fifty to
three hundred pounds. Still the smallness of Washington's animals does
not necessarily indicate such bad management as may at first glance
appear. Until of considerable size the pigs practically made their own
living, eating roots and mast in the woods, and they did not require
much grain except during fattening time. And, after all, as the story
has it, "what's time to a hawg?"
In his later years he seems to have taken more interest in his pigs. By
1786 he had decided that when fattening they ought to be put into
closed pens with a plank floor, a roof, running water and good troughs.
A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1798 says that he had "about 150 of the
Guinea kind, with short legs and hollow back," so it is evident that he
was experimenting with new breeds. These Guinea swine were red in color,
and it is said that the breed was brought to America from west Africa by
slave traders. It was to these animals that Washington fed the
by-products of his distillery.
In the slaughtering of animals he tried experiments as he did in so many
other matters. In 1768 he killed a wether sheep which weighed one
hundred three pounds gross. He found that it made sixty pounds of meat
worth three pence per pound, five and a half of tallow at seven and a
half pence, three of wool at fifteen pence, and the skin was worth one
shilling and three pence, a total of £1.3.5. One object of such
experiments was to ascertain whether it was more profitable to butcher
animals or sell them on the hoof.
Washington also raised chickens, turkeys, swans, ducks, geese and
various other birds and beasts. In 1788 Gouverneur Morris sent him two
Chinese pigs and with them "a pair of Chinese geese, which are really
the foolishest geese I ever beheld; for they choose all times for
setting but in the spring, and one of them is even now [November]
actually engaged in that business." Of some golden pheasants that had
been brought from China the General said that before seeing the birds he
had considered that pictures of them must be "only works of fancy, but
now I find them to be only Portraits."
The fact is that his friends and admirers sent him so many feathered or
furred creatures that toward the end of his life he was the proprietor
of a considerable zoo.
Notwithstanding mismanagement by his employees and slaves, Washington
accumulated much valuable domestic stock. In his will, made the year of
his death, he lists the following: "1 Covering horse, 5 Cob. horses--4
Riding do--Six brood mares--20 working horses and mares,--2 Covering
jacks & 3 young ones 10 she asses--42 working mules--15 younger ones.
329 head of horned cattle. 640 head of Sheep, and the large stock of
hogs, the precise number unknown." He further states that his manager
believes the stock worth seven thousand pounds, but he conservatively
sets it down at fifteen thousand six hundred fifty-three dollars.