Washington - A Life Part 4

That winter Parliament grew so disgruntled over colonial protests against its tax policy that it was proposed (though never executed) that the ringleaders be s.h.i.+pped to England and tried for treason under an old statute dating from Henry VIII's reign. As word of this proposal spread, so did protest against the mother country. In early April Was.h.i.+ngton received a packet from Dr. David Ross of Bladensburg, Maryland, containing news of a.s.sociations being set up in Philadelphia and Annapolis to boycott nonessential British imports as long as Parliament persisted in foisting unfair taxes on the colonies. The packet included plans for a comparable Virginia a.s.sociation, drawn up by a nameless writer. Was.h.i.+ngton sent it to his friend and neighbor George Mason, who turned out to be the author. A tall, bookish man trained in the law, Mason was more scholarly and less sociable than Was.h.i.+ngton. He inhabited a Georgian mansion called Gunston Hall, just south of Belvoir, which was in turn just south of Mount Vernon.

On April 5, 1769, Was.h.i.+ngton sent Mason a remarkable letter that gave both his private and his public reasons for supporting a boycott of British goods. Doubtless thinking of his own plight, he said a boycott would break the onerous cycle of debt that trapped many colonists, purging their extravagant spending. Before this the average colonial debtor was too weak to break this habit, "for how can I, says he, who have lived in such and such a manner, change my method? . . . besides, such an alteration in the system of my living will create suspicions of a decay in my fortune and such a thought the world must not harbor."28 Was.h.i.+ngton provided here a key insight into the psychology of debt: fear that any attempt at a more frugal existence would disclose the truth about a person's actual wealth. Was.h.i.+ngton provided here a key insight into the psychology of debt: fear that any attempt at a more frugal existence would disclose the truth about a person's actual wealth.

In the letter, Was.h.i.+ngton made clear that his opposition to arbitrary taxation had much to do with setting a precedent against further mischief. Just as the British a.s.sumed the right to taxation, so "they may attempt at least to restrain our manufactories, especially those of a public nature."29 Striking a militant tone, Was.h.i.+ngton suggested that he had moved beyond pet.i.tions and now preferred direct action, although not yet arms. He suddenly found a clear, spirited voice of protest, one that spoke of abstract rights instead of just personal advancement or economic necessity. "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 shou[l]d be done to avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our ancestors." In considering the best means to effect this, he balked at spelling out the treasonous word Striking a militant tone, Was.h.i.+ngton suggested that he had moved beyond pet.i.tions and now preferred direct action, although not yet arms. He suddenly found a clear, spirited voice of protest, one that spoke of abstract rights instead of just personal advancement or economic necessity. "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 shou[l]d be done to avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our ancestors." In considering the best means to effect this, he balked at spelling out the treasonous word arms arms. "That no man shou[l]d scruple or hesitate a moment to use a-ms in defense of so valuable a blessing . . . is clearly my opinion. Yet a-ms, I wou[l]d beg leave to add, should be the last resource."30 Noting the futility of sending more fawning pet.i.tions to the king, he said the only recourse was to starve British trade and manufactures. Noting the futility of sending more fawning pet.i.tions to the king, he said the only recourse was to starve British trade and manufactures.

In many ways, Was.h.i.+ngton's letter to Mason foretells the success of the American Revolution: he tried to be law-abiding, endorsed incremental change, and favored violence only if all else failed. Unlike the French Revolution, the American Revolution started with a series of measured protests by men schooled in self-government, a long, exhaustive search for a diplomatic solution, before moving toward open rebellion. Later on, nothing incensed Was.h.i.+ngton more than the notion that the colonists had proved unreasonable during the run-up to war.

In the following weeks, Was.h.i.+ngton discussed with Mason his proposal for a nonimportation a.s.sociation for Virginia. Then on April 30 Was.h.i.+ngton headed to Williamsburg to present this plan to the burgesses. Until this point he had been a minor, often absentee, legislator, too taciturn and aloof to emerge as a major political force. One observer characterized him as "too bashful and timid for an orator," while another described him as "a modest man, but sensible, and speaks little-in action cool, like a bishop at his prayers."31 Now fired up with a newfound sense of leaders.h.i.+p, Was.h.i.+ngton served on three standing committees, signifying an abrupt elevation in Virginia politics. In opening the new session of the burgesses in early May, Lord Botetourt reminded them of his royal auspices by riding to the capitol in a handsome coach behind a brilliant team of white horses. Held amid the uproar over the Townshend Acts, this spring session promised to be tumultuous and featured a surprising number of new members, including the lanky Virginian from Albemarle County, twenty-six-year-old Thomas Jefferson. Now fired up with a newfound sense of leaders.h.i.+p, Was.h.i.+ngton served on three standing committees, signifying an abrupt elevation in Virginia politics. In opening the new session of the burgesses in early May, Lord Botetourt reminded them of his royal auspices by riding to the capitol in a handsome coach behind a brilliant team of white horses. Held amid the uproar over the Townshend Acts, this spring session promised to be tumultuous and featured a surprising number of new members, including the lanky Virginian from Albemarle County, twenty-six-year-old Thomas Jefferson.

On May 16, with Was.h.i.+ngton present, the burgesses approved the sweeping Virginia Resolves, which contended that only they had the right to tax Virginians. They also insisted upon the right to pet.i.tion the Crown for grievances and restrict trials for treason and other crimes to the colony itself. The next day, having heard enough seditious proposals from these upstart Virginians, Lord Botetourt had the sergeant at arms interrupt their session and summon them to a brief meeting in the council chamber, where he delivered an imperious message. "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses," he began, "I have heard of your resolves and augur ill of their effect. You have made it my duty to dissolve you and you are dissolved accordingly."32 This bald declaration shocked the a.s.sembled worthies into recognizing how little authority they wielded. They weren't the ultimate source of power, which was doled out sparingly at the whim of the Crown. Once Lord Botetourt issued his decree, Was.h.i.+ngton and many other burgesses adjourned to the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern to ponder "their distressed situation."33 In this highly emotional gathering, Was.h.i.+ngton introduced the boycott scheme over which he and Mason had labored. The dissident members formed a committee, including Was.h.i.+ngton, that accepted the plan for a nonimportation a.s.sociation. The next morning the burgesses reconvened in the Apollo Room and affixed their signatures to the plan to boycott any British goods subject to taxes in America. For good measure, they threw in a lengthy list of untaxed goods to shun. This Virginia a.s.sociation would remain in force until the Townshend Acts were repealed. Caught up in the giddy spirit of the moment, Was.h.i.+ngton purchased In this highly emotional gathering, Was.h.i.+ngton introduced the boycott scheme over which he and Mason had labored. The dissident members formed a committee, including Was.h.i.+ngton, that accepted the plan for a nonimportation a.s.sociation. The next morning the burgesses reconvened in the Apollo Room and affixed their signatures to the plan to boycott any British goods subject to taxes in America. For good measure, they threw in a lengthy list of untaxed goods to shun. This Virginia a.s.sociation would remain in force until the Townshend Acts were repealed. Caught up in the giddy spirit of the moment, Was.h.i.+ngton purchased Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, an influential dissident pamphlet written by a wealthy Philadelphia lawyer, John d.i.c.kinson. an influential dissident pamphlet written by a wealthy Philadelphia lawyer, John d.i.c.kinson.

During this early period of discontent, Was.h.i.+ngton and his fellow burgesses danced a strange minuet with Lord Botetourt, alternating defiance with reconciliation. The day after signing the nonimportation agreement, Was.h.i.+ngton mentioned in his diary: "Dined again at Mrs. Dawson's and went to the Queens birth night at the palace."34 A proud, imposing building, the governor's palace boasted marble floors and stacks of muskets mounted on black walnut walls; its ballroom glistened with portraits of the king and queen. That Was.h.i.+ngton and other burgesses would celebrate the queen's birthday still seemed quite natural to them. As the A proud, imposing building, the governor's palace boasted marble floors and stacks of muskets mounted on black walnut walls; its ballroom glistened with portraits of the king and queen. That Was.h.i.+ngton and other burgesses would celebrate the queen's birthday still seemed quite natural to them. As the Virginia Gazette Virginia Gazette commented, "The Governor gave a splendid ball and entertainment at the palace to a very numerous and polite company of ladies and gentlemen." commented, "The Governor gave a splendid ball and entertainment at the palace to a very numerous and polite company of ladies and gentlemen."35 Nothing better ill.u.s.trates the schizoid world of these unsettled legislators than the way they gravitated to the governor's genteel ball despite the political pa.s.sions smoldering underneath. Even among the most hypercritical burgesses, there existed as yet no sense of an irrevocable split from England. Nothing better ill.u.s.trates the schizoid world of these unsettled legislators than the way they gravitated to the governor's genteel ball despite the political pa.s.sions smoldering underneath. Even among the most hypercritical burgesses, there existed as yet no sense of an irrevocable split from England.

In late July Was.h.i.+ngton seemed to rejoice at the chance to inform Robert Cary and Company that he was "determined to adhere religiously" to the new boycott agreement. In submitting an invoice of goods he wanted, Was.h.i.+ngton apprised his agents that nothing should be sent to him that appeared on the list of products taxed by Parliament "as I have heartily enter[e]d into an a.s.sociation" bound to boycott such goods.36 He welcomed the boycott as a chance to extend his far-reaching experiments in economic self-sufficiency at Mount Vernon. In the estimation of one observer, Was.h.i.+ngton "carried the scheme of manufacturing to a greater height than almost any man [in Virginia]." He welcomed the boycott as a chance to extend his far-reaching experiments in economic self-sufficiency at Mount Vernon. In the estimation of one observer, Was.h.i.+ngton "carried the scheme of manufacturing to a greater height than almost any man [in Virginia]."37 Was.h.i.+ngton remained a most unlikely revolutionary. When he was attending the burgesses that autumn, he, Martha, and her daughter, Patsy, traveled to Williamsburg in the glittering green coach, adorned with gilt-edged panels, that Was.h.i.+ngton had so painstakingly ordered from Robert Cary. The tone of this session was less confrontational than in the spring, and Lord Botetourt mollified members by supporting repeal of the Townshend duties, except for the fateful one on tea. His speech previewed a policy s.h.i.+ft by the new administration, headed by Lord North, whose strategy was to undercut the dissidents by revoking the duties while retaining the one on tea to reaffirm parliamentary prerogative. This maneuver succeeded in cooling off the fervor of the Virginia a.s.sociation, even after British grenadiers in early March 1770 fired on a disorderly crowd in Boston, killing five of them in what became known as the "Boston Ma.s.sacre."

The many contradictions of Was.h.i.+ngton's world were on display in Williamsburg that spring. He attended the opening night of The Beggar's Opera The Beggar's Opera and a luxurious ball to honor the king's birthday. Yet this same George Was.h.i.+ngton was dismayed that his fellow Virginians couldn't curb their appet.i.te for imported goods. He was disappointed in June when a new nonimportation agreement relaxed many restrictions, allowing imports of barley and pork, pewter and gold, boots and saddles. Eminently realistic, already equipped with fine political instincts, Was.h.i.+ngton recognized that this watered-down agreement was "the best that the friends to the cause cou[l]d obtain here." At the same time he wished it were "ten times as strict" and frowned on it as "too much relaxed from the spirit with which a measure of this sort ought to be conducted." and a luxurious ball to honor the king's birthday. Yet this same George Was.h.i.+ngton was dismayed that his fellow Virginians couldn't curb their appet.i.te for imported goods. He was disappointed in June when a new nonimportation agreement relaxed many restrictions, allowing imports of barley and pork, pewter and gold, boots and saddles. Eminently realistic, already equipped with fine political instincts, Was.h.i.+ngton recognized that this watered-down agreement was "the best that the friends to the cause cou[l]d obtain here." At the same time he wished it were "ten times as strict" and frowned on it as "too much relaxed from the spirit with which a measure of this sort ought to be conducted."38 Nevertheless that July Was.h.i.+ngton had no qualms about ordering from Robert Cary a pigskin saddle, gold jewelry, and other luxury items only recently proscribed. Nevertheless that July Was.h.i.+ngton had no qualms about ordering from Robert Cary a pigskin saddle, gold jewelry, and other luxury items only recently proscribed.

GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON BELIEVED FERVENTLY in the potential wealth of the western lands, a faith he touted in almost messianic tones. He had long maintained that the foremost Virginia estates were created "by taking up and purchasing at very low rates the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days, but are now the most valuable lands we possess."39 For Was.h.i.+ngton, land speculation was the ideal vehicle for ama.s.sing riches, a way to invest in his own future and that of the country, mingling idealism with profit. He continued to deplore the 1763 proclamation barring settlement beyond the Allegheny Mountains as both myopic and unworkable. When Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, he foresaw that it would trigger a mad scramble for prime frontier acreage. For Was.h.i.+ngton, land speculation was the ideal vehicle for ama.s.sing riches, a way to invest in his own future and that of the country, mingling idealism with profit. He continued to deplore the 1763 proclamation barring settlement beyond the Allegheny Mountains as both myopic and unworkable. When Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon completed their survey of the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, he foresaw that it would trigger a mad scramble for prime frontier acreage.

Was.h.i.+ngton didn't shrink from secrecy and even sharp dealings in real estate, as can be seen in his strenuous efforts to expand his western holdings in the late 1760s. Hoping to purchase up to two thousand acres, he turned to an old ally from the Forbes campaign, Captain William Crawford, who lived in the Ohio Country. Was.h.i.+ngton wanted to scout out forbidden lands beyond the so-called Proclamation Line and didn't think he could afford to wait, advising Crawford that anyone "who neglects the present opportunity of hunting out good lands and in some measure marking and distinguis.h.i.+ng them for their own . . . will never regain it." Crawford agreed to search out large parcels in partners.h.i.+p with Was.h.i.+ngton, who urged him to "keep this whole matter a profound secret," lest other speculators discover their designs before they laid "a proper foundation for success."40 In late 1768 the British negotiated two treaties with the Indians that reopened the Ohio Country to settlers, ushering in frenzied compet.i.tion among real estate speculators. At this point Was.h.i.+ngton renewed his clamor for 200,000 acres of bounty lands promised by Dinwiddie to veterans of the Fort Necessity campaign in 1754, a pledge he considered a sacred public trust. In the conciliatory mood temporarily existing in Williamsburg in late 1769, Was.h.i.+ngton prevailed upon Lord Botetourt to honor this commitment. The governor and council identified the confluence of the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers as the site of these bounty lands. Was.h.i.+ngton proved a natural manager of this enterprise and undertook the necessary surveying work, but his situation was fraught with conflicts of interest, and the entire episode would be shadowed by accusations of sharp dealing from his former men. Was.h.i.+ngton summoned meetings of veterans and induced them to select William Crawford as surveyor of the bounty lands. Not only did Was.h.i.+ngton exploit his position to pin down prime real estate for himself, but he bought up rights surrept.i.tiously from needy veterans to enlarge his holdings.

Was.h.i.+ngton also claimed land under a 1763 royal proclamation that promised land to veterans of the French and Indian War. He had his brother Charles buy up veterans' claims under his own name, even though Was.h.i.+ngton was their undisclosed owner; on another occasion, he effected such a purchase under Lund Was.h.i.+ngton's name. Was.h.i.+ngton also wanted to circ.u.mvent a regulation that limited land grants to officers who had remained with the Virginia Regiment until it dissolved in 1762. Since he had resigned before then, he had Charles buy up claims from those who had served until the end, instructing his brother to operate stealthily and "not let it be known that I have any concern therein."41 When he purchased one property stretching more than forty miles along the Great Kanawha, he flouted a law prohibiting riverfront properties from being more than three times as long as they were deep, a way to prevent monopolies of choice riverine acreage. Most officers had a mile and a half of riverfront on their narrow properties, which then extended five miles back into the countryside. Even as Was.h.i.+ngton developed a wider political vision, he remained extremely aggressive in his real estate dealings. As the biographer James T. Flexner concluded: "In no other direction did Was.h.i.+ngton demonstrate such acquisitiveness as in his quest for the owners.h.i.+p of land." When he purchased one property stretching more than forty miles along the Great Kanawha, he flouted a law prohibiting riverfront properties from being more than three times as long as they were deep, a way to prevent monopolies of choice riverine acreage. Most officers had a mile and a half of riverfront on their narrow properties, which then extended five miles back into the countryside. Even as Was.h.i.+ngton developed a wider political vision, he remained extremely aggressive in his real estate dealings. As the biographer James T. Flexner concluded: "In no other direction did Was.h.i.+ngton demonstrate such acquisitiveness as in his quest for the owners.h.i.+p of land."42 He was far from alone: h.o.a.rding cheap land was a universal madness in Virginia and the other colonies. He was far from alone: h.o.a.rding cheap land was a universal madness in Virginia and the other colonies.

In early October 1770, accompanied by Dr. Craik, three slaves, and a packhorse, Was.h.i.+ngton began a tour of the Ohio Country to inspect properties for himself and his men. He had grown accustomed to having Billy Lee along on these long, rugged journeys, but the young mulatto slave fell ill and stayed behind. On this nine-week expedition, Was.h.i.+ngton felt an acute sense of urgency, since settlers were already flocking to the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers, and he feared they might preempt the most productive soil. He also got wind of a huge scheme by English investors to obtain 2.5 million acres and inaugurate a new colony, Vandalia, whose borders might further curtail the bounty lands. When the British ministry approved this scheme, rebuffing a pet.i.tion from Was.h.i.+ngton's Mississippi Land Company, he darkly decried London's "malignant disposition towards Americans," adding yet another grievance to his lengthening litany of complaints against Crown policies.43 During one leg of the journey, Was.h.i.+ngton was staying about four miles from present-day Pittsburgh when an Indian chief called the White Mingo and other chiefs of the Six Nations requested a meeting. The White Mingo bestowed upon Was.h.i.+ngton a ceremonial string of wampum, then stunned him with a vivid recollection dating back to the French and Indian conflict. Was.h.i.+ngton noted the gist of this speech in his diary: "that as I was a person who some of them remember to have seen when I was sent on an emba.s.sy to the French and most of them had heard of, they were come to bid me welcome to the country and to desire that the people of Virginia wou[l]d consider them as friends and brothers linked together in one chain."44 As he rode or paddled by canoe, Was.h.i.+ngton remained attentive to the commercial prospects of this spa.r.s.ely populated region. In negotiating leases with western farmers, he retained timber and mineral rights and even visited a coal mine. "The coal seemed to be of the very best kind, burning freely and abundance of it," he remarked in his diary.45 While he negotiated forest paths and mountain pa.s.ses that he knew from the French and Indian War, he appraised these wild places with a cool business eye. Even though he bought two hundred acres of the Great Meadows in December 1770, he included no mention of its history in his diary. Of the site where hundreds had been brutally slaughtered under General Braddock, Was.h.i.+ngton merely observed that it wasn't level enough for agriculture. Not until 1772 did Was.h.i.+ngton and his veterans receive the land distributions they had long awaited. Was.h.i.+ngton was allotted more than twenty thousand acres on the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers, augmented by another eleven thousand acres the following year, making him a major western landlord on the eve of the American Revolution. While he negotiated forest paths and mountain pa.s.ses that he knew from the French and Indian War, he appraised these wild places with a cool business eye. Even though he bought two hundred acres of the Great Meadows in December 1770, he included no mention of its history in his diary. Of the site where hundreds had been brutally slaughtered under General Braddock, Was.h.i.+ngton merely observed that it wasn't level enough for agriculture. Not until 1772 did Was.h.i.+ngton and his veterans receive the land distributions they had long awaited. Was.h.i.+ngton was allotted more than twenty thousand acres on the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers, augmented by another eleven thousand acres the following year, making him a major western landlord on the eve of the American Revolution.

As with all challenges to his integrity, Was.h.i.+ngton remained touchy on the subject of the bounty lands and whether he had taken unfair advantage of his men. Although he walked off with the finest properties, he also believed that he had devoted enormous time to surveying the area and that the whole operation hinged on his efforts. Suspicions about his conduct he thought unfair and baseless. When one officer, George Muse, accused him of shortchanging him of land, Was.h.i.+ngton didn't mince words: "As I am not accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the same language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks of my resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a second [letter] of the same tenor. For though I understand you were drunk when you did it, yet give me leave to tell you that drunkenness is no excuse for rudeness." 46 46 If Muse read the newspapers, Was.h.i.+ngton pointed out, he would have seen that he had been allotted the ten thousand acres he claimed, and he concluded by telling his former officer indignantly that he was sorry he had ever "engag[e]d in behalf of so ungrateful and dirty a fellow as you are." If Muse read the newspapers, Was.h.i.+ngton pointed out, he would have seen that he had been allotted the ten thousand acres he claimed, and he concluded by telling his former officer indignantly that he was sorry he had ever "engag[e]d in behalf of so ungrateful and dirty a fellow as you are."47 While Was.h.i.+ngton was in the right here, the letter shows how his bottled-up anger could spew forth unexpectedly and why people intuited correctly that he had a terrible temper. While Was.h.i.+ngton was in the right here, the letter shows how his bottled-up anger could spew forth unexpectedly and why people intuited correctly that he had a terrible temper.

In his eagerness to unlock the riches of the heartland, Was.h.i.+ngton a.s.signed a premier position to the busy river running by his home. If the Potomac could be improved by locks and other measures, he thought, it would emerge as the main thoroughfare for commerce with the interior, enhancing the value of his western holdings. In 1770 the attorney Thomas Johnson, who owned thousands of acres along the Potomac, tried to enlist Was.h.i.+ngton's aid for modest improvements along the river. A short, stocky man of unbounded energy and enthusiasm, he kindled in Was.h.i.+ngton a lasting enthusiasm for the project. Not to be outdone in Potomac boosterism, Was.h.i.+ngton espoused a far more ambitious plan that would connect the river with "a rising empire" in the western country.48 Was.h.i.+ngton clearly foresaw the rich future of this wilderness expanse, if only it could be reached by water. Simple in theory but fiendishly complex in practice, his plan for Potomac commerce required not just endless locks but portages through the mountains of what is now West Virginia. This Potomac scheme would hypnotize his mind much as the vision of a mythical Northwest Pa.s.sage once entranced transatlantic mariners. If the Potomac never became the grand commercial gateway he had envisioned, it was not for want of trying. Was.h.i.+ngton clearly foresaw the rich future of this wilderness expanse, if only it could be reached by water. Simple in theory but fiendishly complex in practice, his plan for Potomac commerce required not just endless locks but portages through the mountains of what is now West Virginia. This Potomac scheme would hypnotize his mind much as the vision of a mythical Northwest Pa.s.sage once entranced transatlantic mariners. If the Potomac never became the grand commercial gateway he had envisioned, it was not for want of trying.

With considerable sophistication about business and politics that already belied his image as a mere planter, Was.h.i.+ngton told Johnson that they shouldn't just rely on legislative grants and the uncertain force of "motives of public spirit."49 Better to rely on self-interest and blatantly appeal to "the monied gentry" who would be drawn by prospective profits. Better to rely on self-interest and blatantly appeal to "the monied gentry" who would be drawn by prospective profits.50 To this end, Was.h.i.+ngton would devise a plan for a joint stock company that would receive charters from Virginia and Maryland and make the river navigable from Tidewater Virginia to the Ohio Country. It would pay back investors by charging tolls on river traffic. Was.h.i.+ngton himself steered a Potomac navigation bill through the House of Burgesses. Despite his insistence that the project would produce "amazing advantages" to both Virginia and Maryland, it foundered in the Maryland legislature because Baltimore businessmen feared it might divert trade from the Chesapeake Bay. To this end, Was.h.i.+ngton would devise a plan for a joint stock company that would receive charters from Virginia and Maryland and make the river navigable from Tidewater Virginia to the Ohio Country. It would pay back investors by charging tolls on river traffic. Was.h.i.+ngton himself steered a Potomac navigation bill through the House of Burgesses. Despite his insistence that the project would produce "amazing advantages" to both Virginia and Maryland, it foundered in the Maryland legislature because Baltimore businessmen feared it might divert trade from the Chesapeake Bay.51 When the project stalled momentarily, it provided Was.h.i.+ngton with yet another early example of the need for intercolonial cooperation. When the project stalled momentarily, it provided Was.h.i.+ngton with yet another early example of the need for intercolonial cooperation.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

The Asiatic Prince FOR SOMEONE of George Was.h.i.+ngton's enterprising nature, Martha Was.h.i.+ngton was the ideal spouse, with a work ethic to match his own. General Nathanael Greene once commented that Virginia ladies "appear to be brought up and educated with habits of industry and attention to domestic affairs," and Martha Was.h.i.+ngton certainly fit that description.1 Never the idle, pampered doyenne of Mount Vernon, she was involved in everything from distilling rose water to gathering ash for making soap. George Was.h.i.+ngton liked to say that "Virginia ladies pride themselves on the goodness of their bacon," and Martha derived special pleasure from the ham and bacon cured in their smokehouse.2 Each day, after an hour dedicated to prayer and meditation, she supervised servants in cooking and cleaning and presided over her sewing circle of slaves, who produced up to twelve hundred yards of homespun cloth yearly. All the while, she retained a folksy, unpretentious style. It was said that even when she wore the same gown for a week, it somehow managed to remain spotless. A woman with a delicate const.i.tution, Martha was often sick for weeks at a time with liver and stomach troubles, known as "bilious fever," but she never let illness slow her down in performing her domestic ch.o.r.es. Each day, after an hour dedicated to prayer and meditation, she supervised servants in cooking and cleaning and presided over her sewing circle of slaves, who produced up to twelve hundred yards of homespun cloth yearly. All the while, she retained a folksy, unpretentious style. It was said that even when she wore the same gown for a week, it somehow managed to remain spotless. A woman with a delicate const.i.tution, Martha was often sick for weeks at a time with liver and stomach troubles, known as "bilious fever," but she never let illness slow her down in performing her domestic ch.o.r.es.

A gregarious person, Martha Was.h.i.+ngton wanted a home crowded with people. With her husband preoccupied by business and politics, she took charge of her two children and enjoyed the demands of motherhood, one visitor noting that "her happiness is in exact proportion to the number of objects upon which she can dispense her benefits."3 She had special cause to worry about her daughter, Patsy. In Charles Willson Peale's watercolor of her at sixteen, Patsy is pretty and elegant, slight of build, her clear eyes sparkling with intelligence. The picture shows how lovingly the Was.h.i.+ngtons spoiled her: her black hair is dressed with pearls, her dress edged with lace, and she wears costly garnet jewelry. Parental affection for Patsy was heightened by the fact that by age six she showed incipient signs of epilepsy. A sad irony of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton's life is that this fretful mother, chronically worried about her children's health, had a daughter with exactly the sort of terrifying illness she dreaded. In 1768 George and Martha were returning from Belvoir with twelve-year-old Patsy when she suffered her first full-scale seizure. As these ghastly convulsions occurred with greater regularity, Dr. William Rumney turned into a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon. He tried to halt the convulsions by bleeding and purging the girl, which only weakened her further. Although he prescribed a dozen different powders, including toxic mercury and the herb valerian, nothing appeared to alleviate the problem. As they watched the wrenching spectacle of this remorseless disease, George and Martha could only have experienced a paralyzing sense of helplessness. She had special cause to worry about her daughter, Patsy. In Charles Willson Peale's watercolor of her at sixteen, Patsy is pretty and elegant, slight of build, her clear eyes sparkling with intelligence. The picture shows how lovingly the Was.h.i.+ngtons spoiled her: her black hair is dressed with pearls, her dress edged with lace, and she wears costly garnet jewelry. Parental affection for Patsy was heightened by the fact that by age six she showed incipient signs of epilepsy. A sad irony of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton's life is that this fretful mother, chronically worried about her children's health, had a daughter with exactly the sort of terrifying illness she dreaded. In 1768 George and Martha were returning from Belvoir with twelve-year-old Patsy when she suffered her first full-scale seizure. As these ghastly convulsions occurred with greater regularity, Dr. William Rumney turned into a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon. He tried to halt the convulsions by bleeding and purging the girl, which only weakened her further. Although he prescribed a dozen different powders, including toxic mercury and the herb valerian, nothing appeared to alleviate the problem. As they watched the wrenching spectacle of this remorseless disease, George and Martha could only have experienced a paralyzing sense of helplessness.

Such is the nature of epilepsy that Martha would have been afraid to leave Patsy alone and would have made sure she was watched at all times. An epileptic child can drown while swimming or collapse into a seizure while descending a staircase. The convulsions can erupt at any time. In his diary for April 14, 1769, Was.h.i.+ngton told of the family setting out for a social visit when "Patcy being taken with a fit on the road by the mill, we turned back."4 Since other children are often terrified when someone has a seizure, the disease would have isolated the adolescent girl. Even today, when it is treated with antiseizure medications, epilepsy is encrusted with baleful legends. In the eighteenth century, people commonly imagined that it signified diabolical possession or might even be contagious. Since other children are often terrified when someone has a seizure, the disease would have isolated the adolescent girl. Even today, when it is treated with antiseizure medications, epilepsy is encrusted with baleful legends. In the eighteenth century, people commonly imagined that it signified diabolical possession or might even be contagious.

Given the rudimentary state of contemporary medicine, the Was.h.i.+ngtons ended up mingling science with superst.i.tion in coping with the illness. In an exasperating quest for a cure, they took Patsy to the leading physicians in Williamsburg, including eight visits to Dr. John de Sequeyra, the scion of a prominent family of Sephardic Jews in London. (This visit is the only time we know for sure that George Was.h.i.+ngton had contact with a Jew before the Revolution.) The Was.h.i.+ngtons also consulted the pompous and self-important Dr. John Johnson, who pumped Patsy full of everything from ether to barley water, to no avail. In all, the Was.h.i.+ngtons consulted at least eight physicians in their search to relieve Patsy's symptoms.

Like many desperate parents, George and Martha Was.h.i.+ngton wound up in the hands of charlatans. In February 1769 a blacksmith named Joshua Evans came to Mount Vernon to forge an iron "cramp ring" for one of Patsy's fingers. Popular superst.i.tion contended that such rings, if accompanied by suitable mumbo jumbo, could banish epilepsy. That summer the Was.h.i.+ngtons took Patsy to the mineral waters at Berkeley Springs, hoping for relief. The resort had become more fas.h.i.+onable since Was.h.i.+ngton and his brother Lawrence had first visited there and now offered everything from gambling to horse racing. In its springs, the women wore prudish, old-fas.h.i.+oned garments, with lead weights secreted in the hems to ensure that water didn't push up their gowns and indecently expose flesh. Writing from the spa, Was.h.i.+ngton informed a friend that Patsy was "troubled with a complaint" and "found little benefit as yet from the experiment" of taking the waters. "What a week or two more may do, we know not and therefore are inclined to put them to the test."5 Was.h.i.+ngton never spelled out the nature of Patsy's "complaint," suggesting the stigma attached to discussing epilepsy openly. Was.h.i.+ngton never spelled out the nature of Patsy's "complaint," suggesting the stigma attached to discussing epilepsy openly.

The adolescent girl's fits grew more horrifying and frequent, sometimes striking twice a day. They recurred so often that Was.h.i.+ngton, in alarm, began to compile a record of them in the margin of his almanac calendars. During one frightful period from June 29 to September 22, 1770, Patsy fell to the floor in convulsions no fewer than twenty-six times. To compensate for her medical tribulations, Was.h.i.+ngton treated the girl to extra clothing and trinkets whenever possible. In Williamsburg that summer he bought her a pair of gold earrings and a tortoisesh.e.l.l comb. By the following year, as shown by invoices to Robert Cary, he was ordering liquid laudanum, a powerful opiate that may well have been administered to Patsy.

In a poignant letter of July 1771, Was.h.i.+ngton disclosed that Martha didn't believe that her daughter would ever be cured or even survive into adulthood. Referring to her anxieties about her son, Jacky, Was.h.i.+ngton observed, "The unhappy situation of her daughter has in some degree fixed her eyes upon him as her only hope."6 Was.h.i.+ngton harbored many reservations about Jacky, who was outwardly sweet and affectionate toward his mother and never less than respectful toward his stepfather. At bottom, however, he was a young wastrel who loved horse races, hunting, and outdoor pursuits far more than his studies. When Charles Willson Peale sketched a watercolor of him, he portrayed the eighteen-year-old Jacky dressed in a green coat with a red collar and a richly embroidered waistcoat. He had a round face with a small chin and slightly crossed eyes, a detail that subtly captured his restless, perhaps immature, nature. Was.h.i.+ngton harbored many reservations about Jacky, who was outwardly sweet and affectionate toward his mother and never less than respectful toward his stepfather. At bottom, however, he was a young wastrel who loved horse races, hunting, and outdoor pursuits far more than his studies. When Charles Willson Peale sketched a watercolor of him, he portrayed the eighteen-year-old Jacky dressed in a green coat with a red collar and a richly embroidered waistcoat. He had a round face with a small chin and slightly crossed eyes, a detail that subtly captured his restless, perhaps immature, nature.

Where Was.h.i.+ngton wrote about Patsy with unfeigned affection, with Jacky he always seemed to bite his tongue and resort to euphemisms. Something about Patsy's sweet simplicity he found irresistible, whereas Jacky's f.e.c.kless nature was to him intolerable. To Was.h.i.+ngton fell the thankless task of being the family disciplinarian, and he had to tread delicately in criticizing Jacky for fear of antagonizing his indulgent mother. Lacking the full legitimacy of a biological father, he found himself in a predicament as he tried to reform Jacky's habits without running afoul of Martha. Though he might be the master of Mount Vernon, George Was.h.i.+ngton was far less powerful in the tiny emotional domain of his nuclear family.

Having been denied an adequate education, Was.h.i.+ngton went to inordinate lengths to educate his stepchildren properly. Starting in 1761, he hired a young, self-effacing Scottish immigrant, Walter Magowan, to tutor the children at home, and they were soon introduced to the Greek Testament and Latin poets and other things George Was.h.i.+ngton never learned. Toward the end of 1767 Magowan surrendered the post and returned to England, hoping to be ordained as an Anglican minister. In seeking a new teacher for thirteen-year-old Jacky, Was.h.i.+ngton contacted the Reverend Jonathan Boucher, an Anglican clergyman who ran a small academy for wealthy boys in his home near Fredericksburg. In his introductory letter, Was.h.i.+ngton described Jacky as "a promising boy" who was "untainted in his morals and of innocent manners," but then he tipped his hand and confessed his "anxiety to make him fit for more useful purposes than a horse racer."7 He was trying to be loyal to Jacky and frank at the same time, a tenuous balancing act he would perform for many years. A toadying character straight out of a Jane Austen novel, Boucher, with a tug of the forelock, answered in an unctuous manner: "Ever since I have heard of Mast[e]r Custis, I have wish[e]d to call him one of my little flock." He was trying to be loyal to Jacky and frank at the same time, a tenuous balancing act he would perform for many years. A toadying character straight out of a Jane Austen novel, Boucher, with a tug of the forelock, answered in an unctuous manner: "Ever since I have heard of Mast[e]r Custis, I have wish[e]d to call him one of my little flock."8 In short order, Was.h.i.+ngton rode off to Boucher's school with Jacky, Jacky's young slave Julius, and two horses. In short order, Was.h.i.+ngton rode off to Boucher's school with Jacky, Jacky's young slave Julius, and two horses.

At first Boucher expressed high hope for his young charge, and Was.h.i.+ngton placed an order in London for one hundred books, many in Latin. A transparently insincere fellow, Boucher laid on the flattery with a trowel, telling Was.h.i.+ngton what he thought he wanted to hear. His first letter described Jacky as a little angel, "a boy of so exceedingly mild and meek a temper" that Boucher worried he might be too artless, with "all the harmlessness of the dove" and none of "the wisdom of the serpent." Of this little paragon, he concluded, "I have not seen a youth that I think promises fairer to be a good and a useful man than John Custis."9 A year later, having discovered Jacky's profligate nature, Boucher whistled a different tune. "You will rem[embe]r my having complain[e]d of Jack's laziness, which, however, I now hope is not incurable," he wrote to Was.h.i.+ngton.10 The reverend's dismay steadily deepened: "The chief failings of [Jacky's] character are that he is const.i.tutionally somewhat too warm, indolent, and voluptuous." He trembled for the fate of the Custis fortune: "Sunk in unmanly sloth, [Jacky's] estate will [be] left to the managem[en]t of some worthless overseer and himself soon be entangled in some matrimonial adventure." The reverend's dismay steadily deepened: "The chief failings of [Jacky's] character are that he is const.i.tutionally somewhat too warm, indolent, and voluptuous." He trembled for the fate of the Custis fortune: "Sunk in unmanly sloth, [Jacky's] estate will [be] left to the managem[en]t of some worthless overseer and himself soon be entangled in some matrimonial adventure."11 Cognizant of the exorbitant wealth he would inherit, Jacky saw little need to apply himself to studies, which couldn't help but distress his stepfather with his nagging work ethic. Cognizant of the exorbitant wealth he would inherit, Jacky saw little need to apply himself to studies, which couldn't help but distress his stepfather with his nagging work ethic.

In 1770 Jonathan Boucher became a rector in Annapolis, Maryland, and Jacky followed him there. Boucher's scathing strictures on Jacky's behavior came in private exchanges with Was.h.i.+ngton and probably weren't communicated to Martha. Always concerned with Jacky's health, she feared he would drown and urged Boucher not to let him swim too frequently. When Boucher devised an elaborate plan to chaperone Jacky on a grand European tour, Was.h.i.+ngton vetoed it as too expensive but probably suspected as well that Martha would never allow her son to travel for an extended period, especially on an ocean voyage.

In the end, Jacky became so uncontrollable that he started gallivanting about with friends after school and often spent the night elsewhere. Was.h.i.+ngton knew that Annapolis, with its horse races and theater, tempted his stepson with its many sinful haunts. "I would beg leave to request," Was.h.i.+ngton told Boucher, "that [Jacky] may not be suffered to sleep from under your own roof . . . nor allow him to be rambling about at nights in company with those who do not care how debauched and vicious his conduct may be."12 No longer feeling obligated to flatter Master Custis, Boucher dropped all pretense. "I must confess to you," he replied, "I never did in my life know a youth so exceedingly indolent or so surprisingly voluptuous. One would suppose nature had intended him for some Asiatic prince." No longer feeling obligated to flatter Master Custis, Boucher dropped all pretense. "I must confess to you," he replied, "I never did in my life know a youth so exceedingly indolent or so surprisingly voluptuous. One would suppose nature had intended him for some Asiatic prince."13 When Boucher suggested that the best way to control Jacky was to send his two horses back to Mount Vernon, Martha furiously refused her permission. When Boucher suggested that the best way to control Jacky was to send his two horses back to Mount Vernon, Martha furiously refused her permission.

In dealing with his stepson, Was.h.i.+ngton betrayed the exasperation of a hardworking man coping with a spoiled rich boy. Jacky was spurning the very education that Was.h.i.+ngton had so sorely missed. Having never learned French himself, Was.h.i.+ngton told Boucher to teach it to Jacky: "To be acquainted with the French tongue is become a part of polite education and, to a man who has an[y idea] of mixing in a large circle, absolutely necessary."14 Jacky never learned French or Greek or mathematics, as he was supposed to do. Jacky never learned French or Greek or mathematics, as he was supposed to do.

One reason that Was.h.i.+ngton monitored Jacky's education so narrowly was that he took seriously his role as guardian of the Custis estate. When he turned down Boucher's request for the grand tour, he explained that its costs would exceed Jacky's income, forcing him to draw down capital. This "might be deemed imprudent in me to allow without the sanction of the court, who are the const.i.tutional guardians of orphans."15 Jacky's estate consisted of four plantations in New Kent County, 15,000 acres of land, somewhere between 200 and 300 slaves, and nearly 10,000 pounds in financial securities. One wonders how Was.h.i.+ngton felt about this devil-may-care stepson whose immense wealth easily rivaled his own. Jacky's estate consisted of four plantations in New Kent County, 15,000 acres of land, somewhere between 200 and 300 slaves, and nearly 10,000 pounds in financial securities. One wonders how Was.h.i.+ngton felt about this devil-may-care stepson whose immense wealth easily rivaled his own.

In early 1773 Was.h.i.+ngton decided that the time had come to s.h.i.+p Jacky off to college. For Martha, William and Mary would have been the most desirable place, given its proximity to Mount Vernon, but Was.h.i.+ngton found the atmosphere at the Virginia school too lax. He wanted to send Jacky to the College of New Jersey (Princeton), but Boucher steered him instead to King's College (predecessor to Columbia) in New York. Boucher argued that King's was located in "the most fas.h.i.+onable and polite place on the continent," and that he counted its president, Dr. Myles Cooper, as a personal friend.16 It is worth noting that Was.h.i.+ngton, taking a dim view of the moral climate in Virginia, wanted to educate his stepson in the North. It is worth noting that Was.h.i.+ngton, taking a dim view of the moral climate in Virginia, wanted to educate his stepson in the North.

Once Was.h.i.+ngton decided in favor of King's, Jacky introduced a fresh complication into the picture. This s.e.xually precocious youth had spent considerable time wooing the opposite s.e.x. "Jack has a propensity to the s.e.x," Boucher warned Was.h.i.+ngton, "which I am at a loss how to judge of, much more how to describe."17 It was only a matter of time before Jacky became seriously involved with a young woman. In December 1771, when Jonathan Boucher moved again, this time to Prince George's County, Maryland, he took along three students. One was Jacky and another was Charles Calvert, son of the wealthy Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy. Jacky courted Eleanor (Nelly) Calvert, Charles's beautiful, dark-eyed sister, and by early 1773 had proposed to her. All this happened without the Was.h.i.+ngtons' knowledge. Shocked by the news, they tried, at a bare minimum, to slow things down. On April 3, 1773, Was.h.i.+ngton wrote an artful letter to Benedict Calvert, stating that he had heard of Nelly's "amiable qualifications" and that "an alliance" with the Calverts would please him and Martha. He then went on to cite Jacky's "youth, inexperience, and unripened education" as "insuperable obstacles . . . to the completion of the marriage." It was only a matter of time before Jacky became seriously involved with a young woman. In December 1771, when Jonathan Boucher moved again, this time to Prince George's County, Maryland, he took along three students. One was Jacky and another was Charles Calvert, son of the wealthy Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy. Jacky courted Eleanor (Nelly) Calvert, Charles's beautiful, dark-eyed sister, and by early 1773 had proposed to her. All this happened without the Was.h.i.+ngtons' knowledge. Shocked by the news, they tried, at a bare minimum, to slow things down. On April 3, 1773, Was.h.i.+ngton wrote an artful letter to Benedict Calvert, stating that he had heard of Nelly's "amiable qualifications" and that "an alliance" with the Calverts would please him and Martha. He then went on to cite Jacky's "youth, inexperience, and unripened education" as "insuperable obstacles . . . to the completion of the marriage."18 Was.h.i.+ngton suggested that the marriage be deferred for two or three years until Jacky completed his education. In the letter, he distanced himself from Jacky and discreetly registered his disapproval without openly disavowing him. Benedict Calvert agreed that Jacky should spend two years at King's College before marrying his daughter. Was.h.i.+ngton suggested that the marriage be deferred for two or three years until Jacky completed his education. In the letter, he distanced himself from Jacky and discreetly registered his disapproval without openly disavowing him. Benedict Calvert agreed that Jacky should spend two years at King's College before marrying his daughter.

FOR WAs.h.i.+NGTON, the other troubling family situation of these years involved his perennial attempt to please his mother, who refused to be satisfied. Mary Ball Was.h.i.+ngton had taken no apparent pride in her son's service in the French and Indian War, and when he resigned from the Virginia Regiment, she commented that there had been "no end to my trouble while George was in the army, but he has now given it up."19 If he felt no real affection for his mother, he was first and last a dutiful son and showed integrity in caring for this self-centered woman. Frequently stopping off to see her in Fredericksburg, he made a point of giving her money. He extended many loans to her, even though she always reneged on repayment. In an account book for January 1772, noting that he had been lending his mother money since 1756, Was.h.i.+ngton offered the acidulous comment, "I suppose she never expected to pay." If he felt no real affection for his mother, he was first and last a dutiful son and showed integrity in caring for this self-centered woman. Frequently stopping off to see her in Fredericksburg, he made a point of giving her money. He extended many loans to her, even though she always reneged on repayment. In an account book for January 1772, noting that he had been lending his mother money since 1756, Was.h.i.+ngton offered the acidulous comment, "I suppose she never expected to pay."20 For decades, Mary Ball Was.h.i.+ngton had lived frugally at Ferry Farm, the ample spread fronting the Rappahannock that George had inherited from his father and that he had let her use freely all these years. For a long time she had delighted in her independence, riding about in an open chaise and supervising the slaves. Now about sixty-three, she was no longer able to superintend the run-down place, and in 1772 George encouraged her to move into Fredericksburg. To make a final provision for her, he spent 275 pounds for a charming white frame house on a one-acre lot at the corner of Charles and Lewis streets in Fredericksburg. He added a wide, deep porch with a slanting roof that overlooked the garden. The house was ideally situated for Mary: a brick footpath led straight to the imposing mansion of her daughter Betty and Fielding Lewis, who had eleven hundred acres and 125 slaves. Was.h.i.+ngton's brothers Charles, a Spotsylvania County justice, and Samuel, a plantation owner, also owned nearby houses. Although Mary Ball Was.h.i.+ngton spent the last seventeen years of her life in the Charles Street house and never paid a penny in rent, she never acknowledged George's generosity, as best we know.

Was.h.i.+ngton personally surveyed Ferry Farm in 1771 in preparation for selling it. He also agreed to take charge of a four-hundred-acre farm, Little Falls, that Mary owned two miles downriver and had inherited from her father. Was.h.i.+ngton was supposed to profit from Mary's ten slaves and livestock and pay her thirty pounds rent yearly in exchange, a deal approved by his brother Charles and brother-in-law Fielding Lewis. Because there was no mutual trust between mother and son, when Was.h.i.+ngton paid Mary the rent, he often did so in the presence of his sister Betty, then recorded in his ledger that the latter had witnessed the transaction.

One small incident from the early years of the Revolutionary War shows just how steely a woman Mary Was.h.i.+ngton was. She had reclaimed from Mount Vernon a slave woman named Silla. Lund Was.h.i.+ngton notified George of the heartrending scene that occurred when he informed Silla's partner, Jack (probably a slave cooper), that Silla was being sent down to Fredericksburg. "He cries and begs, saying he had rather be hang[e]d than separated," Lund reported. A week later Lund reiterated that "Jack and Silla are much distressed about parting."21 George Was.h.i.+ngton respected slave marriages and refused to separate couples. Nevertheless Mary Was.h.i.+ngton evidently persisted in her demand and broke up the couple for her own convenience. George Was.h.i.+ngton respected slave marriages and refused to separate couples. Nevertheless Mary Was.h.i.+ngton evidently persisted in her demand and broke up the couple for her own convenience.

ON THE EVENING OF MAY 18 , 1772 , Jacky Custis returned to Mount Vernon with an unusual companion in tow, a thirty-one-year-old painter named Charles Willson Peale who lived in Annapolis and toted an introductory letter from the Reverend Jonathan Boucher. The handsome young stranger had relinquished a career as a saddle maker to specialize in portraits of affluent families. Peale was destined to have three wives and sixteen children and emerge as a towering figure in early American life, excelling as a painter, a writer, a soldier, an inventor, a silver-smith, a taxidermist, a dentist, and the founder of a Philadelphia museum. He had studied painting in London under the foremost American expatriate artist, Benjamin West, and the Potomac gentry already prized his pictures. Nudged by Martha, George Was.h.i.+ngton, age forty, agreed to endure his first portrait. Though he never warmed to artistic scrutiny, he had enough vanity in his psychological makeup to want a picture of himself.

Even though more than thirteen years had pa.s.sed since Was.h.i.+ngton resigned his military commission, he still prided himself on a military ident.i.ty, and people often greeted him as Colonel Was.h.i.+ngton. The brouhaha over the Stamp Act and the Townshend duties also raised the distant prospect of a recourse to arms. So as the industrious Peale settled in at Mount Vernon, Was.h.i.+ngton donned a uniform-a blue coat trimmed with scarlet and a scarlet waistcoat-that called forth memories of the French and Indian War.

Never comfortable with self-exposure, Was.h.i.+ngton was alternately restive and sleepy in posing for Peale, as he described whimsically to Boucher. He seemed to sense what a baffling, enigmatic subject he was. "Inclination having yielded to importunity, I am now, contrary to all expectation, under the hands of Mr Peale, but in so grave, so sullen, a mood-and now and then under the influence of Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making-that I fancy the skill of this gentleman's pencil will be put to it in describing to the world what manner of man I am."22 This serene painting has a storybook quality. Instead of presenting Was.h.i.+ngton as a prosperous planter, it offers a nostalgic backward glimpse to the Was.h.i.+ngton of the 1750s. With one yellow-gloved hand thrust into his waistcoat, a musket slung behind him, and a golden sash hung diagonally across his chest, Was.h.i.+ngton gazes poetically into the distance. His face is smooth and innocent, his blue eyes clear, and he might be listening to bird whistles in the tree above him rather than live bullets. His facial features are mobile and animated, not yet etched with the strong character engraved there by the Revolutionary War. The picturesque scene pretends to capture Was.h.i.+ngton being summoned to battle, with an Order of March protruding from his fob pocket. Was.h.i.+ngton was so fond of the painting, which captured him in his prime, that it hung in the Mount Vernon parlor for the rest of his life. It seems to foretell his eagerness to resume his military career.

The artist spent a week at Mount Vernon and painted miniatures of Martha, Jacky, and Patsy along with the three-quarter-length portrait of George Was.h.i.+ngton. The picture of Martha was done at Jacky's request, and one wonders whether he made a point of demonstrating his love for his mother or perhaps implicitly rebuked his stepfather for not having included her in pictures by this visiting artist. It must be said that the picture of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton, in a mauve dress and pearls, is not especially flattering. Her face is cold and humorless, the tight lips primly disapproving. Nevertheless this was probably the miniature of Martha that her grandson later meant when he said that George Was.h.i.+ngton always "wore around his neck the miniature portrait of his wife. This he had worn through all the vicissitudes of his eventful career . . . to the last days at Mount Vernon."23

IN MAY 1773, hoping to put a safe distance between Jacky and his intended bride, Was.h.i.+ngton accompanied him to New York City and enrolled him in King's College. This sociable trip exposed Was.h.i.+ngton to personalities who were to be prominent in the coming conflict. It was almost the last moment when Was.h.i.+ngton could still mingle easily with people of differing ideologies. In Philadelphia he dined with Governor Richard Penn and in Burlington, New Jersey, with Governor William Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's illegitimate son and soon to be ostracized as a notorious Tory. At Basking Ridge, New Jersey, he stayed at the opulent estate of Lord Stirling, whose extravagant ways had already landed him in debt; before too long, Stirling would emerge as one of Was.h.i.+ngton's favorite generals. In New York he met with James DeLancey, shortly to command a Loyalist cavalry, and attended a dinner in honor of an old colleague from the Braddock campaign, Lieutenant General Thomas Gage, now commander of British forces in North America. It is amusing to think of George Was.h.i.+ngton drinking toasts to this future bugbear of the patriot cause. Was.h.i.+ngton also attended a performance of Hamlet, Hamlet, staged in a red theater building on John Street. staged in a red theater building on John Street.

The president of King's College, the Reverend Myles Cooper, welcomed Jacky Custis and his personal slave Joe to the school. An accomplished scholar and poet, versed in cla.s.sical tongues, Cooper had strengthened the college by adding new professors and a medical school and expanding the library. He had also turned the school into a hotbed of Tory sentiment as the colonies became polarized by the controversial taxes imposed by London. The school stood on the Hudson River, one block west of the common, where radicals congregated to spout anti-British venom. Myles Cooper, with no patience for such critics, branded the radical Sons of Liberty the "sons of licentiousness, faction, and confusion."24 There is no suggestion that Was.h.i.+ngton had any qualms about depositing Jacky in a school known for its Tory views. He must have alerted Cooper candidly to Jacky's wanton history, because he told the president that, if Jacky spent too freely, he hoped Cooper would "by your friendly admonitions . . . check the progress of it."25 College life was shot through with cla.s.s differences, and Jacky basked in his privileged station. Thanks to his wealth, the cosseted boy enjoyed social equality with his professors, who seemed to know his status and cater to it. Instead of socializing with other students, Jacky boasted of dining with President Cooper and his tutors. "I believe I may say without vanity that I am look[e]d upon in a particular light" by the faculty, Jacky told his mother. "There is as much distinction made between me and the other students as can be expected." College life was shot through with cla.s.s differences, and Jacky basked in his privileged station. Thanks to his wealth, the cosseted boy enjoyed social equality with his professors, who seemed to know his status and cater to it. Instead of socializing with other students, Jacky boasted of dining with President Cooper and his tutors. "I believe I may say without vanity that I am look[e]d upon in a particular light" by the faculty, Jacky told his mother. "There is as much distinction made between me and the other students as can be expected."26 He also bragged that he and Joe had their own suite of rooms, with a large sitting room and two small bedrooms. At times Jacky wrote about King's College as if it were a sw.a.n.k resort staffed with servile employees hired to wait upon him, a.s.suring his mother that "there has nothing been omitted by my good friend Doctor Cooper which was necessary to my contentment in this place." He also bragged that he and Joe had their own suite of rooms, with a large sitting room and two small bedrooms. At times Jacky wrote about King's College as if it were a sw.a.n.k resort staffed with servile employees hired to wait upon him, a.s.suring his mother that "there has nothing been omitted by my good friend Doctor Cooper which was necessary to my contentment in this place."27 After Was.h.i.+ngton returned to Mount Vernon, Jacky promised that he would prove a credit to his family. The young man's cozy relations.h.i.+p with the faculty suggested that things wouldn't turn out exactly as Was.h.i.+ngton had planned. After Was.h.i.+ngton returned to Mount Vernon, Jacky promised that he would prove a credit to his family. The young man's cozy relations.h.i.+p with the faculty suggested that things wouldn't turn out exactly as Was.h.i.+ngton had planned.

The concern over Jacky paled into insignificance, however, beside mounting trepidation over Patsy's medical condition. Charles Willson Peale remembered the palpable atmosphere of fear at Mount Vernon, writing that "we used to walk together to enjoy the evening breeze" and "danced to give exercise to Miss Custis . . . who did not enjoy good health. She was subject to fits and Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton never suffered her to be a minute out of her sight."28 Was.h.i.+ngton's diaries for early 1773 are rife with emergency visits by Dr. Rumney. During one particularly distressing time in late January, the doctor camped out at Mount Vernon for almost a full week. Then on Sat.u.r.day, June 19, 1773, Patsy Custis died a sudden, painless death, leading her stepfather to make a terse entry in his diary: "At home all day. About five o'clock poor Patcy Custis died suddenly." Was.h.i.+ngton's diaries