upwards of fifty thousand dollars, I should not be able to support the former without involving myself in debt and difficulties,” This must be taken, however, to apply to a single period of heavy expense when foreign complications and other causes rendered farming unprofitable, rather than to his whole career. Furthermore, his landed investments from which he could draw no returns were so heavy that he had approached the condition of being land poor and it was only proper that he should cut loose from some of them.
CHAPTER XVII
ODDS AND ENDS
In an age when organized charity was almost unknown the burden of such work fell mainly upon individuals. Being a man of great prominence and known to be wealthy, the proprietor of Mount Vernon was the recipient of many requests for assistance. Ministers wrote to beg money to rebuild churches or to convert the heathen; old soldiers wrote to ask for money to relieve family distresses or to use in business; from all classes and sections poured in requests for aid, financial and otherwise.
It was inevitable that among these requests there should be some that were unusual. Perhaps the most amusing that I have discovered is one written by a young man named Thomas Bruff, from the Fountain Inn, Georgetown. He states that this is his second letter, but I have not found the first. In the letter we have he sets forth that he has lost all his property and desires a loan of five hundred pounds. His need is urgent, for he is engaged to a beautiful and “amiable” young lady, possessed of an “Estate that will render me Independent. Whom I cannot Marry in my present situation…. All my Happyness is now depending upon your Goodness and without your kind assistance I must be forever miserable–I should have never thought of making application to you for this favor had it not been in Consequence of a vision by Night since my Fathers Death who appeared to me in a Dream in my Misfortunes three times in one Night telling me to make applycation to you for Money and that you would relieve me from my distresses. He appeared the other night again and asked me if I had obeyed his commands I informed him that I had Wrote to you some time ago but had Received no answer nor no information Relative to the Business he then observed that he expected my letter had not come to hand and toald me to Write again I made some Objections at first and toald him I thought it presumption in me to trouble your Excellency again on the subject he then in a Rage drew his Small Sword and toald me if I did not he would run me through. I immediately in a fright consented.”
One might suppose that so ingenious a request, picturing the deadly danger in which a young man stood from the shade of his progenitor, especially a young man who was thereby forced to keep a young lady waiting, would have aroused Washington’s most generous impulses and caused him to send perhaps double the amount desired. Possibly he was hard up at the time. At all events he indorsed the letter thus:
“Without date and without success.”
Many times, however, our Farmer was open-handed to persons who had no personal claim on him. For example, he loaned three hundred and two pounds to his old comrade of the French War–Robert Stewart–the purpose being to buy a commission in the British army. So far as I can discover it was never repaid; in fact, I am not sure but that he intended it as a gift. Another advance was that made to Charles L. Carter, probably the young man who later married a daughter of Washington’s sister, Betty Lewis. Most of the story is told in the following extract from a letter written by Carter from Fredericksburg, June 2, 1797:
“With diffidence I now address you in consequence of having failed after my first voyage from China, to return the two hundred Dollars you favored me with the Loan of. Be assured Dr. Sir that I left goods unsold at the time of my Departure from Philadelphia on the second voyage, & directed that the money arising therefrom should be paid to you, but the integrity of my agent did not prove to be so uncorrupted as I had flattered myself. I have, at this late period, sent by Mr. G. Tevis the sum of two hundred Dollars with interest therefrom from the 15th of March 1795 to the 1st June, 1797. That sum has laid the foundation of a pretty fortune, for which I shall ever feel myself indebted to you.”
He added that he had been refused the loan by a near relation before Washington had so kindly obliged him and that his mother, who was evidently acquainted with Washington, joined in hearty thanks for the benefit received.
Washington had experienced enough instances of ingratitude to be much pleased with the outcome of this affair. He replied in the kindest terms, but declined to receive the interest, saying that he had not made the loan as an investment and that he did not desire a profit from it.
Another recipient of Washington’s bounty was his old neighbor, Captain John Posey. Posey sold Washington not only his Ferry Farm but also his claim to western lands. He became financially embarrassed, in fact, ruined; his family was scattered, and he made frequent applications to Washington for advice and assistance. Washington helped to educate a son, St. Lawrence, who had been reduced to the hard expedient of tending bar in a tavern, and he also kept a daughter, Milly, at Mount Vernon, perhaps as a sort of companion to Mrs. Washington. The Captain once wrote:
“I could [have] been able to [have] Satisfied all my old Arrears, some months AGoe, by marrying [an] old widow woman in this County. She has large soms [of] cash by her, and Prittey good Est.–She is as thick as she is high—And gits drunk at Least three or foure [times] a weak—which is Disagreable to me–has Viliant Sperrit when Drunk–its been [a] great Dispute in my mind what to Doe,–I beleave I shu’d Run all Resks–if my Last wife, had been [an] Even temper’d woman, but her Sperrit, has Given me such [a] Shock–that I am afraid to Run the Resk again.”
Evidently the Captain did not find a way out of his troubles by the matrimonial route, for somewhat later he was in jail at Queenstown, presumably for debt, and we find in one of Washington’s cash memorandum books under date of October 15, 1773: “By Charity–given Captn. Posey,” four pounds. One of the sons later settled in Indiana, and the “Pocket” county is named after him.
Another boy toward whose education Washington contributed was the son of Doctor James Craik–the boy being a namesake. Doctor Craik was one of Washington’s oldest and dearest friends. He was born in Scotland two years before Washington saw the light at Wakefield, graduated from Edinburgh University, practised medicine in the West Indies for a short time and then came to Virginia. He was Washington’s comrade in arms in the Fort Necessity campaign, was subsequently surgeon general in the Continental Army, and accompanied Washington to the Ohio both in 1770 and 1784. He married Mariane Ewell, a relative of Washington’s mother, and resided many years in Alexandria. He was a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon both as a friend and in a professional capacity, and Washington declared that he would rather trust him than a dozen other doctors. Few men were so close to the great man as he, and he was one of the few who in his letters ventured to tell chatty matters of gossip. Thus, in August, 1791, he wrote a letter apropos of the bad health of George A. Washington and added: “My daughter Nancy is there [Mt. Vernon] by way of Amusement awhile. She begins to be tired of her Fathers house and I believe intends taking an old Batchelor Mr. Hn. for a mate shortly.” Another young lady, Miss Muir, who had recently gone to Long Island for the benefit of the sea baths was “pursued” by a Mr. Donaldson and the latter now writes that “he shall bring back a wife with him.” Craik was a thorough believer in Washington’s destiny, and in the dark days of the Revolution would hearten up his comrades by the story of the Indian chieftain met upon the Ohio in 1770 who had vainly tried to kill Washington in the battle of the Monongahela and had finally desisted in the belief that he was invulnerable.
To friends, family, church, education and strangers our Farmer was open-handed beyond most men of his time. His manager had orders to fill a corn-house every year for the sole use of the poor in the neighborhood and this saved numbers of poor women and children from extreme want. He also allowed the honest poor to make use of his fishing stations, furnishing them with all necessary apparatus for taking herring, and if they were unequal to the task of hauling the seine, assistance was rendered them by the General’s servants.
To Lund Washington he wrote from the camp at Cambridge: “Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessaries, provided that it does not encourage them to idleness; and I have no objection to you giving my money in charity to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire it should be done. You are to consider that neither _myself nor wife_ is now in the way to do these good offices.”
His relations with his own kindred were patriarchal in character. His care of Mrs. Washington’s children and grandchildren has already been described. He gave a phaeton and money to the extent of two thousand five hundred dollars to his mother and did not claim possession of some of the land left him by his father’s will. To his sister Betty Lewis he gave a mule and many other presents, as well as employment to several of her sons. He loaned his brother Samuel (five times married) considerable sums, which he forgave in his will, spent “near five thousand dollars” on the education of two of his sons, and cared for several years for a daughter Harriot, notwithstanding the fact that she had “no disposition … to be careful of her cloaths.” To his nephew, Bushrod Washington, he gave money and helped him to obtain a legal education, and he assisted another nephew, George A. Washington, and his widow and children, in ways already mentioned. Over forty relatives were remembered in his will, many of them in a most substantial manner.
In the matter of eating and drinking Washington was abstemious. For breakfast he ordinarily had tea and Indian cakes with butter and perhaps honey, of which he was very fond. His supper was equally light, consisting of perhaps tea and toast, with wine, and he usually retired promptly at nine o’clock. Dinner was the main meal of the day at Mount Vernon, and was served punctually at two o’clock. One such meal is thus described by a guest:
“He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and directed us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very good, a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowls, beef, peas, lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc. etc. We were desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine with Mrs. Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker Crakes and Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady whose name is Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave ‘all our Friends.'”
The General ordinarily confined himself to a few courses and if offered anything very rich would reply, “That is too good for me.” He often drank beer with the meal, with one or two glasses of wine and perhaps as many more afterward, often eating nuts, another delicacy with him, as he sipped the wine.
He was, in fact, no prohibitionist, but he was a strong believer in temperance. He and the public men of his time, being aristocrats, were wine drinkers and few of them were drunkards. The political revolution of 1830, ushered in by Jackson, brought in a different type–Westerners who drank whisky and brandy, with the result that drunkenness in public station was much more common. Many of the Virginia gentlemen of Washington’s day spent a fourth or even a third of their income upon their cellars. He was no exception to the rule, and from his papers we discover many purchases of wine. One of the last bills of lading I have noticed among his papers is a bill for “Two pipes of fine old London particular Madeira Wine,” shipped to him from the island of Madeira, September 20, 1799. One wonders whether he got to toast “All our Friends” out of it before he died.
[Illustration: One of Washington’s Tavern Bills]
His sideboard and table were well equipped with glasses and silver wine coolers of the most expensive construction. As in many other matters, his inventive bent turned in this direction. Having noticed the confusion that often arose from the passing of the bottles about the table he designed when President a sort of silver caster capable of holding four bottles. They were used with great success on state occasions and were so convenient that other people adopted the invention, so that wine _coasters_, after the Washington design, became a part of the furniture of every fashionable sideboard.
To cool wine, meat and other articles, Washington early adopted the practice of putting up ice, a thing then unusual. In January, 1785, he prepared a dry well under the summer house and also one in his new cellar and in due time had both filled. June fifth he “Opened the well in my Cellar in which I had laid up a store of Ice, but there was not the smallest particle remaining.–I then opened the other Repository (call the dry Well) in which I found a large store.” Later he erected an ice house to the eastward of the flower garden.
His experience with the cellar well was hardly less successful than that of his friend, James Madison, on a like occasion. Madison had an ice house filled with ice, and a skeptical overseer wagered a turkey against a mint julep that by the fourth of July the ice would all have disappeared. The day came, they opened the house, and behold there was enough ice for exactly _one_ julep! Truly a sad situation when there were _two_ Virginia gentlemen.
Mention of Madison in this connection calls to mind the popular notion that it was his wife Dolly who invented ice-cream. I believe that her biographers claim for her the credit of the discovery. The role of the iconoclast is a thankless one and I confess to a liking for Dolly, but I have discovered in Washington’s cash memorandum book under date of May 17, 1784, the entry: “By a Cream Machine for Ice,” L1.13.4–that is an ice-cream freezer. The immortal Dolly was then not quite twelve years old.
Washington seems to have owned three coaches. The first he ordered in London in 1758 in preparation for his marriage. It was to be fashionable, genteel and of seasoned wood; the body preferably green, with a light gilding on the mouldings, with other suitable ornaments including the Washington arms. It was sent with high recommendations, but proved to be of badly seasoned material, so that the panels shrunk and slipped out of the mouldings within two months and split from end to end, much to his disgust. Such a chariot was driven not with lines from a driver’s box, but by liveried postillions riding on horseback, one horseman to each span.
The second coach he had made in Philadelphia in 1780 at a cost of two hundred and ten pounds in specie. It was decidedly better built.
The last was a coach, called “the White Chariot,” bought second hand soon after he became President. It was built by Clarke, of Philadelphia, and was a fine vehicle, with a cream-colored body and wheels, green Venetian blinds and the Washington arms painted upon the doors. In this coach, drawn by six horses, he drove out in state at Philadelphia and rode to and from Mount Vernon, occasionally suffering an upset on the wretched roads. It was strong and of good workmanship and its maker heard with pride that it had made the long southern tour of 1791 without starting a nail or a screw. This coach was purchased at the sale of the General’s effects by George Washington Parke Custis and later in a curious manner fell into the possession of Bishop Meade, who ultimately made it up into walking sticks, picture frames, snuff boxes and such mementoes.
At Mount Vernon to-day the visitor is shown a coach which the official Handbook states is vouched for as the original “White Chariot.” In reality it seems to be the coach once owned by the Powell family of Philadelphia. It is said to have been built by the same maker and on the same lines, and Washington may have ridden in it, but it never belonged to him.
Most people think of Washington as a marble statue on a pedestal rather than as a being of flesh and blood with human feelings, faults and virtues. He was self-contained, he was not voluble, he had a sense of personal dignity, but underneath he was not cold. He was really hot-tempered and on a few well-authenticated occasions fell into passions in which he used language that would have blistered the steel sides of a dreadnaught. Yet he was kind-hearted, he pitied the weak and sorrowful, and the list of his quiet benefactions would fill many pages and cost him thousands of pounds. He was even full of sentiment in some matters; on more than one occasion he provided positions that enabled young friends or relatives to marry, and I shrewdly suspect that he engineered matters so that the beloved Nelly Custis obtained a good husband in the person of his nephew, Lawrence Lewis. I might say much more tending to show his human qualities, but I shall add only this: Having for many years studied his career from every imaginable point of view, I give it as my deliberate opinion that perhaps no man ever lived who was more considerate of the rights and feelings of others. Not even Lincoln had a bigger heart.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE VALE OF SUNSET
Washington looked forward to the end of his presidency as does “the weariest traveler, who sees a resting-place, and is bending his body to lay thereon.” “Methought I heard him say, ‘Ay.’ I am fairly out, and you are fairly in; see which of us is the happiest,” wrote John Adams to his wife Abigail. And from Mount Vernon Nelly Custis informed a friend that “grandpapa is very well and much pleased with being once more Farmer Washington.”
The eight years of toilsome work, which had been rendered all the harder by much bitter criticism, had aged him greatly and this helped to make him doubly anxious to return to the peace and quiet of home for his final days. And yet he was affected by his parting from his friends and associates. A few partisan enemies openly rejoiced at his departure, but there were not wanting abundant evidences of the people’s reverence and love for him. It is a source of satisfaction to us now that his contemporaries realized he was one of the great figures of history and that they did not withhold the tribute of their praise until after his death. As we turn the thousands of manuscripts that make up his papers we come upon scores of private letters and public resolutions in which, in terms often a bit stilted but none the less sincere, a country’s gratitude is laid at the feet of its benefactor.
The Mount Vernon to which he returned was perhaps in better condition than was that to which he retired at the end of the Revolution, for he had been able each summer to give the estate some personal oversight; nevertheless it was badly run down and there was much to occupy his attention. In April he wrote: “We are in the midst of litter and dirt, occasioned by joiners, masons, painters, and upholsterers, working in the house, all parts of which, as well as the outbuildings, are much out of repair.”
Anderson remained with him, but Washington gave personal attention to many matters and exercised a general oversight over everything. Like most good farmers he “began his diurnal course with the sun,” and if his slaves and hirelings were not in place by that time he sent “them messages of sorrow for their indisposition.” Having set the wheels of the estate in motion, he breakfasted. “This being over, I mount my horse and ride around my farms, which employs me until it is time for dinner, at which I rarely miss seeing strange faces…. The usual time of sitting at table, a walk, and tea bring me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented by company, I resolve that, as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing table and acknowledge the letters I have received, but when the lights are brought I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next night comes, and with it the same causes of postponement, and so on…. I have not looked into a book since I came home; nor shall I be able to do it until I have discharged my workmen, probably not before the nights grow longer, when possibly I may be looking in Doomsday Book.”
He had his usual troubles with servants and crops, with delinquent tenants and other debtors; he tried Booker’s threshing machine, experimented with white Indian peas and several varieties of wheat, including a yellow bearded kind that was supposed to resist the fly, and built two houses, or rather a double house, on property owned in the Federal City–he avoided calling the place “Washington.”
A picture of the Farmer out upon his rounds in these last days has been left us by his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis. Custis relates that one day when out with a gun he met on the forest road an elderly gentleman on horseback who inquired where he could find the General. The boy told the stranger, who proved to be Colonel Meade, once of Washington’s staff, that the General was abroad on the estate and pointed out what direction to take to come upon him. “You will meet, sir, with an old gentleman riding alone in plain drab clothes, a broad-brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, and carrying an umbrella with a long staff, which is attached to his saddle-bow–that person, sir, is General Washington.”
Those were pleasant rides the old Farmer took in the early morning sunshine, with the birds singing about him, the dirt lanes soft under his horse’s feet, and in his nostrils the pure air fragrant with the scent of pines, locust blossoms or wild honeysuckle. When he grew thirsty he would pause for a drink at his favorite gum spring, and as he made his rounds would note the progress of the miller, the coopers, the carpenters, the fishermen, and the hands in the fields, how the corn was coming up or the wheat was ripening, what fences needed to be renewed or gaps in hedges filled, what the increase of his cattle would be, whether the stand of clover or buckwheat was good or not. He was the owner of all this great estate, he was proud of it; it was his home, and he was glad to be back on it once more. For he had long since realized that there are deeper and more satisfying pleasures than winning battles or enjoying the plaudits of multitudes.
An English actor named John Bernard who happened to be in Virginia in this period has left us a delightfully intimate picture of the Farmer on his rounds. Bernard had ridden out below Alexandria to pay a visit and on his return came upon an overturned chaise containing a man and a woman. About the same time another horseman rode up from the opposite direction. The two quickly ascertained that the man was unhurt and managed to restore the wife to consciousness, whereupon she began to upbraid her husband for carelessness.
“The horse,” continues Bernard, “was now on his legs, but the vehicle was still prostrate, heavy in its frame and laden with at least half a ton of luggage. My fellow-helper set me an example of activity in relieving it of internal weight; and when all was clear we grasped the wheel between us and to the peril of our spinal columns righted the conveyance. The horse was then put in and we lent a hand to help up the luggage. All this helping, hauling and lifting occupied at least half an hour under a meridian sun, in the middle of July, which fairly boiled the perspiration out of our foreheads.”
After the two Samaritans had declined a pressing invitation to go to Alexandria and have a drop of something, the unknown, a tall man past middle age, wearing a blue coat and buckskin breeches, exclaimed impatiently at the heat and then “offered very courteously,” says Bernard, “to dust my coat, a favor the return of which enabled me to take a deliberate survey of his person.”
The stranger then called Bernard by name, saying that he had seen him play in Philadelphia, and asked him to accompany him to his house and rest, at the same time pointing out a mansion on a distant hill. Not till then did Bernard realize with whom he was speaking.
“Mt. Vernon!” he exclaimed. “Have I the honor of addressing General Washington?”
With a smile Washington extended his hand and said: “An odd sort of introduction, Mr. Bernard; but I am pleased to find that you can play so active a part in private and without a prompter.”
Then they rode up to the Mansion House and had a pleasant chat[12].
[12] This anecdote is accepted by Mr. Lodge in his life of Washington, but doubt is cast upon it by another historian. All that can be said is that there is nothing to disprove it and that it is not inherently improbable.
Upon his retirement from the presidency our Farmer had told Oliver Wolcott that he probably would never again go twenty miles from his own vine and fig tree, but the troubles with France resulted in a quasi-war and he was once more called from retirement to head an army, most of which was never raised. He accepted the appointment with the understanding that he was not to be called into the field unless his presence should be indispensable, but he found that he must give much of his time to the matter and be often from home, while a quarrel between his friends Knox and Hamilton over second place joined with Republican hostility to war measures to add a touch of bitterness to the work. Happily war was avoided and, though an adjustment of the international difficulties was not reached until 1800, Washington was able to spend most of the last months of his life at Mount Vernon comparatively undisturbed.
Yet things were not as once they were. Mrs. Washington had aged greatly and was now a semi-invalid often confined to her bed. The Farmer himself came of short-lived stock and realized that his pilgrimage would not be greatly prolonged. Twice during the year he was seriously ill, and in September was laid up for more than a week. His brother Charles died and in acknowledging the sad news he wrote:
“I was the first, and am, now, the last of my father’s children by the second marriage, who remain.
“When I shall be _called upon to follow them_ is known only to the Giver of Life. When the summons comes, I shall endeavor to obey it with good grace.”
And yet there were gleams of joy and gladness. “About candlelight” on his birthday in 1799 Nelly Custis and his nephew, Lawrence Lewis, were wedded. The bride wished him to wear his gorgeous new uniform, but when he came down to give her away he wore the old Continental buff and blue and no doubt all loved him better so. Often thereafter the pair were at Mount Vernon and there on November twenty-seventh a little daughter came as the first pledge of their affection. As always there was much company. In August came a gallant kinsman from South Carolina, once Colonel but now General William Washington of Cowpens fame, and for three days the house was filled with guests and there was feasting and visiting. November fifteenth Washington “Rode to visit Mr. now Lord Fairfax,” who was back from England with his family, and the renewal of old friendships proved so agreeable that in the next month the families dined back and forth repeatedly.
Nor did the Farmer cease to labor or to lay plans for the future. He entered into negotiations for the purchase of more land to round out Mount Vernon and surveyed some tracts that he owned. On the tenth of December he inclosed with a letter to Anderson a long set of “Instructions for my manager” which were to be “most strictly and pointedly attended to and executed.” He had rented one of the farms to Lawrence Lewis, also the mill and distillery, and was desirous of renting the fishery in order to have less work and fewer hands to attend to; in fact, “an entire new scene” was to be enacted. The instructions were exceedingly voluminous, consisting of thirty closely written folio pages, and they contain plans for the rotation of crops for several years, as well as specific directions regarding fencing, pasturage, composts, feeding stock, and a great variety of other subjects. In them one can find our Farmer’s final opinions on certain phases of agriculture. To draw them up must have cost him days of hard labor and that he found the task wearing is indicated by the fact that in two places he uses the dates 1782 and 1783 when he obviously meant 1802 and 1803.
There was no hunting now nor any of those other active outdoor sports in which he had once delighted and excelled, while “Alas! our dancing days are no more.” Happily he was able to ride and labor to the last, yet more and more of his time had to be spent quietly, much of it, we may well believe, upon the splendid broad veranda of his home.
Unimaginative and unromantic though he was, what visions must sometimes have swept through the brain of that simple farmer as he gazed down upon the broad shining river or beyond at the clustered Maryland hills glorified by the descending sun. Perchance in those visions he saw a youthful envoy braving hundreds of miles of savage wilderness on an errand from which the boldest might have shrunk without disgrace. Then with a handful of men in forest green it is given to that youth to put a Continent in hazard and to strike on the slopes of Laurel Hill the first blow in a conflict that is fought out upon the plains of Germany, in far away Bengal and on most of the Seven Seas. For an instant there rises the delirium of that fateful day with Braddock beside the ford of the Monongahela when
“Down the long trail from the Fort to the ford, Naked and streaked, plunge a moccasined horde: Huron and Wyandot, hot for the bout;
Shawnee and Ottawa, barring him out.
“‘Twixt the pit and the crest, ‘twixt the rocks and the grass, Where the bush hides the foe and the foe holds the pass, Beaujeu and Pontiac, striving amain;
Huron and Wyandot, jeering the slain,”
The years pass and the same figure grown older and more sedate is taking command of an army of peasantry at war with their King. Dorchester Heights, Brooklyn, Fort Washington, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Morristown, the sun of Yorktown; Green, Gates, Arnold, Morgan, Lee, Lafayette, Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis–what memories! Lastly, a Cincinnatus grown bent and gray in service leaves his farm to head his country’s civil affairs and give confidence and stability to an infant government by his wisdom and character.
Here, with bared heads, let us take leave of him–a farmer, but “the greatest of good men and the best of great men.”
THE END
INDEX
Adams, Abigail, letter of husband to about Washington’s retirement, 306. Adams, John: believes Washington was made by marriage with Custis money, 16; on Washington’s retirement, 306.
Ague, prevalence of along the Potomac, 65. Alfalfa, _see “Lucerne”_.
Alton, John, a servant of Washington’s, 170, 174, 175. Anderson, James: manager of Mount Vernon, 181, 182; sends list of the increase of slaves, 194; mentioned by Parkinson, 276; remains with Washington, 307; final instructions to, 315. _Anna_, brings indentured servants from Ireland, 167. _Annals of Agriculture_ used by Washington, 71, 72; nature of, 74; plan of drill published in, 107; Washington begins to read, 116; plan of barn in, 117; threshing machine described in, 126. _A Practical Treatise of Husbandry_: used by Washington, 71; its author, 73.
Barrel plough: Washington makes one, 107; operation of, 108-110. Bartram, John, Washington obtains plants from, 159. Bassett, Fanny, matrimonial adventures of, 177, 180. Bater, Philip, Washington agrees to let him get drunk on certain days, 169. Bath (Berkeley Springs): Washington’s land at, 28; Patty Custis taken to, 223.
Bear, one chased by the hounds, 257. Belvoir, fox hunting dinners at, 258.
Bernard, John, peculiar meeting of with Washington, 310-312. Bishop, Sally: Custis’ story of, 171-173; marries Thomas Green, 173; later history of, 174.
Bishop, Thomas, history of, 170-173. Bixby, Thomas K., owns the Lear papers, 86. “Blueskin,” one of Washington’s war horses, 132, 133. Board of Agriculture: Washington elected honorary member of, 84; he is influenced by example of, 128. Booker, William: makes threshing machine for Washington, 126, 127; mentioned, 308.
Boston Athenaeum, buys Washington relics, 86. _Boston_, British frigate, Washington sells bull to, 144. “Botanical Garden”: used for experimental purposes, 106; location of, 161.
Boucher, Jonathan, teaches John Parke Custis, 225. Bowen, Cavan, indentured servant, bought, 167. Bowling Green: laid out by Washington, 154; mentioned, 161. Box hedge, doubtful history of, 160, 161. Braddock, Gen. Edward: Washington joins staff of, 4, 5; Bishop his servant, 170; mentioned, 12, 316. Brents, Washington purchases, 17.
Bruff, Thomas, amusing request for a loan, 291-293. Bullskin Plantation, Washington patents, 9. Burbank, Luther, mentioned, 107.
Burnes, David, quizzes Washington about his marriage, 16. Butler,–: a gardener, 161; dismissed, 183.
Calvert, Eleanor: love affair with John Parke Custis, 225; letter of Martha Washington to, 226; for second husband marries Doctor Stuart, 231.
Campbell’s tavern, Washington in card game at, 250. Campion,–, brings “Knight of Malta,” 140. Cape of Good Hope wheat, Washington experiments with, 105. Carrington, Mrs. Edward, describes Martha Washington’s sewing activities, 232, 233.
Carroll, Charles, interested in Nelly Custis, 235. Carter, Charles H., returns a loan, 293, 294. Gary, freedman, death of at great age, 218. Cattle: poor quality of, 56, 57; number lost in twenty months, 142; Washington’s experiences with, 143 et seq.; number owned in 1799, 148; Parkinson’s poor opinion of, 276, 279.
Chastellux, Marquis de: Washington describes to him the delights of his retirement, 5; letter of Washington to about inland navigation, 26; on Washington’s horsemanship, 235.
Chinch bugs, a bad year for, 104.
Chinese geese, Gouverneur Morris sends some to Washington, 147. Chinese pigs, a gift to Washington, 147. Christian, Mr., dancing master, 247, 248. Cincinnatus: Washington did not affect role of, 6; picture of the American at Mount Vernon, 131; mentioned, 317.
Clifton,–, fails to abide by a bargain with Washington, 17. Clinton, George: in partnership with Washington in a land speculation, 26; sends young trees and vines to Washington, 155. Coaches: Washington’s experiences with, 303, 304; mentioned, 141.
Compost, Washington experiments with, 92-94. “Compound,” a jackass, 140.
Congress, Washington recommends establishment of a board of agriculture to, 127, 128.
Conservationist, Washington the first, 129. Copy-book, Washington’s, verses quoted from, 5. Corn: some raised in Virginia, 51, 52;
chief food of laborers and horses, 53; Washington’s experience growing, 69;
his opinion as to the proper time for planting, 105. Craik, Dr. James: tours western country with Washington, 20 et seq., 27 et seq.; physician to Mount Vernon, 195; fishes with Washington, 265; relations of Washington with, 296, 297. Craik, William, accompanies Washington on western trip of 1784, 28. Crawford, Captain William: Washington’s western agent, 19; descends the Ohio with Washington, 20; locates lands for Washington, 22;
trouble of with squatters, 23;
burnt at stake, 23;
buys Great Meadows for Washington, 29. _Cross Purposes_, Washington sees performance of, 245. Crow,–: overseer, 183;
not to be trusted with punishing slaves, 203. Cupid, near death of pleurisy, 196.
Custis children: Washington guardian of, 14, 15; his accounts with the estate of, 81.
Custis, Daniel Parke, first husband of Martha Washington, 12, 220. Custis, Elizabeth, frequent visitor at Mount Vernon, 231. Custis, George Washington Parke: sees Washington fall from a horse, 133; story of Sally Bishop, 171;
adopted, 175;
biography of, 227-229;
spoiled by his grandmother, 236; says “Magnolia” ran in a race, 252;
account of French hounds, 259 et seq.; slays a stag, 268;
story of a black fox, 262;
in error as to Washington’s last hunt, 264; leaves word picture of Washington out on his rounds, 309.
Custis, John Parke: biography of, 225, 226; member of dancing class, 248; fox hunting with Washington, 256; deer hunting at Mason’s, 257.
Custis, Martha (Patty): hairpin of mended, 15; taken to Bath for her health, 28; biography of, 222-225; member of dancing class, 248.
Custis, Martha, a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon, 231. Custis, Nelly: builds “Woodlawn,” 63; adopted by Washington, 175; is given Dogue Run Farm, 227; rebuked by grandmother, 235; compelled to practise music, 236; Washington dances with, 249; mentioned, 300; secures a good husband, 305; says Washington is pleased with being once more a farmer, 306; marriage of, 314. Cyrus, to be made a waiting man, 210.
Dandridge, Martha, _see “Martha Washington”_ 219. Darrell,–: Washington buys land from, 9; mentioned, 17. Davenport,–, dies and leaves family in distress, 187, 188. Davis, Betty, a lazy impudent huzzy, 199, 200. Davis, Tom, Mount Vernon hunter, 267.
Davy: colored overseer of Muddy Hole Farm, 183; suspected of stealing lambs, 206.
Deer: Washington’s tame animals, 131, 267; deer seen on Ohio, 253; deer hunt at George Mason’s, 257, 258; Custis shoots a buck, 268, 269.
Dismal Swamp Company, Washington’s interest in, 19, 33. Dogs, kill sheep, 55, 142, 143. _See also “Hounds_.” Dogue Run, used as a mill stream, 97.
Dogue Run Farm: described, 62, 63; rotation plans for, 120; sixteen-sided barn built upon, 124; excellent threshing floor of this barn, 125; rented to Lawrence Lewis, 127; conjuring negroes at, 213; given to Lawrence Lewis and his wife, 227; financial return from in 1798, 287. Dower negroes: belong to Custis estate, 14; number of in 1799, 218. Drill, _see “Barrel Plough_.”
Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis, his treatise on husbandry abstracted by Washington, 71, 73, 74. Dunmore, Lord, issues a land patent to Washington, 25. Dutch fan, one owned by Washington at the time of his death, 128.
Eastern Shore oats, wild onions picked out of, 111. Eastern Shore peas, experiment with, 105. Evans, Joshua, puts iron ring on Patty Custis, 224. Everett, Edward, buys the Pearce papers, 86.
Fairfax, Anne: wife of Lawrence Washington, 10; marries George Lee and sells her life interest in Mount Vernon to George Washington, 11.
Fairfax, Lord Thomas: employs George Washington as a surveyor, 9; vast land holdings of, 38;
fondness of fox hunting, 255;
hunts with Washington, 256.
Fairfax, Sir William, father of wife of Lawrence Washington, 11. _Farmer’s Compleat Guide_: used by Washington, 71; abstracts from, 72.
_Federal Gazette_,
describes theatrical performance witnessed by Washington, 246. Ferry, bought of Posey, 17.
Ferry Farm, bought by Washington, 17, 295. Fertilizer: experiments with marl, 95, 99, 105; with mud, 102-104;
experiment fertilizing oats, 112; Noah Webster’s advanced ideas regarding, 118, 119; Washington wants a manager who can convert everything he touches into manure, 119;
_see also “Compost” and “Rotation of Crops”_. Fishery: bought of Posey, 17;
description of, 65, 66;
returns from in 1798, 287.
Fitch, John, visits Washington to interest him in steam navigation, 240. Fitzpatrick, John C, on handwriting of the digest from the _Compleat Guide,_ 72. Florida Blanca, helps Washington obtain a jackass, 137, 138. Flour: Washington’s classification of, 98; excellent quality of, 98.
Forbes, Mrs., Washington’s inquiries about, 189, 190. Ford, Paul Leicester:
opinion of remedies tried on Patty Custis, 223; on Washington’s success as a farmer, 287. Fox hunting: account of Washington’s experiences at, 255-265; mentioned, 100.
Franklin, Benjamin: gives Washington a cane, 87; Washington inspects mangle belonging to, 113. Frederick the Great, mythical story of his sending a sword to Washington, 86.
French, Daniel, breaks contract for sale of corn, 79, 80. French, Mrs. Daniel, Washington hires slaves from, 217. French, Elizabeth, member of dancing class, 248. Frestel, Monsieur, accompanies George W. Lafayette to Mount Vernon, 242.
Garden: doubtful history of part of the flower garden, 160; the vegetable garden, 161.
_Gentleman Farmer_, used by Washington, 71. _George Barnwell_, Washington sees tragedy of acted, 244. George, Prince, compared with Washington by Thackeray, 88. George III, contributes to _Annals of Agriculture_ under pen name of “Ralph Robinson,” 74.
George Town oats, sown, 112.
Golden pheasants, Washington astonished by, 148. Gough,–: gives Washington a bull calf, 144; Parkinson thinks it a poor animal, 276.
Graham, Mrs. Macaulay, visits Mount Vernon, 240. Great Kanawha: Washington visits, 21; land of upon, 21; hunts buffaloes near, 254, 255.
Great Meadows, owned by Washington, 29. Greer, Thomas: marries Sally Bishop, 173; his laziness, 185; mentioned, 183.
Grenville, Lord, issues special permit for sending seeds to Washington, 117.
Guinea swine, some owned by Washington, 147. “Gunner,” a hunting dog, 267.
Gunston Hall, fox hunting dinners at, 258.
_Hamlet_, Washington sees performance of, 245. Haw has: constructed at ends of Mansion House, 154; mentioned, 156. Hedgerows, lines of still visible, 64.
Hedges: traces of still discernible, 64, 162; history of, 162, 163; _see also “Box hedge_.”
Henley, Frances Dandridge, marries Tobias Lear, 177. Hessian fly: Washington experiments to protect his wheat from, 95; plays into hands of by early sowing, 106. _Hippopotamus_, dredge used on Delaware River, 103. Hogs: described by Parkinson, 57, 58; Washington’s, 131, 145-147; large stock of in 1798, 148.
Home,–, his book on farming digested by Washington, 71. _Horse-Hoeing Husbandry_: used by Washington, 71; an epoch-making work, 73.
Horses: in Virginia, 53, 54; American described by Parkinson, 54, 55; Washington’s stallions, 131; brood mares bought by him, 132; his war horses, 132; thrown from a Narragansett, 133; his worn-out animals, 134; accidents to, 134; his skill as a trainer of described by De Chastellux, 134, 135; losses of in twenty months, 142; number of in 1799, 148. Horticulture, Washington’s activities in, 149 et seq. Hounds: Washington builds up a pack of, 258 et seq.; names of some of them, 259; the French hounds, 259 et seq. Humphreys, Colonel: at Mount Vernon, 171; Smith fears he will write a poem, 173; poem of about Washington’s slaves quoted, 211. Hunt, Gaillard, on Washington manuscripts in the Library of Congress, 87.
Ice house, Washington’s, 301, 302.
Indentured servants: classes of, 165; Washington’s dealings with, 166-168.
Jack, Mount Vernon fisherman, 267.
Jackasses: Washington’s, 137 et seq., 148; stud fees of in 1798, 287. Jackson, Andrew, ushers in an era of whisky drinkers, 300. Jefferson, Thomas: explains why land is misused, 53; agricultural correspondence with Washington, 83; carries bundle of pecan trees to Alexandria for Washington, 159; opposed to slavery, 215. Johnson, John, brings nostrum for fits, 224. Johnston, George, sells land to Washington, 9. “Jolly,” a horse, gets leg broken, 134.
Jones,–, Washington visits farm of, 113.
Knight, Humphrey, manages Mount Vernon, 178. “Knight of Malta,” a jackass, his history, 140, 141. Knox, Thomas, one of Washington’s English agents, 45, 46.
“Lady,” has four puppies, 259.
Lafayette, George W., stay of at Mount Vernon, 241, 242, 300. Lafayette, Marquis de: visits Washington, 27; Washington’s letter to regarding “Royal Gift,” 138; sends Washington a jackass and two jennets, 140; last visit to Washington, 240; sends Washington some hounds, 259.
Lame Peter, taught to knit, 193.
Laurie, Dr. James, comes to Mount Vernon drunk, 195. Lear, Lincoln, Washington’s interest in, 175-177. Lear, Tobias: correspondence of with Washington published, 86; biography of, 175-177; marries widow of George A. Washington, 177, 180; writes directions about Billy Lee, 208; Washington explains to him his desire for selling western lands, 213; directed to get slaves out of Pennsylvania, 216; letter of Washington to, 242; Parkinson’s conversation with, 279; gives Parkinson money, 280. Lee, General Charles: story of Washington’s loans to, 81, 82; mentioned, 317.
Lee, George, marries widow of Lawrence Washington, 11. Lee, Henry: sends Washington cuttings of the tree box, 155; they show little signs of growing, 157.
Lee, Robert E., Jr., administrator _de bonis non_ of Washington’s estate, 35.
Lee, William (Billy): accompanies Washington to the Ohio, 20; breeches bought for, 82; helps get Colonel Smith out of a scrape, 172-174; val de chambre, 193; history of, 206-209; freed, 218; acts as huntsman, 260, 261.
“Leonidas,” a stallion, 131.
Lewis, Betty: visit of Washington to, 112; sends brother some filberts, 155; Washington gives her a mule, 298; mentioned, 293. Lewis, Howell, manages Mount Vernon, 180. Lewis, Lawrence: builds “Woodlawn,” 63; rents Dogue Run Farm, 127, 315; with uncle on a ride, 133; Washington expresses wish to that Virginia would abolish slavery, 215; helps Washington entertain guests, 243, 244; possible part of Washington in furthering love affair of, 305; marriage of, 314.
Lewis, Nelly Custis, _see “Nelly Custis”_. Lewis, Robert: manages Mount Vernon, 180; describes tearful scenes on departure of Martha Washington, 237.
Library of Congress, Washington papers in, 5, 85, 87, 90. Little Miami River, history of Washington’s lands upon, 34-36. Long Island Historical Society, Pearce-Washington papers in, 86. Lossing, Benson J., visit of to Mount Vernon, 160. Lucerne, Washington experiments with, 91, 92.
McCracken, Washington buys land from, 9. McKoy,–, overseer, 183.
Madison, Dolly, did not invent ice cream, 302, 303. Madison, James: story of his ice house, 302; opposed to slavery, 215. “Magnolia”: a blooded Arabian stallion, 131, 132; in a race, 252. Magowan, Rev. Mr., sells lottery tickets, 251. _Maid of the Mill_, Washington witnesses performance of, 246. Mansion House: view from porch of, 64; bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, 84; Bishop starts for, 172; grounds of overrun with negro children, 191; hospital for slaves built near, 195; mentioned, 63, 267, 268; Bernard visits, 312.
Mansion House Farm: described, 61; Washington will not rent, 127; bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, 178; financial loss on in 1798, 287.
Manure, _see “Fertilizer”_.
Marl, Washington experiments with, 95, 99, 105. Mason, George: description of industry upon estate of, 40-43; is dead, 233; deer hunting at, 257, 258. Matilda’s Ben, misbehavior of, 205.
Meade, Colonel, visits Washington, 309. Mercer, John F., Washington’s letter to about slavery, 213. Meteorological table, manager required to keep, 83. Michaux, Andre, botanist, brings pyramidical cypress from the king of France, 158.
Military Company of Adventurers, Washington a member of, 19. Mill: Washington’s mill on the Youghiogheny, 24, 30; his mill on Four Mile Run, 97; that on Dogue Run, 97, 98, 182. Mississippi Company, Washington interested in, 10. Morgan, General Daniel: talks over inland waterways question with Washington 28; mentioned, 317.
Morris, Gouverneur: sends Washington Chinese pigs and geese, 146, 147; goes fishing with him, 265. Mosquitoes, prevalence of about Mount Vernon, 65. Mount Vernon: Washington retires to, 4; given to Lawrence Washington, 8; George Washington spends part of youth at, 9; early history of, 10; life interest of Anne Lee in bought by Washington, 11; estate, 16, 17, 20, 32; bequeathed to Bushrod Washington, 33; description of, 60 et seq.; visit of owner in 1781, 78; seeds sent by Young reach, 117; Booker builds threshing machine at, 126, 127; Washington attempts to rent, 127; Washington’s care for the lands of, 129; number of horses on in 1785, 132; number of sheep on, 135; resounds with jubilant sounds, 140; number of oxen on, 144, 208; house rebuilt, 151-153; successive managers of, 178-182; employment of white labor at, 186; slaves seen at, 191; number of slaves on in 1786, 193; lot of slaves at, 211, 212; Edmund Pendleton at, 221; managed by Mrs. Washington, 229; larders of kept well filled, 230; Custis grandchildren reside at, 231; visitors at, 240-242; dancing class meets at, 248; tea served on portico of, 252; fox hunting dinners at, 258; the fisherman of, 267; described by Parkinson, 271 et seq., 291; Washington’s estimate of probable crops on, 286; land of poor, 288; value of in 1798, 288; coach shown there to-day not Washington’s, 304; Nelly Custis writes from, 306; condition of on Washington’s retirement, 307; last months of owner’s life spent at, 313; mentioned, 75, 78, 97, 101, 103, 130, 208, 244, 291, 312, 314. Mount Vernon Association, 63.
Muddy Hole Farm: described, 62; barrel plough used at, 110; its colored overseer, 183, 205; loss on in 1798, 287. Mules: Washington raises, 137 et seq.; proposes to drive them to his carriage, 139; number of in 1799, 148.
Narragansetts, two bought by Washington, 132. Negroes, _see “Slaves.”_
“Nelson,” one of Washington’s war horses, 132, 133. New England, Washington’s observations of agriculture in, 115. Niemcewicz, Julian: describes condition of negroes at Mount Vernon, 197, 198; opinion of Nelly Custis, 227.
“Old Chatham,” a worn-out horse, 134. Overdursh,–, Dutch redemptioner bought with his family, 167. Oxen: used in farm work, 122; number of in 1785, 144; fattened and killed when eight years old, 145.
Palatines: Washington considers importing, 24, 30; mentioned, 167. Palmer, Jonathan, overseer, contract of, 185. Parkinson, James: description of American live stock, 54-58; considers renting one of Washington’s farms, 127; on Washington’s tone toward his slaves, 202; his account of Mount Vernon and Washington’s farming operations, 270-280.
Patterson, John, paid for carpenter work, 153. Peaches, Washington raises, 149.
Pearce, William: letters of Washington to, 86; describes poor condition of the sheep, 137; letter to about Bishop, 171; manages Mount Vernon, 181; overseers described to, 183; letter from about the dead miller’s family, 187; direction to about Cyrus, 209. Perkins’ Tavern, Washington stays over Sunday at, 116. Peters, Richard: quoted regarding wolves, 56; sends plan of drill to Washington, 107.
Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, founded, 91. Phillipse, Mary, Washington’s alleged infatuation with, 170. Piney Branch, turned into Dogue Run, 97. Pitt, William, a contributor to the _Annals of Agriculture, _74. Plow: Washington invents one, 94; buys a Rotheran, 99. Poelnitz, Baron, Washington inspects threshing machine belonging to, 126. Pohick Church, Washington a vestryman of, 100. Poland oats, sown in experimental plot, 112. Pond, Rev., “lame discourses” of, 116.
Poole, William, letter of regarding want of water in mill stream, 97. Posey, Captain John: fox hunting with Washington, 256; Washington’s relations with, 294; bankrupt and in jail, 295, 296. Posey, Milly: member of dancing class, 248; stays at Mount Vernon, 295. Posey, St. Lawrence, Washington helps to educate, 295. Posey plantation, bought by Washington, 17. Potatoes: method of growing under straw, 112; quantity raised in 1788, 113.
Randolph, Edmund, slaves of in Pennsylvania refuse to return to Virginia, 216.
Redemptioners, a class of indentured servants, 166. Richey, Matthew, Washington sells part of his western lands to, 32. River Farm: described, 61, 62; financial return from in 1798, 287. Robert Gary & Company: English agents of Washington, 46, 47; Washington falls in debt to, 48.
Roberts, William M., amusing letter of, 188. Roosevelt, Theodore, transfers Washington papers to Library of Congress, 85.
Ross, Doctor, Washington asks him to buy him some white servants, 167. Rotation of crops: how practised in America, 52; Washington’s elaborate plans for, 120 et seq.
“Royal Gift,” a jackass, his history, 138-141. “Rules of Civility,” quoted, 202.
Rumney, Dr. William, physician to Mount Vernon, 195. Ryan, Thomas, indentured servant, bought, 167.
“Samson,” a stallion, 131.
Seed: Washington anxious to have the best, 110; counts number of grains in a pound of several varieties, 111; obtains some from England, 116, 117.
Serpentine drive, laid out by Washington, 154. Shag, Will, a runaway, 203.
Shaw, William, tutor to the Custis children, 175. Sheep: raising of not much attempted, 55; breeds of, 55; much troubled by wolves and dogs, 55, 56; Washington’s, 135 et seq.; number lost in twenty months, 142; he suspects an overseer of stealing lambs, 206; Parkinson’s opinion of, 278, 279. Siberian wheat, experiment with, 105.
Simpson, Gilbert, one of Washington’s western agents, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31.
Sinclair, Sir John: Washington corresponds with, 83, 91: helps obtain seeds for Washington, 117; Washington sends some American products to, 118.
Sixteen-sided barn, mentioned, 62.
Slaves: Washington inherits from his father, 8; some sent to the west to Simpson’s, 23, 25; steal fruit, 156; as solution of labor problem, 165; detailed account of Washington’s, 191-218. Smith, Colonel, adventure with Sally Bishop, 171-174. Smith, Thomas, Washington’s attorney in case against the squatters, 32. Spears, Thomas, indentured servant, runs away, 168. Spotswood, Gen. Alexander,
Washington’s letter to apropos of slavery, 214. Sprague, William B., is given some of the Washington papers, 85. Squatters: on Washington’s western land, 22, 23; delegation from meet Washington at Simpson’s, 31; dispossessed, 32. Stallions, list of those kept by Washington, 131. “Steady,” a stallion, 131, 284.
Stephens, Richard, his laziness, 186. Stewart, Robert, Washington’s loan to, 293. Stuart, overseer, 183.
Sullivan, Captain, interpreter of directions regarding “Royal Gift,” 138.
Swearingen, Captain van, accompanies Washington on mission to squatters, 31.
Sycamores, enormous ones measured by Washington, 22, 255.
Thackeray, William M., quoted regarding Washington, 87, 88. Thomson, Charles, notifies Washington of his election to the presidency, 240.
Threshing machine: Washington experiments with, 126, 127; owns one at time of death, 128; Parkinson says General has two, 275; uses one of Booker’s model, 308.
Tobacco: place of in Virginia agriculture, 42-52; Washington’s experience with, 68; discontinues growing of, 69. Tom, sent to West Indies, 204, 216.
Toner, J.M.: his transcripts of Washington papers, 79, 86; opinion of regarding inspection of Washington’s flour in the West Indies, 98. “Traveler”: a stallion, 131; stud fee of, 287. Triplett, William, constructs outbuildings, 153. Tull, Jethro: his book on horse-hoeing abstracted by Washington, 71, 73; some of his ideas, 75; quoted by Washington, 92. Turkeys: Washington raises, 131, 147; wild variety mentioned, 253.
Union Farm: described, 61, 62; fishery on, 65; gully upon, 66; new brick barn after Young’s plans built upon, 117; financial return from in 1798, 287.
Virginia, agriculture and life in, 37-59. _Virginia Almanac,_ weather record kept by Washington in, 80. _Virginia Gazette,_ Washington advertises escaped servants in, 167.
Voilett, Edward, agrees to avoid stills, 169. “Vulcan,” raid of on kitchen, 260.
Waggoner Jack, sold in West Indies, 204. Walker, Ann, daughter of John Alton, receives a bequest from Washington, 174.
Walpole Grant, Washington interested in, 10. Washington, Augustine, bequests of to George, 8. Washington, Augustine, Jr., daughter of describes Martha Washington’s activities, 234, 235.
Washington, Bushrod: accompanies Washington on western trip, 28; inherits Mansion House and papers, 84; fails to safeguard papers properly, 85; educated by his uncle, 178; asked to make inquiries about Mrs. Forbes, 189; assisted by his uncle, 299. Washington, George A.: brings mahogany seeds from West Indies, 157; widow of marries Tobias Lear, 177; manages Mount Vernon, 179, 180; course of approved, 184; fox hunting, 263, 264; ill health of, 297; aided by his uncle, 299.
Washington, Harriot, helped by her uncle, 299. Washington, John A., manages Mount Vernon, 177, 178. Washington, John A., inherits books and relics of Washington, 85. Washington, John C, sells Washington papers to the nation, 85. Washington, Lawrence: inherits Mount Vernon, 8; influence of upon George, 9; biography of, 10; mentioned, 76. Washington, Lund: directed to set out trees at end of Mansion House, 151; manages Mount Vernon during the Revolution, 179; Washington’s generous dealings with, 187; will inform owner of delinquencies of Roberts, 189; opinion of Washington’s charity, 230, 231; is dead, 233; fox hunting with Washington, 256, 263; instructions to concerning the poor, 298.
Washington, Martha: marriage of Washington to, 12, 13; family of by first husband, 14; her financial affairs, 14, 15; remembers when there was but one coach in Virginia, 49; “broke out with the Meazles,” 79; tradition concerning her authority over the flower garden, 160; Bishop threatens to tell of Colonel Smith’s escapade, 172; gives a quilt to her niece, 177; on the required work of the sewing servants, 199; chapter about, 219-238; keeps open house, 239; “Vulcan” steals one of her hams, 260; Parkinson’s mention of, 274, 279, 280; her husband’s care of her grandchildren, 298; drinks a glass of wine, 300.
Washington, Mary: death of, 33; son visits, 112; son sends money to, 114, 298.
Washington, Samuel, financial assistance received by from General Washington, 299.
Washington, William: has charge of “Royal Gift” in South Carolina, 139, 140; visits Mount Vernon, 314.
Washington, William A., George Washington buys corn from, 69, 70. Watson, Elkanah, anecdote of visit to Mount Vernon, 244. Weather record, kept by Washington, 77, 80. Webster, Noah: says toast at Mount Vernon was “Success to the mud,” 103; explains how fertility can be obtained from the air, 118, 119; visit of mentioned, 175, 240.
Webster, William, indentured servant, runs away, 168. Western Lands, history of Washington’s, 18-36. Wheat: how reaped and threshed, 51; Washington turns to cultivation of, 69; Washington rolls in spring, 95; his sales of before the Revolution, 96, 97; grinds into flour, 97; excellent quality of Washington’s wheat before the Revolution, 99; experiments with Cape of Good Hope and Siberian, 105; opinion as to proper time for sowing, 106; acreage in 1787, 113.
White, Alexander, pays General Lee’s debt to Washington, 82. White Chariot, history of, 303, 304.
Whiting, Anthony: writes concerning worn-out horses, 133, 134; instructed to cull out the unthrifty sheep, 136, 137; manager of Mount Vernon, 180.
“Wilderness”: Washington sets out, 154; many trees dead in, 156. Wine coasters, invented by Washington, 301. Witherspoon, John, Washington describes his western lands to, 25. “Woodlawn,” home of Nelly Custis, 63, 227.
Young, Arthur: letters of Washington to about his interest in farming, 1, 2; astonished that wolves and dogs hinder sheep raising in America, 55; Washington explains differences between American and European agriculture to, 58; describes his estate to, 60 et seq., 127; his _Annals of Agriculture_ used by Washington, 71, 74; Washington’s correspondence with, 83, 85, 91; sends inquiries regarding American agriculture, 84; obtains seeds for Washington, 116, 117; sends plan for barn, 117; Washington sends agricultural information to, 118; Washington inquires of regarding a threshing machine, 126; influence of upon Washington, 128; letter of Washington to about his sheep, 136; about his mules, 141; mentioned by Parkinson, 277.