UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Eugene E. Prussing
 
 - .
 
 Engraved by H. Wright Smith. After the Painting by Gilbert Stuart. 
 THE FAVORITE PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
 
 The 
 
 Story-Life of Washington 
 
 A Life-History in Five Hundred True Stories, 
 Selected from Original Sources 
 Fitted Together in Order 
 
 BY 
 
 Author of 
 
 "The Story-Life of Lincoln," 
 Etc. 
 
 With Reproductions of Paintings, Engravings and Manuscripts 
 
 The John C. Winston Company 
 Philadelphia
 
 COPYRIGHT 1911, 
 BY THE JOHN C. WINSTON Co
 
 
 312.. IS" 
 
 VWs 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Remarks about the Real Washington 
 
 It has long been the fashion among those writing lives 
 
 <YJ of Washington to state that their readers had never until 
 
 ^ then enjoyed the privilege of becoming acquainted with 
 
 ; the real George Washington. Nearly every recent biographer 
 
 ? has announced that he was now taking down the wooden 
 
 image called "Washington" from its high pedestal and 
 
 reviving it, somewhat as the statue of Galatea became a 
 
 ^ living woman before the astonished gaze of Pygmalion, the 
 
 sculptor who had fashioned her beautiful form in marble. 
 
 These resuscitations have been going on for a generation, 
 
 fc"3 and several of the so-called "true" Washingtons bear 
 
 hardly a family resemblance to one another, so it is reason- 
 
 q able to infer that some of them, at least, have as little 
 
 * likeness to the great original himself. The variations in 
 
 7 the many portraitures are doubtless due, not to the different 
 
 ( 4i colofs of the eyes of the several painters, but to their 
 
 l^' varying points of view. Each of these pictures is good, 
 
 as far as a single full-length portrait can go. It is the 
 
 u_ intention here to avail ourselves of hundreds of these and 
 
 . focus them together like a composite photograph, or rather, 
 
 = from all sides and angles of view, make a solid, living, 
 
 moving picture of George Washington and his wonderful 
 
 career. The well-rounded result shall speak for himself, 
 
 as far as possible, from his journals, letters, addresses and 
 
 reported conversations, which have been systematically 
 
 recorded and carefully preserved, apparently, for the 
 
 special benefit of the reader of The Story-Life of Washington. 
 
 Where the personal equation of the biographer cannot 
 
 (xiii) 
 
 279307
 
 XIV 
 
 be eliminated entirely, this is shown to be impossible and 
 the reader can make his own allowances. The stories are 
 chosen with an eye single to the aim of letting, not mak- 
 ing the observer see George Washington, as he lived and 
 moved and had his being in and through the troublous 
 times in which his life-lot was cast. These five hundred 
 stories are given, without comment, for the American 
 reader is capable of drawing his own conclusions if he is 
 but permitted to see things as they were. This is one 
 great advantage offered by the Story-Life, for by it 
 the present author is enabled, largely, to leave himself 
 out of the narrative. He can shed many lights around the 
 life and character of this wonderful subject, whereas, if 
 he held up only the lantern of his one limited view, he might 
 cast his own shadow across the very object he wishes to 
 show to others. 
 
 Still, it is not an unmixed evil, this tendency of the 
 painter to paint himself upon his historic canvas. It is 
 equally natural for the biographer to write his own char- 
 acter into the characterization of his subject. For instance, 
 "Parson" Weems shows little George Washington to have 
 been a small prig, and develops the great George Washington 
 into a pompous, pedantic sort of a demigod. But the 
 writer's personality may relieve and shed light, instead of 
 casting shadows upon the character he portrays. Mark 
 Twain, in his beautiful story of Jeanne d'Arc creates a 
 novel Maid of Orleans, with a keen American sense of humor, 
 using slang of such modern vintage as "ramshackle." In 
 this way the dull but devoted damsel of Domremy is endowed 
 not only with the ''defects of her own qualities," as the 
 French say, but the perfections of the author's qualities. 
 
 Many writers still inveigh against the Rev. M. L. Weems, 
 but their worst accusations seem to be that he fiddled, and 
 peddled his own books from door to door. As for his 
 making out the little Washington boy a prig, it should be 
 said that all authors for "the young," from Maria Edge-
 
 ABOUT THE REAL WASHINGTON xv 
 
 worth down to the father of the "Rollo books, " fabricated 
 little prigs after the same pedantic pattern for the delecta- 
 tion of their readers. As to Weems's painful attempt to 
 evolve a demigod out of his model boy, all the authors 
 and orators of Weems's day, and even later, did the same 
 with regard to Washington. The worst thing about Weems's 
 life, in the opinion of other writers, seems to be that it 
 became popular, and the apocryphal stories in it have 
 continued with us unto this day. It is stated, on good 
 authority, that the hatchet-and-cherry-tree incident did 
 not appear in Weems's "Life of Washington" until 1806, 
 and when some one took him to task for making up that 
 little story, he sweetly smiled and asked, " Was it not good 
 for the boys?" This benevolent bit of fiction seems to be 
 original with Weems, though he was a poor writer, unless 
 the story was really told him by that aged relative, as he 
 states, which is neither impossible nor unlikely. At all 
 events, if the parson errant made up that story "out of 
 whole cloth" with criminal intent, as is often maintained, 
 the evil was overruled for good to Young America, for the 
 cherry-tree incident stands out in bold relief, as almost 
 the only thing in the life of the Father of his Country that 
 the popular mind has grasped, aside from the fact, perhaps, 
 that he was a general in the Revolutionary War and the 
 first President of the United States. The hatchet and 
 the cherries have become symbols in the minds of many 
 millions, of George Washington and truthfulness. A French 
 traveler and litterateur has written that the reason American 
 children have come up with a deeper regard for truth 
 than those of any other nation under heaven is because 
 they have been brought up on the story of the little boy 
 Washington's early regard for truth. Dr. Edward Everett 
 Hale claims that this story is as true as many that are told 
 in Plutarch's "Lives." 
 
 The very biographers who seem to have no religious 
 regard for truth in the abstract have much to say about
 
 xvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 the falsity of the story that Washington, at any time in his 
 life, "could not tell a lie," and stoutly claim that he after- 
 wards overcame that disability if he ever had it ! 
 
 It should be remembered especially that " all is fair in 
 love and war," and Washington was much in one or the 
 other, or in both, for he was always attracted by a pretty 
 face, and was fond of drinking tea with a " bevy of females. " 
 He was considered a great ladies' man, and is said to 
 have seemed more at his ease among women than among 
 men later in life, at least. In his earlier days Washington 
 was shy and reserved with everybody but his own family 
 and intimate friends. 
 
 Once in a while some one evidently desirous of noto- 
 riety, cheap . and brief, rushes into the newspapers with 
 so-called proof that George Washington perjured himself, 
 on occasion, by swearing away a small sum in taxes. It is 
 sometimes stated, on the same kind of authority, that John 
 Hancock, Sam Adams, and other Revolutionary patriots 
 and leaders, were frauds and embezzlers, going into the 
 rebellion business for what they could get out of it. 
 Nothing could be more ridiculous or inane, for Hancock, 
 as an example, was a merchant prince, with much to lose, 
 in material wealth, and nothing to gain but liberty and 
 self-respect. The British discounted such stories of those 
 "rebels" whom we now call patriots, by discovering at 
 once that they were rascals and guilty of all the crimes in 
 the calendar, besides being traitors and outlaws. 
 
 Some of the writers about Washington would like to 
 be called iconoclasts, but they are really scavengers. These 
 are the night-soilers who seem to enjoy circulating unsavory 
 tales about the Founder and Father of his Country, and 
 who take pleasure in quoting Thomas Carlyle, the dyspeptic 
 philosopher, who took ghoulish glee in slapping American 
 visitors in the face with this remark: "Jarge Washington 
 was no' a great mon!" Yet, in spite of the old pessimist's 
 want of perspective, and his consequent admiration for
 
 ABOUT THE REAL WASHINGTON 
 
 xvn 
 
 Napoleon, Carlyle's favorite, was a colossal failure and 
 Washington became an immortal success. Napoleon, at 
 close range, illustrated the Right of Might, while Washington 
 is demonstrating to the ages the Might of Right. 
 
 "Seek and ye shall find" apparently applies to vices 
 as well as virtues. A man is not like a chain, only as strong 
 as its weakest link. Men should be measured by their 
 strongest points. It is unfair not only to Washington but 
 to the American people to disparage or explain away his 
 true greatness. It is unworthy and mean to teach the 
 rising generation that young Washington earned a reputa- 
 tion for being close-mouthed because he had unsightly 
 teeth, and his solemnity, in later life, was due to the fact 
 that his "false" teeth fell down whenever he laughed 
 statements which bear only a remote resemblance to the 
 truth and are more dange'rous than out-and-out lies. 
 The neighbors and friends of a great man are not the best 
 judges of his greatness. It is stated, on good authority, 
 that Washington's last years were embittered by the 
 knowledge that if he had allowed his name to be used for 
 a third term of the presidency, Virginia, his own State, 
 would not have voted for him, though the other twelve 
 would gladly have elected him again. With a great man it 
 is as with a high mountain, a low hill viewed from a nearer 
 point may hide the loftiest peak. There are still living 
 in Springfield, Illinois, men who "knew Lincoln," yet they 
 are eager to tell any newcomer that there were a dozen 
 greater men right in Springfield when Abraham Lincoln 
 only happened to be nominated and elected to the presi- 
 dency. 
 
 A Scotch neighbor, Davie Burns, who had owned the 
 field in which Washington was superintending the building 
 of "the President's palace, " and had sold much of his land 
 for the site of the national capital, gave expression to a 
 warped and petty estimate of the greatness of the Father 
 of his Country one day, when Washington called to remon-
 
 xviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 strate with him about hindering the hauling of stone across 
 his land from the river landing to the place where the 
 "palace" was in process of erection. The former President 
 reminded the peppery little Scotchman that the building of 
 the President's house and of the "Federal City" there 
 had been the making of David Burns, and but for that 
 the disobliging Scot would still be a poor tobacco planter. 
 Old Davie's " Scotch" was up in an instant. 
 
 "Aye, mon, " he retorted, "an' what yould you have 
 bean, Meesther Washington, if ye hadn' merried the Widdy 
 Coostis an' all her naygurs? Ye'd 'a' bean a land surveyor 
 the day, an' a mighty puir ane a' that! 1 ' 
 
 Cranky old Davie Burns 's notion must have been a 
 novel one to Washington, but it was not so strange as the 
 misconceptions of his character expressed in some of the 
 many histories, stories and articles on Washington. Weems's 
 maudlin ideas have been referred to. Sparks 's editing the 
 human life out of Washington's correspondence, to make 
 him a model, did much toward making him a wooden 
 image instead. 
 
 Little is known of Washington's mother. Most writers, 
 assuming that he got his greatness from his mother, 
 try to "restore" her whole life from incomplete fragments, 
 as the scientists reconstruct a whole animal of which they 
 have found a single joint. They reason in a circle, evidently 
 saying to themselves, "He must have gqt his greatness 
 from his mother, therefore she was a grand woman, and 
 had a mighty influence in moulding his great character, 
 so he must have resembled his mother, therefore his mother 
 must have looked like her illustrious son." As a matter 
 of fact, Washington himself claimed to resemble his father 
 in appearance and character. 
 
 Mary Washington's too narrow devotion to her eldest 
 son would have interfered with his grand career if he had 
 always heeded her wishes. Though obedient to and con- 
 siderate of her, the time came when the call of his country
 
 ABOUT THE REAL WASHINGTON x i x 
 
 was stronger than his mother's. Late in life her com- 
 plaints that he neglected her were a grief and annoyance to 
 him, especially when she persisted in accepting financial 
 aid from people who were no relation to her, by giving the 
 impression that she was in needy circumstances, after she 
 had been amply provided for by her celebrated son. On 
 several occasions George mildly expressed his displeasure 
 at this trait of his mother's, in letters to his brother and 
 sister. But the annoyance he felt did not warrant a recent 
 writer in making Washington give vent at every turn, in 
 a supposed biography, to sarcastic reflections on his mother 
 years after her death! Whatever provocation Mary 
 Washington may have given her son, such pettishness in 
 his attitude toward his mother was entirely out of character. 
 
 In gathering, from a hundred sources, largely from 
 the many admirable biographies extant, over five hundred 
 stories, some of which have never been in print, it is the 
 intention to show Washington in many lights, but to keep 
 the resultant impression in a temperate middle ground, 
 while a few extravagant conceits are inserted to show the 
 absurd lengths to which some writers have permitted them- 
 selves to go, somewhat as a theologian might flash certain 
 " side-lights from profane history" upon a Scriptural nar- 
 rative. 
 
 It is not generally known that Washington had a 
 broad sense of humor. He greatly enjoyed jests, some- 
 times good-natured practical jokes, and generally welcomed 
 a chance to laugh. It is said that even during the "long 
 and dreary winter" at Valley Forge, he found relief now 
 and then from the sadness and misery of his environment 
 in hearty laughter. He showed a disposition to make 
 the best of everything, even to laughing until the tears 
 rolled down his cheeks over the sallies of his adopted 
 children and friends who visited Mount Vernon. He made 
 many gibes himself at the expense of a certain "blue- 
 blooded" jackass which had been presented to him by the
 
 xx INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 
 
 king of Spain, sometimes comparing the solemn little 
 beast to his former owner, the king himself ! 
 
 A good story is told ~of two judges, Washington's 
 nephew, Bushrod, and John Marshall, long Chief Justice 
 of the United States, who came to pay the Washingtons 
 a visit of respect. Not wishing to present themselves, 
 travel-stained and dusty, at Mount Vernon, they turned 
 aside into a grove on the estate to change their clothing 
 throughout. When they were completely stripped, their 
 colored body-servant opened the portmanteau to give 
 them their changes of raiment, but found nothing for them 
 to put on but an assortment of tape, needles, thread, fancy 
 soaps, perfumery and the like. The man had exchanged 
 packs with a peddler at the last inn. The consternation on 
 the servant's countenance and the absurdity of their predica- 
 ment set the two visitors laughing at each other. The 
 master of Mount Vernon, who happened to be near, came 
 at once to inquire into the cause of this merriment. Recog- 
 nizing the dignified members of the judiciary in the undress 
 of the Garden of Eden, dancing about in his grove like a 
 pair of satyrs, hiding among the trees, and comprehend- 
 ing at a glance their ludicrous plight, Washington, the 
 solemn and austere, was so overcome that he threw him- 
 self upon the ground and rolled over and over, holding 
 his sides, convulsed and shrieking with uncontrollable 
 laughter ! 
 
 This is wholly at variance with the popular notion of 
 the distant, cold, and taciturn First President of the United 
 States. Story after story is to be found in this collection 
 illustrating Washington's warm-heartedness and hospitality. 
 In a letter he mentioned the fact that he and his wife would 
 have to sit down to dinner that day without a guest, the 
 -first time in twenty years. One visitor at Mount Vernon 
 tells of his astonishment, after retiring for the night, to see 
 the stately form of George Washington enter the room, 
 looking more gigantic than ever because clothed in his
 
 ABOUT THE REAL WASHINGTON xxi 
 
 nightshirt coming to bring his guest a cup of hot tea for 
 his cold, about which the host was most solicitous, though 
 Washington would never take anything for a cold himself. 
 
 These glimpses of his humanity, hospitality and humor 
 are agreeable and refreshing, helping us to understand 
 and love him as we learn to know the real Washington. 
 Although he was not, himself, like Lincoln, a master story- 
 teller, the greatest writers of history and fiction have 
 related many thrilling and beautiful stories, and have 
 narrated much that is full of keen and lively interest about 
 the Father of his Country. From Washington's own 
 diaries, which he faithfully kept nearly all his life, his 
 letters, his addresses and state papers, much good material 
 has been drawn which should reveal the actual life of 
 Washington. 
 
 The Story-Life of Washington is designed to give true 
 views of the First American from every point of vantage, 
 leaving the reader to see and feel and know the great 
 Washington. This is presented as a life, and not a 
 libel on that great and good man, "first in war, first in 
 peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." There 
 are many questions about which historians do not agree. 
 But "when doctors disagree, who shall decide?" After all 
 the facts and facets of his character are presented and 
 illuminated, who shall be better able to recognize the real 
 George Washington than the reader himself?
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory Remarks about the Real Washington xiii 
 
 List of Illustrations xxxi 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Washington's Antecedents : i 
 
 Stories:-, Genealogy of the Washington Family Early Ancestry 
 of Washington's Mother Two Ancestral Homes Some 
 Ancestral Fighters Part of His Pedigree American Ances- 
 try Two Letters about a Mary Ball Mary, the Mother of 
 Washington Conjectures about Washington's Father and 
 Mother Mary Washington's First Home. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 George and His Father 2& 
 
 Stories: His Birth Parson Weems Little George and the Sin 
 of Selfishness The Moral and Entertaining Story of the 
 Little Hatchet The Father's True Moral Stature What 
 George's " Pa " Did to Startle Him Giving up the Leading- 
 rein Little George Washington "Advantages" George 
 Was Spared Schools in Virginia Peter and ' ' Hobby " 
 His Earliest Playfellows George Tells His Father What 
 He Hopes to Be 'Two Boyish Letters Brother Lawrence 
 The Fairfax Family "I Lost My Best Friend" Table of 
 Events, 1732 to 1752. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 George and His Mother 42 
 
 Stories: The Widow and Her Brood Work on "Ferry Farm" 
 His First .Hunt Three Important Years In Mr. 
 
 (xxiii)
 
 *xiv CONTENTS 
 
 Williams's School George and the Younger Children 
 Early Education and Discipline Why George Was Not 
 Sent to School in England A Little Latin ' ' Mute as Mice" 
 before Mary Washington The Rev. James Marye and the 
 "Rules of Civility" "Rules of Civility and Behaviour" 
 Long Suspense after Writing to Uncle Joseph about 
 George's Going to Sea A Bitter Disappointment Uncle 
 Joseph's Letter How He Gave It All up How George 
 "Jolted It off. " 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 George and the Fairfax Family 67 
 
 Stories: Lord Fairfax's Friendship for Young Washington 
 Fox-hunting with Lord Fairfax Encouraged to Take up 
 Surveying A Full-length Portrait of Washington at Six- 
 teen Two Georges Go Surveying He Went in a School- 
 boy and Came out the First Soldier in the Colonies 
 From Washington's First Journal How Lord Fairfax Read 
 Washington's First Journal Conflicting Claims to the 
 Ohio Country Labored Love Lines "I Used Often to 
 Wish He Would Talk More " County Surveyor at 
 Seventeen. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 George and His Brother Lawrence Si 
 
 Stories: "They Mean to Steal Our Country" The Ohio Com- 
 pany Sends Christopher Gist "A Most Delightful 
 Country" Major Washington's Broadsword Practice 
 Interrupted Arrival of the Washington Brothers at 
 Barbadoes "Beefsteak and Tripe" Club, "George Barn- 
 well, " and Smallpox Lawrence ' ' Hurrying Home to His 
 Grave! " The Home-coming The Art of War and Manual 
 of Arms The Unmarried Master of Mount Vernon. 
 
 . CHAPTER VI 
 A Difficult and Dangerous Mission py 
 
 Stories: The Youthful Envoy Receiving His Instructions 
 Governor Dinwiddie's Letter to the French Comman- 
 dant George, Van Braam and Gist Set out Going on
 
 CONTENTS xxv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 from Williamsburg The Indian Council at Logstown 
 From Logstown to Venango Drink and Diplomacy A 
 Week from Washington's Diary The French Comman- 
 dant's Reply A Man of Action and Real Silence What 
 Governor Dinwiddie Did. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 The Opening of His Military Career 116 
 
 Stories: Beginning of the Journal of 1754 The Half- king's 
 Speech and Belts A Council of War Washington's Speech 
 and Belt to the Half-king and the Reply Captain Trent 
 Loses the Strategic Point ' ' I Would Prefer the Toil of a 
 Daily Laborer" The March to Great Meadows His First 
 Victory Washington's Account of the Attack near Great 
 Meadows and His Defense of It "That I Know to Be 
 False ! " A Prologue of the Revolutionary Drama 
 "Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat" The 
 Articles of Capitulation End of His First Campaign 
 "The Same Identical Gent" "The Season Calls for 
 Despatch" The First Blow of the Seven Years' War 
 "All is Fair in War" The Only Course Possible. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Through the Campaign with Braddock 141 
 
 Stories: The Young Commander and the Pig-headed Gover- 
 nor Serious Troubles and Petty Annoyances Washington, 
 Franklin and General Braddock General Braddock's Aide- 
 de-camp In the Battle at Fort Duquesne A Description 
 of the Battle His Hatred of Cowardice ' ' Unite or Die! " 
 Denies "Grossly Exaggerated" Report of His Death 
 "I Could Offer Myself a Willing Sacrifice" Close of His 
 Career as a Frontier Fighter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 The Young Colonel Goes Courting 156 
 
 Stories: The Colonel of the Colony How Colonel Washington 
 "Took" Boston The Handsome Colonel Rode away to 
 Boston Town A Chain of Forts and the Gentlemen 
 Associators Big George Washington Broken in Health
 
 xxvi CONTENTS 
 
 A Brief but Courtly Courtship "A Few Words" to His 
 Affianced "The Story of an Untold Love" The Fall of 
 Fort Duquesne Elected to the House of Burgesses Table 
 of Events, 1750 to 1760. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 The Wealthy Planter of Mount Veraon 168 
 
 Stories: The Sunshine and Glitter of the Wedding Day 
 Married Life at Mount Vernon Taking Charge of the 
 Custis Estate A Kind and Indulgent Stepfather Life of 
 a Virginia Planter Manufacturer and Fisherman as Well 
 as Farmer Where to Build the New Church Pleasantest 
 Glimpses of Family Feeling Beating a Rascally Poacher 
 A Facetious Letter A Manly, Wholesome, Many-sided 
 Life The Outer Man Social Diversions and the Dismal 
 Swamp Company Table of Events, 1760 to 1770. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 The Virginia Colonel and the Coming Conflict 187 
 
 Stories: The Stamp Act and Patrick Henry The Grand 
 Sachem's Prophecy ' ' Our Lordly Masters in Great Britain" 
 "Catch a Man before You Hang Him" Feasting and 
 Fasting Washington Presents Resolutions "More Becom- 
 ing a Turkish Bashaw ' ' The Silent Man Becomes Eloquent 
 "An Innate Spirit of Freedom" "An Appeal to Arms 
 and the God of Hosts" "A Mere Potomac Planter" 
 In Front of Carpenters' Hall "A Brother's Sword Sheathed 
 in a Brother's Breast" The News Received in Philadel- 
 phia Lee and Gates Visit Mount Vernon " I Now Nomi- 
 nate George Washington, of Virginia " Colonel Washington 
 Elected Commander-in-chief Washington's Commission as 
 Commander-in-chief Table of Events, 1770 to 1775. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Commander-in-chief and Raw Recruits 211 
 
 Stories: "A Subject Which Fills Me with Inexpressible Con- 
 cern" Brave Exploits of Commodore Whipple "The 
 Feeble Americans Could Scarce Keep up with Them!" 
 Few Men but Many Heroes Left Home, Wife, Friends,
 
 CONTENTS xxvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fortune, and Security, for the Risks of a Rebel "The 
 Liberties of the Country Are Safe! " A King of Men The 
 Foremost Man in America The Noblest Man of His Day 
 The Virginia Fox-hunter and the New England Farmers 
 "Their Spirit Has Exceeded Their Strength" "General 
 Gage, Take Care of Your Nose!" "Most Unsoldier-like in 
 Figure "An Egregious Want of Public Spirit" The 
 Ministers Who Provoked and Prolonged the Revolution 
 Provisions, Discipline, Ammunition Scarce Scouring the 
 Country for Powder Trials with Friend and Foe "Old 
 Put " and the Fat Woman ' ' Seized Two Brawny Riflemen 
 by the Throat" Some Relaxation and a "Handsome Lift" 
 Table of Events in 1775. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 Driving the British out of Boston , 239 
 
 Stories: Raising the Grand Union Flag on New Year's Day, 
 1776 Not the Stars and Stripes "Obliged to Conceal It 
 from My Own Officers " The Blockade of Boston "It Is 
 a Noble Cause" "When the Dreadful 'Tomorrow' Will Be, 
 I Know Not" "With the Expedition of Genii" "Evac- 
 uate the Place as Soon as Possible " A British Burlesque 
 Turned to Melodrama "There Never Existed a More Mis- 
 erable Set of Beings!" The British Sentry Was a Dummy 
 "The Face of Disorder and Confusion" "It Takes the 
 Ragged Boys to Do The Fighting" "No Man Ever Com- 
 manded under More Difficult Circumstances" "Execrable 
 Parricides! " 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 The Stars and Stripes and the Declaration of Independence . . 259 
 
 Stories: The Commander-in-chief Invited to Confer with Con- 
 gress Going to Philadelphia Consulting with Congress 
 on the Coming Campaign Attended by Indians, Washing- 
 ton Reviews the Troops General Washington and the 
 Stars and Stripes Ordering the Flag Made Stars . and 
 Stripes Not from Washington's Coat-of-arms Drawing 
 up and Discussing the Declaration A Badly Armed, Undis- 
 ciplined, Disorderly Rabble Conspiracy to Kill or Kidnap 
 Washington "A Most Barbarous and Infernal Plot" 
 In a Board of Treasury, Flying Camp, and Barn Hos-
 
 xxviii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 pital How the Declaration Was Received in New York 
 Statue of George III Melted into Bullets "The Times 
 That Try Men's Souls" "Unpack His Heart with 
 Words?" "George Washington, Esq., etc., etc." 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 Defeats and Retreats 278 
 
 Stories: General Howe Turns the Tables The Masterly Retreat 
 from Long Island In a Tempest of Anger at Kip's Bay 
 "No Time for the Army to Lose Their General" "I Can 
 Only Regret That I Have but One Life" A Short, Sharp 
 Action at White Plains "If We Do Meet Again Why, 
 We Shall Smile" "Perhaps to Lose My Character" 
 Six Weeks after the Battle of Long Island The British 
 Take Fort Washington Who Would Have Blamed Him? 
 A Letter to the Mother of Mary Philipse Sharing His 
 Blanket with a Negro Servant. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 "Hurt in the House of His Friends" 296 
 
 Stories: When the Friend of His Bosom Could So Misjudge Him 
 "Made a Prisoner by a Brat!" "Opened by Mistake," 
 by George Washington The "Marine Turtle " and Admiral 
 Howe's Flagship Facing the Grim Realities Alone 
 The Capture of General Charles Lee ' ' By His Own Folly 
 and Imprudence " A View of the Situation The Most 
 Hopeless Gang of Tramps "For Heaven's Sake, Keep 
 This to Yourself!" "What a Time Is This to Hand Me 
 Letters!" 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 Trenton and the Turn of the Tide 309 
 
 Stories: "Advance and Charge!" Colonel Rahl's Fatal Game 
 "A Smiling Expression on His Countenance" Washing- 
 ton's Report of the Battle of Trenton Table of Events 
 in 1776 "George Will Not Forget Himself" "Intrusted 
 with Almost Unlimited Power" Robert Morris Raises 
 Some "Hard Money" Horse Lovers and Heroes "The 
 Old Fox" and the Battle of Princeton "Thank God! Your
 
 CONTENTS xxix 
 
 Excellency Is Safe!" Washington's Report of the Battle 
 of Princeton Troubles about Allegiance and Rank 
 Washington's Proclamation A Sarcastic Reply to the 
 Howes' Proclamation of Pardon Washington Had Taken 
 Howe's Measure. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 Brandywine and Germantown 328 
 
 Stories: Waiting at Morristown Remained Standing through- 
 out the Whole Service "Try Me!" The General's Narrow 
 Escape Washington Weeps No Money for His Men 
 Defeat at Chad's Ford, Brandywine Creek Report of the 
 Battle of Brandywine A Small Defeated Army Defies the 
 Victor A Drunken General at Germantown Fighting in 
 Fog "You Will Fire upon Your Own People!" Holding 
 up Their Empty Cartridge Boxes Heroic General Nash 
 How the Battle Was Lost "Ah, These Americans Are an 
 Elastic People!" 
 
 For additional contents see Part II, fol- 
 lowing page 345.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PART I 
 
 The Favorite Portrait of Washington Frontispiece 
 
 Washington's Autographs at Different Periods Facing Page 45 
 
 Fox-hunting with Lord Fairfax " " 69 
 
 Major George Washington " " IQI 
 
 Washington's First Encounter, near Great Meadows. " " 125 
 Colonel Washington Introduced to Mary Philipse, the 
 
 New York Heiress " " 159 
 
 Colonel Washington Visits Mrs. Custis " " 163 
 
 Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington " " 169 
 
 Miniature Portrait of Colonel Washington " " 186 
 
 Captain Abraham Whipple Attacks the "Gaspe*e " . . . . " " 192 
 
 "The Embattled Farmers" on Concord Bridge " " 202 
 
 General Ethan Allen Demands the Surrender of Fort 
 
 Ticonderoga " " 2 10 
 
 The Battle of Bunker Hill .' " " 216 
 
 Portraits of Four Generals Besieging Boston: Morgan, 
 
 Ward, Putnam, and Knox " " 224 
 
 " Seizing Two Brawny Riflemen by the Throat" " " 236 
 
 Arrival of General Knox with Cannon from Ticonderoga " " 242 
 
 Sir William Howe and the British Leaving Boston.. . . " " 254 
 Announcing the Declaration of Independence from the 
 
 Steps of Independence Hall " " 272 
 
 Lord Stirling at the Battle of Long Island . " " 280 
 
 Portraits of Three British Commanders: Sir William 
 
 Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis. " 292 
 
 Washington after Crossing the Delaware 38 
 
 An Early Morning Battle at Trenton ". 3*4 
 
 "The Day Is Our Own! " (Battle of Princeton) " " 3 20 
 
 Attacking the Chew Mansion, in the Battle of German- 
 town ,, " " 340 
 
 (xxxi)
 
 The Story-Life of Washington 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 
 
 Genealogy of the Washington Family 
 
 The Washington family is of ancient English stock, 
 the genealogy of which has been traced up to the century 
 immediately succeeding the Conquest. At that time it 
 was in the possession of landed estates and manorial priv- 
 ileges in the county of Durham, such as were enjoyed only 
 by those or their descendants, who had come over from 
 Normandy with the Conqueror, or fought under his standard. 
 When William the Conqueror laid waste the whole country 
 north of the Humber, in punishment of the insurrection of 
 the Northumbrians, he apportioned the estates among his 
 followers, and advanced Normans and other foreigners to 
 the principal ecclesiastical dignities. One of the most 
 wealthy and important sees was that of Durham. . . . 
 
 The princely prelate of Durham had his barons and 
 knights, who held estates of him on feudal tenure, and 
 were bound to serve him in peace and war. . . . - . . 
 
 Among the knights who held estates in the palatinate 
 on these warlike conditions was William de Hertburn, the 
 progenitor of Washington. His Norman name of William 
 would seem to point out his national descent; and the 
 family long continued to have Norman names of baptism. 
 The surname of De Hertburn was taken from a village in 
 the palatinate, which he held of the bishop in knight's fee; 
 probably the same now called Hartburn, on the banks of 
 
 (i)
 
 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the Tees. It had become a custom among the Norman 
 families of rank, about the time of the Conquest, to take 
 surnames from their castles or estates; it was not till some 
 time afterwards that surnames became generally assumed 
 by the people. 
 
 How or when the De Hertburns first acquired posses- 
 sion of their village is not known. They may have been 
 companions in arms with Robert de Brus (or Bruce), a 
 noble knight of Normandy, rewarded by William the 
 Conqueror with great possessions in the North, and among 
 others, with the lordships of Hert and Hertness in the 
 county of Durham. 
 
 The first actual mention we find of the family is in the 
 "Bolden Book," a record of all the lands appertaining to 
 the diocese in 1183. In this it is stated that William de 
 Hertburn had exchanged his village of Hertburn for the 
 manor and village of Wessyngton. . . ".' The family 
 changed its surname with its estate, and thenceforward 
 assumed that of De Wessyngton. 
 
 When Richard Coeur de Lion put everything at pawn 
 and sale to raise funds for a crusade to the Holy Land, . . 
 the De Wessyngtons might have followed the banner of St. 
 Cuthbert to the holy wars. 
 
 Nearly seventy years afterwards we find the family 
 still retaining its manorial estate in the palatinate. The 
 names of Bondo de Wessyngton and William his son appear 
 on charters of land, granted in 1 2 5 7 to religious houses. . . 
 On the list of loyal knights who fought for their sovereign 
 in the disastrous battle of Lewes (1264), in which the king 
 was taken prisoner, we find the name of William Weshing- 
 ton, of Weshington. . . . 
 
 In the reign of Edward III we find the De Wessyng- 
 tons still mingling in chivalrous scenes. The name of Sir 
 Stephen de Wessyngton appears on a list of knights (nobles 
 chevaliers) who were to tilt at a tournament at Dunstable 
 in 1334. He bore for his device a golden rose on an azure 
 field.
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 
 
 Such were the warlike and stately scenes in which 
 the De Wessyngtons were called to mingle by their feudal 
 duties as knights of the palatinate. A few years after the 
 last event (1350) William, at that time lord of the manor 
 of Wessyngton, had license to settle, it and the village upon 
 himself, his wife, and "his own right heirs." He died in 
 1367, and his son and heir William succeeded to the estate. 
 The latter is mentioned under the name of Sir William de 
 Weschington, as one of the knights who sat in the privy 
 council of the county during the episcopate of John Ford- 
 ham. . . . 
 
 For upwards of two hundred years the De Wessyngtons 
 had now sat in the councils of the palatinate; had mingled 
 with horse and hound in the stately hunts of its prelates, 
 and followed the banner of St. Cuthbert to the field; but 
 Sir William, just mentioned, was the last of the family that 
 rendered this feudal sendee. He was the last male of the 
 line to which the inheritance of the manor, by the license 
 granted to his father, was confined. It passed away from 
 the De Wessyngtons, after his death, by the marriage of 
 his only daughter and heir, Dionisia, with Sir William 
 Temple of Studley. By the year 1400 it had become 
 the property of the Blaykestons. 
 
 But though the name of De Wessyngton no longer 
 figured on the chivalrous roll of the palatinate, it continued 
 for a time to flourish in the cloisters. In the year 1416, 
 John de Wessyngton was elected prior of the Benedictine 
 convent attached to the cathedral. 
 
 Finally, after fighting divers good fights for the honor 
 of his priory and filling the abbot's chair for thirty years, 
 he died, to use an ancient phrase, "in all the odor of sanc- 
 tity," in 1446, and was buried like a soldier on his battle- 
 field, at the door of the north aisle of his church, near to 
 the altar of St. Benedict. On his tombstone was an inscrip- 
 tion in brass, now unfortunately obliterated, which may 
 have set forth the valiant deeds of this Washington of the 
 cloisters.
 
 4 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 By this time the primitive stock of the De Wessyngtons 
 had separated into divers branches, holding estates in 
 various parts of England; some distinguishing themselves 
 in the learned professions, others receiving knighthood 
 for public services. Their names are to be found honorably 
 recorded in county histories, or engraved on monuments 
 in time-worn churches and cathedrals, those garnering 
 places of English worthies. By degrees the seignorial 
 sign of the de disappeared from before the family name, 
 which also varied from Wessyngton to Wassington, Wassh- 
 ington, and finally to Washington. A parish in the county 
 of Durham bears the name as last written, and in this 
 probably the ancient manor of Wessyngton was situated. 
 There is another parish of the name in the county of Sussex. 
 
 The branch of the family to which our Washington 
 immediately belongs sprang from Laurence Washington, 
 Esquire, of Gray's Inn, son of John Washington, of Warton, 
 in Lancashire. This Laurence Washington was for some 
 time mayor of Northampton, and on the dissolution of the 
 priories by Henry VIII he received, in 1538, a grant of the 
 manor of Sulgrave, in Northamptonshire, with other lands 
 in the vicinity, all confiscated property formerly belonging 
 to the monastery of St. Andrew's. 
 
 Sulgrave remained in the family until 1620, and was 
 commonly called " Washington's manor. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, pp. 25 to 38. 
 
 Early Ancestry of Washington's Mother 
 
 The courtly knight, Sir John Froissart, the famous 
 chronicler of the timq of the Plantagenets, drew with a 
 brilliant pen a bold sketch of a "crazy preacher of Kent," 
 as he called him, who was an irrepressible reformer, and 
 a leader in Wat Tyler's rebellion against the nobility of 
 England in the i4th century. 
 
 John Ball was the mad preacher. He was of the 
 class of married priests so hated and harried by St. Dunstan
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 
 
 centuries before. A sturdy democrat a prototype of 
 the socialists and nihilists of our time John Ball, for fully 
 twenty years before he was silenced by the sharp and con- 
 clusive argument of the executioner's axe, had harangued 
 the yeomen in Kentish churchyards, in market-places, 
 and at fairs, always taking for his text his favorite couplet 
 
 " When Adam delv'd and Eve span 
 Who was then the gentleman? " 
 
 Every Sunday, after mass, as the people came 
 out of the church, they gathered about John Ball. On one 
 of these occasions, he exclaimed, says the chronicler, "My 
 good friends, things cannot go on well in England, nor ever 
 will, until everything shall be in common; when there shall 
 neither be vassal nor lord, and all distinctions leveled; 
 when the lords shall be no more masters than ourselves. 
 How ill they have used us, and for what reason do they thus 
 hold us in bondage? Are we not all descended from the 
 same parents, Adam and Eve? and what can they show, 
 or what reasons give, why they should be more the masters 
 than ourselves? except, perhaps, in making us labor and 
 work for them to spend in their pride. They are clothed 
 in velvets and rich stuffs, ornamented with ermine and 
 other furs, while we are forced to wear poor clothes. They 
 have wines, spices, and fine bread, when we have only rye 
 and the refuse of straw ; and, if we drink, it must be water. 
 They have handsome seats and manors, when we must 
 brave the wind and rain in our labors in the field; but it is 
 from our labor they have wherewith to support their pomp. 
 We are called slaves ; and if we do not perform our services, 
 we are beaten, and we have not any sovereign to whom 
 we can complain, or who wishes to hear us and do justice. " 
 The people murmured, "John Ball speaks the truth." 
 But for these utterances he was imprisoned by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. This act, and an unjust tax levied 
 at about that time, set England ablaze, from sea to sea,
 
 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 with popular indignation. A hundred thousand Kentish 
 men and others led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, entered 
 Canterbury (1381), plundered the Archbishop's palace, 
 took John Ball from prison, and set him on a horse as their 
 leader, and pressed on towards London, killing every lawyer 
 by the way "for not till they are killed will the land 
 enjoy freedom, " shouted the peasants. They sang doggerel 
 ditties, many of them composed by John Ball, which were 
 scattered among the people to arouse them to revolt. 
 One of them ran thus : 
 
 "John Ball, Greeteth you all, 
 
 And doth for to Understand he hath rung your Bell, 
 Now Right and Might,' Will and Skill, 
 God speed every Dele. 
 Now reigneth Pride in Price, 
 And Covetise is counted Wise, 
 And Lechery without Shame, 
 And Gluttony without Blame," etc. 
 
 King Richard II, just enthroned, was then a lad 
 of sixteen. Advised by his mother, he acted wisely, 
 though deceitfully, at this crisis, in quelling the insurrection, 
 by meeting the malcontents face to face. 
 
 "We will," shouted the insurgent peasants, "that 
 you free us forever, we and our lands, and that we be never 
 named or held as serfs. " 
 
 "I grant it," cried Richard; and he bade them go 
 home, pledging himself to issue charters and forgiveness, 
 a pledge intended to be broken. The insurgents dispersed, 
 all but about thirty thousand who remained with Wat 
 Tyler to watch over the fulfilment of the royal pledge. 
 A quarrel with the mayor of London brought on a conflict. 
 Wat Tyler, was killed, John Ball and Jack Straw were 
 seized, and their heads (cut ofif by the king's command) 
 were, with Tyler's, displayed upon pikes on London Bridge. 
 
 What has all this to do with Mary, the mother of
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 
 
 Washington? it may be asked. Much it may be very 
 much. Possibly the democratic spirit of our beloved 
 patriot was inherited through a long line of ancestry from 
 the "mad preacher of Kent." Washington's mother was 
 Mary Ball, of English descent, the second wife of his father, 
 and there are weighty reasons for believing that she was 
 a lineal descendant from John Ball, the mediaeval champion 
 of the rights of man. 
 
 Mary and Martha, Benson J. Lossing, LL. D., pp. i to 6. 
 
 Two Ancestral Homes 
 
 Of the many thousands of Americans who throng to 
 Stratford every year, perhaps only a small number are 
 aware that the ancestral home of the Washingtons is 
 only a few miles away. Still smaller is the number who 
 make a pilgrimage to Sulgrave or to Brington, ten miles 
 further, though the memories and traditions of these places 
 are so closely connected with the ancestors of the Father of 
 his Country. True, his stately home by the Potomac is 
 not neglected by his countrymen, but every American should 
 be deeply interested in the English forefathers of the man 
 who more than any other, freed them from the "rule of 
 kings." ... 
 
 We turned into a narrow byway leading to Worm- 
 leighton, in whose ancient church there are records chron- 
 icling the marriage of Robert Washington in 1565 and the 
 birth of his son George in 1608, antedating his famous 
 namesake in America by more than a century. It would 
 even now be hard to follow on the map this maze of byroads 
 which we threaded, winding between hawthorn hedges or 
 gliding beneath the overarching branches of ancient elms; 
 and leading through villages the very embodi- 
 ment of quiet and repose. And Sulgrave, the cradle of the 
 Washingtons, seemed the sleepiest and loneliest of them all 
 a gray, straggling hamlet with only here and there a dash 
 of color from flower-beds or vivid walls, looking much as
 
 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 it must have looked when the last Washington was Lord 
 of the Manor, more than three hundred years ago. . 
 
 A little to one side of the village they pointed out the 
 "Washington House," and we followed a stony path 
 leading into the farmyard, where the good man was just 
 stabling his horses. A typical country woman of the 
 tenant class warmly welcomed us at Sulgrave Manor . . . 
 We were shown every nook and corner of the curious old 
 house not an extensive or imposing one, but three hundred 
 years ago domestic accommodations were not elaborate 
 even in the homes of the nobility, and while the Washingtons 
 ranked high among the gentry, they did not possess a title. 
 The house has not been greatly altered, in outward appear- 
 ance, at least; . . . fortunately, the thick stone wall 
 and heavy oaken beams yield but slowly to time's ravages. 
 The most imposing feature is the solid black-oak staircase 
 with its curiously twisted banisters. .- !. Nothing, how- 
 ever, impresses the American visitor so much as the Wash- 
 ington coat-of-arms executed in plaster in one of the gables 
 by the ancient owner. This had suffered much from the 
 weather, but has lately been protected by a glass covering. 
 The outer walls were originally covered with plaster, but 
 this has fallen away in many places, showing the rough 
 stone underneath; and elsewhere masses of ivy half hide 
 the small, square-paned windows. . . We followed the 
 rough cobblestone walk to the church door, but could not 
 gain admittance until the caretaker was found, for Sulgrave 
 Church has been kept strictly under lock and key ever since 
 one of the Washington brasses was stolen by an American, 
 of course a few years ago. ' It is a small, rough, lichen- 
 covered building, much restored, even to the stolen brass 
 tablet to the memory of the first Lawrence Washington. 
 
 The story of Sulgrave's connection with the Washing- 
 tons is not common and a short sketch may not be 
 amiss. In ^ the reign of Henry VIII, Lawrence Wash- 
 ington was mayor of Northampton and a gentleman
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 
 
 of consequence. Sulgrave was among the confiscated 
 church lands that the king was offering at bargain 
 prices, and Washington purchased it for three hundred 
 pounds. . . His grandson, another Lawrence Wash- 
 ington, was forced by adverse circumstances to sell the 
 estate . . . . This grandson, with a large family, 
 removed about 1606 the exact date is doubtful to 
 Little Brington, some ten miles to the northeast of 
 Sulgrave, where he was given a house, it is thought by the 
 Earl of Spencer, to which noble family the Washingtons 
 were related by marriage. The Lawrence Washington who 
 is buried in Great Brington Church was the great-great- 
 grandfather of the "first American." 
 
 .v . We paused ... in front of Great 
 Brington Church to which we gained admission . ,. . The 
 chief Washington memorials are the brasses the inscrip- 
 tion and coat-of-arms over the grave of Lawrence Wash- 
 ington of Sulgrave and Brington, and these have been sunk 
 deep in the stone slab and are guarded by lock and key. 
 
 Half a mile from Great Brington is Little Brington, 
 where we saw the Washington house, . . with only a 
 few touches, mullioned windows and carvings, to distinguish 
 it from the cottages of the village tenantry. There is a 
 world of pathos in the inscription cut in the stone tablet 
 above the doorway, "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh 
 away, Blessed be the name of the Lord. " 
 
 In Unfamiliar England, Thos. D. Murphy, pp. 40 to 46. 
 
 Some Ancestral Fighters 
 
 One of the direct descendants of the grantee of Sul- 
 grave was Sir William Washington, of Packington, in the 
 county of Kent. He married a sister of George , Villiers, 
 Duke of Buckingham, the unfortunate favorite of Charles I. 
 This may have attached the Sulgrave Washingtons to the 
 Stuart dynasty, to which they adhered loyally and gen- 
 erously throughout all its vicissitudes. One of the family,
 
 io THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel James Washington, took up arms 
 in the cause of King Charles, and lost his life in the siege 
 of Pontefract castle. Another of the Sulgrave line, Sir 
 Henry Washington, son and heir of Sir William, before 
 mentioned, exhibited in the civil wars the old chivalrous 
 spirit of the knights of the palatinate. He served under 
 Prince Rupert at the storming of Bristol, in 1643, and when 
 the assailants were beaten off at every point, he broke in 
 with- a handful of infantry at a weak part of the wall, made 
 room for the horse to follow, and opened a path to victory. 
 He distinguished himself still more in 1646, when 
 elevated to the command of Worcester, the governor 
 having been captured by the enemy. It was a time of 
 confusion and dismay. The king had fled from Oxford in 
 disguise and gone to the parliamentary camp at Newark. 
 The royal cause was desperate. In this crisis Sir Henry 
 received a letter from Fairfax, who, with his victorious 
 army, was at Haddington, demanding the surrender of 
 Worcester. The following was Colonel Washington's reply : 
 
 "Sir: It is acknowledged by your books and by report of your 
 own quarter, that the king is in some of your armies. That granted, it 
 may be easy for you to procure his Majesty's commands for the disposal 
 of this garrison. Till then I shall make good the trust reposed in me. 
 As for conditions, if I shall be necessitated, I shall make the best I can. 
 The worst I know and fear not ; if I had, the profession of a soldier had 
 not begun, nor so long continued by your Excellency's humble servant, 
 
 " HENRY WASHINGTON ". 
 
 In a few days Colonel Whalley invested the city with 
 five thousand troops. Sir Henry dispatched messenger after 
 messenger in quest of the king to know his pleasure. None 
 of them returned. A female emissary was equally unavail- 
 ing. Week after week elapsed, until nearly three months 
 had expired. Provisions began to fail. The city was in 
 confusion. The troops grew insubordinate. Yet Sir Henry 
 persisted in the defense. General Fairfax, with 1,500 horse, 
 and foot, was daily expected. There was not powder enough
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS it 
 
 for an hour's contest should the city be stormed. Still Sir 
 Henry "awaited His Majesty's commands." 
 
 At length news arrived that the king had issued an 
 order for the surrender of all towns, castles, and forts. 
 A printed copy of the order was shown to Sir Henry, and 
 on the faith of that document he capitulated (igth July, 
 1646) on honorable terms, won by his fortitude and perse- 
 verance. Those who believe in hereditary virtues may see 
 foreshadowed in the conduct of this Washington of Wor- 
 cester, the magnanimous constancy of purpose, the disposi- 
 tion to "hope against hope," which bore our Washington 
 triumphantly through the darkest days of our Revolution. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 39. 
 
 Part of His Pedigree 
 
 Although Washington wrote that the history of his 
 ancestors was, in his opinion, "of very little moment, " and 
 "a subject to which I confess I have paid very little atten- 
 tion, " few Americans can prove a better pedigree. The 
 earliest of his forbears yet discovered was described as 
 "gentleman," the family were granted lands by Henry 
 the Eighth, held various offices of honor, married into good 
 families, and under the Stuarts two were knighted and a 
 third served as page to Prince Charles. Lawrence, a 
 brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at 
 Oxford as a " generosi films" (the intermediate class between 
 sons of the nobility, "armigeri nlius, " and of the people, 
 "plebeii nlius"), or as of the minor gentry. In time he 
 became a fellow and lector of Brasenose College, and 
 presently obtained the good living of Purleigh. Strong 
 royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with 
 King Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing 
 of the Stuart dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the 
 rector of Purleigh, for the Puritan Parliament ejected him 
 from his living, on the charge "that he was a common 
 frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly 
 
 1-3
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 tippling there, . . but hath oft been drunk," a 
 charge indignantly denied by the royalists, who asserted 
 that he was a " worthy Pious man r . . . always . 
 a very Modest, Sober Person"; and this latter claim is 
 supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered 
 the rich living, they made no objection to his serving as 
 rector at Brixted Parva, where the living was " such a Poor 
 and Miserable one that it was always with difficulty that 
 any one was persuaded to accept of it." 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 15. 
 
 American Ancestry 
 
 We have little note of the Sulgrave branch of the 
 family after the death of Charles I and the exile of his 
 successor. England, during the Protectorate, became an 
 uncomfortable residence to such as had signalized them- 
 selves as adherents to the house of Stuart. In 1655, an 
 attempt at a general insurrection drew on them the ven- 
 geance of Cromwell. Many of their party who had no 
 share in the conspiracy, yet sought refuge in other lands, 
 where they might live free from molestation. This may 
 have been the case with the two brothers, John and Andrew 
 [Lawrence] Washington, great-grandsons of the grantee of 
 Sulgrave, and uncles of Sir Henry, the gallant defender of 
 Worcester. John had for some time resided in South 
 Cave, in the East Riding of Yorkshire; but now emigrated 
 with his brother to Virginia, which colony, from its alle- 
 giance to the exiled monarch and the Anglican Church had 
 become a favorite resort of the Cavaliers. The brothers 
 arrived in Virginia in 1657, and purchased land in West- 
 moreland County, on the Northern Neck, between the 
 Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. John married a Miss 
 Anne Pope, of the same county, and took up his residence 
 on Bridges' Creek, near where it falls into the Potomac. 
 He became an extensive planter, and in process of time, 
 a magistrate and member of the House of Burgesses.
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 13 
 
 Having a spark of the old military fire of the family, we find 
 him, as Colonel Washington, leading the Virginia forces, in 
 cooperation with those of Maryland, against a band of 
 .Seneca Indians, who were ravaging the settlements along 
 the Potomac. In honor of his public and private virtues 
 the parish in which he resided was called after him, and 
 still bears the name of Washington. He lies buried in a 
 vault on Bridges' Creek, which, for generations, was the 
 family place of sepulture. 
 
 The estate continued in the family. His grandson 
 Augustine, the father of our Washington, was born there 
 in 1694. He was twice married; first (April 20, 1715), 
 to Jane, daughter of Caleb Butler, Esq., of Westmoreland 
 County, by whom he had four children, of whom only two, 
 Lawrence and Augustine, survived the years of childhood; 
 their mother died November 24, 1728, and was buried 
 in the family vault. 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1730, he married in second 
 nuptials, Mary, the daughter of Colonel Ball, a young and 
 beautiful girl, said to be the belle of the Northern Neck. 
 By her he had four sons, George, Samuel, John Augustine, 
 and Charles; and two daughters, Elizabeth, or Betty, as 
 she was commonly called, and Mildred, who died in infancy. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 41. 
 
 Two Letters about a Mary Ball 
 
 I have met with only two allusions, in writing, to Mary 
 Ball before her marriage. These were in fragments of 
 letters found in a deserted mansion near' the York River 
 during the late Civil War, and sent to me in a small package 
 of other old papers of no real value. One of these letters, 
 written in a feminine hand, dated "Wms Burg, ye 7th of 
 Octr, 1722," began as follows: 
 
 " Dear Sukey: Madam Ball of Lancaster and Her 
 Sweet Molly have gone Horn. Mamma thinks Molly the
 
 i 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Comliest Maiden She Knows. She is about 16 yrs old, is 
 taller than Me, is verry Sensable, Modest and Loving. Her 
 Hair is like unto Flax, Her Eyes are the color of Yours 
 and her Chekes are like May blossoms. I wish you could 
 see her." 
 
 The other letter was written by " Lizzie Burwell" to a 
 friend. It was so torn and faded as to be almost illegible ; 
 only the subjoined part of a sentence could be deciphered: 
 
 " understand Molly Ball is going Home with her 
 Brother a Lawyer, who lives in England. Her Mother is 
 Dead three Months ago, and her Sister "- 
 
 Here a fragment of the letter was torn off, together with all 
 the superscription excepting "Miss Nelly Car . " At the 
 top of the letter were the words, " tank, May ye isth, 1728. " 
 This is the sum of my information concerning Mary 
 Ball before her marriage, when she was about twenty-four 
 years of age. 
 
 Mary and Martha, Benson J. Lossing, p. n. 
 
 Mary the Mother of Washington 
 
 Very little is known of the youth and early womanhood 
 of Mary Ball. Her father appears to have been a well-to-do 
 planter on the left bank of the Rappahannock River, near 
 where, a broad stream, its fresh waters commingled with 
 the brine of the Chesapeake Bay. He was a vestryman 
 of Christ Church, in Lancaster. In a fragment of a list 
 of contributions for the support of the minister of that 
 parish (Rev. John Bell) in 1712, is the following entry: 
 "Joseph Ball, 5" a considerable sum for a Virginia 
 planter at that time to give for such a purpose. He was 
 commissioned a colonel by Gov. Alexander Spottswood, 
 and was known as "Colonel Ball of Lancaster," to dis- 
 tinguish him from another Colonel Ball, his cousin.
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 15 
 
 Mary Ball seems to have grown to womanhood in the 
 serene and healthful seclusion of a well-ordered home in 
 a sparsely settled country. Like most of the girls in the 
 colony at that time, her attainments in "book" learning 
 must have been acquired under the parental roof, for early 
 in the last century schools were almost unknown in that 
 part of our country. Governor Berkeley had, half a century 
 before, thanked God there were no free schools nor a printing- 
 press in Virginia, and hoped there would not be in a hundred 
 years 
 
 When Mary Ball was about seventeen years of age 
 she wrote to her brother abroad on family matters, and 
 concluded her letter as follows : 
 
 " We have not had a schoolmaster in our neighborhood 
 until now (January 14, 1723) in nearly four years. We 
 have now a young minister living with us, who was educated 
 at Oxford, took orders, and came over as assistant to Rev. 
 Kemp, at Gloucester. That parish is too poor to keep both, 
 and he teaches school for his board. He teaches Susie and 
 me and Madam Carter's boy and two girls. I am now 
 learning pretty fast. Mama and Susie and I all send love 
 to you and Mary. This from your loving sister, Mary Ball." 
 
 The education of Mary was evidently defective, but 
 not more so than that of the average young woman of her 
 class. While her chirogr'aphy was plain and business-like 
 in character, her orthography was very defective, even late 
 in life. But her career indicates that she had received at 
 home an education for the higher duties of life, of far 
 greater value and importance than any taught in schools. 
 From her mother, who died in 1728, after a widowhood of 
 many years, she had doubtless inherited the noblest qualities 
 of mind and heart, and had been taught all those domestic 
 virtues of which contemporary testimony and tradition 
 tell us she was a bright exemplar^ industry, frugality, 
 integrity, strength of will and purpose, obedient to the 
 behests of duty, faithfulness, and modesty, with deep
 
 1 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 religious convictions. She was strengthened by an abiding 
 faith in the Divine promises which made Mary, the mother 
 of Washington, a model woman, and yet 
 
 "A creature not too bright or good 
 For human nature's daily food." 
 
 Mary and Martha, Benson J. Lossing, pp. 8 to 1 1 . 
 
 % 
 
 Conjectures about Washington's Father and Mother 
 
 Augustine Washington was born in 1694, and at the 
 age of twenty-one years married Jane, daughter of Caleb 
 Butler, of Westmoreland County. They had four children- 
 three sons and one daughter; Butler, who died in infancy, 
 Lawrence, Augustine, and Jane, the latter dying in early 
 childhood. Their mother died in November, 1728, when 
 her husband was about thirty-four years of age. 
 
 In 1792, President Washington, by request, sent to 
 Sir Isaac Heard, Garter King of Arms, in London, a gen- 
 ealogical table of the Washington family in Virginia. In it 
 occur these words: 
 
 . "Jane, wife of Augustine [Washington], died November 
 24, 1728, and was buried in the family vault at Bridges' 
 Creek. Augustine then married Mary Ball, March 6, 1730. " 
 
 i 
 No hint is given as to where this marriage took place, 
 
 nor is there any known record extant that can answer the 
 question, Where were Augustine and Mary Ball wedded? 
 There is no tradition that can answer, excepting that given 
 by Mr. Harvey that they were married in England. 
 
 We have observed an intimation in a fragment of a 
 letter . . that Mary Ball went to England with her 
 brother in 1728, and Mr. Harvey ascertained at Cookham 
 that Augustine Washington was there in 1729; also that 
 families of Washington and Balls had lived there and been 
 buried there. He also ascertained that Augustine Wash- 
 ington tarried there to effect the sale of some property he 
 had fallen heir to. In Virginia the Washington and Ball
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 17 
 
 families lived in adjoining counties, and were doubtless 
 personally acquainted with each other. The question 
 naturally arises, "May not Augustine Washington and 
 Mary Ball have met in England and married there? " . 
 
 Where was Washington born and baptized? There 
 is no known official record that can solve the question. 
 There is no tradition that helps to solve it, excepting the 
 statement of Washington quoted above, and that of Mrs. 
 Merer, who says he was born in Cookham, and was carried 
 to America in the arms of either her "aunt or mother. " 
 How trustworthy is the tradition of the latter, let us see. 
 
 Mrs. Morer died in 1812, eighty years after the birth of 
 Washington. She must have been a very young child 
 when, as she says, her "aunt or mother" went to America 
 as a nurse for him too young, too, to be the likely recipient, 
 as she says she was, of the portrait of Mary Ball and " other 
 relicks of the [Washington] family." Mr. Field was born 
 in 1777. He received the story from Mrs. Morer 's lips 
 when he was "a boy," say eighteen years 'of age, when 
 according to her narrative, she must have been fully seventy- 
 five years old. Would any court receive testimony of this 
 nature as trustworthy? 
 
 It lacked only about a month of being two years from 
 the time of the marriage of Washington's parents until his 
 birth, or fully three years after his father went to England. 
 Augustine had left in Virginia his large estate and various 
 concerns, and his two sons, one about seven years and the 
 other about nine years of -age. Would he be likely to 
 remain abroad so long, neglectful of his family and estate, 
 to receive and dispose of some property in England which 
 he had inherited? 
 
 Does it not seem probable that Augustine Washington 
 and Mary Ball were married in England, and after tarrying 
 there awhile to dispose of some property, returned to 
 Virginia, where their first child was born and baptized, two 
 years after the wedding? 
 
 Mary and Martlia, Benson J. Lossing, pp. 21 to 24.
 
 1 8 ' THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mary Washington's First Home 
 
 The home plantation of Augustine Washington stretched 
 along the Potomac River more than a mile between Pope's 
 and Bridges' creeks. The river is there a broad stream, and 
 was then largely fringed by the primeval forest. Its waters 
 abounded with the choicest fishes. This farm of a thousand 
 acres was in the northern part of Westmoreland County, a 
 narrow shire afterwards distinguished as the birthplace of 
 two Presidents of the United States (Washington and Mon- 
 roe) and of several Lees who were prominent actors in the 
 early history of our republic. Of these, Richard Henry Lee, 
 author of the resolution for independence offered in the Con- 
 gress in 1776; Arthur Lee, M.D., a diplomatic agent for the 
 Continental Congress abroad; and "Legion Harry," a brave 
 and dashing young cavalry leader in the old war for 
 independence, were the most conspicuous. 
 
 The dwelling to which Mr. Washington took his young 
 wife was a very modest one, yet it ranked among the best of 
 Virginia farm houses at that time. It had four rooms 
 and a spacious attic, with an enormous chimney at each 
 end. On the river front was a piazza. It was perfectly 
 plain at all points. The only approach to ornamentation 
 was a Dutch tiled chimney-piece in the " best room. " 
 
 The bride found at her new home a middle-aged kins- 
 woman of her husband in charge of his two fine boys, 
 Lawrence and Augustine. There was an ample supply of 
 men and women servants. The rooms were neatly furnished, 
 and in one of them was a small collection of books, chiefly 
 devotional in character. Among them was a copy of Sir 
 Matthew Hale' s "Contemplations, Moral and Divine," on 
 the fly-leaf of which Augustine's first wife had written her 
 name in bold characters. .Immediately under this signature 
 the new mistress of the household wrote "and Mary Wash- 
 ington," in an equally bold hand. I saw this volume and 
 copied the signatures many years ago, at Mount Vernon.
 
 WASHINGTON'S ANTECEDENTS 19 
 
 From that volume the mother of Washington undoubtedly 
 drew, as from a living well of sweet water, many of the 
 maxims which she instilled into the mind of her first-born, 
 who became illustrious. It was in this modest home on the 
 banks of the Potomac that Mary Washington gave birth 
 to that son in the winter of 1732. 
 
 Mary and Martha, Benson J. Lossing, p. j.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 GEORGE AND His FATHER 
 
 His Birth 
 
 My father, Augustine, was born in 1694, on the planta- 
 tion known as Wakeneld, granted in 1667, to his grand- 
 father, and lying between the Bridges'' and Pope's creeks, in 
 Westmoreland, on the north neck between the Potomac and 
 the Rappahannock. My father, in his will, says: "Foras- 
 much as my several children in this my will mentioned, being 
 by several Ventures, cannot inherit from one another," etc. 
 
 What he speaks of as his "Ventures" were his two 
 marriages. A venture does appear to me to be an appro- 
 priate name for the uncertain state of matrimony. The 
 first "venture" was Jane Butler, who lies buried at Wake- 
 field. Of her four children two survived ; that is, my half- 
 brothers Lawrence and Augustine, whom we called Austin. 
 I was the first child of my father's second "venture," and 
 my mother was Mary Ball. I was born at Wakefield, on 
 February 1 1 (O. S.), 1732, about ten in the morning. I was 
 baptized in the Pope's Creek church, and had two godfathers 
 and one godmother, Mildred Gregory. Mr. Beverly Whiting 
 and Mr. Christopher Brooks were my godfathers. I do not 
 recall ever seeing Mr. Whiting, although his son, of the 
 same name, I met in after years. Of Mr. Brooks I know 
 nothing, nor do I know which one of the two gave me the 
 silver cups which it was then the custom for the godfather 
 to give to the godson. I still have them. I was told by a 
 silversmith in Philadelphia that the cups are of Irish make, 
 and of about 1720. There were six of these mugs, in order 
 to be used for punch when the child grew up. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell. 
 
 M. D., p. 22. 
 
 (20)
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 2 i 
 
 Parson Weems 
 
 Several of the most famous tales of Washington's 
 boyhood are told by an odd character known as Parson 
 Weems, who preached in Powick church for a while after 
 the war. Washington attended this church, and he and 
 his wife often entertained Weems in their hospitable house. 
 As the odd parson no doubt gossiped with all the old people 
 about the neighborhood, he had a good chance to pick up 
 many anecdotes about the great man's childhood. Unfor- 
 tunately, Parson Weems was more fond of a good story 
 than of the strict truth. Having a large family to support, 
 he left off preaching and became a book peddler. He rode 
 about in an old-fashioned gig, selling his own writings and 
 those of others. He told so many amusing stories and 
 played the fiddle so well, that he was a very successful 
 peddler. He would enter a bar-room with a temperance 
 tract he had written, and mimic a drunken man so perfectly 
 that he had no trouble in selling his tracts to the laughing 
 crowd. It is told of Weems that he once fiddled for a dance 
 from behind a screen, lest people should be shocked to see 
 a parson fiddling in such a place. The screen fell over, 
 however, and revealed the fiddling preacher, to the great 
 amusement of the crowd. The odd old parson wrote a life 
 of Washington, in which he told some stories of the great 
 man's boyhood which he said he had learned from an old 
 lady who was a cousin of the family and had visited, when 
 she was a girl, in the house of Mr. Augustine Washington. 
 The stories are not improbable in themselves, and are 
 doubted only because they are told by the queer parson, 
 who loved a good story too well. 
 
 Tlie Story of Washington, Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye, p. 6. 
 
 Little George and the Sin of Selfishness 
 
 , To assist his son to overcome that selfish spirit, which 
 too often leads children to fret and fight about trifles, was
 
 22 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 a notable care of Mr. Washington. For this purpose, of all 
 the presents, such as cakes, fruit, etc., he received, he was 
 always desired to give a liberal part to his playmates. To 
 enable him to do this with more alacrity, his father would 
 ' remind him of the love which he would thereby gain, and 
 the frequent presents which would in return be made to 
 him; and also would tell of that great and good God, who 
 delights above all things to see children love one another, 
 and will assuredly reward them for acting so amiable a part. 
 
 Some idea of Mr. Washington's plan of education in 
 this respect, may be collected from the following anecdote, 
 related to me twenty years ago by an aged lady, who was 
 a distant relative, and, when a girl, spent much of her time 
 in the family : 
 
 "On a fine morning," said she, "in the fall of 1737, 
 Mr. Washington, having little George by the hand, came to 
 the door and asked my cousin . . . and myself to 
 walk with him to the orchard, promising he would show us 
 a fine sight. On arriving at the orchard, we were presented 
 with a fine sight indeed. The whole earth, as far as we 
 could see, was strewed with fruit: and yet the trees were 
 bending under the weight of apples, which hung in clusters 
 like grapes, and vainly strove to hide their blushing cheeks 
 behind the green leaves. 
 
 "'Now, George,' said his father, 'look here, my son! 
 don't you remember when this good cousin of yours brought 
 you that fine large apple last spring, how hardly I could 
 prevail on you to divide with your brothers and sisters; 
 though I promised you that if you would but do it, God 
 Almighty would give you plenty of apples this fall. ' 
 
 "Poor George could not say a word; but hanging down 
 his head, looked quite confused, while with his little naked 
 toes he scratched in the soft ground. 
 
 "Now look up, my son,' continued his father, 'look 
 up, George ! and see there how richly the blessed God has 
 made good my promise to you. Wherever you turn your
 
 eyes you see the trees loaded down with fine fruit; many 
 of them indeed breaking down ; while the ground is covered 
 with mellow apples, more than you could eat, my son, in 
 all your life time. ' 
 
 "George looked in silence on the wide wilderness of 
 fruit. He marked the busy humming bees, and heard the 
 gay notes of birds; then lifting his eyes, filled with shining 
 moisture, to his father, he softly said: 
 
 " 'Well, Pa, only forgive me this time; and see if I ever 
 be so stingy any more." 
 
 The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes, Rev. M. L. Weems, p. 12. 
 
 The Moral and Entertaining Story of the Little Hatchet 
 
 Never did the wise Ulysses take more pains with his 
 beloved Telemachus, than did Mr. Washington with George, 
 to inspire him with an early love of truth. 
 
 "Truth, George," said he, "is the loveliest quality of 
 youth. I would ride fifty miles, my son, to see the little 
 boy whose heart is so honest, and his lips so pure, that we 
 may depend on every word he says. O how lovely does 
 such a child appear in the eyes of everybody! His parents 
 dote on him. His relations glory in him. They are con- 
 stantly praising him to their children, whom they beg to 
 imitate him. They are often sending for him to visit them ; 
 and receive him, when he comes, with as much joy as if he 
 were a little angel, come to set pretty examples to their 
 children. 
 
 "But, oh! how different, George, is the case with the 
 boy who is so given to lying that nobody can believe a word 
 he says! He is looked at with aversion wherever he goes, 
 and parents dread to see him come among their children. 
 Oh, George! my son! rather than see you come to this pass, 
 dear as you are to my heart, gladly would I assist to nail 
 you up in your little coffin, and follow you to your grave. 
 Hard, indeed, would it be to me to give up my son, whose 
 little feet are always so ready to run about with me, and
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 whose fondly looking eyes, and sweet prattle make so large 
 a part of my happiness. But still I would give him up, 
 rather than see him a common liar. " 
 
 " Pa, " said George very seriously, " do I ever tell lies? " 
 
 "No, George, I thank God you do not, my son; and I 
 rejoice in the hope you never will. At least, you shall 
 never, from me, have cause to be guilty of so shameful a 
 thing. Many parents, indeed, even compel their children 
 to this vile practice, by barbarously beating them for every 
 little fault: hence, on the next offence, the terrified little 
 creature slips out a lie, just to escape the rod. But as to 
 yourself, George, you know I have always told you, and 
 now tell you again, that, whenever by accident, you do 
 anything wrong, which must often be the case, as you are 
 but a poor little boy yet, without experience or knowledge, 
 you must never tell a falsehood to conceal it; but come 
 bravely up, my son, like a little man, and tell me of it: 
 and, instead of beating you, George, I will but the more 
 honour and love you for it, my dear. " 
 
 This, you'll say, was sowing good seed! . . Yes, 
 it was: and the crop, thank God, was, as I believe it ever 
 will be, where a man acts the true parent, that is, the 
 Guardian Angel, by his child. 
 
 The following anecdote is a case in point. It is too 
 valuable to be lost, and too true to be doubted; for it was 
 communicated to me by the same excellent lady to whom 
 I am indebted for the last. 
 
 " When George," said she, " was about six years old, he 
 was made the wealthy master of a hatchet, of which, like 
 most little boys, he was immoderately fond, and was con- 
 stantly going about chopping everything that came in his 
 way. One day, in the garden, where he often amused him- 
 self hacking his mother's pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the 
 edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English 
 cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly that I don't believe 
 the tree ever got the better of it. The next morning the
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 25 
 
 old gentleman, finding out what had befallen his tree, which, 
 by the by, was a great favourite, came into the house ; and 
 with much warmth asked for the mischievous author, 
 declaring at the same time, that he would not have taken 
 five guineas for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything 
 about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their 
 appearance. 'George,' said his father, 'do you know 
 who killed that beautiful little cherry-tree yonder in the 
 garden?' 
 
 "This was a tough question; and George staggered 
 under it for a moment ; but quickly recovered himself ; and 
 looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth 
 brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering 
 truth, he bravely cried out, 
 
 '"I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I 
 did cut it with my hatchet. ' 
 
 '"Run to my arms, you dearest boy,' cried his father 
 in transports, 'run to my arms; glad am I, George, that 
 you killed my tree ; for you have paid me for it a thousand 
 fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth 
 than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and 
 their fruits of purest gold.' ' 
 
 The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes, Rev. M. L. Weems, p. 14. 
 
 The Father's True Moral Stature 
 
 So little, however, has the character of Washington's 
 father been considered according to scientific and sociologi- 
 cal methods that his only prominence has been due to a 
 little affair about a cherry-tree, and even regarding this 
 his true moral stature has not been properly estimated. 
 A young cherry-tree appeared from widely different 
 standpoints to father and son in the Washington family. 
 To any boy with a hatchet a young cherry-tree says " come 
 and cut me, " as distinctly as the rear elevation of a dandy 
 says "come and kick me" to a well-shod man whose brains 
 are in his head. A young cherry-tree is as straight as a
 
 26 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 ramrod, its bark is smooth and glistening to a degree 
 unattainable by any other bark, and its whole appearance 
 is unspeakably, exasperatingly self-sufficient. George hum- 
 bled the pride of his father's pet cherry-tree; and every 
 boy who has ever indulged in hatchet practice upon similar 
 woody growth knows that he did it with a single vigorous 
 blow. But to his father, living in a new country and three 
 thousand miles away from the land of good nurseries or 
 desirable stock from which to graft, the loss of the tree 
 was serious. So when the little boy told the truth, and the 
 father said that he would rather have lost a thousand cherry- 
 trees than have his son tell a lie, he exhibited a spirit which, 
 while utterly antiquated and unbusinesslike, was simply 
 colossal in its moral proportions. Were any father to talk 
 like that in the present age, he could never hope to get his 
 son a situation even as an office boy; but those days were 
 not these days, when absolute truthfulness is the most 
 discouraging of business vices. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 4. 
 
 What George's "Pa" Did to Startle Him 
 
 It was in this way by interesting at once his heart and 
 head, that Mr. Washington conducted George with great 
 ease and pleasure along the happy paths of virtue. But 
 well knowing that his beloved charge, soon to be a man, 
 would be left exposed to numberless temptations, both 
 from himself and from others, his heart throbbed with the 
 tenderest anxiety to make him acquainted with that great 
 Being, whom to know and love is to possess the surest 
 defence against vice, and the best of all motives to virtue 
 and happiness. To startle George into a lively sense of 
 his Maker, he hit upon the following very curious but 
 impressive expedient: 
 
 One day he went into the garden, and prepared a little 
 bed of finely pulverized earth, on which he wrote George's 
 name at full, in large letters then strewing in plenty of
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 27 
 
 cabbage seed, he covered them up, and smoothed all over 
 nicely with the roller. This bed he purposely prepared 
 close alongside of a gooseberry walk, which happening 
 at this time to be well hung with ripe fruit, he knew would 
 be honoured with George's visits pretty regularly every day. 
 Not many mornings had passed away before in came George, 
 with eyes wild rolling, and his little cheeks ready to burst 
 with great news. 
 
 " O Pa ! come here ! come here ! ' ' 
 
 " What's the matter, my son? what's the matter? " 
 
 "O come here, I tell you, Pa: come here! and I'll show 
 you such a sight as you never saw in all your lifetime. " 
 
 The old gentleman suspecting what George would be 
 at, gave him his hand, which he seized with great eagerness, 
 and tugging him along through the garden, led him point 
 blank to the" bed whereon was inscribed, in large letters, 
 and in all the freshness of newly sprung plants, the full 
 name of 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 " There, Pa? " said George,' quite in an ecstasy of aston- 
 ishment, "did you ever see such a sight in all your life- 
 time?" 
 
 "Why it seems like a curious affair, sure ^enough, 
 George!" 
 
 "But, Pa, who did make it there? who did make it 
 there?" 
 
 "It grew there by chance, I suppose, my son." 
 
 "By chance, Pa! O no! no! it never did grow there 
 by chance,- Pa. Indeed that it never did!" 
 
 "High! why not, my son?" 
 
 " Why Pa, did you ever see anybody's name in a plant 
 bed before?" 
 
 " Well, but George, such a thing might happen, though 
 you never saw it before." 
 
 "Yes, Pa, but I did never see the little plants grow 
 
 1-4
 
 28 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 up so as to make one single letter of my name before. Now, 
 how could they grow up so as to make all the letters of 
 my name, and then standing one after another, to spell 
 my name. so exactly and all so neat and even too, at top 
 and bottom! O Pa, you must not ay chance did all this. 
 Indeed somebody did it; and I daresay now, Pa, you did 
 it just to scare me, because I am your little boy. " 
 
 His father smiled, and said, " Well, George, you have 
 guessed right. I indeed did it; but not to scare you, my 
 son; but to learn you a great thing which I wish you to 
 understand. I want, my son, to introduce you to your 
 true Father." 
 
 " High, Pa, ain't you my true father, that has loved me, 
 and been so good to me always?" 
 
 "Yes, George, I am your father, as the world calls it; 
 and I love you very dearly too. But yet with all my love 
 for you, George, I am but a poor good-for-nothing sort of 
 a father in comparison of one you have." 
 
 "Aye! I know well enough whom you mean, Pa. 
 You mean God Almighty; don't you?" 
 
 "Yes, my son, I mean Him indeed. He is your true 
 Father, George." 
 
 The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes, Rev. M. L. Weems, p. 16. 
 
 Giving up the Leading-rein 
 
 So deeply immersed was Mary Washington in con- 
 siderings and apprehensions that she failed to notice George, 
 who was quietly gathering up the straggling leading-rein, 
 unbuckling its fastening, and tucking it into a pocket 
 beneath the flap of his saddle. 
 
 Suddenly she remembered that she had rrot resumed 
 her hold of the long strap. "Have you lost the leading- 
 rein, George?" she asked, looking round at him. 
 
 "No, ma'am," he replied, straightening himself and 
 meeting her eye with his proud, steady look, "but I think 
 we shall need it no more. "
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER' 29 
 
 " Give it to me, " said Mary calmly. 
 
 His little face set itself in hard lines, strangely like 
 those on his, mother's countenance. 
 
 " I can do without it now, " he said. 
 
 "That is for me to judge, " was her reply, and she held 
 out her hand. They were walking their horses, all needing 
 a breathing spell after the recent excitements. 
 
 George's lip quivered, but he pulled the strap out 
 from its hiding-place and handed it to his mother. 
 
 "My son," she said, "when a brave man hath earned 
 promotion, it is his commander who shall confer it." And 
 she flung the strap over the hedge. 
 
 He turned to her with a passion of joy in his face. 
 "Thank you, ma'am," he said, and then added, stretching 
 out his hand to touch her, " I shall trust you next time, 
 mamma." 
 
 And then it was Mary who felt that she had been 
 promoted. 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Eraser, p. 174. 
 
 Little George Washington 
 
 Every one of -my little children 4*as seen a picture of 
 George Washington, I am sure. 
 
 Of course all these are pictures of a strong, handsome,, 
 grown-up man, and I suppose you never happened to 
 think that George Washington was once a little boy. 
 
 But ever so long ago he was as small as you are now, 
 and I am going to tell you about his father and mother, 
 his home and his little-boy days. 
 
 He was born one hundred and sixty years ago in 
 Virginia, near a great river called the Potomac. His 
 father's name was Augustine, his mother's Mary, and he 
 had several brothers and a little sister. 
 
 They all lived in the country, on a farm, or a plantation, 
 as they called it in Virginia. The Washington house stood 
 in the middle of green tobacco fields and flowery meadows,
 
 30 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and there were so many barns and storehouses and sheds 
 round about it that they made quite a village of themselves. 
 The nearest neighbors lived miles away; there were no 
 railroads nor stages, and if you wanted to travel, you must 
 ride on horseback through the thick woods, or you might 
 sail in little boats up and down the rivers. 
 
 City boys and girls might think, perhaps, that little 
 George Washington was very lonely on the great plantation, 
 with no neighbor-boys to play with ; but you must remember 
 that the horses and cattle and sheep and dogs on a farm 
 make the dearest of playmates, and that there are all kinds 
 of pleasant things to do in the country that city boys 
 know nothing about. 
 
 Little George played out of doors all the time and 
 grew very strong. He went- fishing and swimming in the 
 great river, he ran races and jumped fences with his brothers 
 and the dogs, he threw stones across the brooks and when 
 he grew a larger boy he even learned to shoot. 
 
 He had a pretty pony, too, named "Hero," that he 
 loved very much, and that he used to ride all about the 
 plantation. 
 
 Some of the letters have been kept that he wrote when 
 he was a little boy, and he talks in them about his pony, 
 and his books with pictures of elephants, and the new top 
 he is going to have soon. 
 
 Think of that great. General Washington on a white 
 horse once playing with a little humming top like yours. 
 
 The Story Hour, Nora A. Smith, p. 115. 
 
 "Advantages" George Was Spared 
 
 Much of the credit for the character of the embryo 
 savior of the country may be attributed to the freedom of 
 his early life and the lack of unnatural repression. He was 
 allowed to see a house on fire without surreptitiously follow- 
 ing an engine and being punished on his return, for the 
 family mansion was burned to the ground while he was
 
 a mere boy. He could go fishing along the banks of a 
 brook without stumbling over two or three thousand other 
 boys and men similarly employed, and in the creek that 
 flowed past his house no detestable factory or oil-refinery 
 refuse had driven away all the fish but suckers. He could 
 take a header into deep water anywhere, without being 
 chased away by a policeman. There were no graded 
 schools to force him into forgetting all that he had learned 
 at home, nor any truancy agents to pounce upon him from 
 innocent looking doorways as he strolled cheerily along 
 thinking deeply about nothing in particular. He was fond 
 of throwing stones ; but as there were no tramps or lightning- 
 rod men in the country in his day, he practised at throwing 
 across the Rappahannock River. 
 
 He was spared the debilitating influence of goody- 
 goody books; neither were there any dime novels, so he 
 never learned to adore a man for his vices. Toy-shops 
 and candy-stores were likewise unknown, so the little 
 fellow was obliged to find his diversions out of doors, and 
 how ably he did it may be inferred from the superb physical 
 and moral manhood that he displayed during his entire 
 subsequent life. . 
 
 Washington attended such schools as the country 
 afforded; but as natural science in those days was con- 
 sidered first cousin to witchcraft, text-books in geography 
 and history were unknown, and grammar had not begun to 
 shorten human life, his education was restricted to the 
 three R's readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic. His own 
 writings, at every stage of his career, prove beyond the 
 possibility of a doubt that he never saw a spelling-book, 
 and that the country spelling school had not been intro- 
 duced into Virginia. That he did not learn to spell, is of no 
 particular consequence; but that he missed the unequalled 
 facilities for innocent flirtation which the spelling-school 
 affords to the young people of a sparsely settled country, 
 is a matter for national regret, for to thisjprivation must
 
 32 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 be attributed that defect in his early education which 
 gave his strong and handsome face an expression of 
 solemnity. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 5. 
 
 Schools in Virginia 
 
 There were no good schools in Virginia at that time. 
 In fact, the people did not care much about learning. 
 
 There were few educated men besides the parsons, and 
 even some of the parsons were very ignorant. 
 
 It was the custom of some of the richest families to 
 send their eldest sons to England to the great schools there. 
 But it is doubtful if these young men learned much about 
 books. 
 
 They spent a winter or two in the gay society of London, 
 and were taught the manners of gentlemen and that was 
 about all. 
 
 , George Washington's father, when a young man, had 
 spent some time at Appleby School in England, and George's 
 half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who were several 
 years older than he, had been sent to the same school. 
 
 But book-learning was not thought to be of much use. 
 To know how to manage the business of a plantation, to 
 be polite to one's equals, to be a leader in the affairs of the 
 colony this was thought to be the best education. 
 
 And so, for most of the young men, it was enough if 
 they could read and write a little and keep a few simple 
 accounts. As for the girls, the parson might give them a 
 few lessons now and then; and if they learned good man- 
 ners and could write letters to their friends, what more 
 could they need? 
 
 George Washington's first teacher was a poor sexton, 
 whose name was Mr. Hobby. There is a story that he had 
 been too poor to pay his passage from England, and that 
 he had, therefore, been sold to Mr. Washington as a slave 
 for a short time ; but how true this is I cannot say.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 33 
 
 From Mr. Hobby, George learned to spell easy words, 
 and perhaps to write a little; but though he afterward 
 became a very careful and good penman, he was a poor 
 speller as long as he lived. 
 
 Four Great Americans, James Baldwin, Ph.D., p. 14. 
 
 Peter and "Hobby" 
 
 While I was a child, my father, as I have said, made 
 many voyages to England and fetched back with him 
 convicts, and perhaps also indentured servants. Often 
 in those days some of the unfortunate people thus sent 
 to the colonies were under sentence for political offences, 
 but many, of course, for crimes. One of these, a convict 
 I was told, was my first schoolmaster. We called him 
 Hobby, which was, I believe, a nickname ; but he was named 
 Grove, and was sexton of the Falmouth church, two miles 
 away. Of what our sexton schoolmaster had been con- 
 victed I never heard, but of this I am assured, that my 
 father would not have used as a schoolmaster a common 
 thief. I used to ride the two miles to the "field-school," 
 as they called it, in front of a slave named Peter, and 
 later was allowed a pony, to my mother's alarm when he 
 would tumble me off, as happened now and then. Hobby 
 was a short man, with one eye, and too good-humored or too 
 timid to be a good teacher, even of the a-b-c's and the 
 little else we learned. 
 
 My father was kind to this man, and perhaps knew his 
 history. He would even have allowed him the use of the 
 rod, with the aid of which I might have profited more 
 largely, for I am of his opinion that children should be 
 strictly brought up. Hobby, being of a humorous turn, 
 seems to me, as I remember him, to have resembled the 
 grave-digger in "Hamlet." He sometimes amused and 
 at other times terrified us by tales of London or of his recent 
 life as a sexton. He believed many of the negro super- 
 stitions as that if a snake's head was cut off the tail
 
 34 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 would live until it thundered and was much afraid of 
 having what he called black magic put upon him by the 
 negroes. 
 
 I did not learn much from Hobby and preferred to be 
 out of doors. My father considered, I believe, that, as I 
 was a younger son and must in some way support myself, 
 I should be well trained in both mind and body, and had he 
 lived the chance of the former might have been bettered. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., 
 P. 29- 
 
 His Earliest Playfellows 
 
 The first playmate Washington had, outside of his own 
 immediate family, was another Lawrence Washington, a 
 very distant cousin, who lived at Choptank on the Potomac, 
 and who, with his brother, Robert Washington, early won 
 Washington's regard, and kept it through life. 
 
 It was at Choptank, with Lai and Bob, Washington 
 first met with traffic between the old world and the new. 
 There was no money used except tobacco notes, which 
 passed among merchants in London and Amsterdam as 
 cash. Foreign ships brought across the ocean goods that 
 the Virginians needed, and the captains sold the goods for 
 these tobacco notes. Much of Washington's time was 
 spent with these boys. 
 
 While at school under Mr. Hobby, he used to divide his 
 playmates into parties and armies. One of them was 
 called the French and the other American. A big boy 
 named William Bustle commanded the former ; George 
 commanded the latter, and every day with cornstalks for 
 muskets and calabashes [gourds] for drums, the two armies 
 would turn out and march and fight. 
 
 From the (N. Y.) Evangelist, Anonymous. 
 
 George Tells His Father What He Hopes to Be 
 
 "Tell me something else," said George's father. "If 
 you are only anxious to be a soldier, how is it that you
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 35 
 
 complain of not being taught how to steer a ship or build a 
 bridge. Surely these things have little to do with leading 
 men to battle?" 
 
 "I don't know," answered the boy; "perhaps I am 
 mistaken, but I thought if I wanted to take Fredericksburg 
 with my army here in Pine Grove, we should need a bridge. 
 Ought not a soldier to know almost everything? There'd 
 be forts to build and navies to give orders to, and all 
 sorts of things I know nothing about. Won't you have 
 me taught? I'll work so diligently, and learn the other 
 things too, if you wish, sir?" 
 
 " Do you feel too old to sit on my knees? " said Augus- 
 tine, suddenly leaning forward and stretching out his arms. 
 
 George, who had been standing before the fire during 
 all this debate, came to his father with a bound, and Augus- 
 tine drew him very close to him. 
 
 "My dear, gallant little man," he said, "I think you 
 have truly hit upon the cleanest, finest trade in the world. 
 It takes more virtue to be a good officer than to preach \ 
 fine sermons, and there never was a case taken to the lawyers 
 that the soldier could not have settled more quickly and 
 honorably. But, boy, the soldier is made at home, or 
 he'll never be such on the battlefield. I have asked you 
 many questions, and now I must ask you one or two more. 
 Will you think well before you answer me? " 
 
 "Yes, sir," said George, puckering up his brow, and 
 squaring his shoulders, but never taking his eyes from his 
 father's face. 
 
 "Well," went on Mr. Washington, "you have thought 
 of fighting, of glory. There is another side to the question. 
 Suppose after marches and wounds, such stiff, sore wounds, 
 George after long weeks of starvation and misery, and cold 
 and wet that you tried your best and were beaten not a 
 little beating, but a terrible disheartening, humiliating 
 defeat. Such as your brother Lawrence had to suffer with 
 poor Admiral Vernon at San Lazaro. What would you do ? "
 
 36 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 i 
 
 George thought a minute over the ugly picture. Then 
 he made a grimace and said, " I think, sir, I would take one 
 good meal from the enemy, he'd owe me that, for the fun 
 he'd had in beating me, and then I'd thank him and .try 
 again. I'd have a better chance, because he'd be less afraid 
 of me after beating me once. " 
 
 " Right, " said his father, " and if you are never beaten, 
 remember the prescription. But a soldier has other diffi- 
 culties. How about carrying out disastrous bad orders 
 from a superior? Would you obey them?" 
 
 "Not if I could help it," laughed the boy. 
 
 "And if you couldn't help it?" 
 
 " I'd obey, I suppose. But I'd find a cleverer man to 
 serve the next time," replied George. 
 
 "And suppose the superior were the king?" pursued 
 Augustine. "Loyalty is a soldier's first duty, and there 
 have been monstrous bad kings, you know. " 
 
 " But they may be good generals! " persisted the lad. 
 
 " I mean bad in every way, a bad man, a bad ruler, a 
 bad general," his father replied. "What would you do 
 then?" 
 
 "Make another," said George, quietly. 
 
 Augustine gazed at his son in amazement. "Upon 
 my word, I believe you would," he explained. "Shake 
 hands, George!" 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Eraser, p. 238. 
 
 Two Boyish Letters 
 
 Within a few years past, there have been published 
 two little letters, one pretending to be from Richard Henry 
 Lee, at the age of eight, and the other the reply to it, by 
 George Washington, at the age of nine. They will amuse 
 our readers and we therefore print them. But it is not as 
 a bit of history, that they appear here. They are probably 
 an illustration of clever literary work, attempting, at the 
 end of a century, to reproduce the phrases of the past.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 37 
 
 They must be read with extreme caution. In the first 
 place, it is very improbable that in such a family as that of 
 the Lees, these letters should have been hidden for a hundred 
 years. Indeed no one explains to us whether Master Rich- 
 ard Henry Lee, at that early age, had a letter book in which 
 he kept rough copies of the notes which he was going to 
 send to a friend. In the second place, the letters have the 
 difficulty which all such imagined correspondence has, that 
 they show us just what we already know, and that they do 
 not add to our information anything of even the very 
 smallest detail. There is a very clever effort made to 
 sustain the reputation which Washington afterwards ac- 
 quired for spelling well, and poor Master Lee is relegated 
 back to the ranks of those who cannot spell. The letters, 
 however, must be classed with a very large number of myths, 
 some of them interesting and some of them very stupid, 
 which the enthusiasm of a hundred years has encouraged 
 in relation to Washington and the different details of his 
 career. These make the misery of his biographer. 
 
 The boy letters are these : 
 
 (From Richard H. Lee to George Washington.) 
 
 "Pa brought me two pretty books full of pictures he 
 got them in Alexandria they have pictures of dogs and cats 
 and tigers and elefants and ever so many pretty things 
 cousin bids me send you one of them it has a picture of an 
 elefant and a little indian boy on his back like uncle jo's 
 sam pa says if I learn my tasks good he will let uncle jo 
 bring me to see you will you ask your ma to let you come to 
 see me 
 
 "RICHARD HENRY LEE." 
 
 (To which this is the answer:} 
 
 " Dear Dickey, I thank you very much for the pretty 
 picture book you gave me. Sam asked me to show him 
 
 279307
 
 38 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the pictures and I showed him all the pictures in it; and 
 I read to him how the tame Elephant took care of the 
 master's little boy, and put him on his back and would not 
 let anybody touch his master's little son. I can read three 
 or four pages sometimes without missing a word. Ma says 
 I may go to see you and stay all day with you next week if 
 it be not rainy. She says I may ride my pony Hero if 
 Uncle Ben will go with me and lead Hero. I have a little 
 piece of poetry 'about the picture book you gave me, But I 
 mustn't tell you who wrote the poetry. 
 
 " G. W.'s compliments to R. H. L., 
 And likes his book full well, 
 Henceforth will count him his friend, 
 And hopes many happy days he may spend. 
 " Your good friend, 
 
 "GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
 
 The Life of George Washington Studied Anew, Edward Everett Hale, p. 7. 
 
 Brother Lawrence 
 
 In those days the means of instruction in Virginia were 
 limited and it was the custom among the wealthy planters 
 to send their sons to England to complete their education. 
 This was done by Augustine Washington with his eldest 
 son Lawrence, then about fifteen years of age, and whom he 
 no doubt considered the future head of the family. . . 
 
 When George was about seven or eight years old his 
 brother Lawrence returned from England, a well-educated 
 and accomplished youth. There was a difference of fourteen 
 years in their ages, which may have been one cause of the 
 strong attachment which took place between them. Law- 
 rence looked down with a protecting eye upon the boy 
 whose dawning intelligence and perfect rectitude won his 
 regard ; while George looked up to his manly and cultivated 
 brother as a model in mind and manners. We call par- 
 ticular attention to this brotherly interchange of affection, 
 from the influence it had on all the future career of the 
 subject of this memoir.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS FATHER 39 
 
 Lawrence Washington had something of the old 
 military spirit of the family, and circumstances soon called 
 it into action. Spanish depredations on British commerce 
 had recently provoked reprisals. Admiral Vernon, com- 
 mander-in-chief in the West Indies, had accordingly cap- 
 tured Porto Bello, on the Isthmus of Darien. The Spaniards 
 were preparing to revenge the blow; the French were 
 fitting out ships to aid them. Troops were embarked in 
 England for another campaign in the West Indies; a regi- 
 ment of four batalions was to be raised in the colonies and 
 sent to join them in Jamaica. There was a sudden out- 
 break of military ardor in the province; the sound of fife 
 and drum was heard in the villages, with the parade of 
 the recruiting parties. Lawrence Washington, now twenty- 
 two years of age, caught the infection. He obtained a 
 captain's commission in the newly raised regiment, and 
 embarked with it for the West Indies in 1740. He served 
 in the joint expeditions of Admiral Vernon and General 
 Went worth, in the land forces commanded by the latter, 
 and acquired the friendship and confidence of both those 
 officers. He was present at the siege of Carthagena, when it 
 was bombarded by the fleet, and when the troops attempted 
 to escalade the citadel. It was an ineffectual attack; the 
 ships could not get near enough to throw their shells into 
 the town, and the scaling-ladders proved too short. That 
 part of the attack, however, with which Lawrence was 
 concerned, distinguished itself by its bravery. The troops 
 sustained unflinching a destructive fire for several hours, 
 and at length retired with honor, their small force having 
 sustained a loss of about six hundred in killed and wounded. 
 
 Lawrence Washington returned home in the autumn, 
 of 1742, the campaigns in the West Indies being ended, 
 and Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth being recalled 
 to England. It was the intention of Lawrence to rejoin
 
 40 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 his regiment in that country, and seek promotion in the 
 army, but circumstances completely altered his plans. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, pp. 45 to 48. 
 
 The Fairfax Family 
 
 The Hon. William Fairfax . . . resided at a 
 beautiful seat called Belvoif, a few miles below Mount 
 Vernon, and on the same woody ridge bordering the Potomac. 
 
 William Fairfax was a man of liberal education and 
 intrinsic worth; he had seen much of the world, and his 
 mind had been enriched and ripened by varied and adven- 
 turous experience. Of an ancient English family in York- 
 shire, he had entered the army at the age of twenty-one; 
 had served with honor both in the East and West Indies, 
 and officiated as Governor of New Providence after having 
 aided in rescuing it from pirates. For some years past he 
 had resided in Virginia, to manage the immense landed 
 estates of his cousin, Lord Fairfax, and lived at Belvoir in 
 the style of an English country gentleman, surrounded by 
 an intelligent and cultivated family of sons and daughters. 
 
 An intimacy with a family like this, in which the 
 frankness and simplicity of rural and colonial life were united 
 with European refinement, could not but have a beneficial 
 effect in moulding the character and manners of a somewhat 
 home-bred schoolboy. It was probably his intercourse 
 with them, and his ambition to acquit himself well in their 
 society, that set him upon compiling a code of morals and 
 manners which still exists in a manuscript in his own hand- 
 writing, entitled, "Rules for Behaviour in Company and 
 Conversation. " It is extremely minute and circumstantial. 
 Some of the rules for personal deportment extend to such 
 trivial matters, and are so quaint and formal as almost to 
 provoke a smile; but, in the main, a better manual of 
 conduct could not be put into the hands of a youth. The 
 whole code evinces that rigid propriety and self-control to 
 which he subjected himself and by which he brought all
 
 GEORGE AXD HIS FATHER 41 
 
 the impulses of a somewhat ardent temper under con- 
 scientious government. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 53. 
 
 I Lost My Best Friend 
 
 In 1742 Lawrence came from Carthagena, and meant 
 to continue in the service, but, after our sudden way, he 
 fell in love with Anne, the daughter of William Fairfax of 
 Belvoir, our neighbor, the cousin and agent of my lord of 
 that name, and this, luckily for my own character, ended 
 his desire for a military life. I too well recall the event 
 which delayed his marriage. I was at this time, April 17, 
 1743, being eleven years old, on a visit to my cousins at 
 Choptank, some thirty miles away. We were very rrerry 
 at supper, when Peter, who was supposed to look after me, 
 arrived with the news of my father's sudden illness. It was 
 the first of my too many experiences of the ravage time 
 brings to all men. I heard the news with a kind of awe, but 
 without realizing how serious in many ways was this sum- 
 mons. I rode home behind Peter and found my mother in 
 a state of distraction. She led me to the bedside of my 
 father, crying out, "He is dying." The children were 
 around him, and he was groaning in great pain; but he 
 kissed us in turn, and said to me, "Be good to your mother." 
 I may say that throughout her life I have kept the promise 
 I made him as I knelt, crying, at his bedside. He died that 
 night, and I lost my best friend. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form o-f an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell. 
 M.D.,p. 37. 
 
 Principal Events of Washington's First Twenty Years 
 Franklin published "Poor Richard's Almanac" -.1732 
 
 George Washington born 1 73 2 
 
 Oglethorpe settled in Georgia 1 733 
 
 King George's War 1 744 
 
 Capture of Louisburg . . . i "45 
 
 Franklin discovered that lightning and electricity 
 are the same J 75 2
 
 CHAPTER III 
 GEORGE AND His MOTHER 
 
 The Widow and Her Brood 
 
 George, now eleven years of age, and the other children 
 of the second marriage, had been left under the guardian- 
 ship of their mother, to whom was intrusted the proceeds 
 of all their property until they should severally come of 
 age. She proved herself worthy of the trust. Endowed 
 with plain, direct good sense, thorough conscientiousness, 
 and prompt decision, she governed her farr.ily strictly, but 
 kindly, exacting deference while she inspired affection. 
 George, being her eldest son, was thought to be her favorite, 
 yet she never gave him undue preference, and the implicit 
 deference exacted from him in childhood continued to be 
 habitually observed by him to the day of her death. He 
 inherited from her a high temper and a spirit of command, 
 but her early precepts and example taught him to restrain 
 and govern that temper, and to square his conduct on the 
 exact principles of equit^ and justice. 
 
 Tradition gives an interesting picture of the widow, 
 with her little flock gathered round her, as was her daily 
 wont, reading to them lessons of religion and morality out 
 of some standard work. Her favorite volume was Sir 
 Matthew Hale's Contemplations, moral and divine. The 
 admirable maxims therein contained, for outward action 
 as well as self-government, sank deep into the mind of 
 George, and, doubtless, had a great influence in forming 
 his character. They certainly were exemplified in his con- 
 duct throughout life. This mother's manual, bearing his 
 mother's name, Mary Washington, written with her own 
 hand, was ever preserved by him with filial care, and may 
 
 (42)
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 43 
 
 still be seen in the archives of Mount Vernon. A precious 
 document. Let those who wish to know the moral founda- 
 tion of his character consult its pages. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 49. 
 
 Work on "Ferry Farm" 
 
 The plantation was on the Rappahannock, opposite 
 the town. It was called "Pine Grove," from a body of 
 great trees near the house. The negroes sometimes called 
 it "Ferry Farm." 
 
 After the death of her husband, Mary Washington 
 gave her life to the care of her family, with the devotion of 
 a great heart and mind. Her stepson, Lawrence Wash- 
 ington, was her adviser. The plantation raised wool, flax, 
 tobacco, and corn; carding and spinning wool were carried 
 on in the house. Spinning-wheels buzzed in the busy rooms, 
 which looked out on great fields and gardens. The Rappa- 
 hannock flowed in full view, and the family at Pine Grove 
 were happy and prosperous. 
 
 Here George Washington passed his early years, at 
 times visiting his half-brother, Lawrence, who married, in 
 the year after his father's death, Annie Fairfax, the daughter 
 of Hon. William Fairfax, of Belvoir, an elegant estate 
 adjoining Mount Vernon, which later became George 
 Washington's own home. 
 
 The estates of Belvoir, Mount Vernon, and the landed 
 aristocracy of Virginia were very large, and Greenway 
 Court surpassed them all in size, as it was intended that it 
 should do some day in the grandeur of its manor-house. 
 The home of Mary Washington was humble, but most of 
 the houses of the Virginian planters were large, elegant, and 
 richly furnished. 
 
 The Boys of Greenway Court, Hezekiah Butterworth, p. 66. 
 
 His First Hunt 
 
 I was at this time more about the stables than was 
 allowed under my father's rule, and did, in fact, much as I 
 
 1-5
 
 44 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 liked out of school hours. It so happened that once, on 
 a Saturday, there being no school, I was very early at the 
 stables, and, as there was no one to hinder, made the groom 
 saddle a hunter we had. On this I made my appearance at 
 a meet for fox-hunting, four miles from home, to the great 
 amusement of the gentry. They asked me if I could stay 
 on, and if the horse knew he had anyone on his back. How- 
 ever, the big sorrel carried me well, and knew his business 
 better than I did. I saw two foxes killed, and this was my 
 first hunt; but as I rode home my horse went lame, and, 
 to save him I dismounted and led him. Towards noon 
 when we were come to the farm stable, I found the over- 
 seer, with a whip in his hand, swearing at Sampson, and 
 making as if to beat him. I ran behind them and snatched 
 away the whip. The overseer turned and, seeing me, said 
 he meant to punish Sampson for letting me take a horse 
 which was sold to go to Williamsburg. When he knew the 
 horse was lame he was still more angry; but I declared I 
 was to blame, and no one else, and said he should first whip 
 me. He said no more, except that my mother would say 
 what was to be done. I think he made no report of me, and 
 certainly my mother said nothing. When the overseer 
 had walked away, the old servant thanked me, and said 
 no one had ever struck him, and that it would be his death. 
 This seemed strange to me, a boy, for the slaves were whipped 
 like children, and thought as little of it. Sampson said to 
 me that I was like my father, and that when I was angry I 
 became red and then pale, and that I must never get angry 
 with a horse. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., 
 p. 45. 
 
 Three Important Years 
 
 My father died in April, 1743, and Lawrence was mar- 
 ried to Miss Fairfax in June of that year. It was fortunate 
 for me that my brother's wife, Anna Fairfax, soon shared 
 the constant affection felt for me by her husband Lawrence.
 
 
 WASHINGTON'S AUTOGRAPHS AT DIFFERENT PERIODS 
 
 (At 13, 17, 25, 44 and 67 years of age. The last signature was made four 
 days before his death.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 45 
 
 Austin, as we usually called Augustine, also embarked 
 into the matrimonial state as the husband of Anne Aylett 
 of Westmoreland, who brought him a large property. 
 
 The next three years of my young life were important. 
 I learned very soon from my mother that, when of age, I 
 would have a moderate estate and insufficient. It is a 
 happy thing that children have no power to realize what 
 money means to their elders, else I might have been set 
 against Lawrence and thought my father unjust/ . 
 After my father's death, and in the absence of my elder 
 brothers, the house and farm soon showed the want of a 
 man's care, and we boys enjoyed at this time almost un- - 
 limited freedom. My older brothers saw it, and felt that I, 
 at least, might suffer, being of an age and nature to need 
 discipline and to be guided. In fact, I delighted to skip 
 away from my man, Peter, and find indulgence in roasting 
 ears of Indian corn in the forbidden cabins of the field- 
 slaves, or in coon-hunts at night, when all the house was 
 asleep. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 4I . 
 
 In Mr. Williams's School 
 
 While matters concerning the estate were being dis- 
 cussed, Lawrence soon discovered so much of my too great 
 freedom that he and my half-brother Augustine insisted 
 that I should go to live for a time with the latter, near to 
 whose abode was a good school. 
 
 It was a long ride across the neck and down to Pope's 
 Creek on the Potomac, and I was a tired lad when we rode 
 at evening up to the door of the house of Wakefield, where 
 I was born eleven years before. 
 
 Here began a new life for me. Anne Aylett, Mrs. 
 Augustine Washington, was a kind woman, very orderly 
 in her ways, and handsome. After two days Peter was sent 
 home, and I was allowed to ride alone to a Mr. Williams's 
 school at Oak Grove, four miles away.
 
 46 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 I took very easily to arithmetic, and later, to mathe- 
 matic studies. I remember with what pleasure and pride I 
 accompanied Mr. Williams when he went to survey some 
 meadows on Bridges' Creek. To discover that what could 
 be learned at school might be turned to use in setting out the 
 bounds of land, gave me the utmost satisfaction. I have 
 always had this predilection for such knowledge as can be 
 put to practical uses, and was never weary of tramping after 
 my teacher, which much surprised my sister-in-law. I took 
 less readily to geography and history. Some effort was made 
 (but this was later) to instruct me in the rudiments of Latin, 
 but it was not kept up, and a phrase or two I found wrote 
 later in a copy-book is all that remains to me of that tongue. 
 
 I much regret that I never learned to spell very well 
 or to write English with elegance. As the years went by, 
 I improved as to both defects, through incessant care on my 
 part and copying my letters over and over. Great skill 
 in the use of language I have never possessed, but I have 
 always been able to make my meaning so plain in what I 
 wrote that no one could fail to understand what I desired 
 to make known. 
 
 The Youth of Washington. Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell. 
 M.D. p. 48. 
 
 George and the Younger Children 
 
 The two years that had passed away had brought more 
 developments than changes in the Washington home. George 
 and Betty presented strong contrasts of character, but were 
 inseparable allies, ruling unquestioningly over their three 
 little brothers. Charles, the youngest of the three, was at 
 this time about five years old, and had just been pro- 
 moted to the honour of going to school with his seniors. 
 It was but a parish school, some two miles distant from 
 Pine Grove, and the children greatly enjoyed their rides 
 thither in the morning, and home again at night. Betty 
 and Samuel generally returned earlier than George, who felt
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 47 
 
 responsible not only for the safety of the two smaller boys, 
 but for their horsemanship. He was much distressed 
 to find that, in spite of his admonitions, the fat little legs 
 would still stick out at a violent angle from the equally 
 fat ponies' sides, and if they met other riders in the country 
 roads, would put himself and his steed between them and 
 the little brothers, who, he felt, as yet did no credit to their 
 teacher. George, already a fearless and graceful rider, was 
 always the head of the little band; he was a brave and 
 handsome boy, resembling both father and mother, as the 
 first child of a happy love so often does. Full of spirits, 
 ready for any adventure, the gallant little lad had a deep 
 fund of sense and principle, and never shirked nor neglected 
 his responsibilities towards his juniors. Mary knew that 
 in all circumstances where those two great qualities con- 
 science and courage were required, George would not fail. 
 Did his quick spirits lead him into some boyish scrape, the 
 other children were never involved in it ; and his first step, 
 on realizing what he had done, was always to seek out his 
 mother and say, " I fear you will be displeased, ma'am ; 
 but I hope you will forgive me. I have ' lamed a pony, 
 perhaps, or left the gate of the farm-yard open, or torn a 
 Sunday coat in climbing for apples, or what not. Mary 
 was never left in doubt as to the author of a bit of mischief 
 if the author were George ; and both she and Augustine made 
 a point of encouraging this openness in all the children by 
 awarding very Hght punishment when the fault was bravely 
 confessed. Both of them would have preferred to lose 
 everything they possessed rather than frighten a child into 
 cowardly deceit. 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Eraser, p. 213. 
 
 Early Education and Discipline 
 
 His education, however, was plain and practical. He 
 never attempted the learned languages, nor manifested any 
 inclination for rhetoric or belles-lettres. His qbject, or the
 
 4 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 object of his friends, seems to have been confined to fitting 
 him for ordinary business. His manuscript school books 
 still exist, and are models of neatness and accuracy. One 
 of them, it is true, a ciphering-book, preserved in the library 
 at Mount Vernon, has some school-boy attempts at calli- 
 graphy: nondescript birds, executed with a flourish of the 
 pen, or profiles of faces, probably intended for those of his 
 schoolmates; the rest are all grave and business-like. 
 Before he was thirteen years of age he had copied into a 
 volume forms for all kinds of mercantile and legal papers; 
 bills of exchange, notes of hand, deeds, bonds and the like. 
 This early self-tuition gave him throughout life a lawyer's 
 skill in drafting documents, and a merchant's exactness in 
 keeping accounts; so that all the concerns of his various 
 estates, his dealings with his domestic stewards and foreign 
 agents, his accounts with government, and all his financial 
 transactions are to this day to be seen posted up in books, 
 in his own handwriting, monuments of his method and 
 unwearied accuracy. 
 
 He was a self-disciplinarian in physical as well as 
 mental matters, and practised himself in all kinds of athletic 
 exercises, such as running, ' leaping, wrestling, pitching 
 quoits, and tossing bars. His frame even in infancy had 
 been large and powerful, and he now excelled most of his 
 playmates in contests of agility and strength. As a proof 
 of his muscular power, a place is still pointed out at Fred- 
 ericksburg, near the lower ferry, where, when a boy, he flung 
 a stone across the Rappahannock. In horsemanship, too, 
 he already excelled, and was ready to back and able to 
 manage the most fiery steed. Traditional anecdotes remain 
 of his achievements in this respect. 
 
 Above all, his inherent probity and the principles of 
 justice on which he regulated all his conduct, even at this 
 early period of life, were soon appreciated by his school- 
 mates; he was referred to as an umpire in their disputes, 
 and his decisions were never reversed. As he had formerly
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 49 
 
 been military chieftain, he was now legislator of the school; 
 thus displaying in boyhood a type of the future man. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 51. 
 
 Why George Was Not Sent to School in England 
 
 Soon after going to live for a season at Wakefield with 
 Augustine, I began to take myself more seriously than is 
 common in boys of my age. I believe I have all my life 
 been regarded as grave and reserved, although, in fact, a 
 part of this was due to a certain shyness, which I never 
 entirely overcame, and of which I have already written. 
 My new schoolmaster, Mr. Williams, gave me a book which 
 I still have, and which here, and later at Mount Vernon, 
 was of use to me. It was called the " Youth's Companion. " 
 It contained receipts, directions for conduct and manners, 
 how to write letters, and, what most pleased me, methods 
 of surveying land by Gunter's rule, and all manner of prob- 
 lems in arithmetic and mathematics, as well as methods of 
 writing deeds and conveyances. Young as I was, it suited 
 well the practical side of my nature ; for how to' do things, 
 and the doing of them so as to reach practical results, have 
 never ceased to please me. 
 
 My mother's natural desire for my presence wore out 
 the patience of Augustine, and I was at last, after some 
 months (but I do not remember exactly how long), sent 
 back to her and to a school kept by the Rev. James Marye, 
 a gentleman of Huguenot descent, at Fredericksburg, and 
 from whom I might have learned French. My father had 
 been desirous, I know not why, that I should learn this 
 language, but this I never did, to my regret. 
 
 I was at this time about fourteen, and was, as I said, 
 a rather grave lad. I was industrious as to what I liked, 
 but fond of horses and the chase, and was big of my years, 
 masterful, and of more than common bodily strength. 
 
 I was not more unfortunate than most other young 
 Virginians in regard to education. Governor Spottiswood,
 
 5 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 as I have heard, found no members of the majority in the 
 House who could spell correctly or write so as to clearly 
 state their grievances. There were persons, like the late 
 Colonel Byrd, who were exceptions, but these were usually 
 such as had been abroad. Patrick Henry, long after this 
 time, observed to my sister that, even if we Virginians .had 
 little education, Mother Wit was better than Mother Country, 
 for the gentlemen who came back brought home more vices 
 than virtues. In fact, this may have been my father's 
 opinion; for, although he sent Lawrence and Augustine to 
 the Appleby School in England, he would not allow of any 
 long residence in London, where, he said, "men's manners 
 are finished, but so, too, are their virtues." 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 55. 
 
 A Little Latin 
 
 After a time he returned to his mother's and attended 
 the school kept by the Rev. James Marye, in Fredericksburg. 
 It has been universally asserted by his biographers that 
 he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the 
 contrary exists in a copy of Patrick's Latin translation of 
 Homer, printed in 1742, the fly : leaf of a copy of which 
 bears, in a school-boy hand, the inscription : 
 
 "Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum 
 Redde, si forsan tenues repertum 
 Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum. 
 . Est mihi nomen, 
 
 GIORGIO WASHINGTON, 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 Fredericksburg, 
 
 Virginia." 
 
 It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Wash- 
 ington at least the first elements of Latin, but it is equally 
 clear that the boy, like most others, forgot it with the 
 greatest facility as soon as he ceased studying.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 51 
 
 The end of Washington's school-days left him, if a good 
 "cipherer," a bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, 
 but, fortunately, the termination of instruction did not by 
 any means end his education. From that time there is to 
 be noted a steady improvement in both these failings. 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 63. 
 
 "Mute as Mice" before Mary Washington 
 
 This lady possessed not the ambition which is common 
 to lesser minds; and the peculiar plainness, yet dignity of 
 her habits and manners, became in nowise altered, when 
 the sun of glory rose upon her house, in the character of her 
 child. The late Lawrence Washington, Esq., of Choptank, 
 one of the associates of the juvenile years of the chief, and 
 remembered by him in his will, thus describes the home 
 of the mother : 
 
 " I was often there with George, his playmate, school- 
 mate, and young man's companion. Of the mother I was 
 ten times more afraid than I ever was of my own parents. 
 She awed me in the midst of her kindness, for she was, 
 indeed, truly kind. I have often been present with her 
 sons, proper tall fellows too, and we were all as mute as 
 mice; and even now, when time has whitened my locks, 
 and I am the grandparent of a second generation, I could 
 not behold that remarkable woman without feelings it is 
 impossible to describe. Whoever has seen that awe- 
 inspiring air and manner, so characteristic in the Father 
 of his Country, will remember the matron as she appeared 
 when the presiding genius of her well-ordered household, 
 commanding and being obeyed. " 
 
 Of the many anecdotes touching the early life of the 
 chief, we shall present our readers with one of no ordinary 
 interest and character. 
 
 The blooded horse was the Virginia favorite of those 
 days as well as these. Washington's mother, fond of the 
 animal to which her deceased husband had been particularly
 
 52 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTOX 
 
 attached, had preserved the race in its greatest purity, and 
 at the time of our story possessed several young horses of 
 superior promise. 
 
 One there was, a sorrel, destined to be as famous (and 
 for much better reason) as the horse which the brutal 
 emperor raised to the dignity of consul. This sorrel was 
 of a fierce and ungovernable nature, and resisted all attempts 
 to subject him to the rein. He had reached his fullest size 
 and vigor, unconscious of a rider ; he ranged free in the 
 air, which he snuffed in triumph, tossing his mane to the 
 winds, and spurning the earth in pride of his freedom. It 
 was a matter of common remark, that a man would never 
 be found hardy enough to back and ride this vicious horse. 
 Several had essayed, but deterred by the fury of the animal, 
 they had desisted from their attempts, and the steed 
 remained unbroken. 
 
 The young Washington proposed to his companions, 
 that if they would assist him in confining the steed, so that 
 a bridle could be placed in his mouth, he would engage to 
 tame this terror of the parish. Accordingly, early the 
 ensuing morning, the associates decoyed the horse into an 
 inclosure, where they secured him and forced a bit into his 
 mouth. Bold, vigorous, and young, the daring youth 
 sprang to his unenvied seat, and bidding his comrades 
 remove their tackle, the indignant courser rushed to the 
 plain. 
 
 As if disdaining his burden, he at first attempted to fly, 
 but soon felt the power of an arm which could have tamed 
 his Arab grandsires in their wildest course on their native 
 deserts. The struggle now became terrific to the beholders, 
 who almost wished they had not joined in an enterprise 
 so likely to be fatal to their daring associate. But the 
 youthful hero, that "spirit-protected man," clung to the 
 furious steed, till centaur-like he appeared to make part of 
 the animal itself. Long was the conflict and the fears of 
 his associates became more relieved as, with matchless
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 
 
 53 
 
 skill, the rider preserved his seat, and with unyielding force 
 controlled the courser's rage, when the gallant horse, 
 summoning all his powers to one mighty effort, reared, and 
 plunged with tremendous violence, burst his noble heart, 
 and died in an instant. 
 
 The rider, "alive, unharmed, and without a wound," 
 was joined by the youthful group, and all gazed upon the 
 generous steed, which, now prostrate, "trailed in dust the 
 honors of his mane," while from distended nostrils gushed 
 in torrents the life-blood that a moment before had swollen 
 in his veins. 
 
 The first surprise was scarcely over, with a what's to be 
 done? Who shall tell this tale? when the party were sum- 
 moned to the morning's meal. A conversation, the most 
 mat a propos to the youthful culprits, became introduced 
 by the matron's asking, " Pray, young gentlemen, have 
 you "seen my blooded colts in your rambles? I hope they 
 are well taken care of ; my favorite, I am told, is as large as 
 his sire." Considerable embarrassment being observable, 
 the lady repeated her question, when George Washington 
 replied, "Your favorite, the sorrel, is dead, madam." 
 "Dead," exclaimed the lady; "why, how has that hap- 
 pened?" Nothing dismayed, the youth continued, "That 
 sorrel horse has long been considered ungovernable, and 
 beyond the power of man to back or ride him ; this morning, 
 aided by my friends, we forced a bit into his mouth; I 
 backed him, I rode him, and in a desperate struggle for the 
 mastery, he fell under me and died upon the spot." The 
 hectic of a moment was observed to flush the matron's 
 cheek, but like a summer cloud, it soon passed away, and 
 all was serene and tranquil when she remarked: " It is well; 
 but while I regret the loss of my favorite, / rejoice in my son, 
 who always speaks the truth. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 P. 131.
 
 54 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The Rev. James Marye and the "Rules of Civility" 
 
 While gathering materials for a personal and domestic 
 biography of Washington, I discovered that in 1 745 he was 
 attending school in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The first 
 church (St. George's) of the infant town was' just then 
 finished, and the clergyman was the Rev. James Marye, a 
 native of France. . . It is tolerably certain that 
 
 Mr. Marye founded the school soon after his settlement there 
 as rector, which was in 1 735, eight years after the foundation 
 of Fredericksburg. ... 
 
 The various intrinsic interest of these Rules of Civility 
 is much enhanced by the curious story of their migration 
 from an old Jesuit College in France to the copy-book of 
 George Washington. . 
 
 In a letter to the New York Nation (5th June, 1890) I 
 said: "Though my theory, that the Rev. James Marye 
 taught Washington these 'Rules, ' has done good sendee in 
 leading to the discovery of their origin, it cannot be verified. 
 The discovery . . ' . that a Part Second 
 of Youth's Behavior was published in 1664, and dedicated 
 to two ladies of the Washington family in England, lends 
 force to the suggestion that Washington might have worked 
 out his Rules from the Hawkins [English] version. " . 
 
 On the whole, though it is very uncertain, the balance 
 of probabilities seems to favor the theory that the Rules of 
 Civility, found in a copy-book among school exercises, 
 exceedingly abbreviated, and marked by clerical errors 
 unusual with Washington, were derived from the oral 
 teachings of his preceptor. 
 
 He returned to live with his mother, near Fredericks- 
 burg, in 1745. That he then went to school in Fredericks- 
 burg appears, by a manuscript left by Colonel Byrd Wills, 
 grandson of Colonel Harry Wills, founder of the town, in 
 which he states that his father, Lewis Wills, was Washing-
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 
 
 ton's schoolmate. The teacher's name is not given, but there 
 can be little doubt that it was James Marye. 
 
 George Washington's Rules of Civility, Moncure D. Conway, pp. n to 34. 
 
 "Rules of Civility and Behaviour" 
 
 (As written in George Washington's Copy-book.} 
 
 Every Action done in Company ought to be with Some 
 Sign of Respect, to those that are Present. 
 
 Shew Nothing to your Friend that may affright him. 
 
 In the Presence of Others sing not to yourself with a 
 humming Noise, nor Drum, with your Fingers or Feet. 
 
 If you Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it not Loud, 
 but Privately ; and Speak not in your Yawning, but put your 
 handkerchief or Hand before your face and turn aside. 
 
 Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, 
 Speak not when you should hold your Peace, walk not when 
 others Stop 
 
 At Play and at Fire its Good manners to give Place to 
 the last Commer, and not affect to Speak Louder than 
 ordenary. 
 
 When you Sit down, Keep your Feet firm and Even, 
 without putting one on the other or Crossing them 
 
 Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your 
 nails. 
 
 Turn not your Back to others especially in Speaking, 
 Jog not the Table or Desk on which Another writes lean not 
 upon any one. 
 
 Keep your Nails clean and Short, also your Hands and 
 Teeth Clean, yet without Shewing any great Concern for 
 them 
 
 Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights 
 not to be Play'd Withal. 
 
 Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but 
 when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask 
 leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another so
 
 5 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them 
 unask'd also look not nigh when another is writing a 
 Letter. 
 
 Let your Countenance be pleasant but in Serious 
 Matters Somewhat grave 
 
 The Gestures of the Body must be Suited to the dis- 
 course you are upon 
 
 Reproach none for the Infirmaties of Nature, nor De- 
 light to Put them that have in mind thereof. 
 
 Shew not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another 
 tho he be your enemy 
 
 Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Cere- 
 mony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be 
 Neglected 
 
 If any one come to Speak to you while you are Sitting 
 Stand up tho he be your Inferiour, and when you Present 
 Seats let it be to every one according to his Degree. 
 
 Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and 
 Comprehensive. . , . 
 
 In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the Physicion 
 if you be not Knowing therein 
 
 In writing or Speaking, give to every Person his due 
 Title According to his Degree & the Custom of the Place. 
 
 Strive not with your Superiers in argument, but always 
 Submit your Judgment to others with Modesty 
 
 Do not express Joy before one sick or in pain for that 
 contrary Passion will aggravate his Misery 
 
 When a man does all he can though it Succeeds not 
 blame not him that did it. 
 
 Mock not nor Jest of anything of Importance break no 
 Jest that are Sharp Biting, and if you Deliver anything witty 
 and Pleasent abstain from Laughing thereat yourself. 
 
 Wherein you reprove Another be unblameable yourself ; 
 for example is more prevalent than Precepts 
 
 Use no Reproachfull Language against any one neither 
 Curse nor Revile
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 57 
 
 Be not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparage- 
 ment of any 
 
 In your Apparel be Modest and endeavour to accomo- 
 date Nature, rather than to procure Admiration keep to the 
 Fashion of your equals Such as are Civil and orderly with 
 respect to Times and Places 
 
 Eat not in the Streets, nor in ye House, out of Season. 
 
 Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you 
 Esteem your own Reputation; for 'tis better to be alone 
 than in bad Company. 
 
 Be not immodest in urging your Friends to Discover a 
 Secret. 
 
 Speak not of doleful Things in a Time of Mirth or at the 
 Table; Speak not of Melancholy Things as Death and 
 Wounds, and if others Mention them Change if you can the 
 Discourse tell not your Dreams, but to your intimate Friend 
 
 Break not a Jest where none take pleasure in mirth 
 Laugh not aloud, nor at all without Occasion, deride no 
 man's Misfortune, tho' there seem to be Some cause 
 
 Speak not injurious Words neither in Jest nor Earnest 
 Scoff at none although they give Occasion 
 
 Detract not from others neither be excessive in Com- 
 mending. 
 
 Gaze not at the marks or blemishes of Others and ask 
 not how they came. What you may Speak in Secret to 
 your Friend deliver not before others 
 
 Treat with men at fit Times about Business & Whisper 
 not in the Company of Others 
 
 Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth 
 thereof. In Discoursing of things you Have heard Name 
 not your Author always A Secret Discover not 
 
 Be not Tedious in Discourse or in reading unless you 
 find the Company pleased therewith 
 
 Be not Curious to Know the Affairs of Others neither 
 approach to those that Speak in Private 
 
 Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Care- 
 full to keep your Promise
 
 58 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust 
 
 Its unbecoming to Stoop much to one's Meat Keep your 
 Fingers clean & when foul wipe them on a Corner of your 
 Table Napkin. 
 
 When you Speak of God or his Attributes, let it be 
 Seriously & with Reverence. Honour & obey your Natural 
 Parents Altho they be Poor 
 
 Let your Recreations be Manfull not Sinfull. 
 
 Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark 
 of Celestial fire called Conscience. 
 
 Selected from George Washington's Rules of Civility, Moncure D. Conway, pp. 55 to 
 179- 
 
 Long Suspense after Writing to "Uncle Joseph" about 
 George's Going to Sea 
 
 Then Mary, half frightened at having almost con- 
 sented to such a step without consulting an older person, 
 wrote to her brother Joseph, asking his views on the matter. 
 Joseph had been Augustine's friend, and ever the kindest 
 of brothers to herself, but it is doubtful whether these were 
 her only reasons for appealing to him. She dreaded the 
 moment of decision, whichever way it should go, and she 
 could put it off for at least six months the time which 
 must elapse before she could receive Joseph's reply. 
 
 Those six months were terribly trying to both mother 
 and son. George had never been so kind, so dutiful, so 
 considerate as now, although he sometimes thought he must 
 die of the suspense he was bearing. To Mary he was 
 dearer every day, her right hand and supporter, her com- 
 fort and crown, as his father had foretold. When her inmost 
 heart told her she could never let him go/it bled at the 
 pain she must inflict by withholding her consent ; when her 
 mood was more self-renouncing, and she felt that it might 
 be her duty to give him up, she quailed at the loss which 
 she must suffer a loss which seemed insupportable in her 
 widowed life. No son or daughter would ever take the
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 59 
 
 place of her eldest-born. Lawrence, meanwhile, was not 
 idle, and did all that he could to forward the plan. When 
 Mary told him that she was waiting to hear from George's 
 uncle he laughed outright at the thought that Mr. Ball, in 
 distant London, could judge better for the boy than those 
 who were on the spot and had known him all his life. He 
 was anxious to get the matter arranged before the English 
 letter should arrive, having no great opinion of the judg- 
 ment of a man who had left an assured position in Virginia 
 to become one of a crowd of obscure persons in London. 
 As time went on his nervousness increased as to what dire 
 effects the expected letter might have greatly increased, 
 and with eagerness only matched by that of George himself, 
 pushed the preparations forward. He obtained the com- 
 mission a document beheld by George with joy bordering 
 on madness fitted out the youngster with his first uniform 
 and in all the other properties of his state, properties so 
 incomparably precious in the lad's eyes, and boldly 
 announced to Mrs. Washington that George must join his 
 ship at once. 
 
 Then she yielded, and went through a day or two of 
 anguish which brought the first streaks of white into her 
 beautiful hair; George thanked her with tears in his eyes, 
 and vowed she should never regret her generosity. All his 
 confidence returned, and he told her of his joy, of his hopes 
 of distinction, and they clung together lovingly and tear- 
 fully, every barrier broken down between them, and both so 
 happy in this reunion of the heart that all strain and dissen- 
 sion seemed forgotten forever. Lawrence hovered near, 
 wildly anxious now to get George away, telling himself 
 that at any moment some interfering relative or the arrival 
 of Joseph's letter already overdue, might disastrously alter 
 the situation. 
 
 In ihe Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 290.
 
 60 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 A Bitter Disappointment 
 
 Evidently George was the favorite in his own family. 
 Young as he was his mother relied upon him, and felt that 
 she could not live without her eldest son. His half-brothers 
 were exceedingly fond of him. " Brother, at once and son, " 
 George was fourteen years younger than Lawrence, the 
 eldest of all the children, who naturally looked after the 
 lad's education. As Mrs. Lawrence Washington shared 
 her husband's fondness for George, he spent much of his 
 time at Mount Vernon, which estate was now named after 
 Admiral Vernon, commander-in-chief in the West Indies, 
 and hero of Porto Bello and Carthagena (on and near the 
 Isthmus of Panama) under whom Lawrence had served 
 as captain. 
 
 Of course, Lawrence was the boy's beau ideal, whose 
 military experiences furnished zest to his school games, and 
 must have given a pronounced bent to George Washington's 
 later life. Lawrence's associations led him to believe that 
 a naval career might offer the most favorable future to his 
 favorite brother. George was now fourteen, an age when 
 lads in all climes are most attracted to " a life on the ocean 
 wave." Mary Washington was unable to resist Lawrence's 
 urgent appeals and her own son's entreaties. But to gain a 
 little time, in her despair, she wrote to ask the advice of her 
 brother, Joseph Ball, a lawyer in London. The six months 
 then required to receive a reply from England, was a time 
 of the tensest suspense for both mother and son. Mean- 
 while a warship, which seemed to George like the one 
 golden opportunity of his life, waited at anchor in the 
 Potomac, a little below Mount Vernon. No letter came 
 and, as the man-of-war was about to weigh anchor, Law- 
 rence and George obtained the mother's agonized consent 
 to placing the boy's little sailor chest on board. When 
 George, radiant in his new uniform, was just ready to ship 
 as a "middy" the long-looked-for letter from Uncle Joseph
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 61 
 
 arrived, earnestly advising against a naval career, so full 
 of hardships and humiliations for younger sons of families 
 without much influence. This, after the strain and anguish 
 of months, was too much for Mary Washington's mother- 
 heart. She broke down utterly, and in tears and despera- 
 tion, clung to George, imploring him not to leave his widowed 
 mother in her grief and loneliness. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, March 6 to 12, 1910. 
 
 Uncle Joseph's Letter 
 
 STRATFORD-BY-BOW, ipth of May, 1747. 
 
 " I understand that you are advised and have some 
 thoughts of putting your son George to sea. I think he 
 had better be put apprentice to a tinker, for a common 
 sailor before the mast has by no means the common liberty 
 of the subject; for they will press him from a ship where 
 he has fifty shillings a month and make him take twenty- 
 three, and cut and slash and use him like a negro, or rather 
 like a dog. And, as to any considerable preferment in the 
 navy, it is not to be expected, as there are always so many 
 gaping for it here who have interest, and he has none. And 
 if he should get to be master of a Virginia ship, (which it is 
 very difficult to do) a planter that has three or four hundred 
 acres of land and three or four slaves, if he be industrious, 
 may live more comfortably, and leave his family in better 
 bread, than such a master of a ship can. . . . He 
 must not be too hasty to be rich, but go on gently and with 
 patience, as things will naturally go. This method, without 
 aiming at being a fine gentleman before his time, will carry 
 a man more comfortably and surely through the world than 
 going to sea, unless it be a great chance indeed. 
 " I pray God keep you and yours. 
 "Your loving brother, 
 
 "JOSEPH BALL." 
 
 Old Families of Virginia, Bishop Meade, Vol. II, p. 128.
 
 62 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 How He Gave It All up 
 
 " Will you come to my room, George? " 
 
 "In a minute, mother," answered George, rising and 
 darting up-stairs. 
 
 He would show himself to her in his uniform. He had 
 the natural pride in it that might have been expected, and, 
 as he slipped quickly into it and put the dashing cap on 
 his fair hair and stuck his dirk into his belt, he could not 
 help a thrill of boyish vanity. He went straight to his 
 mother's room, where she stood awaiting him. 
 
 The first glance at her face struck a chill to his heart. 
 There was a look of pale and quiet determination on it that 
 was far from encouraging. Nevertheless, George spoke 
 up promptly. 
 
 "My warrant, mother, is up-stairs, sent me, as my 
 brother wrote you, by Admiral Vernon. And my brother, out 
 of his kindness, had all my outfit made for me in Alexan- 
 dria. I am to join the Bellona frigate within the month." 
 
 "Will you read this letter, my son?" was Madam 
 Washington's answer, handing him a letter. 
 
 George took it from her. He recognized the hand- 
 writing of his uncle, Joseph Ball, in England. It ran, after 
 the beginning: " 'I understand you are advised and have 
 some thoughts of putting your son George to sea.' "' George 
 stopped in surprise, and looked at his mother. 
 
 "I suppose," she said, quietly, "that he has heard 
 that your brother Lawrence mentioned to me months ago 
 that you wished to join the king's land or sea service, but 
 my brother's words are singularly apt now. " 
 
 George continued to read. 
 
 " 'I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker, for 
 a common sailor before the mast has by no means the com- 
 mon liberty of the subject, for they will press him from ship 
 to ship, where he has fifty shillings a month, and make him 
 take twenty-three, and cut and slash and use him like a dog.' "
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 63 
 
 George read this with amazement. 
 
 " My uncle evidently does not understand that I never 
 had any intention of going to sea as a common sailor," he 
 said, his face flushing, " and I am astonished that he should 
 think such a thing. " 
 
 " Read on, " said his mother, quietly. 
 
 " 'And as to any considerable preferment in the navy, 
 it is not to be expected, as there are so many gaping for it 
 who have interest, and he has none. " 
 
 George folded the letter, and handed it back to his 
 mother respectfully. 
 
 "Forgive me, mother," said he, "but I think my uncle 
 Joseph a very ignorant man, and especially ignorant of my 
 prospects in life." 
 
 "George!" cried his mother, reproachfully. 
 
 George remained silent. He saw coming an impending 
 conflict, the first of their lives, between his mother and 
 himself. 
 
 " My brother, " said Madam Washington, after a pause, 
 "is a man of the world. He knows much more than I, a 
 woman who has seen but little of it, and much more than 
 a youth like you, George. " 
 
 " He does not know better than my brother, who has 
 been the best and kindest of brothers, who thought he was 
 doing me the greatest service in getting me this warrant, 
 and who at his own expense, prepared me for it. " 
 
 Both mother and son spoke calmly, and even quietly, 
 but two red spots burned in Madam Washington's face, 
 while George felt himself growing whiter every moment. 
 
 "Your brother, doubtless, meant kindly towards you, 
 for that I shall be ever grateful but I never gave my consent 
 I never shall give it," she said. 
 
 "I am sorry to hear you say that, mother," answered 
 George, presently "more sorry than I know how to say. 
 For, although you are my dear and honored mother, you 
 cannot choose my life for me, providing the life I choose is
 
 64 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 respectable, and I live honestly and like a gentleman, as I 
 always shall, I hope." 
 
 The mother and son faced each other, pale and deter- 
 mined. It struck home to Madam Washington that now 
 she could not clip her eaglet's wings. She asked, in a low 
 voice : 
 
 " Do you intend to disobey me, my son? " 
 
 "Don't force me to do it, mother!" cried George, 
 losing his calmness, and becoming deeply agitated. "I 
 think my honor is engaged to my brother and Admiral 
 Vernon, and I feel in my heart that I have a right to choose 
 my own future course. ' I promise that I will never discredit 
 you; but I cannot I cannot obey you in this." 
 
 "You do 'refuse, then, my son?" said Madam Wash- 
 ington. She spoke in a low voice, and her beautiful eyes 
 looked straight into George's as if challenging him to resist 
 their influence; but George, although his own eyes filled 
 with tears, yet answered her gently: 
 
 "Mother, I must." 
 
 Madam Washington said no more, but turned away 
 from him. The boy's heart and mind were in a whirl. 
 Some involuntary power seemed compelling him to act as 
 he did, without any volition on his part. Suddenly his 
 mother turned, with tears streaming down her face and 
 coming swiftly towards him, clasped him in her arms. 
 
 "My son, my best-beloved child!" she cried, weeping. 
 "Do not break my heart by leaving me. I did not know 
 until this moment how much I loved you. It is hard for 
 a parent to plead with a child, but I beg, I implore you, if 
 you have any regard for your mother's peace of mind, to 
 give up the sea. " And with sobs and tears, such as George 
 had never before seen her shed, she clung to him and cov- 
 ered his face and hair, and even his hands, with kisses. 
 
 The boy stood motionless, stunned by an. outbreak of 
 emotion so unlike anything he had ever seen in his mother 
 before. Calm, reticent, and undemonstrative, she had
 
 GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER 65 
 
 shown a Spartan firmness in her treatment of her children 
 until this moment. In a flash like lightning George saw 
 that it was not that foolish letter which had influenced her, 
 but there was a fierceness of mother love, all unsuspected 
 in that deep and quiet nature, for him, and for him alone. 
 This trembling, sobbing woman, calling him all fond names, 
 and saying to him, " George, I would go upon my knees if 
 that would move you, " his mother! And the appeal over- 
 powered him as much by its novelty as its power. Like her 
 he began to tremble, and when she saw this she held him 
 closer to her, and cried, " My son, will you abandon me, 
 or will you abandon your own will this once? " 
 
 There was a short pause, and then George spoke, in a 
 voice he scarcely knew, it was so strange : 
 
 " Mother, I will give up my commission. " 
 
 A Virginia Cavalier, Molly Elliot Seawell, p. 188. 
 
 How George "Jolted It off" 
 
 Ever since I had been at Mr. Williams's school, I had 
 a liking for the surveying of land, and had later been allowed 
 to further inform myself by attending upon Mr. Genn, the 
 official survey er of Westmoreland, a man very honest and 
 most accurate. Indeed, I had so well learned this business 
 that I became, to my great joy, of use to Lawrence and 
 some of his neighbors, especially to William Fairfax, who 
 had at first much doubt as to how far my skill might be 
 trusted. 
 
 Meanwhile various occupations for me were considered 
 and discussed by my elders. The sea was less favored in 
 Virginia than at the North ; but many captains of merchant 
 ships were in those days, like my father, of the better class, 
 and my brothers, who saw in me no great promise, believed 
 that if I went to sea as a sailor I might be helped in time to 
 a ship, and have my share in the prosperous London trade. 
 
 Like many boys, I inclined to this life. I remind 
 myself of it here because it has been said that I was intended
 
 66 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 at this time to serve the king as a midshipman, which was 
 never the case. Meanwhile, for this was an affair long 
 talked about, my mother's brother, Joseph Ball, wrote to 
 her from London, May 19, 1747, that the sea was a dog's 
 life, and, unless a lad had great influence, was a poor affair, 
 and the navy no better. Upon this my mother wrote, 
 
 and at last hurried to Mount Vernon, and so pre- 
 vailed by her tears that my small chest was brought back 
 to land from a ship in the river. 
 
 My brother Lawrence comforted me in my disappoint- 
 ment, saying there were many roads in life, and that only 
 one had been barred. I remember that I burst into tears, 
 when once I was alone, and rushed off to the stables and got 
 a horse, and rode away at a great pace. This has always 
 done me good, and, somehow, settled my mind ; for I have 
 never felt, as I believe a Latin writer said, that care sits 
 behind a horseman. I jolted mine off, but for days would 
 not have any one talk to me of the matter. Even as a lad, 
 I had unwillingness to recur to a thing when once it was 
 concluded, and that is so to this day. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 59.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 
 
 Lord Fairfax's Friendship for Young Washington 
 
 George was highly favored in having four homes or 
 places where he could "make himself at home" his 
 mother's house, of course; his brother Austin's, where the 
 young wife laughed at the lad for imitating her husband; 
 at Mount Vernon, where Mrs. Lawrence shared her husband's 
 fondness for him, and Belvoir, where his eldest brother's 
 wife, having been a member of the family, made the Fair- 
 faxes and Washingtons connections by marriage. Mr. 
 Fairfax, (frequently styled Sir William) besides his own 
 estate, controlled vast stretches of Virginia country belong- 
 ing to a wealthy cousin, Lord Thomas Fairfax, who had 
 been a leader in English society, as the friend of Addison 
 and Steele, and had even written for the "Spectator." 
 But it was related that this nobleman had been betrothed 
 to a lady of beauty and rank, who, after all the wedding 
 preparations were made, jilted him for a little higher title, 
 marrying a duke instead. 
 
 Enraged and humiliated, Lord Fairfax retired from 
 society and sought the seclusion of his wild estates in 
 Virginia, where he spent the rest of his long life in bitterness 
 against womankind. While at Belvoir, he, like everyone 
 else, was favorably impressed with George Washington. 
 The sincere friendship of the accomplished nobleman 
 proved a lifelong advantage to the younger man. It was 
 through the penetration and kindness of Lord Fairfax that 
 George kept on with his surveying, though the Washington 
 family deemed it rather beneath the dignity of a Virginia 
 gentleman. His lordship, being an able man of affairs, as 
 
 (67)
 
 68 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 well as a shrewd man of the world, was disposed to advise 
 and warn his bashful young friend, with whose diffidence 
 he had the keenest sympathy. Also, the influence of his 
 lordship's excellent literary taste was manifested in George's 
 reading and in the clear, direct, simple style of writing 
 which characterized the correspondence of both men 
 through life. 
 
 George and his elderly companion used to ride across 
 country and often went fox-hunting together. Sometimes 
 they rode side by side for hours without either speaking 
 a word. At other times Lord Fairfax, always taciturn in 
 society, would talk freely about Oxford and his varied 
 experiences "at home" (in England). His lordship's chief 
 warning, however, was against women. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, March 27 to April 2,1910. 
 
 Fox-hunting with Lord Fairfax 
 
 Whatever may have been the soothing effect of the 
 female society by which he was surrounded at Belvoir, 
 the youth found a more effectual remedy for his love melan- 
 choly in the company of Lord Fairfax. His lordship was a 
 staunch fox-hunter, and kept horses and hounds in the 
 English style. The hunting season had arrived. The 
 neighborhood abounded with sport but fox-hunting in 
 Virginia required bold and skillful horsemanship. He found 
 Washington as bold as himself in the saddle, and eager to 
 follow the hounds. He forthwith took him into peculiar 
 favor; made him his hunting companion; and it was 
 probably under the tuition of this hard-riding old nobleman 
 that the youth imbibed that fondness for the chase for 
 which he was afterwards remarked. 
 
 Their fox-hunting intercourse was attended with more 
 important results. His lordship's possessions beyond the 
 Blue Ridge had never been regularly settled nor surveyed. 
 Lawless intruders squatters as they were called, were 
 planting themselves along the finest streams and in the
 
 
 x 
 o
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 69 
 
 richest valleys and virtually taking possession of the country. 
 It was the anxious desire of Lord Fairfax to have these 
 lands examined, surveyed, and proportioned out into lots, 
 preparatory to ejecting these interlopers or bringing them 
 to reasonable terms. In Washington, notwithstanding 
 his youth, he beheld one lit for the task having noticed 
 the exercises in surveying which he kept up while at Mount 
 Vernon, and the aptness and exactness with which every 
 process was executed. He was well calculated, too, by his 
 vigor and activity, his courage and hardihood, to cope with 
 the wild country to be surveyed, and with its still wilder 
 inhabitants. The proposition had only to be offered to 
 Washington to be eagerly accepted. It was the very kind 
 of occupation for which he had been diligently training 
 himself. -All the preparations required by one of his simple 
 habits were soon made, and in a very few days he was ready 
 for his first expedition into the wilderness. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 63. 
 
 Encouraged to Take up Surveying 
 
 At .the age of fifteen, in the fall of 1747, I went once 
 more, for a time to reside with Lawrence at Mount Vernon, 
 where it was to be finally determined what I should do for a 
 livelihood. As I look back on this period of my life, I 
 perceive that it was the occasion of many changes. I saw 
 much more of George William Fairfax and George Mason, 
 ever since my friends, and was often with George's father, 
 the master of Belvoir, only four miles from Mount Vernon. 
 
 There came often, for long visits, William's cousin, 
 Lord Fairfax, over whose great estates in the valley William 
 was the agent. I learned later that when first his Lordship 
 saw me he pronounced me to be a too sober little prig 
 and this, no doubt, I was; but after a time, when he began 
 to show such interest in me as flattered my pride and 
 pleased my brother Lawrence. At this period Lord Fair- 
 fax was a tall man and gaunt, very ruddy and near-sighted.
 
 yo THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 It was natural that as a lad I should be pleased by the 
 notice this gentleman, the only nobleman I had ever seen, 
 began to take of me. My fondness for surveying he took 
 more seriously than did my own people, and told me once it 
 was a noble business, because it had to be truthful, and 
 because it kept a man away from men, and, especially, from 
 women. I did not then understand what he meant, and 
 did not think it proper to inquire. 
 
 I owed to this gentleman opportunities which led on 
 to others, and to no one else have I been more indebted. 
 I trust and believe that I let go no chance in after life to 
 serve this admirable family. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 67. 
 
 A Full-length Portrait of Washington at Sixteen 
 
 He had just passed his sixteenth birthday. He was 
 tall and muscular, approaching the stature of more than six 
 feet which he afterwards attained. He was not yet filled 
 out to manly proportions, but was rather spare, after the 
 fashion of youth. He had a well-shaped, active figure, 
 symmetrical except for the unusual length of the arms, 
 indicating uncommon strength. His light brown hair was 
 drawn back from a broad forehead, and grayish-blue eyes 
 looked happily, and perhaps a trifle soberly, on the pleasant 
 Virginia world about him. The face was open and manly, 
 with a square, massive jaw, and a general expression of 
 calmness and strength. "Fair and florid," big and strong, 
 he was, take him for all in all, as fine a specimen of his race 
 as could be found in the English colonies. 
 
 Let us look a little closer through the keen eyes of one 
 who studied many faces to good purpose. The great painter 
 of portraits, Gilbert Stuart, tells us of Washington that he 
 never saw in any man such large eye-sockets, or such breadth 
 of nose and forehead between the eyes, and that he read 
 there the evidence of the strongest passions possible to
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 71 
 
 human nature. John Bernard, the actor, a good observer, 
 too, saw in Washington's face in 1797, the signs of an 
 habitual conflict and mastery of passions, witnessed by the 
 compressed mouth and deeply indented brow. The problem 
 had been solved then; but in 1748, passion and will alike 
 slumbered, and no man could tell which would prevail or 
 whether they would work together to great purpose or go 
 jarring on to nothingness. He rises up to us out of the past 
 in that early springtime a fine, handsome, athletic boy, 
 beloved by those about him, who found him a charming 
 companion and did not guess that he might be a terribly 
 dangerous foe. He rises up instinct with life and strength, 
 a being capable, as we know, of great things whether for 
 good or evil, with hot blood pulsing in his veins and beating 
 in his heart, with violent passions and relentless will still 
 undeveloped, and no one in all that jolly, generous Virginian 
 society even dimly dreamed what that development would 
 be, or what it would mean to the world. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 55. 
 
 Two Georges Go Surveying 
 
 We set out on March u, 1748, George William Fairfax 
 and I, with two servants and a led horse, loaded with a pack 
 and such baggage as could not be carried in saddle-bags. 
 I was at this time ill, not having recovered from an attack 
 of the ague; but the action of the horse and the feeling of 
 adventure helped me, so that in a day or two I left off taking 
 of Jesuits' bark, and was none the worse. : . . . 
 
 As we were soon joined by my old master in surveying, 
 James Genn, I learned a great deal more of his useful art, 
 k and usually earned a doubloon a day, but sometimes six 
 pistoles. Although the idea of daily wages was unpleasant 
 to Virginians of my class, I remember that it made me feel 
 independent, and set a sort of value upon me which reason- 
 ably fed my esteem of myself, which was, I do believe, never 
 too great.
 
 72 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Our journey was without risks, except the rattlesnakes, 
 and the many smaller vermin which inhabited the blankets 
 in the cabins of the squatters. 
 
 I remember with pleasure the evening when I first saw 
 the great fertile valley after we came through Ashby's Gap 
 in the Blue Ridge. The snows were still melting and the 
 roads the worst that could ever be seen, even in Virginia. 
 The greatness of the trees I remember, and my surprise 
 that the Indians should have so much good invention in 
 their names, as when they called the river of the valley the 
 Shen-an-do-ah that is, the Daughter of the Stars; but 
 why so named I never knew. 
 
 In this great vale were the best of Lord Fairfax's lands. 
 Near to where this stream joins the Potomac were many 
 clearings, of which we had to make surveys and insist on 
 his lordship's ownership. Here were no hardships, and 
 much pleasure in the pursuit of game, especially wild turkeys. 
 I learned to cook, and how to make a bivouac comfortable, 
 and many things which are part of the education of the 
 woods. Only four nights did I sleep in a bed, and then 
 had more small company than I liked to entertain. 
 
 After one night in a Dutch cabin I liked better a bear- 
 skin and the open air, for it was not to my taste to lie down 
 on a straw very populous or on a skin, with a man, wife, 
 and squalling babies, like dogs and cats, and to cast lots 
 who should be nearest the fire. 
 
 I did not like these people, and the Indians interested 
 me more. Genn understood their tongue well enough to 
 talk with them, and the way they had of sign-language 
 pleased Lord Fairfax, because, he said, you could not talk 
 too much in signs or easily abuse your neighbor ; but I found 
 they had a sign for cutting a man's throat, and it seemed 
 to me that was quite enough, and worse than abuse. Mr. 
 Genn warned me that one of their great jokes was, when 
 shaking hand", with white men, to squeeze so as to give 
 pain. Being warned, I gave the chief who was called Big
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 73 
 
 Bear such a grip that, in his surprise, he cried out, and thus 
 amused the other warriors. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form oj an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 90. 
 
 He Went in a Schoolboy and Came out the First Soldier 
 in the Colonies 
 
 Lord Fairfax and Washington became fast friends. 
 They hunted the fox together, and hunted him hard. They 
 engaged in all the rough sports and perilous excitements that 
 Virginia winter life could afford, and the boy's bold and 
 skilful riding, his love of sports and his fine temper, com- 
 mended him to the warm and affectionate interest of the old 
 nobleman. Other qualities, too, the experienced man of the 
 world saw in his young companion: a high and persistent 
 courage, robust and calm sense, and above all, unusual force 
 of will and character. Washington impressed profoundly 
 everybody with whom he was brought into personal contact, 
 a fact which is one of the most marked features of his char- 
 acter and career, and one which deserves study more than 
 almost any other. Lord Fairfax was no exception to the 
 rule. He saw in Washington not simply a promising, brave, 
 open-hearted boy, diligent in practising his profession^ and 
 whom he was anxious to help, but something more ; some- 
 thing which so impressed him that he confided to this lad a 
 task which, according to its performance, would affect both 
 his fortune and his peace. In a word, he trusted Washington 
 and told him, as the spring of 1748 was opening, to go forth 
 and survey the vast Fairfax estates beyond the Ridge, 
 define their boundaries, and save them from future litiga- 
 tion. With this commission from Lord Fairfax, Washington 
 entered on the first period of his career. He passed it on the 
 frontier, fighting nature, the Indians, and the French. He 
 went in a schoolboy; he came out the first soldier in the 
 colonies, and one of the leading men of Virginia. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 52.
 
 54 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 From Washington's First Journal 
 
 Fryday March nth 1747-8. Began my Journey in 
 Company with George Fairfax, Esqr. ; we travell'd this 
 day 40 Miles to Mr. George Neavels in Prince William 
 County. 
 
 Saturday March iath this Morning Mr. James Genn y e 
 surveyor came to us, we travel'd over y e Blue Ridge to Cap* 
 Ashbys on Shannondoah River, Nothing remarkable hap- 
 pen'd. 
 
 Sunday March 13 Rode to his Lordship's Quarter about 
 4 Miles higher up y 6 River we went through most beautiful 
 Groves of Sugar Trees & spent y 6 best part of y e Day in 
 admiring y 6 Trees & richness of y* Land. 
 
 Monday i4th We sent our Baggage to Cap* Kites (near 
 Frederick Town) went ourselves down y 6 River about 16 
 Miles to Cap* Isaac Penningtons (the Land exceeding Rich 
 & Fertile all y 6 way produces abundance of Grain Hemp 
 Tobacco &c) in order to Lay of some Lands on Gates Marsh 
 & Long Marsh. 
 
 Tuesday i$th We set out early with Intent to Run 
 round y 6 s d Land but being taken in a Rain & it Increasing 
 very fast obliged us to return, it clearing about one oClock 
 & our time being too Precious to Loose we a second time 
 ventured out & Worked hard till Night & then returned to 
 Penningtons we got our Suppers & was Lighted into a Room 
 & I not being so good a Woodsman as y 6 rest of my Company 
 striped myself very orderly & went in to y 6 Bed as they 
 called it when to my surprize I found it to be nothing but a 
 Little Straw matted together without Sheets or any thing 
 else but one thread Bear blanket with double its weight of 
 Vermin such as Lice Fleas &c. I was glad to get up (as soon 
 as y e Light was carried from us) I put on my Cloths and Lays 
 as my Companions. Had we not been very tired I am sure 
 we should not have slept much that night I made a 
 Promise not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 75 
 
 rather to sleep in y* open Air before a fire as will appear 
 hereafter. 
 
 Wednesday i6th We set out early & finished about one 
 oClock & then Travell'd up to Frederick Town where our 
 Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of y 6 
 Game we had catched y 6 Night before) & took a Review of 
 y 6 Town & thence returned to our Lodgings where we had a 
 good Dinner prepar'd for us Wine & Rum Punch in Plenty 
 & a good Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very 
 agreeable regale. 
 
 Sonday 20 finding y 6 River not much abated we in y 6 
 Evening Swam our horses over & carried them to Charles 
 Polks in Maryland for Pasturage till y 6 next Morning. 
 
 Monday 2ist We went over in a Canoe & Travell'd nip 
 Maryland side all y 6 Day in a Continued Rain to Coll Cresaps 
 right against y 6 Mouth of y South Branch about 40 Miles 
 from Polks I believe y 6 worst Road that ever was trod by 
 Man or Beast. 
 
 Tuesday 22d Continued Rain and y 6 Freshes kept us at 
 Cresaps. 
 
 Wednesday 23d Rain'd till about two oClock & Clear 'd 
 when we were agreeably surpris'd at y 6 sight of thirty odd 
 Indians coming from War with only one Scalp. We had 
 some Liquor with us of which we gave them Part it elevating 
 their Spirits put them in y 6 Humour of Dauncing of whom we 
 had a War Daunce there manner of Dauncing is as follows 
 Viz They Clear a Large Circle & make a Great Fire in y 6 
 middle then seats themselves around it y 6 Speaker makes 
 grand Speech telling them in what Manner they are to 
 Daunce after he has finish'd y 6 best Dauncer Jumps about y* 
 Ring in a most cornicle Manner he is followed by y e Rest then 
 begins there Musicians to Play y 6 iVfusick is a Pot half of 
 Water with Deerskin Streched over it as figlit as it can & a 
 
 1-7
 
 7 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 goard with some Shott in it to Rattle & a Piece of an horses 
 Tail to it to make it look fine y 6 one keeps Rattling and y e 
 other Drumming all y e while y 6 others is Daunting 
 Journal of My Journey Over the Mountains, by George Wash- 
 ington while Surveying for Lord Thomas Fairfax, Baron of 
 Cameron, in the Northern Neck of Virginia, Beyond the Blue 
 Ridge. 
 
 Copied from the Original with Literal Exactness, and Edited with Notes by J. M. 
 Toner, M.D., pp. 15 to 33. 
 
 How Lord Fairfax Read Washington's First Journal 
 
 It was a winter night. Lord Fairfax had gathered 
 about him a merry company, Washington was there, but 
 grave and reserved in contrast with the others. Mr. Gist, 
 the explorer, was present, and with him had come young 
 Owler, an Indian runner, to hear the violins. A number 
 of young hunters and trappers and fur-traders had stopped 
 at the Court for the night to share the bountiful baron's 
 hospitality. 
 
 The stories of the surveys of his immense estates were 
 Lord Fairfax's delight. Washington kept journals of his 
 surveys, and Mr. Gist was a natural story-teller. 
 
 Lord Fairfax spread the journal of young Washington 
 and its records of surveys out on the great oak table. He 
 began to read the diary. The men listened eagerly, ready 
 to applaud any incident of the narrative which should excite 
 their interest. . . ." 
 
 [After his lordship had read the diary through, he 
 said :] 
 
 " Washington is a brave boy, it is hardship that makes 
 men. A man's power in life is in proportion to the resistance 
 he meets when he is young. George will become a strong 
 man one day." 
 
 The journal gives a correct view of the manner that the 
 young surveyor passed a period of his early days. He was 
 then scarcely more than a boy. 
 
 The Boys of Greenway Court, Hezekiah Butterworth, pp. 77 to 88.
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 77 
 
 Conflicting Claims to the Ohio Country 
 
 While George was acting as county surveyor, and 
 for several years afterward, the trouble between the 
 English and French for the settlement of the country along 
 the Ohio river was rapidly approaching a crisis. The 
 French claimed all the territory watered by the tributaries 
 of the Mississippi river by right of the discoveries of Joliet 
 and Pere Marquette of the Mississippi in the north, and their 
 settlement of Louisiana in the south. 
 
 The English based their claim on a supposed purchase 
 of all the territory west of the mountains and north of the 
 Ohio from the Five Nations of Indians in council. But 
 " possession is eleven points in the law, " and the French were 
 not only coming down from Canada and making settlements 
 in the disputed territory, but also making friends with the 
 Indians. This they were able to do because of the work of 
 French Catholic missionaries and of the fact that many of 
 the French pioneers had intermarried with and lived among 
 the red men. 
 
 Virginia was especially interested in this dispute, as a 
 sort of syndicate of gentlemen had formed what was known 
 as the Ohio Company, whose business was to traffic with the 
 natives and settle the country. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, May 8 to 14, 1910. 
 
 Labored Love Lines 
 
 Who [the] " Low Land Beauty" was has been the source 
 of much speculation, but the question is still unsolved, every 
 suggested damsel Lucy Grymes, Mary Bland, Betsy Faunt- 
 leroy, et al. being either impossible or the evidence wholly 
 inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the 
 draughts of these letters is a motto poem 
 
 "Twas Perfect Love before 
 But Now I do adore" 
 
 followed by the words " Young M. A. his W [ife?], " and as it
 
 7 8 THE STORY^LIFE OF WASHINGTOX 
 
 was a fashion of the time to couple the initials of one's well- 
 beloved with such sentiments, a slight clue is possibly fur- 
 nished. Nor was this the only rhyme that his emotions led 
 to his inscribing in his journal: and he confided to it the 
 following : 
 
 " Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart 
 
 Stand to oppose thy might and Power 
 :At Last surrender to.cupid's feather'd Dart 
 
 And now lays Bleeding every Hour 
 For her that's Pjtyless of my grief and Woes 
 
 And will not on me Pity take 
 He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes 
 
 And with gladness never wish to Wake 
 In deluding sleepings let my eyelids close 
 
 That in an enraptured Dream I may 
 In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose 
 
 Possess those joys denied by Day." 
 
 However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not 
 seem to have been wholly lost to others of the sex? and at 
 this time he was able to indite an acrostic to another charmer, 
 which, if incomplete, nevertheless proves that there was a 
 "midland" beauty as well, the lady being presumptively 
 some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a planta- 
 tion near Mount Vernon. 
 
 "From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone; 
 Rays, you have ; more transperent than the Sun, 
 Amidst its glory in the rising Day 
 None can you equal in your bright array; 
 Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind; 
 Equal to all,. but will to none Prove kind, 
 So knowing, seldom one so young, you'l Find. 
 
 Ah! woe's me, that I should Love and conceal 
 Long have I wish'd, but never dare reveal, 
 Even though severely Loves Pains I feel; 
 Xerxes that great, was't free from Cupids Dart, 
 And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart." 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 86.
 
 GEORGE AND THE FAIRFAX FAMILY 79 
 
 "I Used Often to Wish He Would Talk More" 
 
 In his earliest days, there was perseverance and com- 
 pleteness in all his undertakings. Nothing was left half 
 done, or done in a hurried and slovenly manner. The habit 
 of mind thus cultivated continued throughout life ; so that 
 however complicated his tasks and overwhelming his cares, 
 in the arduous and hazardous situations in which he was often 
 placed, he found time to do everything, and to do it well. 
 He had acquired the 'magic of method, which of itself works 
 wonders. 
 
 In one of these manuscript memorials of his practical 
 studies and exercises, we have come upon some documents 
 singularly in contrast with all that we have just cited, and 
 with his apparently unromantic character. In a word, 
 there are evidences in his own handwriting, that, before 
 he was fifteen years of age, he had conceived a passion for 
 some unknown beauty, so serious as to disturb his otherwise 
 well-regulated mind, and to make him really unhappy. Why 
 this juvenile attachment was a source of unhappiness we have 
 no positive means of ascertaining. Perhaps the object of it 
 may have considered him a mere schoolboy, and treated him 
 as such, or his own shyness may have been in his way, and 
 his "rules for behavior and conversation" may as yet have 
 sat awkwardly on him, and rendered him formal and ungainly 
 when he most sought to please. Even in later years he was 
 apt to be silent and embarrassed in female society. " He 
 was a very bashful young man, " said an old lady, whom he 
 used to visit when they were both in their nonage, " I used 
 often to wish that he would talk more. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 57- 
 
 County Surveyor at Seventeen 
 
 About this time the influence of Lord Fairfax and my 
 brothers obtained for me the place of surveyor of the county 
 of Culpeper. I saw, a few years ago, in the records of Cul~
 
 8o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 peper Court House, under date of July 20, 1749, that George 
 Washington, gentleman, produced a commission from the 
 president and masters of William and Mary College appoint- 
 ing him to be a surveyor of the county, whereupon he took 
 the oath to his Majesty's person and government and sub- 
 scribed the abjuration oath, the test, etc. 
 
 I recall now the pleasure this formal appointment gave 
 me. Although I was then but seventeen years old, I was 
 much trusted and was soon busily employed, because of my 
 exactness, and because it was known that I could not be 
 bribed; and thus for over two years I pursued this occupa- 
 tion. His Lordship had long since left his cousin's house of 
 Belvoir and gone to live in the valley, in his steward's house, 
 which he now bettered and enlarged for his own use, mean- 
 ing soon to build a great mansion-house, which he never did. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir Mitchell, 
 M.D., p. 96.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 GEORGE AND His BROTHER LAWRENCE 
 
 Mr. Thomas Lee, president of the council of Virginia, 
 took the lead in the concerns of the [Ohio] company at the 
 outset, and by many has been considered its founder. On 
 his death, which soon took place, Lawrence Washington had 
 the chief management. His enlightened mind and liberal 
 spirit shone forth in his earliest arrangements. He wished to 
 form the settlements with Germans from Pennsylvania. 
 Being dissenters, however, they would be obliged, on becom- 
 ing residents within the jurisdiction, of Virginia, to pay 
 parish rates, and maintain a clergyman of the Church of 
 England, though they might not understand his language 
 nor relish his doctrines. Lawrence sought to have them 
 exempted from this double tax on purse and conscience. 
 
 " It has ever been my opinion, " said he, " and I hope it 
 ever will be, that restraints on conscience are cruel in regard 
 to those on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the 
 country imposing them. England, Holland, and Prussia 
 I may quote as examples, and much more Pennsylvania, 
 which has nourished under that delightful liberty, so as to 
 become the admiration of every man who considers the short 
 time it has been settled. . . . This colony [Virginia] 
 was settled in the latter part of Charles the First's time, and 
 during the usurpation, by the zealous churchmen ; and that 
 spirit, which was then brought in, has ever since continued ; 
 so that, except a few Quakers, we have no dissenters. But 
 what has been the consequence ? We have increased by slow 
 degrees, whilst our neighboring colonies, whose natural ad- 
 vantages are greatly inferior to ours, have become populous." 
 
 (8 1)
 
 82 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Such were the enlightened views of this brother of our 
 Washington, to whom the latter owed much of his moral 
 and mental training. The company proceeded to make 
 preparations for their colonizing scheme. Goods were 
 imported from England suited to the Indian trade, or for 
 presents to the chiefs. Rewards were promised to veteran 
 warriors and hunters among the natives acquainted with 
 the woods and mountains, for the best route to the Ohio. 
 Before the company had received its charter, however, the 
 French were in the field. Early in 1749, the Marquis de la 
 Galisonniere, Governor of Canada, despatched Celeron de 
 Bienville, an intelligent officer, at the head of three hundred 
 men, to the banks of the Ohio, to make peace, as he said, 
 between the tribes that had become embroiled with each 
 other during the late war, and to renew the French posses- 
 sions of the country. 
 
 Celeron de Bienville distributed presents among the 
 Indians, made speeches reminding them of former friend- 
 ship, and warned them not to trade with the English. He 
 furthermore nailed leaden plates to trees, and buried others 
 in the earth, at the confluence of the Ohio arid its tributaries, 
 bearing inscriptions purporting that all the lands on both 
 sides of the rivers to their sources appertained, as in foregone 
 times, to the crown of France. The Indians gazed at these 
 mysterious plates with wondering eyes, but surmised their 
 purport. "They mean to steal our country from * us, " 
 murmured they; and they determined to seek protection 
 from the English. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 78. 
 
 The Ohio Company Sends Christopher Gist 
 
 It was some time later in the same autumn that the 
 Ohio Company brought their plans into operation, and 
 despatched an agent to explore the lands upon the Ohio and 
 its branches as low as the Great Falls, take note of their 
 fitness for cultivation, of the passes of the mountains, the
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 83 
 
 courses and bearings of the rivers, and the strength and 
 disposition of the native tribes. The man chosen for the 
 purpose was Christopher Gist, a hardy pioneer, experienced 
 in woodcraft and Indian life, who had his home on the banks 
 of the Yadkin, near the boundary line of Virginia and North 
 Carolina. He was allowed a woodsman or two for the ser- 
 vice of the expedition. He set out on the 3ist of October, 
 from the banks of the Potomac, by an Indian path which the 
 hunters had pointed out, leading from Wills' Creek, since 
 called Fort Cumberland, to the Ohio. Indian paths and 
 Buffalo tracks are the primitive highways of the wilderness. 
 Passing the Juniata, he crossed the ridges of the Alleghany, 
 arrived at Shannopin, a Delaware village on the south-east 
 side of the Ohio, or rather of that upper branch of it, now 
 called the Allegheny, swam his horses across that river, and 
 descending along its valley arrived at Logstown, an impor- 
 tant Indian village a little below the site of the present city 
 of Pittsburg. Here usually resided Tanacharisson, a Seneca 
 chief of great note, being head sachem of the mixed tribes 
 which had migrated to the Ohio and its branches. He was 
 usually surnamed the Half-King, being subordinate to the 
 Iroquois confederacy. The chief was absent at this time, 
 as were most of his people, it being the hunting season. 
 George Croghan, the envoy from Pennsylvania, with Mon- 
 tour his interpreter, had passed through Logstown a week 
 previously, on his way to the Twightwees and other tribes, 
 on the Miami branch of the Ohio. Scarce any one was to be 
 seen about the village except some of Croghan 's rough 
 people, whom he had left behind "reprobate Indian 
 traders,'-' Gist terms them. They regarded the latter with 
 a jealous eye, suspecting him of some nvalship in trade, or 
 designs on the Indian lands; and intimated significantly 
 that "he would never go home safe." 
 
 Gist knew the meaning of such hints from men of this 
 stamp in the lawless depths of the wilderness; but quieted 
 their suspicions by letting them know that he was on public 
 business, and on good terms with their great man, George
 
 84 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Croghan, to whom he despatched a letter. He took his 
 departure from Logstown, however, as soon as possible, 
 preferring, as he said, the solitude of the wilderness to 
 such company. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 81. 
 
 "A Most Delightful Country" 
 
 At Beaver Creek, a few miles below the village, he 
 [Gist] left the river and struck into the interior of the present 
 State of Ohio. Here he overtook George Croghan at Musk- 
 ingum, a town of Wyandots and Mingoes. He had ordered 
 all the traders in his employ who were scattered among the 
 Indian villages, to rally at this town, where he had hoisted 
 the English flag over his residence, and over that of the 
 sachem. This was in consequence of the hostility of the 
 French who had recently captured, in the neighborhood, 
 three white men in the employ of Frazier, an Indian trader, 
 and had carried them away prisoners to Canada. 
 
 Gist was well received by the people of Muskingum. 
 They were indignant at the French violation of their terri- 
 tories, and the capture of their " English brothers. " They 
 had not forgotten the conduct of Celeron de Bienville in the 
 previous year, and the mysterious plates which he had nailed 
 against trees and sunk in the ground. " If the French claim 
 the rivers which run into the lakes, " said they, " those which 
 run into the Ohio belong to us and to our brothers the Eng- 
 lish. " And they were anxious that Gist should settle 
 among them, and build a fort for their mutual defense. 
 
 A council of the nation was now held, in which Gist 
 invited them, in the name of the Governor of Virginia, to 
 visit that province, where a large present of goods awaited 
 them, sent by their father, the great king, over the water to 
 his Ohio children. The invitation was graciously received, 
 but no answer could be given until a grand council of the 
 western tribes had been held, which was to take place at 
 Logstown in the ensuing spring.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 85 
 
 Similar results attended visits made by Gist and Crog- 
 han to the Delawares and the Shawnees at their villages 
 about the Scioto River ; all promised to be at the gathering 
 at Logstown. From the Shawnee village, near the mouth of 
 the Scioto, the two emissaries shaped their course north two 
 hundred miles, crossed the great Moneami, or Miami River, 
 on a raft, swimming their horses ; and on the i yth of Febru- 
 ary arrived at the Indian town of Piqua. 
 
 These journeyings had carried Gist about a wide extent 
 of country beyond the Ohio. It was rich and level, watered 
 with streams and rivulets, and clad with noble forests of 
 hickory, walnut, ash, poplar, sugar-maple, and wild cherry 
 trees. Occasionally there were spacious plains covered with 
 wild rye ; natural meadows, with blue grass and clover ; and 
 buffaloes, thirty and forty at a time, grazing on them as in a 
 cultivated pasture. Deer, elk, and wild turkeys abounded. 
 "Nothing is wanted but cultivation," said Gist, "to make 
 this a most delightful country." Cultivation has since 
 proved the truth of his words. The country thus described 
 is the present State of Ohio. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 83. 
 
 Major Washington's Broadsword Practice Interrupted 
 
 The French now prepared for hostile contingencies. 
 They launched an armed vessel of unusual size on Lake 
 Ontario ; fortified their trading house at Niagara ; strength- 
 ened their outposts, and advanced others on the upper 
 waters of the Ohio. A stir of warlike preparation was 
 likewise to be observed among the British colonies. It was 
 evident that the adverse claims to the disputed territories, 
 if pushed home, could only be settled by the stern arbitra- 
 ment of the sword. 
 
 In Virginia, especially, the war spirit was manifest. 
 The province was divided into military districts, each 
 having an adjutant general, with the rank of major, and the 
 pay of one hundred and fifty pounds a year, whose duty was 
 to attend to the organization and equipment of the militia.
 
 86 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Such an appointment was sought by Lawrence Wash- 
 ington for his brother George. It shows what must have 
 been the maturity of the mind of the latter, and the con- 
 fidence inspired by his judicious conduct and aptness for 
 business, that the post should not only be sought for him, 
 but readily obtained ; though he was yet but nineteen years 
 of age. He proved himself worthy of the appointment. 
 
 He now set about preparing himself, with his usual 
 method and assiduity, for his new duties. Virginia had 
 among its floating population some military relics of the 
 late Spanish war. Among these was a certain Adjutant 
 Muse, a Westmoreland volunteer, who had served with 
 Lawrence Washington in the campaigns in the West Indies, 
 and had been with him in the attack on Carthagena. He 
 now undertook to instruct his brother George in the art 
 of war; lent him treatises on military tactics; put him 
 through the manual exercises, and gave him some idea of 
 evolutions in the field. Another of Lawrence's campaigning 
 comrades was Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman by birth; 
 a soldier of fortune of the Dalgetty order; who had been 
 in the British army, but was now out of service, and, pro- 
 fessing to be a complete master of fence, recruited his 
 slender purse in this time of military excitement, by giving 
 the Virginian youth lessons in sword exercise. 
 
 Under the instructions of these veterans, Mount Vernon, 
 from being a quiet rural retreat, where Washington, three 
 years previously, had indited love ditties to his "lowland 
 beauty," was suddenly transformed into a school of arms, 
 as he practised the manual exercise with Adjutant Muse, or 
 took lessons on the broadsword from Van Braam. 
 
 His martial studies, however, were interrupted for a 
 time by the critical state of his brother's health. The con- 
 stitution of Lawrence had always been delicate, and he had 
 been obliged repeatedly to travel for a change of air. There 
 were now pulmonary symptoms of a threatening nature, 
 and by advice of his physicians he determined to pass a
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 87 
 
 winter in the West Indies, taking with him his favorite 
 brother George as a companion. They accordingly sailed 
 for Barbadoes on the 28th of September, 1751. George 
 kept a journal of the voyage with log-book brevity; record- 
 ing the wind and weather, but no events worth citation. 
 They landed at Barbadoes on the 3d of November. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 92. 
 
 Arrival of the Washington Brothers at Barbadoes 
 
 [George kept a Journal of this trip, which, though preserved, 
 is torn and illegible in the places indicated by dots.] 
 
 We were greatly alarmed with the cry of " Land " at 
 4 A : M : We quitted our beds with surprise and found y* 
 land plainly appearing at about 3 leagues distance, when by 
 our reckonings we shou'd have been near 150 leagues to 
 the windward we were to leeward ab* y 6 distance above 
 mention 'd, and had we been but 3 or 4 leagues more, we 
 shou'd have been out of sight of the Island, run down the 
 latitude and probably not have discovered. . . ... '. 
 
 November 4th, 1751 . This morning received a card 
 from Major Clarke, welcoming us to Barbadoes, with an 
 invitation to breakfast and dine with him. We went, 
 myself with some reluctance, as the smallpox was in his 
 family. We were received in the most kind and friendly 
 manner by him. Mrs. Clarke was much indisposed, inso- 
 much that we had not the pleasure of her company, but in 
 her place officiated Miss Roberts, her niece, an agreeable 
 young lady. After drinking tea we were again invited to 
 Mr. Carter's, and desired to make his house ours until we 
 could find lodgings agreeable to our wishes, which offer we 
 accepted. 
 
 November 5th Early this morning came Dr. Hilary, 
 an eminent physician, recommended by Major Clarke; to
 
 88 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 pass his opinion on my brother's disorder, which he did in 
 a favorable light, giving great assurance that it was not so 
 fixed but that a cure might be effectually made. In the cool 
 of the evening we rode out, accompanied by Mr. Carter, 
 to seek lodgings in the country, as the Doctor advised, and 
 were perfectly ravished with the beautiful prospects, which 
 every side presented to our view, the fields of cane, corn, 
 fruit-trees, &c., in a delightful green. We returned without 
 accomplishing our intentions. 
 
 Tuesday 6th. At Mr. Carter's, employing ourselves in 
 writ 8 letters to be carried by the schooner Fredericksburg, 
 Capt" Robinson, to Virginia. Received a card from Maj r 
 Clarke wherein our companys were desired to dinner to- 
 morrow, & and myself an invitation from M re . Clarke & 
 Miss Rob ts to come, and see the serp 15 fir'd from guns, & I 
 had the pleasure of seeing M re . Clarke. 
 
 Wednesday jth. Dined at Maj r Clarke^; and by him 
 was introduced to the Surveyor-Gen 1 & Judges Filey & 
 Hackett, who likewise din'd there. In the evening they 
 complaisantly accompanied us in another excursion in the 
 country to choose such lodgings as most suited. We pitched 
 on the house of Capt n . Croftan, commander of James Fort ; 
 he was desir'd to come to town next day to propose his 
 terms. ... 
 
 Thursday 8th. Came Capt n . Croftan with his pro- 
 posals which, tho extravagantly dear, my Brother was 
 oblig'd to give : i 5 p r Month is his charge, exclusive of 
 liquours and washing, which we find. In the evening we 
 remov'd some of our things up and ourselves. It's very 
 pleasantly situated and pretty, . . . the sea, ab 1 a 
 mile from town. The prospect is extensive by land and 
 pleasant by sea, as we command the prospect of Carlyle 
 Bay, in such manner that none can go in or out without 
 being open to our view. 
 
 Washington's Barbadoes Journal, 1751-2, Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner. M.D., 
 pp. 39 to 48.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 89 
 
 " Beefsteak and Tripe" Club, " George Barnwell," and 
 Smallpox 
 
 Friday gth. We receiv'd a card from Maj r Clarke, 
 inviting us to dine with him at Judge Maynard's on the 
 morrow. He had a right to ask, being a member of the 
 Club call'd the " Beefsteak & Tripe, " instituted by himself. 
 
 We were genteelly receiv'd by Judge Satus Maynard & Lady, 
 and agreeably entertain'd by the company. They have 
 a meeting every Saturday, this being Col. Maynard's. 
 After dinner there was the greatest collection of fruits I 
 have yet seen on a table. There was the Granadella, the 
 Sappadilla, Pomegranate, Sweet Orange, Water Lemon, 
 Forbidden Fruit, Apples, Guavas, &c., &c., &c. We 
 receiv'd invitations from every gentleman there, & one, who 
 also was there, tho not one of their Memb ra . M r . Warren 
 desir'd Maj r Clarke to shew us the way to his house. Mr. 
 Hack 1 insisted on our coming to his, being his day to treat 
 with beefsteak & tripe, but, above all, the invitation of M r . 
 Maynard was the most kind and friendly. He desir'd, and 
 even insisted, as well as his lady, on our coming to spend 
 some weeks with him, and promis'd nothing should be 
 wanting to render our stay agreeable. My B r . promis'd he 
 wou'd as soon as he was a little disengag'd from the D rs . 
 We return'd, and by ... . was invited to dine at 
 . Clarke's the next day, by himself. 
 
 Sunday nth. Dressed in order for Church but got to 
 town too late. Dined at Maj r Clarke's with y 6 S e G: [same 
 gentlemen?] Went to Evening Service and return'd to our 
 lodgings. 
 
 Monday I2th. Receiv'd an afternoon visit from Cap 1 . 
 Petrie and an invitation to dine with him the next day. 
 
 ijth. Dine^d at the Fort Needham, [where 
 Capt. Petrie was in command] with some ladies. It's pretty
 
 90 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 strongly fortified, and mounts about 36 guns within the 
 fortifi n ., but 2 facine batteries, m 51. 
 
 Wednesday itfh. At our lodgings. 
 
 Thursday i$th. Was treated with a play ticket by 
 M r . Carter to see the Tragedy of "George Barn well" acted: 
 the characters of "Barn well" and several others were said 
 to be well perform'd. There was musick adapted and 
 regularly conducted by M r . 
 
 Saturday i?tli. Was strongly attacked with the small- 
 pox: sent for D r . Lanahan, whose attendance was very 
 constant till my recovery and going out, which was not till 
 Thursday, the i2th of December. 
 
 ... . December i2th. Went to town; visited 
 Maj r Clarke's family, (who kindly visited me in my illness, 
 and contributed all they cou'd in send me the necessaries 
 required in y 6 disorder) and dined with Maj r . Gaskens, a 
 half-b r . to M 155 . Clarke. 
 
 Thursday i8th. Provided my sea store and dined 
 with M r . Carter. 
 
 Friday igth. Got my clothes, store, &c., on board 
 the Industry, Capt n . John Saunders, for Virginia. 
 
 Saturday 2ist. . . At my lodgings . . . my 
 Brother 
 
 Sunday 22d. Took my leave of my B r ., Maj r Clarke, 
 &c., and imbarked on the Industry, Capt n . John Saunders, 
 for Virginia. Weighed anchor and got out of Carlyle Bay 
 ab* 12. 
 
 Washington's Barbadoes Journal, 1751-2, Edited, with Notes, J. M. Toner, M.D.. 
 pp. 49 to 55.
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 91 
 
 Lawrence "Hurrying Home to His Grave !" 
 
 After his recovery he made excursions about the island, 
 noticing its soil, productions, fortifications, public works, 
 and the manners of its inhabitants. While admiring the 
 productiveness of the sugar plantations, he was shocked at 
 the spendthrift habits of the planters, and their utter want 
 of management. 
 
 " How wonderful, " writes he, "that such people should 
 be in debt, and not be able to indulge themselves in all the 
 luxuries, as well as the necessaries of life. Yet so it happens. 
 Estates are often alienated for debts. How persons coming 
 to- estates of two, three, and four hundred acres can want, 
 is to me most wonderful." How much does this wonder 
 speak for his own scrupulous principle of always living 
 within compass. 
 
 The residence in Barbadoes failed to have the antici- 
 pated effect on the health of Lawrence, and he determined 
 to seek the sweet climate of Bermuda in the spring. He 
 felt the absence from his wife, and it was arranged that 
 George should return to Virginia, and bring her out to meet 
 him at that island. Accordingly, . . . George set 
 sail . . . [for] Virginia, where he arrived on the ist 
 February, 1752, after five weeks of stormy winter sea- 
 faring. 
 
 Lawrence remained through the winter at Barbadoes; 
 but the very mildness of the climate relaxed and enervated 
 him. He felt the want of the bracing winter weather to 
 which he had been accustomed. Even the invariable 
 beauty of the climate, the perpetual summer, wearied the 
 restless invalid. "This is the finest island of the West 
 Indies, " said he ; " but I own no place can please me without 
 a change of seasons. We soon tire of the same prospect." 
 A consolatory truth for the inhabitants of more capricious 
 climes. 
 
 Still, some of the worst symptoms of his disorder had 
 
 1-8
 
 92 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 disappeared, and he seemed to be slowly . recovering ; but 
 the nervous restlessness and desire of change, often inci- 
 dental to his malady, had taken hold of him, and early in 
 March he hastened to Bermuda. He had come too soon. 
 The keen air of early spring brought on an aggravated 
 return of his worst symptoms. " I have now got to my last 
 refuge," writes he to a friend, "where I must receive my 
 final sentence, which at present Dr. Forbes will not pro- 
 nounce. He leaves me, however, I think, like a criminal 
 condemned, though not without hopes of reprieve. But 
 this I am to obtain by meritoriously abstaining from flesh 
 of every sort, all strong liquour, and by riding as much as 
 I can bear. These are the only terms on which I am to hope 
 for life. . ; ;. ." 
 
 The very next letter, written shortly afterward in a 
 moment of despondency, talks of the possibility of "hurry- 
 ing home to his grave!" 
 
 The last was no empty foreboding. He did indeed 
 hasten back, and just reached Mount Vernon in time to 
 die under his own roof, surrounded by his family and friends, 
 and attended in his last moments by that brother on whose 
 manly affection his heart seemed to repose. His death 
 took place on the 26th July, 1752, when but thirty-four 
 years of age. He was a noble-spirited, pure-minded, 
 accomplished gentleman; honored by the public, and 
 beloved by his friends. The paternal care ever manifested 
 by him for his youthful brother, George, and the influence 
 his own character and conduct must have had upon him in 
 his ductile years, should link their memories together in 
 history, and endear the name of Lawrence Washington to 
 every American. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 96. 
 
 The Home-coming 
 
 The Sprightly Jane was to make another voyage in 
 March, and it was intended that George and his sister
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 93 
 
 should sail on her; but she was delayed below Mount 
 Vernon for two weeks waiting for a wind. One morning 
 late in March, George, on looking out of the window on 
 rising to see if there were any chance of getting off that day, 
 felt a strong wind from the northwest; but as soon as his 
 eyes fell on the river he saw a frigate at anchor that had 
 evidently come in during the night. And while watching 
 her he saw the captain's gig shove off with two figures in it 
 that wonderfully resembled his brother Lawrence and his 
 faithful Peter. George jumped into his clothes, and ran 
 down-stairs and to the shore to make certain, and there in 
 the boat, half-supported by his servant, lay Lawrence, 
 pale and ill beyond description, but with a happy light in 
 his weary, suffering eyes. In a few minutes Mrs. Washing- 
 ton came flying down, and, with clasped hands and tears 
 streaming down her cheeks, awaited her husband on the 
 end of the little wharf. . . . This joyous welcome, 
 the presence of faces dear and familiar, the sight of home, 
 was almost too much happiness for the poor invalid. George 
 literally carried Lawrence in his strong young arms up to 
 the house, while his wife clung to his hand. .*' . . 
 
 "I could not stay away any longer," said Lawrence, 
 " and when the ship came to Bermuda, and the kind captain 
 saw how hard it was for me to stay, to die among strangers, 
 he invited me to return with him as his guest. I thought 
 that you, Anne, and George might already have started 
 for Bermuda, but, thanks to the good God, I find you here. " 
 
 All those who loved Lawrence Washington saw that 
 day that his end was near, and within three months, he 
 gave up his life. 
 
 One gloomy September day, just a year from the time 
 he had set forth with his brother on that dreary voyage, 
 George realized that, at last, he was master of Mount Vernon, 
 and the realization was one of the most painful moments of 
 his life. He returned to the place at Belvoir, the home of 
 his sister's father, where, he had left her. In vain he had
 
 94 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 pleaded with her to continue at Mount Vernon; for Law- 
 rence in his will, had given it to her during her lifetime. 
 But, gentle and submissive in all things else, Anne Wash- 
 ington could not and would not return to the home of her 
 brief married happiness and the spot connected with the 
 long series of crushing griefs that had befallen her. 
 
 A Virginia Cavalier, Molly Elliot Sea well, p. 271. 
 
 The Art of War and Manual of Arms 
 
 From the sunshine and ease of this tropical winter 
 Washington passed to a long season of trial and responsi- 
 bility at home and abroad. .In July, 1752, his much-loved 
 brother Lawrence died, leaving George guardian of his 
 daughter and heir to his estates in the event of that daugh- 
 ter's death. Thus the current of his home life ' changed, 
 and responsibility came into it, while outside the mighty 
 stream of public events changed too, and swept him along 
 in the swelling torrent of a world-wide war. 
 
 In all the vast wilderness beyond the mountains 
 there was not room for both French and English. The 
 rival nations had been for years slowly approaching each 
 other, until in 1749 each people proceeded at last to take 
 possession of the Ohio country after its own fashion. The 
 French sent a military expedition which sank and nailed 
 up leaden plates ; the English formed a great land company 
 to speculate and make money, and both set diligently to 
 work to form Indian alliances. A man of far less percep- 
 tion than Lawrence Washington, who had become the chief 
 manager of the Ohio Company, would have seen that the 
 conditions on the frontier rendered war inevitable, and he 
 accordingly made ready for' the future by preparing his 
 brother for the career of a soldier, so far as it could be done. 
 
 At the same time Lawrence Washington procured for his 
 brother, then only nineteen years of age, an appointment 
 as one of the adjutants-general of Virginia with the rank
 
 GEORGE AND HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE 95 
 
 of major. To all this the young surveyor took kindly 
 enough, so far as we can tell, but his military avocations 
 were interrupted by his voyage to Barbadoes, by the illness 
 and death of his brother, and by the cares and responsi- 
 bilities thereby thrust upon him. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 62. 
 
 The Unmarried Master of Mount Vernon 
 
 Rich, intelligent, and his own master, Washington 
 must have been an object of envy among the young men of 
 his acquaintance. Impetuous and self-willed, and with 
 veins full of rich red blood that had never been weakened 
 by excess or poisoned by rum, the natural thing would have 
 been for him to hurry over to London or Paris, stay there 
 until he had toned himself down to the conventional 
 "swell" level of inanition, and then return to explain in 
 confidence that America was fit only to make money in. 
 What he did, however, was to remain at home, mind his 
 own business, and enjoy the life to which he was accustomed, 
 and a more positive illustration of his unusual good sense 
 is not on record. The attention that he received may have 
 laid the foundation of that very good opinion which he is 
 believed to have had of himself, and which subsequent 
 experience gave him no occasion to abandon. 
 
 Hi3 position and character assured him as much social 
 consideration as he could hope to receive anywhere, and as 
 he was too healthy to crave artificial pleasures, he could be 
 perfectly happy upon those the country afforded. As he 
 was extremely handsome as well as rich and 'healthy, he 
 must have been the champion " catch, " and as the Virginia 
 belles were as beautiful and refined then as now, he would 
 have been an idiot to have sought ladies' society elsewhere. 
 One's digestive apparatus aches to think of the innumerable 
 dinners and teas that were set expressly for him by prudent 
 mammas, and the shoemaker who constructed his dancing 
 slippers must have been indeed a busy man. The glory of
 
 96 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 his bachelor days lasted about two years just long enough 
 to convince a well-to-do young man that all maidens are 
 mercenary, and to drive him, through spite, to throw him- 
 self away upon the homeliest and stupidest girl of his 
 acquaintance. But suddenly Heaven, which looks out for 
 its own, allowed the difficulty with the French and Indians 
 to come to a crisis, and England to become acquainted for 
 the first time with George Washington as a soldier. 
 
 Gtorgt Washington, John Habberton, p. ta.
 
 The Youthful Envoy 
 
 Like all Virginians, I was disturbed during this time 
 by the news of the insolence of the French on the frontier, 
 and began to feel that my brother's money, put into the 
 Ohio Company, was in peril, for we were like to be cooped 
 up by a line of forts, and our trade in peltries was already 
 almost at an end, and about to pass into the hands of the 
 French. We learned with pleasure that the royal governors 
 were ordered to insist on the retirement of these overbusy 
 French, who claimed all the land up to the Alleghanies, but 
 I did not dream that I was soon to take part in the matter. 
 
 About that time, or before, there had been much 
 effort to secure the Six Nations of Indians as allies. One of 
 their chiefs, Tanacharisson, known as the Half-King, 
 because of holding a subsidiary rule among the Indians, 
 advised a fort to be built by us near to the Forks of the 
 Ohio, on the east bank, and Gist, the trader set out on this 
 errand. A Captain Trent was charged to carry our king's 
 message to the French outposts; but having arrived at 
 Logstown, one hundred and fifty miles from his destination 
 and hearing of the defeat of our allies, the Miamis, by the 
 French, he lost heart and came back to report. The Ohio 
 Company at this time complained to the governor of the 
 attacks on their traders, and this gentleman, being concerned 
 both for his own pocket and for his Majesty's property, 
 resolved to send some one of more spirit to bear the King's 
 message ordering the French to retire and to cease to molest 
 our fur traders about the Ohio. 
 
 It was unfortunate that Governor Dinwiddie, who was 
 
 (97)
 
 98 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 now eager to defend his interests in the Ohio Company, 
 had lost the prudent counsel of its late head, my brother 
 Lawrence. He would have made a better envoy than I, 
 for at the age of twenty-one a man is too young to influence 
 the Indians, on account of a certain reverence they have for 
 age in council. I was ignorant of what was intended when 
 I received orders to repair to Williamsburg. To my sur- 
 prise, and I may say to my pleasure, I learned that I was to 
 go to Logstown. I was there to meet our allies" the Indians, 
 and secure from them an escort and guides, and so push on 
 and find the French commander. I was to deliver to him 
 my summons, and wait an answer during one week, and 
 then return. I was also to keep my eyes open as to all 
 matters of military concern. 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, S. Weir- Mitchell, 
 M.D., p.* 120. 
 
 Receiving His Instructions 
 
 George's appearance, always striking, was more so 
 from the handsome mourning suit he still wore, although 
 his brother had been dead more than a year. It showed off 
 his blond beauty wonderfully well. His features had 
 become more marked as he grew older, and although the 
 face lacked the regular beauty of his father's who had been 
 thought the handsomest man of his time, there was a 
 piercing expression, an indescribable look of dignity and 
 intelligence in George's countenance, which marked him 
 in every company. 
 
 The governor, who was a fussy but well-meaning man, 
 began as soon as the formal greetings were over: "Major 
 Washington, I have work in hand for you. I am told by 
 my Lord Fairfax and others that you are the fittest person 
 in the colony for the work I have in hand. It requires the 
 discretion of an old man, but it also requires the hardiness 
 and strength of a young man, and you see, therefore, what 
 a burden I lay upon you. "
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 99 
 
 George's face turned quite pale at these words. " Sir, " 
 he stammered, " you ask more of me than I can do. I will 
 give all my time and all my mind to my country ; but I am 
 afraid, sir I am very much afraid that you are putting 
 me in a position I am not capable of filling. " 
 
 " We must trust some one, Major Washington, and I 
 sent not for you until I and my council had fully determined 
 what to do. Here are your instructions. You will see 
 that you are directed to set out with a suitable escort at 
 once for the Ohio River, and convene all the chiefs you can 
 at Logstown. You are to find out exactly how they stand 
 toward us. You are then to take such a route as you think 
 judicious to the nearest French post, deliver a letter from 
 me, sealed with the great seal of the colony, to the French 
 commandant, and demand an answer in the name of his 
 Britannic majesty. You are to find out everything possible 
 as to the number of the French forts, their armament, 
 troops, commisariat, and where they are situated; and 
 upon the information you bring will depend to a great 
 degree whether there shall be war between England and 
 France. When will you be ready to depart?" 
 
 "To-morrow morning, sir," answered George. 
 
 A Virginia Cavalier, Molly Elliot Seawell, p. 278. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie's Letter to the French Commandant 
 
 SIR, The Lands upon the River Ohio, in the Western 
 Parts of the Colony of Virginia, are so notoriously known to 
 be the Property of the Crown of Great- Britain; that it is a 
 Matter of equal Concern and Surprise to me, to hear that 
 a Body of French Forces are erecting Fortresses, and making 
 Settlements upon that River, within his Majesty's Domin- 
 ions. 
 
 The many and repeated Complaints I have received 
 of these Acts of Hostility, lay me under the Necessity of 
 sending, in the Name of the King my Master, the Bearer 
 hereof, George Washington, Esq.; one of the Adjutants
 
 ioo THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 General of the Forces of this Dominion, to complain to you 
 of the Encroachments thus made, and of the Injuries done 
 to the Subjects of Great-Britain, in open Violation of the 
 Law of Nations, and the Treaties now subsisting between 
 the two Crowns. 
 
 If these Facts are true, and you shall think fit to justify 
 your Proceedings, I must desire you to acquaint me by 
 whose Authority and Instructions you have lately marched 
 from Canada, with an armed Force; and invaded the King 
 of Great-Britain's Territories, in the Manner complained of? 
 that according to the Purport and Resolution of your 
 Answer, I may act agreeably to the Commission I am 
 honoured with, from the King my Master. 
 
 However Sir, in Obedience to my Instructions, it 
 becomes my Duty to require your peaceable Departure; 
 and that you would forbear prosecuting a Purpose so inter- 
 ruptive of the Harmony and good Understanding, which 
 his Majesty is desirous to continue and cultivate with the 
 most Christian King. 
 
 I persuade myself that you will receive and entertain 
 Major Washington with the Candour and Politeness natural 
 to your Nation ; and it will give me the greatest Satisfaction ; 
 if you return him with an Answer suitable to my Wishes for 
 a long and lasting Peace between us. I have the Honour 
 to subscribe myself, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your most obedient , 
 Williamsburg, in Virginia, Humble Servant, 
 
 October 3ist, 1753. ROBERT DINWIDDIE. 
 
 Copy of his Honour the Governor's Letter to the Commandant of the French Forces on 
 the Ohio, sent by Major Washington, appended to Washington's Journal, p. 41. 
 
 George, Van Braam and Gist Set out 
 
 The conditions of this expedition made it appear a 
 journey of pleasure compared with those which he had 
 undertaken in the lonely hardships of his survey work.
 
 MAJOR GEORGE WASHINGTON
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 101 
 
 When George set forth this time, armed with proper creden- 
 tials, accompanied by the faithful fencing-master Van Braam 
 and by Christopher Gist, the king of living pioneers, with 
 servants and arms and provisions, he looked back with 
 something like respect to his own boyish self, traveling on 
 foot, knapsack on back, through this very country, merely 
 intent on learning his trade and making an honorable 
 living^ On his way to Wills' Creek, where Van Braam was 
 to join him, he halted at the spot at the head of the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, where, three years before, he had sat in the 
 moonlight, reading a packet of letters from home. His 
 little hut was still standing on the grassy eminence above 
 the stream. The woods where he had blazed paths and 
 marked trees still kept the traces of his passage. They were 
 once more in all their autumn glory, for it was October, 
 and again the hunter's moon hung huge and golden in the 
 sky, again the maples sent their flaming fleets circling down 
 on the crystal eddies of the Shenandoah. 
 
 "Only three years," thought George, "and so much 
 gone, so much that I never hoped for come! Then, I 
 scarce dared think of what seemed forbidden ambitions, 
 now the doors have opened of themselves. 'Twill be my 
 own fault if they ever close again." 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 381. 
 
 Going on from Williamsburg 
 
 Washington set off from Williamsburg on the 3oth of 
 October [3ist], the very day on which he received his 
 credentials. At Fredericksburg he engaged his old " master 
 of fence," Jacob Van Braam, to accompany him as inter- 
 preter; though it would appear from subsequent circum- 
 stances, that the veteran swordsman was but indifferently 
 versed either in French or English. 
 
 Having provided himself at Alexandria with the 
 necessaries for the journey, he proceeded to Winchester, 
 then on the frontier, where he procured horses, tents, and
 
 103 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 other traveling equipments, and then pushed on by a road 
 newly opened to Wills' Creek (town of Cumberland), where 
 he arrived on the i4th of November. 
 
 Here he met Mr. Gist, the intrepid pioneer, who had 
 explored the Ohio in the employ of the company, and whom 
 he" engaged to accompany and pilot him in the present 
 expedition. He secured the services, also, of one John 
 Davidson, as Indian interpreter, and of four frontiersmen, 
 two of whom were Indian traders. With this little band, 
 and his swordsman and interpreter, Jacob Van Braam, he 
 set forth on the i5th of November, through a wild country, 
 rendered almost impassable by recent storms of rain and 
 snow. 
 
 At the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela, 
 he found John Frazier, the Indian trader, some of whose 
 people . . . had been sent off prisoners to Canada. Frazier 
 himself had recently been ejected by the French from the 
 Indian village of Venango, where he had a gunsmith's 
 establishment. According to his account the French 
 general who had commanded on this frontier was dead, and 
 the. greater part of the forces were retired into winter 
 quarters. 
 
 As the rivers were all so swollen that the horses had 
 to swim them, Washington sent all the baggage down the 
 Monongahela in a canoe under care of two of the men, who 
 had orders to meet him at the confluence of that river with 
 the Allegheny, where their united waters form the Ohio. 
 
 "As I got down before the canoe," writes he in his 
 journal, " I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the 
 land at the Fork, which I think extremely well situated for 
 a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The 
 land at the point is twenty or twenty-five feet above the 
 common surface of the water, and has a considerable 
 bottom of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very con- 
 venient for building. The rivers are each a quarter of a 
 mile or more across, and run here very nearly at right
 
 angles; Allegheny bearing northeast, and Monongahela 
 southeast. The former of these two is a very rapid and 
 swift-running water, the other deep and still, without any 
 perceptible fall." The Ohio Company had intended to 
 build a fort about two miles from this place, on the south- 
 east side of the river; but Washington gave the fork the 
 decided preference. French engineers of experience proved 
 the accuracy of his military eye, by subsequently choosing 
 it for the site of Fort Duquesne, noted in frontier history. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 105. 
 
 The Indian Council at Logstown 
 
 In this neighborhood lived Shingiss, the king or chief 
 sachem of the Delawares. Washington visited him at his 
 village, to invite him to the council at Logstown. He was 
 one of the greatest warriors of his tribe, and subsequently 
 took up the hatchet at various times against the English, 
 though now he seemed favorably disposed, and readily 
 accepted the invitation. 
 
 They arrived at Logstown after sunset on the 24th of 
 November. The Half-King was absent at his hunting lodge 
 on Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles distant; but Wash- 
 ington sent out runners to invite him and all the other chiefs 
 to a grand talk the following day. 
 
 In the morning four French deserters came into the 
 village. They had deserted from a company of one hundred 
 men, sent up from New Orleans with eight canoes laden 
 with provisions. Washington drew from them an account 
 of the French fort at New Orleans, and of the forts along 
 the Mississippi, and at the mouth of the Wabash, by which 
 they kept up a communication with the lakes; all which 
 he carefully noted down. The deserters were on their way 
 to Philadelphia, conducted by a Pennsylvania trader. 
 
 About three o'clock the Half-King arrived. Washington 
 had a private conversation with him in his tent, through 
 Davidson the interpreter. He found him intelligent,
 
 104 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 patriotic and proudly tenacious of hi's territorial rights. 
 We have already cited from Washington's papers the account 
 given by this chief in this conversation, of his interview 
 with the late French commander. He stated, moreover, 
 that the French had built two forts, differing in size, but 
 on the same model, a plan of which he gave, of his own 
 'drawing. The largest was on Lake Erie, the other on 
 French Creek, fifteen miles apart, with a wagon road between 
 them. The nearest and levelest way to them was now 
 impassable, lying through large and miry savannahs; 
 they would have, therefore, to go by Venango, and it would 
 take five or six sleeps (or days) of good traveling to reach 
 the nearest fort. 
 
 On the following morning at nine o'clock, the chiefs 
 assembled at the council-house, where Washington, accord- 
 ing to his instructions, informed them that he was sent by 
 their brother, the Governor of Virginia, to deliver to the 
 French commandant a letter of great importance, both to 
 their brothers the English and to themselves; and that he 
 was to ask their advice and assistance, and some of their 
 young men to accompany and provide for him on the way, 
 and be his safeguard against the " French Indians" who had 
 taken up the hatchet. He concluded by presenting the 
 indispensable document in Indian diplomacy, a string of 
 wampum. 
 
 The chiefs, according to ettiquette, sat for some mo- 
 ments silent after he had concluded, as if ruminating on 
 what had been said, or to give him time for further remark. 
 
 The Half-King then rose and spoke on behalf of the 
 tribes, assuring him that they considered the English and 
 themselves brothers, and one people ; and that they intended 
 to return the French the "speech-belts," or wampums, 
 which the latter had sent them. This, in Indian diplomacy, 
 is a renunciation of all friendly relations. An escort would 
 be furnished to Washington composed of Mingoes, Shan- 
 noahs, and Delawares, in token of the love and loyalty of
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 105 
 
 those several tribes; but three days would be required to 
 prepare for the journey. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 107. 
 
 From Logstown to Venango 
 
 After a day or two more of delay and further consul- 
 tations in the council-house, the chiefs determined that but 
 three of their number should accompany the mission, as a 
 greater number might awaken the suspicions of the French. 
 Accordingly, on the 3oth of November, Washington set 
 out for the French post, having his usual party augmented 
 by an Indian hunter, and being accompanied by the Half- 
 King, an old Shannoah sachem named Jeskakake, and 
 another chief, sometimes called Belt of Wampum, from 
 being the keeper of the speech-belts, but generally bearing 
 the sounding appellation of White Thunder. 
 
 Although the distance to Venango, by the route taken, 
 was not above seventy miles, yet such was the inclemency 
 of the weather and the difficulty of traveling, that Wash- 
 ington and his party did not arrive there until the 4th of 
 December. The French colors were flying at a house whence 
 John Frazier, the English trader, had- been driven. Wash- 
 ington repaired thither, and inquired of three French 
 officers whom he saw there where the commandant resided. 
 One of them promptly replied that he had "the command 
 of the Ohio." It was, in fact, the redoubtable Captain 
 Joncaire, the veteran intriguer of the frontier. On being 
 apprised, however, of the nature of Washington's errand, 
 he informed him that there was a general officer at the next 
 fort, where he advised him to apply for an answer to the 
 letter of which he was the bearer. 
 
 In the meantime he invited Washington and his party 
 to a supper at head-quarters. It proved a jovial one, for 
 Joncaire appears to have been somewhat of a boon com- 
 panion, and there is always ready, though rough, hospitality 
 in the wilderness. It is true, Washington, for so young a
 
 io6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 man, may not have had the most convivial air, but there 
 may have been a moist look of promise in the old soldier 
 Van Braam. 
 
 Joncaire and his brother officers pushed the bottle 
 briskly. "The wine," says Washington, "as they dosed 
 themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banished the 
 restraint which at first appeared in their conversation, and 
 gave a license to their, tongues to reveal their sentiments 
 more freely. They told me that it was their absolute 
 design to take possession of the Ohio, and by G they 
 would do it; for that although they were sensible that the 
 English coulcj raise two men for their one, yet they knew 
 their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any 
 undertaking. They pretend to have an undoubted right 
 to the river from a discovery made by one La Salle sixty 
 years ago, and 'the rise of this expedition is to prevent our 
 settling on the river or the waters of it, as they heard of some 
 families moving out in order thereto." 
 
 Washington retained his sobriety and composure 
 throughout all the rodomontade and bacchanalian out- 
 break of the mercurial Frenchmen, leaving the task of pledg- 
 ing them to his master of fence, Van Braam, who was not 
 a man to flinch from potations. He took careful note, how- 
 ever, of all their revelations, and collected a variety of 
 information concerning the French forces; how and where 
 they were distributed ; the situations and distances of their 
 forts, and their means and mode of obtaining supplies. 
 If the veteran -diplomatist of the wilderness had intended 
 this revel for a snare, he was completely foiled by his youth- 
 ful competitor. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol.1, p. in. 
 
 Drink and Diplomacy 
 
 At the beginning of winter, and without an armed 
 guard, Washington started on a longer, more difficult, and 
 more dangerous trip than any one, not excepting a tramp,
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 107 
 
 could make in the far west to-day. A large portion of his 
 route was innocent of roads, ferries, and inns; there were 
 not even occasional settlers to invite a man to pass the night 
 so as to have some one to talk to death. The young man's 
 headquarters were in the saddle, and he was obliged to 
 subsist in large part upon the country, which could give him 
 only game and fish, and his guides were frequently Indians 
 belonging to tribes that the French had prejudiced against 
 the colonies. But a cool head, a good circulation, and a 
 stiff upper lip enabled him to get through alive. Washing- 
 ton first struck the French at Venango, now within the 
 limits of Pennsylvania. The post was in charge of a veteran 
 named Joncaire, a jolly good fellow in whom diplomacy 
 and whiskey were present in large quantities without inter- 
 fering with one another. The arrival of a visitor, even if 
 his errand might be supposed in advance to be of an unpleas- 
 ant nature, was sufficient excuse for the uproarious evening 
 for which Joncaire promptly prepared. There was a supper, 
 with drink ad libitum, and in the course of the entertain- 
 ment the Frenchman announced, with a big oath, that the 
 country belonged to France, and France would keep it. 
 Having thus prepared the young Virginian for what he 
 might expect, Joncaire forwarded Washington, in the 
 heartiest way in the world, ta the Frenchman's superior 
 officer who was at a fort on French Creek, near Lake Erie. 
 Washington had supposed himself .morally backed by an 
 Indian Half- King who considered himself and his people 
 aggrieved by the French, but Joncaire made the old fellow 
 so drunk that he forgot to complain at the proper time, and 
 when the dusky monarch's morning headache brought 
 with it a desire to make good his short-comings, Joncaire 
 kindly advised him to complain at the fort. Arrived at the 
 fort, the young envoy was received by the commandant, 
 the Chevalier Legardeur de St. Pierre, a venerable but 
 shrewd old soldier and gentleman. As Legardeur regarded 
 all men according to their quality, he treated Washington to 
 
 1-9
 
 io8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 unlimited politeness and the Half -King to unlimited rum. 
 After three days of discussion with Washington, who like 
 a true American diplomatist, did not know a word of French, 
 and of evasion of the Half-King except when a bottle stood 
 between him and the declaration of his ultimatum, Legar- 
 deur gave Washington a sealed reply to Governor Din- 
 widdie's letter and the young envoy started for home, 
 which destination he reached after a journey that was 
 extremely uncomfortable and perilous. 
 
 Legardeur's answer, when opened, proved to be as 
 modest, courteous, high-toned, and evasive as any that an 
 old Frenchman ever penned. He would transmit Governor 
 Dinwiddie's letter to his superior, the Marquis du Quesne, 
 who was more competent than himself to determine what 
 should - be done about the disagreement as to territorial 
 rights in the Ohio Valley. As for himself, he was simply a 
 soldier under orders, and as he had not been instructed to 
 regard any commands that might reach him from the Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, he was compelled to decline the intimation 
 that he should retire. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 18. 
 
 A Week from Washington's Diary 
 
 [Dec.] 23d [1753] When I got Things ready to set-off, 
 I sent for the Half-King, to know whether he intended to 
 go with us, or by Water. He told me that White-Thunder 
 had hurt himself much, and was sick and unable to walk; 
 therefore he was obliged to carry him down in a Canoe. 
 As I found he intended to stay here a Day or two, and knew 
 that Monsieur Joncaire would employ every Scheme to set 
 him against the English as he had before done; I told him 
 I hoped he would guard against his Flattery, and let no 
 fine Speeches influence him in their Favour. He desired 
 I might not be concerned, for he knew the French too well, 
 for any Thing to engage him in their Behalf. . . 
 
 Our Horses were now so weak and feeble, and the
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 109 
 
 Baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the 
 Necessaries which the Journey would require) that we 
 doubted much their performing it; therefore myself and 
 others (except the Drivers who were obliged to ride) gave 
 up our Horses for Packs, to assist along with the Baggage. 
 I put myself in an Indian walking Dress, and continued with 
 them three Days, till I saw there was no Probability of their 
 getting home in any reasonable Time. The Horses grew 
 less able to travel every Day ; the Cold increased very fast ; 
 and the Roads were becoming much worse by a deep Snow, 
 continually freezing : Therefore as I was uneasy to get back, 
 to make a Report of my Proceedings to his Honour the 
 Governor, I determined to prosecute my Journey the 
 nearest Way through the Woods, on Foot. 
 
 Accordingly I left Mr. Vanbraam in Charge of our 
 Baggage; with Money and Directions, to provide Neces- 
 saries from Place to Place for themselves and Horses, and 
 to make the most convenient Di(s)patch in Travelling. 
 
 I took my necessary Papers; pulled off my Cloaths; 
 and tied myself up in a Match Coat. Then with Gun in 
 Hand and Pack at my Back, in which were my Papers and 
 Provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist, fitted in the same Man- 
 ner on Wednesday the 26th. The Day following, just after 
 we had passed a place called the Murdering-Town (where 
 we intended to quit the Path, and steer across the Country 
 for Shannapins Town) we fell in with a Party of French. 
 Indians, who had lain in Wait for us. One of them fired 
 at Mr. Gist or me, not 1 5 Steps off, but fortunately missed. 
 We took this Fellow into Custody, and kept him till 9 
 o'Clock at Night : Then let him go, and walked all the remain- 
 ing Part of the Night without making any Stop ; that we 
 might get the Start, so far, as to be out of the Reach of 
 their Pursuit the next Day, since we were well assured they 
 would follow our Tract as soon as it was light. The next 
 Day we continued travelling till quite dark, and got to the 
 River about two Miles above Shannapins. We expected
 
 no THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 to have found the River frozen, but it was not, only about 
 50 Yards from each Shore: The Ice I suppose had broken 
 up above, for it was driving in vast Quantities. 
 
 There was no Way for getting over but on a Raft: 
 Which we set about, with but one poor Hatchet, and finished 
 just after Sun-setting. This was a whole Day's Work: we 
 next got it launched, and went on Board of it: Then set- 
 off. But before we were Half Way over, we were jammed 
 in the Ice, in such a manner that we expected every Moment 
 our Raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. I put-out my 
 setting Pole to try to stop the Raft, that the Ice might pass 
 by ; when the Rapidity of the Stream threw it with so much 
 Violence against the Pole, that it j irked me out into ten 
 Feet Water: But I fortunately saved myself by catching 
 hold of one of the Raft Logs. Notwithstanding all our 
 efforts we could not get the Raft to either Shore ; but were 
 obliged, as we were near an Island, to quit our Raft and 
 make to it. 
 
 The Cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had 
 all his Fingers, and some of his Toes frozen ; and the Water 
 was shut up so hard, that we found no Difficulty in getting 
 off the Island, on the Ice, in the Morning, and went to Mr. 
 Frazier's. We met here with 20 Warriors who were going 
 Southward to War: But coming to a place upon the Head 
 of the great Kunnaway, where they found seven People 
 killed and scalped (all but one Woman with very light Hair) 
 they turned about and ran back for fear the Inhabitants 
 . should rise and take them as the Authors of the Murder. 
 
 As we intended to take Horses here, and it required 
 some Time to find them, I went up about three Miles to the 
 Mouth of Yaughyaughgane to visit Queen Alliquippa, who 
 had expressed great Concern that we passed her in going 
 to the Fort. I made her a present of a Matchcoat and a 
 .Bottle of Rum; which latter was thought much the best 
 Present of the two. 
 
 The Journal of Major George Washington, sent by the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq. \ 
 His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor, and Commander in Chief of Virginia, to the 
 Commandant of the French Forces on Ohio, pp. 35 to 39.
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION in 
 
 The French Commandant's Reply 
 
 SIR: As I have the Honour of commanding here in 
 Chief, Mr. Washington delivered me the letter which you 
 wrote to the Commandant of the French Troops. 
 
 I should have been glad that you had given him Orders, 
 or that he had been inclined to proceed to Canada, to see 
 our General ; to whom it better belongs than to me to set- 
 forth the Evidence and Reality of the Rights of the King, 
 my Master, upon the Lands situated along the River Ohio, 
 and to contest the Pretensions of the King of Great-Britain 
 thereto. 
 
 I shall transmit your Letter to the Marquis Du Quesne. 
 His Answer will be a Law to me ; and if he shall order me to 
 communicate it to you, Sir, you may be assured I shall not 
 fail to dispatch it to you forthwith. 
 
 As to the Summons you send me to retire, I do not 
 think myself obliged to obey it. Whatever may be your 
 Instructions, I am here by Virtue of the Orders of my 
 General ; and I intreat you, Sir, not to doubt one Moment, 
 but that I am determined to conform myself to them with 
 all Exactness and Resolution which can be expected from 
 the best Officer. 
 
 I do not know that in the Progress of this Campaign any 
 Thing has passed which can be reputed an Act of Hostil- 
 ity, or that is contrary to the Treaties which subsist between 
 the two Crowns; the Continuation whereof as much inter- 
 ests, and is as pleasing to us, as the English. Had you been 
 pleased, Sir, to have descended to particularize ths Facts 
 which occasioned your Complaint, I should have had the 
 Honour of answering you in the fullest, and, I am persuaded, 
 most satisfactory Manner. 
 
 I made it my particular Care to receive Mr. Washing- 
 ton, with a Distinction suitable to your Dignity, as well as 
 his own Quality and great Merit. I flatter myself that he 
 will do me this Justice before you, Sir; and that he will
 
 ii2 THE STORY -LIFE 01' WASHINGTON 
 
 signify to you in the Manner I do myself, the profound 
 Respect with which I am, 
 
 SIR, 
 Your most humble, and 
 
 most obedient Servant, 
 
 LEGARDEUR DE ST. PIERRE. 
 
 From the Fort stir La Riviere au Boeuf, 
 the 1 5th of December 1753. 
 
 Translation of a Letter from M. Legardeur de St. Pierre, a Principal French Officer, in 
 Answer to the Governor's Letter. Appended to Washington's Journal, p. 44. 
 
 A Man of Action and Real Silence 
 
 It is worth while to pause over this expedition a moment 
 and to consider attentively this journal which recounts it, 
 for there are very few incidents or documents which tell us 
 more of Washington. He was not yet twenty-two when he 
 faced this first grave responsibility, and he did his work 
 absolutely well. Cool courage, of course, he showed, but 
 also patience and wisdom in handling the Indians, a clear 
 sense that the crafty and well-trained French men could 
 not blind, and a strong faculty for dealing with men, always 
 a rare and precious gift. As in the little Barbadoes diary 
 so also in this journal, we see, and far more strongly, the 
 penetration and perception that nothing could escape, 
 and which .set down all things essential and let the " huddling 
 silver, little worth, " go by. The clearness, terseness, and 
 entire sufficiency of ^ne narrative are obvious and lie on the 
 surface ; but we find also another quality of the man which 
 is one of the most marked features in his character, and one 
 which we must dwell upon again and again, as we follow 
 the story of his life. Here it is that we learn directly for the 
 first time that Washington was a profoundly silent man. 
 The gospel of silence has been preached in these latter days 
 by Carlyle, with the fervor of a seer and prophet, and the 
 world owes him a debt for the historical discredit which 
 he has brought upon the man of words as compared with the
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 113 
 
 man of deeds. Carlyle brushed Washington aside as "a 
 bloodless Cromwell," a phrase to which we must revert 
 later, on other grounds, and, as has already been said, failed 
 utterly to see that he was the most supremely silent of the 
 great men of action that the world can show. Like Crom- 
 well and Frederick, Washington wrote countless letters, made 
 many speeches, and was agreeable in coversation. But 
 this was all in the way of business, and a man may be pro- 
 foundly silent and yet talk a great deal. Silence in the 
 fine and true sense is neither mere holding of the tongue nor 
 an incapacity of expression. The greatly silent man is he 
 who is not given to words for their own sake, and who never 
 talks about himself. Both Cromwell, greatest of English- 
 men, and the great Frederick, Carlyle's especial heroes, 
 were fond of talking of themselves. So in still larger measure 
 was Napoleon and many others of less importance. But 
 Washington differs from them all. He had abundant power 
 of words, and could use them with much force and point 
 when he was so minded, but he never used them needlessly 
 or to hide his meaning, and he never talked about himself. 
 Hence the inestimable difficulty of knowing him. A brief 
 sentence here and there, a rare gleam of light across the page 
 of a letter, is all that we can find. The rest is silence. He 
 did as great work as has fallen to the lot of man, he wrote 
 volumes of correspondence, he talked with innumerable 
 men and women, and of himself he said nothing. Here 
 in this youthful journal we have a narrative of wild adven- 
 ture, wily diplomacy, and personal peril, impossible of con- 
 densation, and yet not a word of the writer's thoughts or 
 feelings. All that was done or said important to the busi- 
 ness in hand was set down, and nothing was overlooked, 
 but that is all. The work was done, and we know how it 
 was done, but the man is silent as to all else. Here, indeed, 
 is the man of action and of real silence, a character to be 
 admired and wondered at in these or any other days. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 66.
 
 ii 4 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 What Governor Dinwiddie Did 
 
 This reply caused quite a hubbub in Virginia, for it was 
 received in midwinter, when neither planting, buying, nor 
 selling could be done to any extent, and every one had plenty 
 of time for consideration of any new topic. Governor 
 Dinwiddie promptly ordered the recruiting of two companies, 
 one of which, commanded by Captain Trent, who had been 
 west before, was hurried off with instructions to complete 
 a fort which the Ohio company had begun on the Ohio 
 River: the other was to be raised by Washington, in and 
 around Alexandria. But the Governor was suddenly 
 hampered by the House of Burgesses, which he called into 
 session that it might vote him money for the expenses of 
 his movements. Instead of acting like a lot of dutiful time- 
 servers, the Burgesses had the impudence to discuss the 
 wisdom of the Governor's operations, and some of them were 
 so unpatriotically logical as to read the Treaty of Utrecht 
 just as it was written, and to doubt whether, under the 
 terms of the said treaty, the King and the colonies had any 
 rights whatever in the Ohio Valley. Countrymen who have 
 time in which to think and brains enough to think with, 
 always did play the mischief with politicians' plans, as Din- 
 widdie practically told the Burgesses when he accused them 
 of a republican way of thinking. The most that the 
 Governor could do was to obtain a grant of ten thousand 
 pounds for the purpose of encouraging and protecting 
 settlers in the , Mississippi Valley: even this he could not 
 spend without consultation with a committee appointed for 
 the purpose. This committee, however, Dinwiddie wrapped 
 around his finger so successfully, that he organized a 
 regiment of six companies, each containing fifty men. 
 Washington made a bad recruiting officer, probably because 
 he could not tolerate the shiftless and disreputable fellows 
 who were almost the only men who cared to go into the 
 wilderness. His qualifications for the colonelcy, however,
 
 A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS MISSION 115 
 
 were absolute. He knew the country, the nature, location, 
 and strength of the enemy, the Indians and what was to be 
 expected of them ; he was honest, able, untiring, brave and 
 prudent. He was destitute of conceit, but this quality is 
 not absolutely essential to a colonel, although most new 
 bearers of that rank are heavily charged with it. Din- 
 widdie offered Washington the command, and the young man 
 declined it, being the first and last American who ever did 
 such a thing. The colonelcy of the regiment was intrusted 
 to an estimable English gentleman named Fry, Washington 
 being second in rank. Colonel Fry, with commendable 
 thoughtfulness and patriotism, proceeded to die before long, 
 and the sole command of the regiment and the expedition 
 devolved upon Washington. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 19.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE OPENING OF His MILITARY CAREER 
 Beginning of the Journal of 1754 
 
 On the 3i st of March I received from his Honor 
 (Governor Dinwiddie) a Lieutenant Colonel's Commission 
 of the Virginia Regiment, whereof Joshua Fry, Esq., was 
 Colonel, dated the 15 th with Orders to take the troops, 
 which were at the time quartered at Alexandria, under my 
 command and to march with them towards the Ohio, 
 there to help Captain Trent to build Forts and to defend 
 the possessions of his Majesty against the attempts and 
 hostilities of the French. 
 
 April the 2 nd . Every Thing being ready, we began 
 our march according to our Orders, the 2nd of April with 
 two Companies of Foot, commanded by Captain Peter Hog 
 and Lieutenant Jacob Van Braam, five subalterns, two 
 Sergeants, six Corporals, one Drummer, and one hundred 
 and twenty Soldiers, one Surgeon, one Swedish Gentleman, 
 who was a volunteer, two wagons guarded by one Lieutenant, 
 Sergeant, Corporal and twenty-five Soldiers. 
 
 We left Alexandria on Tuesday Noon and pitched our 
 tents about four miles from Cameron having marched six 
 miles. 
 
 (From the 3rd of April to the iQth of said month this 
 Journal only contains the march of the troops, and how 
 they were joined by a detachment which was brought by 
 Captain Stevens.) 
 
 April i gth. Met an Express who had letters from 
 Captain Trent at the Ohio, demanding a reinforcement with 
 all speed, as he hourly expected a body of eight hundred 
 French. I tarried at Job PearsalVs for the arrival of the 
 
 (116)
 
 troops when they came the next day. When I received 
 the above Express, I dispatched a Courier to Colonel Fry, 
 to give him notice of it. 
 
 April 2oth Came down to Colonel Cresap's to order 
 the Detachment, and on my Route, had notice that the 
 Fort was taken by the French. That news was confirmed 
 by Mr Ward, the Ensign of Captain Trent, who had been 
 obliged to surrender to a Body of one thousand French and 
 upwards, under the Command of Captain Contrecceur, who 
 was come from Venango Presque Isle with sixty bateaux, 
 and three hundred canoes, and who having planted eighteen 
 pieces of Cannon against the Fort, afterwards had sent him 
 a Summons to withdraw. Mr Ward also informed me that 
 the Indians kept steadfastly attached to our Interest. 
 He brought two young Indian Men with him, who were 
 Mingoes, that they might have the Satisfaction to see that 
 we were marching with our troops to their succor. 
 
 Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1764. Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner, M.D.. 
 pp. 7 to 31. 
 
 The Half-King's Speech and Belts 
 
 He [Ensign Ward] also delivered me the following 
 speech which the Half King sent to me. 
 
 FORT ON OHIO, April 18, 1754. 
 
 A speech from the Half-King, Scruneyattha, and belt 
 of wampum, for the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania. 
 
 My Brethren the English. The Bearer will let you 
 understand in what manner the French have treated us. 
 We waited a long time, thinking they would come and 
 attack us ; we now see how they have a mind to use us. 
 
 We are now ready to fall upon them, waiting only for 
 your succour. Have good courage, and come as soon as 
 possible; you will find us as ready to encounter with them as 
 you are yourselves. 
 
 We have sent those two young men to see if you are
 
 n8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 ready to come, and if so they are to return to us to let us 
 know where you are, that we may come and join you. We 
 should be glad if the troops belonging to the two Provinces 
 could meet together at the Fort which is in the way. If 
 you do not come to our assistance now, we are entirely 
 undone, and imagine we shall never meet again. I speak 
 with a heart full of grief. 
 
 A Belt of Wampum. 
 The Half-King directed to me the following speech. 
 
 " I am ready, if you think it proper, to go to both the 
 Governors, with these two young men, for I have now no 
 more dependence . on those who have been gone so long, 
 without returning or sending any message. " 
 
 A Belt of Wampum. 
 
 Speeches from Memoir Ccmtenant le Precis des Fails, etc., translated and printed by 
 Gaine, New York, 1757, p. 65. 
 
 A Council of War 
 
 April 23 rd A Council of War held at Will's Creek in 
 order to consult upon what must be done on account of the 
 news brought by Mr Ward. 
 
 The News brought by Ensign Ward having been 
 examined into, as also the summons sent by Captain 
 Contreccp-ur Commander of the French troops and the 
 speeches of the Half -King, and of the other chiefs of the 
 Six-Nations; it appears, that Mr Ward, was forced to 
 surrender the said Fort, the iy th of this instant to the 
 French, who were above one thousand strong and had 
 eighteen artillery pieces, some of which were nine pounders 
 and also that the detachment of the Virginia regiment, 
 amounting to one hundred and fifty men by Colonel Wash- 
 ington had orders to reinforce the Company of Captain 
 Trent, and that the aforesaid Garrison consisted only of 
 thirty-three effective men.
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 119 
 
 It was thought a thing impracticable to march towards 
 the Fort without sufficient strength; however, being 
 strongly invited by the Indians, and particularly by the 
 speeches of the Half-King, the president put the question 
 to vote whether we should not advance as far as Red-Stone 
 Creek on Monongahela, about thirty-seven miles on this 
 side of the fort, and there erect a fortification, clearing a 
 road broad enough to pass with all our artillery and our 
 baggage and there to wait for fresh Orders. 
 
 Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1754. Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner, M.D., 
 pp. 39 to 42. 
 
 Washington's Speech and Belt to the Half-King and the Reply 
 
 May 1 9th I despatched the young Indian who had 
 returned [from Governor Dinwiddie] with Mr Ward, to 
 the Half -King, with the following speech: 
 
 TO THE HALF-KING, 
 
 My Brethren, 
 
 It gives me great pleasure, to learn that you are march- 
 ing to assist me with your counsels, be of good courage, my 
 brethren, and march vigorously towards your brethren the 
 English; for fresh forces will soon join them, who will 
 protect you against your treacherous enemy the French. 
 I must send my friends to you, that they may acquaint 
 you with an agreeable speech which the Governor of Virginia 
 has sent to you. He is very sorry for the bad usage you 
 have received. The swollen streams do not permit us to 
 come to you quickly, for that reason I have sent this young 
 man to invite you to come and meet us: he can tell you 
 many things that he has 'seen in Virginia, and also how 
 well he was received by the most prominent men, they did 
 not treat him as the French do your people who go to their 
 Fort; they refuse them provisions;, this man has had 
 given him all that his heart could wish ; for the confirmation 
 of this, I here give you a Belt of Wampum.
 
 120 
 
 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 May 24 th This morning an Indian arrived in com- 
 pany with the one whom I had sent to the Half-King and 
 brought me the following letter from him. 
 
 To any of his Majesty's officers whom this May Concern. 
 
 As 'tis reported that the French army is set out to meet 
 M. George Washington, I exhort you my brethren, to 
 guard" against them, for they intend to fall on the first 
 English they meet. They have been on their march these 
 
 o ./ * 
 
 two days, the Half King and the other chiefs will join you 
 within five days, to hold a council, though we know not the 
 number we shall be. I shall say no more; but remember 
 me to my brethren the English. 
 
 [Signed] THE HALF-KING. 
 
 Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1754. Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner, M.D. 
 pp. 66 to 71. 
 
 Captain Trent Loses the Strategic Point 
 
 Like the good conservative that he was, Washington 
 respected precedents established by new commanders. As 
 soon as he was fairly on the road, he wrote back for more 
 men and artillery; soon after this the contrast between 
 soft anticipation and hard reality caused him to become 
 discouraged and to write letters expressing his feelings. . . 
 ..... Captain Trent, who had gone on in advance to com- 
 plete the fort (at the junction of the Allegheny and Monon- 
 gahela, where Pittsburgh now stands), had found some 
 excuse for being many miles in the rear, leaving fifty men 
 at work under an ensign, when one day a thousand French- 
 men indulged in a canoe cruise down the Allegheny River, 
 liked what there was of the fort, and gave the Virginians 
 their choice between marching out and being driven out. 
 The ensign in command judiciously accepted the pleasanter 
 method, for defense was impossible, and started eastward 
 after enjoying a good supper which Commander Contrecceur, 
 like a jolly good Frenchman, tendered him. 
 
 Washington did not, in his letters, confess to any
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 121 
 
 unusual outbreak of profanity on learning of this disarrange- 
 ment of his plans; but it must be remembered that even 
 at that early period of his life he was not given to telling 
 everything he knew ; besides, being a prudent man, he may 
 not have sworn at all, for it is to be doubted whether his 
 stock of expletives would have been equal to the occasion. 
 One thing is certain, he did not make the failure of Trent's 
 party an excuse for falling back to a civilized country and 
 abusing the Government; on the contrary, he obeyed the 
 conclusions of a council of war and started for the mouth 
 of Red Stone Creek, on the Monongahela, down which 
 river he might drop and give the French tit for tat at Trent's 
 fort, which was now being enlarged and completed under 
 the name of Fort Duquesne. With characteristic American 
 assurance, which often is greatest in the most modest 
 natures, he wrote in his own name, for aid, to the Governors 
 of Pennsylvania and Maryland, although those officials, 
 like most others in the colonies, had paid no attention to a 
 similar appeal by the Virginian governor. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 24. 
 
 "I Would Prefer the Toil of a Daily Laborer" 
 
 With all this inertia and stupidity Washington was 
 called to cope, and he rebelled against it in a vigorous 
 fashion. Leaving Colonel Fry to follow with the main 
 body of troops, Washington set out on April 2, 1754, with 
 two companies from Alexandria, where he had been recruit- 
 ing amidst most irritating difficulties. He reached Wills' 
 Creek three weeks later; and then his real troubles began. 
 Captain Trent, the timid and halting envoy, who had failed 
 to reach the French, had been sent out by the wise authori- 
 ties to build a fort at the junction of the Allegheny and 
 Monongahela, on the admirable site selected by the keen 
 eye of Washington. There Trent left his men and returned 
 to Wills' Creek, where Washington found him, but without 
 the pack-horses that he had promised to provide. Presently
 
 122 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 news came that the French in overwhelming numbers had 
 swept down upon Trent's little party, captured their fort, 
 and sent them packing back to Virginia. Washington took 
 this to be war, and determined at once to march against 
 the enemy. Having impressed from the inhabitants, who 
 were not bubbling over with patriotism, some horses and 
 wagons, he set out on his toilsome march across the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 It was a wild and desolate region, and progress was 
 extremely slow. By May 9th he was at the Little Meadows, 
 twenty miles from his starting-place; by the i8th at the 
 Youghiogany River, which he explored and found unnavi- 
 gable. He was therefore forced to take up his weary 
 march again for the Monongahela, and by the 2;th he was 
 at the Great Meadows, a few miles further on. The extreme 
 danger of his position does not seem to have occurred to 
 him, but he was harassed and angered by the conduct of 
 the assembly. He wrote to Governor Dinwiddie that he 
 had no idea of giving up his commission. " But, " he con- 
 tinued, "let me serve voluntarily; then I will, with the 
 greatest pleasure in life, devote -my services to the expedi- 
 tion, without any other reward than the satisfaction of 
 serving my country; but to be slaving dangerously for the 
 shadow of pay, through woods, rocks, mountains, I would 
 rather prefer the great toil of a daily laborer, and dig for a 
 maintenance, provided I were reduced to the necessity, 
 than serve upon such ignoble terms; for I really do not 
 see why the lives of His Majesty's subjects in Virginia 
 should be of less value than those in other parts of his 
 American dominions, especially when it is well known that 
 we must undergo double their hardship." Here we have 
 a high-spirited, high-tempered young gentleman, with a 
 contempt for shams that it is pleasant to see, and evidently 
 endowed also with a fine taste for fighting and not too 
 much patience. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 69.
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 123 
 
 The March to Great Meadows 
 
 In the week that succeeded the departure from Alex- 
 andria, Major Satterthwaite watched the young commander 
 with interest and approval which rapidly grew into respect. 
 Harassed by every care that can beset the leader of lazy, 
 unwilling recruits, ill armed and ill provisioned, on an 
 expedition over difficult country, disappointed of promised 
 reinforcements of men, horses, and wagons, George was 
 everywhere at once, kept his temper and, what was more 
 difficult, kept his men, for these were openly grumbling at 
 their hardships and privations, and, while marching on 
 under his compelling authority, cast as it were an eye over 
 their shoulders to mark a safe method of escape from his 
 inconvenient vigilance, back to their homes. He had a 
 moment of furious anger when, at Wills' Creek, he learned 
 that the fort he had asked the government to build, on the 
 important point of the junction of the Allegheny and Monon- 
 gahela rivers, had been appropriated by the French, during 
 the unauthorized absence of its commander, who, appar- 
 ently weary of his duties, had left it for a jaunt to Wills' 
 Creek. The insult and the necessity of resenting it precipi- 
 tated matters. George felt that he must act at once. He 
 and his little force set out to find the French, without 
 waiting for the reinforcements, of whose approach there 
 was no sign. Day after day George marched on, the Major 
 at his side, seeking for the enemy and praying inwardly 
 that he might be met in some spot fairly fit for the encounter. 
 Nearly a month passed before he took up his position at 
 Great Meadows, hoping to draw the French to fight him on 
 his own ground. They hovered near, scouting parties 
 would appear and vanish again ; then friendly Indians 
 brought news of a great army on the march towards the 
 place. 
 
 "This looks bad," said the Major, "It seems to me, 
 George, that the heart may fail to be recovered this time. 
 We are too few to have a chance in open fight. " 
 
 1-10
 
 I24 THE STORY-LJFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "There is always a chance where 'tis English against 
 French," replied the young man coolly; "but I have made 
 up my mind to add another in my favour. I will surprise 
 them if I can. We have good scouts among our Indians. " 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 412- 
 
 His First Victory 
 
 With increasing caution they finally approached a 
 hollow in the hills whence a light spiral of smoke was rising. 
 The French were but careless adversaries after all. They 
 had evidently passed over the very ridge where the attacking 
 party now halted to rest for a few minutes. Branches had 
 been hacked away, and a few saplings felled to clear a road. 
 A boot, split down the back, had been tossed into the grass 
 close to them. 
 
 "Now, then," said George, "are you ready? The 
 fellows are but a few hundred yards off. ' ' Indeed, sounds 
 of talk and a fragment of song met their ears as he ceased 
 speaking. 
 
 "Le beau passeur du gue, la la! 
 Le beau passeur du gue\" 
 
 It came quavering along, followed by a burst of laughter. 
 The next sound was a cry, for the Americans were on the 
 negligently guarded camp, and in an instant the hills rang 
 to the cracking of the shots. An officer rolled over on his 
 face among the ashes of the fire, a man fell here, another 
 there; the fighting was desperate for an instant in the 
 next it had ceased. Jumonville, the officer in command, 
 lay dead at George's feet, half a score of men had fallen 
 motionless in the grass; the rest surrendered. There had 
 been under forty in all, and but one got away to tell the tale. 
 
 George stood silent for a moment, all elation gone. It 
 had been so small, so easy, and the little bit of fighting 
 seemed scarce an expuse for the death of an officer and ten 
 good men. He had never killed before, and he liked it not.
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 125 
 
 All remembrance of what they would have done to him 
 was gone for the moment, and he stood, staring down at 
 Jumonville's corpse, with a strange sense of dissatisfaction. 
 Van Braam took him by the arm. 
 
 "We must search this," he said, pointing to the dead 
 captain. "There may be a dozen of his fellows out on the 
 like quest. Belike he carries papers." He did, papers 
 which fully justified . . . Colonel Washington's 
 attack. George, recalled to his judgment at sight of these, 
 was glad of what he had done. Jumonville and his com- 
 rades were buried as decently as the circumstances per- 
 mitted, and the prisoners were marched back to the camp 
 at Great Meadows. George wrote with some youthful 
 elation about this, his first encounter. When the news 
 had had time to travel, Colonel Washington was called a 
 great man in Virginia, a bombastic hero in London, and a 
 villainous murdering ruffian in France. He had won his 
 first victory. 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 414. 
 
 Washington's Account of the Attack near Great Meadows and 
 His Defense of It 
 
 May 27 th . Mr. Gist arrived early in the morning, 
 who told us that Mr. la Force, with fifty men whose tracks he 
 had seen five miles from here, had been at his plantation 
 the day before, towards noon, and would have killed a cow, 
 and broken everything in the house, if two Indians, whom 
 he had left in charge of the house, had not prevented them 
 from carrying out their design. I immediately detached 
 65 men under the command of Captain Hog, Lieutenant 
 Mercer, Ensign La Peronie, three Sergeants and three 
 corporals, with instructions. The French had made many 
 inquiries at Mr. Gist's, as to what had become of the Half- 
 King? I did not fail to let several young Indians who were 
 in our Camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half- 
 King; and it had its desired effect. They immediately
 
 1 2 6 THE STORYrLIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 offered to accompany our people to go after the French, 
 and if they found it true that he had been killed, or even 
 insulted by them, one of them would presently carry the 
 news thereof to the Mingo village, in order to incite their 
 warriors to fall upon them. One of these young men was 
 detached towards Mr. Gist's, and in case he should not find 
 the Half -King there, he was to send a message by a Delaware. 
 
 About eight in the evening I received an express from 
 the Half -King who informed me that, as he was coming 
 to join us, he had seen along the road, the tracks of two 
 men, which he had followed, till he was brought thereby to 
 a low obscure place; that he was of opinion the whole 
 party of the French was hidden there. That very moment 
 I sent out forty men and ordered my ammunition to be put 
 in a place of safety, fearing it to be a strategem of the French 
 to attack our camp. I left a guard to defend it, and with 
 the rest of my men, set out in a heavy rain, and in a night 
 as dark as pitch, along a path scarce broad enough for one 
 man; we were sometimes fifteen or twenty minutes out of 
 the path before we could come to it again, and we would 
 often strike against each other in the darkness: All night 
 along we continued our route, and on the 28 th about sun- 
 rise we arrived at the Indian camp, where after having held 
 a council with the Half-King, we concluded to attack them 
 together; so we sent out two men to discover where they 
 were, as also their posture and what sort of ground was 
 thereabout, after which we prepared to surround them 
 marching one after the other, Indian fashion. We had 
 thus advanced pretty near to them when they discovered us ; 
 I then ordered my company to fire; my fire was supported 
 by that of Mr. Waggoner and my company and his received 
 the whole fire of the French, during the greater part of the 
 action, which only lasted a quarter of an hour before the 
 enemy was routed. 
 
 We killed Mr. de Jumonville, the Commander of that 
 party, as also nine others; we wounded one and made
 
 I2 7 
 
 twenty-one prisoners, among whom were M. la Force, M. 
 Drouillon and two cadets. The Indians scalped the dead 
 and took away the greater part of their arms, after which 
 we marched on with the prisoners under guard to the 
 Indian camp, where I again held a council with the Half- 
 King, and there informed him that the Governor was 
 desirous to see him, and was expecting him at Winchester; 
 he answered that he could not go just then, as his people 
 were in too imminent danger from the French whom they 
 had attacked; that he must send runners to all the allied 
 nations, in order to invite them to take up the Hatchet. 
 
 . After this I marched on with the prisoners. They 
 informed me that they had been sent with a summons to 
 order me to retire. A plausible pretence to discover our 
 camp and to obtain knowledge of our forces and our situa- 
 tion! It was so clear that they were come to reconnoitre 
 what we were, that I admired their assurance when they 
 told me they were come as an Embassy; their instructions 
 were to get what knowledge they could of the roads, rivers, 
 and all the country as far as the Potomac; and instead of 
 coming as an Embassador, publicly and in an open manner, 
 they came secretly, and sought the most hidden retreats 
 more suitable for deserters than for Embassadors; they 
 encamped there and remained hidden for whole days 
 together, at a distance of not more than five miles from us ; 
 they sent spies to reconnoiter our camp; the whole body 
 turned back 2 miles; they sent the two messengers men- 
 tioned in the instruction, to inform M. de Contrecceur of 
 the place where we were, and of our disposition, that he 
 might send his detachments to enforce the summons as 
 soon as it should be given. 
 
 Besides, an Embassador has princely attendants, 
 whereas this was only a simple petty French officer, an 
 Embassador has no need of spies, his person being always 
 sacred: and seeing their intention was so good, why did 
 they tarry two days at five miles' distance from us without
 
 i 2 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 acquainting me with the summons, or at least, with some- 
 thing that related to the Embassy? That alone would be 
 sufficient to excite the strongest suspicions, and we must do 
 them the justice to say, that, if they wanted to hide them- 
 selves, they could not have picked out better places than 
 they had done. The summons was so insolent, and sa- 
 voured of so much Gasconade, that if it had been brought 
 openly by two men it would have been an excessive Indul- 
 gence to have suffered them to return. 
 
 It was the Opinion of the Half-King in this case that 
 their pretensions were evil and that it was pure pretence; 
 that they had never intended to come to us otherwise than 
 as enemies, and if we had been such fools as to let them go 
 they would never have helped us to take any other French- 
 men. 
 
 They say they called to us as soon as they had dis- 
 covered us; which is an absolute falsehood, for I was then 
 marching at the head of the company going towards them, 
 and can positively affirm, that, when they first saw us, they 
 ran to their arms, without calling, as I must have heard 
 them had they so done. 
 
 Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1754. Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner, M.D., 
 pp. 77 to 99, from Memoir Contenant le Precis des Fails, translated and printed by 
 Gaine, New York, 1757. 
 
 "That I Know to be False!" 
 
 The prisoners were accordingly conducted to the camp 
 at the Great Meadows, and sent on the following day (29th), 
 under a strong escort to Governor Dinwiddie, then at Win- 
 chester. Washington had treated them with great cour- 
 tesy; had furnished Drouillon and La Force with clothing 
 from his own scanty stock, and, at their request, given them 
 letters to the governor, bespeaking for them the "respect 
 and favor due to their character and personal merit." 
 
 A sense of duty, however, obliged him. in his general 
 despatch, to put the governor on his guard against La 
 Force. " I really think, if released, he would do more to
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 129 
 
 our disservice than fifty other men, as he is a person whose 
 active spirit leads him into alt parties, and has brought him 
 acquainted with all parts of the country. Add to this a 
 perfect knowledge of the Indian tongues, and a great influ- 
 ence with the Indians." 
 
 After the departure of the prisoners, he wrote again 
 respecting them: "I have still stronger presumption, in- 
 deed almost confirmation, that they were sent as spies, and 
 were ordered to wait near us till they were fully informed of 
 our intentions, situation, and strength, and were to have 
 acquainted their commander therewith, and to have been 
 lurking here for re-enforcements before they served the 
 summons, if served at all. 
 
 " I doubt not but they will endeavor to amuse you with 
 many smooth stories, as they did me ; but they were con- 
 futed in them all, and, by circumstances too plain to be 
 denied, almost made ashamed of their assertions. 
 
 " I have heard since they went away, they should say 
 they called on us not to fire; but that I know to be false, 
 for I was the first man that approached them, and the first 
 whom they saw, and immediately they ran to their arms, 
 and fired briskly till they were defeated." . . . "I 
 fancy they will have the assurance of asking the privilege 
 due to an embassy, when in strict justice they ought to be 
 hanged as spies of the worst sort." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 154. 
 
 A Prologue of the Revolutionary Drama 
 
 Indignant letters written in vigorous language were, 
 however, of little avail, and Washington prepared to shift 
 for himself as best he might. His Indian allies brought 
 him news that the French were on the march, and had 
 thrown out scouting parties. Picking out a place in the 
 Great Meadows for a fort, " a charming field for an en- 
 counter, " he in his turn sent out a scouting party, and then 
 on fresh intelligence from the Indians set forth himself with
 
 i 3 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 forty men to find the enemy. After a toilsome march they 
 discovered their foes in camp. The French, surprised and 
 surrounded, sprang to arms, the Virginians fired, there was a 
 sharp exchange of shots, and all was over. Ten of the 
 French were killed and twenty-one were taken prisoners, only 
 one of the party escaping to carry back the news. 
 
 This little skirmish made a prodigious noise in its day, 
 and was much heralded in France. The French declared 
 that Jumonville, the leader, who fell at the first fire, was 
 foully assassinated, and that he and his party were ambas- 
 sadors and sacred characters. Paris rang with this fresh 
 instance of British perfidy, and a Mr. Thomas celebrated 
 the luckless Jumonville in an epic poem in four books. French 
 historians, relying on the account of the Canadian who es- 
 caped, adopted the same tone, and at a later day mourned 
 over this black spot on Washington's character. The 
 French view was simple nonsense. Jumonville and his 
 party, as the papers found on Jumonville showed, were out 
 on a spying and scouting expedition. They were seeking 
 to surprise the English when the English surprised them, 
 with the usual backwoods result. The affair has a dramatic 
 interest because it was the first blood shed in a great struggle, 
 and was the beginning of a series of world-wide wars and 
 social and political convulsions, which terminated more 
 than half a century later on the plains of Waterloo. It 
 gave immortality to an obscure French officer by linking his 
 name with that of his opponent, and brought Washington 
 for the moment before the eyes of the world, which little 
 dreamed that this Virginian colonel was destined to be one 
 of the principal figures in the great revolutionary drama 
 to which the war then beginning was but the prologue. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 71. 
 
 "Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat " 
 
 Gossipy old Horace Walpole told King George II that 
 Washington had said that "the whistling of bullets was like
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 131 
 
 music," and the king replied, "If that young man had 
 heard more bullets Ke would not have thought so. " Later 
 in life, after this story was widely printed, Washington was 
 asked if he had ever said such a thing, and he replied : 
 
 " If I did so, it must have been when I was very young. " 
 Colonel Fry, the old officer the governor had put in 
 command of all the Virginia forces, died at Wills Creek, and 
 Colonel James Innes of North Carolina, was reported to be 
 his successor. Major Washington was pleased, for Innes 
 had three hundred and fifty men under him. Innes's rank 
 had been created by the crown while Washington's appoint- 
 ment was from the governor only. On this account Innes 
 and his men, though they marched to the seat of action, 
 refused to aid in fortifying and preparing to resist the 
 French; who were reported to be coming in large numbers 
 to attack them. The North Carolina troops would have 
 nothing to do with the Virginians save to stand by, jeering 
 the few men who were working sturdily upon the roads 
 and defenses. But for this arrogant obstinacy the results 
 of those early battles might have been very different. 
 Governor Dinwiddie himself, in his efforts to favor Colonel 
 Innes, was largely to blame for this outrageous state of 
 affairs. Two independent New York companies arrived at 
 Wills Creek in time to have been sent on to save the day at 
 Fort Necessity so named because of the desperate straits 
 of Washington's hungry command. The separate provinces 
 were so unwilling to co-operate that they sent companies 
 under commanders who would acknowledge no other 
 authority. These "independent" companies, too indepen- 
 dent to fight, idly looked on while the heroic little force of 
 Virginians under Washington starved and struggled and 
 fought on in sheer desperation. 
 
 The French had finished the fort at the fork of the 
 Ohio and named it Fort Duquesne, in honor of the Canadian 
 general, and Captain de Villiers, a brother-in-law of Jumon- 
 ville, marched down to the little palisaded structure with
 
 i 3 2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 nearly a thousand French and Indians. Even the Half- 
 King and other Indian allies of the English deserted them. 
 It was only a question of time. The few men at Fort 
 Necessity had no provisions and little ammunition. Yet 
 Washington stipulated terms which allowed him to march 
 away, July 4, 1754, with drums beating and colors flying. 
 The young Virginia major was so brave as ,to be foolhardy. 
 The Indian Half-King, to excuse himself for deserting, 
 afterwards said of the contending white forces, " The French 
 were cowards, and the English, fools." 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, June 19 to 25. 1910. 
 
 The Articles of Capitulation 
 
 (Translated from the French). 
 
 ARTICLE i st . We permit the English Commander to 
 withdraw all the garrison, in order that he may return 
 peaceably to his country, and to shield him from all insult 
 at the hands of our French, and to restrain as much as may 
 be in our power, the savages who are with us. 
 
 ART. 2 nd . He shall be permitted to go out and take 
 with him whatever belongs to his troops, except the artillery, 
 which we reserve for ourselves. 
 
 ART. 3 d . We accord them the honors of war; they 
 shall go out with beating drums, and with a small piece of 
 cannon, wishing by this means to prove that we treat 
 them as friends. 
 
 ART. 4 th . As soon as these articles shall be signed by 
 both parties, they shall pull down the English flag. 
 
 ART. 5 th . To-morrow at daybreak a French detach- 
 ment shall lead forth the garrison and take possession of the 
 aforesaid fort. 
 
 ART. 6 th . Since the English have scarcely any horses 
 or oxen left, they shall be allowed to place their property
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 133 
 
 en cache, in order that they may return to seek for it after 
 they shall have recovered their horses; for this purpose 
 they shall be permitted to leave such number of troops 
 as guards as they may think proper, under this condition 
 that they give their word of honor that they will work on 
 no establishment either in this place or from here to the 
 summit of the mountains for one year reckoning from this 
 day. 
 
 ART. 7 th . Since the English have in their power an 
 officer and two cadets, and in general, all the prisoners 
 whom they took when they murdered Lord [dans Vassassinat 
 du Sieur de] Jumonville, they now promise to send them 
 with an escort to Fort Duquesne, situated on the Beautiful 
 River [la Belle-Riviere, that is, the Ohio,] and to secure the 
 safe performance of this article, as well as of this treaty, 
 Messrs. Jacob Van Braam and Robert Stobo, both captains, 
 shall be delivered to us as hostages until the arrival of our 
 French and Canadians above mentioned. 
 
 We on our part declare that we shall give an escort 
 to send back in safety the two officers who promise us our 
 French in two months and a half at the latest. 
 
 Copied on one of the posts of our block-house the same 
 day and year as before. 
 
 (Signed) Messrs. JAMES MACKAYE, G c . 
 G. WASHINGTON, 
 
 COULON VlLLIER. 
 
 Journal of Colonel George Washington, 1754. Edited, with Notes, by J. M. Toner, M.D. 
 Appendix, p. 1 56. (Translation corrected by W. W. from original French sources.) 
 
 End of His First Campaign 
 
 So ended Washington's first campaign. His friend the 
 Half-King, the celebrated Seneca chief, Thanacarishon, 
 who prudently departed on the arrival of the French, has 
 left us a candid opinion of Washington and his opponents. 
 "The colonel," he said, "was a good-natured man, but had
 
 134 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 no experience ; he took upon him to command the Indians 
 as slaves, and would have them every day upon scout and to 
 attack the enemy by themselves, but would by no means 
 take advice from the Indians. He lay in one place from one 
 full moon to the other, without making any fortifications, 
 except that little thing on the meadow; whereas, had he 
 taken advice, and built such fortifications as I advised him, 
 he might easily have beat off the French. But the French 
 in the engagement acted like cowards, and the English like 
 fools." 
 
 There is a deal of truth in this opinion. The whole 
 expedition was rash in the extreme. When Washington 
 left Wills's Creek he was aware that he was going to meet a 
 force of. a thousand men with only a hundred and fifty raw 
 recruits at his back. In the same spirit he pushed on ; and 
 after the Jumonville affair, although he knew that the 
 wilderness about him was swarming with enemies, he still 
 struggled forward. When forced to retreat he made a stand 
 at the Meadows and offered battle in the open to his more 
 numerous and more prudent foes, for he was one of those 
 men who by nature regard courage as a substitute for every- 
 thing, and who have contempt for hostile odds. He was 
 ready to meet any number of French and Indians with 
 cheerful confidence and real pleasure. He wrote in a letter 
 which soon became famous, that he loved to hear bullets 
 whistle, a sage observance which he set down in later years 
 as a folly of youth. Yet this boyish outburst, foolish as it 
 was, has a meaning for us, for it was essentially true. Wash- 
 ington had the fierce fighting temper of the Northmen. He 
 loved battle and danger, and he never ceased to love them 
 and to give way to their excitement, although he did not 
 again set down such sentiments in boastful phrase that 
 made the world laugh. Men of such temper, moreover, are 
 naturally imperious and have a fine disregard of conse- 
 quences, with the result that their allies, Indian or otherwise, 
 often become impatient and finally useless. The campaign
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 135 
 
 was perfectly wild from the outset, and if it had not been 
 for the utter indifference to danger displayed by Washington, 
 and the consequent timidity of the French, that particular 
 body of Virginians would have been permanently lost to the 
 British Empire. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 74. 
 
 " The Same Identical Gent" 
 
 When returned from his first campaign, and resting at 
 Mount Vernon, the time seems to have been beguiled by 
 some charmer, for one of Washington's officers and intimates 
 writes from Williamsburg, " I imagine you By this time 
 plung'd in the midst of delight heaven can afford & en- 
 chanted By Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,'' 
 and a foot-note by the same hand only excites further cu- 
 riosity concerning this latter personage by indefinitely 
 naming her as "Mrs. Neil." 
 
 With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, 
 with the spring the young man's fancy turned not to love, 
 but again to war. . . . No longer did he have to sue 
 for the favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that 
 "if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient to enable 
 your coming hither tomorrow, the Lady's will try to get 
 Horses to equip our Chair or attempt their strength on Foot 
 to Salute you, so desirous are they with loving Speed to have 
 an occular Demonstration of your being the same Identical 
 Gent that lately departed to defend his Country's Cause." 
 Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following: 
 
 ''Dear Sir: After thanking Heaven for your safe 
 return I must accuse you of great unkindness in refusing 
 us the pleasure of seeing you this night. I do assure you 
 nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be 
 disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs 
 would not carry us to Mount Vernon this night, but if you
 
 136 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 will not come to us tomorrow morning very early we shall 
 be at Mount Vernon. 
 
 "S[ally] Fairfax. 
 
 "Ann Spearing. 
 "Eliz'th Dent." 
 
 Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, 
 for in the postscript of a letter from Archibald Gary, a lead- 
 ing Virginian, he is told that "Mrs. Gary & Miss Randolph 
 joyn in wishing you that sort of Glory which will most In- 
 dear you to the Fair Sex. " 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 89. 
 
 "The Season Calls for Despatch" 
 
 In the meantime the French, elated by their recent 
 triumph, and thinking no danger at hand, relaxed their 
 vigilance at Fort Duquesne. Stobo, who was a kind of 
 prisoner at large there, found means to send a letter secretly 
 by an Indian, dated July 28, and directed to the com- 
 mander of the English troops. It was accompanied by a 
 plan of the fort. "There are two hundred men here," 
 writes he, "and two hundred expected; the rest have gone 
 off in detachments to the amount of one thousand, besides 
 Indians. None lodge in the fort but Contrecoeur and the 
 guard, consisting of forty men and five officers; the rest 
 lodge in bark cabins around the fort. The Indians have 
 access day and night, and come and go when they please. 
 If one hundred trusty Shawnees, Mingoes, and Delawares 
 were picked out, they might surprise the fort, lodging 
 themselves under the palisades by day, and at night secure 
 the guard with their tomahawks, shut the sally-gate, and 
 the fort is ours. " 
 
 One part of Stobo's letter breathes a loyal and generous 
 spirit of self-devotion. Alluding to the danger in which 
 he and Van Braam, his fellow-hostage, might be involved, 
 ^e says, "Consider the good of the expedition without
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 137 
 
 regard to us. When we engaged to serve the country it 
 was expected we were to do it with our lives. For my part, 
 I would die a hundred deaths to have the pleasure of possess- 
 ing this fort but one day. They are so vain of their success 
 at the Meadows [Fort Necessity] it is worse than death to 
 hear them. Haste to strike. " 
 
 The Indian messenger carried the letter to Aughquick 
 and delivered it into the hands of George Croghan. The 
 Indian chiefs who were with him insisted upon his opening 
 it. He did so, but on finding the tenor of it, transmitted 
 it to the Governor of Pennsylvania. The secret information 
 communicated by Stobo, may have been the cause of a 
 project suddenly conceived by Governor Dinwiddie, of a 
 detachment which, by a forced march across the mountains, 
 might descend upon the French and take Fort Duquesne 
 at a single blow; or failing that, might build a rival fort 
 in its vicinity. He accordingly wrote Washington to 
 march forthwith for Wills 's Creek, with such companies as 
 were complete, leaving orders for the officers to follow as 
 soon as they should have enlisted men sufficient to make 
 up their companies. "The season of the year," added he, 
 "calls for despatch. I depend upon your usual diligence 
 and spirit to encourage your people to be active on this 
 occasion. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, p. 177. 
 
 The First Blow of the Seven Years' War 
 
 Mr. Washington was at this time raising such a regiment 
 as with the scanty pay and patronage of the Virginian 
 government, he could get together, and proposed with the 
 help of these men-of-war, to put a more peremptory veto 
 upon the French invaders than the solitary ambassador 
 had been enabled to lay. A small force under another 
 officer, Colonel Trent, had been already despatched to the 
 west, with orders to fortify themselves so as to be able to 
 resist any attack of the enemy. The French troops, greatly
 
 138 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 outnumbering ours, came up with the English outposts, 
 who were fortifying themselves at a place on the confines 
 of Pennsylvania where the great city of Pittsburg now 
 stands. A Virginian officer with but forty men was in no 
 condition to resist twenty times that number of Canadians, 
 who appeared before his incomplete works. He was suf- 
 fered to draw back without molestation; and the French, 
 taking possession of his fort, strengthened it and christened 
 it by the name of the Canadian governor, Duquesne. Up 
 to this time no actual blow of war had been struck. The 
 troops representing the hostile nations were in presence 
 the guns were loaded, but no one as yet had cried, "Fire!" 
 It was strange that in a savage forest of Pennsylvania, a 
 young Virginian officer should fire a shot and waken up a 
 war which was to last for sixty years, which was to cover 
 his own country and pass into Europe, to cost France her 
 American colonies, to sever ours from us, and create the 
 great Western Republic ; to rage over the Old World when 
 extinguished in the New; and, of all the myriads engaged 
 in the vast contest, to leave the prize of the greatest fame 
 with him who struck the first blow! 
 
 The Virginians, W. M. Thackeray, Vol. I, p. sri C^d/lff. 
 
 "All is Fair in War" 
 
 When trying to win the Indians to the English cause 
 in 1754, Washington in his journal states that he "let the 
 young Indians who were in our camp know that the French 
 wanted to kill the Half King," a diplomatic statement 
 he hardly believed, which the writer says "had its desired 
 effect," and which the French editor declared to be an 
 "imposture." In this same campaign he was forced to 
 sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he had been 
 guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in 
 Virginia when it became known that Washington hastened 
 to deny all knowledge of the charge having been contained 
 among the articles, and alleged that it had not been made
 
 THE OPENING OF HIS MILITARY CAREER 139 
 
 clear to him when the paper had been translated and read. 
 On the contrary, another officer present at the reading 
 states that he refused to " sign the Capitulation because 
 they charged us with Assassination in it." 
 
 In writing to an Indian agent in 1775, Washington 
 was "greatly enraptured" at hearing of his approach, 
 dwelt upon the man's "hearty attachment to our glorious 
 Cause" and his "Courage of which I have had very great 
 proofs." Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor, 
 Washington said, "the letter savors a little of flattery &c., 
 &c., but this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion." 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 307. 
 
 The Only Course Possible 
 
 The government took a generous view of Mr. Wash- 
 ington's case, and, to his amazement, addressed to him a 
 vote of thanks, of praise for his hard work and masterly 
 retreat, as they were pleased to call it. . . . 
 
 But the authorities did not long remain in this reason- 
 able mood. They were enabled to increase the army by a 
 new vote of supplies, and chose this moment to settle, once 
 for all, the vexed question of precedence between regular 
 and colonial troops; the former comprised those who held 
 the King's commission, the latter, those raised and sup- 
 ported by each State for its own defence. The new arrange- 
 ment was one of such superlative foolishness that it appeared 
 to have been conceived with the object of nullifying all 
 military action. It provided no commanders, generals, 
 or colonels, but gave each company to its independent 
 captain to use as he saw fit. The promulgation was 
 evidently inspired by one made at this moment by George 
 the Second, to the effect that any officer holding a royal 
 commission should outrank any provincial officer of any 
 grade whatever, and that even the highest of the latter, 
 such as generals, should practically cease to be officers at all 
 if a general of regulars was in the field. 
 
 1-11
 
 i 4 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Colonel Washington took the only course possible in 
 the circumstances. He resigned his commission in the 
 Virginian army, giving his reasons in a few words of strong 
 and indignant protest, and went home to Mount Vernon. 
 He loved fighting, and the renunciation of his army career 
 caused him profound grief and disappointment; but he 
 could not keep both his commission and his self-respect, so 
 the commission was resigned. 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, Mrs. Hujjh Fraser, p. 420
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 
 
 The Young Commander and the Pig-headed Governor 
 
 On his return to civilization, Washington found his 
 reputation of considerable sendee to him; instead of cen- 
 suring him, the Burgesses accepted his explanations, thanked 
 him for his bravery, and gave a pistole (about four dollars) 
 to each of his soldiers. The young commander having been 
 through a campaign and under fire, and experienced both 
 victory and defeat, was now competent not only to fight 
 the French, but to talk sense to the Governor, which was 
 by far the more unpleasant and difficult task of the two. 
 
 Washington returned to Mount Vernon with a little 
 glory, a great deal of disappointment, an empty pocket, and 
 a decided inclination toward a military career. He had 
 scarcely resumed control of his private affairs when Major 
 Stobo, one of the hostages retained by the French as security 
 for the return of Washington's first prisoners, succeeded in 
 getting through to the English outposts a letter declaring 
 that Fort Duquesne might be easily captured. This letter 
 seems to have reached Governor Dinwiddie, probably 
 through the Governor of Pennsylvania, to whom it was 
 forwarded from the frontier ; for the Virginia governor sud- 
 denly devised a forced march of light troops upon Fort 
 Duquesne, and he forthwith ordered Washington to con- 
 duct such a movement. 
 
 Dinwiddie understood war about as a cat understands 
 architecture; that is, he had sometimes crawled around on 
 the outside of it. He had refused to return the French 
 prisoners, although bound by the terms of capitulation to 
 do so. He was holding troops in service although there 
 
 (141)
 
 1 42 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 was no money with which to pay them or even to purchase 
 supplies; and now, late in August, he proposed to begin a 
 winter campaign with men some of whom were yet to be re- 
 cruited, and without ammunition, subsistence, forage, 
 clothing, or means of transportation. Washington suc- 
 ceeded in dissuading him from his senseless purpose ; but the 
 Governor had to vent his warlike spirit in some way, so he 
 blundered into abusing the Burgesses for not voting him, 
 free of restrictions, all the money he wanted. Then, for the 
 purpose of preventing any disagreements about military pre- 
 cedence, he reorganized the Virginia troops into independent 
 companies, no officer to be above the rank of captain. This 
 masterly stroke of genius drove Colonel Washington out 
 of the service. There is no knowing what additional bril- 
 liancies Dinwiddie might have perpetrated had not the 
 Crown suppressed him somewhat by appointing Governor 
 Sharpe, of Maryland, commander-iji-chief of all forces en- 
 gaged against the French. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 29. 
 
 Serious Troubles and Petty Annoyances 
 
 Serious troubles, moreover, were complicated by petty 
 annoyances. A Maryland captain, at the head of thirty 
 men, undertook to claim rank over the Virginian commander- 
 in-chief because he had held a king's commission; and 
 Washington was obliged to travel to Boston in order to 
 
 have the miserable thing set right 
 
 This affair settled, he returned to take up again the old 
 disheartening struggle, and his outspoken condemnation 
 of Dinwiddie's foolish schemes and of the shortcomings of 
 the government began to raise up backbiters and mal- 
 contents at Williamsburg. "My orders," he said, "are 
 dark, doubtful, and uncertain ; to-day approved, to-morrow 
 condemned. Left to act and proceed at hazard, account- 
 able for the consequences, and blamed without the benefit 
 of defence." He determined nevertheless to bear with
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 143 
 
 his trials until the arrival of Lord London, the new com- 
 mander-in-chief , from whom he expected vigor and improve- 
 ment. Unfortunately he was destined to have only fresh 
 disappointment from the new general, for Lord Loudon 
 was merely one more incompetent man added to the existing 
 confusion. He paid no heed to the South, matters con- 
 tinued to go badly in the North, and Virginia was left 
 helpless. So Washington toiled on with much discourage- 
 ment, and the disagreeable attacks upon him increased. 
 That it should have been so is not surprising, for he wrote 
 ta the governor, who now held him in much disfavor, to 
 the speaker, and indeed to everyone, with a most galling 
 plainness. He was young, be it remembered, and his 
 high temper was by no means under perfect control. He 
 was anything but diplomatic at that period of his life, 
 and was far from patient, using language with much sin- 
 cerity and force, and indulging in a blunt irony of rather 
 a ferocious kind. When he was accused finally of getting 
 up reports of imaginary dangers, his temper gave way 
 entirely. He wrote wrathfully to the governor for justice, 
 and added in a letter to his friend, Captain Peachy: "As to 
 Colonel C.'s gross and infamous reflections on my conduct 
 last spring, it will be needless, I dare say, to observe further 
 at this time than that the liberty which he has been pleased 
 to allow himself in sporting with my character is little else 
 than a comic entertainment, discovering at one view his 
 passionate fondness for your friend, his inviolable love of. 
 truth, his unfathomable knowledge, and the masterly strokes 
 of his wisdom in displaying it. You are heartily welcome 
 to make use of any letter or letters which I may at any time 
 have written to you; for although I keep no copies of 
 epistles to my friends nor can remember the contents of all 
 of them, yet I am sensible that the narrations are just, and 
 that truth and honesty will appear in my writings ; of which, 
 therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may 
 censure my style." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 88.
 
 44 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington, Franklin, and General Braddock 
 
 About this time England sent over ten thousand 
 pounds, with some firearms; learning which the Burgesses, 
 being willing to assist the mother country, although unwill- 
 ing to stand all the expense of a fight which was really 
 between two European powers, voted twenty thousand 
 pounds. It seemed as if in the prospective campaign 
 there was to be no place for Washington ; but in the follow- 
 ing spring, General Edward Braddock was sent over from 
 England to whip the French in every part of the country, 
 and he invited Washington to become a member of his 
 staff; which was the only judicious act of his entire military 
 career in this country. 
 
 Braddock was a soldier who had enjoyed the blessings 
 of many years of military drill and London loungings; he 
 was courteous, brave, honorable in intent, headstrong and 
 quick-tempered; some of his remaining military qualities 
 are named in Colonel Calverly's recipe for making a heavy 
 dragoon, in Gilbert and Sullivan's aesthetic opera, "Patience." 
 What he did not know was not, in his opinion, worth 
 knowing. There were but two men in the colonies to 
 whom he would listen respectfully; one of these was Benja- 
 min Franklin, who, being some centuries old when he was 
 born, and having added to his knowledge about fifty years 
 of experience, knew how to call a man a fool without hurting 
 his feelings. The other was Washington, who lacked 
 Franklin's appalling store of wisdom, but had the rare 
 sense to talk only upon subjects that he understood. 
 
 But even Braddock 's respect for these two men could 
 not save him. When Franklin, in his sagacious way, tried 
 to give Braddock some ideas about Indian warfare in such 
 a manner that the General would believe he had thought 
 them out for himself, the soldier replied that "These sav- 
 ages may be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, 
 but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops it is
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK. 
 
 impossible that they should make an impression." After 
 this knock-down argument, Franklin ceased to waste good 
 counsel, although he was patriotic enough to secure for the 
 army, on his own word of honor, the much needed horses 
 and wagons that Braddock's imported quartermaster- 
 general had been unable to obtain by unlimited threats 
 and profanity. 
 
 Washington did not let Braddock off so easily; the 
 young aid had what he himself terms "frequent disputes" 
 with his general; that he survived them and retained his 
 position is probably owing to his ability to keep his tem- 
 per. How hard it must have been to retain this quality of 
 human nature, may be judged from Washington's statement 
 that Braddock was "incapable of giving up any points he 
 asserts, be it ever so incompatible with reason or common 
 sense. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 31. 
 
 General Braddock's Aide-de-camp 
 
 General Braddock set out from Alexandria on the 2oth 
 of April. Washington remained behind a few days to 
 arrange his affairs, and then rejoined him at Fredericktown, 
 in Maryland, where, on the loth of May, he was proclaimed 
 one of the general's" aides-de-camp. 
 
 During the halt of the troops at Wills ' Creek, Washing- 
 ton had been sent to Williamsburg to bring on four thousand 
 pounds for the military chest. He returned, after a fort- 
 night's absence, escorted from Winchester by eight men, 
 "which eight men," writes^ he, "were two days assembling, 
 but I believe would not have been more than as many seconds 
 dispersing if I had been attacked." . ... 
 
 Washington was disappointed in his anticipations of a 
 rapid march. The general, though he had adopted his 
 advice in the main, could not carry it out in detail. His 
 military education was in the way, bigoted to the regular 
 and elaborate tactics of Europe, he could not stoop to the
 
 I4 6. THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTOX 
 
 make-shift expedients of a new country, where every diffi- 
 culty is encountered and mastered in a rough-and-ready 
 style. " I found," said Washington, "that instead of push- 
 ing on with vigor, without regarding a little rough road, 
 they were halting to level every mole-hill and to erect 
 bridges over every brook, by which means we were four 
 days in getting twelve miles." 
 
 For several days Washington had suffered from fever, 
 accompanied by intense headache, and his illness increased 
 in violence to such a degree that he was unable to ride, and 
 had to be conveyed for a part of the time in a covered wagon. 
 His illness continued without intermission until the 23d, 
 " when I was relieved, " says he, " by the general's absolutely 
 ordering the physician to give me Dr. James ' powders : one 
 of the most excellent medicines in the world. It gave me 
 immediate relief, and removed my fever and other com- 
 plaints in four days' time." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I, pp 204 to 223. 
 
 In the Battle at Fort Duquesne 
 
 As soon as his fever abated a little he left ' Colonel 
 Dunbar, and being unable to sit on a horse, was conveyed 
 to the front in a wagon, coming up with the army on July 
 8th. He was just in time, for the next day the troops 
 forded the Monongahela and marched to attack the fort. 
 The splendid appearance of the soldiers as they crossed 
 the river roused Washington's enthusiasm; but he was not 
 without misgivings. ,= . v . 
 
 The troops marched on in ordered ranks, glittering 
 and beautiful. Suddenly firing was heard in the front, and 
 presently the van was flung back on the main body. Yells 
 and war-whoops resounded on every side, and an unseen 
 enemy poured in a deadly fire. Washington begged 
 Braddock to throw his men into the woods, but all in 
 vain. Fight in platoons they must, or not at all. The 
 result was that they did not fight at all. They became
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN -WITH BRADDOCK 147 
 
 panic-stricken, and huddled together, overcome with fear, 
 until at last when Braddock was mortally wounded they 
 broke in wild rout "and fled. Of the regular troops, seven 
 hundred, and of the officers, who showed the utmost bravery, 
 sixty-two out of the eighty-six, were killed or wounded. 
 Two hundred Frenchmen and six hundred Indians achieved 
 this signal victory. The only thing that could be called 
 fighting on the English side was done by the Virginians, 
 " the raw American militia, " who, spread out as skirmishers, 
 met their foes on their own ground, and were cut off almost 
 to a man. 
 
 Washington at the outset flung himself headlong into 
 the fight. He rode up and down the field, carrying orders 
 and striving to rally "the dastards," as he afterwards 
 called the regular troops. He endeavored to bring up the 
 artillery, but the men would not serve the guns, although 
 he aimed and discharged one himself. All through that 
 dreadful carnage he rode fiercely about, raging with the 
 excitement of battle, and utterly exposed from beginning to 
 end. Even now it makes the heart beat quicker to think 
 of him amid the smoke and slaughter as he dashed hither 
 and thither, his face glowing and his eyes shining with the 
 fierce light of battle, leading on his own Virginians, and 
 trying to stay the tide of disaster. He. had two horses 
 shot under him and four bullets through his coat. The 
 Indians thought he bore a charmed life, while his death 
 was reported in the colonies, together with his dying speech, 
 which, he dryly wrote to his brother, he had not yet com- 
 posed. 
 
 George Washington Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 8a 
 
 A Description of the Battle 
 
 It was a bright July morning. The army was approach- 
 ing Fort Duquesne; ten miles more, and it would be here. 
 Proudly the soldiers moved along the valley of the Monon- 
 gahela, wearing their bright red uniforms, their gun-barrels
 
 i 4 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and bayonets glaring in the sunlight, drums beating, 
 trumpets sounding, and their banners waving. Lieutenant- 
 colonel Gage, with three hundred men led the advance. 
 He forded the river, crossed a plain, and ascended a hill. 
 Mr. Gordon was in advance of all, with a company, marking 
 out the road. General Braddock had no expectation of 
 being attacked. He was to attack the French. Mr. 
 Gordon beheld a man wearing a gray hunting-frock waving 
 his hat. A silver gorget gleamed upon his breast. It was 
 a French officer, Beaujean, who had come out from Fort Du- 
 quesne with two hundred and thirty Frenchmen and six 
 hundred and thirty Indians, to give General Braddock a 
 taste of fighting in the wilderness of America. From every 
 tree there came a flash, and the head of Gage's column 
 melted away; but the English fired a volley, and Beaujean 
 and thirteen of his men went down. 
 
 Gage's artillerymen wheeled two cannon into position, 
 and opened fire. The roar of the cannon echoes along the 
 river, frightening the Indians, who started to run; but 
 the French held their ground. The Indians came back, 
 yelling the war-whoop. 
 
 "Vive le Roi!" shouted the French. 
 
 " Hurrah for King George!" cried the English. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel Burton came up with a re-enforce- 
 ment, but his troops were panic-stricken. General Brad- 
 dock tried to rally his men. They loaded and fired at 
 random; they saw flashes, puffs of smoke, but few of the 
 enemy. There was firing in front, on both flanks and in 
 the rear, where the Indians were shooting the horses of the 
 baggage-train. The drivers fled. Men- and officers were 
 dropping all the time. Braddock was trying to form his 
 men in platoons and battalions, after the method laid down 
 in all military books; while the Virginians, accustomed to 
 the wilderness, sprung behind rocks and trees, or fell flat 
 on the ground, and watched their opportunity to put a 
 bullet through the head of a Frenchman or Indian. Brad-
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 149 
 
 dock cursed them for not standing up in platoons, and 
 struck them with his sword. 
 
 How preposterous! Whoever Heard of a battle being 
 fought in that way from behind trees ! 
 
 Captain Waggoner placed his company of Virginians 
 behind a fallen tree, which served them for a breast-work, 
 and poured a telling volley upon the French, but the next 
 minute fifty of them were killed by the panic-stricken 
 British, who had so lost their wits that they took them to be 
 Frenchmen. The French and Indians aimed to pick off 
 all the English officers. Sir Peter Halket, Braddock's 
 second in command, fell dead. Shirley, Braddock's secre- 
 tary, went down with a bullet through his breast. Colonels 
 Burton, Gage, and Orme, Major Spark, Major Halket, 
 Captain Morris, all were wounded. 
 
 Washington's horse was killed. He mounted a second; 
 that, too, was shot. A bullet went through his coat; 
 another, a third, a fourth; but his time had not come to die. 
 God had a great work for him to do for the human race, and 
 this was the beginning. 
 
 All through the afternoon, from two o'clock to five, the 
 hurly-burly went on the English huddled in groups or 
 scattered along the narrow road, firing away their ammuni- 
 tion, seeing only now and then a Frenchman or an Indian. 
 The Virginians alone were cool, watching their opportunity, 
 and sending bullets through the skulls of the savages as 
 they peeped from behind .the trees. 
 
 It was five o'clock in the afternoon ; General Braddock 
 had had five horses shot under him; he was issuing an 
 order when a bullet struck him and he fell upon the ground. 
 His troops threw aside their guns and knapsacks, then fled 
 like a herd of frightened sheep. Washington tried to stop 
 them. He begged, threatened, but in vain. 
 
 "Don't leave your general to be scalped!" shouted 
 Colonel Orme. "I'll give you sixty guineas to carry him 
 Off."
 
 1 5 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 What was Braddock or money to ,them? To escape 
 was their only thought. Captain Stewart and another 
 Virginian officer took the wounded general in their arms 
 and bore him from the field. All through the night, all the 
 next day, the English fled, the Virginians under Wash- 
 ington protecting the rear and carrying the wounded 
 general. 
 
 The French and Indians made no attempt at pursuit; 
 they had won a great victory, and were dividing the spoil 
 drinking the rum, eating the bacon, and counting their 
 scalps in savage glee. 
 
 Old Times in the Colonies, Charles Carleton Coffin, j5. 380. 
 
 His Hatred of Cowardice 
 
 His fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred, 
 and, indeed, non-comprehension of cowardice. In his 
 first battle, upon the French surrendering, he wrote to 
 the governor, "if the whole Detach't of the French behave 
 with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I 
 flatter myself we shall have no g't trouble in driving them 
 to the d . " At Braddock's defeat, though the regiment 
 he had commanded "behaved like men and died like 
 soldiers," he could hardly find words to express his con- 
 tempt for the conduct of the British "cowardly regulars," 
 writing of their "dastardly behavior" when they "broke 
 and ran as sheep before hounds" and raging over being 
 "most scandalously" and "shamefully beaten." 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 270. 
 
 "Unite or Die!" 
 
 E Pluribus Unum, the motto on the great seal of the 
 United States, is a crisp expression of the earnest teachings 
 of Benjamin Franklin while going up and down among the 
 colonies, as postmaster-general, as a special Indian com- 
 missioner and as a delegate to a convention of the colonies. 
 He was an "all-round man" and was always around where
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 151 
 
 he was most needed. An ardent lover of liberty and 
 justice, he was still, by force of his frankness and humor, 
 the friend of those who represented the crown and this 
 without the least abatement of his deep conviction as to 
 the rights and wrongs of the people. . . . 
 
 . . . In the French and Indian War, Franklin was a 
 leader and had to raise men, horses, wagons and supplies, 
 thus heartily cooperating with George Washington, then 
 a rising Virginia officer, twenty-six years younger than 
 himself. 
 
 It was while in the way of this duty that Franklin met 
 General Braddock and attempted to advise that arrogant 
 officer how he ought to fight the French and Indians. He 
 wrote of Braddock: 
 
 " He smiled at my ignorance and replied, 'These 
 savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw 
 American militia, but upon the king's regular and dis- 
 ciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any 
 impression.' 
 
 Just before starting for Albany as a delegate to the 
 colonial convention, in 1754, a wood-cut appeared in the 
 "Pennsylvania Gazette," Franklin's newspaper, of a snake 
 separated into sections representing the colonies; under 
 the parted pieces was the legend, "Unite or Die." This 
 design was adopted as one of the many flags of that troubled 
 time. The payment of the expenses of the French and 
 Indian War and the evasions of the crown and proprietaries 
 aroused the righteous wrath of the people of Pennsylvania. 
 These "proprietaries" were Richard and Thomas Penn, 
 descendants of the great Quaker, William Penn, to whom 
 Charles the Second had granted, eighty years before, the 
 great tract of country to which he gave Perm's name. 
 These degenerate descendants had not such lofty motives 
 as actuated their really noble grandfather. Their sole 
 purpose was to get as much revenue as possible out of their 
 vast estate, which was then valued at about fifty million
 
 1 52 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 dollars. They refused to pay taxes or bear any of the 
 expenses of its defense in the later war with the French. 
 So Franklin was sent to London to remonstrate with them 
 and try to make even the king comprehend the real and 
 righteous grievances of his subjects in America. He arrived 
 in London in July, 1757, was detained five years by the 
 dallying policy of the Penns, and came back without ac- 
 complishing much more than the tacit consent of the 
 crown to the taxing of the proprietaries. After his return, 
 Franklin threw himself more ardently than ever into the 
 colonial cause. "United, we stand; divided, we fall," 
 became his motto, for he was one of the first to discern 
 that there was to be an " irrepressible conflict." 
 
 The Franklin Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, October 16 to 29, 1910. 
 
 Denies "Grossly Exaggerated" Report of His Death 
 
 (Letter to John Augustine Washington.) 
 
 "FORT CUMBERLAND, 18 July, 1755. 
 "Dear Brother: 
 
 "As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a 
 circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, 
 I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, 
 and of assuring you, that I have not as yet composed the 
 latter. But, by the all-powerful dispensations of Provi- 
 dence, I have been protected beyond all human probability 
 and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, 
 and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho' 
 death was leveling my companions on every side of me!" 
 
 "We have been most scandalously beaten by a trifling 
 body of men, but fatigue and want of time will prevent me 
 from giving you any of the details, until I have the happiness 
 of seeing you at Mount Vernon, which I now most ardently 
 wish for, since we are drove in thus far. A weak and feeble 
 state of health obliges me to halt here for two or three days
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 153 
 
 to recover a little strength, that I may thereby be enabled 
 to proceed homewards with more ease. You may expect 
 to see me there on Saturday or Sunday se' -night, which is 
 as soon as I can well be down, as I shall take my Bullskin 
 Plantations in my way. Pray give my compliments to all 
 my friends. I am, dear Jack, your most affectionate 
 brother," 
 
 [GEORGE] 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph. D., p. 5. 
 
 "I Could Offer Myself a Willing Sacrifice" 
 
 After the hasty retreat, Colonel Dunbar, stricken with 
 panic, fled onward to Philadelphia, abandoning everything, 
 and Virginia was left naturally in a state of great alarm. 
 The assembly came together, and at last, thoroughly 
 frightened, voted abundant money, and ordered a regiment 
 of a thousand men to be raised. Washington, who had 
 returned to Mount Vernon ill and worn-out, was urged to 
 solicit the command, but it was not his way to solicit, and 
 he declined to do so now. August i4th, he wrote to his 
 mother: "If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio 
 again, I shall; but if the command is pressed upon me by 
 the general voice of the country, and offered upon such 
 terms as cannot be objected against, it would reflect dis- 
 honor on me to refuse it!" The same day he was offered 
 the command of all the Virginia forces on his own terms, 
 and accepted. Virginia believed in Washington, and he 
 was ready to obey her call. 
 
 He at once assumed command and betook himself to 
 Winchester, a general without an army, but still able to 
 check by his presence the existing panic, and ready to enter 
 upon the trying, dreary, and fruitless work that lay before 
 him. In April, 1757, he wrote: " I have been posted then, 
 for more than twenty months past, upon our cold and 
 barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, impossi- 
 bilities; that is, to protect from the cruel incursions of a
 
 1 54 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 crafty, savage enemy a line of inhabitants, of more than 
 three hundred and fifty miles in extent, with a force inade- 
 quate to the task!" This terse statement covers all that 
 can be said of the next three years. It was a long struggle 
 against a savage foe in front, and narrowness, jealousy, and 
 stupidity behind, apparently without any chance of 
 effecting anything, or gaming any glory or reward. Troops 
 were voted, but were raised with difficulty, and when 
 raised were neglected and ill-treated by the wrangling 
 governor and assembly, which caused much ill-suppressed 
 wrath in the breast of the commander-in-chief who labored 
 day and night to bring about better discipline in camp, 
 and who wrote long letters to Williamsburg recounting 
 existing evils and praying for a new militia law. 
 
 The troops, in fact, were got out with vast difficulty 
 even under the most stinging necessity, and were almost 
 worthless when they came. Of one "noble captain" who 
 refused to come, Washington wrote : " With coolness and 
 moderation this great captain answered that his wife, 
 family, and corn were all at stake; so were those of his 
 soldiers ; therefore it was impossible for him to come. Such 
 is the example of the officers ; such the behavior of the men ; 
 and upon such circumstances depends the safety of our 
 country!" But while the soldiers were neglected, and the 
 assembly faltered, and the militia disobeyed, the French 
 and Indians kept at work on the long exposed frontier. 
 There panic reigned, farm-houses and villages went up in 
 smoke, and the fields were reddened with slaughter at each 
 fresh incursion. Gentlemen in Williamsburg bore these 
 misfortunes with reasonable fortitude, but Washington 
 raged against the abuses and the inaction, and vowed that 
 nothing but the imminent danger prevented his resignation. 
 "The supplicating tears of the women," he wrote, "and 
 moving petitions of the men melt me into such deadly 
 sorrow that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, 
 I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering
 
 THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN WITH BRADDOCK 155 
 
 enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's 
 ease. " 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 85. 
 
 Close of His Career as a Frontier Fighter 
 
 So closed the first period in Washington's public 
 career. We have seen him pass through it in all its phases. 
 It shows him as an adventurous pioneer, as a reckless 
 frontier fighter, and as a soldier of great promise. He 
 learned many things in this time, and was taught much in 
 the hard school of adversity. In the effort to conquer 
 Frenchmen and Indians he studied the art of war, and at 
 the same time he learned to bear with and overcome the 
 dulness and inefficiency of the government he served. 
 Thus he was forced to practise self-control in order to attain 
 his ends, and to acquire skill in the management of men. 
 There could have been no better training for the work he 
 was to do in the after years, and the future showed how 
 deeply he profited by it. Let us turn now, for a moment, 
 to the softer and pleasanter side of life, and having seen 
 what Washington was, and what he did as a fighting man, 
 let us try to know him in the equally important and far 
 more attractive domain of private and domestic life. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 91. 
 
 1-12
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 
 The Colonel of the Colony 
 
 During the three years that followed the Braddock 
 campaign, Washington enjoyed all the honors and torments 
 that his native colony could inflict upon him. He had 
 rank, authority, men, and money; but what were all these 
 to a soldier who was obliged to endure Dinwiddie? There 
 can be no doubt that the old gentleman was hot for war, but 
 some of the developments of his martial spirit were unspeak- 
 ably exasperating to those who were expected to do the 
 fighting. Although being a war governor was not an exact 
 science in those days, it was not necessary that Dinwiddie 
 should have been satisfied to display only the character- 
 istics of an army mule, particularly as the customs of the 
 time forbade that a governor should be treated according 
 to his deserts. This conceited, obstinate, short-sighted, 
 narrow-minded, jealous governor gave the military force 
 more trouble than all the French and Indians on the border. 
 Yet Washington, as the colonial commander-in-chief, did 
 not proceed against the old fellow with powder and ball, 
 or even drive him out of the country. Such self-restraint 
 was phenomenal. 
 
 Fears that the French and Indians would transfer the 
 seat of war to the settled portions of the colony made the 
 Virginia Burgesses liberal of men and money, and a regi- 
 ment of a thousand men was at once recruited. Wash- 
 ington became its colonel, for which Dinwiddie -never 
 forgave him, although he was obliged to sign his com- 
 mission. The Governor's own candidate had been Colonel 
 Innes, of North Carolina, who, like the Governor, was a 
 
 (156)
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 157 
 
 Scotchman, and was strongly supported by a number of 
 his fellow countrymen. As the patriotic Scots of that 
 period seemed to believe that the sites of the Garden of Eden 
 and the town of Bethlehem were both in Scotland, and that 
 the Scotch were the chosen race, they naturally clung 
 together with great tenacity, and remembrance of the long 
 and ugly fight over the Virginia colonelcy may have been 
 the reason why, in the first draft of the Declaration of 
 Independence, Scotchmen were classed with sundry crea- 
 tures whose doings had been reprehensible. 
 
 As colonel of the Virginia regiment, Washington 
 became commander-in-chief of the colony's forces. He 
 established his headquarters at Winchester, which was the 
 largest place near the border that had good lines of com- 
 munication with the remainder of the colony. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 40. 
 
 How Colonel Washington "Took" Boston 
 
 One of the beauties of the military system of the day 
 was, that each colony managed its own forces, under the 
 nominal supervision of a commander-in-chief sent out 
 from England. Quarrels were frequent over questions of 
 rank, for some officers who bore commissions from the 
 king were among the volunteers, and declined to receive 
 orders from higher officers who had been commissioned only 
 by governors. A Maryland captain named Dagworthy 
 claimed command of Fort Cumberland on the strength of 
 having held a king's commission, and a grand quarrel at 
 once arose between Maryland and Virginia, which threatened 
 to drive Washington out of the service. The case was 
 finally referred to General Shirley, British commander-in- 
 chief in America, and Washington was sent to the general 
 to explain. 
 
 To this phase of the quarrel Washington owed one of 
 the most enjoyable trips of his life; but this was only a 
 minor result, for his journey brought him in contact with
 
 i 5 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Boston. It may be seen at first sight that an unfair advan- 
 tage was taken of the young man, for he had not yet 
 become the Father of his Country, while Boston, on 
 the contrary, had been the Hub of the Universe for at least 
 a century. Still, the man and the town impressed one 
 another favorably ; the original Yankee, being shapeless and 
 awkward, could not fail to be greatly impressed by six feet 
 two of symmetrical humanity; the original Yankee dressed 
 very badly, whereas Washington was faultlessly and richly 
 attired; Yankee horses were carefully modeled after dried 
 codfish, and were about as sad-eyed and spiritless, whereas 
 Washington rode into Boston on a magnificent charger, 
 and even his colored servant was well mounted. The 
 young Virginian "took the town" at once; the natives 
 could not show him Bunker Hill Monument, the burnt 
 district, or the Back Bay improvements, as now they would 
 do within an hour of his arrival, but they gave him what 
 they had heartiness, patriotism, and beans. Concerning 
 the- latter, his letters are painfully silent; nothing but 
 silence can do justice to some topics; but the people's 
 hospitality and public spirit pleased him greatly. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 43. 
 
 The Handsome Colonel Rode away to Boston Town 
 
 The little cavalcade that left Virginia on February 4, 
 1756, must have looked brilliant enough as they rode away 
 through the dark woods. First came the colonel, mounted 
 of course on the finest of animals, for he loved and under- 
 stood horses from the time when he rode bareback in the 
 pasture to those later days when he acted as judge at a 
 horse-race and saw his own pet colt "Magnolia" beaten. 
 In this expedition he wore, of course, his uniform of buff 
 and blue, with a white and scarlet cloak over his shoulders, 
 and a sword-knot of red and gold. His "horse furniture" 
 was of the best London make, trimmed with "livery lace," 
 and the Washington arms were engraved upon the housings.
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 159 
 
 Close by his side rode his two aides, likewise in buff and 
 blue, and behind came his servants, dressed in the Washing- 
 ton colors of white and scarlet and wearing hats laced with 
 silver. Thus accoutred, they all rode on together to the 
 North. 
 
 The colonel's fame had gone before him, for the hero 
 of Braddock's stricken field and the commander of the 
 Virginia forces was known by reputation throughout the 
 colonies. Every door flew open to him as he passed, and 
 every one was delighted to welcome the young soldier. He 
 was dined and wined and feted in Philadelphia, and again 
 in New. York, where he fell in love at apparently short 
 notice with the heiress Mary Philipse, the sister-in-law of 
 his friend Beverly Robinson. Tearing himself away from 
 these attractions he pushed on to Boston, then the most 
 important city on the continent, and the headquarters of 
 Shirley, the commander-in-chief. The little New England 
 capital had at that time a society which, rich for those days, 
 was relieved from its Puritan sombreness by the gayety 
 and life brought in by the royal officers. Here Washington 
 lingered ten days, talking war and politics with the gov- 
 ernor, visiting in state the "great and general court," 
 dancing every night at some ball, dining with and being 
 feted by the magnates of the town. His business done, 
 he returned to New York, tarried there awhile for the sake 
 of the fair dame, but came to no conclusions, and then, like 
 the soldier in the song, he gave his bridle-rein a shake and 
 rode away to the South, and to the harassed and ravaged 
 frontier of Virginia. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 95. 
 
 A Chain of Forts and the Gentlemen Associators 
 
 Washington's Boston trip was entirely successful, so 
 far as the question of rank between him and the Maryland 
 Captain Dagworthy was concerned. General Shirley was 
 not any wiser than the majority of generals whom England
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 at that time exported to America, but he knew enough to 
 determine .that a colonel outranked a captain, even if the 
 latter happened to be serving in his own native province. 
 On other questions of rank, however, Shirley was unsatis- 
 factory; Washington was unable to secure King's com- 
 missions for himself and his officers, although this desire 
 was stronger in him than the wish to teach the meddlesome 
 Dag worthy his place. 
 
 On returning to Virginia, he went promptly to work. 
 From Eastern statesmen and drawing-rooms to Dinwiddie 
 and a back- woods camp was a terrible change; but Wash- 
 ington did not, as many another officer would have done, 
 engineer a sick leave and hurry back to a desirable city to 
 prescribe for himself at trusty bar-rooms. He went right 
 to work in the Shenandoah valley to repel invasion, and his 
 task was as great as his strength and temper could endure. 
 Fortunately his old friend Lord Fairfax, an active, brave 
 sensible, soldierly, influential old fellow, lived in the valley, 
 and was never appealed to in vain for counsel, means, or 
 sympathetic profanity. There was not a particle of glory 
 to be gained by defensive work on the border, but glory was 
 exactly what the young officer did not need, however much 
 he may have longed for it. Like every other young fellow 
 who is worth keeping, he had to endure the experiences 
 that suppress conceit and develop character. Glory, ease, 
 even the opportunity to "show off," was denied him. 
 Every military commander has some thorn in his flesh, but 
 in Dinwiddie Washington found a boundless Forest of 
 thorns, in which all the underbrush was briers. The old 
 marplot indited orders that were impossible of execution, 
 and then countermanded them by orders that were worse. 
 For only one thing could be he uniformly trusted, and that 
 was, to oppose any measure that Washington suggested. 
 
 One of the old man's lunacies, in which he was sup- 
 ported by the Burgesses, was the establishing of twenty- 
 three forts, on a border line about four hundred miles long,
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 161 
 
 there being but fifteen hundred men to distribute among 
 them. It is somewhat remarkable that the French, with 
 their known instinct of politeness, never sent Dinwiddie 
 a vote of thanks for this unequaled plan for annihilating 
 all the provincial forces. Then, as if he were determined to 
 start an insane asylum with Washington as first patient, 
 Dinwiddie turned loose upon the young commander a 
 hundred men, called the Gentlemen Associators, who were 
 to assist in selecting locations for the new forts. As all of 
 the Associators were civilians they of course knew every 
 thing worth knowing about military affairs. 
 
 George Washington, John Hataberton, p. 47. 
 
 Big George Washington 
 
 While he was at Mount Vernon he saw all his horses 
 again, ' ' Valiant ' ' and ' ' Magnolia ' ' and ' ' Chinkling ' ' and 
 " Ajax, " and had grand gallops over the country. 
 
 He had some fine dogs, too, to run by his side, and help 
 him hunt the bushy-tailed foxes. "Vulcan" and "Ring- 
 wood" and "Music" and "Sweetlips" were the names of 
 some of them. You may be sure the dogs were glad when 
 they had their master home again. 
 
 But Washington did not have long to rest, for another 
 war was coming, the great war of the Revolution. 
 
 The Story Hour, Nora A. Smith, p. is. 
 
 Broken in Health 
 
 In the winter of 1758 his health broke down com- 
 pletely. He was so ill that he thought that his constitution 
 was seriously injured; and therefore withdrew to Mount 
 Vernon, where he slowly recovered. Meantime a great 
 man came at last to the head of affairs in England, and, 
 inspired by William Pitt, fleets and armies went forth to 
 conquer. Reviving at the prospect, Washington offered his 
 services to General Forbes who had come to undertake the
 
 1 62 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 task which Braddock had failed to accomplish. Once 
 more English troops appeared, and a large army was 
 gathered. Then the old story began again and Washington, 
 whose proffered aid had been gladly received, chafed and 
 worried all summer at the fresh spectacle of delay and 
 stupidity which was presented to him. His advice was 
 disregarded, and all the weary business of building new 
 roads through the wilderness was once more undertaken. 
 A detachment, sent forward contrary to his views, met 
 with the fate of Braddock, and as the summer passed, and 
 autumn changed to winter, it looked as if nothing would 
 be gained in return for so much toil and preparation. But 
 Pitt had conquered the Ohio in Canada, news arrived of 
 the withdrawal of the French, the army pressed on, and, 
 with Washington in the van, marching into the smoking 
 ruins of Fort Duquesne, henceforth to be known to the 
 world as Fort Pitt. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 90. 
 
 A Brief but Courtly Courtship 
 
 As the story runs, Colonel Washington, attended by 
 his servant Bishop, was crossing William's Ferry, which 
 was directly opposite the Chamberlayne house, on his way 
 to the capital of the colony, where he had some business of 
 importance with the Governor. Major Chamberlayne met 
 him at the ferry, and pressed him to accept the hospitality 
 of his house for a day or two. Colonel Washington at first 
 declined, in consequence of the important business that 
 claimed his presence in Williamsburg ; but when the hospi- 
 table gentleman added to his persuasions the inducement 
 that the loveliest widow in all Virginia was under his roof, 
 the young officer loosed his bridle rein, accepted the invita- 
 tion to dine with Major Chamberlayne, and gave Bishop 
 orders to have the horses ready for departure at an early 
 hour in the afternoon. 
 
 The story of this brief soldierly wooing has often been
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 163 
 
 told, but by no person who had better opportunities of 
 giving a correct version of it than Mr. G. W. P. Custis, in 
 his "Recollections of Washington:" He says that "they 
 were mutually pleased on this their first interview, nor is it 
 remarkable; they were of an age when impressions are 
 strongest. The lady was fair to behold, of fascinating 
 manners and splendidly endowed with worldly benefits. 
 The hero fresh from his early fields, redolent of fame, and 
 with a form on which 'every god did seem to set his seal, 
 to give the world assurance of a man.' The morning 
 passed pleasantly away. Evening came, with Bishop, true 
 to his orders, firm at his post, holding his favorite charger 
 with one hand, while with the other he was waiting to 
 offer the ready stirrup. The sun sank in the horizon, yet 
 the colonel appeared not. And then the old soldier mar- 
 veled at his chief's delay. 'Twas strange, 'twas passing 
 strange,' surely he was not wont to be a single moment 
 behind his appointments, for he was the most punctual of 
 all men. Meantime the host enjoyed the scene of the 
 veteran on duty at the -gate while the Colonel was so agree- 
 ably employed in the parlor, and proclaiming that no guest 
 ever left his house after sunset, his military visitor was, 
 without much difficulty, persuaded to order Bishop to put 
 up the horses for the night. The sun rode high in the 
 heavens the ensuing day when the enamored soldier pressed 
 with his spur his charger's side, and speeded on his way to 
 the seat of the government." 
 
 Upon his return from Williamsburg, Colonel Wash- 
 ington visited Mrs. Custis in her own house. Tradition says 
 that upon this occasion the lover was rowed across the 
 river by a slave, who, when asked whether his mistress was 
 at home, replied, "Yes, sah, I reckon you's the man what's 
 expected" ; which proves that the fair widow was in readi- 
 ness to receive her guest. The engagement evidently took 
 place during this visit, as the lovers did not meet again 
 until the time of their marriage, the following January. 
 
 Martha Washington, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, p. 32.
 
 1 64 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "A Few Words" to His Affianced 
 
 (Letter to Mrs. Martha Custis.) 
 
 "JULY 20, 1758. 
 
 "We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is 
 starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity 
 to send a few words to one whose life is now inseparable 
 from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our 
 pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually 
 going to you as another self. That an all-powerful Provi- 
 dence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of your ever 
 faithful and affectionate friend," 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings- of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 6. 
 
 "The Story of an Untold Love'' 
 
 It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife 
 of his friend George William Fairfax, but the evidence has 
 not been produced. On the contrary, though the two 
 corresponded, it was in a purely platonic fashion, very 
 different from the strain of lovers, and that the corre- 
 spondence implied nothing is to be found in the fact that he 
 and Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax daughter) also wrote 
 each other quite as frequently and on. the same friendly 
 footing; indeed, Washington evidently classed them in the 
 same category, when he stated that " I have wrote to my 
 two female correspondents." Thus the claim seems due, 
 like many another of Washington's mythical love-affairs, 
 rather to the desire of descendants to link their family 
 "to a star" than to more substantial basis. Washington 
 did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from the frontier, "I 
 should think our time more agreeably spent, believe me, 
 in playing a part in Cato, with the company you mention, 
 and myself doubly happy in being the Juba to such a 
 Marcia as you must make," but private theatricals then
 
 THE YOUNG COLONEL GOES COURTING 165 
 
 no more than now implied "passionate love." What is 
 more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time teasing him about 
 another woman, and to her hints Washington replied: 
 
 "If you allow that any honor can be derived from my 
 opposition . . . you destroy the merit of it entirely 
 in me by attributing my anxiety to the animating prospect 
 of possessing Mrs. Custis, when I need not tell you, guess 
 yourself. Should not my own Honor and the country's 
 welfare be the excitement? 'Tis true I profess myself a 
 votary of love. I acknowledge that a lady is in the case, 
 and further I confess that this lady is known to you. Yes, 
 Madame, as well as she is one who is too sensible of her 
 charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and 
 must ever submit to. I feel the force of her amiable beauties 
 in the recollection of a thousand tender passages that I 
 would wish to obliterate, till I am bid revive them. But 
 experience, alas! sadly reminds me how impossible this is, 
 and evinces an opinion which I have long entertained that 
 there is a Destiny which has the control of our actions, not 
 to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature. 
 You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn 
 myself, into an honest confession of a simple Fact. Mis- 
 construe not my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. 
 The world has no business to know the object of my love, 
 declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. 
 One thing above all things in this world I wish to know, 
 and only one person of your acquaintance can solve me 
 that, or guess my meaning?" 
 
 The Trite George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 91. 
 
 The Fall of Fort Duquesne 
 
 As they approached Fort Duquesne, the mementos of 
 former disasters became more frequent ; and the bones of 
 those massacred in the defeat of Braddock still lay scattered 
 about the battlefield, whitening in the sun. 
 
 At length the army arrived in sight of Fort Duquesne,
 
 1 66 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 advancing with great precaution, and expecting a vigorous 
 defense ; but that formidable fortress, the terror and scourge 
 of the frontier, and the object of such warlike enterprise, 
 fell without a blow. . . On the 25th of November, 
 Washington, with the advanced guard, marched in, and 
 planted the British flag on the yet smoking ruins. 
 
 One of the first offices of the army was to collect and 
 bury, in one common tomb, the bones of their fellow- 
 soldiers who had fallen in the battles of Braddock and 
 Grant. In this pious duty it is said every one joined ; and 
 some veterans assisted, with heavy hearts and frequent 
 ejaculations of poignant feeling, who had been present in 
 the scenes of defeat and carnage. 
 
 The reduction of Fort Duquesne terminated, as Wash- 
 ington had foreseen, the troubles and dangers of the southern 
 frontiers. The French domination of the Ohio was at an 
 end; the Indians, as usual, paid homage to the conquering 
 power, and a treaty of peace was concluded with all the tribes 
 between the Ohio and the lakes. 
 
 With this campaign ended, for the present, the military 
 career of Washington. His great object was attained, the 
 restoration of quiet and security to his native province ; and 
 having abandoned all hope of attaining rank in the regular 
 army, and his health being much impaired, he gave up his 
 commission at the close of the year, and retired from the 
 service, followed by the applause of his fellow-soldiers, and 
 the gratitude and admiration of all his countrymen. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. I. p. 337. 
 
 Elected to the House of Burgesses 
 
 Washington's anxiety to end the Fort Duquesne ex- 
 pedition and the war must have made him an intolerable 
 bore to everyone with whom he came in contact every 
 one but Mrs. Custis, of course. About this time it was 
 natural that Washington should have had more than his 
 ordinarily high regard for his personal appearance; for a
 
 i6 7 
 
 man who is in love and has been accepted, always betrays 
 his secret by a general improvement of his dress. Washing- 
 ton, on the contrary, went to the opposite extremes. The 
 uniform of the army, like that of all other armies of the 
 period, was inexpressibly inappropriate to soldiers whose 
 only duties were not drill, parade, and lounging, so Wash- 
 ington reformed it. The cumbrous, heavy coats were 
 exchanged for thick flannel shirts, and the top coats for 
 blankets, so that every volunteer became as unsightly and 
 personally effective as an Indian. To popularize this dress, 
 Washington himself wore it, though probably .not in the 
 presence of his sweetheart, and it is greatly to be regretted 
 that no one thought to paint his picture at that time, for 
 the picture would have impressed the man upon the public 
 mind with an informal distinctness that would have been 
 proof against all subsequent Fourth of July nonsense. 
 
 As Washington purposed retiring from military service 
 at the close of the campaign, he proposed himself for election 
 to the House of Burgesses. This move must not be con- 
 strued to indicate the usual desire of retired soldiers to go 
 into politics, for in Washington's day American legislators 
 devoted themselves to public business, instead of personal 
 aggrandizement. Although the county for which he stood 
 was one in which he had frequently been obliged to enforce 
 military customs that were distasteful to the voters' pockets, 
 and although he did not make a stump speech, he was 
 elected by a handsome majority. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 54. 
 
 Washington sent on a mission to the French 1753 
 
 Franklin announces that the Colonies must "Unite 
 
 or Die," at the Albany Convention J 7S4 
 
 Braddock defeated at Fort Duquesne 1755 
 
 Fort Duquesne taken and named Fort Pitt by the 
 
 English 1758 
 
 Washington's marriage January 6, 1759 
 
 Wolf captures Quebec 1759
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 
 The Sunshine and Glitter of the Wedding Day 
 
 As soon as Fort Duquesne had failed he hurried home, 
 resigned his commission in the last week of December, and 
 was married on January 6,1759. It was a brilliant wedding 
 party which assembled on that winter day in the little 
 church near the White House. There were gathered 
 Francis Fauquier, the gay, free-thinking, high-living gov- 
 ernor, gorgeous in scarlet and gold; British officers, red- 
 coated and gold-laced, and all the neighboring gentry in the 
 handsomest clothes that London credit could furnish. The 
 bride was attired in silk and satin, laces and brocade, with 
 pearls on her neck and in her ears; while the bridegroom 
 appeared in blue and silver trimmed with scarlet, and with 
 gold buckles at his knees and on his shoes. After the 
 ceremony the bride was taken home in a coach and six, 
 her husband riding beside her, mounted on a splendid 
 horse and followed by all the gentlemen of the party. 
 
 The sunshine and glitter of the wedding-day must 
 have appeared to Washington deeply appropriate, for he 
 certainly seemed to have all that heart of man could desire. 
 Just twenty-seven, in the first flush of young manhood, 
 keen of sense and yet wise in experience, life must have 
 looked very fair and smiling. He had left the army with 
 a well-earned fame, and had come home to take the wife 
 of his choice and enjoy the good-will and respect of all men. 
 While away on his last campaign he had been elected a 
 member of the House of Burgesses, and when he took his 
 seat on removing to Williamsburg, three months after his 
 marriage, Mr. Robinson, the speaker, thanked him publicly 
 
 (168)
 
 *PO- 
 
 Engraved 'by J . itoyers from the Painting by John Woolaston. 
 MRS MARTHA DANDRIDGE CUSTIS WASHINGTON
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 169 
 
 in eloquent words for his services to the country. Wash- 
 ington rose to reply, but he was so utterly unable to talk 
 about himself that he stood before the House stammering 
 and blushing, until the speaker said, " Sit down, Mr. Wash- 
 ington ; your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses 
 the power of any language I possess." It is an old story, 
 and as graceful as it is old, but it was all very grateful to 
 Washington, especially as the words of the speaker bodied 
 forth the feelings of Virginia. Such an atmosphere, filled 
 with deserved respect and praise, was pleasant to begin 
 with, and then he had everything else too. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 98. 
 
 Married Life at Mount Vernon 
 
 For sixteen years George Washington, benedict, was 
 permitted to pursue, at Mount Vernon, the life of an En- 
 glish country gentleman. His wife, one of the most wealthy 
 women of the country, was unable to manage her large 
 estates, and Washington, of course, added this care to his 
 own. Aside from his father's small legacy, the death of 
 his half-brother, Lawrence, and of Lawrence's only child, 
 had left Mount Vernon and other valuable properties to 
 him. Like other Virginia planters, Washington owned 
 slaves. He deplored this necessity and always used his 
 influence to have the institution abolished gradually and 
 legally. He cared for his wife's children and looked after 
 their estates. When the daughter "Patsy" Custis died, 
 her property reverted to her mother, adding greatly to the 
 wealth of the Washingtons. The master of Mount Vernon 
 ordered wearing apparel, liveries for his servants, equipages, 
 harness, and accoutrements from England. The Wash- 
 ingtons entertained hospitably, kept a bench and a stud, 
 and rode to hounds with the Fairfaxes and others of the 
 neighboring gentry. When Mrs. Washington rode out she 
 had her coach and four and was attended by black postilions 
 in white and scarlet.
 
 1 70 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 For years after the French and Indian War, Colonel 
 Washington was the champion of his former soldiers, 
 looking after the interests of many of them, once taking a 
 journey down the Ohio into the wilds of Kentucky to claim 
 lands which some men, who could not afford to go them- 
 selves, had received in payment of their services with him 
 on the frontier. One of these, a major who had been 
 reproved for cowardice at Great Meadows, thinking he had 
 been omitted in the distribution of land, wrote an abusive 
 letter to Washington about it. To him the Colonel replied : 
 
 " Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. 
 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 of 
 the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness 
 you might have known, by attending to a public gazette, 
 that you had your full quantity of ten thousand acres of 
 land allowed you. But suppose you had really fallen short, 
 do you think your superlative merit entitles you to a greater 
 indulgence than others? . . . All my concern is that 
 I ever engaged in behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you are." 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar Wayne Whipple, July 31 to Aug. 6, 1910. 
 
 Taking Charge of the Custis Estate 
 
 " WILLIAMSBURG, i May, 1759. 
 " To Robert Gary, Merchant, London. 
 
 "Sir, The enclosed is the clergyman's certificate of 
 my marriage with Mrs. Martha Custis, properly authen- 
 ticated. You will therefore for the future please address 
 all your letters which relate to the affairs of the late Daniel 
 Parke Custis to me, as by marriage I am entitled to a third 
 part of that estate, and am invested likewise with a can; 
 of the other two- thirds by a decree of our General Court',
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 171 
 
 which I obtained in order to strengthen the power I before 
 had in consequence of my wife's administration. 
 
 "At present this serves only to advise you of the 
 above change, and at the same time to acquaint you that 
 I shall continue to make you the same consignments of 
 tobacco as usual, and will endeavor to increase them in 
 proportion as I find myself and the estate benefited thereby. 
 
 " On the other side is an invoice of some goods which 
 I beg you to send me by the first ship bound either for the 
 Potomac or to the Rappahannock, as I am in immediate 
 want of them. Let them be insured, and in case of accident, 
 reshipped without delay. Direct for me at Mount Vernon, 
 Potomac River, Virginia. The former is the name of my 
 seat, and the other of the river on which it is situated. " 
 
 About a year after this he had occasion to write sub- 
 stantially as follows: "By this conveyance you will receive 
 invoices of such goods as are wanting, which please to send 
 as there directed by Captain J., in the spring, and let me 
 beseech you to give the necessary directions for purchasing 
 them upon the best terms. It is needless for me to par- 
 ticularize the sorts, qualities or taste I would choose to have 
 them in, unless my directions are observed; and you may 
 believe me when I tell you that instead of getting things 
 good and fashionable in their several kinds, we often have 
 articles sent us that could only have been used by our 
 forefathers in days of yore. 
 
 "It is a custom, I have some reason to believe, with 
 many of the shopkeepers and tradesmen of London, when 
 they know goods are bespoken for exportation to palm 
 sometimes very old, and sometimes very slight and indif- 
 ferent ones upon us taking care at the same time to 
 advance ten, fifteen, or perhaps twenty per cent, upon 
 them in price. " 
 
 Washington, Jacob Abbott, p. 70. 
 1-13
 
 172 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 A Kind and Indulgent Stepfather 
 
 It is reported that he was a good stepfather, and, to 
 quote from England's new national anthem, "it's greatly 
 to his credit," for usually the first move of a man who 
 marries a pretty widow is to get her children out of the way 
 by sending them off to boarding-school. But Washington 
 loved the Custis children. He did all in his power to 
 prevent his stepson making a fool of himself by marrying 
 too early, and when Miss Custis was on her death-bed her 
 stepfather was not ashamed to spend a great deal of time 
 on his knees in prayer for -her recovery. Indeed, he seems 
 never to have outlived the habit of praying; like every 
 other man of noble nature, high aspirations, and trying 
 experiences, he frequently came upon times when the 
 Almighty was the only being to whom he could talk without 
 being misunderstood. 
 
 He was one of the very few Southern planters who 
 considered that no man was too good to manage his own 
 business. Instead of lying abed far into the morning, 
 getting up with a headache,, and making a household 
 nuisance of himself, he arose early and saw that the day's 
 work of the plantation was properly started. He could 
 handle a shovel or ax, and he invented a plow, had it made 
 in one of his shops, and tested it with his own carriage 
 horses. He owned slaves and kept them busy, but there 
 is no record of his having "licked his nigger," and by his 
 will he provided for the freeing of them all; he had long 
 desired to do this and was prevented only by the family 
 complications which the Custis blacks and his own had 
 formed by marrying. 
 
 In short, Washington was a model young man. We 
 have alleged models for youth nowadays, but they are 
 short, slight, feeble in health, and feeble of will ; their blood 
 is thin, their arms small, their eyes weak, and their heads 
 weaker. They do nothing wrong, for about the same 
 reason that a corpse refrains from sin, but they do nothing
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 173 
 
 right except as a matter of habit and superior convenience. 
 They do not force themselves upon society, for they have 
 no force, nor anything to sustain them when among other 
 men. But Washington was evidently a fine specimen of 
 physical manhood; tall, broad, deep-chested, hot-blooded, 
 rich, admired by every one, he had every physical quality 
 and personal environment that is named when men explain 
 how certain other fine fellows have gone to the bad. But 
 instead of aping the English "blood," as most of the lively, 
 well-to-do young fellows of the present day are doing, he 
 established a standard for the American blood. He was 
 a faithful husband, and a very affectionate brevet parent. 
 He was a staunch friend and an honorable master, the last 
 named capacity being the rarest of all in which men excel. 
 He never was too proud, lazy, or careless to manage his 
 own business, and in his dealings with other men his honesty 
 did not begin and end with paying his debts. He used the 
 world without abusing it, enjoying many a good dinner, 
 dance, fox-hunt, and horse-race, yet he attended church 
 as regularly as he went to more festive gatherings, and was 
 equal to an immense amount of praying when occasion 
 demanded it. Neither riches nor personal feeling could 
 make him ashamed to go to the legislature, or, when there, 
 to make speeches for the sake of hearing himself talk, or 
 burden the mails with printed reproductions of his efforts; 
 yet when the occasion for talk was really presented, he 
 showed himself as eloquent a speaker as was on record in 
 America. Instead of straining always for something new, 
 he had the noble quality of contentment, striving in all 
 public and private affairs to make the most of a bird in 
 hand, rather than chase phantasmal flocks and coveys 
 through unfamiliar bushes. If any young man has, through 
 familiarity with Washington's name and alleged lineaments, 
 been inclined to regard the Father of His Country as a 
 prig, let him search history and tradition for a finer illus- 
 tration of what a full-blooded man should be. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 59-
 
 174 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Life of a Virginia Planter 
 
 It was no light matter to be a Virginia planter, when 
 one had so high a standard of excellence as George Wash- 
 ington had. The main crop which he raised was tobacco, 
 and the immediate attention which it required was only 
 during a small part of the year; but, as we have seen, a 
 successful planter was also a man of business, and really 
 the governor of a little province. Many planters con- 
 tented themselves with leaving the care of their estates and 
 their negroes to overseers, while they themselves spent 
 their time in visiting and receiving visits, in sport and 
 politics. That was not Washington's way. He might 
 easily have done so, for he had money enough; but such a 
 life would have been very distasteful to a man who had 
 undergone the hardships of a soldier, and had acquired 
 habits of thoroughness and of love of work. It would 
 have been no pleasure to Washington to be idle and self- 
 indulgent, while seeing his fences tumbling down, and 
 knowing that he was spending more money for everything 
 than was necessary. The man who attends to his own 
 affairs, and sees everything thriving under wise manage- 
 ment, is the most contented man, and Washington's heart 
 was in his work. 
 
 So he looked after everything himself. He rose early, 
 often before light, when the days were short. He break- 
 fasted lightly at seven in the summer and at eight in the 
 winter, and after breakfast was in the saddle visiting the 
 different parts of his estate, and looking after any improve- 
 ments he had ordered. He was a splendid horseman and 
 very fond of breaking in new horses. Dinner followed at 
 two o'clock ; lie had an early tea; and when living at 
 home, he was often in bed by nine o'clock. 
 
 These were regular old-fashioned hours, and the life 
 which he led enabled him to accomplish a vast amount. 
 He kept no clerk, but wrote out in his large round hand all
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 1 7 5 
 
 his letters and orders, entered every item in his day-book 
 and ledger, and was scrupulously exact about every farthing 
 of his accounts. He did not guess how he stood at any 
 time, but he knew precisely how last year's crop compared 
 with this year's; how many head of cattle he had; how 
 many acres he had planted with tobacco; what wood he 
 had cut ; and just what goods he had ordered from London. 
 He had been appointed by the court, guardian of his wife's 
 two children, who had inherited property from their father ; 
 and he kept all their accounts separate, with the minutest 
 care, for he held a trust to be sacred. 
 
 Twice a year he sent to his agent in London a list of 
 such articles as he needed; there were plows, hoes, spades, 
 and other agricultural implements; drugs, groceries of 
 various sorts, clothes both for his family and for his negroes ; 
 tools, books, busts and ornaments; household furniture, 
 and linen. Indeed, as one reads the long invoices which 
 Washington sent to London, he wonders how people man- 
 aged who had to send across the Atlantic for everything 
 they might possibly need for the next six months. Then 
 there were special orders for the children; for "Master 
 Custis, six years old," there were, besides Irish holland, 
 fine cambric, gloves, shoes, stockings, hats, combs, and 
 brushes, such items as these, "one pair handsome silver 
 shoe and knee buckles, ten shillings' worth of toys, and six 
 little books, for children beginning to read;" while for 
 "Miss Custis, four years old," were a great variety of 
 clothes, including "two caps, two pairs of ruffles, two 
 tuckers, bibs, and aprons if fashionable," and finally, a 
 "fashionable dressed baby, ten shillings, and other toys" 
 to the same amount. 
 
 He required his agent to send him, with his bill for all 
 the goods, the original bills of the merchants who sold the 
 goods to the agent ; then he copied all these orders and bills, 
 giving every item, and in this way he had before him in his 
 books an exact statement, in every particular, of his trans- 
 actions.
 
 176 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 He watched the market closely, and knew just what the 
 varying price of tobacco was, and what he might expect 
 for any other goods which he sent to be sold. He was 
 determined that everything from his plantation should be 
 of value and 'should receive its full price. So high a reputa- 
 tion did he secure for honesty that it was said that any 
 barrel of flour that bore the brand of George Washington, 
 Mount Vernon, was exempted from the customary inspec- 
 tion in the West Indian ports. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. IOQ. 
 
 Manufacturer and Fisherman as Well as Farmer 
 
 The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be 
 better understood when the condition of a Virginia planta- 
 ton is realized. Before the Revolution practically every- 
 thing the plantation could not produce was ordered yearly 
 from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the 
 invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor 
 did this change rapidly after the Revolution, and during 
 the period of Washington's management almost everything 
 was bought in yearly supplies. This system compelled each 
 plantation to be a little world unto itself ; indeed, the three 
 hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate went far to make 
 it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one of 
 Washington's standing orders to his overseers was to " buy 
 nothing you can make yourselves." Thus the planting 
 and gathering of the crops were but a small part of the work 
 to be done. 
 
 A corps of workmen some negroes, some indentured 
 servants, and some hired laborers were kept on the 
 estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied some, doing not merely 
 the work of the plantation, but whatever business was 
 brought to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept 
 them and the mansion-house supplied with charcoal. A 
 gang of carpenters were kept busy, and their spare time was 
 utilized in framing houses to be put up in Alexandria, or in
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 177 
 
 the "Federal City/' as Washington was called before the 
 death of its namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept 
 constantly employed, and masons utilized the product of 
 his labor. The gardener's gang had charge of the kitchen- 
 garden, and set out thousands of grape-vines, fruit-trees, 
 and hedge-plants. 
 
 A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for 
 the hands, but produced a fine flour that commanded extra 
 price in the market. In 1786 Washington asserted that his 
 flour was "equal, I believe, in quality to any made in this 
 country, ' ' and the Mount Vernon brand was of such 
 value that some money was made by buying outside wheat 
 and grinding it into flour. The coopers of the estate made 
 the barrels in which it was packed, and Washington's 
 schooner carried it to market. 
 
 The estate had its own shoemaker and in time a staff 
 of weavers was trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, 
 though with only a modicum of the force he presently had, 
 Washington ordered from London " 450 ells of Osnabrig, 
 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton and 
 100 yards of Dutch blanket." By 1768 he was manu- 
 facturing the chief part of his requirements, for in that year 
 his weavers produced eight hundred and fifteen and one- 
 quarter yards of linen, three hundred and sixty-five and one- 
 quarter yards of woolen, one hundred and forty-four yards 
 of linsey, and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen 
 hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards, one man and 
 five negro girls having been employed. When once the 
 looms were well organized an infinite variety of cloths was 
 produced, the accounts mentioning " striped woolen, woolen 
 plaided, cotton striped, linen, wool-birdseye, cotton filled 
 with wool, linsey, M.'s and O.'s, cotton India dimity, cotton 
 jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped with silk, 
 Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counter- 
 pain, birdseye diaper, kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed- 
 ticking, herring-box, and shalloon."
 
 178 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 One of the most important features of the estate was 
 its fishery, for the catch, salted down, largely served in 
 place of meat for the negroes' food. Of this advantage 
 Washington wrote, "This river ... is well supplied 
 with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, 
 in the spring, with the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, 
 bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c. Several valuable fisheries 
 appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in short, is one 
 entire fishery. " Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine 
 was drawn, chiefly for herring and shad, and in good years 
 this not merely amply supplied the home requirements, but 
 allowed of sales; four or five shillings the thousand for 
 herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the 
 average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand 
 herring were made in a single year. 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 120. 
 
 Where to Build the New Church 
 
 There was always a Washington to surprise people. 
 There was the still, self-controlled, grave man, who suddenly 
 flashed forth a resolute act, seizing the opportunity, and 
 doing the one thing which was instantly demanded; and 
 there was the quick-tempered fiery man who held himself in 
 check, waited for other people to speak and act, and then 
 came forward with a few plain, deliberate words, which 
 showed that he had grasped the whole situation, and could 
 be depended on to carry through his resolution patiently 
 and persistently. 
 
 There were, as I have said, few towns in Virginia. 
 The divisions were by parishes, after the old English custom, 
 and so when a man was of importance in his neighborhood 
 he was very apt to be a vestryman in his parish. Mount 
 Vernon was in Truro parish, and Washington was a vestry- 
 man there, as also in Fairfax parish. It happened that the 
 church of Truro parish had fallen into decay, and was in 
 sorry condition. It was necessary to build a new one, and
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 179 
 
 several meetings were held, for two parties had sprung up, 
 one wished to rebuild on the same spot ; and another urging 
 some location more convenient to the parishioners, for the 
 place where the old church had stood was not a central one. 
 Finally a meeting was called to settle the matter. One of 
 Washington's friends, George Mason, a man of fine speech, 
 rose up and spoke most eloquently in favor of holding to the 
 old site; there their fathers had worshipped, and there had 
 their bodies been laid to rest. Every one seemed moved 
 and ready to accept Mason's proposal. 
 
 Washington had also come prepared with a plea. He 
 had not Mason's power of speech, but he took from his pocket 
 a roll of paper and spread it before the meeting. On this 
 sheet he had drawn off a plan of Truro parish; upon the 
 plan were marked plainly the site of the old church, the place 
 where every parishioner lived, and the spot which he advised 
 for the site for the new church. He said very little; he 
 simply showed the people his survey, and let them see for 
 themselves that every consideration of convenience and 
 fairness pointed to the new site as the one to be chosen. It 
 was central, and no one could fail to see that the church 
 was first of all for the living. His argument was the argu- 
 ment of good sense and reasonableness, and it carried the 
 day against Mason's eloquent speech. Pohick Church, 
 which was built on the new site, was constructed from plans 
 which Washington himself drew. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 116. 
 
 Pleasantest Glimpses of Family Feeling 
 
 The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, 
 however, in his relations with his wife's children and grand- 
 children. John Parke and Martha Parke Custis or " Jack " 
 and "Patsy," as he called them were at the date of his 
 marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in the 
 first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after 
 he had become their stepfather, Washington ordered " 10
 
 i8o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 shillings worth fo Toys, " " 6 little books for children begin- 
 ning to read," and "i fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 
 shillings." When this latter shared the usual fate, he fur- 
 ther wrote for " i fashionable dress Doll to cost a guinea," 
 and for "a box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or 
 Comfits." A little later he ordered a Bible and Prayer- 
 Book for each, "neatly bound in Turkey," with names 
 " in gilt letters on the inside of the cover, " followed ere long 
 by an order for " i very good Spinet." As Patsy grew 
 to girlhood she developed fits, and " solely on her account 
 to try (by the advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters 
 on her Complaint," Washington took. the family over the 
 mountains and camped at the "Warm Springs" in 1769, 
 with "little benefit," for, after ailing four years longer, 
 "she was seized with one of her usual Fits & expired in 
 it, in less than two minutes without uttering a word, or 
 groan, or scarce a sigh." "The Sweet Innocent Girl," 
 Washington wrote, " entered into a more happy & peaceful 
 abode than she has met with in the afflicted Path she has 
 hitherto trod," but none the less "it is an easier matter 
 to conceive than to describe the distress of this family" at 
 the loss of ".dear Patsy Custis. " 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 29. 
 
 Beating a Rascally Poacher 
 
 He hunted almost every day in the season, usually 
 with success, but always with persistence. Like all true 
 sportsmen Washington had a horror of illicit sport of any 
 kind, and although he shot comparatively little, he was 
 much annoyed by a vagabond who lurked in the creeks 
 and inlets on his estate, and slaughtered his canvas- 
 back ducks. Hearing the report of a gun one morning, he 
 rode through the bushes and saw his poaching friend just 
 shoving off in a canoe. The rascal raised his gun and cov- 
 ered his pursuer, whereupon Washington, the cold-blooded 
 and patient person so familiar in the myths, dashed his
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 181 
 
 horse headlong into the water, seized the gun, grasped the 
 canoe, and dragging it ashore pulled the man out of the boat 
 and beat him soundly. If the man had yielded at once he 
 would probably have got off easily enough, but when he put 
 Washington's life in imminent peril, the wild fighting spirit 
 flared up as usual. 
 
 The hunting season was of course that of the most 
 lavish hospitality. There was always a great deal of dining 
 about, but Mount Vernon was the chief resort, and its doors, 
 ever open, were flung far back when people came for a 
 meet, or gathered to talk over the events of a good run. 
 Company was the rule and solitude the exception. When 
 only the family were at dinner, the fact, was written down 
 in the diary with great care as an unusual event, for Wash- 
 ington was the soul of hospitality, and although he kept 
 early hours, he loved society and a houseful of people. 
 Profoundly reserved and silent as to himself, a lover of 
 solitude so far as his own thoughts and feelings were con- 
 cerned, he was far from being a solitary man in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the word. He liked life and gaiety and con- 
 versation, he liked music and dancing or a game of cards 
 when the weather was bad, and he enjoyed heartily the 
 presence of young people and of his own friends. So Mount 
 Vernon was always full of guests, and the master noted in 
 his diary that although he owned more than a hundred cows 
 he was obliged, nevertheless, to buy butter, which suggests 
 an experience not unknown to gentlemen farmers of any 
 period, and also that company was never lacking in that 
 generous, open house overlooking the Potomac. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 112. 
 
 A Facetious Letter 
 
 President Taft said in the course of his speech to the 
 Jerseymen on Washington's birthday that he was not keen 
 to institute comparisons between the first President and his 
 successors, but there was one thing he should like to know,
 
 1 82 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and that was whether Mr. Washington had a sense of humor. 
 He had never seen any evidences of it. We commend to 
 the President's attention the following illuminating docu- 
 ment now in the possession of Mr. Julian E. Ingle, Jr., of 
 this city, who is a great-great-great-nephew of both 
 George and Martha: 
 
 Mount Vernon, 28th August, 1762. 
 Dear Sir: I was favoured with your Epistle wrote on 
 a certain 25th of July, when you ought to have been at 
 Church, praying as becomes every good Christian Man who 
 has as much to answer for as you have strange it is that 
 you will be so blind to truth that the enlightning sounds 
 of the Gospel cannot reach your Ear, nor no Examples 
 awaken you to a sense of Goodness could you but behold 
 with what religious zeal I hye me to Church on every Lord's 
 day, it would do your heart good, and fill it, I hope, with 
 equal fervency but hark'ee I am told you have lately 
 introduced into your Family, a certain production which 
 you are lost in admiration of, and spend so much time in 
 contemplating the just proportions of its parts, the ease, 
 and conveniences with which it abounds, that it is thought 
 you will have little time to animadvert upon the prospect 
 of-your Crops, &c., pray how will this be reconciled to that 
 anxious care and vigilance, which is so escencially necessary 
 at a time when our growing Property meaning the Tobacco 
 is assailed by every villainous worm that has had an exist- 
 ence since the days of Noah (how unkind it was of that Noah, 
 now I have mentioned his name, to suffer such a brood of 
 Vermin to get a birth in the Ark) but perhaps you may be 
 as well of as we are that is, have no Tobacco for them to 
 eat, and there I think we nicked the Dogs, as I think to 
 do you if you expect any more but not without a full 
 assurance of being with a very sincere regard, 
 D Sir, Yr Mo Affect. & Obed., 
 
 G. WASHINGTON. 
 P. S. don't forget to make my Compls. to Mrs. Bassett,
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 183 
 
 Miss Dudy, and the little ones, for Miss Dudy cannot be 
 classed with small People without offering her great injus- 
 tice. I shall see you, I expect, about the first of November. 
 
 To Coin Bassett, at Eltham. 
 
 The "new production" mentioned in the letter was a 
 son and heir over whose birth Colonel Bassett was rejoicing. 
 " Miss Dudy " was Miss Judy Diggs, the daughter of a neigh^ 
 boring farmer. Miss Judy's physical prowess was famous, 
 and on one occasion, which Washington doubtless remem- 
 bered, she had beaten a valiant youth of the community 
 in a wrestling bout. 
 
 Harper's Weekly, March 5, 1910, p. 5. 
 
 A Manly, Wholesome, Many-sided Life 
 
 Take it for all in all, it was a manly, wholesome, many- 
 sided life. It kept Washington young and strong, both 
 mentally and physically. When he was forty he flung 
 the iron bar, at some village sports, to a point which no 
 competitor could approach. There was no man in all 
 Virginia who could ride a horse with such a powerful and 
 assured seat. There was no man who could journey farther 
 on foot, and no man at Williamsburg who showed at the 
 governor's receptions such a commanding presence, or 
 who walked with such a strong and elastic step. As with 
 the body, so with the mind. He never rusted. A prac- 
 tical carpenter and smith, he brought the same quiet 
 intelligence and firm will to the forging of iron or the felling 
 and sawing of trees that he had displayed in fighting France. 
 The life of a country gentleman did not dull or stupefy him, 
 or lead him to gross indulgences. He remained well-made 
 and athletic, strong and enduring, keen in perception and 
 in sense, and warm 'in his feelings and affections. Many 
 men would have become heavy and useless in these years of 
 quiet country life, but Washington simply ripened and, 
 like all slowly maturing men, grew stronger, abler, and
 
 184 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 wiser in the happy years of rest and waiting which inter- 
 vened between youth and middle age. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 114. 
 
 The Outer Man 
 
 Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, 
 Washington directed him to "take measure of a gentleman 
 who wares well-made cloaths of the following size: to wit, 
 6 feet high and proportionally made if anything rather 
 slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty 
 long arms and thighs. You will take care to make the 
 breeches longer than those you sent me last, and I would 
 have you keep the measure of the cloaths you now make, 
 and if any alteration is required in my next it shall be 
 pointed out." About this time too, he ordered "6 pr. 
 Man's riding Gloves rather large than the middle size, " 
 
 and several dozen pairs of stockings, "to be long, 
 and tolerably large. " 
 
 The earliest known description of Washington was 
 written in 1760 by his companion-in-arms and friend 
 George Mercer, who attempted a- "portraiture" in the 
 following words: "He may be described as being straight 
 as an Indian measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, 
 and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the 
 House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame is padded with 
 well-developed muscles, indicating great strength. His 
 bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is 
 wide shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is 
 neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather 
 long legs and arms. His head is well shaped though not 
 large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large 
 and straight rather than a prominent nose; blue-gray 
 penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and over- 
 hung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, 
 with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good 
 firm chin. He has a. clear though rather a colorless pale
 
 THE WEALTHY PLANTER OF MOUNT VERNON 185 
 
 skin, which burns with the sun. A pleasing, benevolent, 
 though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair, which 
 he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly 
 closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective 
 teeth. His features are regular and placid, though flexible 
 and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotion. 
 In conversation he looks you full in the face, is deliberate, 
 deferential and engaging. His demeanor at all times 
 composed and dignified. His movements and gestures are 
 graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid horseman. " 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 38. 
 
 Social Diversions and the -Dismal Swamp Company 
 
 There is a series of notes in one of the diaries, describing 
 the continued festivities, day after day, when the British 
 frigate Boston arrived in the river just in front of Belvoir. 
 Sir Thomas Adams was the commander. The officers were 
 made at home in Mount Vernon and at Belvoir. Breakfast 
 parties and dinner parties varied the ordinary life, and en 
 board the frigate there were occasional tea parties. Wash- 
 ington, the Fairfaxes, and the other rich planters on the 
 Potomac had beautiful barges, which had been built for 
 them in England, and these barges were manned by negroes 
 in uniform, with the neatness and precision of the navy or 
 of our best modern boatmen. . . . -." 
 
 They were not far from Annapolis, and he and Mrs. 
 Washington would visit that capital when the Legislature 
 was in session, meeting an elegant, though not very large 
 society. There were dinners and balls during the session, 
 and occasional efforts at theatricals. Washington was 
 always fond of the theatre; but in his day he had few 
 opportunities for gratifying this taste. He danced at 
 balls, and though the tradition is that he was a ceremonious 
 and grave partner, that tradition probably belongs rather 
 to a later period than to these days of his early marriage. 
 Among the articles imported for his wife and her daughter, 
 masks are mentioned.
 
 1 86 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 He engaged himself, with other men of enterprise in his 
 neighborhood, in a plan to drain the great Dismal Swamp in 
 Southern Virginia. He explored it personally, both on 
 horseback, as far as that was possible, and on foot where he 
 could not press his horse. At the next session of the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature, the company, in behalf of which he had 
 visited it, was chartered under the name of the " Dismal 
 Swamp Company.." With the work of that company the 
 operations which have gone forward from time to time to 
 improve that region practically began. 
 
 The Life of George Washington, Studied Anew, Edward Everett Hale, p. 128. 
 
 Treaty of peace between English and French. ... 1763 
 
 Pontiac War x ?63 
 
 Stamp Act passed by Parliament 1765 
 
 Stamp Act repealed 1766 
 
 Declaratory Act passed 1766 
 
 Duty on tea, glass, paints and paper 1767 
 
 English troops sent to Boston , 1 768 
 
 So-called " Boston Massacre" March 3, 1770
 
 From a Miniature by J. De Mare. 
 
 COLONEL WASHINGTON
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE VIRGINIA COLONEL AND THE COMING CONFLICT 
 The Stamp Act and Patrick Henry 
 
 From 1763, when the torment began, to 1774, only one 
 year before Washington took command of the Continental 
 army, he was as staunch a loyalist as could be found in 
 England. Not once in all this time, however, did he under- 
 rate the mischievous influence of any of England's inju- 
 dicious efforts. As early as 1763, when the English Board 
 of Trade ordered that colonial paper money, a small quantity 
 of which had been issued during the French and Indian war, 
 should be no longer a legal tender, he expressed the fear 
 that the order "would set the whole country in flames," 
 and when the Stamp Act was passed he wrote that there 
 were many cogent reasons why it would prove ineffectual. 
 He was also one of the first to predict that import duties, 
 for revenue, would induce frugality in America and injure 
 British manufactures. 
 
 Irving aptly says it was ominous that the first burst 
 of opposition (by a representative body) to the Stamp Act 
 should take place in Virginia, for this colony had been 
 marked above all others for its sympathy for the mother 
 country. The act was passed by Parliament in March, 
 1765 ; two months later, in the House of Burgesses, of which 
 Washington was a member, Patrick Henry presented the 
 famous resolutions declaring that Virginia's General Assem- 
 bly had the exclusive right and power to tax the inhabitants 
 of the colony, and that whoever maintained the contrary 
 was Virginia's enemy; it was at the close of his speech 
 supporting these resolutions that Henry drew the startling 
 parallels which have been repeated countless millions of 
 
 1-14 (187)
 
 i88 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 times on school-room platforms. The resolutions, slightly 
 changed in form but with all of their original spirit, were 
 passed, the frightened Lieutenant-Governor dissolved the 
 Assembly and ordered a new election, and Virginia jumped 
 ahead a century within twenty-four hours. 
 
 The stamped paper, when it arrived, was treated with 
 that peculiar quality of deference that is usually accorded 
 to smallpox. Nobody wanted it. and those who had it 
 kept it out of sight. As no legal papers were valid unless 
 written upon it, the courts closed their doors, to the delight 
 of all sinners except lawyers. The day on which the act 
 went into operation was observed throughout the country 
 as a day of mourning, the only festivities being the hanging 
 or burning in effigy of the promoters of the act. Three 
 months of this sort of thing convinced Parliament of its 
 mistake, so it could not have been so remarkably stupid 
 a body after all. . . . The act was repealed in the 
 fourth month of its operation, to the great delight of all 
 America, and of Washington, who had feared that its enforce- 
 ment "would have been more direful than is generally 
 apprehended, both to the mother country and her colonies. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 66. . . 
 
 The Grand Sachem's Prophecy 
 
 In the year 1772, Col. Washington, accompanied by 
 Dr. Craik and a considerable party of hunters, woodsmen 
 and others, proceeded to Kanawha, with a view to explore 
 the country, and make surveys of extensive and valuable 
 tracts of land. At that time the Kanawha was several 
 hundred miles remote from the frontier settlements, and 
 only accessible by Indian paths, which wound through the 
 passes of the mountains. 
 
 One day, when resting in the camp from the fatigues 
 attendant/ on so arduous an enterprise, a party of Indians 
 were discovered approaching, led by a trader. They 
 halted at a short distance, and the interpreter advancing,
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 189 
 
 declared that he was conducting a party, which consisted 
 of a grand sachem and some attendant warriors; that the 
 chief was a very great man among the northwestern tribes, 
 and the same who commanded the Indians on the fall of 
 Braddock, sixteen years before; that hearing of the visit 
 of Col. Washington to the western country, this chief set 
 out on a mission, the object of which himself would make 
 known. 
 
 The colonel received the ambassador with courtesy, 
 and having put matters in the camp in the best possible 
 order for the reception of such distinguished visitors, which 
 so short a notice would allow, the strangers were introduced. 
 Among the colonists were some fine, tall, and manly figures, 
 but as soon as the sachem approached, he in a moment 
 pointed out the hero of the Monongahela amid the group, 
 although sixteen years had elapsed since he had seen him, 
 and then only in the tumult of the battle. The Indian was 
 of lofty stature, and of a dignified and imposing appearance. 
 
 The council fire was kindled, when the grand sachem 
 addressed our Washington to the following effect : 
 
 " I am a chief, and the ruler over many tribes. My 
 influence extends to the waters of the Great Lakes, and to 
 the far Blue Mountains. I have travelled a long and a 
 weary path, that I might see the young warrior of the great 
 battle. It was on the day that the white man's blood 
 mixed with the streams of our forest, that I first beheld this 
 chief. I called to my young men and said, 'Mark yon tall 
 and daring warrior; he is not of the red-coat tribe; he 
 hath an Indian's wisdom, and his warriors fight as well; 
 himself alone is exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, 
 and he dies.' Our rifles were levelled rifles which but for 
 him knew not how to miss. 'Twas all in vain; a power 
 mightier far than we shielded him from harm. He cannot 
 die in battle. I am old, and soon shall be gathered to the 
 great council fire of my fathers in the land of the shades;
 
 1 9 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 but ere I go, there is a something bids me speak in the voice 
 of prophecy. Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man 
 and guides his destinies. He will become the chief of 
 nations, and a people yet unborn hail him as the founder 
 of a mighty empire. " 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 49. 
 
 "Our Lordly Masters in Great Britain" 
 
 Washington . .''. was growing exceedingly im- 
 patient of English misrule, and saw clearly to what it was 
 leading. "At a time," he says, "when our lordly masters 
 in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the 
 deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary 
 that something .should be done to avert the stroke, and 
 maintain the liberty which we have derived from our 
 ancestors. But the manner of doing it to answer the pur- 
 pose -effectually is the point in question. That no man 
 should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense 
 of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms, 
 I would beg leave to add, should be the last resort. We 
 have already, it is said, proved the inefncacy of addresses 
 to the throne, and remonstrances to Parliament. How far, 
 then, their attention to our rights and privileges is to be 
 awakened or alarmed by starving their trade and manu- 
 factures remains to be tried. " 
 
 He took the lead in forming an association in Virginia, 
 and he kept scrupulously to his agreement; for when he 
 sent his orders to London, he was very careful to instruct 
 his correspondents to send him none of the goods unless 
 the Act of Parliament had meantime been repealed. As 
 the times grew more exciting, Washington watched events 
 steadily. He took no step backward, but he moved forward 
 deliberately and with firmness. He did not allow himself 
 to be carried away by the passions of the time. It was all 
 very well, some said, to stop buying from England, but let 
 us stop selling also. They need our tobacco. Suppose
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 19 r 
 
 we refuse to send it unless Parliament repeals the act. 
 Washington stood out against that except as a final resource, 
 and for the reason which he stated in a letter : 
 
 " I am convinced, as much as I am of my own existence, 
 that there is no relief for us but in their distress; and I 
 think, at least I hope, that there is public 'virtue enough 
 left among us to deny ourselves everything but the bare 
 necessaries of life to accomplish this end. This we have 
 a right to do, and no power on. earth can compel us to do 
 otherwise, till it has first reduced us to the most abject 
 state of slavery. The stopping of our exports would, no 
 doubt, be a shorter method than the other to effect this 
 purpose; but if we owe money to Great Britain, nothing 
 but the last necessity can justify the non-payment of it; 
 and, therefore, I have great doubts upon this head, and 
 wish to see the other method first tried, which is legal and 
 will facilitate these payments." 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 128. 
 
 "Catch a Man before You Hang Him" 
 
 One of the earliest and most vigorous responses to the 
 oppressions of the Stamp Act and the revenue collectors 
 came from Captain Abraham Whipple of Providence, Rhode 
 Island. As captain of a small ship bearing the appropriate 
 name of the Gamecock he captured twenty-three French 
 merchant vessels, during the French and Indian war. On 
 one of Whipple 's cruises to the West Indies his little ship 
 was caught in a gale, and it became necessary to throw 
 overboard the guns and heaviest cannon balls. Just after 
 this a huge French ship hove in sight. Too much disabled 
 to cope with such an enemy, Whipple resorted to stratagem. 
 He cut up a spar into short lengths, painted them black 
 like cannon and stuck them out at the porthole. He 
 ordered the crew to put their caps on the ends of hand-spikes 
 and set them up to look like crew all ready to fire the guns. 
 With this harmless equipment, Whipple bore boldly down
 
 I92 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 upon the French privateer, which put about and soon 
 sailed out of sight. 
 
 Captain Whipple was soon given charge of a company 
 of eighty volunteers who went out in rowboats to the 
 Gaspee, a British revenue ship. He announced that he had 
 come to arrest Lieutenant Duddington, boarded the Gaspee, 
 took Duddington and his men prisoners and burned the ob- 
 noxious craft at the water's edge. The cool daring of this act 
 enraged the British. Captain Wallace, who commanded 
 another British ship, wrote to Captain Whipple as follows: 
 
 "You, Abraham Whipple, on the iyth day of June, 1772, 
 burned his Majesty's vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you 
 at yard's arm." 
 
 Whipple 's reply was characteristic: 
 
 To Sir James Wallace, Sir: 
 
 "Always catch a man before you hang him. 
 
 "ABRAHAM WHIPPLE." 
 
 The Story of the Liberty Bell, Wayne Whipple, p. 95. 
 
 Feasting and Fasting 
 
 When the Virginia Assembly met again, they proceeded 
 to congratulate the governor on the arrival of Lady Dun- 
 more, and then suddenly, as all was flowing smoothly along, 
 there came a letter through the corresponding committee 
 which Washington had helped to establish, telling of the 
 measures against Boston. Everything else was thrown 
 aside at once, a vigorous protest was entered on the journal 
 of the House, and June ist, when the Port Bill was to go 
 into operation, was appointed a day of fasting, humiliation 
 and prayer. The first result was prompt dissolution of the 
 assembly. The next was another meeting in the long room 
 of the Raleigh tavern, where the Boston bill was denounced, 
 non-importation was renewed, and the committee of corre- 
 spondence instructed to take steps for calling a general 
 congress. Events were beginning to move at last with'
 
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 THE COMING CONFLICT 193 
 
 perilous rapidity. Washington dined with Lord Dunmore 
 on the evening of that day, rode with him, and appeared at 
 her ladyship's ball the next night. It was not his way to 
 bite his thumb at men with whom he differed politically, 
 nor to call the motives of his opponents in question. But 
 when the ist of June arrived, he noted in his diary that he 
 fasted all day and attended the appointed services. He 
 always meant what he said, being of a simple nature, and 
 when he fasted and prayed there was something ominously 
 earnest about it, something that his excellency the governor, 
 who liked the society of this agreeable man and wise coun- 
 sellor, would have done well to consider and draw con- 
 clusions from, and which he probably did not heed at all. 
 He might well have reflected, as he undoubtedly failed to do, 
 that when men of the George Washington type fast and 
 pray on account of political misdoings, it is well for their 
 opponents to look to it carefully. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 119. 
 
 Washington Presents Resolutions 
 
 England could prevent ships entering or leaving the 
 port of Boston, but she could not control patriotic sym- 
 pathy, which hurried from every part of the country to 
 the relief of the beleaguered Yankees. One of the first 
 results was the first Continental Congress in which all the 
 colonies were represented. This Congress, which convened 
 in the autumn of 1774, was composed of Englishmen as 
 loyal as those who wrung Magna Charta from King John, 
 but it asserted the right of the colonists, as British subjects, 
 to make their own laws and impose their own taxes; it 
 asserted the right to trial by jury, the right of petition, and 
 the wrong of being annoyed by royal troops. It drafted 
 a petition to the King, and addresses to the people of 
 England, Canada and America, and then adjourned to meet 
 again in the spring of 1775, should harmony not have been 
 restored by that time.
 
 i 94 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington was a delegate to this Congress, and an 
 affectionate subject of King George, but he was not a fool. 
 A year earlier, in reply to a suggestion of his friend Bryan 
 Fairfax, brother of his older friend the old Earl that the 
 colonies should petition the throne, he distinctly declared 
 that there had already been petitions as good as any new 
 ones that could be manufactured, . . and . 
 implied that if the petitions already sent were unproductive, 
 there was no sense in wasting any more paper and ink. 
 Still, he voted with his friends, did all he could to avert 
 harm, and then and afterward . . . did all that 
 could be done by a loyal Englishman who did not forget 
 that he was an honest man. Before the Congress met he 
 presided at a county political meeting that prepared a set 
 of resolutions which were extremely loyal, but which, 
 nevertheless, reminded the English Government that from 
 the sovereign there was but one appeal. 
 
 These resolutions were presented by Washington in 
 person at a general convention of Virginians, and in sup- 
 porting them the quiet, self-contained young delegate 
 astonished all of his associates by an outburst of eloquence 
 that must have come from the heart, for he concluded by 
 expressing his readiness to raise and equip a thousand men, 
 at his own expense, and march to the relief of Boston 
 against the British General Gage, who was infesting and 
 annoying the city with a large force of British regulars. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 70. 
 
 "More Becoming a Turkish Bashaw" 
 
 The meeting of Fairfax County was held in due course, 
 and Washington presided. The usual resolutions for self- 
 government and against the vindictive Massachusetts 
 measures were adopted. Union and non-importation were 
 urged; and then the congress, which they advocated, was 
 recommended to address a petition and remonstrance to 
 the king, and ask him to reflect that " from our sovereign
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 195 
 
 there can be but one appeal. " Everything was to be tried, 
 everything was to be done, but the ultimate appeal was 
 never lost sight of where Washington appeared, and the 
 final sentence of these Fairfax County resolves is very 
 characteristic of the leader in the meeting. Two days later 
 he wrote to the worthy and still remonstrating Bryan 
 Fairfax, repeating and enlarging his former questions, and 
 adding: "Has not General Gage's conduct since his arrival, 
 in stopping the address of his council, and publishing a 
 proclamation more becoming to a Turkish bashaw than an 
 English governor, declaring it treason to associate in any 
 manner by which the commerce of Great Britain is to be 
 affected, has not this exhibited an unexampled testimony 
 of the most despotic system of tyranny that ever was 
 practised in a free government? . . . Shall we after 
 this whine and cry for relief, when we have already tried 
 it in vain? Or shall we supinely sit and see one province 
 after another fall a sacrifice to despotism?" The fighting 
 spirit of the man was rising. There was no rash rushing 
 forward, no ignorant shouting for war, no blinking of the 
 real issue, but a foresight that nothing could dim, and a 
 perception of facts which nothing could confuse. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 122. 
 
 The Silent Man Becomes Eloquent 
 
 On August ist Washington was at Williamsburg, to 
 represent his country in the meeting of representatives from 
 all Virginia. The convention passed resolutions like the 
 Fairfax resolves, and chose delegates to a general congress. 
 The silent man was now warming into action. He "made 
 the most eloquent speech that ever was made," and said, 
 " I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own 
 expense, and march them to the relief of Boston. " He was 
 capable, it would seem, of talking to the purpose with 
 some fire and force, for all he was so quiet and so retiring. 
 When there was anything to say, he could say it so that it
 
 i 9 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 stirred all who listened, because they felt that there was 
 a mastering strength behind the words. He faced the 
 terrible issue solemnly and firmly, but his blood was up, 
 the fighting spirit in him was aroused, and the convention 
 chose him as one of Virginia's six delegates to the Continental 
 Congress. He lingered long enough to make a few prepara- 
 tions at Mount Vernon. He wrote another letter to Fairfax, 
 interesting to us as showing the keenness with which he 
 read in the meagre news-reports the character of Gage and 
 of the opposing people of Massachusetts. Then he started 
 for the North to take the first step in the long and difficult 
 path that lay before him. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 123. 
 
 "An Innate Spirit of Freedom" 
 
 To his friend Bryan Fairfax, who, although a fine 
 fellow and a Liberal in politics, was first of all an Englishman 
 instead of an American, Washington wrote "an innate 
 spirit of freedom first told me that the measures which the 
 administration have for some time been and now are 
 violently pursuing, are opposed to every principle of natural 
 justice. " To an old friend and comrade, Captain Mackenzie, 
 now with Gage in Boston, he wrote in 1774 that, while none 
 of the colonies desired independence, " this you may at the 
 same time rely on, that none of them will ever submit to the 
 loss of their valuable rights and privileges. " 
 
 In the same year he offered to accept the command of 
 a single Virginia company, should occasion require it to be 
 called out, and he wrote his brother that "it is my full 
 intention if needful, to devote my life and fortune to the 
 cause." To George William Fairfax in England, he wrote 
 early in 1775 that war was a sad alternative, "but can a 
 virtuous man hesitate in his choice?" His eloquence in 
 supporting the Fairfax county resolutions, and his announce- 
 ment that he was willing to raise and equip at his own 
 expense a thousand men and lead them to Boston, have
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 197 
 
 already been alluded to, and yet during all this time there 
 did not exist a more loyal subject of England. Botecourt 
 and Dunmore, who were the royal governors in Virginia 
 during the troublous time that gave the province a governor 
 of her own, found in Washington hearty personal friendship 
 and invaluable assistance at all duties that did not conflict 
 with provincial rights. The famous Fairfax county resolu- 
 tions with which his name is identified, claimed that those 
 who signed them were Englishmen, and to Mackenzie he 
 wrote, concerning independence. " I am satisfied that no 
 such thing is desired by any thinking man in North 
 America. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 76 
 
 . "An Appeal to Arms and the God of Hosts" 
 
 I think that winter and spring of 1775 must have 
 been a somewhat sorrowful one to George Washington, 
 and that he must have felt as if a great change were coming 
 into his life. His wife's daughter had died, and he missed 
 her sadly. Young John Custis had married and gone 
 away to live. The sound of war was heard on all sides, and 
 among the visitors to Mount Vernon were some who after- 
 ward were to be generals in the American army. .He still 
 rode occasionally after the hounds, but the old days of fun 
 were gone. George Fairfax, had gone back to England, 
 and trie jolly company at Belvoir was scattered. The 
 house itself there had caught fire and burned to the ground. 
 
 But the time for action was at hand. Washington 
 turned from his home and his fox-hunting to go to Richmond 
 as a delegate to a second Virginia convention. It was 
 called to hear the reports of the delegates to Philadelphia 
 and to see what further was to be done. It was clear to 
 some, and to Washington among them, that the people 
 must be ready for the worst. They had shown themselves 
 in earnest by all the training they had been going through 
 as independent companies. Now let those companies be
 
 i 9 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 formed into a real army. It was idle to send any more 
 petitions to the king. 
 
 "We must fight!" exclaimed Patrick Henry; "I 
 repeat it, sir; we must fight! An appeal to arms and the 
 God of Hosts is all that is left us!" 
 
 A committee, of which Washington was one, was 
 appointed to report a plan for an army of Virginia. 
 
 But when people make up their minds to fight, they 
 know very well, if they are sensible, that more than half 
 the task before them is to find means for feeding and clothing 
 not only the troops but the people who are dependent on 
 the troops. Therefore the convention appointed another 
 committee, of which Washington was also a member, to 
 devise a plan for encouraging manufactures, so that the 
 people could do without England. Heretofore,' the Vir- 
 ginians had done scarcely any manufacturing; nearly 
 everything they needed they had bought from England, 
 with tobacco. But if they were to be at war with England, 
 they must be making ready to provide for themselves. 
 It was late in the day to do anything ; slavery, though they 
 did not then see it clearly, had made a variety of industries 
 impossible. However, the people Were advised to form 
 associations to promote the raising of wool, cotton, flax, 
 and hemp, and to encourage the use of home manufactures. 
 
 Washington was again chosen one of the delegates to 
 the Continental Congress, for the second Congress had been 
 called to meet at Philadelphia. He was even readier to go 
 than before. On the day when he was chosen, he wrote to 
 his brother, John Augustine Washington: 
 
 "It is my full intention to devote my life and fortune 
 to the cause we are engaged in, if needful. " 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder. p. 138. 
 
 "A Mere Potomac Planter" 
 
 "How are you, Hugh?" This was the Master of the 
 Rolls, Mr. John Morris. Then my aunt said, "Go and
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 199 
 
 speak to the ladies you know them"; and as I turned 
 aside, " I beg pardon, Sir William; this is my nephew, Hugh 
 Wynne. " This was addressed to a high-coloured personage 
 in yellow velvet with gold buttons, and a white flowered 
 waistcoat, and with his queue in a fine hair net. 
 
 "This is Sir William Draper, Hugh; he who took 
 Manila, as you must know." , . . The famous soldier 
 smiled as I saluted him with my best bow. 
 
 "Fine food for powder, Mistress Wynne, and already 
 sixteen! I was in service three years earlier. Should he 
 wish for an ensign's commission, I am at your'service. " 
 
 "Ah, Sir William, that might have been, a year or so 
 ago, but now he may have to fight General Gage. " 
 
 " The gods forbid ! Our poor general ! " 
 
 " Mistress Wynne is a rank Whig, " put in Mrs. Ferguson. 
 "She reads Dickinson's 'Farmer's Letters,' and all the 
 wicked treason of that man Adams." 
 
 "A low demagogue!" cried Mrs. Galloway. "I hear 
 there have been disturbances in Boston, and that because 
 one James Otis has been beaten by our officers, and because 
 our bands play 'Yankee Doodle' on Sundays in front of 
 the churches I beg pardon, the meetings Mr. Robinson, 
 the king's collector, has had to pay and apologize. Most 
 shameful it is!" 
 
 " I should take short measures, " said the sailor. 
 
 "And I," said Etherington. "I have just come from 
 Virginia, but not a recruit could I get. It is like a nest of 
 ants in a turmoil, and the worst of all are the officers who 
 served in the French war. There is, too, a noisy talker, 
 Patrick Henry, and a Mr. Washington." 
 
 " I think it was he who saved the wreck of the king's 
 army under Mr. Braddock, " said my aunt. " I can remem- 
 ber how they all looked. Not a wig among them. The 
 lodges must have been full of them, but their legs saved 
 their scalps. " 
 
 "Is it for this that they call them wigwams?" cries 
 naughty Miss Chew
 
 200 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "A mere Potomac planter," said Etherington, " 'pon 
 my soul and with such airs, as if they were gentlemen of 
 the line." . . . "I have served the king as well as 
 I know how, and I trust, madam, I shall have the pleasure 
 to aid in the punishment of some of these insolent rebels. " 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D.. p. 71. 
 
 In Front of Carpenters' Hall 
 
 At half-past ten we drove down Second street and up 
 Chestnut, where was a great crowd come to look on. Dr. 
 Rush, seeing my aunt's chariot, got in at Second street, 
 and, being one of the members, enabled us to get near to 
 Carpenters' Alley, where, at the far end, back from the 
 street, is the old building in which the Congress was to be 
 held. . ..-'''. I think none had a better view than we. 
 Andrew Allen came to speak to us, and then Mr. Galloway, 
 not yet scared by the extreme measures of which few as yet 
 dreamed, and which by and by drove these and many 
 other gentlemen into open declarations for the crown. 
 Here and there militia uniforms were seen amid the dull 
 grays, the smocks of farmers and mechanics, and the sober 
 suits of tradesmen, all come to see. . -: " '. - 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Duche passed us He was to 
 
 make this day the famous prayer which so moved Mr. 
 Adams. And later, I may add, he went over to the other 
 side. Soon others came. Some we knew not, but the 
 great Dr. Rush pointed out such as were of his acquaintance. 
 
 "There," he said, "is Carter Braxton. He tells me 
 he does not like the New England men either their religion 
 or their manners; and I like them both." . . ."There 
 is the great Virginia orator, Mr. Patrick Henry," said the 
 doctor. He was in simple dress, and looked up at us 
 curiously, as he went by with Pendleton and Mr. Carroll. 
 "He has a great estate Mr. Carroll," said the doctor. "I 
 wonder he will risk it." He was dressed in brown silk 
 breeches, with a yellow figured waistcoat, and, like many
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 201 
 
 of them, wore his sword. Mr. Franklin had not yet come 
 home, and some were late. 
 
 Presently the doctor called, and a man in the military 
 dress of the Virginia militia turned toward us. "Colonel 
 Washington," said the doctor, "will permit me to present 
 him to a lady, a great friend of liberty. Mistress Wynne, 
 Colonel Washington." 
 
 "I have already had the honor," he said, taking off 
 his hat a scrolled beaver. 
 
 " He is our best soldier, and we are fortunate that he 
 is with us, " said the doctor, as the colonel moved away. , 
 
 The doctor changed his mind later, and helped, I fear, 
 to make the trouble which came near to costing Con way 
 his life. I have always been a great admirer of fine men, 
 and as the Virginia colonel moved like Saul above the crowd, 
 an erect, well-proportioned figure, he looked taller than he 
 really was, but, as my aunt had said, was not of the bigness 
 of my father. 
 
 "He has a good nose," said my Aunt Gainor, perhaps 
 conscious of her own possession in the way of a nasal organ, 
 and liking to see it as notable in another; "but how sedate 
 he is! I find Mr. Peyton Randolph more agreeable, and 
 there is Mr. Robert Morris and John Dickinson. " 
 
 Then John Adams went by, deep in talk with Roger 
 Sherman, whom I thought shabbily dressed; and behind 
 them Robert Livingston, whom my aunt knew. Thus it 
 was, as I am glad to remember, that I beheld these men 
 who were to be the makers of an empire. Perhaps no wiser 
 group of people ever met for a greater fate, and surely the 
 hand of God was seen in the matter ; for what other colony 
 Canada, for example, had such men to show? There, 
 meanwhile, was England, with its great nobles and free 
 commons and a splendid story of hard- won freedom, driving 
 madly on its way of folly and defeat. 
 
 Of what went on within the hall we heard little. A 
 declaration of rights was set forth, committees of corre-
 
 202 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 spondence appointed, and addresses issued to the king and 
 people of Great Britain. Congress broke up, and the winter 
 went by; Gage was superseded by Sir William Howe; 
 Clinton and Burgoyne were sent out, and ten thousand men 
 were ordered to America to aid the purposes of the king. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 198. 
 
 "A Brother's Sword Sheathed in a Brother's Breast" 
 
 Thus the winter wore away; spring opened, and 
 toward the end of April Washington started again for the 
 North, much occupied with certain tidings from Lexington 
 and Concord which just then spread over the land. He 
 saw all that it meant plainly enough, and after noting the 
 fact that the colonists fought and fought well, he wrote to 
 George Fairfax in England : " Unhappy it is to reflect that 
 a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, 
 and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are 
 either to be drenched in blood or inhabited by slaves. 
 Sad alternative. But can a virtuous man hesitate in his 
 choice?" Congress, it would seem, thought there was a 
 good deal of room for hesitation, both for virtuous men 
 and for others, and after the fashion of their race deter- 
 mined to do a little more debating and arguing, before 
 taking any decisive step. After much resistance and 
 discussion, a second "humble and dutiful petition" to the 
 king was adopted, and with strange contradiction a con- 
 federation was formed at the same time, and Congress 
 proceeded to exercise the sovereign powers thus vested in 
 them. The most pressing and troublesome question before 
 them was what to do with the army surrounding Boston, 
 and with the actual hostilities there existing. 
 
 Washington, for his part, went quietly about as before, 
 saying nothing and observing much, working hard as 
 chairman of the military committees, planning for defense, 
 and arranging for raising an army. One act of his alone 
 stands out for us with significance at this critical time. In 
 this second Congress he appeared habitually on the floor in

 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 203 
 
 his blue and buff uniform of a Virginia colonel. It was his 
 way of saying that the hour for action had come, and that 
 he at least was ready for the fight whenever called upon. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 129. 
 
 The News Received in Philadelphia 
 
 The cold season was soon upon us, and the eventful 
 year of '75 came, but with no great change for me and those 
 I loved. A sullen rage possessed the colonies, and espec- 
 ially Massachusetts, where the Regulation Acts were quietly 
 disregarded. No counsellors or jurymen would serve under 
 the king's commission. The old muskets of the French 
 and Indian wars were taken from -the corners and put in 
 order. Men drilled, and women cast bullets. 
 
 Failing to corrupt Samuel Adams and Hancock, Gage 
 resolved to arrest them at Concord and to seize on the 
 stores of powder and ball. "The heads of traitors will 
 soon decorate Temple Bar," said a London gazette; and 
 so the march of events went on. In the early spring Dr. 
 Franklin came home in despair of accommodation; he saw 
 nothing now to do but to fight, and this he told us plainly. 
 His very words were in my mind on the night of April 23d 
 of this year of '75, as I was slowly and thoughtfully walking 
 over the bridge where Walnut crossed the Dock Creek, 
 and where I stayed for a moment to strike flint and steel in 
 order to light my pipe. Of a sudden I heard a dii/1 but 
 increasing noise to north, and then the strong voice of the 
 bell in the state-house. It was not ringing for fire. Some- 
 what puzzled I walked swiftly to Second street, wher^ were 
 men and women in groups. I stopped a man and asked 
 what had chanced. He said, "A battle! a battle! and 
 General Gage killed." Couriers had reached the coffee- 
 houses, but no one on the street seemed to have more than 
 this vagtie information; all were going toward Chestnut 
 street, where a meeting was to be held, as I learned and 
 perhaps fuller news given out. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 20. 
 1-15
 
 204 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Lee and Gates Visit Mount Vernon 
 
 When Congress adjourned, Washington returned to 
 Mount Vernon, to the pursuits and pleasures that he loved, 
 to his family and farm, and to his horses and his hounds, 
 with whom he had many a good run, the last that he was 
 to enjoy for years to come. He returned also to watch 
 and wait as before, and to see war rapidly gather in the east. 
 When the Virginia Convention again assembled, resolu- 
 tions were introduced to arm and discipline men. . . 
 Washington said nothing, but he served on the committee 
 to draft a plan of defense, and then fell to reviewing the 
 independent companies which were springing up every- 
 where. ... At Mount Vernon his old comrades of 
 the French war began to appear, in search of courage and 
 sympathy. Thither, too, came Charles Lee, a typical 
 military adventurer of that period, a man of English 
 birth and of varied service, brilliant, whimsical, and un- 
 balanced. There also came Horatio Gates, likewise British, 
 and disappointed with his prospects at home; less adven- 
 turous than Lee, but also less brilliant, and not much 
 more valuable. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 129. 
 
 "I Now Nominate George Washington, of Virginia" 
 
 One morning in June, not long before the hour when 
 the Congress was to assemble, John Adams was walking 
 up and down the street in front of the building in which the 
 meeting was to be held. His hands were clasped behind 
 his back, and his head was bowed so that it was evident he 
 was seriously troubled. 
 
 His meditations were interrupted by the approach of 
 his cousin Samuel Adams, 'who, as he hailed him, said, 
 " What is the topic with you this morning? " 
 
 "Oh, the army, the army!" replied John Adams. 
 "I am determined to go into the hall this morning, and
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 205 
 
 enter upon a full detail of the state of the colonies, in order 
 to show an absolute need of taking some decided steps. 
 My whole aim shall be to induce Congress to appoint a day 
 for adopting the army as the legal army of these United 
 Colonies of North America, and then to hint at the election 
 of a commander-in-chief. " 
 
 "Well," said Samuel Adams, "I like that, Cousin 
 John, but on whom have you fixed as that commander? " 
 
 " I will tell you. George Washington of Virginia, a 
 member of this house. " 
 
 " Oh, that will never do, never! " replied Samuel Adams, 
 in surprise. 
 
 " It must do. It shall do, and for these reasons. " 
 
 Then John Adams proceeded to call his cousin's atten- 
 tion to the exact condition of the country. For the success 
 of the cause it was absolutely necessary that the middle and 
 southern colonies should be heart and hand with the eastern. 
 The American army w r as then at Cambridge, made up 
 largely of New England men, and in the command of 
 General Artemas Ward, himself a New Englander. Already 
 some of the men from other sections of the country were 
 holding back and protesting against the prominence the 
 New England men were taking, and apparently were dis- 
 posed to hold. As a means of keeping all together, the only 
 course seemed to lie in the selection of a commander-in- 
 chief from outside the eastern colonies, thereby uniting all 
 sections in one body, a body that John Adams declared 
 would then be irresistible. 
 
 Samuel Adams listened thoughtfully to his cousin's 
 words, and then suggested that the devotion of the eastern 
 men to General Ward would be a serious obstacle to such 
 a selection. He recounted the distinguished services of 
 Artemas Ward, his scholarship (he was a graduate of Har- 
 vard), his success in the French and Indian War, and the 
 esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. He also 
 referred to the well-known fact that John Hancock desired 
 the position for himself.
 
 206 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 John Hancock's claims were lightly put aside by John 
 Adams, who had slight love for his colleague, as is well 
 known. Then he willingly assented to all that his cousin 
 had said in favor of Artemas Ward, but still clung to his 
 purpose to have the Virginia colonel selected for the posi- 
 tion. He referred to the remarkable services Washington 
 had rendered in the wars of the colony, his well-balanced 
 mind and large experience for so young a man, which more 
 than atoned for his lack of training in the schools, and to the 
 marked confidence which the people of all parts of the 
 country had in his integrity and manhood. 
 
 After a further conversation Samuel Adams promised 
 to "second the motion," and both men entered the hall 
 where the assembly had now convened. John Adams soon 
 took the floor and, in one of his most impassioned speeches, 
 urged the adoption of the army by the Continental Congress. 
 He himself was ready, he declared, "to arm the army, 
 appoint a commander, vote supplies, and proceed to busi- 
 ness. " 
 
 Fears and objections were raised by some of his more 
 timid hearers, and then, with a warmth he could not conceal, 
 John Adams again rose and said: "Gentlemen, if this 
 Congress will not adopt this army, before ten moons have 
 set, New England will adopt it, and she will undertake the 
 struggle alone! Yes, with a strong arm and a clear con- 
 science she will front the foe single-handed!" 
 
 His burning words swept away all opposition, the time 
 for the vote was fixed, and then after a heated debate the 
 army was adopted by Congress. 
 
 The next problem was the election of a commander for 
 the army, which now was no longer a " mob of rebels, " but 
 belonged to the United Colonies of North America; and 
 naturally all looked again to John Adams to lead. And 
 he was ready to lead, too. 
 
 On the appointed day he was in the assembly, and 
 began his speech. First he entered into a description of
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 207 
 
 General Ward, and bestowed upon him such praise as must 
 have satisfied even the warmest friends of the sturdy New 
 England soldier. Then, drawing himself up to his full 
 height, he paused for a moment before he added: "But 
 this is not the man I have chosen ! ' ' 
 
 The scene was intensely dramatic, and the eyes of all 
 the assembly were fixed upon the speaker. At his right 
 was seated George Washington, clad in his uniform of a 
 Virginia colonel, and he, too, was leaning forward with 
 breathless interest, eager to hear the name of the man 
 whom John Adams would propose. 
 
 More quietly, then, John Adams went on to portray 
 the qualifications the new commander must have. Becom- 
 ing more eloquent as his speech drew to an end, he closed 
 with these words: "Gentlemen, I know these qualifications 
 are high, but we all know they are needful in this crisis in 
 this chief. Does any one say they are not to be obtained 
 in this country? In reply, I have to say they are; they 
 reside in one of our own body, and he is the man whom I 
 now nominate, GEORGE WASHINGTON OF VIRGINIA." 
 
 The startled Washington as he heard the words leaped 
 to his feet and rushed into an adjoining room. The entire 
 body sat silent and astonished. In the midst of the silence, 
 Samuel Adams, acting on a promise he had previously given 
 his cousin, rose, and moved for an adjournment, that time 
 for consultatian and deliberation might be had. The 
 motion prevailed, and the assembly was dismissed. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 44. 
 
 Colonel Washington Elected Commander-in-chief 
 
 Two days before the battle of Bunker Hill Congress 
 formally adopted all the colonial troops that had been 
 raised; and on the very day on which the Yankees started 
 for Bunker Hill and a glorious history, Delegate Wash- 
 ington of the Continental Congress was informed of his 
 unanimous election as commander-in-chief. Material from
 
 2 o8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 which to make commanders was not at all scarce in the 
 country at that time, for every man with a taste for war 
 had enjoyed numerous chances for gratifying it during the 
 many difficulties with French and Indians in the preceding 
 twenty years. Ward, already in command of the Massa- 
 chusetts troops, had seen hard service, and so had Israel 
 Putnam. Schuyler, who needed only Washington's pa- 
 tience to be Washington's double, had fought the French 
 and been carefully educated in military science. Greene, 
 Pomeroy, Montgomery, Stark, and Prescott were not so 
 prominent, but were all trusty fighters, while Charles Lee 
 and Horatio Gates, both English soldiers, who had left their 
 country for their country's good, were regarded with that 
 adoring awe which twenty years ago characterized every 
 American who gazed upon any foreigner who had ever 
 worn a uniform. But Congress, .though far, very far, 
 from right in its impression that it knew everything, under- 
 stood that ability to fight was not everything in war, and 
 that the result of the conflict would depend largely upon 
 the commander-in-chief 's personal character. Washington's 
 military record was known to all the members, and as for the 
 man himself, he had sat among them in both sessions, and 
 his intellectual and moral greatness had impressed them- 
 selves even upon the giants of whom the great Chatham 
 spoke when he informed the House of Lords that "in the 
 master States of the world I know not the people or senate 
 who, in such a complication of difficult circumstances, can 
 stand in preference to the delegates of America, assembled 
 in General Congress in Philadelphia." Questioned about 
 the same men individually, Patrick Henry, who was one of 
 the delegates, said, "if you speak of solid information and 
 sound judgment. Colonel Washington is unquestionably 
 the greatest man on that floor. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 75.
 
 THE COMING CONFLICT 209 
 
 Washington's Commission as Commander-in-chief 
 
 delegates of the United Colonies of New-Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New-York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Castle,, Kent & Sussex on 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South 
 Carolina 
 
 To (Jkorij? !Ua01}ttt0tOtt Esquire 
 
 Hk reposing especial trust 'and confidence in your 
 patriotism, conduct and fidelity Do by these presents 
 constitute and appoint you to be (intFral atti (Uflmmattfor 
 itt (Eljtff of the Army of the United Colonies and of all the 
 forces raised or to be raised by them and of all others who 
 shall voluntary offer their sendee and join the said army for 
 the defense of American Liberty and for repelling every 
 hostile invasion thereof. AND you are hereby vested with 
 full power and authority to act as you shall think for the 
 good and welfare of the service. 
 
 Atth we do hereby strictly charge and require all 
 officers and soldiers under your command to be obedient 
 to your orders & and diligent in the exercise of their several 
 duties. 
 
 Attfr we do also enjoin and require you to be careful in 
 executing the great trust reposed in you, by causing strict 
 discipline and order to be observed in the army and that 
 the soldiers are duly exercised and provided with all con- 
 venient necessaries . 
 
 Attfc you are to regulate your conduct in every respect 
 by the rules and discipline of war (as herewith giveri you) 
 and punctually to observe and follow such orders and 
 directions from time to time as you shall receive from this 
 or a future Congress of the said United Colonies or a com- 
 mittee of Congress for that purpose appointed.
 
 2io THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 THIS COMMISSION to continue in force until revoked 
 by this or a future Congress. 
 
 By order of the Congress 
 JOHN HANCOCK 
 
 President. 
 
 Dated, Philadelphia June ipth, 1775. 
 Attest CHAS. THOMSON, Seer. 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 34. 
 
 Abraham Whipple destroys the Gaspee, June io, 1772 
 
 All duties repealed except tax on tea *773 
 
 "Boston Tea Party" J 773 
 
 General Gage made military governor of Boston, 1774 
 
 Boston Port Bill June i-, 1774 
 
 First Contine ital Congress meets, Philadelphia, 
 
 September 5, 1774 
 
 Battles of Lexington and Concord April 19, 1775 
 
 Second Continental Congress meets May io, 1775 
 
 Ticonderoga taken by Ethan Allen May io, 1775 
 
 Crown Point taken May 1 1, 1775
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RAW RECRUITS 
 "A Subject Which Fills Me with Inexpressible Concern" 
 
 When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, 
 to attend the Continental Congress, he did not foresee his 
 appointment as commander-in-chief, and as soon as it 
 occurred he wrote his wife, 
 
 " I am now set down to write to you on a subject 
 which fills me with inexpressible concern, and this concern 
 is greatly aggravated and increased, when I reflect upon the 
 uneasiness I know it will give you. It has been determined 
 in Congress, that the whole army raised for the defense of 
 the American cause shall be put under my care, and that it 
 is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to 
 take upon me the command of it. 
 
 "You may believe me my dear Patsy, when I assure 
 you, in the most solemn manner, that, so far from seeking 
 this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power 
 to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with 
 you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being 
 a trust too great for my capacity, and that I should enjoy 
 more real happiness in one month with you at home, than 
 I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my 
 stay were to be seven times seven years. ... I shall 
 feel no pain from the toil and dangers of the campaign; 
 my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you 
 will feel from being left alone." 
 
 To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote 
 at the same time to different members of the two families 
 as follows: 
 
 (211)
 
 2 i 2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought 
 of leaving your mother under the uneasiness which I fear 
 this affair will throw her into; I therefore hope, expect, 
 and indeed have no doubt, of your using every means in 
 your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in 
 your power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, 
 very uneasy feelings on her account, but as it has been a 
 kind of unavoidable necessity which has led me into this 
 appointment, I shall more readily hope that success will 
 attend it and crown our meetings with happiness. " 
 
 " I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at 
 Mount Vernon, as also my wife's other friends. I could 
 wish you to take her down, as I have no expectation of 
 returning till winter and feel great uneasiness at her lone- 
 some situation." 
 
 "I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor 
 to keep up the spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as 
 my departure will, I know, be a cutting stroke upon her ; 
 and on this account alone I have many very disagreeable 
 sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the dis- 
 tance is great), will find as much leisure .this summer as to 
 spend a little time at Mount Vernon." 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 59. 
 
 Brave Exploits of Commodore Whipple 
 
 The day that Washington was elected commander-in- 
 chief of the Continental Army, Rhode Island purchased 
 two sloops, the Providence and a smaller ship, and placed 
 Abraham Whipple in charge of them to drive the British 
 out of Narragansett Bay. He did this effectually with his 
 little fleet. Abraham Whipple fired the first shot on the 
 sea in the Revolution. He was recognized by the new 
 government of the United States before John Paul Jones 
 and thus became the first commodore of the American 
 navy. Commodore Whipple' s many daring exploits placed 
 him beside Paul Jones as a Revolutionary hero. It is a
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 2 1 3 
 
 curious fortune of war that his brave deeds have been so 
 seldom mentioned. It is sometimes stated that Whipple 
 was in command of the disguised Indians of the Boston Tea 
 Party, but he had nothing to do with that escapade. He 
 conducted an exploit that required much more heroism 
 and shrewdness. This was the passing of the British 
 blockading fleet off the coast of Rhode Island, in 1778, 
 carrying important despatches to France. He chose a 
 stormy night in April for this dangerous undertaking. 
 Commanding his little ship, the Providence, he hurled a 
 defiant broadside at the British fleet as he passed through 
 its lines. With a voice stronger than the gale, he gave loud 
 commands to his men which confused the British, but he 
 ordered the very opposite tactics in lower tones to his men. 
 So the Providence escaped to France with the despatches to 
 Dr. Franklin, John Adams and Arthur Lee, the American 
 commissioners in Paris, who finally succeeded in enlisting 
 the aid of the French for the American war for independence. 
 It was a strange looking navy of which Abraham 
 Whipple was the first commodore. At his own expense he 
 furnished uniforms for his crews. With the little Providence 
 he patrolled the coast to defend the struggling commerce of 
 the colonies against many and larger British ships. While 
 in Massachusetts Bay he was ordered to intercept a fleet 
 of one hundred and fifty vessels bound for the West Indies. 
 Pretending to be a Halifax trader, he joined the fleet and 
 by separating several ships every night from the rest, under 
 the cover of darkness, he took possession of ten large ves- 
 sels which he convoyed into Boston Harbor in triumph. 
 These ships, laden with food and provisions, afforded great 
 relief to the blockaded and nearly starved colony. His 
 prize was valued at more than a million dollars. 
 
 The Story of the Liberty Bell, Wayne Whipple, p. 95. 
 
 " The Feeble Americans Could Scarce Keep up with Them !" 
 
 After the tardy repeal of the obnoxious Stamp Act,
 
 214 THE STORY '-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Franklin returned to America, in the spring of 1775. While 
 he was crossing the Atlantic the 
 
 " Embattled farmers stood 
 And fired the shot heard round the world. " 
 
 After reaching Philadelphia Franklin wrote to Edmund 
 Burke, who was also friendly to the colonies: 
 
 "General Gage's troops made a most vigorous retreat- 
 twenty miles in three hours scarce to be paralleled in 
 history ; the feeble Americans, who pelted them all the way 
 [from Concord and Lexington] back to Boston coulcj. scarce 
 keep up with them!" 
 
 While in London, Franklin explained the uprising of 
 the American people with the proverb, "The waves never 
 rise but when the winds blow. " He had so highly incensed 
 the king and the ministry by his ardent advocacy of the 
 people's cause that they took the postmaster-generalship 
 away from him. While the members of the English govern- 
 ment were treating him to a variety of indignities, William 
 Pitt, later made Earl of Chatham, referred to Franklin as 
 "an honor not to the British nation only, but to human 
 nature." 
 
 From Philadelphia he wrote this famous letter to his 
 frienci Strahan in London: 
 
 "Mr. Strahan: 
 
 "You are a member of Parliament, and one of that 
 majority which has doomed our country to destruction. 
 You have begun to burn our towns and murder our people. 
 Look upon your hands. They are stained with the blood 
 of your relations! You and I were long friends; you are 
 now my enemy, and 
 
 "lam 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 Tht Franklin Story 'Calendar. Wayne Whipple, November 13 to a6, 1 910.
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 215 
 
 Few Men but Many Heroes 
 
 It was a bold stand which the hardy Americans had 
 taken. If they had been thoroughly united themselves 
 it would have been different, but the New England men 
 had been so eager and determined that they had not waited 
 for others to join them but had gone ahead on their own 
 responsibility. In all the thirteen colonies the entire popula- 
 tion was only about 2,600,000,* and though this may seem 
 like a very small number from which to draw forces to 
 contend against King George, we must not forget that the 
 people of Great Britain were also much fewer in number 
 than they are to-day. 
 
 As soon as the result of the battle between the regulars 
 and the minute-men was known, the angry colonies began 
 to start for Boston to join their bold fellow-patriots. 
 Israel Putnam had been ploughing in his fields at Pomfret, 
 Connecticut, when the report came to him. Instantly 
 abandoning his task he left word for the militia to follow 
 him, and leaping upon the back of his horse he rode so 
 swiftly on his journey of a hundred miles that in about 
 eighteen hours he arrived at Cambridge, where the minute- 
 men were assembled, at the same time when John Stark 
 came down from New Hampshire with the first company 
 of men from that colony. Benedict Arnold, who was then 
 a captain, had taken sixty men from the assembly of stu- 
 dents and people in New Haven, and soon he, too, was 
 with the little patriot army. So from the farms and hill- 
 sides, from the villages and hamlets, the angry colonists 
 came, and in a very brief time General Gage and his soldiers 
 found themselves besieged in Boston by an army that was 
 
 *In 1 7 75 the population of the thirteen colonies was said to be as follows- 
 Virginia, 560 ooo New York, 
 
 Massachusetts, 360 
 Pennsylvania, 300 
 North Carolina 260 
 Maryland, 220 
 
 Connecticut, 200 
 South Carolina, i&o 
 
 New Jersey, 
 
 New Hampshire, 
 Rhode Island, 
 Delaware, 
 Georgia,
 
 2 i6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 made up of 16,000 rude and poorly equipped, but very 
 determined men. 
 
 Apparently no one knew just what to do next. It was 
 determined to hold the red-coats in the city, but what to 
 expect, or what the next move was to be, there was no one 
 to decide. 
 
 On the loth of May two events occurred which did 
 much to decide the future of the colonies, and of the war. 
 One of these was the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan 
 Allen and his Green Mountain Boys; and the other was 
 the assembling of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. 
 The chief problem before the Congress was the relation of 
 the colonies to the army, and the appointment of a com- 
 mander-in-chief. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 42. 
 
 Left Home, Wife, Friends, Fortune, and Security, for the 
 Risks of a Rebel 
 
 As every soldier of any character knows exactly how 
 a given campaign should be conducted, it is probable that 
 many patriots envied Washington his position; it is also 
 probable that the position gave Washington less satisfaction 
 than it would have given to any other citizen who might 
 have obtained it. His life since his marriage had been 
 unusually pleasant and he was fully competent to enjoy it. 
 Wars generally find numerous men very glad of an excuse 
 to leave home, but Washington had not even a cross wife or 
 a creditor to escape, while the salary attached to his office, 
 even had he accepted it, would not have made good the 
 losses sustained by his estates through his inability to 
 manage his personal affairs. He left home, wife, friends, 
 comfort, fortune, and security for the risks 'of a soldier's 
 life and the chance of a rebel's doom. Millions of boys 
 have gazed enviously at pictures of Washington taking 
 command of the army; could a picture of Washington 
 alone with his thoughts be exhibited, the meanest beggar 
 would not envy the young commander.
 
 From the Painting by Alonzo Chappel. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 217 
 
 A man's deeds are matters of history, and in Wash- 
 ington's case .the history was glorious ; but a man's life and 
 character are the results of his birth, education, environ- 
 ment, and self -training, principally the latter. Wash- 
 ington became commander-in-chief solely by force of his 
 personal character, and his subsequent achievements were 
 but the results of the manliness that he had acquired in 
 days when he was comparatively obscure. All this has 
 been said before and said better, but some facts, like some 
 prayers, cannot be repeated too often. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 79. 
 
 " The Liberties of the Country Are Safe ! " 
 
 Washington left Philadelphia on his way to Boston, 
 June 2 1 , escorted by a troop of horsemen, and accompanied 
 by Schuyler and Lee, who had just been made major- 
 generals by Congress. They had gone about twenty miles 
 when they saw a man on horseback coming rapidly down 
 the road. It was a messenger riding post-haste to Phila- 
 delphia, and carrying to Congress news of the battle of 
 Bunker Hill. Everybody was stirred by the news and 
 wanted to know the particulars. 
 
 " W T hy were the provincials compelled to retreat?" 
 he was asked. 
 
 " It was for want of ammunition, " he replied. 
 
 "Did they stand the fire of the regular troops?" asked 
 Washington anxiously. 
 
 "That they did, and held their own fire in reserve 
 until the enemy was within eight rods." 
 
 "Then the liberties of the country are safe!" exclaimed 
 Washington. He remembered well the scenes under Brad- 
 dock, and he knew what a sight it must have been to those 
 New England farmers when a compact body of uniformed 
 soldiers came marching up from the boats at Charlestown. 
 If they could stand fearlessly, there was stuff in them to 
 make soldiers of.
 
 218 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 All along the route the people in the towns turned out 
 to see Washington's cavalcade, and at Newark, a committee 
 of the New York Provincial Congress met to escort him to 
 the city. There he left General Schuyler in command, and 
 hurried forward to Cambridge, for the news of Bunker Hill 
 made him extremely anxious to reach the army. 
 
 In New England, the nearer he came to the seat of war, 
 the more excited and earnest he found the people. At 
 every town he was met by the citizens and escorted through 
 that town to the next: This was done at New Haven. 
 The collegians all turned out, and they had a small band 
 of music, at the head of which, curiously enough, was a 
 Freshman who afterward made some stir in the world. 
 It was Noah Webster, the man of spelling-book and dic- 
 tionary fame. At Springfield, the party was met by a 
 committee of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, 
 and at last, on the 2nd of July, he came to Watertown, where 
 he was welcomed by the Provincial Congress itself, which 
 was in session there. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 146. 
 
 A King of Men 
 
 Thus did that wonderful balance of mind so great 
 that in his whole career it would be hard to point out a 
 single mistake already impress his ablest contemporaries. 
 Hand in hand with this rare soundness of judgment there 
 went a completeness of moral self-control, which was all 
 the > more impressive inasmuch as Washington's was by no 
 means a tame or commonplace nature, such as ordinary 
 power of will would suffice to guide. He was a man of 
 intense and fiery passions. His anger, when once aroused, 
 had in it something so terrible that strong men were cowed 
 by it like frightened children. This prodigious animal 
 nature was curbed by a will of iron ; and held in the service 
 of a sweet and tender soul, into which no mean or unworthy 
 thought had ever entered. Whole-souled devotion to public
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 2x9 
 
 duty, an incorruptible integrity which no appeal to ambition 
 or vanity could for a moment solicit, these were attributes 
 of Washington, as well marked as his clearness of mind and 
 his strength of purpose. And it was in no unworthy temple 
 that Nature had enshrined this great spirit. His lofty 
 stature (exceeding six feet), his grave and handsome face, 
 his noble bearing and courtly grace of manner, all pro- 
 claimed in Washington a king of men. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. I, p. 135. 
 
 The Foremost Man in America 
 
 So he rode on to his duty, the foremost man in America. 
 And, on the morning of Monday, the third day of July, 
 I 775> General George Washington rode into the broad 
 pastures known as Cambridge common, and, beneath the 
 spreading branches of an elm tree, which still stands an 
 old tree now, carefully preserved and famous through all the 
 land he drew his sword and in presence of the assembled 
 army and a crowd of curious and enthusiastic people, he 
 took command of the Continental army as general. 
 
 He was forty-three years old just as old as Julius 
 Caesar when he took command of the army in Gaul and 
 made himself great. Just as old as Napoleon when he 
 made the mistake of his life and declared war against Russia. 
 But how different from these two conquerors was George 
 Washington! What they did for love of power he did for 
 love of liberty sacrificing comfort, ease, the pleasures 
 of home and the quiet life he loved, because he felt it to be 
 his duty. 
 
 . A gallant soldier he was, under the Cam- 
 bridge elm that warm July morning, he was what we call 
 an imposing figure. He was tall, stalwart and erect, with 
 thick brown hair drawn back into a queue, as all gentlemen 
 then wore it, with a rosy face and a clear, bright eye a 
 strong, a healthy, a splendid-looking man in his uniform of 
 blue and buff, an epaulet on each shoulder, and, in his 
 three-cornered hat, the cockade of liberty. And the com- 
 
 1-16
 
 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 mander-in-chief of the Continental army looked upon the 
 army of which he had assumed command and determined 
 to make soldiers of them and lead them on to final victory. 
 
 The True Story of George Washington, Elbridge S. Brooks, p. 81. 
 
 The Noblest Man of His Day 
 
 Then, as now, every American knew all about war, so, 
 outside the army, and to some extent within it, Washington 
 was said to be not much of a general. It may have occurred 
 to the thoughtful few that, while Howe and his trained 
 lieutenants had nothing to think of but how to conquer the 
 enemy. Washington spent much of his time in wondering 
 where- his ragged, hungry, ill-equipped, badly trained 
 soldiers were to get food and clothing, ammunition and 
 discipline. All of the British were far from home, and 
 many of the rank and file were of the class who had no 
 homes ; the Americans, on the contrary, had families, farms, 
 and shops within, at most, a few days' walk, and were 
 always anxious to get to them. The best treated soldiers 
 are notorious grumblers ; what must have been the dissatis- 
 faction in an army that was about as badly off as possible 
 in every respect? All their complaints reached Washington, 
 who supplemented them with his own intelligent concern 
 for their condition. His writings at every period of the 
 war show him to have been always keenly alive to the 
 material and moral condition of his army and the effect, 
 upon the community, of the withdrawal of so many men 
 from industrial pursuits. The common impression about 
 Washington, at the present day, is unmistakably due to 
 contemplation of the impassive features which painters 
 and sculptors in their devotion to conventionalism, have 
 given, the Revolutionary commander; but a very little 
 reading from any life of the noblest man of his day shows 
 Washington to have been unapproachably rich in those 
 qualities of heart which nowadays make a man's neighbor 
 pronounce him a right good fellow. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 155.
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 2 2 1 
 
 The Virginia Fox-hunter and the New England Farmers 
 
 It had been a time of great anxiety to all men. The 
 Virginia colonel was commander-in-chief ; a motley army 
 held Sir William Howe penned up in Boston, and why he so 
 quietly accepted this sheep-like fate no man of us could 
 comprehend. My aunt, a great letter- writer, had many 
 correspondents, and one or two in the camp at Cambridge. 
 
 "My Virginia fox-hunter," said my aunt, "is having 
 evil days with the New England farmers. He is disposed 
 to be despotic, says well, no matter who. He likes the 
 whipping-post too well, and thinks all should, like himself, 
 serve without pay. A slow man it is, but intelligent," 
 says my Aunt Gainor ; " sure to get himself right, and 
 patient too. You will see, Hugh; he will come slowly to 
 understand these people." 
 
 I smiled at the good lady's confidence, and yet she was 
 right. They took him ill at first in that undisciplined 
 camp, and queer things were said of him. Like the rest, 
 he was learning the business of war, and was to commit 
 many blunders and get sharp lessons in this school of the 
 soldier. 
 
 These were everywhere uneasy times. Day after day 
 we heard of this one or that one gone to swell the ever- 
 changing number of those who beset Sir William. Gon- 
 dolas most unlike gondolas they were were being built 
 in haste for our own river defense. Committees, going 
 from house to house, collected arms, tent-stuffs, kettles, 
 blankets, and what not, for our troops. There were noisy 
 elections, arrests of Tories; and in October the death of 
 Peyton Randolph, ex-president of the Congress, and the 
 news of the coming of the Hessian hirelings. It was a 
 season of stir, angry discussion, and stern waiting for what 
 was to come. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker. S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D.. p. aa6.
 
 222 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " Their Spirit Has Exceeded Their Strength" 
 
 The commander-in-chief found himself heartily sup- 
 ported by Massachusetts local spirit, although the people 
 are best described by Washington's words concerning the 
 soldiers: "Their spirit has exceeded their strength." He 
 had some valuable assistants Lee, though a soldier of 
 fortune, and what would now be called a crank, was 
 an able disciplinarian; Israel Putnam never had an equal 
 for getting work out of men when some able head had 
 explained to him what the work ought to be; and 
 Artemas Ward, the senior major-general, although he soon 
 satisfied himself that his earlier rank of lieutenant-colonel, 
 in a force sent against the Indians, was as high as his mili- 
 tary abilities entitled him to, was an educated gentleman, 
 and large-brained lawyer and legislator, whose sense of 
 order and regard for the cause made him quite valuable. 
 Gates was very useful as adjutant-general. Greene's 
 memory was heavily charged with scientific theories of war, 
 which his intelligence enabled him to put into successful 
 practice whenever opportunity offered. There were also 
 some trustworthy war governors, with Trumbull of Con- 
 necticut at their head. 
 
 Washington promptly proceeded to fortify his lines, 
 and, like every other new commander, he with equal ce- 
 lerity asked for more money and men. The fortifications 
 he possessed almost at once, for they depended only upon 
 his own order and Yankee picks and shovels; the funds 
 and re-enforcements came more slowly, for they had to be 
 obtained through Congress, and all congresses are alike 
 in their inability to do a little work before they have done 
 a great deal of talk. 
 
 True to Virginian ancestry and tradition, Washington 
 kept " open house" at Cambridge. If any man thinks that 
 this, at least, was easy enough to do, let him first load his 
 heart with everybody's else troubles, and then try to play
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RAW RECRUITS 223 
 
 the genial host to a different score or two of chance visitors 
 every day. Every body who was in trouble complained 
 to Washington; even Schuyler, who was certainly one of 
 the noblest characters of the Revolutionary period, allowed 
 his affection for his chief to manifest itself in repinings; 
 but to his credit be it said that Washington's confessions 
 of similar troubles made New York's major-general ashamed 
 of himself. Delegations from exposed sea-coast towns 
 begged men and arms from Washington, instead of turning 
 out their local militia. From this period of torment dates 
 the impression, which never gained a foothold in Virginia, 
 that Washington was by nature reserved and unsym- 
 pathetic. Any true man learns, by listening to the com- 
 plaints of other men, to confine his own bemoanings to his 
 God and his wife, and to keep his heart off his sleeve, lest 
 haply it may not be equal to the service demanded of it in 
 its proper place. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 84. 
 
 . " General Gage, Take Care of If our Nose !" 
 
 What the life and duties of the soldiers were may 
 perhaps be better understood by the following letter of 
 William Emerson, a chaplain in the army at Cambridge, 
 written not long after Washington assumed command of 
 the forces: 
 
 " New lords, new laws. The generals, Washington 
 and Lee, are upon the lines every day. New orders from 
 his excellency are read to the respective regiments every 
 morning after prayers. The strictest government is taking 
 place and the. greatest distinction is made between the 
 officers and soldiers. Every one is made to know his place 
 and keep it, or be tied up and receive thirty or forty lashes 
 according to his crime. Thousands are at work every day 
 from four till eleven o'clock in the morning. It is sur- 
 prising how much work has been done. The lines are 
 extended almost from Cambridge to the Mystic River; so
 
 224 ' THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 that very soon it will be morally impossible for the enemy 
 to get between the works, except in one place which is 
 supposed to be left purposely unfortified, to entice the 
 enemy out of their fortresses. Who would have thought 
 twelve months past that all Cambridge and Charlestown 
 would be covered over with American camps and cut up 
 into forts and intrenchments, and all the lands, fields, and 
 orchards laid common horses and cattle feeding in the 
 choicest mowing land, whole fields of corn eaten down to 
 the ground, and large parks of well regulated locusts cut 
 down for fire-wood and other public uses. This, I must 
 say, looks a little melancholy. My quarters are at the 
 foot of the famous Prospect Hill, where such preparations 
 are made for the reception of the enemy. It is very divert- 
 ing to walk among the camps. They are as different in 
 their form as the owners are in their dress, and every tent 
 is a portraiture of the temper and taste of the persons 
 who encamp in it. Some are made of boards and some 
 of sail-cloth; some partly of one and partly of the other. 
 Again, others are made of stone or turf, brick or brush. 
 Some are thrown up in a hurry; others are curiously 
 wrought with doors and windows, done with wreaths and 
 withes, in the manner of a basket. Some are your proper 
 tents and marquees, looking like the regular camp of the 
 enemy. In these are the Rhode Islanders, who are fur- 
 nished with tent equipage and everything in the most 
 exact English style. However, I think this great variety 
 rather a beauty than a blemish in the army. " 
 
 The bulk of the army at Cambridge had been made up 
 of men from the New England colonies, of whom naturally 
 Massachusetts had provided the largest number. Others 
 were hastening, however, to join the ranks, and in some of 
 the colonies, notably Pennsylvania, so great was the enthu- 
 siasm that measures had to be taken to restrict the numbers. 
 One of the colonial newspapers informs us of the unique 
 method employed by one leader to select the best men
 
 
 Gen. Daniel Morgan 
 
 Gen. Artemas Ward 
 
 Gen. Israel Putnam Gen. Henry Knox 
 
 PORTRAITS OF FOUR GENERALS BESIEGING BOSTON
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 225 
 
 without giving offense to those who might not be chosen. 
 He took a piece of chalk and drew on a board a nose of ordi- 
 nary size. Then he placed his drawing at a distance of one 
 hundred and fifty yards from the line and declared that 
 those who should shoot nearest to the mark should go to 
 Cambridge with him. More than sixty hit the mark, and 
 the newspaper sagely concludes its description of the 
 incident by remarking: 
 
 "General Gage, take care of your nose!" 
 "Daniel Morgan's rifle-men, " composed for the most 
 part of pioneers from Virginia, together with a few from 
 Maryland and Western Pennsylvania, were among the best 
 of the recruits, although the New England men were not as 
 cordial in their welcome as they might have been owing 
 to their prejudice against Irishmen, for the majority of this 
 band were of Irish birth. They were famous for their skill 
 with the rifle, and it is said that on the run through the 
 forest they could load their guns and that every man was 
 able to hit a running squirrel at a distance of three hundred 
 yards. The garb of these sharp-shooters was also unique, 
 and every one wore a loose hunting shirt, on the front 
 of which were the well-known words of Patrick Henry, 
 "Liberty or Death." The leader of this band, Daniel 
 Morgan himself, was as unique as his men. Born in New 
 Jersey, of Welsh descent, he was a giant in stature and 
 possessed of a physical strength almost beyond belief. At 
 one time he had received five hundred lashes on the bare 
 back by the order of a British officer, and at another he had 
 escaped from the Indians after having been shot through 
 the neck by a rifle ball . 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 70. 
 
 Most Unsoldier-like in Figure 
 
 The army, if we may call it by that name, which was 
 besieging Boston was composed almost exclusively of New 
 Englanders. But it was joined during the summer by a few.
 
 22 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 troops from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
 who aroused much interest, because they were expected 
 to make deadly use of the rifle at three hundred yards 
 instead of using the smooth-bore musket, which was useless 
 at only half that distance. . . 
 
 No money had to be appropriated to buy their weapons, 
 for, like the Boer of South Africa, each one of them pro- 
 cured his rifle by taking it down from the pegs on which it 
 rested above his fireplace. He slung his own powder-horn 
 across his shoulder and strapped his bullet-pouch around 
 nis waist. 
 
 As for his uniform, it consisted of a round hat, which 
 could be bought for a trifle at any country store, and a 
 garment made at home by his wife, and sometimes called 
 a smock-frock, which was nothing more than a shirt belted 
 around the waist and hanging down over the hips instead 
 of being tucked into the trousers. It was the same sort of 
 garment used by farm laborers, and it was made of the 
 cotton cloth which is now used for overalls, or of ticking 
 such as we use to cover mattresses and pillows. When 
 used in the woods it was called a rifle-shirt or hunting- shirt, 
 was sometimes ornamented with a fringed cape, and into 
 its ample looseness above the belt were stuffed loaves of 
 bread, salt pork, dried venison, a frying-pan, or a coffee- 
 pot, until the hardy woodsman became most unsoldier- 
 like in figure. 
 
 The True Story of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 359. 
 
 "An Egregious Want of Public Spirit" 
 
 No offensive movement was attempted by the British, 
 and Washington was unable to provoke a fight. There were 
 times when the troops in Boston could have broken the 
 colonial line, doubled up the pieces, sent part of the farmers 
 flying home, and turned the others into bushwhackers, and 
 probably the British general longed to do it, but he was 
 acting under orders. George III, though his intellect had
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 227 
 
 never ripened, was not a ferocious man, and he preferred to 
 conquer peaceably if possible, while Lord North, although 
 a time-server, was a man of brains. If they believed that 
 the Yankees could be wearied into submission, they were not 
 far from right, for there were times when all the persuasions 
 of all the nobler heads and hearts in the army were necessary 
 to prevent the early enthusiasts from breaking ranks and 
 going home. While the weather remained warm soldiering 
 in front of Boston was simply glorious picnicking, but when 
 cold nights began, and overcoats were scarce, and a turn 
 on guard seemed harder work than a ten-mile walk to a 
 country dance, the boys felt homesick. Many a homesick 
 Yankee has tramped and fought his way alone from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific; how tremendous, then, must have 
 been the temptation to desert from the lines before Bos- 
 ton when home was near by and the road led through a 
 friendly country! Besides, the original term of enlistment 
 of most of the troops would expire with the year. 
 
 Washington himself was homesick from the beginning 
 of the war to the end, and realized the possibility of finding 
 himself without an army. He was therefore anxious to 
 attack the enemy, but he was always restrained by Congress 
 or a council of war, or both. Through long furloughs many 
 re-enlistments were secured, and at the beginning of 1776 he 
 still had an army, but at a terrible cost to his own patience 
 and his regard for his countrymen. He complained to 
 Congress of "an egregious want of public spirit" in New 
 England, and that "instead of pressing to be engaged in 
 the cause of their country, which I vainly flattered myself 
 would be the case, I find we are likely to be deserted in a 
 most critical time." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 88. 
 
 The Ministers Who Provoked and Prolonged the Revolution 
 
 The administrations of the English government, from 
 1760 to the close of our Revolutionary war, were more or
 
 228 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 less directed by the intriguing incapacity of the king. 
 George the Third is said to have possessed many private 
 virtues, and very private for a long time he kept them from 
 his subjects, but, as a monarch, he was without magna- 
 nimity in his sentiments or enlargement in his ideas ; preju- 
 diced, uncultivated, bigoted, and perverse; his boasted 
 morality and piety, when exercised in the sphere of govern- 
 ment, partook of the narrowness of his mind and the 
 obstinacy of his will ; his conscience being used to transmute 
 his hatreds into duties, and his religious sentiment to sanctify 
 his vindictive passions; and as it was his ambition to rule 
 an empire by the petty politics of a court, he preferred rather 
 to have his folly flattered by parasites than his ignorance 
 enlightened by statesmen. Such a disposition in the king 
 of a free country was incompatible with efficiency in the 
 conduct of affairs, as it split parties into factions and made 
 established principles yield to personal expedients. Bute, 
 the king's first minister, after a short administration unex- 
 ampled for corruption and feebleness, gave way before a 
 storm of popular contempt and hatred. To him succeeded 
 George Grenville, the originator of the Stamp Act, and the 
 blundering promoter of American Independence. Grenville 
 was a hard, sullen, dogmatic, penurious man of affairs, with 
 a complete mastery of the details of parliamentary business, 
 and threading with ease all the labyrinths of English law, 
 but limited in his conceptions, fixed in his opinions, without 
 any of that sagacity which reads results in their principles, 
 and chiefly distinguished for a kind of sour honesty, not 
 infrequently found in men of harsh tempers and technical 
 intellects. It was soon discovered that, though imperious 
 enough to be a tyrant, he was not servile enough to be a 
 tool ; that the same domineering temper which enabled him 
 to push arbitrary measures in Parliament, made him put 
 insolent questions in the closet; and the king, in despair 
 of a servant who could not tax America and persecute Wilkes. 
 without at the same time insulting his master, dismissed
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 2 2 g 
 
 him for the Marquis of Rockingham, a leader of the great 
 Whig connection, and a sturdy friend of the colonists both 
 before the Revolution and during its progress. Under him 
 the Stamp Act was repealed; but his administration soon 
 proved too liberal to satisfy the politicians who governed 
 the understanding of the king ; and the experiment was tried 
 of a composite ministry, put together by Chatham, consist- 
 ing of members selected from different factions, but without 
 any principle of cohesion to unite them; and the anarchy 
 inherent in the arrangement became portentously apparent, 
 when Chatham, driven by the gout into a state of nervous 
 imbecility, left it to work out its mission of misrule and its 
 eccentric control was seized by the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, the gay, false, dissipated, veering, presumptuous, 
 and unscrupulous Charles Townshend. This man was so 
 brilliant and fascinating as an orator that Walpole said of 
 one of his speeches, that it was like hearing Garrick act 
 extempore scenes from Congreve; but he was without any 
 guiding moral or political principles; and, boundlessly 
 admired by the House of Commons and boundlessly craving 
 its admiration, he seemed ever to act from the impulses 
 of vanity, aiyi speak ever from the inspiration of cham- 
 pagne. Grenville, smarting under his recent defeat, but 
 still doggedly bent on having a revenue raised in America, 
 missed no opportunity of goading this versatile political 
 roue with his exasperating sarcasms. "You are cowards, " 
 he said on one occasion, turning to the Treasury bench; 
 "you are afraid of the Americans; you dare not tax 
 America." Townshend, stung by this taunt, started pas- 
 sionately up from 'his seat, exclaiming, "Fear! cowards! 
 dare not tax America? I do dare tax America!" and this 
 boyish bravado ushered in the celebrated bill, which was 
 to cost England thirteen colonies, add a hundred millions 
 of pounds to her debt, and affix a stain on her public charac- 
 ter. Townshend, by the grace of a putrid fever, was saved 
 from witnessing the consequences of his vainglorious pre-
 
 23 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 sumption; and the direction of his policy eventually fell 
 into the hands of Lord North, a good-natured, second-rate, 
 jobbing statesman, equally destitute of lofty virtues and 
 splendid vices, under whose administration the American 
 war was commenced and prosecuted. Of all the ministers 
 of George the Third, "North was the most esteemed by his 
 sovereign; for he had the tact to follow plans which origi- 
 nated in the king's unreasoning brain and wilful disposition, 
 and yet to veil their weak injustice in a drapery of arguments 
 furnished from his own more enlarged mind and easier 
 temper. Chatham and Camden thundered against him in 
 the Lords ; Burke and Fox raved and shouted statesmanship 
 to him in the Commons, and screamed out the maxims of 
 wisdom in ecstasies of invective; but he, good-naturedly 
 indifferent to popular execration, and sleeping quietly 
 through whole hours of philippics hot with threats of 
 impeachment, pursued his course of court-ordained folly 
 with the serene composure of a Ulysses or a Somers. The 
 war, as conducted by his ministry, was badly managed; 
 but he had one wise thought which happily failed to become 
 a fact. The command in America was offered to Lord 
 Clive; but, fortunately for us, Clive, at abo^ut that time, 
 concluded to commit suicide, and our rustic soldiery were 
 thus saved from meeting in the field a general, who, in vigor 
 of will and fertility of resource, was unequalled by any 
 European commander who had appeared since the death 
 of Marlborough. It may here be added, that Lord North's 
 plans of conciliation were the amiabilities of tyranny and 
 benignities of extortion. They bring to mind the little 
 French fable, wherein a farmer convokes the tenants of his 
 barn-yard, and with sweet solemnity says, " Dear animals, 
 I have assembled you here to advise me what sauce I shall 
 cook you with." "But," exclaims an insurrectionary 
 chicken, " We don't want to be eaten at all " to which the 
 urbane chairman replies, "My child you wander from the 
 point!" 
 
 Character and Characteristic Men, Edwin P. Whipple, p. 298.
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RAW RECRUITS 23 1 
 
 Provisions, Discipline, Ammunition, Scarce 
 
 But any conceit he may have indulged in was speedily 
 knocked out of him when he rode through the lines to inspect 
 his men. He knew that in Boston were four experienced 
 English officers Generals Gage, Howe, Clinton and Bur- 
 goyne the latter, although he wrote two plays and was 
 compelled to surrender at Saratoga, was far more of a man 
 than Americans have believed. These officers had 11,000 
 well disciplined and equipped soldiers, and there was a strong 
 British fleet in the bay. To combat this force Washington 
 had 14,000 men, who, on leaving their homes had been so 
 heavily loaded with patriotism that they had not been able 
 to bring anything else. They were full of fight, and each 
 man knew exactly how the war should be conducted, but 
 they were so deficient in ammunition that a, ten-minute 
 engagement would have exhausted it, as Washington acci- 
 dentally discovered while trying to provoke a fight. 
 
 Discipline was about as scarce as ammunition, and 
 officers competent to require and maintain it were wanting. 
 A Rhode Island brigadier, son of a Quaker miller named 
 Greene, formed in himself and his little command a pleasing 
 exception to the rule, and afterward demonstrated his 
 superiority to all of the Indian fighters, except Washington, 
 who outranked him at the start; but most of the officers 
 were stout-hearted, hard-headed fellows, who respected 
 their men who had elected them far too much to ask them 
 to do anything so distasteful as drill. Provisions were 
 scarce, medical attendance was insufficient, there were no 
 defenses worth the name, and worst of all, there was no 
 money. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 83. 
 
 Scouring the Country for Powder 
 
 By the end of July the army was in a better posture 
 cf defence, and then at the beginning of the next month,
 
 2 3 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 as the prospect was brightening, it was suddenly discovered 
 that there was no gunpowder. An undrilled army, imper- 
 fectly organized, was facing a disciplined force and had only 
 some nine rounds in the cartridge-boxes. Yet there is no 
 quivering in the letters from headquarters. Anxiety and 
 strain of nerve are apparent; but a resolute determination 
 rises over all, supported by a ready fertility of resource. 
 Couriers flew over the country asking for powder in every 
 town and in every village. A vessel was even dispatched 
 to the Bermudas to seize there a supply of powder, of which 
 the general, always listening, had heard. Thus the immedi- 
 ate and grinding pressure was presently relieved, but the 
 staple of war still remained pitifully and perilously meager 
 all through the winter. 
 
 Meantime, while thus overwhelmed with the cares 
 immediately about him, Washington was watching the rest 
 of the country. He had a keen eye upon Johnson and his 
 Indians in the valley of the Mohawk; he followed sharply 
 every movement of Tryon and the Tories in New York; he 
 refused with stern good sense to detach troops to Connecticut 
 and Long Island, knowing well when to give and when to say 
 No, a difficult monosyllable for the new general of freshly 
 revolted colonies. But if he would not detach in one place, 
 he was ready enough to- do in another. He sent one expe- 
 dition by Lake Champlain, under Montgomery, to Montreal, 
 and gave Arnold picked troops to march through the wilds 
 of Maine and strike Quebec. The scheme was bold and 
 brilliant, both in conception and in execution, and came 
 very near severing Canada forever from the British crown. 
 A chapter of little accidents, each one of which proved as fatal 
 as it was unavoidable, a moment's delay on the Plains of 
 Abraham, and the whole campaign failed; but there was a 
 grasp of conditions, a clearness of perception, and a cAmpre- 
 hensiveness about the plan, which stamp it as the work 
 of a great soldier, who saw besides the military importance, 
 the enormous political value held out by the chance ci 
 such a victory.
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 233 
 
 The daring, far-reaching quality of this Canadian 
 expedition was more congenial to Washington's temper 
 and character than the wearing work of the siege. All that 
 man could do before Boston was done, and still Congress 
 expected the impossible, and grumbled because without 
 ships he did not secure the harbor. He himself, while he 
 inwardly resented such criticism, chafed under the monoto- 
 nous drudgery of the intrenchments. He was longing, accord- 
 ing to his nature, to fight, and was, it must be confessed, 
 quite ready to attempt the impossible in his own way. 
 Early in September he proposed to attack the town in boats 
 and by the neck of land at Roxbury, but the council of 
 officers unanimously voted against him. A little more than 
 a month later he planned another attack, and was again 
 voted down by his officers. Councils of war never fight, it is 
 said, and perhaps in this case it was well that such was their 
 habit, for the schemes look rather desperate now. To us 
 they serve to show the temper of the man, and also his self- 
 control, for Washington was ready enough to over-ride 
 councils when wholly free from doubt himself. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 139. 
 
 Trials with Friend and Foe 
 
 Washington had for his headquarters the beautiful 
 colonial house in Cambridge occupied a hundred years later 
 by the poet Longfellow. In this house his wife visited him 
 during the long campaign around Boston. He found his 
 men a most unsoldierlike crowd in discipline and appearance. 
 The men elected officers who let them have their own way. 
 Of .these Washington once wrote : 
 
 "There is no such thing as getting officers of this stamp 
 to carry orders into execution to curry favor with the 
 men (by whom they were chosen, and on whose smile they 
 may possibly think they may again rely) seems to be one 
 of the principal objects of their attention. I have made a 
 pretty good slam amongst such kind of officers as the Massa-
 
 234 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 chusetts government abounds in, since I came into this 
 camp, having broke one colonel and two captains for cow- 
 ardly behavior in the action on Bunker Hill, two captains for 
 drawing more pay and provisions than they had men in their 
 company, and one for being absent from his post when the 
 enemy appeared there and burnt a house just by it. Be- 
 sides these I have at this time one colonel, one major, one 
 captain and two subalterns under arrest for trial. In short 
 I spare none and yet fear it will not all do, as these people 
 seem to be too attentive to everything but their own in- 
 terests. " 
 
 It was an army of everything but soldiers, in the chil- 
 dren's "button charm:" "Rich man, poor man, beggar 
 man, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief, tinker, 'tailor, " 
 and farmer instead of " soldier, sailor, " and so on through 
 the childish lingo 
 
 General Gage, the British commander in Boston, 
 had treated the "rebel" prisoners as if they were criminals, 
 and replied to Washington's remonstrances to this in con- 
 temptuous and even scurrilous terms. There seemed to be 
 no end to the stupidity and arrogance of the commanders 
 the British Government sent over to America. Gage sneered 
 at Washington's "usurped authority," and called the 
 Americans "criminals" about to be hanged. Washington 
 replied with cool dignity: 
 
 "My duty now makes it necessary to apprise you that 
 for the future I shall regulate all my conduct toward those 
 gentlemen who are or may be in our possession exactly by 
 the rule you shall observe towards those of ours now in your 
 custody." 
 
 In reply to Gage's allusions to Washington himself there 
 is a touch of sarcasm: 
 
 "You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from 
 the same source as your own. I cannot conceive one more 
 honorable than that which flows from the uncorrupted 
 choice of a brave and free people, the purest source and
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RAW RECRUITS 235 
 
 original fountain of all power. Far from making it a plea 
 for cruelty, a mind of true magnanimity and enlarged ideas 
 would comprehend and respect it. " 
 
 Washington's acquaintance with Gage had begun twenty 
 years earlier, in the Braddock campaign. It is doubtful, 
 however, if the British general's soul possessed "magnanim- 
 ity" enough to appreciate the rebel commander's sarcasm. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, August 28 to September 4 1910. 
 
 "Old Put " and the Fat Woman 
 
 As we learn what life he led during these years 
 (he was on horseback during the greater part of 
 forty-eight hours on one occasion), we do not need to 
 be assured that he possessed a strong constitution, and 
 still less that he grew gray and blind in the service of 
 his country. Fortunate for him that he was able to 
 laugh sometimes. For, George Washington knew how 
 to laugh in spite of the efforts of his early biographers 
 to conceal what in their eyes was apparently an in- 
 firmity. While one of the several treacheries was being 
 unearthed during the Boston winter, Washington looked 
 out of an upper window at headquarters, and beheld 
 this treachery's missjTng link approaching in the shape 
 of a large, fat woman, whom large, stout General Putnam 
 had straddled in front of him on his saddle, and was thus 
 carrying captive to the commander. The commander 
 appears to have been duly convulsed. In the midst of 
 matters so few of which are laughing matters it would 
 be agreeable to tell and dwell upon every instance of 
 mirth of the commander that is recorded; but we must 
 content ourselves with the knowledge that he did laugh 
 heartily more than once; and that the incident of the 
 fat woman is not the solitary jet of hilarity whose 
 radiance twinkles in that dusk. 
 
 From an address on The Seven Ages of Washington, delivered by Owen Wister 
 before the University of Pennsylvania, on University Day, February 22, 
 1907, at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, and reported in The Alumni 
 Register, Vol. XI, No. 6, p. 265. 
 
 1-17
 
 23 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "Seized Two Brawny Riflemen by the Throat" 
 
 One morning, while Washington was closeted with 
 Sullivan at headquarters, on some mission from the house, 
 Colonel Glover, of the Marblehead regiment, which was 
 encamped in an enclosed pasture north of the College, came 
 in to announce that his men were in a state of mutiny. 
 Washington instantly strode to his horse, kept always in 
 readiness at the door, leaped into the saddle, and, followed 
 by Gen. Sullivan and Col. Glover, rode at full gallop to 
 the camp. His servant, Pompey, sent in advance to let 
 down the bars, had just dismounted for the purpose, when 
 Washington, coming up leaped over Pompey, bars and all, 
 and darted into the midst of the mutineers. It was on the 
 occasion of the well-known contest between the fishermen 
 of Marblehead and the Virginian riflemen under Morgan; 
 the latter of whom, in half Indian equipments of fringed and 
 ruffled hunting shirts, provoked the merriment of the north- 
 ern troops. From words they proceeded to blows and soon 
 at least a thousand combatants, armed for the most part 
 with snow-balls, were engaged in conflict. "The General 
 threw the bridle of his horse into his servant's hands, and, 
 rushing into the thickest of the fight, seized two tall, brawny 
 riflemen by the throat, keeping them at arm's length, talking 
 to, and shaking them. " 
 
 The Life of fame's Sullivan, T. C. Amory, Vol. I. p. 69. 
 
 Some Relaxation and a "Handsome Lift" 
 
 When Congress finally determined that Boston should 
 be attacked, it was at a time when the army was particularly 
 weak and the British position had been strengthened. Of 
 a congressional committee of three, who had previously 
 visited the city to consult with Washington and a New 
 England committee, the Virginia and Carolina members 
 who owned no property in Boston, patriotically expressed 
 themselves willing that the city should be burned, if neces-
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND RA W RECR UITS 237 
 
 sary, in case of an engagement, and even the Pennsylvania 
 member, Benjamin Franklin, of whom Boston was one of 
 the birthplaces, is not on record as having objected. Nat- 
 urally the New England committee did not care to regard 
 Boston in the light of blazing roofs, nor did they desire to 
 see any thing done that might provoke the British to fire 
 the town. 
 
 There was but little likelihood, however, of the Yankee 
 cannon setting fire to Boston, for there was scarcely any 
 artillery in the works or any powder with which to charge 
 the nine-pounder or two that were mounted. Fortunately, 
 one of the little cruisers which Washington had . sent out 
 captured a ship loaded with cannon, shot, musket-balls, 
 and gun-flints, but no powder. A Boston bookseller named 
 Knox, destined afterward to become famous, had gone to 
 Ticonderoga earlier in the campaign for some of the ordinance 
 captured by Ethan Allen a year before, and he brought it, 
 too, in spite of obstacles such as no transportation encoun- 
 tered during the great civil war; he took the cannon on 
 sleds, in winter, through Vermont and New Hampshire. 
 Powder was still lacking, but fortunately Lee, who had been 
 sent to New York to head off an unexpected demonstration, 
 sent Washington a quantity from the royal arsenal in that 
 city. 
 
 Washington was not entirely without encouragement 
 during his long period of helplessness in front of Boston. 
 His wife came to camp; or, to speak more politely, Lady 
 Washington visited Cambridge, so there was at least one 
 person near him who did not ask for promotion or a contract, 
 or talk about the state of the country. She even insisted 
 upon celebrating Twelfth Night, the anniversary of her 
 wedding, by giving a grand party, and although her husband 
 at first objected, she overruled his objections, and probably 
 to his great benefit, for the commander-in-chief needed 
 a great deal more diversion than usually he had. 
 
 Washington's heart was also strengthened, with all
 
 2 3 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 other patriotic hearts, by Lieutenant Mowat, R. N., who 
 had not the slightest intention of helping the colonial cause 
 when he sailed into Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) 'and 
 started the series of tremendous conflagrations for which 
 Portland stands proudly pre-eminent among American 
 towns. The burning of Falmouth enabled every patriot 
 to hate England without feeling guilty about it, and it even 
 cured Washington of whatever love he may have had left 
 for royal rule, for the doughty lieutenant announced that 
 all other seaports were to be treated as Falmouth had been. 
 In the South, Lord Dunmore, late an honored acquaintance 
 of Washington, gave the patriot cause a handsome lift by 
 burning Norfolk. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton. p. 93. 
 
 Washington elected cominander-in-chief, June 15, 1775 
 
 Battle of Bunker Hill June 17, 1775 
 
 Washington took command of Continental Army, 
 
 J ul Y 3. 1775 
 
 Montgomery captured Montreal. .. November 13, 1775 
 Montgomery and Arnold stormed Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DRIVING THE. BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 
 Raising the Grand Union Flag on New Year's Day, 1776 
 
 The official origin of the flag with thirteen alternate 
 red and white stripes, representing the United Colonies, 
 and the subjoined crosses of St. George and St. Andrew (the 
 "king's colors") in a blue canton, which was raised on 
 Prospect Hill, Cambridge, on the first day of January, 1776, 
 has never been satisfactorily determined. 
 
 A book on colonial and revolutionary flags, published 
 some years ago, says that the Colonial Congress, in the fall 
 of 1775, appointed Messrs. Franklin, Harrison, and Lynch 
 as a committee to consider and recommend a design for a 
 colonial flag, and that the committee reached Cambridge 
 on the morning of December 15, 1775, and completed their 
 duties before midnight of that day. Nearly twenty pages 
 are devoted to the discussions that were engaged in by the 
 committee, General Washington, and two or three unnamed 
 persons, relative to the design of a flag for the standard of 
 the army and navy. It is stated that the union design was 
 unanimously approved by the committee and adopted by 
 General Washington, but the author fails to give his au- 
 thority for that and other statements given in the book, 
 relative to the Cambridge flag. .. . . ,- 
 
 General Washington, writing to Colonel Joseph Reed, 
 his military secretary, under date of January 4, 1776, says: 
 
 " We are at length favored with a sight of his majesty's 
 most gracious speech, breathing sentiments of tenderness 
 and compassion for his deluded American subjects! The 
 echo is not yet come to hand, but we know what it must be ; 
 and, as Lord North said (and we ought to have believed and 
 
 (239)
 
 24 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 acted accordingly), we now know the ultimatum of British 
 justice. The speech I send you. A volume of them w^s 
 sent out by the Boston gentry; and, farcical enough, we 
 gave great joy to them, without knowing or intending it; 
 for, on that day, the day which gave being to the new army, 
 but before the proclamation came to hand, we had hoisted 
 the Union flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But 
 behold! it was received in Boston as a token of the deep 
 impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of 
 submission. So we hear, by a person out of Boston, last 
 night. By this time, I presume, they begin to think it 
 strange we have not made a formal surrender of our lives." 
 
 The Stars and Stripes and Other American Flags, Peleg D. Harrison, pp. 39 to 44. 
 
 Not the Stars and Stripes 
 
 Washington and his men, indeed, nearly all the people, 
 had to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, 
 and endure all things, before they could bring our beautiful 
 banner to its perfection and make it the flag of the free and 
 independent nation we are now so justly proud to call our 
 own. The growth of the flag even then was gradual and 
 slow. 
 
 The first flag . ' . . was not the Stars and Stripes, 
 by any means. Its simple colored stripes tell a most inter- 
 esting story. It shows that, even then, the colonies had no 
 idea of separating from England. They were still loyal Eng- 
 lish people demanding liberties and freedom from oppression 
 that they believed their king and Parliament ought to grant 
 to the faithful subjects beyond the sea. The flag that 
 Franklin and the Congress devised for Washington proves 
 this. Instead of having stars in the canton as they are now, 
 they had the British flag the English Cross of St. George, 
 in red, and the Scotch Cross of St. Andrew, in white, placed 
 one over the other, on a blue canton. With this design they 
 had thirteen red and white stripes, to show that the thirteen 
 colonies were banded together but still loyal to the old flag
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 241 
 
 if the king and his counsellors would grant them the liberty 
 due to all Englishmen, allow them to be represented in the 
 English Parliament and have a voice in the affairs of govern- 
 ment, especially in the management of their own matters. 
 
 When this flag was raised over the garrison at Cam- 
 bridge, Massachusetts, with appropriate ceremonies, by 
 Washington and the flag committee, it was greeted with 
 thirteen cheers and thirteen guns that is, a cannon wa's 
 fired thirteen times. 
 
 This flag was displayed by Washington at the head of 
 the colonial army, in Cambridge, just across the river from 
 Boston, on New Year's Day, 1776, six months before the 
 Continental Congress, in Philadelphia, voted to adopt the 
 Declaration of Independence. The British, when they saw 
 the new banner, seemed to understand that it meant that 
 the colonies would yield after all. 
 
 The Story of the American Flag, Wayne Whipple, p. 38. 
 
 " Obliged to Conceal It from My Own Officers" 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington was incessantly goaded by the 
 impatient murmurs of the public, as we may judge by his 
 letters to Mr. Reed. " I know the integrity of my own 
 heart, " writes he, on the loth of February ; " but to declare 
 it, unless to a friend, may be an argiiment of vanity. I 
 know the unhappy predicament I stand in; I know that 
 much is expected of me ; I know that without men, without 
 arms, without ammunition, without anything fit for the 
 accomodation of a soldier, little is to be done, and, what 
 is mortifying, I know that I cannot stand justified to the 
 world without exposing my own weaknesses, and injuring 
 the cause, by declaring my wants ; which T am determined 
 not to do, further than unavoidable necessity brings every 
 man acquainted with them. 
 
 "My own situation is so irksome to me at times, that 
 if I did not consult the public good more than my tran- 
 quillity, I should long ere this have put everything on the
 
 24 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 cast of a die. So far -from having an army of twenty 
 thousand men, well armed, I have been here with less than 
 one half that number, including sick, furloughed, and on 
 command; and those neither armed nor clothed as they 
 should be. In short, my situation has been such, that I 
 have been obliged to use art, to conceal it from my own 
 officers." 
 
 , Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 217. 
 
 The Blockade of Boston 
 
 The siege of Boston continued through the winter, 
 without any striking incident to enliven its monotony. 
 The British remained within their works, leaving the 
 beleaguering army slowly to augment its forces. The 
 country was dissatisfied with the inaction of the latter. 
 Even Congress was anxious for some successful blow that 
 might revive popular enthusiam. Washington shared this 
 anxiety, and had repeatedly, in councils of war, suggested 
 an attack upon the town, but had found a majority of his 
 general officers opposed to it. He had hoped some favorable 
 opportunity would present, when, the harbor being frozen, 
 the troops might approach the town on ice. The winter, 
 however, though severe at first, proved a mild one and the 
 bay continued open. General Putnam, in the mean time, 
 having completed the new works at Lechmere Point, and 
 being desirous of keeping up the spirit of his men, resolved 
 to treat them to an exploit. Accordingly, from his " impreg- 
 nable fortress" of Cobble Hill, he detached a party of about 
 two hundred, under his favorite officer, Major Knowlton, 
 to surprise and capture a British guard stationed at Charles- 
 town. It was a daring enterprise, and executed with spirit. 
 As Charlestown Neck was completely protected, Knowlton 
 led his men across the mill-dam, round the base of the hill, 
 and immediately below the fort ; set fire to the guard-house 
 and some buildings in its vicinity; made several prisoners, 
 and retired without loss: although thundered upon by the
 
 
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 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 243 
 
 cannon of the fort. The exploit was attended by a dramatic 
 effect on which Putnam had not calculated. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, page 214. 
 
 " It Is a Noble Cause" 
 
 Further ammunition being received from the royal 
 arsenal at New York and other quarters and a re-enforce- 
 ment of ten regiments of militia, Washington no longer met 
 with opposition to his warlike measures. Lechmere Point, 
 which Putnam had fortified, was immediately to be sup- 
 plied with mortars and heavy cannon, so as to command 
 Boston on the north ; and Dorchester Heights, on the south 
 of the town, were forthwith to be taken possession of. 
 
 "If any thing," said Washington, "will induce the 
 enemy to hazard an engagement, it will be our attempting 
 to fortify those heights, as, in that event taking place, we 
 shall be able to command a great part of the town, and 
 almost the whole harbor." Their possession, moreover, 
 would enable him to push his works to Nook's Hill, and 
 other points opposite Boston, whence a cannonade and 
 bombardment must drive the enemy from the city. 
 
 The council of Massachusetts, at his request, ordered 
 the militia of the towns contiguous to Dorchester and 
 Roxbury, to hold themselves in readiness to repair to the 
 lines at those places with arms, ammunition and accoutre- 
 ments, on receiving a preconcerted signal. 
 
 Washington felt painfully aware how much depended 
 upon the success of this attempt. There was a cloud of 
 gloom and distrust lowering upon the public mind. Danger 
 threatened on the north and south. Montgomery had 
 fallen before the walls of Quebec. The army in Canada 
 was shattered. Tryon and the Tories were plotting mis- 
 chief in New York. Dunmore was harassing the lower part 
 of Virginia, and Clinton and his fleet were prowling along 
 the coast, on a secret errand of mischief. 
 
 Washington's general orders evince the solemn and
 
 2 44 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 anxious state of his feelings. In those of the 26th of Feb- 
 ruary, he forbade all playing at cards and other games of 
 chance. " At this time of public distress, " writes he, " men 
 may find enough to do in the service of God and their coun- 
 try, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality. 
 It is a noble cause we are engaged in; it is the cause of 
 virtue and mankind; every advantage and comfort to us 
 and our posterity depend upon the vigor of our exertions; 
 in short, freedom or slavery must be the result of our con- 
 duct ; there can, therefore, be no greater inducement to men 
 to behave well. But it may not be amiss to the troops to 
 know, that, if any man in action shall presume to skulk, 
 hide himself, or retreat from the enemy Without the orders 
 of his commanding officer, he will be instantly shot down 
 as an example of cowardice ; cowards having too frequently 
 disconcerted the best formed troops by their dastardly 
 behavior. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 220. 
 
 " When the Dreadful 'Tomorrow' Will Be, I Know Not" 
 
 The evening of Monday the 4th of March was fixed 
 upon for the occupation on Dorchester Heights. The 
 ground was frozen too hard to be easily intrenched ; fascines 
 therefore and gabions and bundles of screwed hay were col- 
 lected during the two, preceding nights with which to form 
 breastworks and redoubts. During these two busy nights 
 the enemies ' batteries were cannonaded and bombarded from 
 opposite points to occupy their attention and prevent their 
 noticing these preparations. They replied with spirit, and 
 the incessant roar of artillery thus kept up, covered com- 
 pletely the rumbling of wagons and ordnance. 
 
 How little the enemy were aware of what -was impend- 
 ing, we may gather from the following extract of a letter 
 from an officer of distinction in the British army in Bos- 
 ton to his friend in London, dated on the 3d of March: 
 
 " For these last six weeks or near two months, we have
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 245 
 
 been better amused than could possibly be expected in our 
 situation. We had a theatre, we had balls, and there is 
 actually a subscription on foot for a masquerade. Eng- 
 land seems to have forgot us, and we have endeavored to 
 forget ourselves. But we were aroused to a sense of our 
 situation last night, in a manner unpleasant enough. The 
 rebels have been for some time past erecting a bomb battery, 
 and last night they began to play on us. Two shells fell 
 not far from me. One fell upon Colonel Monckton's house, 
 but luckily did not burst until it had crossed the street. 
 Many houses were damaged but no lives lost. The rebel 
 army, " adds he "is not brave, I believe, but it is agreed on 
 all hands that their artillery officers are at least equal to 
 ours. " 
 
 The wife of John Adams, who resided in the vicinity 
 of the American camp, and knew that a general action was 
 meditated, expresses in a letter to her husband the feelings 
 of a patriot woman during the suspense of these nights. 
 
 " I have been in a constant state of anxiety, since you 
 left me," writes she on Saturday. "It has been said to- 
 morrow and tomorrow for this month, and when the dread- 
 ful tomorrow will be, I know not. But hark! The house 
 this instant shakes with the roar of cannon. I have been 
 close to the door, and find it is a cannonade from our army. 
 Orders, I find, are come, for all the remaining militia to 
 repair to the lines Monday night, by twelve o'clock. No 
 sleep for me tonight." 
 
 On Sunday the letter is resumed. " I went to bed 
 after twelve, but got no rest; the cannon continued firing, 
 and my heart kept pace with them all night. We had a 
 pretty quiet day, but what tomorrow will bring forth, God 
 only knows. " 
 
 On Monday, the appointed evening, she continues: 
 "I have just returned from Penn's Hill, where I have been 
 sitting to hear the amazing roar of cannon, and from whence 
 I could see every shell that was thrown. The sound, I
 
 246 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 think, is one of the grandest in nature, and is of the true 
 species of the sublime. Tis now an incessant roar; but 
 oh, the fatal ideas which are connected with the sound! 
 How many of our dear countrymen must fall ! 
 
 " I went to bed about twelve, and rose again a little 
 after one. I could no more sleep than if I had been in the 
 engagement; the rattling of the windows, the jar of the 
 house, the continual roar of twenty-four pounders, and the 
 bursting of shells, give us such ideas, and realize a scene 
 to us of which we could scarcely form any conception. 
 I hope to give you joy of Boston even if it is in ruins, before 
 I send this away. ' ' 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 223. 
 
 "With the Expedition of Genii" 
 
 On the Monday evening thus graphically described, 
 as soon as the firing commenced, the detachment under 
 General Thomas set out on its cautious and secret march 
 from the lines of Roxbury and Dorchester. Everything 
 was conducted as regularly and quietly as possible. A cov- 
 ering party of eight hundred men preceded the carts with 
 the intrenching tools ; then came General Xhomas with the 
 working party, twelve hundred strong, followed by a train 
 of three hundred wagons, laden with fascines, gabions, 
 and hay screwed into bundles of seven or eight hundred 
 weight. A great number of such bundles were ranged in 
 a line along Dorchester Neck on the side next the enemy, 
 to protect the troops, while passing, from being raked by 
 the fire of the enemy. Fortunately, although the moon, as 
 Washington writes, was shining in its full lustre, the flash 
 and roar of cannonry from opposite points, and the bursting 
 of bomb-shells high in the air, so engaged and diverted the 
 attention of the enemy, that the detachment reached the 
 heights about eight o'clock, without being heard or per- 
 ceived. The covering party then divided; one half pro- 
 ceeded to the point nearest Boston, -the other to the one
 
 247 
 
 nearest to Castle Williams. The working party commenced 
 to fortify, under the directions of Gridley, the veteran 
 engineer, who had planned the works on Bunker's Hill. 
 It was severe labor, for the earth was frozen eighteen inches 
 deep; but the men worked with more than their usual 
 spirit; for the eye of the commander-in-chief was upon 
 them. Though not called there by his duties, Washington 
 could not be absent from this eventful preparation. . ; . 
 
 The labors of the night were carried on by the Americans 
 with their usual activity and address. When a relief party 
 arrived at four o'clock in the morning, two forts were in 
 sufficient forwardness to furnish protection against small- 
 arms and grape-shot ; and such use was made of the fascines 
 and bundles of screwed hay, that, at dawn, a formidable- 
 looking fortress frowned along the height. We have the 
 testimony of a British officer already quoted, for the fact. 
 "This morning at daybreak we discovered two redoubts 
 on Dorchester Point, and two smaller ones on their flanks. 
 They were all raised during last night, with an expedition 
 equal to that of the genii belonging to Aladdin's wonderful 
 lamp. From these hills they command the whole town, so 
 that we must drive them from their posts, or desert the 
 place." 
 
 Howe gazed at the mushroom fortress with astonish- 
 ment, as it loomed indistinctly, but grandly, through a 
 morning fog. 
 
 "The rebels," exclaimed he, "have done more work 
 in one night, than my whole army would have done in one 
 month. " 
 
 Washington had watched, with intense anxiety, the 
 effect of the revelation at daybreak. " When the enemy 
 first discovered our works in the morning," writes he, 
 "they seemed to be in great cfonfusion, and from their 
 movements, to intend an attack. " 
 
 L*'f<? of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 225.
 
 248 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Evacuate the Place as Soon as Possible 
 
 An American, who was on Dorchester Heights, gives 
 a picture of the scene. A tremendous cannonade was 
 commenced from the forts in Boston, and the shipping in the 
 harbor. " Cannon shot, " writes he, " are continually rolling 
 and rebounding over the hill, and it is astonishing to observe 
 how little our soldiers are terrified by them. The royal 
 troops are perceived to be in motion, as if embarking to 
 pass the harbor and land on Dorchester shore, to attack 
 our works. The hills and elevations in this vicinity are 
 covered with spectators to witness deeds of horror in the 
 expected conflict. His excellency, General Washington, is 
 present, animating and encouraging the soldiers, and they 
 in return manifest their joy ; and express a warm desire for 
 the approach of the enemy ; each man knows his own place. 
 Our breastworks are strengthened, and among the means 
 of defence are a great number of barrels, filled with stones 
 and sand, and arranged in front of our works, which are to 
 be put in motion, and made, to roll down the hill, to break 
 the legs of the assailants as they advance. " 
 
 General Thomas was re-inforced with two thousand 
 men. Old Putnam stood ready to make a descent upon the 
 north side of the town, with his four thousand picked men, 
 as .soon as the heights on the south should be assailed: 
 "All the forenoon," says the American above cited, "we 
 were in momentary expectation of witnessing an awful 
 scene; nothing less than the carnage of Breed's Hill battle 
 was expected." 
 
 As Washington rode about the heights, he reminded 
 the troops that it was the 5th of March, the anniversary 
 of the Boston massacre, and called on them to revenge the 
 slaughter of their brethren. They answered him with 
 shouts. "Our officers and men," writes he, "appeared 
 impatient for the appeal." The event, I think, must have 
 neen fortunate; nothing less than success and victory on 
 oui' side."
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 249 
 
 In the evening the British began to move. Lord 
 Percy was to lead the attack.. Twenty-five hundred men 
 were embarked in transports, which were to convey them 
 to the rendezvous at Castle Williams. A violent storm set 
 in from the east. The transports could not reach their 
 place of destination. The men-of-war could not cover and 
 support them. A furious surf beat on the shore where the 
 boats would have to land. The attack was consequently 
 postponed until the following day. 
 
 That day was equally unpropitious. The storm con- 
 tinued with torrents of rain. The attack was again post- 
 poned. In the mean time, the Americans went on strength- 
 ening their works ; by the time the storm subsided, General 
 Howe deemed them too strong to be easily carried ; the at- 
 tempt, therefore, was relinquished altogether. 
 
 What was to be done? The shells thrown from the 
 heights into the town, proved that it was no longer tenable. 
 The fleet was equally exposed. Admiral Shuldham, the 
 successor to Graves, assured Howe that if the Americans 
 maintained possession of the heights, his ships could not 
 remain in the harbor. It was determined, therefore, in a 
 council of war, to evacuate the place as soon as possible. 
 But now came on a humiliating perplexity. The troops, in 
 embarking, would be exposed to a destructive fire. How 
 was this to be prevented? General Howe's pride would 
 not suffer him to make capitulations, he endeavored to 
 work on the fears of the Bostonians, by hinting that if his 
 troops were molested while embarking, he might be obliged 
 to cover their retreat, by setting fire to the town. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 228. 
 
 A British Burlesque Turned to Melodrama 
 
 The British officers had fitted up a theatre, which was 
 well attended by the troops and Tories. On the even- 
 ing in question, an afterpiece was to be performed, entitled 
 "The Blockade of Boston," intended as a burlesque on the
 
 2 5 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 patriot army which was beleaguering it. Washington 
 is said to have been represented in it as an awkward lout, 
 equipped with a huge wig, and a long rusty sword, attended 
 by a country booby as orderly sergeant, in rustic garb, with 
 an old firelock seven or eight feet long. 
 
 The theatre was crowded, especially by the military. 
 The first piece was over, and the curtain was rising for the 
 farce, when a sergeant made his appearance, and announced 
 that "the alarm guns were firing at Charlestown, and the 
 Yankees attacking Bunker's Hill." At first this was sup- 
 posed to be a part of the entertainment, until General Howe 
 gave the word, "Officers, to your alarm posts." 
 
 Great confusion ensued; every one scrambled out of 
 the theatre as fast as possible. There was, as usual, some 
 shrieking and fainting of the ladies; and the farce of "The 
 Blockade of Boston " had a more serious than comic termina- 
 tion. . 
 
 The London Chronicle in a sneering comment on 
 Boston affairs gave Burgoyne as the author of this burlesque 
 afterpiece, though perhaps unjustly. "General Burgoyne 
 has opened a theatrical campaign, of which himself is sole 
 manager, being determined to act with the Provincials on 
 the defensive only. Tom Thumb has already been repre- 
 sented; while, on the other hand, the Provincials are pre- 
 paring to exhibit, early in the spring, 'Measure for Measure.' " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 213. 
 
 "There Never Existed a More Miserable Set of Beings !" 
 
 Daily preparations were now made by the enemy for 
 departure. By proclamation, the inhabitants were ordered 
 to deliver up all linen and woollen goods, and all other goods, 
 that, in possession of the rebels, .would aid them in carrying 
 on the war. Crean Bush, a New York Tory, was authorized 
 to take possession of such goods, and put them on board two 
 of the transports. Under cover of his commission, he and 
 his myrmidons broke open stores, and stripped them of
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 251 
 
 their contents. Marauding gangs from the fleet and army 
 followed their example, and extended their depredations 
 to private houses. On the i4th, Howe, in a general order, 
 declared that the first soldier caught plundering should be 
 hanged on the spot. Still on the i6th houses were broken 
 open, goods destroyed, and furniture defaced by the troops. 
 Some of the furniture, it is true, belonged to the officers, 
 and it was destroyed because they could neither sell it nor 
 carry it away. 
 
 For some days the embarkation of the troops was 
 delayed by adverse winds. Washington, who was imper- 
 fectly informed of affairs in Boston, feared that the move- 
 ments there might be a feint. Determined to bring things 
 to a crisis, he detached a force to Nook's Hill on Saturday 
 the 1 6th, . which threw up a breastwork in the night regard- 
 less of the cannonading of the enemy. This commanded 
 Boston Neck, and the south part of the town, and a deserter 
 brought a false report to the British that a general assault 
 was intended. 
 
 The embarkation, so long delayed, began with a hurry 
 and confusion at four o'clock in the morning. The harbor 
 of Boston soon presented a striking and tumultuous scene. 
 There were seventy-eight ships and transports casting loose 
 for sea, and eleven or twelve thousand men, soldiers, sailors, 
 and refugees, hurrying to embark; many especially of the 
 latter, with their families and personal effects. The refugees, 
 in fact, labored under greater disadvantages than the king's 
 troops, being obliged to man their own vessels, as sufficient 
 seamen could not be spared from the king's transports. 
 Speaking of those "who had taken upon themselves the 
 style and title of government men" in Boston, and acted 
 an unfriendly part in this great contest, Washington observes : 
 
 " By all accounts there never existed a more miserable 
 set of beings than these wretched creatures now are. Taught 
 to believe that the power of Great Britain was superior to all 
 opposition, and that foreign aid, if not, was at hand; they 
 
 1-18
 
 252 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 were even higher and- more insulting in their opposition 
 than the Regulars. When the order issued, therefore, for 
 embarking the troops in Boston, no electric shock no sud- 
 den clap of thunder in a word, the last trump could not 
 have struck them with greater consternation. They were 
 at their wits' end, and conscious of their black ingratitude, 
 chose to commit themselves, in the manner I have above 
 described, to the mercy of the waves at a tempestuous season 
 rather than meet their offended countrymen. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 223. 
 
 The British Sentry Was a Dummy 
 
 Napoleon is credited with the remark that . English 
 soldiers never know when they are whipped, but they had 
 not lapsed into this deplorable degree of ignorance at the 
 time of the Revolution ; for when General Howe and Admiral 
 Shuldham saw these redoubts, they agreed with beautiful 
 unanimity that the town was untenable, and promptly pre- 
 pared to depart. Nobody pressed them to stay; the 
 Americans did not fire even a single shot to distract their 
 attention, and the British returned the compliment by refrain- 
 ing from firing a single house. It was the greatest moving 
 day that had been known in North America up to that 
 date; but the British did all the work and the Americans 
 looked on, which is unalloyed bliss to one who has no mov- 
 ing to do. Finally an American sentinel found that the 
 British sentry in front of him was a dummy ; within a few 
 moments the American flag floated over Boston for the 
 first time. 
 
 George Washington. John Habberton, p. 94. 
 
 " The Face of Disorder and Confusion" 
 
 At an early hour of the morning, the troops stationed 
 "at Cambridge and Roxbury had paraded, and several 
 regiments under Putnam had embarked in boats, and
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 253 
 
 dropped down Charles River, to Sewell's Point, to watch the 
 movements of the enemy by land and water. About nine 
 o'clock a large body of troops were seen marching down 
 Bunker-' s Hill, while boats full of soldiers were putting off 
 for the shipping. Two scouts were sent from the camp to 
 reconnoitre. The works appeared still to be occupied, for 
 sentries were posted about them with shouldered muskets. 
 Observing them to be motionless, the scouts made nearer 
 scrutiny, and discovered them to be mere effigies, set up to 
 delay the advance of the Americans. Pushing on, they 
 found the works deserted, and gave signal of the fact; 
 whereupon, a detachment was sent from the camp to take 
 possession. 
 
 Part of Putnam's troops were now sent back to Cam- 
 bridge; a part were ordered forward to occupy Boston. 
 General Ward, too, with five hundred men, made his way 
 from Roxbury, across the Neck, about which the enemy 
 had scattered caltrops or crow's feet, to impede invasion. 
 The gates were unbarred and thrown open, and the Ameri- 
 cans entered in triumph, with drums beating and colors 
 flying. 
 
 By ten o'clock the enemy were all embarked and under 
 way : Putnam had taken command of the city, and occupied 
 the important points, and the flag of thirteen stripes, the 
 standard of the Union, floated above all the forts. 
 
 On the following day, Washington himself entered the 
 town, where he was joyfully welcomed. He beheld around 
 him sad traces of the devastation caused by the bombard- 
 ment, though not to the extent that he had apprehended. 
 There were evidences, also, of the haste with which the Brit- 
 ish had retreated five pieces of ordnance with their trun- 
 nions knocked off, others hastily spiked; others thrown 
 off the wharf. 
 
 "General Howe's retreat," writes Washington, "was 
 precipitate beyond anything I could have conceived. 
 The destruction of the stores at Dunbar's camp, after
 
 2 S4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 
 
 Braddock's defeat, was but a faint image of what may be 
 seen at Boston; artillery carts cut to pieces in one place, 
 gun carriages in another; shells broke here, shots buried 
 there, and everything carrying with it the face of disorder 
 and confusion as also of distress. " 
 
 We close this eventful chapter of Washington's history, 
 with the honor decreed to him by the highest authority 
 of his country. On motion of John Adams, who had first 
 moved his nomination as commander-in-chief, a unanimous 
 vote of thanks to him was passed in Congress; and it was 
 ordered that a gold medal be struck, commemorating the 
 evacuation of Boston, bearing the effigy of Washington as its 
 deliverer. 
 
 Lift of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 236. 
 
 "It Takes the Ragged Boys to Do the Fighting" 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, immortal as the 
 author of "The Man without a Country," related in con- 
 versation, many stories of Washington, gathered from the 
 accounts of eye-witnesses who were old people in Dr. Hale's 
 boyhood. Here is one given, as nearly as the writer can 
 remember, in the language of the aged minister-author. 
 
 "An old parishioner I had once told me that when 
 Washington entered Boston after its evacuation, on the 
 1 7th of March, 1 776, he made the best tavern in the town his 
 headquarters. This was at the head of King street, as 
 State street was then called. General Howe also had lived 
 at the same inn. My informant's mother was the inn- 
 keeper's daughter, a little girl running about the house, 
 and naturally interested in all that was going on. 
 
 "General Washington, who was exceedingly fond of 
 children, called the little girl to him, and while holding her 
 on his knee, asked : 
 
 1 ' Now that you have seen the soldiers on both sides, 
 which do you like best?' 
 
 "The little girl hesitated, but, like the great Washington
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 255 
 
 himself, could not tell a lie, she said, with childish honesty, 
 
 <( 'I like the "red coats" best.' 
 
 "The American general laughed at her frankness, and 
 said, gently : 
 
 'Yes, my dear, the red-coats do look the best, but it 
 takes the ragged boys to do the fighting.' " 
 
 (This anecdote has been authenticated. W. W.) 
 
 "No Man Ever Commanded under More Difficult Circumstances" 
 
 (Letter to John Augustine Washington.} 
 
 "Cambridge, 31 March, 1776. 
 "Dear Brother: 
 
 . . . " The want of arms and powder is not peculiar 
 to Virginia. This country, of which doubtless you have 
 heard large and flattering accounts, is more deficient in 
 both than you can conceive. I have been here months 
 together, with (what will be scarcely believed) not thirty 
 rounds of musket cartridges to a man ; and have been obliged 
 to submit to all the insults of the enemy's cannon for want 
 of powder, keeping what little we had for pistol distance. 
 Another thing has been done, which, added to the above, 
 will put it in the power of this army to say, what perhaps 
 no other with justice ever could say. We have maintained 
 our ground against the enemy, under this want of powder, 
 and we have disbanded one army, and recruited another, 
 within musket shot of two and twenty regiments, the flower 
 of the British army, whilst our force has been but little if 
 any superior to theirs; and, at last, have beaten them into 
 a shameful and precipitate retreat out of a place the strong- 
 est by nature on this continent, and strengthened and 
 fortified at an enormous expense. . ,. 
 
 " I believe I may with great truth affirm, that no man 
 perhaps since the first institution of armies ever commanded
 
 256 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 one tinder more difficult circumstances than I have done. 
 To enumerate the particulars would fill a volume. Many 
 of my difficulties and distresses were of so peculiar a cast, 
 that, in order to conceal them from the enemy, I was obliged 
 to conceal them from my friends, and indeed from my own 
 army, thereby subjecting my conduct to interpretations 
 unfavorable to my character, especially by those at a dis- 
 tance, who could not in the smallest degree be acquainted 
 with the springs that governed it. I am happy, however, 
 to find, and to. hear from different quarters, that my reputa- 
 tion stands fair, that my conduct hitherto has given universal 
 satisfaction. The. addresses which I have received, and which 
 I suppose will be published, from the General Coiirt of 
 this colony, and from the selectmen of Boston upon the 
 evacuation of the town, and my approaching departure from 
 the colony, exhibit a pleasing testimony of their approba- 
 tion of my conduct, and of their personal regard, which I 
 have found in various other instances, and which, in retire- 
 ment, will afford many comfortable reflections. :-.,. . 
 
 " General Charles Lee, I suppose, is with you before this. 
 He is the first officer, in military knowledge and experience, 
 we have in the whole army. He is zealously attached to 
 the cause, honest and well-meaning, but rather fickle and 
 violent, I fear, in his temper. However, as he possesses an 
 uncommon share of good sense and spirit, I congratulate 
 my countrymen upon his appointment to that department. 
 As I am now nearly at the end of my eighth page, I think 
 it time to conclude; especially, as I set out with prefacing 
 the little time I had for friendly correspondences. I shall 
 only add, therefore, my affectionate regards to my sister 
 and the children, and compliments to friends; and that I 
 am, with every sentiment of true affection, your. loving 
 brother and faithful friend," 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON]. 
 
 Writings of Washington. Edited by Lawrence B. Evans. Ph. D.. p. 52.
 
 DRIVING THE BRITISH OUT OF BOSTON 257 
 
 "Execrable Parricides!" 
 
 Washington did not linger over his victory. Even 
 while the British fleet still hung about the harbor he began 
 to send troops to New York to make read}'- for the next 
 attack. He entered Boston in order to see that every 
 precaution was taken against the spread of smallpox, and 
 then prepared to depart himself. Two ideas, during his 
 first winter of conflict, had taken possession of his mind, 
 and undoubtedly influenced profoundly his future course. 
 One was the conviction that the struggle must be fought 
 out to the bitter end, and must bring either subjugation or 
 complete independence. He wrote in February: "With 
 respect to myself, I have never entertained an idea of an 
 accommodation, since I heard of the measures which were 
 adopted in consequence of the Bunker Hill fight"; and at 
 an earlier date he said : " I hope my countrymen (of Virginia) 
 will rise superior to any losses the whole navy of Great 
 Britain may bring on them, and that the destruction of 
 Norfolk and threatened devastation of other places will 
 have no other effect than to unite the whole country in one 
 indissoluble band against a nation which seems to be lost 
 to every sense of virtue and those feelings which distinguish 
 a civilized people from the most barbarous savages. ' ' With 
 such thoughts he sought to make Congress appreciate the 
 probable long duration of the struggle, and he bent every 
 energy to giving permanency to his army, and decisiveness 
 to each campaign. The other idea which had grown in his 
 mind during the weary -siege was that the Tories were 
 thoroughly dangerous and deserved scant mercy. In his 
 second letter to Gage he refers to them, with the frankness 
 which characterized him when he felt strongly, as " execrable 
 pai ricides, ' ' and he made ready to treat them with the 
 utmost severity at New York and elsewhere. When 
 Washington was aroused there was a stern and relentless 
 side to his character, in keeping with the force and strength
 
 258 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 which were his chief qualities. His attitude on this point 
 seems harsh now when the old Tories no longer look very 
 dreadful. But they were dangerous then, and Washington, 
 with his honest hatred of all that seemed to partake of 
 meanness or treason, proposed to put them down and ren- 
 der them harmless, being well convinced, after his clear- 
 sighted fashion, that war was not peace, and that mildness 
 to domestic foes was sadly misplaced. 
 
 His errand to New England was now done and well 
 done. His victory was won, everything was settled at 
 Boston; and so, having sent his army forward, he started 
 for New York, to meet the harder trials that still awaited 
 him. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 152.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE STARS AND STRIPES AND THE DECLARATION OP 
 INDEPENDENCE 
 
 The Commander-in-chief Invited to Confer with Congress 
 
 When President [of Congress] Hancock, under date of 
 May 1 6, wrote to the commander-in-chief advising him of 
 the resolution of Congress requesting his presence in Phila- 
 delphia, he added: 
 
 " I request the favor that you will please to honor me 
 with your and your lady's company at my house, where I 
 have a bed at your service, and where every endeavor on 
 my part and Mrs. Hancock's will be exerted to make your 
 abode agreeable. I reside in an airy, open part of the city, 
 in Arch street, corner of Fourth street. " 
 
 Washington, however, on his arrival at Philadelphia, 
 received a note from Mr. Hancock, expressing his sorrow 
 that it was not in his power to wait on him in person on 
 account of a severe fit of the gout. From this note it does 
 not appear that the General and Mrs. Washington availed 
 themselves of the invitation. 
 
 Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to December 23, 1783, William 
 S. Baker, p. 40. 
 
 Going to Philadelphia 
 
 Washington left New York on May 21 and arrived at 
 Philadelphia on the 23d, at two o'clock in the afternoon, 
 stopping on the way at Amboy, New Jersey, "to view, " as 
 he wrote to General Schuyler, "the ground, and such 
 places on Staten Island contiguous to it, as may be proper 
 for works of defense." 
 
 Itincrarv of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to December 23, 1783. William 
 S. Baker, p. 39. 
 
 (259)
 
 2 6o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Consulting with Congress on the Coming Campaign 
 
 Agreeable to order, General Washington attended in 
 Congress, and after some conference with him, 
 
 "Resolved, that he be directed to attend again to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Journal of Congress, May, 24, 1776. 
 
 Agreeable to order, General Washington attended, 
 and after some conference with him, 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer 
 with his excellency, General Washington, Major-general 
 Gates, Brigadier-general Mifflin, and to concert a plan of 
 military operations for the ensuing campaign." 
 
 Journal of Congress, May 25, 1776. 
 
 Attended by Indians, Washington Reviews the Troops 
 
 On Monday afternoon (May 27) General Washington, 
 the members of Congress, Gen. Gates and Mifflin, reviewed 
 the four battalions, the rifle battalion, the light horse, and 
 three artillery companies of the city militia, amounting to 
 near 2500 men, when they went through their manoeuvres 
 to general satisfaction. At the same time two battalions 
 of the Continental troops were reviewed by the General. 
 The Indians who are come to town on business with the 
 Congress, attended the General in reviewing the militia. 
 
 Pennsylvania Gazette, May 29, 1776. 
 
 General Washington and the Stars and Stripes 
 
 The writer is indebted to the grandsons of Betsy 
 Ross, Mr. William J. Canby and Mr. George Canby, for 
 interesting and valuable information relative to the mak- 
 ing of the first flag. Congress appointed General Wash- 
 ington, Colonel George Ross and Robert Morris a com- 
 mittee " authorized to design a suitable flag for the nation,"
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 261 
 
 and they called upon Mrs. Ross, who was conducting art 
 upholstery business on Arch Street, below Third, in Phila- 
 delphia. Washington had frequently called upon Mrs. 
 Ross before his appointment as commander-in -chief of 
 the army, and knew her skill with the needle, having em- 
 ployed her to embroider his shirt ruffles and do needle-work 
 of other kinds. 
 
 Mrs. Ross was shown a rough drawing of the flag, 
 which was explained by General Washington. She ob- 
 jected to the six-pointed stars in the design, and suggested 
 that they ought to have but five points. The sketch was 
 redrawn in pencil by General Washington, the stars were 
 changed to five-pointed, and other minor alterations were 
 made. 
 
 The fact that in the original drawing the stars were 
 six-pointed is strong evidence that they were not derived 
 from the Washington arms, for those on his escutcheon were 
 five-pointed, but one ingenious writer quotes Washington 
 as saying that "he preferred a star that would not be an 
 exact copy of those on his coat of arms, and that he also 
 thought a six-pointed star would be easier to make." Mrs. 
 Ross demonstrated the ease of making a five-pointed star, 
 by folding a piece of paper and producing one by a single 
 clip of her scissors. 
 
 The Stars and Stripes and Other American Flags, Peleg D. Harrison, p. 62. 
 
 Ordering the Flag Made 
 
 So they needed another flag a real liberty flag. In 
 June, 1776, only a few weeks before the great Declara- 
 tion, a committee of three persons, General Washington. 
 Robert Morris (who afterwards became the money man- 
 ager of the Revolution) and Colonel George Ross, called 
 on Mrs. Ross, the widow of Colonel Ross's nephew, to have 
 a banner made. The members of the committee had evi- 
 dently availed themselves of the advice of Dr. Benjamin 
 Franklin, for he was interested in flags and had been chair- 
 man of the previous flag committee. Washington and his
 
 2 6 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 friends seemed to have a pretty good idea of what they 
 wanted. 
 
 It has been shown how the idea of the Stars and Stripes 
 had been growing up among all the queer designs that had 
 been flung to the breezes during those years of turmoil and 
 trouble with the Mother Country. The thirteen colonies 
 had often been represented, on sea and land, by thirteen 
 stripes, and sometimes by thirteen white stars in a blue 
 sky or field. These stars were generally five-pointed. The 
 committee seems to have agreed upon placing the thir- 
 teen stars in a circle, in a blue canton. Washington, in 
 his drawing, had made the stars six-pointed, it is said, 
 because he wanted to make the stars different from those 
 in his own coat-of-arms, which were five-pointed! It is 
 often stated that Washington secured the design for our 
 flag from his own coat-of-arms. No doubt Franklin sug- 
 gested this also. But there had been several flags made 
 of thirteen stripes, and quite a number of star standards 
 appeared about this time. If his coat-of-arms had really 
 resembled the flag, that would have been the very reason 
 why Washington would not have allowed it to be copied. 
 He was not that kind of a man. There is nothing that can 
 be quoted from what Washington ever said or wrote, of all 
 that is left to us, that even hints at such an idea. Indeed, 
 much that- he wrote seems rather to contradict the notion 
 of his copying his coat-of-arms. .... 
 
 When General Washington and his secret or self- 
 appointed committee needed some one to make up the flag 
 they had planned, they naturally went to the bright and 
 skillful young "Widow Ross," as she was sometimes called. 
 Besides, Betsy was a niece, by marriage, of Colonel Ross, 
 one of the so-called committee. Washington laid the de- 
 sign before the blooming young woman, with his accus- 
 tomed gallantry. When Mrs. Ross saw the six-pointed 
 star in the drawing, she took a piece of paper, folded it, 
 made one snip of the scissors, unfolded it and smilingly 
 held up a perfect five-pointed star.
 
 THE' DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 263 
 
 The men were delighted with her deftness and skill, 
 and felt that the bright little woman was just the right 
 person to whom to entrust the making of the wonderful 
 new flag. They told her what they desired thirteen red 
 and white stripes, with the red at the top and bottom of 
 the flag, which would make seven red stripes and six white. 
 The canton to be a blue square, extending from the top 
 down over the seven bars and stopping at the eighth, a white 
 stripe. In this blue field was a circle of thirteen white 
 stars. The description given by Congress was of "a con- 
 stellation," or a group of stars. The story is told that 
 John Adams wished to have the stars arranged in the form 
 of the star-group, Lyra, which is the shape of a lyre or 
 harp, as there were just thirteen stars in that constella- 
 tion. But they could not arrange it to look well, so they 
 decided on the circle of stars. As there is no end to a 
 circle, they hoped that the new nation that they were 
 trying to organize would also be without end that it would 
 live until the end of time. 
 
 Thf Story of the American Flag, Wayne Whipple, p. 44. 
 
 Stars and Stripes Not from Washington's Coat-of-arms 
 
 That neither the stars nor stripes were derived from 
 the Washington coat-of-arms is shown by Washington 
 himself, in a grand sentiment on our national flag, which 
 he gave in these words: 
 
 "We take the star from Heaven, the red from our 
 mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing 
 that we have separated from her, and the white stripes 
 shall go down to posterity representing liberty. " 
 
 It will be noticed that the suggestion expressed else- 
 where, that the stripes on the continental Union Flag, the 
 immediate predecessor of our national emblem, may have 
 been formed by placing six white stripes across the red 
 ensign of the United Kingdom, accords with what Wash- 
 ington said.
 
 264 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Historian Benson J. Lossing would never believe that 
 the Washington arms were the beginning of the flag, and 
 so expressed himself in a letter to Thomas Gibbons. He 
 thought the stripes may have been suggested by the flag 
 of the English East India Company, with which the colonists 
 in the seaports had long been familiar. 
 
 Thf Stars and Stripes ar.d Other American Flags, Peleg D. Harrison, p. 58. ( 
 
 Drawing up and Discussing the Declaration 
 
 On the first day of July, 1776, with Benjamin Harrison 
 in the chair, the resolution was brought up for action. The 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE had been drawn 
 up by Thomas Jefferson, who had been appointed chairman 
 of the committee. He was a very young man at this time, 
 a delegate from Virginia, not very much of a speaker, 
 though his pen had already become known not only as 
 that of a "ready writer" but of an able writer as well. 
 Jefferson had desired John Adams to draw up the docu- 
 ments; but Adams, as far-sighted as he had been when he 
 had secured the appointment of Washington as com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army, and for very much the same 
 reasons, insisted upon his young colleague doing the work. 
 In his autobiography John Adams gave the following 
 reasons for declining to do the work, and for his insistence 
 that Jefferson should do it : 
 
 " i. That he was a Virginian and I a Massachusetten- 
 sian. 2. That he was a Southern man and I a Northern 
 one. 3. That I had been so obnoxious for my early and 
 constant zeal in promoting the measure, that every draft of 
 mine would undergo a more severe scrutiny and criticism 
 in Congress than one of his composition. 4. And lastly, 
 and that would be reason enough if there were no other, 
 I had a great opinion of the elegance of his pen and none at 
 all of my own. I therefore insisted that no hesitation 
 should be made on his part. He accordingly took the 
 minutes, and in a day or two produced me his draft. "
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 265 
 
 Richard Henry Lee, [who had made the motion for the 
 Declaration] was absent on that first day ,of July, 
 owing to the illness in his family, and John Adams was called 
 upon to defend the resolution he had seconded. Perhaps he 
 was not the fiery, magnetic speaker that Lee was, but he was 
 a man of greater intellect, and his speech was a powerful one. 
 Doubtless many of those who are reading this page have de- 
 claimed in their school days portions of that speech, or sup- 
 posed portions, before admiring audiences, and have declared 
 that " sink or swim, survive or perish, " they were iinhesitat- 
 ingly in favor of independence. Samuel Adams of Massa- 
 chusetts, Dr. Witherspoon of New Jersey, Edward Rutledge 
 of South Carolina, and others also spoke warmly in its favor. 
 
 The resolution was opposed by some, for what measure 
 ever yet existed to which all men agreed? The strongest 
 speech in opposition was made by John Dickinson, who 
 brought forward points that in one form or another have been 
 urged against every new movement since the world began. 
 
 "The country would not be any stronger, proposed 
 alliances with France, Spain, or other foreign nations were 
 all uncertain. There would be no hope of future favors 
 from Great Britain. The colonies themselves had no 
 settled government, and first all these details should be 
 arranged, and then America might take her place among 
 the nations of the world" all of which was not without 
 weight, but after all was very much like the consent of the 
 anxious mother for her boy to enter the water after he had 
 learned to swim; or telling a young teacher or physician 
 that he will be employed after he shall have had some 
 experience. Learning comes by experience, and centuries 
 ago a writer declared that all such reasons as those advanced 
 by John Dickinson against any movement which of itself 
 was right, would usually prevent the measure itself from 
 being entered upon. " He that observeth the wind shall 
 not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." 
 
 The resolution declaring the colonies to be free and
 
 266 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 independent was unanimously adopted on the second day 
 of July, 1776. Nine colonies the preceding day had voted 
 in favor of it. New York was silent because 
 her delegate had not been instructed. Pennsylvania voted 
 nay, and so did South Carolina. Delaware also was counted 
 in the negative, although one of her delegates cast his vote 
 in favor of adopting the resolution. The final vote was 
 unanimous, at least as far as twelve colonies were concerned, 
 for the -New York delegates, though not opposed to it, did 
 not feel that they ought to vote for it. 
 
 The form drawn up by Jefferson was modified and 
 slightly changed, and after a full discussion, was adopted, 
 July 4th, 1776. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 89. 
 
 [Washington returned to New York, June 6, 1776.] 
 
 A Badly Armed, Undisciplined, Disorderly Rabble 
 
 The patriot military forces of New York, when General 
 Howe first arrived, were only about ten thousand. His 
 delay of nearly two months allowed them the opportunity 
 to increase this number. Enthusiasm and rumors soon 
 had their numbers up to forty-five thousand or fifty thou- 
 sand. It had seemed to both the patriots and their Con- 
 gress that before long they must surely have that number. 
 Many expected more. But by the actual returns made by 
 Washington, his forces, all told, were only 20,275. Of these 
 the sick were so numerous that those fit for duty were only 
 about fourteen thousand. The large sick-list was appar- 
 ently the result of shockingly unsanitary conditions, which 
 for long afterwards were characteristic of the patriot camps ; 
 and in winter they were always afflicted with the smallpox. 
 Besides disease which was so prevalent among them, they 
 were a most badly armed, undisciplined, disorderly rabble, 
 marauding on the inhabitants and committing all kinds of 
 irregularities. Except a few troops, like Smallwood's 
 Marylanders, they were for the most part merely a collection
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 267 
 
 of squads of farmers and militia bringing with them the 
 guns they had in their houses. 
 
 The Tri4e Story of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 309. 
 
 Conspiracy to Kill or Kidnap Washington 
 
 The great aim of the British, at present, was to get 
 possession of New York and the Hudson, and make them 
 the basis of military operations. This they hoped to effect 
 on the arrival of a powerful armament, hourly expected, 
 and designed for operations on the seaboard. ". 
 
 At this critical juncture there was an alarm of a con- 
 spiracy among the Tories in the city and on Long Island, 
 suddenly to take up arms and co-operate with the British 
 troops on their arrival. The wildest reports were in circula- 
 tion concerning it. Some of the Tories were to break 
 down the King's Bridge, others were to blow up the maga- 
 zines, spike the guns, and massacre all the field-officers. 
 Washington was to be killed or delivered up to the enemy. 
 Some of his own body-guard were said to be in the plot. 
 
 Corbie's tavern, near Washington's quarters, was a 
 kind of rendezvous of the conspirators. There one Gilbert 
 Forbes, a gunsmith, "a short, thick man, with a white 
 coat," enlisted men, gave them money, and "swore them 
 on the book to secrecy. " From this house a correspondence 
 was kept up with Governor Tryon on shipboard through 
 a "mulatto-colored negro, dressed in blue clothes." At 
 this tavern it was supposed Washington's body-guards 
 were tampered with. Thomas Hickey, one of the guards, 
 a dark-complexioned man, five feet six inches high, and 
 well set, was said not only to be enlisted, biit to have aided 
 in corrupting his comrades; among others, Greene the 
 drummer, and Johnson the fifer. 
 
 It was further testified before the committee, that one 
 Sergeant Graham, an old soldier, formerly of the royal 
 artillery, had been employed by Governor Tryon to prowl 
 round and survey the grounds and works about the city, 
 
 1-19
 
 268 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and on Long Island, and that, on information thus pro- 
 cured, a plan of operations had been concerted. On the 
 arrival of the fleet, a man-of-war should cannonade the 
 battery at Red Hook; while that was doing, a detachment 
 of the army should land below with cannon, and by a cir- 
 cuitous march surprise and storm the works on Long Island. 
 The shipping then, with the remainder of the army, were 
 to divide, one part to run up the Hudson, the other up the 
 East River; troops were to land above New York, secure 
 the pass at King's Bridge, and cut off all communications 
 between city and country. 
 
 Much of the evidence given was of a dubious kind. 
 It was certain that persons had been secretly enlisted, and 
 sworn to hostile operations, but Washington did not think 
 that any regular plan had been digested by the conspirators. 
 
 "The matter," writes he, "I am in hopes, by a timely 
 discovery, will be suppressed." 
 
 According to the mayor's own admission before the 
 committee, he had been cognizant of attempts to enlist 
 Tories and corrupt Washington's guards, though he declared 
 that he had discountenanced them. He had, on one occa- 
 sion, also, at the request of Governor Tryon, paid money 
 for him to Gilbert Forbes, the gunsmith, for rifles and 
 round-bored guns which he had already furnished, and for 
 others he was to make. He had done so, however (accord- 
 ing to his account), with great reluctance, and after much 
 hesitation and delay, warning the gunsmith that he would 
 be hanged if found out. The mayor, with a number of 
 others, was detained in prison to await a trial. 
 
 Thomas Hickey, the individual of Washington's guard, 
 was tried before a court-martial. He was an Irishman 
 and had been a deserter from the British army. The court- 
 martial found him guilty of mutiny and sedition, and 
 treacherous correspondence with the enemy, and sentenced 
 him to be hanged. 
 
 The sentence was approved by Washington, and was car-
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 269 
 
 ried promptly into effect, in the most solemn and impres- 
 sive manner, to serve as a warning and an example in this 
 time of treachery and danger. On the morning of June 
 28th, all the officers and men off duty, belonging to the 
 brigades of Heath, Spencer, Stirling and Scott, assembled 
 under arms at their respective parades at 10 o'clock, and 
 marched thence to the grounds. Twenty men from each 
 brigade, with bayonets fixed, guarded the prisoner to the 
 place of execution, which was a field near the Bowery Lane. 
 There he was hanged in the presence, we are told, of near 
 twenty thousand persons. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 289. 
 
 "A Most Barbarous and Infernal Plot" 
 
 "Since Friday last, a most barbarous and infernal plot 
 has been discovered among the Tories in New York. Two 
 of General Washington's guards are concerned; a third 
 whom they tempted to join them made the first discovery. 
 The general report of their design is as follows: Upon the 
 arrival of the British troops, they were to murder all the 
 staff-officers, blow up the magazines, and secure all the 
 passes of the town. Gilbert Forbes, a gunsmith in the 
 Broadway, was taken between two and three o'clock on 
 Saturday morning and carried before our Congress who 
 were then sitting. He refused to make any discovery, 
 upon which he was sent to jail. The Reverend Mr. Living- 
 ston went to see him early in the morning, and told him he 
 was very sorry to find he had been concerned, that his 
 time was very short, not having above three days to live, 
 and advised him to prepare himself. This had the desired 
 effect; and he requested to be carried before Congress 
 again, promising to discover all he knew. Several have 
 since been taken, between twenty and thirty, among them 
 the mayor. They are all now in confinement. Their party, 
 it is said, consisted of about five hundred." 
 
 [Two other extracts from newspapers of the time will
 
 270 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 explain the methods employed by the angry soldiers to 
 protect their leader and bring the leaders to justice.] 
 
 " Yesterday (23) the mayor was examined twice, and 
 returned prisoner under a strong guard. We have now 
 thirty-four prisoners, and many more, it is expected, will 
 be taken up. A party of our men went over to Long 
 Island on Saturday last to take up some of the Tories; 
 they returned yesterday, and brought to town one Downing, 
 who is charged with being in the hellish plot. They took 
 six more prisoners and put them in Jamaica jail, on Long 
 Island. The Tories made some resistance, and fired on 
 our men in the woods; our men then returned the fire, 
 wounding one man mortally; they then called for quarter." 
 
 "This forenoon (June 28) was executed in a field between 
 the Colonels M'Dougall and Huntington's camp, near the 
 Bowery-Lane, New York, in the presence of near twenty 
 thousand spectators, a soldier belonging to his Excellency 
 General Washington's guards, for mutiny and conspiracy; 
 being one of these who formed, and was soon to have put 
 in execution, that horrid plot of assassinating the staff- 
 officers, blowing up the magazines, and securing the passes 
 of the town on the arrival of the hungry ministerial myr- 
 midons. During the execution, Kip, the moon-curser, 
 suddenly sank down and expired instantly." 
 
 Pennsylvania Journal, (newspaper) accounts. 
 
 In a Board of Treasury, Flying Camp, and Barn Hospital 
 
 Having received a plain education and left a good 
 home, I determined to try my fortune in a strange place 
 and support myself, independent of friends, whom I was to 
 leave, and who were as opulent as the farmers of that day 
 generally were. I soon discovered, after taking my station 
 in office, on a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, that 
 there was little difficulty in the way of success. Soon after 
 this appointment I was, with the other clerks in the dif- 
 ferent offices, appointed a signer of Continental money in
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 271 
 
 order to help our salaries; this was of great service. We 
 continued to sign the bills until a hundred dollar note would 
 scarcely give a hearty man a dinner; but the signing 
 answered the purpose for the time being and I was thankful. 
 
 I continued with the Board of Treasury, then occupy- 
 ing a house at the corner of Fourth and Arch streets, 
 Philadelphia, very differently organized from what it is 
 now at the city of Washington. 
 
 Previous to my settlement in this city, or thought of 
 doing so, to wit, in the spring of 1776, Congress resolved, 
 at the request of General Washington, to raise, for the short 
 time of six months, an auxiliary force to be denominated 
 a Flying Camp, to be dressed in hunting shirts, which was 
 soon accomplished, composed mostly of young men. A 
 near relative of mine obtained a commission of lieutenant; 
 he being at that time a stripling of a boy, but full of zeal, 
 he prevailed on his brother and myself to enlist in his 
 company, promising me the appointment of sergeant. 
 Elated with the idea of being a soldier I at once signed the 
 articles and prepared to join the company at their rendez- 
 vous at Chester Town. The regiment, commanded by 
 Colonel William Richardson, was soon completed, and 
 was ready to march by the first of July, and were ordered 
 to Fort Washington in the North [Hudson] River, twelve 
 miles above the city of New York. 
 
 It so happened that we reached that city on the Fourth 
 of July, being the anniversary of my own birth, as well as 
 the day Congress, then in session, declared the United 
 States free and independent a glorious day long to be 
 remembered. Before ten days had expired (from taking 
 up the line of march), we were safely encamped at Fort 
 Washington, our place of destination, a short time before 
 the British fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Howe, and 
 the army, by Sir Henry Clinton, appeared off Sandy Hook, 
 and took possession of the city of New York. . . . Fort 
 Washington [was] on Manhattan and Fort Lee, on the
 
 572 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Jersey shore, directly opposite. Fort Washington had a 
 garrison of one thousand men commanded by Colonel 
 
 McDougall 
 
 The soldiers belonging to the regiment to which I 
 belonged, being thinly clad in hunting- shirts, became very 
 sickly as the fall approached. As I was well and active, 
 I was ordered over to Hackensack, in Jersey, in charge of 
 all the invalids belonging to the regiment, and succeeded 
 in securing good quarters in a large barn, belonging to a 
 farmer close by; I took quarters myself in the family 
 owning said farm, who treated me with great kindness 
 during my sojourn. I had the misfortune to bury the most 
 of my companions far from their own home, yet [I was] not 
 dismayed. Before the army retired into winter quarters, 
 and the Flying Camp discharged, myself and those who 
 survived (our time being about to expire) wended our way 
 back to our native homes much fatigued and discouraged. 
 
 Reminiscences, in manuscript, of Cornelius Comegys, through courtesy of his great- 
 grandson, G. Albert Smyth. 
 
 How the Declaration Was Received in New York 
 
 Washington hailed the Declaration with joy. It is 
 true, it was but a formal recognition of a state of things 
 which had long existed, but it put an end to all those tem- 
 porizing hopes of reconciliation which had clogged the 
 military action of the country. 
 
 On the Qth of July, he caused it to be read at six o'clock 
 in the evening, at the head of each brigade of the army. 
 "The general hopes," said he in his orders, "that this im- 
 portant event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer 
 and soldier, to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing 
 that now the peace and safety of his country depend, under 
 God, solely on the success of our arms ; and that he is now 
 in the sendee of a state, possessed of sufficient power to 
 reward his merit/ and advance him to the highest honors 
 of a free country."
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 273 
 
 The excitable populace of New York were not content 
 with the ringing of bells to proclaim their joy. There 
 was a leaden statue of George III in the Bowling Green, 
 in front of the fort. Since kingly rule is at an end, why 
 retain its effigy? On the same evening, therefore, the 
 statue was pulled down amid the shouts of the multitude, 
 and broken up to be run into bullets " to be used in the cause 
 of independence." 
 
 Some of the soldiery having been implicated in this 
 popular effervescence, Washington censured it in general 
 orders, as having much the appearance of a riot and a want 
 of discipline, and the army was forbidden to indulge in any 
 irregularities of the kind. It was his constant effort to 
 inspire his countrymen in arms "with his own elevated 
 ideas of the cause in which they were engaged, and to make 
 them feel that it was no ordinary warfare, admitting of 
 vulgar passions and perturbations. "The general hopes 
 and trusts," said he, "that every officer and man will 
 endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, 
 defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol.' II, p. 303. 
 
 Statue of George III Melted into Bullets 
 
 The New Yorkers, now that they knew something 
 definite about their political status, made themselves 
 entirely equal to the situation by such means as are usually 
 employed by civilians on patriotic occasions; that is, 
 they hurrahed, rang bells, and built bonfires. . . . 
 
 But neither the resolution, the Declaration, the general 
 order, nor the enthusiasm secured Washington the re-en- 
 forcements that he so greatly needed. The w r orks in and 
 opposite the city and at Fort Washington, on the upper 
 end of Manhattan Island, did not prevent two warships 
 from sailing up the Hudson, frightening the city nearly 
 into hysterics as they passed, and making themselves at 
 home in that wide portion of the river known as Haverstraw
 
 274 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Bay. This naval venture, however, had the good effects 
 of stimulating activity on all the defenses along the Hudson 
 and causing Washington to send George Clinton, a militia 
 brigadier of great ability, to discipline the Tories up the 
 river. 
 
 About this time the occupation of -being a Tory was 
 almost as uncomfortable as that of being commander-in- 
 chief; but this fact did not cause Washington to comport 
 himself sympathetically towards the king's friends. The 
 Tories meant well, at the start; their only fault was, that 
 they were so loyal to the king that their hearts were too 
 much for their heads. Had they remained neutral in word 
 and act, they would have had no trouble; but as talk, 
 all theories to the contrary notwithstanding, is the ruling 
 passion of humanity, their tongues wagged incessantly, 
 and, being compelled to play a double part in order to show 
 their loyalty to one side and save their property from the 
 other, they rapidly developed into the most accomplished 
 and exasperating liars that the country had yet known. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 102. 
 
 "The Times That Try Men's Souls" 
 
 Franklin's faith all through "the times that try men's 
 souls" (as Thomas Paine wrote concerning this very crisis) 
 was ever cheerful. During those days of poverty and 
 disaster he never lost hope. When he heard bad news 
 he exclaimed: "It will come all right in the end." He 
 proved his sincerity by putting $i 5,000 (the amount awarded 
 him by the Pennsylvania Assembly ) into the cause of lib- 
 erty devoting the people's gift to their country's good. 
 
 When it was too late the English ministers began to 
 see that they had blundered. Soon after the Declaration 
 of Independence, Lord Howe wrote to Franklin advising 
 a conference which should bring about a reconciliation be- 
 tween Mother England and her daughter in America. 
 Franklin wrote back:
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 275 
 
 "Long did I endeavor, with unfeigned and unwearied 
 zeal, to preserve from breaking that fine and noble China 
 vase, the British Empire ; for I knew that, once broken, the 
 separate parts could not retain even their share of the 
 strength or value that existed in the whole, and that a 
 perfect reunion of their parts could scarce ever be hoped 
 for." 
 
 At a conference which took place between Lord Howe, 
 representing England, and Franklin, John Adams and Ed- 
 ward Rutledge, for the colonies, Lord Howe expressed a 
 deep fraternal feeling for them saying, " If America should 
 fail, I should feel and lament it like the loss of a brother." 
 
 Franklin bowed and calmly said: "We will do our ut- 
 most endeavor to spare your lordship that mortification." 
 
 The Franklin Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, November 13 to 26, 1910. 
 
 "Unpack His Heart with Words ?" 
 
 In the summer of 1776, at New York, when he was 
 at the head of the Army of the Revolution, the following 
 appeared among the General Orders of August 3d: 
 
 "The General is sorry to be informed, that the foolish 
 and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a 
 vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing 
 into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example as 
 well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both 
 they and the men will reflect, that we can have little hope 
 of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by our 
 impiety and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, 
 without any temptation, that every man of sense and char- 
 acter detests and despises it." 
 
 Is it probable, nay, is it possible, that the author of 
 these orders ever lost or forgot the character and principles 
 of his youth and manhood from which they came, so that 
 in later years he became accustomed to 
 
 "unpack his heart with words, 
 Arid fall a-cursing, like a very drab,"
 
 276 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 or emphasize the utterances of excited passion with habitual 
 profanity? I think not! 
 
 Libels on Washington, Geo. H. Moore, p. 6. 
 
 "George Washington, Esq., etc., etc." 
 
 "We expect a bloody summer in New York and Can- 
 ada," wrote General Washington to his brother, after his 
 return to New York. . . . 
 
 British men - of - war began to arrive in New York 
 Harbor and to land soldiers by thousands on Stat'en Island. 
 General Howe and his brother, Lprd Howe, on their arrival, 
 found Washington in possession of New York and two 
 small forts, named for the two generals, Washington and 
 Lee, were built above the city on opposite sides of the 
 Hudson, to prevent the British fleet from ascending that 
 wide stream. But Washington's ever vanishing forces 
 were inadequate to guard and hold New York and the sur- 
 rounding country, separated as it was by great rivers. 
 Lord Howe had come with full pardoning powers from King 
 George. He tried to open communication with the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the colonial army, sending a messenger 
 with a letter addressed to "Mr." Washington. This 
 General Washington's secretary refused to receive. Then 
 an officer arrived at Washington's headquarters with a 
 communication for "George Washington, Esq., etc.-, etc." 
 Though the officer was received with careful courtesy this 
 letter also was declined. 
 
 " But the ' etc., etc., ' implies everything, " protested the 
 bearer of it. 
 
 "It may also mean anything!" said Washington, 
 laughing. 
 
 Then he added that the "pardoning power" of Lord 
 Howe would be of no avail, for there was nothing to pardon, 
 and, in fact, no pardon had been asked. 
 
 Of course, the form of address on a letter was a trifling 
 thing but Washington comprehended that he represented
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 277 
 
 the rising young republic, and England must be made to 
 realize this. Lord Howe, at least, recognized Washington's 
 character and the justice of his claim to courteous treatment, 
 which Gage had been incapable of seeing, for he wrote back 
 to England that they might as well give "General" Wash- 
 ington his proper title. But nothing came of the Howes' 
 attempted negotiations to end the war. 
 
 Washington's army was now drawn from a wider 
 range of territory than that of New England and the South. 
 Of the difficulties besetting the young commander, John 
 Adams once said: 
 
 " It requires more serenity of temper, a deeper under- 
 standing, and more courage than fell to the lot of Marl- 
 borough, to -ride in this whirlwind." 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, September 4 to 10, 1910.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 
 
 General Howe Turns the Tables 
 
 Howe and his brother were experienced military com- 
 manders. They had the aid of Clinton and Cornwallis, both 
 of whom were good generals, and over thirty thousand well 
 armed soldiers men who fought for a living while Wash- 
 ington had less than eighteen thousand, most o( whom knew 
 nothing of war, while many had no muskets to fight with. 
 On the other hand, Washington had the advantage of posi- 
 tion. He not only held the city and the forts on the Hudson, 
 but he had possession of Brooklyn Heights on Long Island 
 directly opposite the city on the south. General Howe, 
 with his army, was on Staten Island. He saw that if he 
 could take Brooklyn Heights, and plant his cannon there, he 
 could drive Washington. out of New York, just as Washing- 
 ton, by seizing Dorchester Heights, had driven him out of 
 Boston. 
 
 General Putnam was in command of the Heights with a 
 force of nine thousand men. Believing that the British 
 meant to attack him, he sent about half his force to meet the 
 enemy. The British, twenty thousand strong, or nearly 
 five to one of the Americans, came across from Staten Island 
 and landing on the southwestern shore of Long Island began 
 their march toward the Heights. They soon met and de- 
 feated the little army sent against them, in what was called 
 the battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776). They then 
 got ready to besiege Putnam. 
 
 Putnam with his whole army would certainly have been 
 captured if it had not been for Washington's energy and 
 skill. During the night a dense fog came up. Washington 
 
 (278)
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 279 
 
 took advantage of it and succeeded in getting all the men 
 across the river in boats to New York, In the morning, 
 when the British commander stretched out his hand to take 
 the "nest of rebels, " as he called it, he got the nest indeed, 
 but it was empty the birds had flown. 
 
 The Leading Facts of American History, D. H. Montgomery, p. 170. 
 
 The Masterly Retreat from Long Island 
 
 The next day brought the heavy rain with which a 
 merciful Providence almost invariably blesses the wounded 
 and weary after a great battle. There was some skirmish- 
 ing and cannonading, and an appearance of intention to 
 carry the works by regular approach. A heavy fog envel- 
 oped everything on the 28th, but when it lifted for a mo- 
 ment there were business indications about the fleet off 
 Staten Island. As there was nothing to prevent the ships 
 doing in East River as the enemy had done between the 
 two lines two days before, a council of war determined to 
 evacuate the Long Island lines. In spite of the fog, all 
 water craft on both rivers were brought around to the 
 Brooklyn ferry landing by dark. . . On their arrival, 
 they were manned by the Marblehead fishermen and 
 sailors who composed an entire Massachusetts regiment, 
 while Washington, who, like all -other sensible men, had 
 learned that the only way to have a thing done to suit him 
 was to do it himself, superintended . the embarkation. 
 General Mifflin, with eight hundred fresh troops and the 
 remnants of three regiments that had suffered severely 
 in the recent engagement, manned the lines, while the 
 remaining eight thousand men, with all their stores and 
 impedimenta, retreated to the ferry, the rear being covered 
 by a few light guns commanded by Captain Alexander 
 Hamilton, who later became one of the biggest guns in the 
 American political field. . . 
 
 Mifflin went back to the lines, and held them until 
 his own retreat was ordered, when his detachment quietly
 
 2 8o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and safely crossed the river, Washington himself moving 
 with the extreme rear. About this time the Reliable Contra- 
 band makes his first appearance in American military 
 history. He was sent by his owner, residing near the ferry, 
 to inform the British of the retreat, but he struck a Hessian 
 outpost; the Hessians did not understand English, much 
 less Congo-Brooklyn-English, and the man and brother 
 had not enjoyed the modern opportunities of his race for 
 attending universities and studying German, so he was 
 put under guard till daylight, and when he finally made 
 himself understood and the British hurried to the ferry, 
 they secured only an independent rear guard of three 
 thieves. 
 
 Blame for the defeat on Long Island has been heaped 
 upon numerous people who did not deserve any share in it ; 
 Greene has been charged with the full responsibility for 
 the pass at the left of the ridge being unguarded, although 
 he had not, up to the time he fell sick, been able to do much 
 more than look to his inner line. Putman and Sullivan 
 have been blamed, although neither knew the ground. 
 Washington, as commander-in-chief, has been blamed for 
 everything connected with the affair, except the existence of 
 Long Island. The author of this volume stakes his rep- 
 utation, as a military critic, on the opinion that the blame 
 really and exclusively belongs to Lord Howe, who had al- 
 together too many men to allow the Americans a fair show. 
 Fiat justitia, ruat coelum! The credit for the retreat has 
 been almost equally divided between Washington and Prov- 
 idence, which is about the square thing, for although Prov- 
 idence is the sole supplier of heavy fogs in East River, . . 
 it was Washington who availed himself of the heaven- 
 sent covering. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. in. 
 
 In a Tempest of Anger at Kip's Bay 
 
 Washington, looking beyond the confusion of the 
 moment, saw that he had gained much by delay, and had his
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 281 
 
 own plan well denned. He wrote: "We have not only 
 delayed the operations of the campaign till it is too late 
 to effect any capital incursion into the country, but have 
 drawn the enemy's forces to one point. ... It would 
 be presumption to draw out our young troops into open 
 ground against their superiors both in number and disci- 
 pline, and I have never spared the spade and pick-axe." 
 Every one else, however, saw only past defeat and present 
 peril. 
 
 The British ships gradually made their way up the 
 river, until it became apparent that they intended to sur- 
 round and cut off the American army. Washington made 
 preparations to withdraw, but uncertainty of information 
 came near rendering his precautions futile. September 
 1 5th the men-of-war opened fire, and troops were landed 
 near Kip's Bay. The militia in the breastworks at that 
 point had been at Brooklyn and gave way at once, com- 
 municating their panic to two Connecticut regiments. 
 Washington, galloping down to the scene of battle, came 
 upon the disordered and flying troops. He dashed in among 
 them, but even while he was trying to rally them they broke 
 again on the appearance of some sixty or seventy of the 
 enemy, and ran in all directions. In a tempest of anger 
 Washington drew his pistols, struck the fugitives with his 
 sword, and was only forced from the field by one of his 
 officers seizing the bridle of his horse and dragging him 
 away from the British, now within a hundred yards of the 
 spot. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 163. 
 
 "No Time for the Army to Lose Their General" 
 
 On September 15, a group of horsemen, occupying 
 a slight eminence of ground on the island of Manhattan, 
 were gazing eastward. Below and nearer the water were 
 spread lines of soldiers behind intrenchments, while from 
 three men-of-war lying in the river came a heavy cannonade
 
 282 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 that swept the shore line and spread over the water a pall 
 of smoke which, as it drifted to leeward, obscured the Long 
 Island shore from view. 
 
 " Tis evidently a feint, your Excellency," presently 
 asserted one of the observers, "to cover a genuine attack 
 elsewhere most likely above the Haarlem." 
 
 The person addressed a man with an anxious, care- 
 worn face that made him look fifty at least lowered his 
 glass, but did not reply for some moments. " You may be 
 right, sir," he remarked, "though to me it has the air of 
 an intended attack. What think you, Reed?" 
 
 "I agree with MifHin. The attack will be higher 
 up. Hah! Look there!" 
 
 A rift had come in the smoke, and a column of boats, 
 moving with well-timed oars, could for a moment be seen 
 as it came forward. 
 
 "They intend a landing at Kip's Bay, as I surmised," 
 exclaimed the general. "Gentlemen, we shall be needed 
 below." He turned to Reed and gave him an order con- 
 cerning reinforcements, then wheeled, and, followed by 
 the rest, trotted over the plowed field. Once on the high- 
 way, he spurred his horse, putting him to a sharp canter. . . 
 
 The road lay in the hollow of the land, and not till 
 the party reached a slight rise were they able once more to 
 get a glimpse of the shores of the bay. Then it was to find 
 the flotilla well in toward its intended landing-place, and 
 the American troops retreating in great disorder from their 
 breastworks. 
 
 Exclamations of surprise and dismay sprang from the 
 lips of the riders, and their leader, turning his horse, jumped 
 the fence and galloped across the field to intercept the fugi- 
 tives. Five minutes brought them up to the runaways, 
 who, out of breath with the sharpness of their race, had 
 come to a halt, and were being formed by their officers into 
 a little less disorder. 
 
 "General Fellows, what is the reason for this shameful
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 283 
 
 retreat?" demanded the general, when within speaking 
 distance. 
 
 "The men were seized with a panic on the approach 
 of the boats, your Excellency, and could not be held in the 
 lines." 
 
 Washington faced the regiments, his face blazing with 
 scorn. "You ran before a shot had been fired! Before 
 you had lost a man you deserted the works that have taken 
 many weeks to build, and which could be held against any 
 such force." He paused for a moment, and then, drawing 
 his sword, called with spirit : " Who's for recovering them ? ' ' 
 
 A faint cheer passed down the lines; but almost as it 
 sounded, the red coats of fifty or sixty light infantry came 
 into view on the road, a skirmishing party thrown forward 
 from the landing to reconnoiter. Had they been Howe's 
 whole army, however, they could not have proved more 
 effective, for instantly the two brigades bro'ke and dissolved 
 once more into squads of flying men. 
 
 At such cowardice, Washington lost all control of him- 
 self, and, dashing in among the fugitives, he passionately 
 struck right and left with the flat of his sword, thundering 
 curses at them; while Putnam and Mifflin, as well as the 
 aides, followed his example. It was hopeless, however, to 
 stay the rush ; the men took the blows and curses unheeding 
 while throwing away their guns and scattering in every 
 direction . 
 
 Made frantic by such conduct, Washington wheeled 
 his horse. " Charge ! " he cried, and rode toward the enemy, 
 waving his sword. 
 
 If the commander-in-chief hoped to put some of his 
 own courage into the troops by his example he failed. Not 
 a man of the runaways ceased fleeing. None the less, as if 
 regardless of consequences in his desperation, Washington 
 rode on, until one of the aides dashed his spurs into his 
 horse and came up beside his general at a mad gallop. 
 
 "Your Excellency!" he cried, " 'tis but hopeless, and 
 
 1-20
 
 284 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 will end but in Then, as his superior did not heed him, 
 he seized the left rein of his horse's bridle, and, pulling on 
 it, swung him about in a large circle, letting go his hold 
 only when they were riding away from the enemy. 
 
 Washington offered no resistance, and rode the hundred 
 yards to where the rest of his staff were standing, with 
 bowed head. Nothing was said as he rejoined the group, 
 and Blueskin, disappointed in the charge for which he had 
 shown as much eagerness, as his rider, let his mind recur to 
 thoughts of oats; finding no control in the * hand that held 
 his bridle, he set out at an easy trot toward headquar- 
 ters. . . . 
 
 "Get you some supper, gentlemen," he ordered, to 
 such of his aides as were still of his party, "for 'tis likely 
 that you will have more riding when the council have de- 
 liberated. " 
 
 " Tis advice he might take himself to proper advan- 
 tage, " said one of the juniors, while they were stripping off 
 their wet coverings in a side room. 
 
 "Aye," asserted Brereton. "The general uses us hard, 
 Tilghman, but he uses himself harder. " 
 
 The make-shift meal was still unfinished, when the 
 general's body-servant appeared with tea. Taking it, 
 Brereton marched boldly to the council door, and, giving 
 a knock, went in without awaiting a reply. 
 
 The group of anxious-faced men about the table looked 
 up, and Washington, with a frown, demanded, " For what 
 do you interrupt us, sir?" 
 
 The young officer put the tea down on the map lying in 
 front of the general. "Billy didn't dare take this to your 
 Excellency, so I made bold e'en to bring it myself. " 
 
 "This is no time for tea, Colonel Brereton." 
 ''Tis no time for the army to lose their general, " 
 replied the aide. "I pray you drink it, sir, for our sake, 
 if you won't for your own." 
 
 A kindly look supplanted the sternness of the previous
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 285 
 
 moment on the general's face. "I thank you for your 
 thoughtfulness, Brereton, ' ' he said, raising the cup and 
 pouring some of the steaming drink into the saucer. 
 
 Janice Meredith, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 154. 
 
 "I Can Only Regret That I Have but One Life" 
 
 Washington, as we know, at this time had been in great 
 perplexity as to what the next movements of the British 
 would be, and after consulting with his officers it was de- 
 cided that some trusty man must be sent as a spy to Long 
 Island to learn of the movements and plans of the British 
 army. 
 
 Colonel Knowlton, whose .regiment was known as 
 "Congress's Own," and was composed of very sterling 
 men, was directed to select some suitable man for the task, 
 and his choice fell upon young Captain Nathan Hale of 
 Connecticut, who, provided with passes and letters by 
 Washington that would be helpful among all the armed 
 vessels of the Americans, soon afterward crossed to Long 
 Island, where he made many notes and sketches, and then 
 prepared to recross the Sound to his friends. But as the old 
 story runs, he was recognized by a relative who was a very 
 bitter Tory, and at once was turned over to General Howe. 
 Without even the form of a trial he was sent to Cunningham, 
 the provost marshal, a man whose deeds make him one 
 of the most justly detested men in our history, with orders 
 for his execution. 
 
 Even at this time Cunningham showed his true nature, 
 for he . . . refused young Hale permission to read his Bible 
 or have a word with a clergyman before his death. Even 
 the tender letters he had, by permission of Howe, written 
 his mother were destroyed, and Nathan Hale was speedily 
 hanged from an -apple tree in an orchard that grew near 
 the present East Broadway. The last words of the brave 
 young martyr were, " I can only regret +hat I have but 
 one life to give for my country."
 
 286 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The tragic death of Nathan Hale created a feeling of 
 intense anger among the Continentals. The brutality and 
 cold-blooded cruelty that attended it increased the fear of 
 the wavering, and strengthened the determination of those 
 'who already were committed to the cause of the new nation. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 120. 
 
 A Short, Sharp Action at White Plains 
 
 Meanwhile the days slipped along, and Washington 
 waited on the Harlem Plains, planning descents on Long 
 Island, and determining to make a desperate stand where 
 he was, unless the situation decidedly changed. Then 
 the situation did change, as neither he nor any one else 
 apparently had anticipated. The British war-ships came 
 up the Hudson past the forts, brushing aside our boasted 
 obstructions, destroying our little fleet, and getting com- 
 mand of the river. Then General Howe landed at Frog's 
 Point, where he was checked for the moment by the good 
 disposition of Heath, under Washington's direction. These 
 two events made it evident that the situation of the Amer- 
 ican army was full of peril, and that retreat was again 
 necessary. Such certainly was the conclusion of the council 
 of war, on [Oct.] i6th, acting this time in agreement with 
 their chief.. Six days Howe lingered on Frog's Point, 
 bringing up stores or artillery or something; it matters 
 little now why he tarried. Suffice it that he waited, and 
 gave six days to his opponent. They were of little value 
 to Howe, but they were of inestimable worth to Washington, 
 who employed them in getting everything in readiness, in 
 holding his council of war, and then on the iyth in moving 
 deliberately off to very strong ground at White Plains. 
 On his way he fought two or three slight, sharp and success- 
 ful skirmishes with the British. Sir William followed 
 closely, but with much caution, having now a dull glimmer 
 in his mind that at the head of the raw troops in front of 
 him was a man with whom it was not safe to be entirely 
 careless.
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS "287 
 
 On the 28th, Howe came up to Washington's position, 
 and found the Americans quite equal in numbers, strongly 
 intrenched, and waiting his attack with confidence. He 
 hesitated, doubted, and finally feeling that he must do 
 something, sent four thousand men to storm Chatterton 
 Hill, an outlying post, where some fourteen hundred Amer- 
 icans were stationed. There was a short, sharp action, and 
 then the Americans retreated in good order to the main 
 army, having lost less than half as many men as their op- 
 ponents. With caution now much enlarged, Howe sent for 
 reinforcements, and waited two days. The third day it 
 rained, and on the fourth Howe found that Washington 
 had withdrawn to a higher and quite impregnable line ol^ 
 hills, where he held all the passes in the rear and awaited 
 a second attack. Howe contemplated the situation for 
 two or three days longer, and then broke camp and with- 
 drew to Dobbs Ferry. Such were the great results of the 
 victory of Long Island, two wasted months, and the Amer- 
 ican army still untouched. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 168. 
 
 "If We Do Meet AgainWhy, We Shall Smile" 
 
 Lee was evidently elevated by his successes at the South, 
 and disposed to criticise disparagingly the military operations 
 of other commanders. In a letter, written on the day of 
 his arrival, to his old associate in arms, General Gates, he 
 condemns the position of the army, and censures Washing- 
 ton for .submitting to the dictation of Congress, whose 
 meddlesome instructions had produced it. "Inter nos," 
 writes he, "the Congress seems to stumble at every step. I 
 do not mean one or two of the cattle but the whole stable. 
 I have been very free in delivering my opinion to them. In 
 my opinion General Washington is much to blame in not 
 menacing 'em with resignation, unless they refrain from un- 
 hinging the army by their absurd interference. Adieu, my 
 dear friend; if we do meet again why, we shall smile."
 
 2 88 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 In the meantime, Congress, on the nth of October, 
 having heard of the ingress of the Phoenix, Roebuck and 
 Tartar, passed a resolution that General Washington be 
 desired, if it be practicable, by every art, and at whatever 
 expense, to obstruct effectually the navigation of the North 
 River between Fort Washington and Mount Constitution 
 as well to prevent the egress of the enemy's vessels lately 
 gone up as to hinder them from receiving succors. 
 
 Under so many conflicting circumstances, Washing- 
 ton held a council of war on the i6th, at Lee's headquarters. 
 ;' . . Letters from the convention and from individual 
 members of it were read, concerning the turbulence of the 
 disaffected in the upper parts of the States; intelligence 
 gained from deserters was likewise stated, showing the in- 
 tention of the enemy to surround the camp. 
 
 After much consideration and debate, all agreed, 
 with but one dissenting voice, that it was not possible to 
 prevent the communication from being cut off, and that 
 one of the consequences mentioned in the question must 
 follow. 
 
 As the resolve of Congress seemed imperative with 
 regard to Fort Washington, that post, it was agreed, should 
 be "retained as long as possible." 
 
 A strong garrison was accordingly placed in it, . . . . 
 and solemnly charged by Washington to defend it to the last 
 extremity. The name of the opposite post on the Jersey 
 shore, where Greene was stationed, was changed from Fort 
 Constitution to Fort Lee, in honor of the General. Lee, in 
 fact, was the military idol of the day. Even the family of 
 the commander-in-chief joined in paying him homage. 
 Colonel Tench Tilghman, Washington's aide-de-camp, in 
 a letter to a friend, writes: "You ask if General Lee is in 
 health, and our people bold. I answer both in the affir- 
 mative. His appearance among us has contributed not a 
 little to the latter." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving. Vol. II. p. 441.
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 289 
 
 "Perhaps to Lose My Character" 
 
 Howe, like most other genial gentlemen, was extremely 
 lazy, so instead of hurrying into New Jersey, cutting off 
 Washington and capturing Philadelphia, all of which he 
 might have done with half of his force, he lingered to capture 
 Fort Washington, which was neither useful, dangerous nor 
 ornamental. Washington got as far south on the Palisades 
 in time to observe the capture of the fort bearing his name, 
 and to see the fort's defenders, who had not learned how 
 to surrender according to German rule, bayoneted in great 
 numbers by the Hessians while asking for quarter. In- 
 stead of swearing at Congress or condemning Greene's soul 
 to the final abode of the wicked, for both Congress and 
 Greene had opposed Washington's desire to abandon the 
 fort the self-contained commander-in-chief burst into 
 tears, thus proving anew his rare ability for doing the 
 right thing at the right time. 
 
 The loss of the fort deprived Washington of three 
 thousand troops, and the time of nearly all the remainder 
 of the army would expire within a fortnight ; two thousand 
 men on each side of the Hudson was Washington's own 
 estimate of the regular troops that would remain. No 
 wonder, then, that he wrote his brother, regarding the 
 delay of Congress in "engaging men upon such terms as 
 would insure success, " that he was " wearied almost to death 
 with the retrograde motion of things, and I solemnly protest 
 that a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year 
 would not induce me to undergo what I do, and after all, per- 
 haps to lose my character, as it is impossible, under such a 
 variety of distressing circumstances, to conduct matters 
 agreeably to the public expectations." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 124. 
 
 Six Weeks after the Battle of Long Island 
 
 Such was the status of the war six weeks after the 
 battle of Long Island; Washington was merely on the de-
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 fensive in a position not hard to turn or even surround; 
 that the British must sooner or later compel him to abandon 
 his position would have been evident to any soldier of ordi- 
 nary. experience in strategy, but Washington was not that 
 sort of a man, as yet, and even Greene, his ablest lieutenant, 
 did not realize the army's danger. Lee en route from the 
 south, although no patriot, was a better soldier; he com- 
 prehended the situation, freed his mind to Congress by letter, 
 and then joined Washington. Meanwhile the enemy, on 
 the Sound, worked further and further to the rear, landing 
 troops finally near New Rochelle and moving toward White 
 Plains, to which town Washington threw back his left. 
 But the enemy's movements were not made without oppo- 
 sition ; little by little the rebels were^ learning how to 
 fight, and before Howe was fairly in line in Westches- 
 ter county on the Sound, he had been severely tormented 
 by Hand's Pennsylvanians, who had done valiant things 
 on Long Island, Prescott, whom Howe had learned to 
 respect at Bunker Hill, and Colonel Glover's Marblehead 
 men, who had been at sea too much to fear anything on 
 land. 
 
 .-'.- . . . Washington finally massed most of the 
 army at White Plains, where he fortified high ground with 
 the Bronx river and a morass in front. It was in this 
 vicinity that the Americans first saw and feared the British 
 dragoon and that Washington inaugurated the beginning 
 of the end of this special apprehension by offering a special 
 reward of a hundred dollars to every man who brought in a 
 trooper with his horse and accoutrements. A hundred dol- 
 lars can create a great deal of courage. 
 
 At White Plains Washington scared Howe with a 
 fortification erected in a manner not recognized by foreign 
 authorities on defensive works. It consisted of corn stalks, 
 pulled up by the -roots and piled so that the rooted ends, 
 with masses of earth clinging to them, resembled embank- 
 ments of earth. Corn had occasionally saved the country
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 291 
 
 in time of peace, but never before had it risen to the dig- 
 nity of constituting a fortification. 
 
 By this time, the end of October, the weather seemed 
 very cold to Washington's army, which owned as few over- 
 coats as an equal number of tramps would have done. .Worse 
 yet, their clothes were threadbare, and Washington had 
 no new ones to issue; even shoddy blankets had not yet 
 been invented, much less issued. Men who shiver all night 
 are not the ones to fight well by daylight. For this reason 
 and many others, one of which was that the enemy was cer- 
 tain to fortify his base before moving to an attack, Washing- 
 ton waited until Howe had intrenched himself ; then he fell 
 back to Northcastle, five miles, and again threw up lines. 
 This apparently disgusted the enemy, for at the rate of 
 distance already covered, Washington might hold him in 
 pursuit for several years. Howe suddenly gave up the game 
 and fell back toward New York, and Washington, leaving 
 a force under Lee at Northcastle, from which point he could 
 easily fall back so as to have the Croton River on his front, 
 and placed Heath at Peekskill in command of a division 
 for the defense of the Highlands, crossed the Hudson with 
 his remaining troops and went into New Jersey to dis- 
 cover what Howe was up to. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 120. 
 
 The British Take Fort Washington 
 
 Howe was resolved, however, that his campaign should 
 not be utterly fruitless, and therefore directed his attention 
 to the defences of the Hudson, Fort Lee, and Fort Wash- 
 ington, and here he met with better success. Congress, 
 in its military wisdom, had insisted that these forts must 
 and could be held. So thought the generals, and so most 
 especially and most unluckily, did Greene. Washington, 
 with his usual accurate and keen perception, saw, from 
 the time the men-of-war came up the Hudson, and, now 
 that the British army was free, more clearly than ever
 
 292 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 that both forts ought to be abandoned. Sure of his ground, 
 he overruled Congress, but was so far influenced by Greene 
 that he gave to that officer discretionary orders as to 
 withdrawal. This was an act of weakness, as he after- 
 wards admitted, for which he bitterly reproached him- 
 self, never confusing or glossing over his own errors, but 
 loyal there as elsewhere to facts. An attempt was made 
 to hold both forts and both were lost as he had fore- 
 seen. From Fort Lee the garrison withdrew in safety. 
 Fort Washington was carried by storm after a severe 
 struggle. Twenty-six hundred men and all the muni- 
 tions of war fell into the hands of the enemy. It was a 
 serious and most depressing loss, and was felt throughout 
 the continent. 
 
 Meantime Washington had crossed into the Jerseys, 
 and, after the loss of Fort Lee, began to retreat before the 
 British, who, flushed with victory, now advanced rapidly 
 under Lord Cornwallis. The crisis of his fate and of the 
 Revolution was upon him. His army was melting away. 
 The militia had almost all disappeared, and regiments 
 whose term of enlistment had expired were departing 
 daily. Lee, who had a division under his command, was 
 ordered to come up, but paid no attention, although the 
 orders were repeated almost every day for a month. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 169. 
 
 "Who Would Have Blamed Him? 
 
 At Hackensack, Washington had only about three 
 thousand men, and the country being flat, was defenseless 
 against any force that could cross the river. So he placed 
 another river behind him by moving to Newark. Adjutant 
 Reed was sent to Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, to 
 beg for militia for any sort of men were better than none, 
 and General Miffllin was hurried to Philadelphia to ask aid 
 of that city and Congress. Lee, still at Northcastle, was 
 ordered to cross the Hudson, march south and join Wash-
 
 Gen. William Howe 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton Lord Cornwallis 
 
 PORTRAITS OF THREE BRITISH COMMANDERS
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 293 
 
 ington, and on him great dependence was placed, for he 
 really had troops fairly equipped for service. 
 
 But Lee who never respected any military officer except 
 the one he saw in his mirror, had begun to imagine himself 
 an independent commander, and not only failed to obey 
 orders but coolly outlined a campaign of his own, and en- 
 deavored to weaken Heath, who was holding the Highlands. 
 Lee had but a single principle in life; this was, to consider 
 the interests of Charles Lee, first; last, and all the time; 
 but many a better man in his position might have lost 
 his head temporarily under the undeserved praise and un- 
 merited flattery that were heaped upon him. Even Reed, 
 Washington's best friend, was so dazzled by Lee's brilliancy 
 that he forgot his own honor so far as to criticise Wash- 
 ington and praise Lee in letters to the latter; worse still, a 
 portion of this correspondence came under the eye of Wash- 
 ington, just when he needed all the friends he had, and gave 
 him the cruelest wound he ever received. If he had never, 
 after this, attached himself affectionately to any one, who 
 would have blamed him? 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 126. 
 
 A Letter to the Mother of Mary Philipse 
 
 In the midst of these public movements, old associa- 
 tions assert themselves. Here is a letter to the mother of 
 the Mary Philipse, whom he did not marry twenty years 
 before : 
 
 ' To Mrs. Philipse, Philipsboro. 
 
 "Headquarters at Mr. Valentine's, Oct. 22, 1776. 
 " MADAM : 
 
 "The misfortunes of war and the unhappy circum- 
 stances frequently attendant thereon to individuals are more 
 to be lamented than avoided ; but it is the duty of every one 
 to alleviate these as much as possible. Far be it from 
 me, then, to add to the distress of a lady, who, I am 
 but too sensible, must already have suffered much uneasi-
 
 2 94 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 ness, if not inconvenience, on account of Col. Philipse's 
 absence. 
 
 " No special order has gone forth from me for re- 
 moval of the stock of the inhabitants, but from the nature 
 of the case, and in consequence of some resolutions of the 
 convention of this State, the measure has been adopted. 
 However, as I am satisfied it is not meant to deprive fami- 
 lies of their necessary support, I shall not withhold my 
 consent to your retaining such parts of your stock as may 
 be essential to this purpose, relying on your assurances and 
 promise that no more will be retained." 
 
 "G. W." 
 
 In the correspondence of the autumn, both military 
 and private, are one and another intimation of the condition 
 of the currency. In a long letter of Aug. i5th to his 
 agent, Lund Washington, he says: 
 
 " A barrel of corn which used to sell for ten shillings will 
 now fetch forty shillings. A barrel of pork which could be 
 had for three pounds sells for five pounds. " 
 
 Satisfied that Howe intended to operate in New Jersey, 
 he withdrew the principal part of his force there, and was 
 obliged, from point to point, to retire before him. Early 
 in December he crossed the Delaware River, and virtually 
 left the Jerseys in the hands of the English. 
 
 The Life of George Washington, Studied Anew, Edward Everett Hale, p. 195. 
 
 Sharing His Blanket with a Negro Servant 
 
 Once the General was engaged in earnest consultation 
 with Colonel Pickering until after night had fairly set in. 
 Washington prepared to stay with the Colonel over night, 
 provided he had a spare blanket and straw. "Oh, yes," 
 said Primus, who was appealed to, "plenty of straw and 
 blankets, plenty." . . . 
 
 In the middle of the night Washington awoke. He 
 looked about him and descried the negro. He gazed at 
 him a while and then spoke.
 
 DEFEATS AND RETREATS 295 
 
 "Primus," said he, "Primus!" Primus started up 
 and rubbed his eyes. 
 
 "What, General?" said he. 
 
 Washington rose up in his bed. "Primus," said he, 
 "what do you mean by saying you had blankets and straw 
 enough? Here you have given up your blankets and straw 
 to me, that I may sleep comfortably, while you are obliged 
 to sit through the night." "It's nothing, General," said 
 Primus! " It's nothing! I'm well enough! Don't trouble 
 yourself about me, General, but go to sleep again. No 
 matter about me, I sleep very good!" "But it is matter, 
 it is matter," said Washington. "I cannot do it, Primus. 
 If either is to sit up, I will. But I think there is no need of 
 either sitting up. The blanket is wide enough for two. 
 Come and lie down with me." 
 
 "Oh, no, General!" said Primus, starting and protest- 
 ing against the proposition. "No, let me sit here." "I 
 say come and lie down here!" said Washington. "There 
 is room for both; I insist upon it." 
 
 He threw open the blanket as he spoke, and moved to 
 one side of the straw. Primus professed to have been ex- 
 ceedingly shocked at the idea of lying under the same 
 covering with the commander-in-chief, but his tone was so 
 resolute and determined that he could not hesitate. He 
 prepared himself therefore and laid himself down by Wash- 
 ington ; on the same straw under the same blanket, and the 
 General and the negro slept until morning. 
 
 Washington's Birthday Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler p. aaa.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 
 When the Friend of His Bosom Could So Misjudge Him 
 
 In this moment of hurry and agitation, Colonel Reed, 
 also, Washington's fidus Achates, wrote to Lee, but in a 
 tone and spirit that may surprise the reader, knowing the 
 devotion he had hitherto manifested for the commander- 
 in-chief. After expressing the common wish that Lee 
 should be at the principal scene of action, he adds: " I do 
 not mean to flatter or praise you, at the expense of any 
 other; but I do think it is entirely owing to you, that this 
 army, and the liberties of America, so far as they are de- 
 pendent on it, are not entirely cut off. You have decision, 
 a quality often wanting in minds otherwise valuable, and 
 I ascribe to this our escape from York Island, King's 
 Bridge, and the Plains ; and I have no doubt, had you been 
 here, the garrison of Mount Washington would now have 
 composed a part of this army; and from all these circum- 
 stances, I confess, I do ardently wish to see you removed 
 from a place where there will be so little call for your judg- 
 ment and experience, to the place where they are likely 
 to be so necessary. Nor am I singular in my opinion; 
 every gentleman of the family, the officers and soldiers 
 generally, have a confidence in you. The enemy con- 
 stantly inquire where you are, and seem to be less confi- 
 dent when you are present." 
 
 Then alluding to the late affair at Fort Washington, 
 he continues: "General Washington's own judgment, 
 seconded by representations from us, would, I believe, 
 have saved the men, but, unluckily General Greene's judg- 
 ment was contrary. This kept the general's mind in a 
 
 (296)
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 297 
 
 state of suspense, till the stroke was struck. Oh, general! 
 An indecisive mind is one of the greatest misfortunes that 
 can befall an army; how often have I lamented it this 
 campaign! All circumstances considered, we are in a very 
 awful and alarming situation ; one that requires the utmost 
 wisdom, and firmness of mind. As soon as the season will 
 admit, I think yourself and some others should go to Con- 
 gress, and form the plan of the new army. ... I must 
 conclude, with my clear and explicit opinion, that your 
 presence is of the last importance." 
 
 Well might Washington apprehend that his character 
 and conduct, in the perplexities in which he was placed, 
 would be liable to be misunderstood by the public, when 
 the friend of his bosom could so misjudge him. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 498. 
 
 "Made a Prisoner by a Brat!" 
 
 One story may illustrate the character of the life in 
 the region at this time. A widow living with her only 
 boy, a lad of twelve years, found that the vegetables, in 
 her garden were being taken. The lad resolved to watch 
 one night, and so took his place in a dark spot near the 
 garden. His loaded gun was in his hands, and for a while 
 he had no difficulty in remaining awake. After a time, 
 when the novelty of his duty was gone, and he was begin- 
 ning to feel sleepy, he suddenly discovered some man filling 
 a huge bag with the fruits of the garden. Stepping softly, 
 the boy approached, and presenting his loaded gun at the 
 soldier's rear, ordered him to keep the heavy bag and 
 march before him. Death would be the consequence of 
 any attempt to turn aside or drop the bag. There was 
 nothing to be done but obey; so the huge Highlander, for 
 such the soldier proved to be, was marched to the Ameri- 
 can camp and given over by the proud young captor as a 
 prisoner of war. Slight cause for wonder is it that the 
 captive grenadier, when at last he ventured to turn his
 
 298 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 head and perceived who his captor was, should have ex- 
 claimed in disgust : 
 
 " A British grenadier made a prisoner by a brat ! Such 
 a brat!" 
 
 Men who attempted to visit their homes or families in 
 this region were watched, and in numberless cases hanged 
 or shot before the very eyes of their children. One man who 
 had ventured to return to his home was traced, and just 
 as the Tories, who were even more bitter than the regulars, 
 were about to break into the house, after the demand for 
 his surrender had been refused, was concealed by his frantic 
 wife in a heap of ashes, and breathing through a long goose 
 quill, even his face being covered, in this manner escaped 
 from his pursuers. Not all of the murdering and plunder- 
 ing was done by the men of one side, but the terror that 
 possessed the region at the time is one of the best com- 
 mentaries on the horrors of war in any place or period. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 128. 
 
 "Opened by Mistake," by George Washington 
 
 At this moment of care and perplexity, a letter, for- 
 warded by express, arrived at headquarters. It was from 
 General Lee, dated from his camp at Northcastle, to Colonel 
 Reed, and was in reply to a letter written by that officer 
 from Hackensack on the 2ist, which we have already laid 
 before the reader. Supposing that it related to official 
 business,. Washington opened it, and read as follows : 
 
 "My dear Mr. Reed: I received your most obliging, 
 flattering letter; lament with you that fatal indecision of 
 mind, which in war is a much greater disqualification 
 than stupidity, or even want of personal courage. Acci- 
 dent may put a decisive blunderer in the right; but 
 eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend the man of the 
 best parts, if cursed with indecision. The General recom- 
 mends in so pressing a manner , as almost to amount to 
 an order, to bring over the Continental troops under my
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS'' 299 
 
 command, which recommendation, or order, throws me 
 into the greatest dilemma from several considerations. - ' 
 After stating these considerations, he adds: " My reason for 
 not having marched already is, .that we have just received 
 intelligence that Rogers' corps, the light horse, part of the 
 Highlanders, and another brigade, lie in so exposed a situa- 
 tion as to give the fairest opportunity of being carried. 
 I should have attempted it last night, but the rain was too 
 violent, and when our pieces are wet, you know our troops 
 are hors du combat. This night I hope will be better, 
 I only wait myself for this business of Rogers and 
 company being over, I shall then fly to you ; for, to confess 
 a truth, I really think our chief will do better with me than 
 without me." 
 
 A glance over this letter sufficed to show Washington 
 that, at this dark moment, when he most needed support 
 and sympathy, his character and military conduct were 
 the subject of disparaging comments, between the friend 
 in whom he had so implicitly confided, and a sarcastic 
 and apparently self -constituted rival. Whatever may have 
 been his feelings of wounded pride and outraged friendship, 
 he restrained them, and enclosed the letter to Reed, with 
 the following chilling note: 
 
 "Dear Sir: The enclosed was put into my hands by 
 an express from White Plains. Having no idea of its 
 being a private letter, much less suspecting the tendency of 
 the correspondence, I opened it, as I have done all other 
 letters to you from the same place, and Peekskill, upon 
 the business of your office, as I conceived, and found them 
 to be. This, as it is the truth, must be my excuse for 
 seeing the contents of a letter which neither inclination nor 
 intention would have prompted me to," etc. 
 
 The very calmness and coldness of this note must have 
 had a greater effect on Reed, than could have been pro- 
 duced by the most vehement reproaches. In subsequent 
 
 1-21
 
 3 oo THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 communications, he endeavored to explain away the offen- 
 sive paragraphs in Lee's letter, declaring there was nothing 
 in his own inconsistent with the respect and affection he 
 had ever borne for Washington's person and character. 
 
 Fortunately for Reed, Washington never saw that letter. 
 There were passages in it beyond the reach of softening ex- 
 planation. As it was, the purport of it, as reflected in 
 Lee's reply, had given him a sufficient shock. His mag- 
 nanimous nature, however, was incapable of harboring 
 long resentments; especially in matters relating solely to 
 himself. His personal respect for Colonel Reed continued; 
 he invariably manifested a high sense of his merits, and 
 consulted him, as before, on military affairs ; but his hitherto 
 affectionate confidence in him, as a sympathizing friend, 
 had received an incurable wound. His letters, before so 
 frequent, and such perfect outpourings of heart and mind, 
 became few and far between, and confined to matters of 
 business. 
 
 Life o} George Washington, Washington Irving. Vol. II, p. 509. 
 
 The "Marine Turtle" and Admiral Howe's Flagship 
 
 It was during this time that two events occurred that 
 have been almost ignored in our records of the struggle. 
 One was the attempt of Ezra Lee to blow up the Eagle, 
 Admiral Howe's flagship, which was anchored off the shore 
 of Governor's Island. "A young mechanic named Bushnell, 
 of Connecticut, had invented what he called a "marine 
 turtle," by which he was confident that a daring man 
 could move under the water, approach the hull of a ship, 
 and by fastening his contrivance to the bottom, and ar- 
 ranging the clock-work of the "turtle," have ample time to 
 escape himself before the explosion followed, which it was 
 confidently believed would blow the largest man-of-war 
 into flinders. 
 
 The plan approved, the daring Ezra Lee was selected 
 to make the attempt. One night at midnight he entered
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 301 
 
 the machine, left the dock at the foot of Whitehall, and 
 started on his perilous venture. Washington and several 
 of his officers who were in the secret waited all night 
 long on the dock for the outcome of the attempt, no one 
 of them being hopeful of success, and as the gray of dawn 
 appeared not even daring to believe that young Ezra would 
 ever be seen again. 
 
 Just at that time, however, suddenly a column of water 
 was thrown into the air near the dim outline of the Eagle, 
 and it was apparent that there was a great commotion both 
 on board the flagship and on the near-by shore. No great 
 damage had been done, that was evident, but what had 
 become of Ezra Lee? For a long time the American offi- 
 cers waited, and just as they were about to go back to 
 their men, satisfied that the attempt had failed and that 
 the young man was drowned, he was discovered in the 
 water near the dock. Friendly hands speedily drew him 
 forth, and warm were the words of praise bestowed upon 
 him by all. The attempt had indeed failed, for the bottom 
 of the flagship had been covered with copper. It had 
 been impossible to find a place to which the turtle could be 
 fastened. Ezra Lee's spirit and daring had appealed to 
 Washington so strongly, however, that he was chosen by 
 the commander as one of his most trusty scouts, and had 
 an active part afterward in the battles of Trenton, Brandy- 
 wine, and Monmouth. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution. Everett Tomlinson, p. 119. 
 
 Facing the Grim Realities Alone 
 
 On December 2nd Washington was at Princeton with 
 three thousand ragged men, and the British close upon his 
 heels. They had him now surely in their grip. There could 
 be no mistake this time, and there was therefore no need 
 of a forced march. But they had not yet learned that to 
 Washington even hours meant much, and when, after duly 
 resting, they reached the Delaware, they found the Ameri-
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 cans on the other side, and all the boats destroyed for a dis- 
 tance of seventy miles. 
 
 It was winter now, the short gray days had come, and 
 with them piercing cold and storms of sleet and ice. It 
 seemed as if the elements alone would finally disperse the 
 feeble body of men still gathered about the commander-in- 
 chief . Congress had sent him blank commissions and orders 
 to recruit, which were well meant, but were not practically 
 of much value. As Glendower could call spirits from the 
 vasty deep, so they, with like success, sought to call sol- 
 diers from the earth in the midst of defeat, and in the teeth 
 of a North American winter. Washington, baffling pursuit 
 and flying from town to town, left nothing undone. North 
 and south went letters and appeals for men, money, and 
 supplies. Vain, very vain, it all was, for the most part, 
 but still it was done in a tenacious spirit. Lee would not 
 come, the Jersey militia would not turn out, thousands 
 began to accept Howe's amnesty, and signs of wavering 
 were apparent in some of the Middle States. Philadelphia 
 was threatened, Newport was in the hands of the enemy, 
 and for ninety miles Washington had retreated, evading 
 ruin again and again only by the width of a river. Con- 
 gress voted not to leave Philadelphia a fact which their 
 General declined to publish, and then fled. 
 
 No one remained to face the grim realities of the time 
 but Washington, and he met them unmoved. Not a mo- 
 ment passed that he did not seek in some way to effect 
 something. Not an hour went by that he did not turn 
 calmly from fresh and ever renewed . disappointment to 
 work and action. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I. p. 171. 
 
 The Capture of General Charles Lee 
 
 After breakfast Lee sat writing a reply to General 
 Gates, in which, as usual, he indulged in sarcastic comments 
 on the commander-in -chief. "The ingenious manoeuvre
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 303 
 
 of Fort Washington," writes he, "has completely unhinged 
 the goodly fabric we had been building. There never was 
 so d d a stroke ; entre nous, a certain great man is most 
 damnably deficient. He has thrown me into a situation 
 where I have my choice of difficulties: if I stay in this 
 province I risk myself and army; and if I do not stay, the 
 province is lost forever. . . . As to what relates to 
 yourself, if you think you can be in time to aid the general, 
 I would have you by all means go ; you will at least save 
 your army," etc. 
 
 While Lee was writing, Wilkinson was looking out of 
 a -window down a lane, about a hundred yards in length, 
 leading from the house to the main road. Suddenly a 
 party of British dragoons turned a corner of the avenue at 
 a full charge. 
 
 "Here, sir, are the British cavalry!" exclaimed Wil- 
 kinson. 
 
 "Where?" replied Lee, who had just signed his letter. 
 
 "Around the house!" for they had opened file and 
 surrounded it. 
 
 "Where is the guard? D the guard, why don't they 
 fire?" Then after a momentary pause "Do, sir, see what 
 has become of the guard." 
 
 The guards, alas, unwary as their general, and chilled 
 by the air of a frosty morning, had stacked their arms, and 
 repaired to the south side of a house on the opposite side 
 of the road to sun themselves, and were now chased by the 
 dragoons in different directions. In fact, a Tory, who had 
 visited the general the evening before, to complain of the 
 loss of a horse taken by the army, having found where Lee 
 was to lodge and breakfast, had ridden eighteen miles in 
 the night to Brunswick and given the information, and had 
 piloted back Colonel Harcourt with his dragoons. 
 
 The women of the house would fain have concealed 
 Lee in a bed, but he rejected the proposition with disdain. 
 Wilkinson, according to his own account, posted himself in
 
 3 o 4 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 a place where only one person could approach at a time, 
 and there took his stand, a pistol in each hand, resolved to 
 shoot the first and second assailant, and then appeal to his 
 sword. While in this "unpleasant situation," as he terms 
 it, he heard a voice declare, " If the general does not sur- 
 render in five minutes I will set fire to the house!" After 
 a short pause the threat was repeated, with a solemn oath. 
 Within two minutes he heard it proclaimed, " Here is the 
 general, he has surrendered." 
 
 There was a shout of triumph, but a great hurry to 
 make sure of the prize before the army should arrive to the 
 rescue. A trumpet sounded a recall to the dragoons, who 
 were chasing the scattered guards. The general, bare- 
 headed, and in his slippers and blanket coat, was mounted 
 on Wilkinson's horse, which stood at the door, and the 
 troop clattered off with their prisoner to Brunswick. In 
 three hours the booming of cannon in that direction told the 
 exultation of the enemy. They boasted of having taken 
 the American palladium ; for they considered Lee the most 
 scientific and experienced of the rebel generals. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 531. 
 
 " By His Own Folly and Imprudence" 
 
 "Before you receive this letter," writes Washington to 
 his brother Augustine, "you will undoubtedly have heard 
 of the captivity of General Lee. This is an additional mis- 
 fortune ; and the more vexatious, as it was by his own 
 folly and imprudence, and without a view to effect any 
 good that he was taken. As he -went to lodge three miles 
 out of his own camp, and within twenty miles of the enemy, 
 a rascally Tory rode in the night to give notice of it to the 
 enemy, who sent a party of light-horse that seized him, 
 and carried him off with every mark of triumph and in- 
 dignity." 
 
 This is the severest comment that the magnanimous 
 spirit of Washington permitted him to make on the conduct
 
 "HURT IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 305 
 
 and fortunes of the man who would have supplanted him; 
 and this is made in his private correspondence with his 
 brother. No harsh strictures on them appear in his offi- 
 cial letters to Congress or the Board of War; nothing but 
 regret for his capture, as a loss to the service. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 538. 
 
 A View of the Situation 
 
 By the middle of December Howe felt satisfied that 
 the American army would soon dissolve, and leaving strong 
 detachments in various posts he withdrew to New York. 
 His premises were sound, and his conclusions logical, but he 
 made his usual mistake of overlooking and underestimat- 
 ing the American general. No sooner was it known that 
 he was on his way to New York than Washington, at the 
 head of his dissolving army, resolved to take the offensive 
 and strike an outlying post. In a letter of December i4th, 
 the day after Howe began to move, we catch the first 
 glimpse of Trenton. It was a bold spirit that, in the dead 
 of winter, with a broken army, no prospect of reinforce- 
 ments, and in the midst of a terror-stricken people, could 
 thus resolve with some four thousand men to attack an 
 army thoroughly appointed, and numbering in all its divis- 
 ions twenty^five thousand soldiers. 
 
 It is well to pause a moment and look at that situation, 
 and at the overwhelming difficulties which hemmed it in, 
 and then try to realize what manner of man he was who 
 rose superior to it, and conquered it. Be it remembered, 
 too, that he never deceived himself, and never for an in- 
 stant disguised the truth. Two years later he wrote that at 
 this supreme moment, in what were called "the dark days 
 of America," he was never despondent; and this was true 
 enough, for despair was not in his nature. But no delu- 
 sions lent him courage. On the i8th he wrote to his 
 brother "that if every nerve was not strained to recruit 
 this new army the game was pretty nearly up" ; and added,
 
 306 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "You can form no idea of the perplexity of my situation. 
 No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of difficulties, 
 and less means to extricate himself from them. However, 
 under a full persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot 
 entertain an idea that it will finally sink, though it may 
 remain for some time under a cloud." There is no com- 
 plaint, no boasting, no despair in this letter. We can 
 detect a bitterness in the references to Congress and to Lee, 
 but the tone of the letter is as calm as a May morning, and 
 it concludes with sending love and good wishes to the 
 writer's sister and her family. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 172. 
 
 The Most Hopeless Gang of Tramps 
 
 Fortunately, Major Wilkinson, of the detachment sent 
 from the north by Schuyler, under Gates, to re-enforce 
 Washington, had stumbled on Lee that morning while 
 searching for Washington to obtain orders for Gates. 
 Wilkinson avoided capture, informed Sullivan, now senior 
 officer of Lee's corps, and then rejoined Gates; both gen- 
 erals were soon afterward on their way to Washington's 
 camp, which they reached on the 2oth of December. 
 
 The advent of these troops increased the available 
 force to more than five thousand men; but ten days later 
 three-fourths of them would be out of service, so that 
 Washington would have only about fifteen hundred men, 
 utterly destitute, with whom to begin the campaign of 
 1777! And yet, writing to his brother and not for public 
 effect he says, " Under a full persuasion of the justice of our 
 cause, I cannot entertain an idea that it will finally sink, 
 though it may remain for some time under a cloud." This 
 would be fine writing, even if penned at a comfortable 
 library table, but its author will not receive full credit for 
 it unless the reader comprehends that Washington at this 
 time was chief of the most hopeless gang of tramps that 
 ever plodded through New Jersey. They were hungry
 
 "HURT LV THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS" 307 
 
 and badly clothed, and the natives not only failed to re- 
 lieve their necessities but were glad to see them depart, 
 while close behind them came pursuers far worse than the 
 farmers' dogs or town constables that sometimes chase the 
 modern tramp. The commander's appeals to Congress and 
 the country for aid were not responded to, and his orders 
 to his principal lieutenant were not obeyed. The per- 
 plexities, humiliation, and helplessness of his position would 
 have justified Washington in falling back upon his dignity 
 and Mount Vernon; but his letter to his brother, quoted 
 above, shows that he was satisfied to fall back upon his 
 principles. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 130. 
 
 "For Heaven's Sake Keep This to Yourself!" 
 
 "CAMP ABOVE TRENTON FALLS, 
 
 "Monday, 23d December, 1776. 
 " To Colonel Cadwalader: 
 
 "Christmas day at night, one hour before day, is the 
 time fixed for our attempt on Trenton. For Heaven's sake 
 keep this to yourself, as the discovery of it may prove fatal 
 to us." 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Itinerary of George Washington from June 15. 1775, to December 23, 1783, William 
 S. Baker, p. 63. 
 
 " What a Time Is This to Hand Me Letters !" 
 
 We have here some circumstances furnished to us by 
 the memoirs of Wilkinson. That officer had returned from 
 Philadelphia, and brought a letter from Gates to Washing- 
 ton. There was some snow on the ground, and he had 
 traced the march of the troops for the last few miles by 
 the .blood from the feet of those whose shoes were broken. 
 Being directed to Washington's quarters, he found him, 
 he says alone, with his whip in his hand, prepared to mount 
 his horse. " When I presented the letter of General Gates
 
 3 o8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 to him, before receiving it, he exclaimed with solemnity, 
 ' What a time is this to hand me letters ! ' I answered that 
 I had been charged with it by General Gates. ' By Gen- 
 eral Gates! Where is he?' 'I left him this morning in 
 Philadelphia.' ' What was he doing there? ' ' I understood 
 that he was on his way to Congress.' He earnestly re- 
 peated, ' On his way to Congress ! ' then broke the seal, and 
 I made my bow, and joined General St. Clair on the bank 
 of the river." 
 
 Did Washington surmise the incipient intrigues and 
 cabals, that were already aiming to undermine him? Had 
 Gates's eagerness to push on to Congress, instead of re- 
 maining with the army in a moment of daring enterprise, 
 suggested any doubts as to his object? Perhaps not. 
 Washington's nature was too noble to be suspicious; and 
 yet he had received sufficient cause to be distrustful. 
 
 Life of George Washington. Washington Irving, Vol. II. p. 550.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 TRENTON AND THE TURN OF THE TIDE 
 
 "Advance and Charge !" 
 
 As the army, excepting the recruits recently obtained 
 for a short term, would practically disband at the end of the 
 month, Washington determined to do something to en- 
 courage the country and the recruiting service, so he 
 planned the capture of three regiments of Hessians at 
 Trenton. A concerted movement of his troops failed, as 
 such movements usually do. The detachment which he 
 himself accompanied marched, on Christmas afternoon, 
 nine miles up the west bank of the Delaware, through the 
 snow, to a ferry where they consumed most of the night in 
 crossing, the wind being high and the river full of ice. An 
 officer, sent by Gates from Philadelphia with a letter to 
 Washington, tracked the little force by the blood, dropped 
 from the feet of badly shod men; so, taking one consider- 
 ation with another, the army celebrated Christmas in a 
 manner truly unique. 
 
 Delay at the ferry made an attack before daylight 
 impossible, and a heavy storm of snow and sleet rendered 
 the muskets so useless that Sullivan, in command of one 
 of the two columns into which Washington had divided 
 his own force, sent a messenger to ask what he should do. 
 "Advance and charge!" said Washington, with consider- 
 able temper. A long march through sleet that beats in the 
 face is never conducive to amiability; Washington and his 
 men would have charged that morning even if armed only 
 with broomsticks, and they would have conquered too. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 132.
 
 710 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Colonel Rahl's Fatal Game 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington had not been mistaken in sup- 
 posing that the Hessians, unsuspicious of peril, would be 
 spending the hours in a carousal. Many of the British 
 light-horse were off on foraging or pillaging expeditions, 
 and the Germans were making night hideous with their 
 songs and shouts and drinking bouts. Colonel Rahl him- 
 self, the commander of the Hessians, was spending the 
 night in the home of Abraham Hunt, a man who had deal- 
 ings with both sides, and was true to neither. 
 
 On this particular night, Hunt had invited Colonel 
 Rahl and a few others to a "Christmas supper" at his 
 house, and far into the night the unsuspecting officers con- 
 tinued their card-playing and drinking. Colonel Rahl was 
 about to "deal," when his negro servant, against express 
 orders, entered the room, and thrust a note into the Hes- 
 sian's hand, explaining that the man who had brought it 
 had first begged to be permitted to enter himself, but had 
 been refused, and then he had written the note and de- 
 clared that Colonel Rahl must have it immediately, as it 
 was of highest importance. If the colonel had known that 
 the note was a word brought by a Tory who had discov- 
 ered the presence of the advancing American army, it is 
 more than likely that the history of the Revolution would 
 have been far different from what it was. However, Col- 
 onel Rahl did not stop his game, but thrust the note unread 
 into his pocket, and so never knew of Washington's ap- 
 proach until it was too late to act. Many of the greatest 
 events in history have turned upon a pivot no larger than 
 the negligence of the Hessian colonel. 
 
 Meanwhile, the little American force was steadily ap- 
 proaching in two divisions; one led by Sullivan along the 
 lower road, and the other led by Greene on the upper road. 
 With their bayonets the Americans drove back the startled 
 outposts, and in a brief time the cannon had been so planted 
 that the streets could be swept.
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 311 
 
 Colonel Rahl; who at last had realized the peril, and 
 rushed forth from Hunt's house to rally his men, together 
 with sixteen others, had been shot; and almost a thousand 
 of the hired Hessians were speedily prisoners in the hands 
 of the victorious Americans. 
 
 A Short History of the American Revolution, Everett Tomlinson, p. 141. 
 
 "A Smiling Expression on His Countenance" 
 
 Although Rahl, the Hessian commander, had learned 
 of the proposed attack, the surprise was complete. Wash- 
 ington rode at the head of the column which approached 
 from the north; in his advance guard was Lieutenant, 
 afterward President, James Monroe, an eighteen-year-old 
 Virginia boy, who grew a great deal that morning. Sulli- 
 van following the river, struck the town on its western side, 
 and sent part of his men to the southern end. All the out- 
 posts were struck at once, and the helplessness of the 
 foreign soldier when in the face of the unexpected, was im- 
 mediately manifested, for some of the hungry, tired, ragged 
 Americans suddenly saw about five hundred of the enemy, 
 among them a troop of the terrible British cavalry, actually 
 running away! Rahl, the Hessian commander, although 
 at first inclined to run, rallied most of the troops in the 
 town and showed fight, till he received a mortal wound. 
 Then his troops suddenly imagined that they had business 
 in Princeton; but finding Hind's riflemen, now veterans, 
 in their way, they changed their minds and threw down 
 their colors. When Washington's attention was called to 
 this fact, he was so astonished that he started alone to see; 
 as he was followed by his entire column, the Hessians 
 grounded their arms also, and the amazed Washington 
 discovered that his first independent engagement had 
 yielded him a thousand prisoners! To one of those pris- 
 oners the world owes the information concerning Wash- 
 ington, that "His eyes have scarce any fire," which is not 
 strange for eyes that had just gone sleepless for a night and
 
 3 i2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 been blinded by sleet for hours afterward. "There is, how- 
 ever, a smiling expression on his countenance when he 
 speaks, that wins affection and respect," says the honest 
 Dutchman. The fact that Washington could smile, is one 
 that the reader can not keep too prominently in mind, if 
 he would regard the Father of his Country as a living man 
 instead of a historic mummy. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 133. 
 
 Washington's Report of the Battle of Trenton 
 
 " (Letter to the President of Congress.) 
 
 "Head-Quarters, Newtown, 
 
 "27 December, 1776. 
 " SIR, 
 
 "I have the pleasure of congratulating you upon the 
 success of an enterprise, which I had formed against a de- 
 tachment of the enemy lying in Trenton, and which was 
 executed yesterday morning. The evening of the 25th I 
 ordered the troops intended for this service to parade 
 back of McKonkey's Ferry, that they might begin to pass 
 as soon as it grew dark, imagining we should be able to 
 throw them all over, with the necessary artillery, by twelve 
 o'clock, and that we might easily arrive at Trenton by five 
 in the morning, the distance being about nine miles. But 
 the quantity of ice, made that night, impeded the passage 
 of the boats so much, that it was three o'clock before the 
 artillery could all be got over; and near four, before the 
 troops took up their line of march. This made me despair 
 of surprising the town, as I well knew we could not reach 
 it before the day was fairly broke. But as I was certain 
 there was no making a retreat without being discovered 
 and harassed on repassing the river, I determined to push 
 on at all events. I formed my detachment into two divis- 
 ions, one to march by the lower or river road, the other by 
 the upper or Pennington road. As the divisons had nearly 
 the same distance to march, I ordered each of them, imme-
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 313 
 
 diately upon forcing the outguards, to push directly into 
 the town, that they might charge the enemy before they 
 had time to form. 
 
 "The upper division arrived at the enemy's advanced 
 posts exactly at eight o'clock; and in three minutes after, 
 I found, from the fire on the lower road, that the other 
 division had also got up. The outguards made but small 
 opposition, though for their numbers, they behaved very 
 well, keeping up a constant retreating fire from behind 
 houses. We presently saw their main body formed; but, 
 from their motions, they seemed undetermined how to act. 
 Being hard pressed by our troops, who had already got 
 possession of their artillery, they attempted to file off by a 
 road on their right, leading to Princeton. But, perceiving 
 their intention. I threw a body of troops in their way, which 
 immediately checked them. Finding from our disposi- 
 tion that they were surrounded, and that they must in- 
 evitably be cut to pieces if they made any further resist- 
 ance, they agreed to lay down their arms. The number 
 that submitted in this manner was twenty-three officers 
 and eight hundred and eighty-six men. Colonel Rahl, the 
 commanding officer, and seven others were found wounded 
 in the town. I do not exactly know how many were killed, 
 but I fancy not above twenty or thirty, as they never made 
 any regular stand. Our loss is very trifling indeed, only 
 two officers and one or two privates wounded. 
 
 " I am fully confident, that, could the troops under 
 Generals Ewing and Cadwalader have passed the river, I 
 should have been able with their assistance to drive the 
 enemy from all their posts below Trenton. But the num- 
 bers I had with me being inferior to theirs below me, and a 
 strong battalion of light infantry being at Princeton above 
 me, I thought it most prudent to return the same evening 
 with the prisoners and the artillery we had taken. We 
 found no stores of any consequence in the town. 
 
 " In justice to the officers and men, I must add, that
 
 3 1 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 their behavior on this occasion reflects the highest honor 
 upon them. The difficulty of passing the river in a very 
 severe night, and their march through a violent storm of 
 snow and hail, did not in the least abate their ardor; but, 
 when they came to the charge, each seemed to vie with the 
 others in pressing forward ; and were I to give a preference 
 to any particular corps, I should do great injustice to the 
 others. Colonel Baylor, my first aide-de-camp, will have 
 the honor of delivering this to you ; and from him you may 
 be made acquainted with many other particulars. His 
 spirited behavior upon every occasion requires me to 
 recommend him to your particular notice. I have the 
 honor to be," etc. 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 80. 
 
 Raising of " United Colonies " flag January i, 1776 
 
 Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published, 
 
 January 5, 1776 
 
 Evacuation of Boston by the British March 17, 1776 
 
 British repulsed at Fort Moultrie June 28, 1776 
 
 Declaration of Independence signed July 4, I 77& 
 
 Battle of Long Island August 27, 1776 
 
 Battle of White Plains October 28, 1776 
 
 Fort Washington taken by the British, November 16, 1776 
 Washington crossed the Delaware and took Trenton, 
 
 December 26, 1776 
 
 "George Will Not Forget Himself" 
 
 [At Fredericksburg] the matron remained during nearly 
 the whole of the trying period of the Revolution. Directly 
 in the way of the news, as it passed from north to south, one 
 courier would bring intelligence of success to our arms, an- 
 other "swiftly coursing at his heels," the saddening tale of
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 315 
 
 disaster and defeat. While thus ebbed and flowed the for- 
 tunes of our cause, the mother, trusting to the wisdom and 
 protection of Divine Providence, preserved the even tenor 
 of her life, affording an example to those matrons whose 
 sons were alike engaged in the arduous contest; and show- 
 ing that unavailing anxieties, however belonging to human 
 nature, were unworthy of mothers whose sons were com- 
 bating for the inestimable rights of mankind, and the free- 
 dom and happiness of unborn ages. 
 
 When the comforting and glorious intelligence arrived 
 of the passage of the Delaware, an event which restored our 
 hopes from the very brink of despair, a number of her 
 friends waited upon the mother with congratulations. She 
 received them with calmness; observed that it was most 
 pleasurable news, and that George appeared to have de- 
 served well of his country for such signal service ; and con- 
 tinued, in reply to the gratulating patriots (most of whom 
 held letters in their hands, from which they read extracts, 
 for gazettes were not so plenty then as now), "but, my 
 good sirs, here is too much flattery; still George will not 
 forget the lessons I early taught him he will not forget 
 himself, though he is the subject of so much praise." 
 
 Here I will speak of the absurdity of an idea which, 
 from some strange cause or other, has been suggested, 
 though certainly never believed, that the mother of Wash- 
 ington was disposed to favor the royal cause. Not the 
 slightest foundation has such a surmise in truth. Like 
 many others, whose days of enthusiasm were in the wane, 
 that lady doubted the prospects of success in the outset of 
 the war, and long during its continuance feared that our 
 means would be found inadequate to a successful contest 
 with so formidable a power as Britain; and that our sol- 
 diers, brave, but undisciplined and ill provided, would be 
 unequal to cope with the veteran and well-appointed troops 
 of the king. Doubts like these were by no means confined 
 to this Virginian matron, but were both entertained and 
 
 1-22
 
 316 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 expressed by the stanchest of patriots and the most deter- 
 mined of men. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 136. 
 
 "Intrusted with Almost Unlimited Power " 
 
 At this critical moment, too, Washington received a 
 letter from a committee of Congress, transmitting him 
 resolves of this body, dated the 27th of December, investing 
 him with military powers quite dictatorial. " Happy is it 
 for this country," write the committee, "that the general 
 of their forces can safely be intrusted with the most un- 
 limited power, and neither personal security, liberty, nor 
 property, be in the least degree endangered thereby. " 
 
 Washington's acknowledgment of this great mark of 
 confidence was noble and characteristic. " I find Congress 
 have done me the honor to intrust me with powers, in my 
 military capacity, of the highest nature and almost unlimited 
 extent. Instead of thinking myself freed from all civil 
 obligations by this mark of their confidence, I shall con- 
 stantly bear in mind that, as the sword was the last resort 
 for the preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be the 
 first thing laid aside when those liberties are firmly estab- 
 lished." *' 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. II, p. 574. 
 
 Robert Morris Raises Some " Hard Money " 
 
 Inspirited by his success at Trenton, the panic of the 
 enemy, and their retirement from the Delaware, his army 
 strengthened by new recruits and the junction of the 
 militia who had guarded the power posts of the river, 
 Washington determined to recross the Delaware and 
 occupy Trenton, and then make such offensive movements 
 against the British as prudence should dictate. This he 
 accomplished on the 3oth. The term of service of a large 
 portion of the Eastern militia was now about expiring.
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 317 
 
 He prevailed on them to remain six weeks longer, by 
 promising to each soldier a bounty of ten dollars. The 
 military chest was not in condition to perrnit^him to fulfil 
 his promise, and he wrote to Robert Morris, the great 
 patriot financier of the Revolution, for aid, pleading the 
 urgent necessity of the case. It was necessary to have 
 hard money and the sum was large. The requirement 
 seemed almost impossible to meet. Government credit 
 was low, but confidence in Robert Morris was unbounded. 
 In a desponding state, unusual for him, Morris left his 
 counting-room at a late hour, musing upon the probabilities 
 of meeting the demand. On the way he met a wealthy 
 Quaker, and made known his wants. 
 
 "Robert, what security canst thou give?" asked the 
 Quaker. 
 
 "My note, and my honor," promptly replied Morris. 
 
 "Thou shalt have it," Was the answer, and the next 
 morning Robert Morris wrote to Washington: 
 
 "I was up early this morning to dispatch a supply of 
 fifty thousand dollars to your excellency. It gives me great 
 pleasure that you have engaged the troops to continue; 
 and if further occasional supplies of money are necessary, 
 you may depend on my exertions either in a public or 
 private capacity." 
 
 The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Benson J. Lossing, Vol. II, p. 35. 
 
 Horse Lovers and Heroes 
 
 " My father was Washington's confidential courier and 
 I have often heard him tell of a call made by the com- 
 mander-in-chief on Mr. Morris at a very critical time, and 
 how nobly it was responded to. 
 
 "The army was encamped near Trenton, and was 
 nearly out of supplies, and quite out of money. 
 
 "One morning my father was summoned to Washing- 
 ton's tent, and the General said to him: 'Gray, in how 
 short a time could you ride down to Philadelphia? I
 
 3 i8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 want you to take a letter to Mr. Robert Morris, and there 
 is the utmost need for dispatch.' 
 
 " My father named the shortest time possible for mak- 
 ing the journey with a fleet horse. 
 
 '"Then just take the best horse in the army, and set 
 off at once with this letter,' said Washington. 
 
 '"Well, General,' said my father, 'the best horse I 
 know of in the army is your chestnut sorrel.' 
 
 " He did not expect that Washington would allow him 
 to take that horse, for it was his favorite, but he said at 
 once: 'Take him.' And my father rode him to Philadel- 
 phia, and made good time with him. 
 
 "When Robert Morris read the letter, he asked : ' How 
 soon can you start for Trenton with my reply to General 
 Washington, Mr. Gray?' 
 
 "As soon, sir, as I can get a fresh horse,' said my 
 father. 'It won't do to ride back General Washington's 
 chestnut sorrel.' 
 
 "Of course not,' said Mr. Morris. 'Go to my stable, 
 and take the best horse you can find. I am in haste to 
 assure General Washington that I will do all I can to meet 
 his wishes.'" 
 
 What example, I ask, of Roman patriotism, can sur- 
 pass that of these two modern heroes and horse lovers? 
 
 Mr. Gray continued : 
 
 "My father got safely back to headquarters with the 
 reply of Mr. Morris. He said Washington's face lighted up 
 when he read it; but he must have known pretty much 
 what it would be, for he had everything ready for march- 
 ing, and in five minutes the drums beat and the bugle 
 sounded, and the whole army was in motion. You see, he 
 had written to Morris to supply money and provisions, and 
 Morris had consented, and set to work with all his energy. 
 The morning after my father's hurried visit to Philadelphia, 
 my mother returned from market, at about six o'clock, 
 saying:
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 319 
 
 "'It's well I went so early! If I had been a half-hour 
 later, I should not have been able to get a pound of beef or 
 bacon. Robert Morris is sending his men all about to buy 
 up provisions for the army." 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. 23. 
 
 " The Old Fox " and the Battle of Princeton 
 
 .Cornwallis, leaving part of his force at Princeton, New 
 Jersey, hurried south to catch Washington. He found him 
 between Trenton and a bend of the Delaware. That night 
 the British general went to sleep, certain that Washington 
 could not get away. For how could he hope to escape, with 
 the British army in front and the broad deep Delaware 
 River full of floating ice behind him? Cornwallis told his 
 brother officers that they would "bag the old fox" in the 
 morning. While the British general lay dreaming, Wash- 
 ington like an "old fox" crept stealthily 'around him, and 
 got to Princeton. In the battle there (January 3, 1777), 
 the American advance force was driven back. Just then 
 Washington came up. He saw that, if beaten, our army 
 would be lost. Calling his troops to follow him, he rode 
 within thirty yards of the British force, and stood facing 
 the foe, exposed to the fire of both sides. For some mo- 
 ments he was completely hidden from sight by the smoke of 
 battle. 
 
 The Leading Facts of American History, D. H. Montgomery, p. 1 74. 
 
 "Thank God ! Your Excellency Is Safe !" 
 
 The heroism of Washington on the field of Princeton 
 is a matter of history. We have often enjoyed a touching 
 reminiscence of that ever-memorable event from the late 
 Colonel Fitzgerald, who was aide to the chief, and who never 
 related the story of his general's danger and almost miracu- 
 lous preservation, without adding to his tale the homage 
 of a tear.
 
 3 2o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The aide-de-camp had been ordered to bring up the 
 troops from the rear of the column, when the band under 
 General Mercer became engaged. Upon returning to the 
 spot where he had left the commander-in-chief, he was no 
 longer there, and, upon looking around, the aide discovered 
 him endeavoring to rally the line which had been thrown 
 into disorder by a rapid onset of the foe. Washington, 
 after several ineffectual efforts to restore the fortunes of the 
 fight, is seen to rein up his horse, with his head to the enemy, 
 and in that position to become immovable. It was a last 
 appeal to his soldiers, and seemed to say, Will you give up 
 your general to the foe? Such an appeal was not made in 
 vain. The discomfited Americans rally on the instant, 
 and form into line; the enemy halt, and dress their line; 
 the American chief is between the adverse posts, as though 
 ne had been placed there, a target for both. The arms of 
 both lines are levelled. Can escape from death be possible? 
 Fitzgerald, horror-struck at the danger of his beloved 
 commander, dropped the reins upon his horse's neck, and 
 drew his hat over his face, that he might not see him die. 
 A roar of musketry succeeded, and then a shout. It is the 
 shout of victory. The aide-de-camp ventures to raise his 
 eyes, and O, glorious sight ! the enemy are broken and flying, 
 while dimly amidst the glimpses of smoke is seen the chief, 
 "alive, unharmed, and without a wound, " waving his hat, 
 and cheering his comrades to the pursuit. 
 
 Colonel Fitzgerald, celebrated as one of the finest horse- 
 men of the American army, now dashed his rowels in his 
 charger's flanks, and, heedless of the dead and dying in his 
 way, flew to the side of his chief, exclaiming, "Thank God! 
 your excellency is safe!" The favorite aide, a gallant and 
 warm-hearted son of Erin, a man of thews and sinews, and 
 "albeit unused to the melting mood, " now gave loose rein 
 to his feelings, and wept like a child, for joy. 
 
 Washington, ever calm amid scenes of greatest excite- 
 ment, affectionately grasped the hand of his aide and friend.
 
 From the Original by Chappel. 
 
 "THE DAY IS OUR OWN!" 
 Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777.
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 321 
 
 and then ordered "Away, my dear colonel, and bring up 
 the troops the day is our own!" 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 19- 
 
 Washington's Report of the Battle of Princeton 
 
 (Letter to the President of Congress.) 
 
 " Pluckemin, 5 January, 1777. 
 
 "SIR, 
 
 "I have the honor to inform you, that, since the 
 date of my last from Trenton, I have removed with the 
 army under my command to this place. The difficulty 
 of crossing the Delaware, on account of the ice made our 
 passage over it tedious, and gave the enemy opportunity 
 of drawing in their several cantonments, and assembling 
 their whole force at Princeton. Their large pickets advanced 
 towards Trenton, their great preparations, and some intel- 
 ligence I had received, added to their knowledge, that the 
 ist of January brought on a dissolution of the best part of 
 our army, gave me the strongest reasons to conclude, tfrat 
 an attack upon us was meditating. 
 
 "Our situation was most critical, and our force small. 
 To remove immediately was again destroying every dawn 
 of hope, which had begun to revive the breasts of the Jersey 
 militia ; and to bring . . troops, . . . (amount- 
 ing in the whole to about three thousand six hundred) to 
 Trenton, was to bring them to an exposed place. One or 
 the other, however, was unavoidable. The latter was 
 preferred, and they were ordered to join us at Trenton, 
 which they did, by a night-march, on the ist instant. On 
 the and, according to my expectation, the enemy began to 
 advance upon us ; and, after some skirmishing, the head 
 of their column reached Trenton about four o'clock, whilst 
 their rear was as far back as Maidenhead. They attempted 
 to pass Sanpink Creek, which runs through Trenton, at
 
 322 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 different places; but, finding the fords guarded, they halted, 
 and kindled their fires. We were drawn up on the other 
 side of the creek. In this situation we remained until dark, 
 cannonading the enemy, and receiving the fire of their 
 field-pieces, which did us but little damage. 
 
 "Having by this time discovered, that the enemy were 
 greatly superior in number, and that their design was to 
 surround us, I ordered all our baggage to be removed silently 
 to Burlington soon after dark; and at twelve o'clock after 
 renewing our fires, and leaving guards at the bridge in Tren- 
 ton, and other passes on the same stream above, marched 
 by a roundabout road to Princeton, where I knew they 
 could not have much force left, and might have stores. One 
 thing I was certain of, that it would avoid the appearance 
 of a retreat (which was of consequence, or to run the hazard 
 of the whole army being cut off), whilst we might by a 
 fortunate stroke withdraw General Howe from Trenton, 
 and give some reputation to our arms. Happily we suc- 
 ceeded. We found Princeton about sunrise, with only 
 three regiments and three troops of light-horse, two of 
 which were on their march to Trenton. These three regi- 
 ments, especially the two first, made a gallant resistance, 
 and, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, must have lost five 
 hundred men; upwards of one hundred of them were left 
 dead on the field ; and, with what I have with me and what 
 were taken in the pursuit and carried across the Delaware, 
 there are near three hundred prisoners, fourteen of whom 
 ar officers, all British. 
 
 "This piece of good fortune is counterbalanced by the 
 loss of the brave and worthy General Mercer. 
 
 " From the best information I have received, General 
 Howe has left no men either at Trenton or Princeton. The 
 truth of this I am endeavoring to ascertain, that I may 
 regulate my movements accordingly. The militia are fast 
 taking spirit, and, I am told, are>- coming in fast from this 
 State; but I fear those from Philadelphia will scarcely
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 323 
 
 submit to the hardships of a winter campaign much longer, 
 especially as they very unluckily sent their blankets with 
 their baggage to Burlington. I must do them the justice 
 however to add, that they have undergone more fatigue 
 and hardship, than I expected militia, especially citizens, 
 would have done at this inclement season. I am just mov- 
 ing to Morristown, where I shall endeavor to put them 
 under the best cover I can. Hitherto we have been without 
 any; and many of our poor soldiers quite barefoot, and ill 
 clad in other respects. I have the honor to be," etc., 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 84. 
 
 Troubles about Allegiance and Rank 
 
 In January Washington issued a proclamation requir- 
 ing those inhabitants who had subscribed to Howe's declara- 
 tion to come in within thirty days and take the oath of 
 allegiance to the United States. If they failed to do so they 
 were to be treated as enemies. The measure was an emi- 
 nently proper one, and the 'proclamation was couched in 
 the most moderate language. It was impossible to permit 
 a large class of persons to exist on the theory that they were 
 peaceful American citizens and also subjects of King George. 
 The results of such conduct were in every "way perilous and 
 intolerable, and Washington was determined that he would 
 divide the sheep from the goats, and know whom he was 
 defending and whom attacking. Yet for this wise and 
 necessary action he was called in question in Congress and 
 accused of violating civil rights and the resolves of Congress. 
 Nothing was actually done about it, but such an incident 
 shows from a single point the infinite tact and resolution 
 required in waging war under a government whose members 
 were unable to comprehend what was meant, and who could 
 not see that until they had beaten England it was hardly 
 worth while to worry about civil rights, which in case of 
 defeat would speedily cease to exist altogether.
 
 324 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Another fertile source of trouble arose from questions 
 of rank. Members of Congress in making promotions and 
 appointments, were more apt to consider local claims than 
 military merit, and they also allowed their own personal 
 prejudices to affect their action in this respect far too much. 
 Thence arose endless heart-burnings and jealousies, followed 
 by resignations and the loss of valuable officers. Congress, 
 having made the appointments, would go cheerfully about 
 its business, while the swarm of grievances thus let loose 
 would come buzzing about the devoted head of the com- 
 mander-in-chief. He could not get away, but was com- 
 pelled to quiet rivalries, allay irritated feelings, and ride 
 the storm as best he might. It was all done, however, in 
 one way or another; by personal appeals, and by letters 
 full of dignity, patriotism, and patience, which are very 
 impressive and full of meaning for students of character, 
 even in this day and generation. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge Vol. I, p. 183. 
 
 Washington's Proclamation 
 
 "Whereas, several persons, inhabitants of the United 
 States of America, influenced by inimical motives, intim- 
 idated by the threats of the enemy, or deluded by a procla- 
 mation issued the'3oth of November last, by Lord and Gen- 
 eral Howe, styled the King's commissioners for granting 
 pardons, etc. (now at open war and invading these States), 
 have been so lost to the interest and welfare of their country, 
 as to repair to the enemy, sign a declaration of fidelity, and 
 in some cases have been compelled to take the oaths of 
 allegiance, and engage not to take up arms, or encourage 
 others to do so, against the king of Great Britain. And, 
 whereas, it has become necessary to distinguish between the 
 friends of America and those of Great Britain, inhabitants 
 of these States, and that every man who receives protection 
 from, and is a subject of any State (not being conscientiously 
 scrupulous against bearing arms), should stand ready to
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 325 
 
 defend the same against hostile invasion: I do, therefore, 
 in behalf of the United States, by virtue of powers commit- 
 ted to me by Congress, hereby strictly command and require 
 every person, having subscribed such declaration, taken such 
 oaths, and accepted such protection and certificate, to 
 repair to headquarters, or to the quarters of the nearest 
 general offices of the Continental army or militia (until 
 further provision can be made by civil authority) , and there 
 deliver up such protection, certificate, and passports, and 
 take the oath of allegiance to the United States of America ; 
 nevertheless, hereby granting full liberty to all such as prefer 
 the interest and protection of Great Britain to the freedom 
 and happiness of their country, forthwith to withdraw them- 
 selves and families within the enemies' lines. And I do 
 hereby declare, that all and every person who may refuse to 
 comply with this order, within thirty days from the date 
 hereof, will be deemed adherents to the king of Great Britain 
 and treated as common enemies of these American States." 
 
 Broadside distributed in New Jersey, 1776-7. 
 
 A Sarcastic Reply to the Howes' Proclamation of Pardon 
 
 "Messrs. Howe: We have seen your proclamation 
 and as it is a great curiosity think it deserves some notice, 
 and lest no one else should deign to notice it, will make a 
 few remarks upon what was designed for public benefit. 
 In this rarity we see slaves offering liberty to free Americans ; 
 thieves and robbers offer to secure our rights and property ; 
 murderers offer us pardon ; a perjured tyrant by the mouths 
 of two of his hireling butchers, 'commands' all the civil and 
 military powers, in these independent States to resign all 
 pretensions to authority, and to acknowledge subjection 
 to a foreign despot, even his mock majesty, now reeking 
 with blood and murder. This is truly a curiosity, and is a 
 compound of the most consummate arrogance and the folly 
 of the cloven-footed spawn of despairing wretches, who are 
 laboring to complete the works of tyranny and death. It
 
 326 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 would be far less wicked and not quite so stupid for the 
 Grand Turk to send two of his slaves into Britain to command 
 all Britains to acknowledge themselves slaves of the Turks, 
 offering to secure their rights and property, and to pardon 
 such as had borne arms against his Sublime Highness, 
 upon condition of their making peace within 'sixty days. ' 
 
 " Messieurs Howe and W. Howe, pray read your proc- 
 lamation once more, and consider how modest you appear; 
 and reflect on the infinite contempt with which you are 
 viewed by the Americans, and remember the meanest 
 freeman scorns the highest slave." 
 
 Broadside scattered in New Jersey in the winter of 1776-7 
 
 Washington Had Taken Howe's Measure 
 
 Howe, with his army of 28,000, now quietly allowed 
 Washington to reconquer New Jersey with 5000. After 
 the battle of Princeton, Cornwallis abandoned Trenton, 
 Bordentown, and Princeton, removed all the British troops 
 from them, and quietly returned to New Brunswick. Wash- 
 ington found that there would be too much risk in attacking 
 New Brunswick immediately after Princeton, so he passed 
 on northward into the heart of New Jersey, and took up a 
 strong position at Morristown Heights, west of New York, 
 and half-way between New York and the Delaware. Put- 
 nam came from Philadelphia with a few troops and occupied 
 Princeton, and Heath had a few more on the Hudson. In 
 other words, Washington, with scarcely 10,000 men, made 
 a line of cantonments through New Jersey and held it with- 
 out opposition from Howe's 28,000 all that winter and the 
 following spring until June, 1777. 
 
 He was constantly picking off stragglers from the British 
 posts at New Brunswick and Amboy, and, as Gallaway 
 remarked, killed more regulars in that way than Howe would 
 have lost by surrounding and defeating or starving him out 
 at Morristown. In March Washington's force had sunk
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 327 
 
 to less than 3000 effectives, and yet he remained undis- 
 turbed by the vast force in New York. 
 
 Washington had taken Howe's measure. For the rest 
 of the British general's year and a half in America, the patriot 
 general, no matter how low his force dwindled, always 
 remained encamped within a few miles of the vast hosts of 
 his Whig antagonist undisturbed and unpursued. There 
 was no need of retreating among the Indians and buffalo of 
 the West. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 328,
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERMANTOWN 
 Waiting at Morristown 
 
 After the "two lucky strokes at Trenton and Prince- 
 ton," as he himself called them, Washington took up a 
 strong position at Morristown and waited. His plan was 
 to hold the enemy in check, and to delay all operations until 
 spring. It is easy enough now to state his purpose, and it 
 looks very simple, but it was a grim task to carry it out 
 through the bleak winter days of 1 7 7 7 . The Jersey farmers, 
 spurred by the sufferings inflicted upon them by the British 
 troops, had turned out at last in deference to Washington's 
 appeals, after the victories of Trenton and Princeton, had 
 harassed and cut off outlying parties, and had thus 
 straitened the movements of the enemy. But the main 
 army of the colonies, on which all depended, was in a pitiable 
 state. It shifted its character almost from day to day. 
 The curse of short enlistments, so denounced by Washington, 
 made itself felt now with frightful effect. With the new 
 year most of the continental troops departed, while others 
 to replace them came in very slowly, and recruiting dragged 
 most wearisomely. Washington was thus obliged, with 
 temporary reinforcements of raw militia, to keep up appear- 
 ances ; and no commander ever struggled with a more trying 
 task. At times it looked as if the whole army would actually 
 disappear, and more than once Washington expected that 
 the week's or the month's end would find him with not more 
 than five hundred men. At the, beginning of March he had 
 about four thousand men, a few weeks later only three 
 thousand raw troops, ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-shod, ill-armed, and 
 almost unpaid. Over against him was Howe, with eleven 
 
 (328)
 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERMANTOWN 329 
 
 thousand men in the field, and still more in the city of New 
 York, well disciplined and equipped, well-armed, well-fed, 
 and furnished with every needful supply. The contrast is 
 absolutely grotesque, and yet the force of one man's genius 
 and will was such that this excellent British army was hem- 
 med in and kept in harmless quiet by their ragged opponents. 
 Washington's plan, from the first, was to keep the field 
 at all hazards, and literally at all hazards did he do so. 
 Right and left his letters went, day after day, calling with 
 pathetic but dignified earnestness for men and supplies. 
 In one of these epistles, to Governor Cooke of Rhode Island, 
 written in January, to remonstrate against raising troops 
 for the State only, he set forth his intentions in a few words. 
 "You must be sensible," he said, "that the season is fast 
 approaching when a new campaign will open ; nay, the 
 former is not yet closed ; nor do I intend it shall be, unless 
 the enemy quits the Jerseys. ' ' 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 180. 
 
 Remained Standing throughout the Whole Service 
 
 An anecdote is told of Washington's conduct while 
 commander-in-chief, illustrative of his benignant attention 
 to others, and his freedom from all assumption. While the 
 army was encamped at Morristown, he one day attended a 
 religious meeting where divine service was to be celebrated in 
 the open air. A chair had been set out for his use. Just 
 before the service commenced a woman with a child in her 
 arms approached. All the seats were occupied. Washing- 
 ton immediately rose, placed her in the chair which had been 
 assigned to him, and remained standing throughout the 
 whole service. 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 39. 
 
 "Try Me!" 
 
 Among the foreign candidates for appointments was 
 one Colonel Conway, a native of Ireland, but who, according
 
 330 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 to his own account, had been thirty years in the service of 
 France, and claimed to be a chevalier of the Order of St. 
 Louis, of which he wore the decoration. Mr. Deane had 
 recommended him to Washington as an officer of merit, 
 and had written to Congress that he considered him well 
 qualified for the office of adjutant or brigadier-general, and 
 that he had given him reason to hope for one or the other 
 of these appointments. Colonel Conway pushed for that 
 of brigadier-general. It had been conferred some time 
 before by Congress on two French officers, De Fermois and 
 Deborre, who, he had observed, had been inferior to him in 
 the French service, and it would be mortifying now to hold 
 rank below them. 
 
 "I cannot pretend," writes Washington to the presi- 
 dent, "to speak of Colonel Conway's merits or abilities of 
 my own knowledge. He appears to be a man of candor, 
 and if he has been in service as long as he says, I should 
 suppose him infinitely better qualified to serve us than many 
 who have been promoted , as he speaks our language." 
 
 Conway accordingly received the rank of brigadier- 
 general, of which he subsequently proved himself unworthy. 
 He was boastful and presumptuous, and became noted for 
 his intrigues, and for a despicable cabal against the comman- 
 der-in-chief , which went by his name, and of which we shall 
 have to speak hereafter. 
 
 A candidate of a different stamp had presented himself 
 in the preceding year, the gallant, generous-spirited Thad- 
 deus Kosciuszko. He was a Pole, of an ancient and noble 
 family of Lithuania, and had been educated for the pro- 
 fession of arms at the military school at Warsaw, and sub- 
 sequently in France. Disappointed in a love affair with a 
 beautiful lady of rank with whom he had attempted to elope, 
 he had emigrated to this country, and came provided with 
 a letter of introduction from Dr. Franklin to Washington. 
 
 "What do you seek here?" inquired the commander- 
 in-chief.
 
 BRANDYW1NE AND GERMANTOWN 331 
 
 " To fight for American independence. " 
 
 "What can you do?" 
 
 "Try me." 
 
 Washington was pleased with the curt yet comprehen- 
 sive reply, and with his chivalrous air and spirit, and at 
 once received him into his family as an aide-de-camp. 
 Congress shortly afterward appointed him an engineer, 
 with the rank of colonel. He proved a valuable officer 
 throughout the Revolution, and won an honorable and last- 
 ing name in our country. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. Ill, p. 71. 
 
 The General's Narrow Escape 
 
 In Delaware the General had a narrow escape. He 
 rode out with Marquis Lafayette on a reconnaissance, 
 attended by but two officers and an orderly. General 
 Sullivan had an officer follow with a half-troop; but the 
 General, fearing such numbers might attract attention, 
 ordered them to wait behind a thicket. Looking thence, 
 they saw the General ride direct toward a picket of the 
 enemy, which from their vantage they could see, but he 
 could not. An English officer, perceiving him, seemed 
 to give an order to fire : but as the men raised their pieces 
 he struck them up. As he was about to give the order to 
 fire, the General, being satisfied, had turned his back to 
 ride away. It is a curious tale, is it not? and none can 
 explain it. 
 
 Long years after I myself met an English officer, a 
 General Henderson, in Canada, and on my telling him the 
 incident, he said at once it was he who was concerned, and 
 that when the General turned to ride away he could not 
 make up his mind to shoot down a man who had turned 
 his back. He was amazed and pleased to know who it was 
 he thus spared. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker. S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 254. 
 1-23
 
 332 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "To Learn, and Not to Instruct" 
 
 Lafayette, in his memoirs, describes a review of Wash- 
 ington's army which he witnessed about this time. " Eleven 
 thousand men, but tolerably armed, and still worse clad, 
 presented," he said, ."a singular spectacle; in their parti- 
 colored and often naked state, the best dresses were hunting 
 shirts of brown linen. Their tactics were equally irregular. 
 They were arranged without regard to size, excepting that 
 the smallest men were the front rank; with all this, they 
 were good looking soldiers conducted by zealous officers." 
 
 "We ought to feel embarrassed," said Washington to 
 him, "in presenting ourselves before an officer just from 
 the French army." 
 
 "It is to learn, and not to instruct that I came here, " 
 was Lafayette's apt and modest reply; and it gained him 
 immediate popularity. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. Ill, p. 184. 
 
 Washington Weeps No Money for His Men 
 
 " I have a well attested word of Washington, that of 
 James Brown, who was forty years postmaster at Geneva, 
 New York, where I was well acquainted. My witness was the 
 Hon. Charles C. Clark, long Vice-President of the New York 
 Central railroad, and my close personal friend. Brown is 
 now long since gone. He was a prominent man in those 
 times. I fully believe he told the truth. He was a good 
 man and truthful. He was a young clerk in the office of 
 Robert Morris, 'the financier of the Revolution' and, sitting 
 at a table, witnessed this incident : 
 
 "Two days before the battle of Brandy wine, Wash- 
 ington called at Morris's office in Philadelphia and said 
 that they were so far in arrears with the soldiers' pay, and 
 the men were in such hardships that they had little heart 
 for battle, so they were liable to lose in the event just at 
 hand.
 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERMANTOWN 333 
 
 " 'Can you help us?' pleaded the commander-in-chief 
 in a voice husky with emotion. 
 
 "Morris shook his head sadly, saying: 
 
 " 'I have used up my own means and credit. I am 
 deeply grieved to admit that I can do nothing now 
 nothing!' 
 
 "General Washington, covering his face with his large 
 hands, so that the fingers touched his forehead, burst into 
 an abandon of weeping, and as he sat there sobbing, the 
 tears trickled through his fingers and dropped down his 
 wrists. 
 
 "The General soon gained his normal composure, arose 
 and went out without a word. The financier also got up 
 and silently followed him, looking sadly after Washington 
 as he passed slowly down the street. 
 
 "Two days later, September nth, 1777, Washington 
 met Lord Howe at Brandywine and was defeated." 
 
 Extract from a letter from the Rev. Dr Ammi B. Hyde, Vice-Chancellor of the Uni- 
 versity of Denver, Colorado. 
 
 Defeat at Chad's Ford, Brandywine Creek 
 
 Early on September nth, the British advanced to 
 Chad's Ford, where Washington was posted with the main 
 body, and after some skirmishing began to cannonade at 
 long range. Meantime Cornwallis, with the main body, 
 made a long detour of seventeen miles, and came upon the 
 right flank and rear of the Americans. Sullivan, who was 
 on the right, had failed to guard the fords above,- and 
 through lack of information was practically surprised. 
 Washington, on rumors that the enemy were marching 
 toward his right, with the instinct of a great soldier was 
 about to cross the river in his front and crush the enemy 
 there, but he also was misled and kept back by false reports. 
 When the truth was known, it was too late. The right 
 wing had been beaten and flung back, the enemy were 
 nearly in the rear, and were now advancing in earnest in
 
 334 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 front. All that man could do was done. Troops were 
 pushed forward and a gallant stand was made at various 
 points; but the critical moment had come and gone, and 
 there was nothing for it but a hasty retreat, which came 
 near degenerating into a rout. 
 
 The causes of this complete defeat, for such it was, are 
 easily seen. Washington had planned his battle and 
 chosen his position well. If he had not been deceived by 
 the first reports, he even then would have fallen upon and 
 overwhelmed the British centre before they could have 
 reached his right wing. But the Americans, to begin with, 
 were outnumbered. They had only eleven thousand 
 effective men, while the British brought fifteen of their 
 eighteen thousand into action. Then the Americans 
 suffered, as they constantly did, from misinformation, and 
 from an absence of system in learning the enemy's move- 
 ments. Washington's attack was fatally checked in this 
 way, and Sullivan was surprised from the same causes, as 
 well as from his own culpable ignorance of the country 
 beyond him, which was the reason of his failure to guard 
 the upper fords. The Americans lost, also, by the unsteadi- 
 ness of the new troops when the unexpected happens, and 
 when the panic-bearing notion that they are surprised and 
 likely to be surrounded comes upon them with a sudden 
 shock. 
 
 This defeat was complete and severe, and it was fol- 
 lowed in a few days by that of Wayne, who narrowly 
 escaped utter ruin. Yet through all this disaster we can 
 see the advance which had been made since the equally 
 unfortunate and very similar battle on Long Island. Then, 
 the troops seemed to lose heart and courage, the army was 
 held together with difficulty, and could do nothing but 
 retreat. Now, in the few days which Howe, as usual, gave 
 us with such fatal effect to himself, Washington rallied his 
 army, and finding them in excellent spirits marched down 
 the Lancaster road to fight again. On the eve of battle
 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERMANTOWN 335 
 
 a heavy storm came on, which so injured the arms and 
 ammunitions that with bitter disappointment he was 
 obliged to withdraw, but nevertheless it is plain how much 
 this forward movement meant. At the moment, how- 
 ever, it looked badly enough, especially after the defeat of 
 Wayne, for Howe pressed forward, took possession of 
 Philadelphia, and encamped the main body of his army at 
 Germantown. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 191. 
 
 Report of the Battle of Brandywine 
 
 (Letter to the President of Congress.} 
 
 "CHESTER twelve o'clock at Night, 
 "n September, 1777. 
 
 "SIR, 
 
 " I am sorry to inform you, that, in this day's 
 engagement, we have been obliged to leave the enemy 
 masters of the field. Unfortunately the intelligence reed., 
 of the enemy's advancing up the Brandywine & crossing 
 at a ford about six miles above us, was uncertain and con- 
 tradictory, notwithstanding all my pains to get the best. 
 This prevented my making a disposition adequate to the 
 force with which the enemy attacked us on our right; in 
 consequence of which, the troops first engaged were obliged 
 to retire before they could be reinforced. In the midst of 
 the attack on our right, that body of the enemy, which 
 remained on the 'other side of Chad's Ford, crossed it, & 
 attacked the division there under the command of General 
 Wayne, & the light troops under Genl Maxwell, who, after 
 a severe conflict, also retired. The militia under the com- 
 mand of Major-General Armstrong, being posted at a ford 
 about two miles below Chad's had no opportunity of engag- 
 ing. 
 
 " But altho we fought under many disadvantages, 
 and were, from the causes above mentioned, obliged to
 
 336 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 retire, yet our loss of men is not, I am persuaded, very con- 
 siderable, I believe much less than the enemy's. We have 
 also lost seven or eight pieces of cannon, according to the 
 best information I dan at present obtain. The baggage, 
 having been previously moved off, is all secure, saving the 
 men's blankets, which being at their backs many of them 
 doubtless were lost. I have directed all the troops to 
 assemble behind Chester, where they are now arranging 
 for this night. Notwithstanding the misfortune of the 
 day, I am happy to find the troops in good spirits; and I 
 hope another time we shall compensate for the losses now 
 sustained. The Marquis de Lafayette was wounded in the 
 leg, & General Woodford in the hand ; divers other officers 
 were wounded, & some slain; but the numbers of either 
 cannot now be ascertained. I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 " P.S. It has not been in my power to send you earlier 
 intelligence, the present being the first leisure moment I 
 have had since the action." 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 88. 
 
 A Small Defeated Army Defies the Victor 
 
 Washington, after his defeat at Brandywine, retreated 
 with most of his army to Chester on the Delaware. There 
 seems to have been some scattering among his men, although 
 it cannot be said that his army was demoralized. His 
 wounded were sent to Chester and various places. Among 
 the wounded, young Lafayette, with a ball in his leg, was 
 carried to Bethlehem, to be cared for by the Moravians. 
 
 The next day Washington took most of his army up 
 the Delaware towards the Schuylkill. Howe now had him 
 forced into the angle of the two rivers, and could have com- 
 pelled his surrender or destruction. But Washington 
 passed on unmolested, crossed the Schuylkill, and encamped 
 \n Germantown between the two rivers.
 
 BRANDYWIN-E AND GERMANTOWN '337 
 
 Having declined to destroy Washington's army when 
 he had it in his power, it was now somewhat difficult for 
 Howe to cross the Schuylkill and enter Philadelphia. The 
 floating bridges were all taken away, and the steep banks 
 of the river made crossing doubly difficult so long as Wash- 
 ington was at large and might attack the first small force 
 that got across the stream. 
 
 The desire of the British army to get into Philadelphia 
 and of Washington to prevent it kept up for two weeks a 
 contest of wits between Washington and Howe. Howe was 
 determined to do no more fighting if he could help it. He 
 appeared to be in no hurry, and remained camped near the 
 battle-field of the Brandywine. Wayne's scouts who 
 watched him reported that his men were quietly resting, 
 cooking, and washing their clothes. 
 
 Stung by his defeat and seeing the laxity of Howe, 
 Washington was impatient to try another issue. He soon 
 crossed the Schuylkill to the same side with Howe, and 
 marched twenty miles until he found the British a little 
 west of Paoli at the Warren Tavern. There the two armies 
 confronted each other, apparently ready for battle. 
 
 But there was no battle. The extraordinary spec- 
 tacle was presented of a small defeated army returning 
 to the victor and standing in front of him, daring him to' 
 fight. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 34*. 
 
 A Drunken General at Germantown 
 
 During the night march, several incidents occurred 
 that might be deemed ominous of the fortunes of the coming 
 day. The celebrated Count Pulaski, who was charged with 
 the service of watching the enemy and gaining intelligence, 
 was said to have been found asleep in a* farm-house. But 
 although the gallant Pole might have been overtaken by 
 slumber, from the great fatigue growing out of the duties 
 of the advance guard, ^et no soldier was more wide awake
 
 33 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 in the moment of combat than the intrepid and chivalric 
 Count Pulaski. 
 
 The delay in the arrival of the ammunition-wagons 
 was productive of most serious consequences in the action 
 of the succeeding day. The general officer [Gen. Adam 
 Stephen, of Virginia] to whom the blame of this delay was 
 attached was afterward discovered in a state of intoxication, 
 lying in the corner of a fence. Lieutenant Benjamin 
 Grymes, of the Life-guard, grasping the delinquent by the 
 collar, placed him on his legs, and bade him go and do his 
 duty. This bold proceeding on the part of a subaltern to- 
 ward a general officer was certainly at variance with rules 
 or orders of discipline; but the exigency of the moment, 
 and the degrading spectacle that an officer of high rank 
 had presented to the eyes of the soldiery, would seem to 
 have warranted a proceeding that, under different circum- 
 stances, must be considered as subversive of all military 
 discipline. Grymes was a bold, brave soldier, enthusias- 
 tically attached to the cause of his country, and foremost 
 among the asserters of her liberties. The general officer 
 of whom we have spoken was brought to a court-martial 
 and cashiered. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 195. 
 
 Fighting in Fog 
 
 The only hope of defeating this well-posted force lay 
 in a surprise, and Washington selected the night of October 
 3, 1777, for the attempt. Starting his men on their long 
 march about seven in the evening, he moved them so rapidly 
 that they reached their destination before sunrise the next 
 morning, and though some vague rumors of his advance 
 had reached the British camp, they excited no alarm. 
 Just outside the town he divided his command into four 
 columns, assigning each to one of the four roads leading 
 into the town, with orders that they should all press for-
 
 BRAN DYW INK AND GERMANTOWN 339 
 
 ward at the same moment, and pouring in from different 
 directions, drive the attack home with a fury that would 
 create confusion, divide the enemy, and afford an oppor- 
 tunity for overwhelming its various detachments, one at a 
 time. This plan, which aimed at nothing less than the 
 destruction of the entire British army, was an ambitious 
 and daring move, in view of the fact that the Americans 
 were outnumbered, but it was well thought out, and the four 
 divisions moved to their posts full of confidence and hope, 
 John Marshall, the future Chief Justice of the United States, 
 marching with one of the columns. By this time, how- 
 ever, a heavy fog hung over the roads and fields, and be- 
 fore the final advance was fairly started the converging 
 columns were completely screened from each other's view, 
 and the men had to grope their way forward with consider- 
 able caution. 
 
 Down the main road toward the head of the street 
 crept the Americans under General Anthony Wayne, and 
 before long they struck the British sentries and gobbled 
 them up almost before they had time to cry out. The sur- 
 prise was complete, but as the Americans pressed forward, 
 sweeping everything before them, they suddenly stumbled 
 upon Colonel Musgrave's regiment, which sprang to arms, 
 taking cover behind fences, walls, and hedges and a fierce 
 struggle followed, the combatants fighting at close range and 
 firing at the flashes of each other's muskets through the 
 curtain of the fog. It was only for a moment, however, that 
 the onrush was checked and most of the Fortieth Regiment 
 was soon flying at top speed from the victorious Americans, 
 leaving its Colonel and a handful of men pratically sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 But Colonel Musgrave, though cornered, was far from 
 being caught. His one chance of escape lay in reaching 
 some shelter where he could hold out until re-enforcements 
 reached him, and. taking it, he made a dash for the Chew 
 Mansion immediately behind him, threw his men inside,
 
 340 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and opened a brisk fire from the windows on his pursuers 
 as they leaped forward out of the fog. For a moment the 
 Americans hesitated. The gallant officer and his men 
 were completely surrounded and could not possibly escape, 
 so a young Virginian lieutenant was sent forward with a 
 white flag to demand their immediate surrender. Doubt- 
 less they did not see his handkerchief, or bit of white rag, 
 in the misty light, and before he came within hailing dis- 
 tance a musket in one of the upper windows flashed and 
 the officer fell dead, clutching his flag of truce. 
 
 From that instant the fate of the whole enterprise 
 was practically sealed, for . Wayne's division, instead of 
 leaving the building under a sufficient guard and pressing 
 forward according to Washington's plan, determined to 
 avenge what was regarded as the wanton murder of their 
 comrade, and bringing up cannon they proceeded to batter 
 the house to pieces. But the old dwelling was strongly 
 constructed and the cannon balls made but little impression 
 on its stone walls. Efforts were then made to set it on fire 
 and carry it by assault, but Colonel Musgrave and his men, 
 realizing the temper of their assailants and the strength 
 of their own position, heroically determined to sell their 
 lives as dearly as possible, and the Americans who stepped 
 out of the fog bank and within range of their muskets 
 courted death. 
 
 Solid shot crashed through the windows and tore the 
 doors apart ; plaster and bricks flew up in dust ; chimneys 
 toppled, and the barricades of furniture were blown to 
 splinters, but though rush after rush was made to take ad- 
 vantage of these openings, only one man reached the win- 
 dows alive. Indeed, no less than fifty-seven Americans 
 fell under the deadly fire that spurted from every loophole 
 in the improvised fortress, and every victim increased the 
 assailants' rage. The roar of this mimic battle was, of course, 
 heard by the other parts of the Continental army, and be- 
 fore long several battalions, a brigade, and a whole division
 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERMANTOWN 341 
 
 were hurriedly groping their way toward what they sup- 
 posed to be the main field of action, each screened from 
 the other by the fog. 
 
 Up to this moment success was far from impossible, 
 for some of the divisions had already fallen upon the Brit- 
 ish and were driving them with considerable confusion back 
 upon their supports. Indeed, a little pressure would have 
 undoubtedly started the panic upon which Washington 
 had counted, but the bombardment of the Chew Mansion 
 delayed Wayne's troops, and before this could be corrected 
 two of the brigades which were moving toward the sound 
 of the cannonading got directly behind Wayne's division, 
 and mistaking them for the enemy, fired point-blank into 
 their ranks, and believing they were being attacked from 
 the rear, Colonel Musgrave's besiegers began a retreat. 
 
 Meanwhile the other divisions, finding themselves 
 without support, gave way before the re-enforcements 
 which the British hurried from Philadelphia and some- 
 thing very like a panic struck the entire American force. 
 For a time it seemed as though the day which had begun 
 with such brilliant prospects would end in utter disaster, 
 but Washington, ably seconded by Greene, soon got control 
 of the fugitives, and when Howe started to pursue he found 
 the Americans so skilfully posted that he retired, well 
 satisfied with having saved his army. 
 
 Washington thereupon withdrew his troops in good 
 order, having lost about a thousand men, of which four 
 hundred were taken prisoners, but having inflicted such a 
 blow on the enemy that all thought of rescuing Burgoyne 
 was abandoned. 
 
 On the Trail of Washington, Frederick Trevor Hill, p. 163 
 
 " You Will Fire upon Your Own People !" 
 
 Six companies of the fortieth regiment, under their 
 lieutenant-colonel, being hard pressed by the advancing 
 columns of Americans, threw themselves into Chew's
 
 342 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 house, a strongly constructed stone building, and barri- 
 cading the lower windows, opened a destructive fire from 
 the cellars and upper windows. The Americans, finding 
 their musketry made no impression, were in the act of 
 dragging up their cannon to batter the walls, when a ruse 
 de guerre was attempted, which, however, failed of success. 
 An officer galloped up from the house, and cried out, " What 
 are you about; you will fire upon your own people. " The 
 artillery opened, but, after fifteen or twenty rounds, the 
 pieces were found to be of too small caliber to make a 
 serious impression, and were withdrawn. 
 
 A most daring and chivalric attempt was now made to 
 fire the building. Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, aide-de- 
 camp to the commander-in-chief, with a few volunteers, 
 rushed up to the house under cover of the smoke, and applied 
 a burning brand to the principal door, at the same time en- 
 gaging passes with his sword with the enemy on the inside. 
 By almost a miracle, this gallant and accomplished officer 
 escaped unharmed, although his clothes were repeatedly torn 
 by the enemy's shot. Another and equally daring attempt 
 was made by Major White, aide-de-camp to General Sulli- 
 van, but without as fortunate a result. The major, while 
 in the act of firing one of the cellar windows, was mortally 
 wounded, and died soon afterward. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 198. 
 
 Holding up Their Empty Cartridge Boxes 
 
 At this period of the action the fog had become so 
 dense that objects could scarcely be distinguished at a few 
 yards' distance. The Americans had penetrated the 
 enemy's camp even to their second line, which was drawn 
 up to receive them about the centre of Germantown. The 
 ammunition of the right wing, including the Maryland 
 brigades, became exhausted, the soldiers holding up their 
 empty cartridge boxes, when their officers called on them
 
 BRAXDYIVLVE AND GERMANTOWN 343 
 
 to rally and face the enemy. The extended line of operations, 
 which embraced nearly two miles, the unfavorable nature 
 of the ground in the environs of Germantown for the oper- 
 ation of troops (a large portion of whom were undisci- 
 plined) , the ground being much cut up, and intersected by 
 stone fences and enclosures of various sorts; the delay of 
 the left wing under Greene in getting into action all these 
 causes, combined with an atmosphere so dense from fog 
 and smoke as to make it impossible to distinguish friend 
 from foe, produced a retreat in the American army at the 
 moment when victory seemed to be within its grasp. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 200. 
 
 Heroic General Nash 
 
 While gallantly leading the North Carolina brigade, 
 that formed part- of the reserve, into action, General Nash 
 was mortally wounded. A round-shot from the British 
 artillery striking a sign-post in Germantown, glanced 
 therefrom, and, passing through his horse, shattered the 
 general's thigh on the opposite side. The fall of the animal 
 hurled its unfortunate rider with considerable force to the 
 ground. ' With surpassing courage and presence of mind, 
 General Nash, covering his wound with both of his hands, 
 gayly called out to his men, 
 
 "Never mind me, I have had a devil of a tumble; 
 rush on, my boys, rush after the enemy, I'll be after you 
 presently." 
 
 Human nature could do no more. Faint from loss of 
 blood, and the intense agony of his wound, the sufferer 
 was borne to a house hard by, and attended by Doctor 
 Craik, by special order of the commander-in-chief. The 
 doctor gave his patient but feeble hopes of recovery, even 
 with the chances of amputation, when Nash observed, 
 
 " It may be considered unmanly to complain, but 
 my agony is too great for human nature to bear. I am
 
 344 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 aware that my days, perhaps hours, are numbered, but I 
 do not repine at my fate. I have fallen on the field of 
 honor while leading my brave Carolinians to the assault 
 of the enemy. I have a last request to make of his excel- 
 lency the commander-in-chief, that he will permit you, my 
 dear doctor, to remain with me, to protect me while I live, 
 and my remains from insult." 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 202. 
 
 How the Battle Was Lost 
 
 Washington-, as usual when matters went ill, exposed 
 himself recklessly, to the great alarm of his generals, but 
 all in vain. He was deeply disappointed, and expressed 
 himself so at first, for he saw that the men had unaccount- 
 ably given way when th-ey were on the edge of victory. 
 The underlying cause was of course, as at Long Island and 
 Brandy wine, the unsteadiness of the raw troops, and Wash- 
 ington felt rightly, after the first sting had passed, that 
 he had really achieved a great deal. Congress applauded 
 the attempt, and when the smoke of battle had cleared away, 
 men generally perceived that its having been fought at all 
 was in reality the important fact. It made also a profound 
 impression upon the French cabinet. Eagerly watching the 
 course of events, they saw the significance of the fact that 
 an army raised within a year could fight a battle in the open 
 field, endure a severe defeat, and take the offensive and 
 make a bold and well-planned attack, which narrowly 
 missed being overwhelmingly successful. To the observant 
 and trained eyes of Europe, the defeat at Germantown 
 made it evident that there was fighting material among 
 these untrained colonists, capable of becoming formidable; 
 and that there was besides a powerful will and directing 
 mind, capable on its part of bringing this same material 
 into the required shape and condition. To dispassionate 
 onlookers, England's grasp on her colonies appeared to be
 
 BRANDYWINE AND GERM AN TOWN 34$ 
 
 slipping away very rapidly. Washington himself saw the 
 meaning of it all plainly enough, for it was but the develop- 
 ment of his theory of carrying on the war. 
 
 George Washington Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 195. 
 
 "Ah, These Americans Are an Elastic People !" 
 
 But the most happy and imposing influences upon 
 America and her cause, resulting from the battle of Ger- 
 mantown, were experienced abroad. "Eh, mon Dieu, " 
 exclaimed the Count de Vergennes, the French minister 
 of foreign affairs, to the American commissioners in Paris, 
 "what is this you tell me, Messieurs; another battle, and 
 the British grand army surprised in its camp at German- 
 town, Sir William and his veterans routed and flying for 
 two hours, and a great victory only denied to Washington 
 by a tissue of accidents beyond human control? Ah, ah, 
 these Americans are an elastic people! Press them down 
 to-day, they rise to-morrow. And then, my dear sirs, 
 these military wonders to be achieved by an army raised 
 within a single year, opposed to the skill, discipline, and ex- 
 perience of European troops commanded by generals 
 grown gray in war. The brave Americans, they are worthy 
 of the aid of France. They will succeed at last. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 207.
 
 PART II
 

 
 Copyright, 1907, by Gerlach-Barklow Co. From the Painting by J. L. G. Ferrit. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S LAST FAREWELL TO HIS MOTHER 
 
 On leaving for New York to be first President. (Page 208.)
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PART II 
 
 PAGB 
 
 List of Illustrations ix 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 General Gates and Burgoyne's Surrender 1 1 
 
 Stories: A Double Feint Outnumbered, Beaten, and Caught, 
 Burgoyne Surrenders Could Not Avoid Being a Gentle- 
 man An Event of Infinite Importance A Letter about 
 German town and Burgoyne ' ' My Tender-hearted Hyenas, 
 Go Forth!" With Washington at White Marsh Penn- 
 sylvania Remonstrates against Going into Winter Quarters 
 Table of Events in 1777. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 "The Long and Dreary Winter" at Valley Forge 23 
 
 Stories: The State of Affairs That Winter How They Kept 
 the Sentry Warm Thanking "Light- horse Harry " "Who 
 Are You, Anyhow?" The Kind of Man He Really Was 
 Not Every Man a Hero at Valley Forge "For This 
 Example of Christian Charity" "I Can Curse Dem No 
 More!" His Secret How the British Spent the Winter 
 The Mischianza. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 The Conway Conspiracy 38 
 
 Stories: "Good General, Pluck the Moon from the Sky!" He 
 Had Long Cherished a Secret Hostility The Opposition's 
 High Water Mark The "Cabal" "General Gates Ex- 
 alted on the Ruin of My Reputation " ' ' I Mean Not to 
 Shrink From the Cause" General Conway's Apology 
 No Peace for Washington. 
 
 (i)
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Battle of Monmouth and the Treachery of Charles Lee 50 
 
 Stories: Detailed Account of the Battle of Monmouth "They 
 Are All Coming This Way!" Varying Versions by Other 
 Witnesses "Never Had I Beheld So Superb a Man" The 
 Doomed Gun Was No Longer Deemed Unlucky Captain 
 Molly at Monmouth After Monmouth Lee, the Traitor, 
 Disgraced Did General Washington Swear? " I Have No 
 Exclusive Partialities. " 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 French Aid and American Greed 67 
 
 Stories: Foreign Officers, the French Alliance, and Three 
 Letters Washington's Patriotic Pride "Those Monopo- 
 lizers Speculators Peculators! " A Series of Minor Tor- 
 ments The Freedom of a Private Gentleman "Not 
 Expedient to Expose the Highest Virtues to Such Tempta- 
 4 tions" Table of Events in 1778. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 "Not Worth a Continental !" 77 
 
 Stories: Story of Stony Point by a Participant A Recent 
 Account of the Capture of Stony Point "Light-horse 
 Harry " Takes Paulus Hook To Suffer Was the Lot of the 
 Revolutionary Soldier Welcome News from Lafayette 
 Speaking of His Personal Appearance An Invitation to 
 Dine at Headquarters A Continental System of "Dona- 
 tion Parties" Table of Events in 1779. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 General Arnold and Major Andre" 87 
 
 Stories: Benedict Arnold, before the Great Treason "The Army 
 They Will Never Conquer " "Whom Can We Trust Now? " 
 "He Wants Feeling" Intercedes in Vain for Major 
 Andr The Execution No Patriot Would Perform the 
 Task: An English Poetess Prophesies against Washing- 
 ton An English Officer's View of the Case Benedict 
 Arnold's Reward Table of Events in 1780.
 
 CONTENTS iii 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Helplessly Watching the War in the South 102 
 
 Stories: "Would to God They Were to End Here!" A Com- 
 bined Movement at the South "Mad Anthony" and the 
 Mutiny Discontent in the Army and an Appeal for 
 Money "A Difference in a Moment of Passion "It Is out 
 of My Power" Disappointments and Cross Purposes A 
 Letter Intended to Be Intercepted "Your Duty, Young 
 Man, Is Not to Talk, but to Obey!" Wondering What to 
 Do and How to Do It "A Tempting Proposal to a Young 
 General of Twenty-four" "Less Painful to Me if They 
 Had Burnt My House " ' ' If You Had Looked behind 
 You at the Battle of Cowpens! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 The Storming of Yorktown 119 
 
 Stories: "Gone to Catch Cornwallis in His Mouse- trap " Visits 
 Mount Vernon after Six Years Jolly Knox Laughed Till 
 His Fat Sides Shook Not to His Glass but to His Grave 
 The Battle Wages ' ' Save Me, for I Have Been a Good 
 Soldier" "The Work Is Done and Well Done" The Sur- 
 render of Cornwallis The Crowning Glory of the War 
 "Posterity Will Huzza for Us" "Then They Did Look at 
 Us, but Were Not Very Well Pleased" The Numbers 
 Involved The Manly, Frank, and Soldierly Bearing of 
 Cornwallis Several Samples of Washington's Humor 
 "These Are Modes of Discharging a Soldier's Duty" 
 "And Cornwallis Is Taken!" The "Financier of the Revo- 
 lution" in Prison for Debt "It Is High Time for Me to 
 Die" The News of Yorktown in America and England. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 The Close of the War 140 
 
 Stories: Grief in the Midst of Rejoicing "No Part of the Blame 
 Shall Be Mine" The Mother of Washington at a Ball in His 
 Honor "At the President's Feet, Congress and All!" 
 Washington Goes to Newburg "Patch up an Inglorious 
 Peace" The Asgill Affair "Let Me Conjure You to Banish 
 These Thoughts from Your Mind!" "It Is High Time for
 
 iv CONTENTS 
 
 a Peace" "A Bitter Pill to Royalty" British Jeers at 
 the Stars and Stripes "The Odious Aroma of Impotent 
 Malice " Rode Like Black Care behind Him News of the 
 Treaty of Peace The Eighth Anniversary Indepen- 
 dence "An Independent People Yet to Learn Political 
 Tactics" "For Heaven's Sake, Who Are Congress?" 
 Washington Takes Leave of His Officers Kissing His 
 Officers While Tears Flowed down Their Cheeks Render- 
 ing His Account "How Small Ambitious Caesar Seems!" 
 How He Must Have Longed to Laugh! Written Address on 
 Resigning His Commission Thackeray Contrasts the Two 
 Georges Blessings on Thee ! Table of Events, 1781 to 
 1783- 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 "The Cincinnatus of the West" 169 
 
 Stories: Moun! Vernon Becomes a Mecca "Tell George to 
 Come Here Instantly!" From Virginian to American 
 "Under My Own Vine and Fig-tree" Van Braam Again, 
 after Thirty Years Fine Clothes Do Not Make Fine 
 Men Ploughs and Hunting The Nephew and the Ice- 
 house The Fact Called "George Washington" Goes to 
 Visit Lands on the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers From 
 Washington's Diary of September, MDCCL** 3 " v "Big with 
 Great Political as Well as Commercia] Consequences" 
 The Long-expected Visit of Lafayette Lafayette's Goes 
 to See the Mother of Washington ' ' Nothing Left but 
 Obey" Marriage Congratulations, Humorous but Hearty 
 "Standing at My Bedside with a Bowl of Hot Tea" The 
 General "Parted with" His Pack! Last Days of Nelson, 
 the War Horse Head of the Society of the Cincinnati 
 His Strong Affection for Mount Vernon "Four Dollars 
 to be Drunk Four Days and Four Nights" The Name 
 of Washington. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 The Thirteen Become United States 196 
 
 Stories: Without a Single Hoop to Hold Us Together "Let 
 Us Know the Worst at Once" Washington's Word Was 
 Law- --"Thirteen Sovereignties Pulling against Each Other!"
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Patient President of the Constitutional Convention 
 "I Almost Despair of Seeing a Favorable Issue" "Little 
 Short of a Miracle! " "The Best That Could Be Obtained" 
 Thirteen a Magic Number in History. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 Launching the Ship of State 208 
 
 Stories: The First President Unanimously Elected on the First 
 Ballot President-elect Washington's Farewell to His 
 Mother The First President-elect on His Way to New York 
 Song of the Girls Strewing His Path with Flowers 
 Ovation at New York Why the Inauguration Was 
 Delayed A National Tribute of Affection "Long Live 
 President Washington !" Part of the First Inaugural 
 Address Guide the "Ship of State" Aright Starting the 
 New Government Mrs. Washington's "Queenly Drawing- 
 rooms!" Supreme Court and Congress- -" The First and 
 Dearest Wish of My Heart" "The General Always Retires 
 atf Nine" Why Was Jefferson Secretary of State? Ham- 
 ilton versus Jefferson A Very Sensible Rule The Country'* 
 Credit A Virulent Attack of Anthrax "You See How 
 Well He Bears It" Death of Washington's Mother. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 Visiting the Spates 230 
 
 Stories: Boston Authorities Quarrel over Receiving the Presi- 
 dent Governor Hancock 's Ludicrous Call on the President 
 ' ' I Thought You Had Been Too Long in My Family Not 
 to Know " Kissing and Kicking for Kissing "Hail Colum- 
 bia, " the President's March The First Week in 1790 
 The President's "Speech" and a Minor "Message" 
 Exercises, Addresses, Levies and an Aching Tooth 
 Planning and Discussing a National Capital Resting 
 on Southern Tour, at Mount Vernon "A Long Journey 
 over the Devil's Own Roads" The Gallant "Ladies' Man" 
 "Gentlemen, We Are Punctual Here" "Hearty Fits of 
 Laughter" Table of Events, 1786 to 1790. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 The National Capital Removed to Philadelphia 249 
 
 Stories: Removing to Philadelphia The Pagoda, Lustre,
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 Franklin Stoves, Chariot, and Mangle Rather "Plain and 
 Elegant " than ' ' Rich and Elegant " Secretary Humphreys' 
 Poetic License Lafayette Presents the Key of the 
 Bastile The First Division into Parties The Discharging 
 of Reuben Rouzy and His Debt "His Horse Levies "- 
 "Such an Example of Luxury and Extravagance!" 
 "Here!" Fact, Tact and Fiction General St. Clair Made 
 Commander-in-chief Planning and Building "the Presi- 
 dent's Palace" How the President Received the News 
 The Same Scene Described Thirty Years Later. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 His Second Term 268 
 
 Stories: After a Long and Painful Conflict of Feelings From 
 Washington's Second Inaugural Reading His Opening 
 Address to Congress "The Proceedings of a Person Un- 
 fortunately Minister Plenipotentiary" The National 
 Government Removes to Germantown on Account of 
 Yellow Fever Washington's Wrath over the Ribaldry of 
 the Press "That Rascal Freneau" " Ten Thousand Peo- 
 ple Threatened to Drag Washington out of His House" 
 The Jay Treaty a Benefit to to the West Noble 
 Reply to Jefferson A Dinner at the Vice-President's 
 at Richmond Hill How the President Would Encourage 
 Robeit Fulton "You Are Just a Man!" Publishing the 
 Farewell Address More Farewell Addresses An Affecting 
 Scene ' ' If There Ever Was a Period of Rejoicing, This Is 
 the Moment! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 The Sage of Mount Vernon 288 
 
 Stories: Only a Man after All Neighbor, Business Man and 
 Juryman "Mr. Stuart Is Right" "A Great Deal of My 
 Work Is Done while Others Sleep" Washington and the 
 Federal City "What Would You Have Been, Meesther 
 Washington?" "Ah, Lee, You Are a Funny Fellow!" 
 "Dabs about in Every Hole and Corner" Physical 
 Proportions of Washington How He Was Dressed What 
 He Ate ' ' Laughing until Tears Rolled down His Face " 
 Advice in a Love Affair A Letter to Kosciuszko ' ' Marriage 
 the Most Interesting Event" "I May Be Looking in
 
 CONTENTS vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Doomsday Book" Washington as a Joker "What Has 
 Not Been Done within the Last Twenty Years by Us " 
 "I Should Not Intrench Myself under Cover of Age " 
 Preparing for War with France "A Very Complete 
 Tumble" "The Recollection of Those Happy Moments. " 
 Table of Events of the La?t Ten Years of the i8th 
 Century. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 "First in the Hearts of His Countrymen" 310 
 
 Stories: Washington's Secretary's Account of the General's Last 
 Illness Bled by an Overseer Bled and Dosed by Three 
 Doctors His Last Will and Other Papers Further Details 
 Not in Lear's Diary His Last Words The Last Sad 
 Arrangements Preparations for the Funeral The Faith- 
 ful Secretary after the Funeral Washington's Most Vicious 
 Enemy Some of His Worst Admirers Washington's 
 Nurses The Greatest Man Had There Been No Revo- 
 lution The Sublimest Figure in American History Wash- 
 ington the Property of All Mankind Man, Soldier, Hero, 
 Statesman . 
 
 Words of Washington 330 
 
 Index 339 
 
 Special Acknowledgments 359
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PART II 
 
 Washington's Last Farewell to His Mother Frontispiece 
 
 The Trumbull Portrait of Washington Facing Page 13 
 
 First Meeting of Washington with Hamilton " " 29 
 
 Secret Prayer at Valley Forge " " 35 
 
 "Captain Molly" beside Her Husband's Gun, in the 
 
 Battle of Monmouth " " 57 
 
 Portraits of the Two Traitors, Benedict Arnold and 
 
 Charles Lee " " 65 
 
 Arnold Urges Andre* to Hide the Message in His Boot " " 87 
 
 "Whom Can We Trust Now? " " " 91 
 
 Andrd Listening to His Death Warrant " " 97 
 
 Arnold and His Wife in England " " 101 
 
 Four Foreign Champions of Liberty: Lafayette, Roch- 
 
 ambeau, Kosciuszko, and Steuben " " 115 
 
 The Surrender of Cornwallis " " 131 
 
 Two Romantic Heroes of the Revolution: Generals 
 
 Francis Marion and ("Mad") Anthony Wayne ... " " 153 
 
 Two Pages from Washington's Private Expense Book. " " 163 
 
 Washington Resigning His Commission " " 167 
 
 Portrait of Washington in 1785 " " 188 
 
 Three Pillars of the New Republic: Robert Morris, 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams " " 198 
 
 Washington Taking the First Oath as President " " 212 
 
 Portrait of Washington, by Rembrandt Peale " " 236 
 
 Two Busts of Washington, by Houdon and Ceracchi. . . " " 252 
 
 An Unfamiliar Portrait, by Wertmuller 260 
 
 Gilbert Stuart's Portrait of Martha Washington " " 288 
 
 The Death of Washington " " 3 l6 
 
 Equestrian Statue of Washington, by H. K. Brown, in 
 
 Union Square, New York " " 3*8
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 GENERAL GATES AND BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 
 
 A Double Feint 
 
 Just before sailing from New York Howe sent a letter 
 to Burgoyne which he carefully arranged should fall into 
 the hands of Washington, for he gave it to be carried by a 
 patriot prisoner whom he released and paid a handsome 
 sum of money, as if he really believed that such a person 
 would prove a faithful messenger. In this letter he said 
 that he was making a feint at sea to the southward, but 
 that his real intention was to sail to Boston, and from 
 there assist Burgoyne at Albany. 
 
 This letter was itself a feint ; Howe's ships disappeared 
 in the hot July haze that overhung the ocean, and for a 
 week nothing more was heard of him. A Connecticut 
 newspaper printed an advertisement offering a reward for 
 a lost general. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution Sydney George Fisher, p. 335. 
 
 .Outnumbered, Beaten, and Caught, Burgoyne Surrenders 
 
 Whatever his feelings may have been in regard to the 
 command of the northern department, Washington made 
 no change in his own course after Gates had been appointed. 
 He knew that Gates was at least harmless, and not likely 
 to block the natural course of events. He therefore felt 
 free to press his own policy without cessation, and without 
 apprehension. He took care that Lincoln and Arnold 
 should be there to look after the New England militia, and 
 he wrote to Governor Clinton, in whose energy and courage 
 he had great confidence, to rouse up the men of New York. 
 He suggested the points of attack, and at every moment
 
 12 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 advised and counseled and watched, holding all the while 
 a firm grip on Howe. Slowly and surely the net, thus 
 painfully set, tightened around Burgoyne. The New 
 Englanders whipped one division at Bennington, and the 
 New Yorkers shattered another at Oriskany and Fort 
 Schuyler. The country people turned out in defense of 
 their invaded homes and poured into the American camp. 
 Burgoyne struggled and advanced, fought and retreated. 
 Gates, stupid, lethargic, and good-natured, did nothing, 
 but there was no need of generalship; and Arnold was 
 there, turbulent and quarrelsome, but full of daring; and 
 Morgan, too, equally ready ; and they and others did all the 
 necessary fighting. 
 
 Poor Burgoyne, a brave gentleman, if not a great gen- 
 eral, had the misfortune to be a clever man in the service 
 of a stupid administration, and he met the fate usually 
 meted out under such circumstances to men of ideas. Howe 
 went off to the conquest of Philadelphia, Clinton made 
 a brief burning and plundering raid up the river, and the 
 northern invasion, which really had meaning, was left to 
 its fate. It was a hard fate, but there was no escape. Out- 
 numbered, beaten, and caught, Burgoyne surrendered. If 
 there had been a fighting man at the head of the American 
 army, the British would have surrendered as prisoners of 
 war, and not on conditions. Schuyler, we may be sure, 
 whatever his failings, would never have let them off so easily. 
 But it was sufficient as it was. The wilderness, and the 
 militia of New York and New England swarming to the 
 defense of their homes, had done the work. It all fell out 
 just as Washington had foreseen and planned, and England, 
 despising her enemy and their commander, saw one of her 
 armies surrender, and might have known, if she had had the 
 wit, that the colonies were now lost forever. The Revolution 
 had been saved at Trenton ; it was established at Saratoga. 
 In one case it was the direct, in the other the indirect, work 
 of Washington. 
 
 George Washington Henry Cabot Lodge. Vol. I, p. 204.
 
 Engraved from the Painting by John Trumbull. 
 
 A FAMOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
 
 BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 13 
 
 Could Not Avoid Being a Gentleman 
 
 While the two armies were making faces at each other 
 from works only a musket-shot apart, Sir Henry Clinton 
 ascended the Hudson from New York, outwitted Putnam, 
 and captured the three forts near Peekskill that constituted 
 the defenses of the river. Putnam intercepted a dispatch 
 from Clinton to Burgoyne announcing his success and 
 approach. Had this word reached Burgoyne, that officer 
 would never have capitulated. Rome was once saved by 
 geese; in the autumn of 1777 America was saved by an 
 emetic, for the intercepted dispatch was obtained from the 
 stomach of a spy, who had swallowed it, by a dose of 
 medicine appropriate to the occasion. 
 
 Two days before the interception of this dispatch 
 Burgoyne again moved to the attack. He found his match, 
 for Gates, although an unscrupulous scoundrel, was an able 
 soldier. Burgoyne's right was turned, and Arnold, dashing 
 to the field alone in spite of Gates's efforts to prevent him, 
 assumed command in front of the enemy's center and 
 broke it. Burgoyne, repulsed and attempting to retreat, 
 found himself in a day or two surrounded on all sides but 
 one, toward which he dared not move, and he had pro- 
 visions for only three days, so he summoned his officers 
 to talk about a surrender. Their deliberations were mate- 
 rially hastened by an American cannon-shot that swept 
 across the table around which they were seated. 
 
 Extorting honorable terms from Gates, Burgoyne 
 surrendered at Saratoga on the i7th of October, the gain 
 to the Americans, besides glory and prisoners, being a most 
 desirable assortment of artillery, muskets, ammunition, and 
 military stores. The most astonishing fact connected with 
 the affair, however, was, that Gates behaved like a gentle- 
 man to those in his power; which was of rare occurrence 
 in his American career. Even in this respect he was cast 
 in the shade by Schuyler, who made his house in Albany
 
 i 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Burgoyne's home, although a few days before the surrender 
 Burgoyne had completely destroyed Schuyler's beautiful 
 home on the west bank of the Hudson. 
 
 Washington learned of the defeat of Burgoyne by 
 hearsay; Gates seemed to think that the commander-in- 
 chief of the army was not of importance enough to merit 
 a special dispatch, so he reported only to Congress. This 
 discourtesy did not prevent Washington's writing to Gates: 
 "I do myself the pleasure to congratulate you on the 
 signal success of the army under your command," and 
 declaring the victory " an event that does the highest honor 
 to the American arms." Instead of calling his lieutenant 
 sharply to account for not reporting in proper form, he 
 merely said, " I can not but regret that a matter of such 
 magnitude, and so interesting to our general operations, 
 should have reached me by report only, or through the 
 channel of letters not bearing that authenticity which the 
 importance of it required, and which it would have received 
 by a line under your signature stating the simple fact. " 
 
 If the commander-in-chief imagined that Gates would 
 be affected to decency by such language, he was a very bad 
 judge of human nature ; the only effect of the letter was to 
 prove that, even under extreme provocation and insult, 
 Washington could not avoid being a gentleman. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 158. 
 
 An Event of Infinite Importance 
 
 The surrender of Burgoyne and his army was an event 
 of infinite importance to the republican cause beyond its 
 immediate results. Hitherto, during the war, the prepon- 
 derance of successes had been on the side of the British; 
 and there were doubtful minds and trembling hearts every- 
 where among the true friends of the cause, to whom the 
 idea of deliverance of the colonists appeared almost chimer- 
 ical. 
 
 The events on the Brandywine were not calculated to
 
 BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 15 
 
 inspire hope, even in the most hopeful; and all eyes were 
 turned anxiously to the army of the North. Every breath 
 of rumor from Saratoga was listened to with eagerness ; and 
 when the victory was certified, a shout went up all over the 
 land from the furrow, and workshops, and marts of con- 
 merce, from the pulpit, from provincial halls of legislation, 
 from partisan camps, and from the shattered ranks of the 
 commander-in-chief of the American armies, at White- 
 marsh. The bills of Congress rose twenty per cent, in value ; 
 capital came forth from its hiding-places; the x militia of 
 the country were inspirited, and more hopeful hearts every- 
 where prevailed. 
 
 The Congress, overjoyed by the event, forgot their 
 own dignity; and when Major Wilkinson, Gates' bearer of 
 despatches to that body, appeared at their door, he was ad- 
 mitted to the legislative floor, and allowed verbally to pro- 
 claim in the ear of that august assembly. 
 
 "The whole British army have laid down their arms 
 at Saratoga; our own, full of vigor and courage, expect 
 your orders; it is for your wisdom to decide where the 
 country may still have need of their services. ' ' 
 
 In the ecstasy of the hour the commander-in-chief 
 was overlooked and almost forgotten ; and the insult of the 
 elated Gates, in omitting to send his despatches to his chief 
 was allowed to pass unrebuked. 
 
 Beyond the Atlantic the effect of this victory was also 
 very important. In the British Parliament it gave strength 
 to the opposition, and struck the ministerial party with 
 dismay. "You may swell every expense and every effort, 
 still more extravagantly," thundered Chatham, as he 
 leaned upon his crutches. and poured forth a torrent of elo- 
 quent invective and denunciation. "You may pile and ac- 
 cumulate every assistance you can buy or borrow; traffic 
 and barter with every little pitiful German prince that 
 sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign 
 power; your efforts are forever vain and impotent; doubly
 
 1 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 so from this mercenary aid on which you rely, for it irritates 
 to an incurable resentment the minds of your enemies. To 
 overrun with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, 
 devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hire- 
 ling cruelty !" . . . 
 
 By this victory, unaided as the republicans were by 
 any foreign help or encouragement of much importance, 
 their prowess was placed in the most favorable light before 
 the eyes of continental Europe. France now listened with 
 respect to. the overtures for aid made by the American 
 commissioners. Spain, the states general of Holland, the 
 prince of Orange, Catherine of Russia, and even Ganganelli 
 (Pope Clement the Fourteenth), all of whom feared and 
 hated England because of her increasing puissance in arms, 
 commerce, and diplomacy, thought and spoke kindly of the 
 struggling Americans. And on the sixth of February 
 following, France acknowledged the independence of the 
 United States, and entered into a treaty of friendship and 
 commerce, and an alliance offensive and defensive, with 
 them. 
 
 Washington and the American Republic Benson J. Lossing, Vol. II, p. 539. 
 
 A Letter about Germantown and Burgoyne 
 (To John Augustine Washington.} 
 
 " Philadelphia County, 18 October, 1777. 
 "DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 " Your kind and affectionate Letters of the 2 ist of Septr. 
 & 2d Inst. came safe to hand. 
 
 " When my last to you was dated I know not ; for truly 
 I can say, that my whole time is so much engrossed, that 
 I have scarcely a moment, but sleeping ones for relaxation, 
 or to indulge myself in writing a friend. The anxiety you 
 have been under, on acct. of this army, I can easily conceive. 
 Would to God there had been less cause for it ; or that our
 
 BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 17 
 
 situation at present was such as to promise much from it . 
 
 " But for a thick Fog, which rendered it so infinitely 
 dark at times as not to distinguish friend from Foe at the 
 distance of thirty yards, we should, I believe, have made 
 a decisive and glorious day of it. But Providence or some 
 unaccountable something designed it otherwise; for after 
 we had driven the Enemy a mile or two, after they were 
 in the utmost confusion and flying before us in most places, 
 after we were upon the point, (as it appeared to every body,) 
 of grasping a compleat victory, our own troops took fright 
 and fled with precipitation and disorder. How to acct for 
 this I know not; unless, as I before observed, the Fog 
 represented their own Friends to them for a Reinforcement 
 of the Enemy, as we attacked in different Quarters at the 
 same time, and were about closing the wings of our army 
 when this happened. One thing, indeed, contributed not 
 a little to our misfortune, and that was want of ammunition 
 on the right wing, which began the Engagement, and in the 
 course of two hours and forty minutes, which time it lasted, 
 had, (many of them) expended the forty Rounds, that they 
 took into the Field. After the Engagement we removed 
 to a place about twenty miles from the Enemy, to collect 
 our Forces together, to take care of our wounded, get fur- 
 nished with necessaries again, and be in a better posture, 
 either for offensive or defensive operations. We are now 
 advancing towards the Enemy again, being at this time 
 within twelve miles of them. 
 
 " Our loss in the late action was, in killed, wounded, and 
 missing, about one thousand men, but of the missing, many, 
 I dare say, took advantage of the times, .and deserted. 
 This we certainly know, that the Hospital at 
 Philadelphia & several large Meeting Houses, are filled with 
 the wounded besides private Houses with the Horses. In a 
 word it was a bloody day. Would to Heaven I could add, 
 that it had been a more fortunate one for us. 
 
 " Our distress on acct. of Cloathing is great, and in a little
 
 1 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 time must be very sensibly felt, unless some expedient can 
 be hit upon to obtain them. 
 
 " I very sincerely congratulate you on the change in 
 your Family. Tell the young couple, after wishing them 
 joy of their union, that it is my sincere hope, that it will 
 be as happy and lasting as their present joys are boundless. 
 The Enclosed Letter of thanks to my sister for her elegant 
 present you will please to deliver ; and, with sincere affection 
 for you all, I am &c. 
 
 "P. S. I had scarce finished this Letter when by ex- 
 press from the State of New York I received the Important 
 and glorious news which follows: 
 
 " 'Albany igth Octr., 1777. 
 
 " ' Last night at 8 o'clock the capitulation whereby Gen- 
 eral Burgoyne & whole Army surrendered themselves 
 Prisoners of War, was signed and this Morning they have 
 to march out towds. the River above Fish Creek with the 
 Honours of War (and there ground their Arms) they are 
 from thence to be marched to Massachusetts bay. 
 
 " ' We congratulate you on this happy event, & remain 
 &c. 
 
 CLINTON.' 
 
 " I most devoutly congratulate you, my country, and 
 every well wisher to the cause on this signal stroke of Provi- 
 dence. Yrs. as before," 
 
 [GEORGE.] 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 92. 
 
 "My Tender-hearted Hyenas, Go Forth!" 
 
 Even had the loyalist feeling on the Vermont frontier of 
 New York been far stronger than it really was, Burgoyne 
 had done much to alienate or stifle it bv his ill-advised
 
 BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 19 
 
 employment of Indian auxiliaries. For this blunder the 
 responsibility rests mainly with Lord North and Lord 
 George Germaine. . . . The slaughter of aged men, 
 of women and children and unresisting prisoners, was 
 absolutely prohibited; and "on no account, or pretense, or 
 subtlety, or prevarication, " were scalps to be taken from 
 wounded or dying men. An order more likely to prove 
 efficient was one which provided a reward for every savage 
 who should bring his prisoners to camp in safety. To these 
 injunctions, which must have inspired them with pitying 
 contempt, the chiefs laconically replied that they had 
 "sharpened their hatchets upon their affections," and were 
 ready to follow their "great white father." 
 
 The employment of savage auxiliaries was indignantly 
 denounced by the opposition in Parliament, and when the 
 news of this speech of Burgoyne's reached England it was 
 angrily ridiculed by Burke, who took a sounder view of the 
 natural instincts of the red man. "Suppose," said Burke, 
 "that there was a riot on Tower Hill. What would the 
 keeper of his majesty's lions do? Would he not fling open 
 the dens of the wild beasts, and address them thus? 'My 
 gentle lions, my humane bears, my tender-hearted hyenas, 
 go forth! But I exhort you, as you are Christians and 
 members of civilized society, to take care not to hurt any 
 man, woman or child!' The House of Commons was 
 convulsed over this grotesque picture; and Lord North, 
 to whom it seemed irresistibly funny to hear an absent man 
 thus denounced for measures he himself had originated, sat 
 choking with laughter, while tears ran down his great fat 
 cheeks. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske Vol. I, p. 275. 
 
 With Washington at White Marsh. 
 
 Early in the succeeding spring, say 1777, the States 
 were called upon by Congress for a quota of militia, as the
 
 2 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 British fleet with their army left New York, their sup- 
 posed destination being the Delaware or Chesapeake Bay. 
 They soon entered the latter and proceeded up to its head 
 (where I had a full view of the ships at anchor) and landed 
 the army near the head of Elk and proceeded by slow 
 marches. They were met by our gallant little army, much 
 inferior [in numbers] at different points, and were annoyed, 
 as occasion offered, but [as it was] impossible to check them 
 successfully, they soon took possession of this city. [Phila- 
 delphia.] 
 
 General Washington chose White Marsh, eighteen 
 miles distant, for his headquarters. It was my fortune 
 once more to take the field, being then an ensign in a com- 
 pany of militia (commanded by my brother). [I was] 
 ordered out and marched with the company to join the 
 army at White Marsh, soon after the battle of Germantown. 
 I was often in scouting parties, and on one occasion came 
 down in the night with four hundred men under the com- 
 mand of a colonel within three miles of the city almost 
 near enough to hear the British sentinels (their line extend- 
 ing from the river Delaware to the Schuylkill, two miles 
 north of the city, on the Germantown road), making a 
 march, during the night, of twenty-five miles by computa- 
 tion, from headquarters, down through Jenkintown, and 
 back to headquarters. The object of the expedition was 
 to intercept British officers, who, it was said, frequently 
 sallied out at night to regale themselves in the country. 
 We were disappointed, however, in our expectations, but 
 a report of the expedition made them shy of such experi- 
 ments. After the campaign closed the militia were dis- 
 charged and returned to their homes as before. This cured 
 me of a soldier's life, being sick -the greater part of the 
 winter. I might observe that I was as well entitled to a 
 pension as other soldiers and officers, but as I never claimed 
 a pension, nor did I ever intend to do so, though often 
 advised, I did not consider it an object, or worthy of notice,
 
 BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 21 
 
 or of the trouble it might require. I freely renounced all 
 claim, and my country was welcome to my services, what- 
 ever they might have been worth. 
 
 Reminiscences, in manuscript, of Cornelius Comegys, through the courtesy of his great- 
 grandson, G. Albert Smyth. 
 
 Pennsylvania Remonstrates against Going into Winter Quarters 
 
 " It's a very pleasing circumstance to the division under 
 my command," writes Varnum, "that there is a proba- 
 bility of their marching; three days successively we have 
 been destitute of bread. Two days we have been entirely 
 without meat. The men must be supplied or they cannot 
 be commanded." 
 
 In fact, a dangerous mutiny had broken out among 
 the famishing troops in the preceding night, which their 
 officers had had great difficulty in quelling. 
 
 Washington instantly wrote to the President of Congress 
 on the subject. "I do not know from what cause this 
 alarming deficiency, or rather total failure of supplies 
 arises; but unless more vigorous exertions and better 
 regulations take place in that line (the commissaries' depart- 
 ment) immediately, the army must dissolve. I have done 
 all in my power by remonstrating, by writing, by ordering 
 the commissaries on this head, from time to time; but 
 without any good effect, or obtaining more than a present 
 scanty relief. Owing to this, the march of the army has 
 been delayed on more than one interesting occasion, in the 
 course of the present campaign; and had a body of the 
 enemy crossed the Schuylkill this morning, as I had reason 
 to expect, the divisions which I ordered to be in readiness 
 to march and meet them could not have moved. " 
 
 Scarce had Washington despatched this letter, when 
 ke learnt that the Legislature of Pennsylvania had addressed 
 a remonstrance to Congress against his going into winter 
 quarters, instead of keeping in the open field. This letter, 
 received in his forlorn situation, surrounded by an unhoused,
 
 tt THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 ccantily clad, half-starved army, shivering in the midst of 
 December's snow and cold, put an end to his forbearance, 
 and drew from . him another letter to the President of 
 Congress, dated on the 23d, which .... gives the 
 difficulties of the situation, mainly caused by unwise and 
 intermeddling legislation. 
 
 Life of George Washington Washington Irving, Vol. Ill, p. 387. 
 
 American victory at Princeton Jan. 3, 1777 
 
 Winter quarters at Morristown I 777 
 
 Lafayette's first meeting with Washington August, 1777 
 
 British victorious at Chad's Ford, Brandywine Creek, 
 
 Sept. 17, 1777 
 
 British victory at Germantown Oct. 4, 1777 
 
 Burgoyne surrenders to Gates at Saratoga Oct. 17, 1777 
 
 Washington encamps at Valley Forge Dec. n, 1777
 
 The State of Affairs That Winter 
 
 There was no town at Valley Forge, and it became 
 necessary to provide some shelter for the soldiers other 
 than the canvas tents which served in the field in summer. 
 It was the middle of December when the army began prep- 
 arations for the winter, and Washington gave directions 
 for the building of the little village. The men were divided 
 into parties of twelve, each party to build a hut to accomo- 
 date that number; and in order to stimulate the men, 
 Washington promised a reward of twelve dollars to the 
 party in each regiment which finished its hut first and most 
 satisfactorily. And as there was some difficulty in getting 
 boards, he offered a hundred dollars to any officer or soldier 
 who should invent some substitute which would be as 
 cheap as boards and as quickly provided. 
 
 Each hut was to be fourteen feet by sixteen, the sides, 
 ends, and roof to be made of logs, and the sides made 
 tight with clay. There was to be a fireplace in the rear of 
 each hut, built of wood, but lined with clay eighteen inches 
 thick. The walls were to be six and a half feet high. Huts 
 were also to be provided for the officers, and to be placed 
 in the rear of those occupied by the troops. All these were 
 to be regularly arranged in streets. A visitor to the camp 
 when the huts were being built wrote of the army: "They 
 appear to me like a family of beavers, every one busy ; some 
 carrying logs, others mud, and the rest plastering them 
 together." It was bitterly cold, and for a month the men 
 were at work, making ready for the winter. 
 
 But in what sort of condition were the men themselves 
 
 (23)
 
 2 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 when they began this work? Here is a picture of one of 
 those men on his way to Valley Forge: " His bare feet peep 
 through his worn-out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the 
 tattered remains of an only pair of stockings, his breeches 
 not enough to cover his nakedness, his shirt hanging in 
 strings, his hair disheveled, his face wan and thin, his look 
 hungry, his whole appearance that of a man forsaken and 
 neglected." And the snow was falling. This was one of 
 the privates. The officers were scarcely better off. One 
 was wrapped "in a sort of dressing-gown made of an old 
 blanket or woolen bed-cover." The uniforms were torn 
 and ragged ; the guns were rusty ; a few only had bayonets ; 
 the soldiers carried their powder in tin boxes and cow-horns. 
 
 To explain why this army was so poor and forlorn would 
 be to tell a long story. It may be summed up briefly in 
 these words: The army was not taken care of because 
 there was no country to take care of it. There were thirteen 
 States, and each of these States sent troops into the field, 
 but all the States were jealous of one another. There was 
 a Congress, which undertook to direct the war, but all the 
 members of Congress coming from the several States were 
 jealous of one another. They were agreed on only one thing 
 that it was not prudent to give the army too much power. It 
 is true that they had once given Washington large authority, 
 but they had given it only for a short period. They were 
 very much afraid that somehow the army would rule the 
 country, and yet they were trying to free the country from 
 the rule of England. But when they talked about freeing 
 the country, each man thought only of his own State. The 
 first fervor with which they had talked about a common 
 country had died away; there were some very selfish men 
 in Congress, who could not be patriotic enough to think of 
 the whole country. 
 
 The truth is, it takes a long time for the people of a 
 country to feel that they have a country. Up to the time 
 of the war for independence, the people in America did
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 25 
 
 not care much for one another or for America. They had 
 really been preparing to be a nation, but they did not know 
 it. They were angry with Great Britain, and they knew 
 they had been wronged. They were therefore ready to 
 fight ; but it does not require so much courage to fight as to 
 endure suffering and to be patient. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 171. 
 
 How They Kept the Sentry Warm 
 
 When Washington realized this he determined not to 
 rely on Congress any longer, and, taking matters into his 
 own hands, he proceeded to fight famine and cold as vig- 
 orously as he had fought the enemy. His experience as a 
 planter now stood him in good stead, for he had had to build 
 houses and mills, and provide for a large number of laborers 
 in his farming days, and the knowledge he had gained in 
 this way enabled him to make Valley Forge a habitable, 
 if not a comfortable, encampment. Under his directions 
 log huts were erected, prizes being offered those soldiers who 
 built the best and neatest shelters ; streets were planned and 
 laid out, and most important of all, General Greene was 
 persuaded to serve as Quartermaster-general and procure 
 the necessary food and clothing. 
 
 Greene was essentially a fighting general, and the idea 
 of abandoning all chance of glory and distinction in the 
 field and undertaking the dull work of seeing that the troops 
 had something to eat and wear was hateful to him. " His- 
 tory never heard of a Quartermaster-general ! " he exclaimed 
 in disgust, but he unselfishly laid aside his own wishes and, 
 taking up his disagreeable duties, performed them so well 
 that if history never heard of a Quartermaster-general before 
 his day, it has remembered one ever since. Under his 
 energetic management the country was scoured for pro- 
 visions, all the available material for blankets and clothing 
 was procured, and after weeks of desperate work the most 
 pressing needs of the troops were met.
 
 2 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 But despite his utmost exertions Washington was 
 forced to witness frightful sufferings among his men. There 
 were no proper accommodations for the wounded, and star- 
 vation and exposure soon caused diseases that killed strong 
 men by the score and spread illness throughout his camp, 
 until at times there were scarcely enough men fit for duty 
 to guard the breastworks. Nevertheless, the resolute 
 commander struggled to keep his forces together, sharing 
 all their hardships and devoting himself night and day to 
 bettering their condition. Inspired by his splendid courage 
 and example, the soldiers bore their privations almost 
 without murmuring, each occupant of a hut contributing 
 part of his clothing whenever one of his "bunkies" was 
 ordered on sentry duty, and otherwise showing an unselfish- 
 ness rarely equaled in the history of war. During all that 
 cruel winter when the huts lay almost buried in snow, and 
 the ragged sentries often froze to death at their posts, and 
 each day was a living death, there were practically no 
 desertions among the native-born Americans, and compar- 
 atively few of those who were born elsewhere yielded to the 
 temptation of seeking comfort with the enemy. No mil- 
 itary chieftain ever received a finer tribute than this. 
 
 On the Trail of Washington, Frederick Trevor Hill, p. 172. 
 
 Thanking "Light-horse Harry" 
 
 On one occasion there was a flurry at the most advanced 
 post, where Captain Henry Lee ("Light-horse Harry") with 
 a few of his troops was stationed. He had made himself 
 very formidable to the enemy by harassing their foraging 
 parties. An attempt was made to surprise him. A party 
 of about two hundred dragoons, taking a circuitous route 
 in the night, came upon him by daybreak. He had but a 
 few men with him at the time, and took post in a large store- 
 house. His scanty force did not allow a soldier for each 
 window. The dragoons attempted to force their way into 
 the house. There was a warm contest. The dragoons were
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 
 
 bravely repulsed, and sheered off, leaving two killed and 
 four wounded. "So well directed was the opposition," 
 writes Lee to Washington, "that we drove them from the 
 stables, and saved every horse. We have got the arms, 
 some cloaks, etc., of their wounded. The enterprise was 
 certainly daring, though the issue of it was very ignominious. 
 I had not a soldier for each window. ' ' 
 
 Washington, whose heart evidently warmed more and 
 more to this young Virginian officer, the son of his "lowland 
 beauty, ' ' not content with noticing his exploit in general 
 orders, wrote a note to him on the subject, expressed with 
 unusual familiarity and warmth. 
 
 " My dear Lee, " writes he, " although I have given you 
 my thanks in the general orders of this day, for the late 
 instance of your gallant behavior, I cannot resist the inclina- 
 tion I feel to repeat them again in this manner. I needed 
 no fresh proof of your merit to bear you in remembrance. 
 I waited only for the proper time and season to show it; 
 those I hope are not far off. . ... Offer my sincere 
 thanks to the whole of your gallant party, and assure them, 
 that no one felt pleasure more sensibly, or rejoiced more 
 sincerely for your and their escape, than your affectionate, " 
 etc. 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. Ill, p. 437. 
 
 "Who Are You, Anyhow?" 
 
 During that terribly trying winter at Valley Forge, 
 Washington, in the worst weather, went frequently about 
 the miserable camp by himself, to see how his poor soldiers 
 were faring, and happened late, one bitterly cold afternoon, 
 to come upon "an awkward squad," engaged in building 
 a log hut, under the angry derisive direction of an insolent 
 young lieutenant, lately arrived at winter quarters. After 
 listening for a few moments the General, shocked at such 
 brutality, called out authoritatively, yet quietly :
 
 2 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "Don't abuse your men, lieutenant! Can't you see 
 that they are half frozen?" 
 
 Failing to recognize his great superior officer in the tall 
 figure, wrapped in a long military cloak, and standing under 
 a dark pine, in the snowy twilight, the young subaltern 
 shouted back " Mind your blanked business ! Who are you 
 anyhow?" 
 
 Then the tall figure under the pine grew yet taller, and 
 like a thunder-burst came the answer: 
 
 " I am General George Washington, commander-in- 
 chief of the Continental armies, . . . and I order you 
 under arrest." 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. 18. 
 
 The Kind of Man He Really Was 
 
 Abler pens than mine have put on record the sorrowful 
 glory of that dreadful camp-ground by Valley Forge. It 
 is strongly charactered in those beseeching letters and des- 
 patches of the almost heart-broken man, who poured out 
 his grief in language which even today no man can read 
 unmoved. To us he showed only a gravely tranquil face, 
 which had in it something which reassured those starving 
 and naked ones. Most wonderful is it, as I read what he 
 wrote to inefficient, blundering men, to see how calmly 
 he states our pitiful case, how entirely he controls a nature 
 violent and passionate beyond that of most men. He was 
 scarcely in the saddle as commander before the body which 
 set him there was filled with dissatisfaction. 
 
 I think it well that we know so little of what went on 
 within the walls of Congress. The silence of history has 
 been friendly to many reputations. There need be no 
 silence as to this man, nor any concealment, and there has 
 been much. I would have men see him as we saw him in his 
 anger, when no language was too strong; in his hour of 
 serene kindliness, when Hamilton, the aide of twenty, was 
 "my boy, " in this starving camp, with naked men shivering
 
 FIRST MEETING OF WASHINGTON WITH HAMILTON
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 29 
 
 in their blankets by the fires, when " He pitied those miseries 
 he could neither relieve nor prevent." Am I displeased to 
 think that although he laughed rarely he liked Colonel 
 Scammel's strong stories, and would be amused by a song 
 such as no woman should hear? 
 
 This serene, inflexible, decisive man, biding his hour, 
 could be then the venturesome soldier, willing to put every 
 fortune on the chance, risking himself with a courage that 
 alarmed men for his life. Does any but a fool think that 
 he could have been all these things and not have had in him 
 the wild blood of passion? He had a love for fine clothes 
 and show. He was, I fear, at times extravagant, and as 
 I 'have heard, could not pay his doctor's bill, and would 
 postpone that, and send him a horse and a little money to 
 educate his godson, the good doctor's son. As to some of 
 his letters, they contain jests not gross, but not quite fit 
 for grave seigniors nor virginibus puerisque. There is one 
 to Lafayette I have been shown by the marquis. It is 
 most amusing, but oh, fie! Was he religious? I do not 
 know. Men say so. He might have been, and yet have had 
 his hours of ungoverned rage, or other forms of human 
 weakness. Like a friend of mine, he was not given to speech 
 concerning his creed. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 359. 
 
 Not Every Man a Hero at Valley Forge 
 29 [May, 1778] 
 
 Officers f Brig ' Genl Hu^i* 1 ^ 011 
 umcers u CQ]O Burr _ Ma j r Still 
 
 for duty < -D j AT c i 
 ^ Brigade Mai or Seely 
 
 Tomorrow T f J d - a r> i 
 
 [ Inspector from 2 a Penn a Brigade 
 
 At a Gen 1 . Court Martial, Col. Chambers President the 
 25 instant. Cap 1 . Medaras, of the North Carolina Brigade, 
 tried for forgery after mature deliberation the Court are
 
 3 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 of the opinion that Cap*. Madaras is guilty of the charge 
 exhibited against him but as he could not have been actuated 
 by motives self interested or injurious to Cap 1 . Jones, the 
 Gentleman whose name he signed, and as he had before 
 been perfectly acquainted with Cap 1 . Jones's sentiments, 
 the Court (thinking his crime, tho' he is yet truly blame- 
 worthy, alleviated by these circumstances) do sentence him 
 to be reprimanded in General Orders. 
 
 The Commander in Chief approves the Sentence, and 
 is much concerned to find that an Officer in this Army, 
 should presume to sign a Brother Officer's name without 
 his permission. Cap*. Medaras is ordered to be released 
 from his arrest. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 On the night of the 2 7 th inst. James Barry an Inhabi- 
 tant was robbed of 160 Cont 1 . Money, 13 hard dollars, a 
 diamond ring, silver spoons, buckles gold buttons, a sword, 
 and some valuable men's & women's wearing apparell, & 
 many other articles. Fifty Dollars reward will be given to 
 any person that will discover the robbers, that the Owner 
 may recover his articles. All Officers are desired to order 
 the strictest enquiry to be made that the Villains may be 
 brought to justice, as it is supposed they belong to the 
 Army 
 
 3 o th [May] 1778 
 Officers for Duty to Morrow 
 
 Brigadier Patterson Col 1 . Bradley B : M : Marshall 
 Inspector from Poor's Brigade 
 
 At a Brigade Gen 1 . Court Martial May 27 th 1778 Lieu 1 
 Co 1 . Cropper, president Cap 1 . Hull of the i5 th V: Reg 1 , 
 tried istly being so far Ellivated with Liquor when on the
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 31 
 
 parade for Exercising, on the 14 th Ins*, as rendered him 
 inCapable in doing his Duty with precission. 2 dly for 
 accusing Lieu 1 . Sam 1 . Beans Jones of not deposing the truth 
 when Called on Both to give Evidence against him on the 
 1 8 th . Inst. acquited of the i st . Charge but found guilty 
 of the 2 d & Sentenced to be Reprimanded by the Command- 
 ing Officer of the Brigade in presence of all the Officers 
 therein -Cap*. Hull is Ordered to be released from his 
 Arrest. At a Gen 1 . Court Martial May 28 th 78, Co 1 . Cham- 
 bers President Ensign James Walker of Co. 1 Guests Reg 1 , 
 tried i ?tly Deserting a Waggon he had in his Charge at the 
 Appearance of one of our Light Horse and loosing his party 
 in his flight. 2 dly for telling several falshoods in Relating 
 the Events when Returning to Camp Unanimously found 
 guilty of the Charges Exhibited against him, being breaches 
 of 5 th Article 18 Sec*, of 2i st Article 14 th Section of the 
 Articles of War, and Sentenced to be Cashiered The 
 Commander in Chief Approves the Sentence and Orders 
 it to take place Immediatly. 
 
 Orderly Book of General George Washington, Kept at Valley Forge. 18 May-n June, 1778. 
 pp. 17 to 22. 
 
 'Tor This Example of Christian Charity" 
 
 One day a Tory, who was well known in the neighbor- 
 hood, was captured and brought into camp. His name was 
 Michael Witt man, and he was accused of having carried aid 
 and information to the British in Philadelphia. He was 
 taken to West Chester and there' tried by court-martial. 
 It was proved t.hat he was a very dangerous man and that 
 he had more than once attempted to do great harm to the 
 American army. He was pronounced guilty of being a spy 
 and sentenced to be hanged. 
 
 On the evening of the day before that set for the execu- 
 tion, a strange old man appeared in Valley Forge. He was 
 a small man with long, snow-white hair falling over his 
 shoulders. His face, although full of kindliness, was sad-
 
 32 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 looking and thoughtful; his eyes, which were bright and 
 sharp, were upon the ground and lifted only when he was 
 speaking. 
 
 His name was announced. . 
 
 "Peter Miller?" said Washington. "Certainly. Show 
 him in at once." 
 
 The old man went in. 
 
 "General Washington, I have come to ask a great 
 favor of you, " he said, in his usual kindly tones. 
 
 "I shall be glad to grant you almost anything," said 
 Washington, "for we surely are indebted to you for many 
 favors. Tell me what it is. " 
 
 "I hear," said Peter, "that Michael Wittman has 
 been found guilty of treason and that he is to be hanged 
 at Turk's Head tomorrow. I have come to ask you to 
 pardon him." 
 
 Washington started back, and a cloud came over his 
 face. "That is impossible," he said. "Wittman is a bad 
 man. He has done all in his power to betray us. He has 
 even offered to join the British and aid in destroying us. 
 In these times we dare not be lenient with traitors ; and for 
 that reason, I cannot pardon your friend. " 
 
 "Friend!" cried Peter. "Why, he is no friend of 
 mine. He is my bitterest enemy. He has persecuted me 
 for years. He has even beaten me and spit in my face, 
 knowing full well that I would not strike back. Michael 
 Wittman is no friend of mine." 
 
 Washington was puzzled. "And still you wish me to 
 pardon him?" he asked. 
 
 " I do, " answered Peter. " I ask it of you as a great 
 personal favor." 
 
 "Tell me," said Washington, with hesitating voice, 
 "why is it that you thus ask the pardon of your worst 
 enemy?" 
 
 "I ask it because Jesus did as much for me," was the 
 old man's brief answer.
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 33 
 
 Washington turned away and went into another room. 
 Soon he returned with a paper on which was written the 
 pardon of Michael Wittman. 
 
 . "My dear friend," he said, as he placed it in the old 
 man's hands, " I thank you for this example of Christian 
 charity. ' ' 
 
 It was a matter of fifteen miles, by the shortest road, 
 from Valley Forge to West Chester, which was then known 
 as Turk's Head, and the road at that time was almost 
 impassable. The evening was already far gone, and Michael 
 Wittman was to be hanged at sunrise in the morning. How 
 was the pardon to reach him in time to save his life? . .id ,v 
 
 Old and feeble though he was, he began to run. From 
 the top of the hill a welcome sight appeared. The straggling 
 village of Turk's Head was just before him, and the sun 
 had not yet risen. He saw a commotion in the street; 
 men were hurrying toward the village green; a body of 
 soldiers was already there, drawn up in order beneath a 
 tree. 
 
 Summoning all his strength, Peter ran on and soon 
 entered the village. Close to the tree stood Michael Witt- 
 man with his hands tied behind him. A strong rope was 
 dangling from one of the branches. In another minute the 
 sun would begin to peep over the snow-clad hills. An 
 officer had already given orders to place the rope around the 
 traitor's neck. Peter Miller, still running, shouted with all 
 his might. The officer heard and paused. The crowd looked 
 around and wondered. Panting and out of breath, Peter 
 came up, waving a paper in his hand. 
 
 "A pardon! a pardon!" he gasped. "A pardon from 
 General Washington. ' ' 
 
 The officer took the paper and read it aloud. 
 
 " Unbind the prisoner and let him go, " he commanded. 
 
 Peter Miller had saved the life of his enemy, perhaps 
 of his only enemy. Michael Wittman, with his head bowed 
 upon his breast, went forth a free man and a changed man.
 
 34 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The power of Christian charity had rescued him from a 
 shameful death, and the cause of patriotism need have no 
 further fears of being harmed by him. 
 
 An American Book of Golden Deeds. James Baldwin, p. loa. 
 
 "I Can Curse Dem No More !" 
 
 After the interview with Congress, Steuben at once 
 repaired to Valley Forge, where Washington was not slow 
 in recognizing his ability; nor was Steuben, on the other 
 hand, at a loss to perceive, in the ragged and motley army 
 which he passed in review, the existence of soldierly qualities 
 which needed nothing so much as training. Disregarding 
 the English prejudice which looked upon the drilling of 
 soldiers as work fit only for sergeants, he took musket in 
 hand and showed what was to be done. Alert and untiring, 
 he worked from morning till night in showing the men how 
 to advance, retreat, or change front without falling into 
 disorder, how to perform, in short, all the rapid and 
 accurate movements for which the Prussian army had 
 become so famous. It was a revelation to the American 
 troops. Generals, colonels, and captains were fired by the 
 contagion of his example and his tremendous enthusiasm, 
 and for several months the camp was converted into a 
 training-school, in which masters and pupils worked with 
 incessant and furious energy. Steuben was struck with the 
 quickness with which the common soldiers learned their 
 lessons. He had a harmlessly choleric temper, which was 
 part of his overflowing vigor, and sometimes, when drilling 
 an awkward squad, he would exhaust his stock of French 
 and German oaths, and shout for his aide to come and curse 
 them in English. "Viens, mon ami Walker," he would 
 say, "viens, mon bon ami. Sacrebleu! Gott vertamn 
 de gaucherie of dese badauts. Je ne puis plus; I can curse 
 dem no more!" Yet in an incredibly short time, as he 
 afterward wrote, these awkward fellows had acquired a 
 military air, had learned how to earn'- their arms, and knew
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 
 
 how to form into column, deploy, and execute manoeuvres 
 with precision. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 53. 
 
 His Secret 
 
 With his lean, ragged levies, Undismayed, 
 
 He crouched among the vigilant hills ; a show 
 To the disdainful, heaven-blinded foe. 
 
 Unlauded, unsupported, disobeyed, 
 
 Thwarted, maligned, conspired against, betrayed 
 Yet nothing could unheart him. Wouldst thou know 
 His secret? There, in that thicket on the snow, 
 
 Washington knelt before his God and prayed. 
 
 Washington at Valley Forge, Canon R. G. Sutherland, Washington's Birthday, Edited 
 by Robert Haven Schauffler, p. 44. 
 
 How the British Spent the Winter 
 
 The army's peaceful sojourn in the town from Septem- 
 ber 26, 1777, to June 18, 1778, was a source of great enjoy- 
 ment and an unrivaled opportunity for social advancement 
 to the loyalists. It was the harvest of their lives. Even 
 a wicked rebellion could have advantages. One of the loy- 
 alist ladies has left some enthusiastic and rather good 
 verses on the delights of that winter. 
 
 It was a strange scene in the good old Quaker town 
 with the rebel prisoners eating rats in the Walnut Street 
 jail, while the commissary of prisoners grew rich, and extrav- 
 agance, speculation, gambling, and European indifference 
 to morals filled the respectable plain brick houses. A 
 Hessian officer held the bank at the game of faro and made 
 a considerable fortune by ruining young Englishmen, many 
 of whom were obliged to sell their commissions and go home 
 penniless. The officers made no attempt to keep their 
 mistresses in the background. One of them drove in her 
 carriage with footmen up and down the lines at a review 
 of the troops, dressed in a costume that was a feminine 
 imitation of the uniform of her paramour's regiment.
 
 3 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Howe's plan, as Lord Chatham said in Parliament, 
 was merely to occupy stations. Washington followed the 
 same plan he had found to work well enough the previous 
 winter which Howe had spent in New York. He fortified 
 himself with intrenchments on some high ground at Valley 
 Forge, about twenty-miles away, very much in the same 
 way that during the last winter he had occupied Morristown 
 Heights. He could there play the long waiting game with 
 Howe as well as anywhere else. Howe could have attacked 
 him at almost any time at Valley Forge and destroyed or 
 captured his starving army. Howe had twenty-thousand 
 men. Washington had nine thousand, counting the sick, 
 starved, and half -naked, and by March three thousand had 
 deserted to the British, and so many others were sick or at 
 home that there were only four thousand men at Valley 
 Forge. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 347 
 
 The Mischianza 
 
 [We forbear to give the fulsome descriptions of the Mischianza fur- 
 nished by various pens, and will content ourselves with the following, 
 from the pen of a British writer who was present. It illustrates suffi- 
 ciently the absurdity of the scene.] 
 
 "All the colors of the army were placed in a grand 
 avenue three hundred feet in length, lined with the king's 
 troops, between two triumphal arches, for the two brothers, 
 the Admiral Lord Howe and the General Sir William Howe, 
 to march along in pompous procession, followed by a num- 
 erous train of attendants, with seven silken Knights of the 
 Blended Rose, and seven more of the Burning Mountain, 
 and fourteen damsels dressed in the Turkish fashion, to an 
 area of one hundred and fifty yards square, lined also with 
 the king's troops; for the exhibition of a tilt and tourna- 
 ment, or mock fight of old chivalry, in honor of those two 
 heroes. On the top of each triumphal arch was a figure 
 of Fame bespangled with stars, blowing from her trumpet, 
 in letters of light, Tes lauriers sont immortels, (Thy laurels
 
 THE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 37 
 
 are immortal). On this occasion, according to the same 
 writer, "men compared the importance of Sir William's 
 services with the merit he assumed, and the gravity with 
 which he sustained the most excessive praise and adulation. " 
 
 The unfortunate Major Andre, at that time a captain, 
 was very efficient in getting up this tawdry and somewhat 
 effeminate pageant. He had promoted private theatricals 
 during the winter, and aided in painting scenery and devis- 
 ing decorations. He wrote a glowing description of the 
 Mischianza, in a letter to a friend, pronouncing it as perhaps 
 the most splendid entertainment ever given by an army to 
 their general. He figured in it as one of the Knights of the 
 Blended Rose. In a letter written to a lady, in the following 
 year, he alludes to his preparations for it as having made 
 him a complete milliner, and offers his services to furnish 
 her supplies in that department. ' < : 
 
 At the time of this silken and mock heroic display, the 
 number of British chivalry in Philadelphia was nineteen 
 thousand five hundred and thirty, cooped up in a manner 
 by an American force at Valley Forge, amounting, according 
 to official returns, to eleven thousand eight hundred men. 
 Could any triumphal pageant be more ill-placed and ill- 
 timed ! 
 
 Lift of Georgt Washington, Washington Irving Vol. Ill, p. 463.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 THE CONWAY CONSPIRACY 
 
 "Good General, Pluck the Moon from the Sky !" 
 
 The germ of the difficulties was to be found where we 
 should expect it, in the difference between the men of 
 speech and the man of action, between the lawmakers and 
 the soldier. Washington had been obliged to tell Congress 
 a great many plain and unpleasant truths. It was part of 
 his duty, and he did it accordingly. He was always dignified, 
 calm, and courteous^ but -he had an alarmingly direct way 
 with him, 'especially when he was annoyed. He was simple 
 almost to bluntriess, but now and then he would use a grave- 
 irony which must have made listening ears tingle. Congress 
 was patriotic and well-intentioned, and on the whole stood 
 bravely by its general, but it was unversed in war, very 
 impatient, and at times wildly impracticable. Here is a 
 letter which depicts the situation, and the relation between 
 the general and his rulers, -with great clearness. March 14, 
 1777, Washington Wrote to the President: 
 
 "Could I accomplish the important objects so eagerly 
 wished by Congress, 'confining the enemy within their 
 present quarters, preventing their getting supplies from the 
 country, and totally subduing them before they are rein- 
 forced,' I should be happy indeed. But what prospect or 
 hope can there be of my effecting so desirable a work at 
 this time?" 
 
 We can imagine how exasperating such requests and 
 suggestions must have been. It was very much as if Con- 
 gress had said: "Good General, bring in the Atlantic tides 
 and drown the enemy ; or pluck the moon from the sky and 
 give it to us, as a mark of your loyalty." . . . Sam 
 
 (38)
 
 THE CONWAY CONSPIRACY 
 
 Adams, a born agitator and trained politician, unequaled 
 almost- in our history as an organizer and manager of men, 
 able, narrow, coldly fierce, the man of the town meeting 
 and the caucus, had no possibility of intellectual sympathy 
 with the silent, patient, hard-gripping soldier, hemmed with 
 difficulties, but ever moving straight forward to his object, 
 with occasional wild gusts of reckless fighting passion. 
 John Adams, too, brilliant of speech and pen, ardent, 
 patriotic, and high-minded, was, in his way, out of touch 
 with Washington. Although he moved Washington's ap- 
 pointment, he began almost immediately to find fault with 
 him, an exercise to which he was extremely prone. . v ;. . 
 There were others, too, outside New England who were 
 discontented, and among them Richard Henry Lee, from 
 the General's own State. He was evidently critical and 
 somewhat unfriendly at this time, although the reasons for 
 his being so are not now very distinct. Then there was 
 Mr. Clark of New Jersey, an excellent man, who thought 
 the General was invading popular rights ; and to him might 
 be added others who vaguely felt things might be better 
 than they were. This party, adverse to Washington, ob- 
 tained the appointment of Gates to the northern depart- 
 ment, under whom the army won a great victory, and they 
 were correspondingly happy. John Adams wrote his wife 
 that one cause of thanksgiving was that the tide had not 
 been turned by the commander-in-chief and southern 
 troops, for the adulation would have been intolerable; 
 and that a man may be wise and virtuous and not a 
 deity. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot 'Lodge, Vol. I. p. 207 
 
 He Had Long Cherished a Secret Hostility 
 
 Washington had already been disgusted by the over- 
 weening presumption of Conway, and was surprised tc 
 hear that his application was likely to be successful. He 
 wrote on the iyth of October, to Richard Henry Lee, then
 
 40 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 in Congress, warning him that such an appointment would 
 be as unfortunate a measure as ever was adopted one 
 that would give a fatal blow to the existence of the army. 
 "Upon so interesting a subject," observes he, "I must 
 speak plainly. The duty I owe my country, the ardent 
 desire I have to promote its true interests, and justice to 
 individuals, require this of me. General Con way's merit as 
 an officer, and his importance in this army, exist more in 
 his own imagination than in reality. For it is a maxim with 
 him to leave no service of his own untold, nor to want any- 
 thing which is to be obtained' by importunity. ... I would 
 ask why the youngest brigadier in the service should be 
 put over the heads of the oldest, and thereby take rank and 
 command of gentlemen who but yesterday were his seniors ; 
 gentlemen who, as I will be bound to say in behalf of some 
 of them at least, are of sound judgment and unquestion- 
 able bravery. . . .. This truth I am well assured of, 
 that they will not serve under him. I leave you to guess, 
 therefore, at the situation this army would be in at so im- 
 portant a crisis, if this event should take place. " 
 
 This opposition to his presumptuous aspirations, at 
 once threw Conway into a faction forming under the aus- 
 pices of General Mifflin. This gentleman had recently 
 tendered his resignation of the commission of major-general 
 and quartermaster-general on the plea of ill health, but 
 was busily engaged in intrigues against the commander-in- 
 chief , towards whom he had long cherished a secret hostility. 
 Conway now joined with him heart and hand, and soon 
 became so active and prominent a member of the faction 
 that it acquired the name of Conway' s Cabal. The object 
 was to depreciate the military character of Washington, 
 in comparison with that of Gates, to whom was attributed 
 the whole success of the northern campaign. Gates was 
 perfectly ready for that elevation. . He was intoxicated by 
 his good fortune, and seemed to forget that he had reaped 
 where he had not sown, and that the defeat of Burgoyne
 
 THE CONWAY CONSPIRACY 41 
 
 had been insured by plans concerted and put in operation 
 before his arrival in the northern department. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. Ill, p. 349. 
 
 The Opposition's High Water Mark 
 
 In the midst of his struggle to hold the Delaware forts, 
 and of his efforts to get back his troops from the north, a 
 story came to him that arrested his attention. Wilkinson, 
 of Gates's staff, had come to Congress with the news of the 
 surrender. He had been fifteen days on the road and 
 three days in getting his papers in order, and when it was 
 proposed to give him a sword, Dr. Witherspoon, canny 
 Scot as he was, suggested they had better "gie the lad a 
 pair of spurs. " This thrust and some delay seem to have 
 nettled Wilkinson, who was swelling with importance, 
 and although he was. finally made a brigadier-general, he 
 rode off to the north much ruffled. In later days Wilkin- 
 son was secretive enough; but in his hot youth he could 
 not hold his tongue, and on his way back to Gates he talked. 
 What he said was marked and carried to headquarters, 
 and on November Qth Washington wrote to Con way: 
 
 "A letter which I received last night contained the 
 following paragraph, 'In a letter from General Con way 
 to General Gates he says, " Heaven has determined to save 
 your country, or a weak general and bad counsellors would 
 have ruined it." I am, sir, your humble servant,'" etc. 
 
 This curt note fell upon Conway with stunning effect. 
 It is said that he tried to apologize, and he certainly re- 
 signed. As to Gates, he fell to writing letters filled with 
 expressions of wonder as to who had betrayed him, and 
 writhed most pitiably under the exposure. Washington's 
 replies are models of cold dignity, and the calm indiffer- 
 ence with which he treated the whole matter, while holding 
 Gates to the point with relentless grasp, is very interesting. 
 The cabal was seriously shaken by this sudden blow. It 
 must have dawned upon them dimly that they might have
 
 42 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 mistaken their man, and that the silent soldier was perhaps 
 not so easy to dispose of by an intrigue as they had fancied. 
 Nevertheless, they rallied, taking advantage of the feeling 
 in Congress created by Burgoyne's surrender, they set to 
 work to get control of military matters' The board of 
 war was enlarged to five, with Gates at its head and Mifflin 
 a member, and, thus constituted, it proceeded to make 
 Con way inspector-general, with the rank of major-general. 
 This, after Conway's conduct, was a direct insult to- Washing- 
 ton, and marks the highest point attained by his opponents. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I., p. 214. 
 
 The "Cabal" 
 
 When they turned from intrigue to action, however, 
 they began to fail. One of their pet schemes was the con- 
 quest of Canada, and with thic object Lafayette was sent 
 to the lakes, only to find that no preparations had been 
 made, because the originators of the idea were ignorant and 
 inefficient. The expedition promptly collapsed and was 
 abandoned, with much instruction in consequence to Con- 
 gress and the people. Under their control the commissariat 
 also went hopelessly to pieces, and a committee of Congress 
 proceeded to Valley Forge and found that in this direction, 
 too, the new managers had grievously failed. Then the 
 original Conway letter, uncovered so unceremoniously by 
 Washington, kept returning to plague its author. Gates's 
 correspondence went on all through the winter, and with 
 every letter Gates floundered more and more, and Wash- 
 ington's replies grew more and more freezing and severe. 
 Gates undertook to throw the blame on Wilkinson, who be- 
 came loftily indignant and challenged him. The two made 
 up their quarrel very soon in a ludicrous manner, but Wil- 
 kinson in the interval had an interview with Washington, 
 which revealed an amount of duplicity and perfidy on the 
 part of the cabal, so shocking to the former's sensitive 
 nature, that he resigned his secretaryship of the board of
 
 43 
 
 war on account, as he frankly said, of the treachery and 
 falsehood of Gates. Such a quarrel of course hurt the 
 cabal, but it was still more weakened by Gates himself, 
 whose only idea seemed to be to supersede Washington by 
 slighting him, refusing troops, and declining to propose his 
 health at dinner methods as unusual as they -were feeble. 
 
 The cabal, in fact, was so weak in ability and character 
 that the moment any responsibility fell upon its members 
 it was certain to break down, but the absolutely fatal ob- 
 stacle to its schemes was the man it aimed to overthrow. 
 The idea evidently was that Washington could be driven 
 to resign. 
 
 Thus he went on his way through the winter, silent 
 except when obliged to answer some friend, and always 
 ready to meet his enemies. When Conway complained to 
 Congress of his reception at camp, Washington wrote the 
 president that he was not given to dissimulation, and that 
 he certainly had been cold in his manner. He wrote to 
 Lafayette that slander had been busy, and that he had urged 
 his officers to be cool and dispassionate as to Conway, adding, 
 "I have no doubt that everything happens for the best, 
 that we shall triumph over all our misfortunes, and in the 
 end be happy ; when, my dear Marquis, if you will give me 
 your company in Virginia, we will laugh at our past diffi- 
 culties and the folly of others. " But though he wrote thus 
 lightly to his friends, he followed Gates sternly enough, and 
 kept that gentleman occupied as he drove him from point 
 to point. Among other things he touched upon Conway's 
 character with sharp irony, saying, " It is, however, greatly 
 to be lamented that this adept in military science did not 
 employ his abilities in the progress of the campaign, in 
 pointing out those wise measures which .were calculated to 
 give us 'that degree of success we could reasonably expect!' " 
 
 Poor Gates did not find these letters pleasant reading, 
 and one more curt note, on February 24th, finished the con- 
 troversy. By that time the cabal was falling to pieces, and
 
 44 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 in a little while was dispersed. Wilkinson's resignation 
 was accepted, Mifflin was put under Washington's orders, 
 and Gates was sent to his command in the north. Con way 
 resigned one day in a pet, and found his resignation accepted 
 and his power gone with unpleasant suddenness. Then he 
 got into a quarrel with General Cadwalader on account of 
 his attacks on the commander-in-chief. The quarrel ended 
 in a duel. Con way was badly wounded, and thinking 
 himself dying, wrote a contrite note of apology to Wash- 
 ington, then recovered, left the country, and disappeared 
 from the ken of history. Thus domestic malice and the 
 "bitter party" in Congress failed and perished. They had 
 dashed themselves in vain against the strong man who held 
 firmly both soldiers and people. 
 
 George Washington. Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 216 
 
 "General Gates Exalted on the Ruin of My Reputation" 
 
 In a letter to Gates, Washington intimated in his own 
 discreet, but always forcible English, that Con way was " a 
 dangerous incendiary," and that Gates was a sneaking 
 enemy to the commander-in-chief, both of which intimations 
 have since been proved entirely accurate. But these two 
 men were not alone in the mischief which, through attacks 
 upon Washington, did great harm to the patriot cause. 
 
 Gates and Conway were dangerous principally because, 
 being continually in the Congressional lobby, they organ- 
 ized a party that during the remainder of the war opposed 
 Washington with that mischievous zeal which is strong 
 solely because of its ignorance. Anonymous letters, abusing 
 the commander-in-chief, were sent to Congress, to Gover- 
 nors of States, and to influential private citizens, and 
 Washington was accused even of being opposed to American 
 independence. Washington's reply was principally a letter 
 to Mr. Laurens, President of Congress, in which he said: 
 " My enemies take an ungenerous advantage of me. They 
 know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives of
 
 THE CON WAY CONSPIRACY 45 
 
 policy deprive me of the defense I might otherwise make 
 against their insidious attacks. They know I cannot com- 
 bat their insinuations, however injurious, without disclosing 
 secrets which it is of the utmost moment to conceal. " The 
 purpose of the cabal was, Washington says, "that General 
 Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my reputation and 
 influence. This I am authorized to say from undeniable 
 facts in our possession." 
 
 These facts Washington never disclosed; modestly 
 assuming that they only affected him personally, he seems 
 to have considered them of no general interest. 
 
 Two more of the mere nothings that Washington had 
 to attend to were the disciplining and supplying of the army. 
 Conway, the Inspector-general, and Mifflin, the Quarter- 
 master-general, had been so busily engaged in helping 
 Gates undermine Washington that they had allowed their 
 official duties to go undone. Contractors were profiting by 
 theft and jobbery, as contractors always do when un watched. 
 Washington made Greene Quartermaster-general and gave 
 Conway's position to Baron Steuben, who, in addition to 
 being able to swear in three languages and maintaining 
 health and energy without drinking rum, possessed in a 
 high degree every soldierly quality that his new position 
 required. Greene also was the right man in the right place. 
 Both men attended strictly to business, so before long, and 
 for the first time in its existence, the American army was 
 fairly drilled, and whatever clothing, food, and ammunition 
 were provided for it reached their destination and were put 
 where they would do the most good. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 167. 
 
 "I Mean Not to Shrink From the Cause" 
 
 Gates was greatly perplexed to know what to do, but 
 he finally wrote to Washington as if there were some wretch 
 who had been stealing letters and might be discovering the 
 secrets of the American leaders. He begged Washington
 
 46 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 to help him find the rascal. Washington replied, givmg 
 him the exact manner in which the letter came into his 
 hands, and then closed with a few sentences that showed 
 Gates clearly that he had lost the confidence of his com- 
 mander-in-chief. 
 
 That particular occasion passed, but presently the cabal 
 showed its head again, this time working through Congress. 
 It secured the appointment of a Board of War, with Gates 
 at the head, and a majority of members from men who were 
 hostile to Washington. Now, they thought, Washington 
 will resign, and to help matters they spread the report that 
 Washington was about to resign. The general check- 
 mated them at once by a letter to a friend, in which he 
 wrote : 
 
 "To report a design is among the arts which those 
 who are .endeavoring to effect a change are practising to 
 bring it to pass. . . . While the public are satisfied 
 with my endeavors, I mean not to shrink from the cause. 
 But the moment her voice, not that of faction, calls upon me 
 to resign, I shall do it with as much pleasure as ever the 
 wearied traveler retired to rest." 
 
 The cabal was not yet defeated. It had failed by round- 
 about methods. It looked about in Congress and counted 
 the disaffected to see if it would be possible to get a major- 
 ity vote in favor of a motion to arrest the commander-in- 
 chief. So at least the story runs which, from its nature, 
 would not be found in any record, but was whispered from 
 one man to another. The day came when the motion was 
 to be tried; the conspiracy leaked out, and Washington's 
 friends bestirred themselves. They sent post-haste for one 
 of their number, Gouverneur Morris, who was absent in 
 camp ; but they feared they could not get him in time. In 
 their extremity, they went to William Duer, a member 
 from New York, who was dangerously ill. Duer sent for 
 his doctor. 
 
 "Doctor," he asked, "can I be carried to Congress?"
 
 THE CONWAY CONSPIRACY 47 
 
 " Yes, but at the risk of your life, " replied the physician. 
 
 " Do you mean that I should expire before reaching 
 the place?" earnestly inquired the patient. 
 
 "No," came the answer; "but I would not answer for 
 your leaving it alive." 
 
 "Very well, sir. You have done your duty and I will 
 do mine!" exclaimed Duer. "Prepare a litter for me; if 
 you will not, somebody else will, but I prefer your aid." 
 
 The demand was in earnest, and Duer had already 
 started when it was announced that Morris had come direct 
 from the camp with the latest news of what was going on 
 there. His vote would make it impossible for the enemies 
 of Washington to carry their point ; their opportunity was 
 lost, and they never recovered it. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 182. 
 
 General Conway's Apology 
 
 As General Conway takes no further part in the events 
 of this history, we shall briefly dispose of him. Disap- 
 pointed in his aims, he became irritable in his temper, and 
 offensive in his manners, and frequently indulged in acri- 
 monious language respecting the commander-in-chief, that 
 was highly resented by the army. In consequence of some 
 dispute he became involved in a duel with General John 
 Cadwalader, in which he was severely wounded. Thinking 
 his end approaching, he addressed the following penitential 
 letter to Washington. 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, 23 July, 1778. 
 
 " SIR: I find myself just able to hold the pen during a 
 few minutes, and take this opportunity of expressing my 
 sincere grief for having done, written, or said anything dis- 
 agreeable to your Excellency. My career will soon be over, 
 therefore justice and truth prompt me to declare my last 
 sentiments. You are in my eyes the great and good man. 
 May you long enjoy the love, veneration, and esteem of
 
 48 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 these States, whose liberties you have asserted by your 
 virtues. 
 
 " I am, with the greatest respect, &c., 
 
 "THOMAS CONWAY." 
 
 Contrary to all expectations, he recovered from his 
 wound; but, finding himself without rank in the army, 
 covered with public opprobrium, and his very name become 
 a by-word, he abandoned a country in which he had dis- 
 honored himself, and embarked for France in the course of 
 a year. 
 
 L*7 of George Washington , Washington Irving. Vol. Ill, p. 456. Note. 
 
 No Peace for Washington 
 
 But even in winter quarters there was no peace for 
 Washington; new torments developed unexpectedly, and 
 one of the largest of these came from the active mind of 
 Washington's much-admired young friend Lafayette. This 
 irrepressible youth wanted to conquer Canada by a concerted 
 movement, in five parts, by the Americans and French. 
 His plans required a force and outlay that would almost 
 have sufficed to capture England, but its very bigness 
 caused Congress to delight in it by a large majority. Some 
 one had sense enough to move that Washington be consulted ; 
 the motion was carried, and the commander-in-chief gave 
 so many reasons, all political, why it would be unwise to 
 exchange neighbors at the north, should the movement 
 succeed and France claim as her share of the proceeds her 
 old domain, as she would be justified in doing, that the 
 attractive scheme was finally abandoned. 
 
 But Congress did not always think to consult Wash- 
 ington, and as the quality of the members deteriorated as 
 rapidly as is usual in the legislatures of all countries during 
 time of war, contracts and blunders were large and innu- 
 merable. What Washington thought of the alleged honor- 
 able body may be inferred from a letter that he wrote at
 
 THE CONWAY CONSPIRACY 49 
 
 the end of the year, to the speaker of the Virginia House of 
 Delegates: "By a faithful laborer in the cause, by a man 
 who is daily injuring his private estate without the smallest 
 earthly advantage not common to all in case of a favorable 
 issue to the dispute, by one who wishes the prosperity of 
 America most devoutly, but sees it, or thinks he sees it, 
 on the brink of ruin, you are' besought most earnestly, my 
 dear Colonel Harrison, to exert yourself by endeavoring to 
 rescue your country by sending your best and ablest men to 
 Congress. . . . They must not content themselves with 
 the enjoyment pf places of honor or profit in their own 
 State while the common interests of America are moldering 
 and sinking into irretrievable ruin. '. . If I were to be 
 called upon to draw a picture of the times and of men, from 
 what I have seen, heard, and in part know, I should in one 
 word say that idleness, dissipation, and extravagance seem 
 to have laid fast hold of the most of them ; that speculation, 
 peculation, and an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have 
 got the* better of every other consideration, and almost of 
 every order of men ; that party disputes and personal quarrels 
 are the great business of the day,- while the momentous con- 
 cern of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, ruined 
 finances, depreciated money and want of credit, which in 
 its consequences is the want of everything, are but secondary 
 considerations and postponed from day to day, from week to 
 week, as if our affairs wore the most promising aspect. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 180.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH AND THE TREACHERY OP 
 CHARLES LEE 
 
 Detailed Account of the Battle of Monmouth 
 
 On the night of June 2jth the left wing of the British 
 army, 8,000 strong, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, en- 
 camped near Monmouth Court House, on the road from 
 Allentown. The right wing, of about equal strength, and 
 composed chiefly of Hessians under Kynphausen, lay just 
 beyond the court house on the road to Middletown. In 
 order to march the right wing took the lead, conveying the 
 immense baggage train. The left wing, following in the 
 rear, was the part exposed to danger, and with it stayed Sir 
 Henry Clinton. The American advance under Lee, 6,000 
 strong, lay about five miles northeast of the British line, 
 and Washington, with the main body, was only three miles 
 behind. Lee's orders from Washington were positive and 
 explicit. He was to gain the flank of the British left wing 
 and attack it vigorously, while Washington was to come up 
 and complete its discomfiture. Lee's force was ample, in 
 quantity and quality, for the task assigned to it, and there 
 was fair ground for hope that the flower of the British army 
 might thus be cut off and captured or destroyed. Since the 
 war began there had hardly .been such a golden oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 Sunday, the 28th of June, was a day of fiery heat, the 
 thermometer showing 96 in the shade. Early in the morn- 
 ing Clinton moved cautiously. Knyphausen made all haste 
 forward on the Middletown road, and the left wing followed 
 till it had passed more than a mile beyond Monmouth 
 Court House, when it found itself outflanked on the north 
 
 (50)
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 
 
 by the American columns. Lee had advanced from Free- 
 hold Church by the main road, crossing two deep ravines 
 upon causeways; and, now, while his left wing was folding 
 about Cornwallis on the north, occupying superior ground, 
 his centre, under Wayne, was close behind, and his right, 
 under Lafayette, had already passed the Court House and 
 was threatening the other end of the British line on the 
 south. Cornwallis instantly changed front to meet the 
 danger on the north, and a detachment was thrown down 
 the road toward the Court House to check Lafayette. The 
 British position was one of extreme peril, but the behavior 
 of the American commander now became very extraordinary. 
 When Wayne was beginning his attack, he was ordered by 
 Lee to hold back and simply make a feint, as the main attack 
 was to be made in another quarter. While Wayne was 
 wondering at this, the British troops coming down the road 
 were seen directing their march so as to come between Wayne 
 and Lafayette. It would be easy to check them, but the 
 marquis had no sooner started than Lee ordered him back, 
 murmuring about its being impossible to stand against 
 British soldiers. Lafayette's suspicions were now aroused, 
 and he sent a dispatch in all haste to Washington, saying 
 that his presence in the field was sorely needed. The army 
 was bewildered. Fighting had hardly begun, but their 
 position was obviously so good that the failure to make 
 prompt use of it suggested some unknown danger. One of 
 the divisions on the left was now ordered back by Lee, and 
 the others, seeing this retrograde movement, and under- 
 standing it as the prelude to a general retreat, began like- 
 wise to fall back. All thus retreated, though without flurry 
 or disorder, to the high ground just east of the second ravine 
 which they had crossed in their advance. All the advantage 
 of their offensive movement was thus thrown away without 
 a struggle, but fhe position they had now reached was ex- 
 cellent for a defensive fight. To the amazement of every- 
 body, Lee ordered the retreat to be continued across the
 
 52 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 marshy ravine. As they crossed upon the causeway the 
 ranks began to fall into some disorder. Many sank ex- 
 hausted from the heat. No one could tell from what they 
 were fleeing, and the exultant ardor with which they had 
 begun to enfold the British line gave place to bitter dis- 
 appointment, which vented itself in passionate curses. So 
 they hurried on, with increasing disorder, till they were ap- 
 proaching the brink of the westerly ravine, where the craven 
 commander met Washington riding up, pale with anger, 
 looking like an avenging deity. 
 
 "What is the meaning of all this?" shouted Wash- 
 ington. His tone was so fierce and his look so threatening 
 that the traitor shook in his stirrups, and could make no 
 answer. When the question was repeated with yet greater 
 fierceness, and further emphasized by a tremendous oath, 
 he flew into a rage, and complained at having been sent to 
 beard the whole British army. "I am very sorry," said 
 Washington, "that you undertook the command if you did 
 not mean to fight." Lee replied that he did not think it 
 prudent to bring on a general engagement, which was, 
 however, precisely what he had been sent out to do. 
 "Whatever your opinions may have been," said Wash- 
 ington sharply, " I expected my orders to be obeyed"; and 
 with these words he wheeled about to stop the retreat and 
 form a new front. There was not a moment to lose, for the 
 British were within a mile of them, and their fire began 
 before the line of battle could be formed. To throw a mass 
 of disorderly fugitives in the face of advancing reinforce- 
 ments, as Lee had been on the point of doing, was to 
 endanger the organization of the whole force. 
 
 It was now that the admirable results of Steuben's 
 teachings were to be seen. The retreating soldiers im- 
 mediately wheeled and formed under fire with as much 
 coolness and precision as they could have shown on parade, 
 and while they stopped the enemy's progress, Washington 
 rode back and brought up the main body of his army.
 
 53 
 
 On some heights to the left of the enemy Greene placed a 
 battery which enfiladed their lines, while Wayne attacked 
 them vigorously in front. After a brave resistance, the British 
 were driven back upon the second ravine which Lee had 
 crossed in the morning's advance. Washington now sent 
 word to Steuben, who was a couple of miles in the rear, telling 
 him to bring up three brigades and press the retreating 
 enemy. Some time before this he had again met Lee and 
 ordered him to the rear, for his suspicion was now thoroughly 
 aroused. As the traitor rode away from the field he met 
 Steuben advancing, and tried to work one final piece of 
 mischief. He tried to persuade Steuben to halt, alleging 
 that he must have misunderstood Washington's orders; but 
 the worthy baron was not to be trifled with, and doggedly 
 kept on his way. The British were driven in some confusion 
 across the ravine, and were just making a fresh stand on 
 the high ground east of it when night put an end to the strife. 
 Washington sent out parties to attack them on both flanks 
 as soon as day should dawn; but Clinton withdrew in the 
 night, leaving his wounded behind, and by daybreak had 
 joined Knyphausen on the heights of Middletown, whither 
 it was useless to follow him. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 61. 
 
 "They Are All Coming This Way!" 
 
 As the commander-in-chief , accompanied by a numerous 
 suite, approached the vicinity of Monmouth Court House, 
 he was met by a little fifer-boy, who archly observed, " They 
 are all coming this way, your honor. " " Who are coming, 
 my little man?" asked General Knox. "Why our boys, 
 your honor, our boys, and the British right after them," 
 replied the little musician. " Impossible, " exclaimed Wash- 
 ington. And giving the spur to his charger, proceeded at 
 full gallop to the eminence a short distance ahead. There 
 to his extreme pain and mortification, it was discovered 
 that the boy's intelligence was but too true. The very elite
 
 5 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 of the American army, five thousand picked officers and men, 
 were in full retreat, closely pursued by the enemy. The 
 first inquiry of the chief was for Major-general Lee, who 
 commanded the advance, and who soon appeared, when a 
 warm conversation ensued, that ended by the major-general 
 being ordered to the rear. During this interview, an incident 
 of rare and chivalric interest occurred. Lieutenant -colonel 
 Hamilton, aide to the general-in-chief , leaped from his horse, 
 and, drawing his sword, addressed the General with " We 
 are betrayed ; your excellency and the army are betrayed, 
 and the moment has arrived when every true friend of 
 America and her cause must be ready to die in their defence. " 
 Washington, charmed with the generous enthusiasm of 
 his favorite aide, yet deemed the same ill-timed, and pointing 
 to the colonel's horse that was cropping the herbage, uncon- 
 cious of the great scene enacting around him, calmly ob- 
 served, "Colonel Hamilton, you will take your horse." 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis. 
 p. 817. 
 
 Varying Versions by Other Witnesses 
 
 Dr. Alfred Alexander Woodhull, according to Edward 
 Everett Hale, used to tell of his grand-uncle, David Bread- 
 ing's account of the wrath of Washington against Lee at 
 Monmouth. Breading was one of General Washington's 
 aides, and was sent by Maxwell to report to General Wash- 
 ington of Lee's retreating. The young aide found Wash- 
 ington, who asked quickly: 
 
 "Young man, can you lead me to General Lee?" 
 
 The aide said he could. 
 
 "Lead on," said the commander-in-chief, "and I will 
 follow." 
 
 Aide and general rode on a furious rate until they met 
 General Lee, who was leading the retreat of his command. 
 
 "Why have you acted thus?" demanded Washington, 
 whose usually calm face was blazing with fury.
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 55 
 
 Lee whined that the American troops could not stand 
 the British bayonets. 
 
 "You damned poltroon!" Washington shouted in his 
 righteous wrath, "you have never tried them." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Ammi Bradford Hyde, Vice-chancellor 
 of the University of Denver, Colorado, told the following 
 story to the writer: 
 
 " My grandfather, Jared Hinckley, was, one campaign 
 excepted, near the person of Washington from Cambridge 
 to Yorktown that is, during the entire War of the Revolu- 
 tion. As I sat on his knee, or at his feet, he gave endless 
 stories o'f his great commander, whom he reckoned more 
 than human. 
 
 "At the battle of Monmouth Grandfather Hinckley 
 was hardly ten yards from the spot where Washington, 
 coming upon the scene, met Lee retreating. 
 
 " 'General Lee, you have disobeyed my orders!' 
 came loud and clear from Washington's lips. 
 
 " ' By God, I have not! 1 yelled Lee. 
 
 " 'By God, you havel Go to the rear,' thundered 
 Washington, his face ablaze, and re-forming with furious 
 energy, rescued and regained the day. Calm histories soften 
 the incident. I give you what Grandfather Hinckley said 
 he heard and saw. " 
 
 w. w. 
 
 The general-in-chief now set himself in earnest about 
 restoring the fortunes of the day. He ordered Colonel 
 Stewart and Lieutenant-Colonel Ramsay, with their regi- 
 ments, to check the advance of the enemy, which service was 
 gallantly performed ; while the general, in person, proceeded 
 to form his second line. He rode, on the morning of the 
 twenty-eighth of June, and for that time only during the 
 war, a white charger that had been presented to him. 
 From the overpowering heat of the day, and the deep and
 
 5 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 sandy nature of the soil, the spirited horse sank under his 
 rider, and expired on the spot. The chief was instantly 
 remounted upon a chestnut blood-mare, with a flowing 
 mane and tail, of Arabian breed, which his servant Billy 
 was leading. It was upon this beautiful animal, covered 
 with foam, that the American general flew along the line, 
 cheering the soldiers in the familiar and endearing language 
 ever used by the officer to the soldier of the Revolution, of 
 "Stand fast, my boys, and receive the enemy; the southern 
 troops are advancing to support you." 
 
 The person of Washington, always graceful, dignified, 
 and commanding, showed to peculiar advantage when 
 mounted; it exhibited, indeed, the very beau ideal of a 
 perfect cavalier. The good Lafayette, during his last visit 
 to America, delighted to discourse of the "times that tried 
 men's souls." From the venerated friend of our country 
 we derived a most graphic description of Washington and 
 the field of battle. Lafayette said, "At Monmouth I 
 commanded a division, and, it may be supposed I was pretty 
 well occupied ; still I took time, amid the roar and confusion 
 of the conflict, to admire our beloved chief, who, mounted 
 on a splendid charger, rode along the ranks amid the shouts 
 of the soldiers, cheering them by his voice and example, 
 and restoring to our standard the fortunes of the fight. I 
 thought then, as now, " continued Lafayette, " that never 
 had I beheld so superb a man. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, bv His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 219. 
 
 The Doomed Gun Was No Longer Deemed Unlucky 
 
 Nor must we omit, among our incidents of the battle 
 of Monmouth, to mention the achievement of the famed 
 Captain. Molly, a nom de guerre given to the wife of a matross 
 in Proctor's artillery. At one of the guns of Proctor's 
 battery, six men had been killed or wounded. It was deemed 
 an unlucky gun, and murmurs arose that it should be drawn
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 57 
 
 back and abandoned. At this juncture, while Captain 
 Molly was serving some water for the refreshment of the 
 men, her husband received a shot in the head, and fell 
 lifeless under the wheels of the piece. The heroine threw 
 down the pail of water, and crying to her dead consort, 
 "Lie there, my darling, while I avenge ye," grasped the 
 ramrod the lifeless hand of the poor fellow had just relin- 
 quished, sent home the charge, and called to the matrosses 
 to prime and fire. It was done. Then entering the sponge 
 into the smoking muzzle of the cannon, the heroine per- 
 formed to admiration the duties of the most expert artillery- 
 man, while loud shouts from the soldiers rang along the line. 
 The doomed gun was no longer deemed unlucky, and the 
 fire of the battery became more vivid than ever. The 
 Amazonian fair one kept her post till night closed the action, 
 when she was introduced to General Greene, who, compli- 
 menting her upon her courage and conduct, the next morn- 
 ing presented her to the commander-in-chief. Washington 
 received her graciously, gave her a piece of gold, and assured 
 her that her services should not be forgotten. 
 
 This remarkable and intrepid woman survived the 
 Revolution, never for an instant laying aside the appellation 
 she had so nobly won, and levying contributions upon both 
 civil and military, whenever she recounted the tale of the 
 doomed gun, and the famous Captain Molly at the battle of 
 Monmouth. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 224. 
 
 Captain Molly at Monmouth 
 
 On the bloody field of Monmouth flashed the guns of Greene 
 
 and Wayne; 
 Fiercely roared the tide of battle, thick the sward was 
 
 heaped with slain. 
 Foremost, facing death and danger, Hessian horse and 
 
 grenadier, 
 In the vanguard, fiercely fighting, stood an Irish cannoneer.
 
 S 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Loudly roared his iron cannon, mingling ever in the strife, 
 And beside him, firm and daring, stood his faithful Irish 
 
 wife; 
 Of her bold contempt of danger Greene and Lee's brigade 
 
 could tell, 
 Every one knew "Captain Molly," and the army loved her 
 
 well. 
 
 Surged the roar of battle round them, swiftly flew the iron 
 
 hail; 
 Forward flashed a thousand bayonets that lone battery to 
 
 assail ; 
 From the foeman's foremost columns swept a furious fusillade, 
 
 Mowing down the massed battalions in the ranks of Greene's 
 
 brigade. 
 Fast and faster worked the gunner, soiled with powder, 
 
 blood, and dust; 
 English bayonets shone before him, shot and shell around 
 
 him burst; 
 Still he fought with reckless daring, stood and manned her 
 
 long and well, 
 Till at last the gallant fellow dead beside his cannon fell. 
 
 With a bitter cry of sorrow, and a dark and angry frown, 
 Looked that band of gallant patriots at their gunner stricken 
 
 down. < 
 
 "Fall back, comrades! It is folly thus to strive against the 
 
 foe." 
 " No, not so !" cried Irish Molly," we can strike another blow." 
 
 Quickly leaped she to the cannon in her fallen husband's 
 place, 
 
 Sponged and rammed it fast and steady, fired it in the foe- 
 man's face.
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 59 
 
 Flashed another ringing volley, roared another from the 
 gun; 
 
 " Boys, hurrah!" cried gallant Molly, " for the flag of Wash- 
 ington!" 
 
 Greene's brigade, though shorn and shattered, slain and 
 bleeding half their men, 
 
 When they heard that Irish slogan, turned and charged the 
 foe again; 
 
 Knox and Wayne and Morgan rally, to the front they for- 
 ward wheel, 
 
 And before their rushing onset Clinton's English columns 
 reel. 
 
 Still the cannon's voice in anger rolled and rattled o'er the 
 
 plain, 
 Till there lay in swarms around it mingled heaps of Hessian 
 
 slain. 
 " Forward ! charge them with the bayonet ! " 'twas the voice 
 
 of Washington; 
 And there burst a fiery greeting from the Irish woman's gun. 
 
 Monckton falls ; against his columns leap the troops of Wayne 
 
 and Lee, 
 And before their reeking bayonets Clinton's red battalions 
 
 flee; 
 Morgan's rifles, fiercely flashing, thin the foe's retreating 
 
 ranks, 
 And behind them, onward dashing, Ogden hovers on their 
 
 flanks. 
 
 Fast they fly, those boasting Britons, who in all their glory 
 
 came, 
 With their brutal Hessian hirelings to wipe out our country's 
 
 name.
 
 60 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Proudly floats the starry banner ; Monmouth's glorious field 
 
 is won ; 
 And in triumph Irish Molly stands beside her smoking gun. 
 
 Captain Molly at Monmouth, William Collins, The American Flag, Edited by Harlan 
 Hojrt Homer, p. 98. 
 
 After Monmouth 
 
 The British loss in the battle of Monmouth was about 
 416, and the American loss was 362. On both sides there were 
 many deaths from sunstroke. The battle has usually been 
 claimed as a victory for the Americans; and so it was, in 
 a certain sense, as they drove the enemy from the field. 
 Strategically considered, however, Lord Stanhope is quite 
 right in calling it a drawn battle. The purpose for which 
 Washington undertook it was foiled by the treachery of Lee. 
 Nevertheless, in view of the promptness with which Wash- 
 ington turned defeat into victory, and of the greatly increased 
 efficiency which it showed in the soldiers, the moral advan- 
 tage was doubtless with the Americans. It deepened the 
 impression produced by the recovery of Philadelphia, it 
 silenced the cavillers against Washington, and its effect 
 upon Clinton's army was disheartening. More than 2,000 
 of his men, chiefly Hessians, deserted in the course of the 
 following week. 
 
 During the night after the battle, the behavior of Lee 
 was the theme of excited discussion among the American 
 officers. By the next day, having recovered ' his self- 
 possession, he wrote a petulant letter to Washington, 
 demanding an apology for his language on the battle-field. 
 Washington's reply was as follows : 
 
 "Sir, I received your letter, expressed, as I conceive, 
 in terms highly improper. I am not conscious of making 
 use of any very singular expressions at the time of meeting 
 you, as you intimate. What I recollect to have said was 
 dictated by duty and warranted by the occasion. As soon 
 as circumstances will permit, you shall have an opportunity
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 61 
 
 of justifying yourself to the army, to Congress, to America, 
 and to the world in general ; or o'f convincing them that you 
 were guilty of a breach of orders, and of misbehavior before 
 the enemy on the 28th instant, in not attacking them as 
 you had been directed, and in making an unnecessary, 
 disorderly, and shameful retreat. " 
 
 To this terrible letter Lee sent the following impudent 
 answer : 
 
 "You can afford me no greater pleasuse than in 
 giving me the opportunity of showing to America the 
 sufficiency of her respective servants. I trust that tem- 
 porary power of office and the tinsel dignity attending it 
 will not be able, by all the mists they can raise, to obfuscate 
 the bright rays of truth. " /-, ., ;, 
 
 Washington replied by putting Lee under arrest. A 
 court-martial was at once convened, before which he was 
 charged with disobedience of orders in not attacking the 
 enemy, with misbehavior on the field in making an unnec- 
 essary and shameful retreat, and lastly, with gross dis- 
 respect to the commander-in-chief. After a painstaking 
 trial, which lasted more than a month, he was found guilty 
 on all three charges, and suspended from command in the 
 army for the term of one year. 
 
 This absurdly inadequate sentence is an example of the 
 extreme and sometimes ill-judged humanity which has been 
 wont to characterize judicial proceedings in America. Many 
 a European soldier has been ruthlessly shot for less serious 
 misconduct and on less convincing evidence. A general 
 can be guilty of no blacker crime than knowingly to betray 
 his trust on the field of battle. But in Lee's case the very 
 enormity of his crime went far to screen him from the pun- 
 ishment which it deserved. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 65. 
 
 Lee, the Traitor, Disgraced 
 
 Historians for a long time imitated the clemency of 
 the court-martial by speaking of the "waywardness" of
 
 6a THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 General Lee. Nearly eighty years elapsed before the dis- 
 covery of that document which obliges us to put the worst 
 interpretation upon his acts, while it enables us clearly to 
 understand the motives which prompted them. Lee was 
 nothing but a selfish adventurer. He had no faith in the 
 principles for which the Americans were fighting, or indeed 
 any principles. He came here to advance his own fortunes, 
 and hoped to be made commander-in-chief. Disappointed 
 in this, he began at once to look with hatred and envy upon 
 Washington, and sought to thwart his purposes, while at 
 the same time he intrigued with the enemy. ' He became 
 infatuated with the idea of playing some such part in the 
 American Revolution as Monk had played in the Restoration 
 of Charles II. This- explains his conduct in the autumn 
 of 1776, when he refused to march to the support of Wash- 
 ington. Should Washington be defeated and captured, 
 then Lee, as next in command and at the head of a separate 
 army, might negotiate for peace. His conduct as prisoner 
 in New York, first in soliciting an interview with Congress, 
 then in giving aid and counsel to the enemy, is all to be 
 explained in the same way. And his behavior in the Mon- 
 mouth campaign was part and parcel of the same crooked 
 policy. Lord North's commission had just arrived from 
 England to offer terms to the Americans, but in the exulta- 
 tion over Saratoga and the French alliance, now increased 
 by the recovery of Philadelphia, there was little hope of their 
 effecting anything. The spirits of these Yankees, thought 
 Lee, must not be suffered to rise too high, else they wiH 
 never listen to reason. So he wished to build a bridge of 
 gold for Clinton to retreat by; and when he found it impos- 
 sible to prevent an attack, his second thoughts led him to 
 take command, in order to keep the game in his own hands. 
 Should Washington now incur defeat by adopting a course 
 which Lee had emphatically condemned as impracticable, 
 the impatient prejudices upon which the cabal had played 
 might be revived. The downfall of Washington would
 
 perhaps be easy to compass; and the schemer would thus 
 not only enjoy the humiliation of the man whom he so 
 bitterly hated, but he might fairly hope to succeed him in 
 the chief command, and thus have an opportunity of bring- 
 ing the war to a "glorious" end through a negotiation with 
 Lord North's commissioners. Such thoughts as these were 
 the impracticable schemes of a vain, egotistical dreamer. 
 That Washington and Chatham, had that great statesman 
 been still alive, might have brought the war to an honorable 
 close through open and frank negotiation was perhaps not 
 impossible. That such a man as Lee, by paltering with 
 agents of Lord North, should effect anything but mischief 
 and confusion was inconceivable. But selfishness is always 
 incompatible with sound judgment, and Lee's wild schemes 
 were quite yi keeping with his character. The method he 
 adopted for carrying them out was equally so. It would 
 have been impossible for a man of strong military instincts 
 to have relaxed his clutch upon an enemy in the field, as 
 Lee did at the battle of Monmouth. If Arnold had been 
 there that day, with his head never so full of treason, an 
 irresistible impulse would doubtless have led him to attack 
 the enemy tooth and nail, and the treason would have? 
 waited till the morrow. 
 
 As usually happens in such- cases, the selfish schemer 
 overreached himself. Washington won a victory after all ; 
 the treachery was detected, and the traitor disgraced. 
 Maddened by the destruction of his air-castles, Lee now 
 began writing scurrilous articles in the newspapers. He 
 could not hear Washington's name mentioned without losing 
 his temper, and his venomous tongue at length got him into 
 a duel with Colonel Laurens, one of Washington's aids and 
 son of the president of Congress. He came out of the affair 
 with nothing worse than a wound in the side; but when, a 
 little later, he wrote an angry letter to Congress, he was 
 summarily expelled from the army. "Ah, I see," he said, 
 aiming a Parthian shot at Washington, "if you. _ wish, tc
 
 64 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 become a great general in America, you must learn to grow 
 tobacco"; and so he retired to a plantation which he had 
 in the Shenandoah valley. He lived to behold the triumph 
 of the cause which he had done so much to injure, and in 
 October, 1782, he died in a mean public-house in Philadel- 
 phia, friendless and alone. His last wish was that he might 
 not be buried in consecrated ground, or within a mile of any 
 church or meeting-house because he had kept so much bad 
 company in this world that he did- not wish to continue 
 it in the next. But in this he was not allowed to have his 
 way. He was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church in 
 Philadelphia, and many worthy citizens came to the funeral. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 68. 
 
 Did General Washington Swear? 
 
 The two principal scenes of Washington's alleged vio- 
 lence of temper and gross profanity under its influence 
 were the battle-field of Monmouth in June, 1778, in the 
 third year of his command of the Revolutionary Army, 
 and his own house in Philadelphia in December, 1791, in 
 the third year of his presidency of the United States. 
 Several years ago, in a paper which I had the honor to 
 read before the New York Historical Society, I said with 
 respect to the former occasion: 
 
 "Great excitement and want of dignity culminating 
 in violent threats and even gross cursing and profanity have 
 been ascribed to Washington in his interview with Lee. 
 There is no evidence of any historical value to sustain this 
 disgraceful charge, and the man who repeats it ought always 
 to be challenged to the proof. If there was one common 
 vice against which Washington's face was set like a flint, 
 from the beginning to the end of his' military career, it was 
 this very habit of profane swearing." 
 
 If any proof has been offered to confirm the vulgar 
 stories in vogue concerning the language and demeanor of 
 Washington on that occasion, I have not heard of it; and it
 
 li 
 
 PQ 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 Pi 
 h 
 
 I 
 
 W 
 K 
 H 
 
 to 
 O 
 
 Pi 
 H 
 pi 
 O 
 
 P-.
 
 THE TREACHERY OF CHARLES LEE 65 
 
 is my firm conviction that nothing of the kind worthy of 
 credit can be discovered ; but that any and all attempts to 
 substantiate the reports referred to may be very easily dis- 
 posed of by any right-minded and competent historical 
 critic. A few words will suffice for my present purpose. 
 
 The scenes and events of that day were the subject of a 
 prolonged and very critical investigation while the actors 
 in them were still within reach and, as it were, fresh from 
 the field. General Lee's trial by a general court-martial, 
 beginning on the 4th of July, six days after the battle, ended 
 on the 1 2th of August, with his suspension from any com- 
 mand in the armies of the United States of North America, 
 for the term of twelve months. The statements of General 
 Washington and General Lee in the correspondence which 
 led to the court-martial, the sworn testimony of the witnesses 
 upon the trial, and the defense of General Lee himself, furnish 
 conclusive evidence of the utter falsehood of these pretended 
 traditions which have gained entrance where they ought 
 never to have been received for a moment. 
 
 Libels on Washington, George H. Moore, p. 6. 
 
 " I Have No Exclusive Partialities" 
 
 While the American army . . . lay encamped in 
 the environs of Morristown, it occurred that the service of 
 the communion . . . was to be administered in the 
 Presbyterian church of that village. In a morning of the 
 previous week, the General . . t . visited the house of 
 the Rev. Dr. Jones, then pastor of that church, and . 
 accosted him: 
 
 " Doctor, I understand that the Lord's Supper is to be 
 celebrated with you next Sunday ; I would learn if it accords 
 with the canons of your church to admit communicants of 
 another denomination." 
 
 The doctor rejoined "Most certainly; ours is not the 
 Presbyterian table, General, but the Lord's table. " . .
 
 66 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The General replied, " I am glad of it ; that is as it 
 ought to be ; but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought 
 I would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to join with 
 you on that occasion. Though a member of the Church 
 of England, I have no exclusive partialities. " 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 62.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 FRENCH AID AND AMERICAN GREED 
 
 \ 
 
 Foreign Officers, the French Alliance, and Three Letters 
 
 While Washington was putting down the enemies of 
 the United States, Franklin was making friends for it. 
 After the capture of Burgoyne he persuaded the king of 
 France to recognize the United States as an independent 
 nation. Besides this a fleet was fitted out, manned and 
 commanded by the French. But there were long, weary, 
 heart sickening delays before the French arrived. 
 
 Congress and the people hailed the French alliance with 
 rejoicings. They had been colonials all their lives and 
 believed a man with foreign advantages must be far superior 
 to any officer who had grown up at home. This truckling 
 to foreigners was bred in the bone. It seems a marvel 
 that. Washington's patriotism so quickly burned out all 
 this dross of habit and antecedent. -He believed in the home 
 product of men, though some who styled themselves broad- 
 minded accused him of narrow provincialism. 
 
 In 1778 he had written to Gouverneur Morris: 
 "The lavish manner in which rank has hitherto been 
 bestowed on these [foreign] gentlemen will certainly be 
 productive of one or the other of these two evils: either 
 to make it despicable in the eyes of Europe, or become the 
 means of pouring them in upon us like a torrent and adding 
 to our present burden, ... or the driving of all our 
 own officers out of the service, and throwing not only our 
 army, but our military councils entirely into the hands of 
 foreigners. " 
 
 Again he wrote to the president of Congress : 
 
 " I trust you think me so much a citizen of the world 
 
 (67)
 
 68 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 as to believe I am not easily warped or led away by attach- 
 ments merely local and American, yet I confess I am not 
 entirely without them. " 
 
 When Count D'Estaing at last arrived with the French 
 fleet he was too late to keep Lord Howe out of the Delaware, 
 so he turned to New York. He was late there and Wash- 
 ington sent him to co-operate with Sullivan in driving the 
 British out of Rhode Island. There was a delay of ten days 
 and when Sullivan was prepared for attack, Lord Howe'.s 
 increased fleet came in sight. D'Estaing sailed out to give 
 battle, but a storm came up and scattered both fleets. 
 Then D'Estaing sailed away to Boston to repair damages. 
 General Sullivan and his men were disgusted. The officers 
 drew up a protest which bade fair to offend and drive away 
 the French. 
 
 Washington promptly wrote three tactful letters which 
 prevented a disastrous quarrel. To the wrathy Irish general 
 he argued: 
 
 "First impressions, you know, are generally longest 
 remembered, and will serve to fix in a great degree our 
 national character among the French. In our conduct 
 toward them we should remember that they are a people 
 old in war, very strict in military etiquette, and apt to take 
 fire when others seem scarcely warmed. Permit me to 
 recommend, in the most particular manner, the cultivation 
 of harmony and good agreement, and your endeavor to 
 destroy that ill-humor which may 'have got into your 
 officers. ' ' 
 
 He wrote to Lafayette, the brave young French* general : 
 
 "Everybody, sir, who reasons will acknowledge the 
 advantage which we have derived from the French fleet, 
 and the zeal of the commander of it; but in a free and 
 republican government you cannot restrain the voice of the 
 multitude. Every man will speak as he thinks, or more 
 properly, without thinking, and consequently will judge 
 of effects without attending to causes. The censures which
 
 FRENCH AID AND AMERICAN GREED 6g 
 
 have been leveled at the French fleet would more than 
 probably have fallen in a much higher degree upon "a fleet 
 of our own if we had had one in the same position. " 
 
 Then he wrote to D'Estaing, after expressing regret 
 at the difficulties which had been unavoidable : 
 
 " It is in the trying circumstances to which your Excel- 
 lency has been exposed that the virtues of a great mind are 
 displayed in their brightest lustre, and that a general's 
 character is better known than in the moment of victory. 
 It was yours by every title that can give it ; and the adverse 
 elements that robbed you of your prize can never deprive 
 you of the glory due you. Though your success has not 
 been equal to your expectations, yet you have the satisfac- 
 tion of reflecting that you have rendered essential services 
 to the common cause. ' ' 
 
 Again Washington saved the cause and the country 
 by saving the French alliance. This time it was by his 
 delicate diplomacy. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, October 23 to 29, 1910. 
 
 Washington's Patriotic Pride 
 
 In the autumn, it was reported that the fleet was once 
 more on the northern coast. Washington at once sent 
 officers to be on the lookout at the most likely points, and he 
 wrote elaborately to D'Estaing, setting forth with wonderful 
 perspicuity the incidents of the past, the condition of the 
 present, and the probabilities of the future. He was willing 
 to do anything, or plan anything, provided his allies would 
 join with him. The jealousy so habitual in humanity, 
 which is afraid that some one else might get the glory of 
 a common success, was unknown to Washington, and if he 
 could but drive the British from America, and establish 
 American independence, he was perfectly willing that the 
 glory should take care of itself. But all his wisdom in 
 dealing with the allies was, for the moment, vain. While 
 he was planning for a great stroke, and calling out the militia
 
 7 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 of New England, D'Estaing was making ready to relieve 
 Georgia, and a few days after Washington wrote his second 
 letter, the French and Americans assaulted the British 
 works at Savannah, and were repulsed with heavy losses. 
 Then D'Estaing sailed away again, and the second effort 
 of France to aid England's revolted colonies came to an 
 end. Their presence had had a good moral effect, and the 
 dread of D'Estaing's return had caused Clinton to with- 
 draw from Newport and concentrate in New York. This 
 was all that was actually accomplished, and there was noth- 
 ing for it but to await still another trial and a more con- 
 venient season. 
 
 With all his courtesy and. consideration, with all his 
 readiness to fall in with the wishes and schemes of the 
 French, it must not be supposed that Washington ever 
 went an inch too far in this direction. He valued the 
 French alliance, and proposed to use it to great purpose, but 
 he was not in the least dazzled or blinded by it. Even in the 
 earliest glow of excitement and hope produced by D'Estaing's 
 arrival, Washington took occasion to draw once more the 
 distinction between a valuable alliance and volunteer adven- 
 turers, and to remonstrate again with Congress about their 
 reckless profusion in dealing with foreign officers. To 
 Gouverneur Morris he wrote on July 24, 1778: 
 
 "The lavish manner in which rank has hitherto been 
 bestowed on these gentlemen will certainly be productive 
 of one or the other of these two evils: either to make it 
 despicable in the eyes of Europe, or become the means of 
 pouring them in upon us like a torrent and adding to our 
 present burden. But it is neither the expense nor the 
 trouble of them that I most dread. There is an evil more 
 extensive in its nature, and fatal in its consequences, to be 
 apprehended, and that is the driving of all our own officers 
 out of the service, and throwing not only our army, but our 
 military councils, entirely into the hands of foreigners. 
 . . . Baron Steuben, I now find, is also wanting to
 
 quit his inspectorship for a command in the line. This 
 will be productive of much discontent to the brigadiers. 
 In a word, although I think the baron an excellent officer, 
 I wish we had not a single foreigner among us except the 
 Marquis de Lafayette, who acts from very different principles 
 from those which govern the rest. " . 
 
 Again, he said of Steuben; 
 
 " I regret that there should be a necessity that his 
 services should be lost to the army; at the same time I 
 think it my duty explicitly to observe to Congress that his 
 desire of having an actual and permanent command in the 
 line cannot be complied with without wounding the feelings 
 of a number of officers, whose rank and merits give them 
 every claim to attention; and that the doing of it would be 
 productive of much dissatisfaction and extensive ill con- 
 sequences." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 240. 
 
 / ' -i.. .1 t '.I . ' . .; i ', 
 
 "Those Monopolizers Speculators Peculators !" 
 
 Although the Congress offered Washington more 
 exasperating difficulties and excruciating anxieties than 
 the enemy, there was one class of men for they were not 
 all pure patriots during the Revolution who wrought him 
 up to a white heat of indignation. These were the ever- 
 present army contractors, those vultures of every war, of 
 whom the commander-in-chief wrote to his military secretary, 
 
 Joseph Reed, in 1778, as: 
 
 "Those murderers of our cause, the monopolizers, 
 forestallers and engrossers! . . . It is much to be 
 lamented that each State, long ere this, has not hunted them 
 down as pests to society and the greatest enemies we have 
 to the happiness of America. I would to God that some 
 one of the most atrocious in each State was hung in gibbets 
 upon a gallows five times as high as the one prepared by
 
 72 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Haman. No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the 
 man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin. " 
 
 He wrote to James Warren, March 31, 1779: 
 
 " Nothing, I am convinced, but the depreciation of our 
 currency, aided by stock jobbing and party dissensions, has 
 fed the hopes of the enemy, and kept the British arms in 
 America to this day. 
 
 "The measure of their iniquity is not yet filled. . . 
 [There are] glaring instances of its being the interest . of 
 too many . . to continue the war. . . Shall a few 
 designing men, for their own aggrandizement, and to grati- 
 fy their own avarice, overset the goodly fabric we have 
 been rearing at the expense of so much time, blood and 
 treasure? And shall we at last become the victims of 
 our own abominable lust of gain? Forbid it, Heaven. 
 Forbid it all and every State in the Union, by enacting 
 and enforcing efficacious laws. 
 
 " Our cause is noble. It is the cause of mankind, and 
 the danger to it is to be apprehended from ourselves. Shall 
 we slumber and sleep, then, while we should be punishing 
 those miscreants who have brought these troubles upon us 
 and who are aiming to continue us in them ; while we should 
 be striving to fill our battalions, and the credit on which 
 everything depends." 
 
 The French alliance seemed to aggravate this condi- 
 tion of affairs. People began to think England's power was 
 breaking up and the French would win the victory. Wash- 
 ington wrote to Congress that the American army, not 
 England's, was lamentably weak. Then he added : 
 
 "To me, it will appear miraculous if our affairs can 
 maintain themselves much longer in their present train. 
 If either the temper or the resources of the country will not 
 admit of an alteration, we may expect soon to be reduced 
 to the humiliating condition of seeing the cause of America 
 upheld by foreign arms. The generosity of our allies has
 
 FRENCH AID AND AMERICAN GREED 73 
 
 a claim to all our confidence and all our gratitude, but it is 
 neither for the honor of America nor for the interest of the 
 common cause, to leave the work entirely to them." 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, Wayne Whipple, October 30 to November 5, 1910. 
 
 A Series of Minor Torments 
 
 In the meantime Clinton, being unable to meet Wash- 
 r ington, and, indeed, being compelled, by orders, to confine 
 himself to a series of minor torments, was annoying the 
 Americans more than he could have done by a single engage- 
 ment. One expedition sent out by him at the end of 1778, 
 without the formality of informing Washington where it 
 was going, captured Savannah and behaved so well as to 
 alienate many of the people of Georgia from the patriot 
 cause. Another entered Chesapeake Bay, capturing Nor- 
 folk and Portsmouth, where were large quantities of military 
 stores and a number of naval and merchant vessels. Tryon, 
 the New York Tory governor, went up Long Island Sound 
 with a large force, captured New Haven, cruelly neglected 
 to burn down the old dormitories of Yale College, destroyed 
 the town of Fairfield and most of Norwalk, and brought back 
 to Clinton much news of the variety of which, twenty years 
 ago, the "reliable contraband" had a monopoly. Tryon 
 had projected and Clinton entertained a movement against 
 New London also, but the conduct of Washington in the 
 Highlands prevented it. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 186. 
 
 The Freedom of a Private Gentleman 
 
 The evening of the ball had arrived. The old Manor 
 house of the Perm family, at Bush Hill then a short dis- 
 tance beyond the. suburbs of the city was untenanted, save 
 by an aged negro couple whose business it was to keep the 
 house and grounds in some kind of order, and was chosen 
 as the scene of the festivities. A number of French officers
 
 THE STO&Y-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 had come on to Philadelphia to pay their respects to Con- 
 gress taking advantage of the curious inactivity which 
 characterized the campaign of 1779 ; and as the Philadelphia 
 of that time, notwithstanding the Quaker element in society, 
 was greatly devoted to pleasure-seeking, this ball had been 
 devised as a means of showing them honor, and promoting 
 the good feeling between the two nations. 
 
 Washington also had arrived, and would be present. 
 The commander-in-chief did not altogether approve of the 
 mirth and feasting which was so much the order of the day in 
 the Quaker city, but he was very anxious that every kind- 
 ness and respect should be shown to the French officers. 
 Especially was he anxious that it should be done at this 
 time, when the unfortunate affair of Rhode Island still 
 rankled in the popular mind, and tended to reawaken those 
 feelings of dislike and contempt for the French, which had 
 grown up through the animosities of many centuries. 
 
 There was a large and gay party assembled at the 
 manor-house of Springettsbury that evening. The mansion 
 itself was brilliantly illuminated with wax candles and lus- 
 tres, and adorned with mirrors and paintings and statues, 
 and the intermingled flags of France and the United S.tates ; 
 while the extensive grounds attached to the house, with their 
 gravel walks and evergreen arbors and wilderness of shade, 
 including thick groves of cedars and catalpas, were lighted 
 up with Chinese lanterns for the enjoyment of promenaders. 
 Nearly a hundred French and American officers were present, 
 and a still larger number of civilians, inchiding members 
 of the Continental Congress, and other gentlemen of high 
 political and social repute. As we have said, Washington 
 also was present, and the centre of admiring and venerating 
 eyes. 
 
 The festivities commenced with a dance in honor of 
 the alliance between the two countries. Pemberton and 
 Isabella took part in this. -It was a double quadrille 
 which dance the French officers had brought over with them, 
 and which was just beginning to take the place of the more
 
 FRENCH AID AND AMERICAN GREED 75 
 
 ceremonious minuet. Four of the eight gentlemen were 
 arrayed in the French, and four in the American military 
 uniform; while four of the ladies wore blue, with American 
 flowers in their hair, and four white, with green scarfs, and 
 artificial fleurs-de-lis. The American officers dancing with 
 the ladies that represented the French, and the French 
 officers dancing with the ladies in blue. . ., -..- 
 
 Soon the Alliance Quadrille was over, and the couples 
 engaged in it mingled with the rest of the company. And 
 then Helen felt a touch on her arm, and turned to see Pem- 
 berton and Washington standing at her side. 
 
 "Allow me to present to your Excellency, Miss Helen 
 Graham," said Pemberton. Helen made a deep courtesy, 
 
 " Shall I have the pleasure of dancing with you, Miss 
 Helen?" said Washington; "I see they are waiting for 
 me, to lead off." 
 
 Helen signified her assent, and putting her gloved hand 
 in the large, masculine one extended toward her, was led 
 to the head of the principal set. 
 
 Helen was so excited that she could scarcely trust her- 
 self to speak. It seemed hardly regular. His Excellency 
 many evidently thought, should have begun with Mrs. 
 President Reed, and danced with some twenty other dow- 
 agers before ever thinking of the young ladies. But it was 
 not a clear case of fascination and wilfulness. Washington 
 reverenced the proprieties, although they were intolerably 
 irksome to him at times. But, strictly speaking, this was 
 not a ball in his honor it was in honor of the French 
 and he merely attended as a private gentleman ; therefore he 
 was entitled to exercise the freedom of a private gentleman. 
 
 Pemberton, Henry Peterson, p. 264. 
 
 "Not Expedient to Expose the Highest Virtues to Such 
 
 Temptations" 
 
 The . . . defects in the military system, were 
 pressed by Washington upon the attention of Congress in 
 a letter to the President: " It were devoutly to be wished,"
 
 76 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 observed he, "that a plan could be devised by which every- 
 thing relating to the army could be conducted on a general 
 principle, under the direction of Congress. This alone can 
 give harmony and consistency to our military establishment, 
 and I am persuaded that it will be infinitely conducive 
 to public economy." 
 
 In consequence of this letter it was proposed in Con- 
 gress to send a committee of three of its members to head- 
 quarters to consult with the commander-in-chief, and, in 
 conjunction with him, to effect such reforms and changes 
 in the various departments of the army as might be deemed 
 necessary. Warm debates ensued. It was objected that 
 this would put too much power into a few hands, and 
 especially into those of the commander-in-chief; "that his 
 influence was already too great; that even his virtues afforded 
 motives for alarm; that the enthusiasm of the army joined to 
 the kind of dictatorship already confided to him, put Congress 
 and the United States at his mercy; that it was not expedient 
 to expose a man of the highest virtues to such temptations." 
 
 Life of Gtorgt Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 58. 
 
 France acknowledges United States independence 
 
 February 6, 1778 
 British evacuation of Philadelphia. .. .June 18, 1778 
 
 Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778 
 
 Indian massacre at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, 
 
 July 3, 1778 
 
 Indian outrages at Cherry Valley, N. Y., Nov. n, 1778 
 British capture Savannah December 29, 1778
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 44 NOT WORTH A CONTINENTAL!" 
 Story of Stony Point by a Participant 
 
 General Washington had planned an enterprise against 
 the posts at King's Ferry, comprehending a double attack, 
 to be made at the same time, on both. But the difficulty 
 of a perfect co-operation of detachments, incapable of 
 communicating with each other, determined him to post- 
 pone the attack on Verplanck's, and to make that part 
 of the plan dependent on the success of the first. His 
 whole attention therefore was turned to Stony Point; and 
 the troops destined for this critical service proceeded on 
 it as against a single object. 
 
 The execution of the plan was entrusted to General 
 Wayne, who commanded the light infantry of the army. 
 Secrecy was deemed so much more essential to success than 
 numbers, that no addition was made to the force already 
 in the lines. One brigade was ordered to commence its 
 march, so as to reach the scene of action in time to cover 
 the troops engaged in the attack, should any unlocked for 
 disaster befall them, and Major Lee of the light dragoons, 
 who had been eminently useful in obtaining the intelligence 
 which led to the enterprise, was associated with General 
 Wayne, as far as cavalry could be employed in such a service. 
 The night of the fifteenth, and the hour of twelve, were 
 chosen for the assault. 
 
 Stony Point is a commanding hill, projecting far into 
 the Hudson, which washes three-fourths of its base. The 
 remaining fourth is, in a great measure, covered by a deep 
 marsh, commencing near the river, and continuing into it 
 below. Over this marsh there is only one crossing place; 
 
 (77)
 
 7 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 but at its junction with the river, is a sandy beach, passable 
 at low tide. On the summit of this hill stood the fort, which 
 was furnished with heavy ordnance. Several breast-works 
 and strong batteries were advanced in front of the main 
 work; and, about half way down the hill were two rows of 
 abatis. The batteries were calculated to command the 
 beach and the crossing place of the marsh, and to rake and 
 enfilade any column which might be advancing from either 
 of those points towards the fort. In addition to these 
 defenses, several vessels of war were stationed in the river, 
 and commanded the ground at the foot of the hill. The 
 garrison consisted of about six hundred men, commanded by 
 Colonel Johnson. 
 
 General Wayne arrived about eight in the afternoon at 
 Spring Steel's, one and a half miles from the fort ; and made 
 his dispositions for the assault. 
 
 It was intended to attack the works on the right and 
 left flanks at the same instant. The regiments of Febiger 
 and of Meigs, with Major Hull's detachment, formed the 
 right -column; and Butler's regiment, with two companies 
 under Major Murfree, formed the left. One hundred and 
 fifty volunteers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Fleury and 
 Major Posey, constituted, the van of the right ; and one hun- 
 dred volunteers under Major Stewart, composed the van 
 to the left. At half past eleven the two columns moved to 
 the assault, the van of each with unloaded muskets and 
 fixed bayonets. They were each preceded by a forlorn hope 
 of twenty men, the one commanded by Lieutenant Gibbon, 
 and the other by Lieutenant Knox. They reached the 
 marsh undiscovered; and at twenty minutes after twelve, 
 commenced the assault. 
 
 Both columns rushed forward under a tremendous fire. 
 Surmounting every obstacle, they entered the works at the 
 point of the bayonet; and, without discharging a- single 
 musket, obtained possession of the fort. 
 
 The humanity displayed by the conquerors was not
 
 "NOT WORTH A CONTINENTAL" 79 
 
 less conspicuous, nor less honorable than their courage. 
 Not an individual suffered after resistance had ceased. 
 
 All the troops engaged in this perilous service mani- 
 fested a degree of ardor and impetuosity, which proved 
 them to be capable of the most difficult enterprises; and all 
 distinguished themselves, whose situation enabled "them to 
 do so. Colonel Fleury was the first to enter the fort and 
 strike the British standard. Major Posey mounted the 
 works almost at the same instant, and was the first to give 
 the watch- word "The fort's our own. "Lieutenants 
 Gibbon and Knox performed the service allotted to 'them 
 with a degree of intrepidity which could not be surpassed. 
 Of twenty men who constituted the party of the former, 
 seventeen were killed or wounded. 
 
 Sixty-three of the garrison were killed, including two 
 officers. The prisoners amounted to five hundred and 
 forty-three, among whom were one lieutenant-colonel, four 
 captains, and twenty subaltern officers. The military stores 
 taken in the fort were considerable. 
 
 The loss sustained by the assailants was not propor- 
 tioned to the apparent danger of the enterprise. The killed 
 and wounded did not exceed one hundred men; General 
 Wayne, who marched with Febiger's regiment in the right 
 column, received a slight wound in the head which stunned 
 him for the time, but did not compel him to leave the column. 
 Being supported by his aids, he entered the fort with the 
 regiment. 
 
 The Life of George Washington, John Marshall, Vol. I, p. 310. 
 
 A Recent Account of the Capture of Stony Point 
 
 At Stony Point and Verplanck's Point were the southern 
 outposts of the defenses of the Hudson River Highlands, 
 and, consequently, of the only available roads between 
 New England and the colonies. On the last day of spring 
 Sir Henry Clinton, with seventy ships and about five thou- 
 sand men, appeared before these posts and proceeded to
 
 8o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 surround them. On one point was a finished fort, and on 
 the other an unfinished one, which was abandoned by its 
 garrison of thirty men. Fort Lafayette, on Verplanck's 
 Point, was bombarded from the opposite side of the river, 
 cannonaded by the fleet, and approached by a large land 
 force, so, quite naturally, the garrison, consisting of only 
 seventy men, surrendered. Both forts were greatly strength- 
 ened and strongly garrisoned by the British, and they 
 were the most undesirable neighbors Washington had ever 
 known, for not far above them were the only remaining 
 defenses of the line, of communication between the two 
 sections of the colonies. Besides, the country needed a 
 change from the dismal succession of depressing events that 
 had occurred, so Washington resolved to capture \he two 
 forts. It may be well to remind the reader, at this point, 
 that, although Washington is supposed to have been the 
 embodiment of caution, the brilliant and desperate dashes 
 by which his army from time to time distinguished itself 
 were all of his own devising. So able was he at this appar- 
 ently uncongenial work that Wayne, who was the standard 
 authority on desperate operations, said he would " storm 
 hell" if Washington would only plan the affair. In view 
 of much subsequent and unprofitable discussion, it is to be 
 regretted that the commander-in-chief did not act on 
 Wayne's hint. 
 
 The portion of Stony Point on which the fort stood, 
 jutted far out into the Hudson and was so nearly surrounded 
 by water that it could be approached by a narrow bridge. 
 The works themselves, completed and greatly strengthened 
 by the British, abounded in heavy guns, abatis, ditches, and 
 other reprehensible things devised especially to discourage 
 American visitors ; it also contained six - hundred British 
 soldiers. Wayne, with three hundred infantry, was sent 
 to surprise and capture the fort, another body of troops 
 being sent down on the eastern bank of the river to make 
 an attempt on the fort at Verplanck's Point. Washington
 
 'NOT WORTH A CONTINENTAL'' 81 
 
 ordered that the assault of Stony Point be made at mid- 
 night, the hour before dawn having already become so 
 common for such affairs that there was no possibility of a 
 surprise party surprising. 
 
 Wayne was successful in every particular, even to that 
 of getting so severe a rap on the head from a musket-ball 
 that he made a small dying speech on suspicion. About 
 one-third of his men were killed or wounded, but the remain- 
 der took in charge nearly three times their own number 
 of the enemy. At daybreak h taught the British ships 
 how it felt to be peppered by their own artillery, but they 
 enjoyed it so little that they made haste to depart. 
 
 The movement on the other side of the river failed, 
 and as the British had inconsiderately fortified Stony 
 Point in such a way that it could be of no use to any one 
 but themselves, the post was finally abandoned, but not 
 before news of its capture had flown all over the country, 
 as it afterward did over the civilized world. Foreign 
 soldiers still talk of Wayne's dash as one of the most daring 
 and successful recorded, in military history. As for Clinton, 
 he assumed that the operation meant that Washington 
 was moving down the river to fight,, so he 'hastened up to 
 meet him, but was obliged to return to New York a wiser 
 and a sadder man, for Washington never fought until 
 entirely ready. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 187. 
 
 "Light-horse Harry" Takes Paulus Hook 
 
 But Stony Point could not be held. The patriots had 
 to abandon it again to Clinton within three or four days. 
 The taking of it had been inspiriting, and brought Tryon 
 back from his raid into Connecticut ; but it was not of 
 permanent value. No real headway could be made against 
 Clinton's wearing-out policy. 
 
 About a month after the taking of Stony Point, Light- 
 horse Harry Lee, of Virginia, the father of Robert E. Lee,
 
 82 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 of the Civil War, attacked in the same way the fort on Paulus 
 Hook, which was a spit or isthmus of sand at the present 
 site of -Jersey City. He got into the fort and took one 
 hundred and fifty prisoners, but was obliged instantly to 
 abandon it, because the British were coming to the rescue 
 from New York. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 384. 
 
 To Suffer Was the Lot of the Revolutionary Soldier 
 
 The dreary encampment at Valley Forge has become 
 proverbial for its hardships; yet they were scarcely more 
 severe than those suffered by Washington's army during 
 the present winter, while hutted among the heights of Morris- 
 town. The winter set in early, an.d was uncommonly 
 rigorous. The transportation of supplies was obstructed; 
 the magazines were exhausted, ancl the commissaries had 
 neither money nor credit to enable them to replenish them. 
 For weeks at a time the army was on half allowance ; some- 
 times without meat, sometimes without bread; sometimes 
 without both. There was a scarcity, too, of clothing and 
 blankets, so that the poor soldiers were starving with cold 
 as well as hunger. 
 
 Washington wrote to President -Reed of Pennsylvania, 
 entreating aid and supplies from that State to keep his army 
 from disbanding. " We have never, " said he, " experienced 
 a like extremity at any period of the war. " 
 
 The year 1780 opened upon a famishing camp. "For 
 a fortnight past, " writes Washington, on the 8th of January, 
 "the troops, both officers and men, have been almost 
 perishing with want. "Yet," adds he, feelingly, "they 
 have borne their sufferings with a patience that merits the 
 approbation, and ought to excite the sympathies, of their 
 countrymen." 
 
 The severest trials of the Revolution, in fact, were not 
 in the field, where there were shouts to excite and laurels 
 to be won ; but in the squalid wretchedness of ill-provided
 
 "NOT WORTH A CONTINENTAL" 83 
 
 camps, where there was nothing to cheer and everything to 
 be endured. To suffer was the lot of the revolutionary 
 soldier. 
 
 Life of George Washington , Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 21. 
 
 Welcome News from Lafayette 
 
 At this gloomy crisis came a letter from the Marquis 
 de Lafayette, dated April 27th, announcing his arrival at 
 Boston. Washington's eyes, we are told, were suffused 
 with tears as he read this most welcome epistle, and the 
 warmth with which he replied to it, showed his affectionate 
 regard for this young nobleman. " I received your letter, " 
 writes he, "with all the joy that the sincerest friendship 
 could dictate, and with that impatience which an ardent 
 desire to see you could not fail to inspire. . . ; .- . I most 
 sincerely congratulate you on your safe arrival in America, 
 and shall embrace you with all the warmth of an affectionate 
 friend when you come to headquarters, where a bed is 
 prepared for you." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 61. 
 
 Speaking of His Personal Appearance 
 
 Speaking of his personal appearance he [Marquis de 
 Chastellux] writes: "His form is noble and elevated, well- 
 shaped and exactly proportioned ; his physiognomy mild and 
 agreeable, but such, that one does not speak in particular of 
 any one of his traits ; and that in quitting him there remains 
 simply the recollection of a fine countenance. His air is 
 neither grave nor familiar; one sees sometimes on his fore- 
 head the marks of thought, but never of inquietude ; while 
 inspiring respec^ he inspires confidence, and his smile is 
 always that of benevolence. 
 
 "Above all, it is interesting," continues the marquis, 
 "to see him in the midst of the general officers of his army. 
 General in a republic, he has not the imposing state of a 
 marshal of France who gives the order; hero in a republic,
 
 84 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 he excites a different sort of respect, which seems to originate 
 in this sole idea, that the welfare of each individual is 
 attached to his person." 
 
 He sums up his character in these words: "Brave 
 without temerity; laborious without ambition; generous 
 without prodigality ; noble without pride ; virtuous without 
 severity; he always seems to stop short of that limit, where 
 the virtues, assuming colors more vivid, but more change- 
 able and dubious, might be taken for defects. " 
 
 Life of Geoxge Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 217. 
 
 An Invitation to Dine at Headquarters 
 
 He saw very clearly that while the separate States 
 were looking after their several affairs, the Congress which 
 represented the whole country was losing its influence and 
 power. "I think our political system," he wrote, "may 
 be compared to the mechanism of a clock, and that we should 
 derive a lesson from it; for it answers no good purpose to 
 keep the smaller wheels in order, if the greater one, which 
 is the support and prime mover of the whole, is neglected. " 
 
 He was indignant at the manner in which congressmen, 
 and others who were concerned in the affairs of the country, 
 spent their time in Philadelphia. "An assembly," he said, 
 "a concert, a dinner, a supper, that will cost three or four 
 hundred pounds, will not only take off men from acting 
 in this business, but even from thinking of it ; while a great 
 part of the officers of our army, from absolute necessity, 
 are quitting the. service ; and the more virtuous few, rather 
 than do this, are sinking by sure degrees into beggary and 
 want." How simply he himself lived may be seen by the 
 jocose letter which he wrote to a friend, inviting him to dine 
 with him at headquarters. The letter is a'ddressed to Dr. 
 Cochran, surgeon-general in the army: 
 
 "Dear Doctor: I have asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. 
 Livingston to dine with me to-morrow; but am I not in 
 honor bound to apprise them of their fare? As I hate
 
 "NOT WORTH A CONTINENTAL" 85 
 
 deception, even where the imagination only is concerned, 
 I will. It is needless to premise that my table is large 
 enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had ocular proof 
 yesterday. To say how it is usually covered is rather more 
 essential ; and this shall be the purport of my letter. 
 
 " Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a 
 ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the head of the 
 table; a piece of roast beef adorns the foot; and a dish of 
 beans or greens, almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. 
 When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, which I presume 
 will be the ca,se to-morrow, we have two beefsteak pies, 
 or dishes of crabs, dividing the space, to about six feet, 
 which without them, would be near twelve feet apart. Of 
 late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover that apples 
 will make pies ; and it is a question if, in the violence of his 
 efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both 
 of beefsteaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertain- 
 ment, and will submit to partake of it on plates once tin 
 but now iron (not become so by the labor of scouring), I 
 shall be happy to see them; and am, dear Doctor, yours, " 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON]. 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 194. 
 
 A Continental System of "Donation Parties" 
 
 During the summer of 1780 this wretched " Continental" 
 currency fell into contempt. As Washington said, it took 
 a wagon load of money to buy a wagon load of provisions. 
 At the end of the year 1778, the paper dollar was worth 
 sixteen cents in the northern States and twelve cents in the 
 South. Early in 1780 its value had fallen to two cents, and 
 before the end of the year it took ten paper dollars to make a 
 cent. In October, Indian corn sold wholesale in Boston for 
 $150 a bushel, butter was $12 a pound, tea $90, sugar $10, 
 beef $8, coffee $12, and a barrel of flour cost $1,575. Samuel 
 Adams paid $2,000 for a hat and a suit of clothes. The 
 money soon ceased to circulate, debts could not be collected,
 
 86 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and there was a general prostration of credit. To say that 
 a thing was " not worth a Continental " became the strongest 
 possible expression of contempt. A barber in Philadelphia 
 papered his shop with bills, and a dog was led up and down 
 the streets, smeared with tar, with this unhappy money all 
 over him, a sorry substitute for the golden-fleeced sheep 
 of the old Norse legend. Save for the scanty pittance of 
 gold which came in from the French alliance, from the little 
 foreign commerce that was left, and from trade with the 
 British army itself, the country was without any circulating 
 medium. In making its requisitions upon the States, Con- 
 gress resorted to a measure which reminds one of the barbaric 
 ages of barter. Instead of asking for money, it requested 
 the States to send in their "specific supplies" of beef and 
 pork, flour and rice, salt and hay, tobacco and rum. The 
 finances of what was so soon to become the richest of nations 
 were thus managed on the principle whereby the meager 
 salaries of country clergymen used to be eked out. It 
 might have been called a Continental system of " donation 
 parties. " 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 198. 
 
 General Anthony Wayne's brilliant capture of 
 
 Stony Point July 15, 1779 
 
 British forces take possession of Georgia Z 779 
 
 Captain John Paul Jones's great naval victory, 
 
 off Flamborough Head, England, Sept. 23, 1779
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Benedict Arnold, before the Great Treason 
 
 Early in the spring there fell to Washington the very 
 unpleasant task of reprimanding Benedict Arnold, in com- 
 pliance with the finding and sentence of a court-martial. 
 The heinous and shameful nature of Arnold's subsequent 
 crime has almost entirely deprived the rascal of any credit 
 for previous sendees; but the truth is, that he was an able, 
 patriotic soldier, fertile in expedient, brave in action, untir- 
 ing in effort, hopeful under disaster, and unselfish in his 
 relations with his fellow soldiers. It is also true that no 
 other general officer, not even Schuyler, was so shamefully 
 abused and so frequently and inexcusably kept for long 
 periods of time in extreme indignation. In spite of all this, 
 he might have retired from the army with honor, had 
 monuments half finished to his memory, and been like Wash- 
 ington, godfather to innumerable post-towns, tug-boats, 
 and baking-powders, had it not been for one fatal defect 
 of character; he was a spendthrift. Most of the American 
 officers who were not in good circumstances when the war 
 began were necessarily in debt, but Arnold aggravated this 
 undesirable condition by extravagance. For the honest 
 debtor there is hope while life remains, but any kind of a 
 scoundrel can be made of a spendthrift. 
 
 In the unrelieved, steadily increasing misery of his 
 financial condition, Arnold's manner became offensive. 
 As military governor of Philadelphia he was ostentatious, 
 and some of his actions and accounts were irregular enough 
 to excite suspicion, but the evidence adduced by the State 
 of Pennsylvania, which instigated the trial by court-martial 
 
 (87)
 
 88 THE STORY-LIFE OR WASHINGTON 
 
 proves scarcely anything except that Pennsylvanians dis- 
 liked Arnold. 
 
 The reprimand administered by Washington was, like 
 almost all his other utterances in trying circumstances, a 
 proof of the delicacy and nobility of the commander-in- 
 chief's nature. It was as follows: "Our profession is the 
 chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the 
 luster of our finest achievements. The least inadvertence 
 may rob us of public favor, so hard to be acquired. I 
 reprehend you for having forgotten that, in proportion as 
 you had rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you 
 should have been guarded and temperate in your deport- 
 ment toward your fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those 
 noble qualities which have placed you on the list o( zur most 
 valued commanders. I will myself furnish you, as far as 
 may be in my power, with opportunities of regaining the 
 esteem of your country. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 198. 
 
 "The Army They Will Never Conquer" 
 
 The story of Arnold's treason is easily told. Its 
 romantic side has made it familiar to all Americans, and 
 given it a factitious importance. Had it succeeeded it 
 would have opened vast opportunities of disaster to America. 
 It failed, and had no result whatever. It has passed into 
 history simply as a picturesque episode, charged with 
 possibilities which fascinate the imagination, but having, 
 in itself, neither meaning nor consequences beyond the two 
 conspirators. To us it is of interest, because it shows 
 Washington in one of the sharpest and bitterest experiences 
 of his life. Let us see how he met it and dealt with it. 
 
 From the day when the French landed, both De Roch- 
 ambeau and Washington had been most anxious to meet. 
 The French general had been particularly urgent, but it 
 was difficult for Washington to get away. As he wrote on 
 October 2ist:
 
 ARNOLD AND ANDR& 89 
 
 " We are about ten miles from the enemy. Our popular 
 government imposes a necessity of great circumspection. 
 If any misfortune should happen in my absence, it would 
 be attended with every inconvenience. I will, however, 
 endeavor, if possible, and as soon as possible, to meet you 
 at some convenient rendezvous." 
 
 In accordance with this promise, a few weeks later, 
 he left Greene in command of the army, and, not without 
 misgivings, started on September i8th to meet De Rocham- 
 beau. On his way he had an interview with Arnold, who 
 came to him to show a letter from the loyalist Colonel Robin- 
 son, and thus disarm suspicion as to his doings. On the 
 2oth, the day when Andre and Arnold met to arrange the 
 terms of the sale, Washington was with De Rochambeau 
 at Hartford. News had arrived, meantime, that De Guichen 
 had sailed for Europe ; the command of the sea was therefore 
 lost, and the opportunity for action had gone by. There 
 was no need for further conference, and Washington accord- 
 ingly set out on his return at once, two or three days earlier 
 than he had intended. 
 
 He was accompanied by his own staff, and by Knox 
 and Lafayette with their officers. With him, too, went 
 the young Count Dumas, who has left a description of their 
 journey, and of the popular enthusiasm displayed in the 
 towns through which they passed. In one village, which 
 they reached after nightfall, all the people turned out, the 
 children bearing torches, and men and women hailed 
 Washington as father, and pressed about him to touch the 
 hem of his garments. Turning to Dumas he said, " We may 
 be beaten by the English ; it is the chance of war ; but there 
 is the army they will never conquer." Political leaders 
 grumbled, and military officers caballed, but the popular 
 feeling went out to Washington with a sure and utter con- 
 fidence. The people in that little village recognized the 
 great and unselfish leader as they recognized Lincoln a 
 century later, and from the masses of the people no one ever
 
 po THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 heard the cry that Washington was cold or unsympathetic. 
 They loved him, and believed in him, and such a manifes- 
 tation of their devotion touched him deeply. His spirits 
 rose under the spell of appreciation and affection, always so 
 strong upon human nature, and he rode away from Fishkill 
 the next morning at daybreak with a light heart. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge Vol. I p. 273. 
 
 "Whom Can We Trust Now ?" 
 
 The company was pleasant and lively, the morning was 
 fair, and as they approached Arnold's headquarters at the 
 Robinson house, Washington off to the redoubts by the 
 river, telling the young men that they were all in love with 
 Mrs. Arnold and would do well to go straight on and break- 
 fast with her. Hamilton and McHenry followed his advice, 
 and while they were at breakfast a note was brought to 
 Arnold. It was a letter of warning from Andre announcing 
 his capture, which Colonel Jameson, who ought to have 
 been cashiered for doing it, had forwarded. Arnold at once 
 left the table, and saying that he was going to West Point, 
 jumped into his boat and was rowed rapidly down the river 
 to the British man-of-war. Washington on his arrival was 
 told that Arnold had gone to the fort, and so after a hasty 
 breakfast he went over there himself. On reaching West 
 Point no salute broke the stillness, and no guard turned out 
 to receive him. He was astonished to learn that his arrival 
 was unexpected, and that Arnold had not been there for 
 two days. Still unsuspecting he inspected the works and 
 then returned. 
 
 Meantime, the messenger sent to Hartford with the 
 papers taken on Andre reached the Robinson house and 
 delivered them to Hamilton, together with a letter of con- 
 fession from Andre himself. Hamilton read them, and 
 hurrying out met Washington just coming up from the river. 
 He took his chief aside, said a few words to him in a low voice, 
 and they went into the house together. When they came
 
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 ARNOLD AND ANDRE 91 
 
 out, Washington looked as calm as ever, and calling to 
 Lafayette and Knox gave them the papers, saying simply, 
 "Whom can we trust now?" He dispatched Hamilton at 
 once to try to intercept Arnold at Verplanck's Point, but 
 it was too late ; the boat had passed, and Arnold was safe 
 on board the Vulture. This done, Washington bade his 
 staff sit down with him to dinner, as the general was absent, 
 and Mrs. Arnold was ill in her room. Dinner over, he 
 immediately set about guarding the post, which had been 
 so near betrayal. To Colonel Wade at West Point he wrote : 
 "Arnold has gone to the enemy; you are in command, be 
 vigilant." To Jameson he sent word to guard Andre 
 closely. To the colonels and commanders of various 
 outlying regiments he sent orders to bring up their troops. 
 Everything was done that should have been done, quickly, 
 quietly, and without comment. The most sudden and 
 appalling treachery had failed to shake his nerve, or confuse 
 his mind. 
 
 Yet the strong and silent man was wrung to the quick, 
 and when everything possible had been done, and he had 
 retired to his room, the guard outside the door heard him 
 marching back and forth through all the weary night. The 
 one thing he least expected, because he least understood it, 
 had come to pass. He had been a good and true friend 
 to the villain who had fled, for Arnold's reckless bravery 
 and dare-devil fighting had appealed to the strongest 
 passion of his nature, and he had stood by him always. 
 He had grieved over the refusal of Congress to promote him 
 in due order, and had interceded with ultimate success on 
 his behalf. He had sympathized with him in his recent 
 troubles in Philadelphia, and had administered the repri- 
 mand awarded by court-martial so that rebuke seemed 
 turned to praise. He had sought to give him every oppor- 
 tunity that a soldier could desire, and had finally conferred 
 upon him the command of West Point. He had admired 
 his courage and palliated his misconduct, and now the
 
 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 scoundrel had turned on him and fled. Mingled with the 
 bitterness of these memories of betrayed confidence was 
 the torturing ignorance of how far this base treachery had 
 extended. For all he knew there might be a brood of 
 traitors about him in the very citadel of America. We can 
 never know Washington's thoughts at that time, for he 
 was ever silent, but as we listen in imagination to the sound 
 of the even footfalls which the guard heard all through that 
 September night, we can dimly guess the feelings of that 
 strong and passionate nature, wounded and distressed almost 
 beyond endurance. 
 
 There is but little more to tell. The conspiracy stopped 
 with Arnold. He had no accomplices, and meant to deliver 
 the fort and pocket the booty alone. The British tried to 
 spread the idea that other officers had been corrupted, but 
 the attempt failed, and Washington's prompt measures of 
 defense checked any movement against the forts. Every 
 effort was made by Clinton to save Andre, but in vain. 
 He was tried by a court composed of the highest officers 
 in the American service, among whom was Lafayette. On 
 his own statement, but one decision was possible. He 
 was condemned as a spy, and as a spy he was sentenced to 
 be hanged. He made a manly appeal against the manner 
 of his death, and begged to be shot. Washington declined 
 to interfere, and Andre went to the gallows. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 275. 
 
 "He Wants Feeling" ' 
 
 The British, at the time, and some of their writers 
 afterward, attacked Washington for insisting on this mode 
 of execution, but there never was an instance in his career 
 when he was more entirely right. Andre was a spy and 
 briber, who sought to ruin the American cause by means 
 of the treachery of an American general. It was a dark and 
 dangerous game, and he knew that he staked his life on the 
 result. He failed and paid the penalty. Washington could
 
 ARNOLD AND ANDRE 93 
 
 not permit, he would have been grossly and feebly culpable 
 if he had permitted, such an attempt to pass without 
 extreme punishment. He was generous and magnanimous, 
 but he was not a sentimentalist, and he punished this 
 miserable treason, as far as he could reach it, as it deserved. 
 It is true that Andre was a man of talent, well-bred and 
 courageous, and of engaging manners. He deserved all 
 the sympathy and sorrow which he excited at the time, but 
 nothing more. He was not only technically a spy, but he 
 had sought his ends by bribery, he had prostituted a flag 
 of truce, and he was to be richly paid for his work. It was 
 all hire and salary. No doubt Andre was loyal and patriotic. 
 Many spies have been the same, and have engaged in their 
 dangerous exploits from the highest motives. Nathan 
 Hale, whom the British hanged without compunction, was 
 as well-born and well-bred as Andre, and as patriotic as man 
 could be, and moreover he was a spy and nothing more. 
 Andre was a trafficker in bribes and treachery, and however 
 we may pity his fate, his name has no proper place in the 
 great temple at Westminster, where all English-speaking 
 people bow with reverence, and only a most perverted 
 sentimentality could conceive that it was fitting to erect a 
 monument to his memory in this country. 
 
 Washington sent Andre to the gallows because it was 
 his duty to do so, but he pitied him none the less, and 
 whatever he may have thought of the means Andre employed 
 to effect his end, he made no comment upon him, except 
 to say that "he met his fate with that fortitude which was 
 to be expected from an accomplished man and a gallant 
 officer. " As to Arnold he was almost equally silent. When 
 obliged to refer to him he did so in the plainest and simplest 
 way, and only in a familiar letter to Laurens do we get a 
 glimpse of his feelings. He wrote: 
 
 " I am mistaken if at this time Arnold is undergoing 
 the torment of a mental hell. He wants feeling. From 
 some traits of his character which have lately come to my
 
 94 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 knowledge, he seems to have been so hackneyed in villainy, 
 and so lost to all sense of honor and shame, that, while his 
 faculties will enable him to continue his sordid pursuits, 
 there will be no time for remorse. " 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 279. 
 
 Intercedes in Vain for Major Andre 
 
 At last my friend returned. "The General will see 
 you presently, Wynne, but it is a useless errand. Give 
 me Andre's letter." With this he left, me again, and I 
 continued my impatient walk. In a quarter of an hour 
 he came back. "Come," said he: "I have done my best, 
 but I have failed as I expected to fail. Speak your mind 
 freely; he likes frankness." I went after him, and in a 
 moment was in the farther room and alone with the chief. 
 
 A huge fire of logs blazed on the great kitchen hearth, 
 and at a table covered with maps and papers, neatly set 
 in order, the General sat writing. 
 
 He looked up, and with quiet courtesy said, "Take 
 a seat, Captain Wynne. I must be held excused for a 
 little. " I bowed and sat down while he continued to write. 
 
 His pen moved slowly, and he paused at times, and then 
 went on apparently with the utmost deliberation. I was 
 favoraoiy placed to watch him without appearing to do so, 
 his face being strongly lighted by the candles in front of 
 him. He was dressed with his usual care, in a buff waist- 
 coat and a blue-and-buff uniform, with powdered hair drawn 
 back to a queue and carefully tied with black ribbon. 
 
 The face, with its light-blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, and 
 rather heavy nose above a strong jaw, was now grave, and, I 
 thought, stern. At least a half-hour went by before he 
 pushed back his chair and looked up. ... 
 
 "Captain Wynne," he said, "I have refused to see 
 several gentlemen in regard to this sad business, but I learn 
 that Mr. Andre was your friend, and I have not forgotten 
 your aunt's timely aid at a moment when it was sorely
 
 ARNOLD AND ANDRE 95 
 
 Heeded. For these reasons and at the earnest request of 
 Captain Hamilton and the marquis, I am willing to listen 
 to you. May I ask you to be brief?" He spoke slowly, 
 as if weighing his words. . . . "What can I do for 
 you? As to this unhappy gentleman, his fate is out of my 
 hands. I have read the letter which Captain Hamilton gave 
 me. " As he spoke he took it from the table and deliberately 
 read it again, while I watched him. Then he laid it down 
 and looked up. I saw that his big, patient eyes were over- 
 full as he spoke. 
 
 <: I regret, sir, to have to refuse this most natural 
 request; I have told Mr. Hamilton that it is not to be 
 thought of. Neither shall I reply. It is not fitting that 
 I should do so, nor is it necessary or even proper that I 
 assign reasons which must already be plain to every man of 
 sense. Is that all?" 
 
 I said, "Your Excellency, may I ask but a minute 
 more?" 
 
 " I am at your disposal, sir, for so long. What is it? " 
 
 I hesitated, and, I suspect, showed plainly in my face 
 my doubt as to the propriety of what was most in my mind 
 when I sought this interview. He instantly guessed that 
 I was embarrassed, and said, with the gentlest manner 
 and a slight smile: 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Wynne, there is nothing which can be done 
 to save your friend, nor indeed to alter his fate; but if you 
 desire to say more do not hesitate. You have suffered 
 much for the cause which is dear to us both. Go on, sir. " 
 
 Thus encouraged, I said, " If on any pretext the execu- 
 tion can be delayed a week, I am ready to go with a friend 
 to enter New York in disguise, and to bring out General 
 Arnold. I have been his aide, I know all his habits, and I 
 am confident that we shall succeed if only I can control 
 near New York a detachment of tried men. I have thought 
 over my plan, and am willing to risk my life upon it. " 
 
 "You propose a gallant venture, sir, but it would be
 
 96 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 certain to fail; the service would lose another brave man, 
 and I should seem to have been wanting in decision for no 
 just or assignable cause." 
 
 I was profoundly disappointed ; and in the grief of my 
 failure I forgot for a moment the august presence which 
 imposed on all men the respect which no sovereign could 
 have inspired. 
 
 "My God! sir," I exclaimed, "and this traitor must 
 live unpunished, and a man who did but what he believed 
 to be his duty must suffer a death of shame!" Then half 
 scared, I looked up, feeling that I had said too much. He 
 had risen before I spoke, meaning, no doubt, to bring my 
 visit to an end, and was standing with his back to the fire, 
 his admirable figure giving the impression of greater height 
 than was really his. 
 
 When, after my passionate speech, I looked up, having 
 of course also risen, his face wore a look that was more 
 solemn than any face of man I have ever yet seen in all 
 my length of years. 
 
 "There is a God, Mr. Wynne, " he said, "who punishes 
 the traitor. Let us leave this man to the shame which 
 every year must bring. Your scheme I cannot consider. 
 I have no wish to conceal from you or from any gentleman 
 what it has cost me to do that which, as God lives, I believe 
 to be right. You, sir, have done your duty to your friend. 
 And now may I ask of you not to prolong a too painful 
 interview. " 
 
 Hugh Wynne; Free Quaker. S. Weir Mitchell, M.D.. LL.D.. p. 462. 
 
 The Execution 
 
 The hour of noon had been appointed for Major Andre's 
 execution. Andre rose from his bed at his usual hour, 
 and after partaking of breakfast which was supplied him 
 as had been the custom, from Washington's own table he 
 began to make his preparations for the solemn scene. His 
 servant, Laune, had arrived from New York some days
 
 * -__ 
 
 .
 
 ARNOLD AND ANDR& 97 
 
 before with a supply of clothing; and Andre this morning 
 shaved and dressed himself with more than his usual care. 
 He wore the rich scarlet uniform, faced with green, of a 
 British officer; though without the customary sash and 
 sword. 
 
 Pemberton's heart was ready to burst, but he knew 
 his duty to his friend too well to allow his sorrowful feelings 
 to master him for a moment. 
 
 "To the brave, true soul, John, all that men can do is 
 nothing. The heart right, and the conscience clear, as 
 yours are, my friend, and we can say well-met to death, 
 without a shudder." . . . 
 
 " Are you ready, Major? " said one of the officers. 
 
 " I am ready, " replied Andre proudly. 
 
 As Andre emerged from the prison into the free, fresh 
 air, he took a deep breath, and gazed up into the beautiful 
 blue sky above him, hazy and golden with the glory he so 
 much loved of an October day. He walked arm-in-arm 
 between the two officers, Pemberton walking near him. 
 A captain's command of thirty or forty men marched imme- 
 diately around them, and Andre glanced expressively to 
 Pemberton when he saw these, for he thought they were 
 the firing party, and that his last request had been granted. 
 
 An outer guard of five hundred men also attended, at 
 the head of which rode nearly all the principal officers of 
 the army, with the exception of Washington and his staff, 
 who from a feeling of delicacy remained in-doors. Large 
 crowds of the soldiery, and of the citizens from the sur- 
 rounding country, also were present. 
 
 As Andre passed on, he retained his composure in a 
 wonderful degree nodding and speaking pleasantly to 
 those officers with whom he was acquainted; especially to 
 those who had constituted the court-martial. 
 
 The gallows had been erected on the summit of an 
 eminence that commanded a wide view of the surrounding 
 country. It was also in full view of Washington's head- 
 quarters; but the doors and shutters of the latter were
 
 9 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 closed, not a soul was to be seen, save the usual sentinels 
 pacing in front of the house. 
 
 As the mournful procession turned from the high road 
 into the meadow, Andre first saw the gallows. He suddenly 
 recoiled, and paused for a moment. 
 
 "I thought you meant to spare me this indignity!" 
 he exclaimed, almost passionately. 
 
 "We have simply to obey our orders," replied one of 
 the officers. 
 
 Andre moved on. " I must drink the cup to the dregs, 
 it seems," he said with deep emotion. "But it will soon 
 be over. " The pleasant smile, however, had vanished from 
 his face. It was evident that what he thought a needless 
 indignity cut sharper than the sentence of death itself. 
 
 The gallows was simply a rude but lofty gibbet, with 
 a wagon drawn under it. Inside the wagon was a roughly- 
 made coffin, painted black. As Andre stood near the wagon, 
 awaiting some brief preparations, his agony seemed almost 
 more than he could bear; his throat sinking and swelling 
 as though convulsed, while he rolled a pebble to and fro 
 under one of his feet. Laune, his servant, totally overcome, 
 burst into loud weepings and lamentations. This seemed 
 to rouse and restore his master, who turned to him, and 
 uttered some cheering and comforting words. All around 
 there were solemn faces, and many were even in tears. 
 
 At a word from one of the officers, Andre sprang 
 lightly but with evident loathing into the baggage-wagon, 
 standing upon the coffin. Then he looked around him 
 upon his executioner, with his blackened face; upon the 
 saddened soldiery and the mournful crowd; upon the glori- 
 ous landscape, resplendent with the hues of autumn, and 
 melting gradually away into the hazy distance. Then the 
 old, proud look came back into his face and he seemed more 
 like a hero, mounted in the car of triumph, and prepared 
 to receive the acclamations of his followers, than a man about 
 to suffer a shameful death.
 
 . ARNOLD AND ANDR& 99 
 
 The executioner approached him, but he waved him 
 away with a grand disdain, and tossing his hat to the ground, 
 removed his stock, opened his shirt-collar, and taking the 
 noose, adjusted it himself properly about his neck. . 
 
 The order of execution was read loudly and impressively 
 by Adjutant -general Scammel. .At its conclusion, Colonel 
 Scammel informed the prisoner that he might speak, if 
 he had anything to say. 
 
 Lifting the bandage from his eyes, and gazing around 
 once more, as if that last look of earth and sun and sky and 
 human faces was sweet indeed, Andre said in a proud, clear 
 voice : 
 
 " Bear witness, gentlemen, that I die in the service of 
 my country, as becomes a British officer and a brave man. " 
 
 The hangman now drew near with a piece of cord to 
 bind his arms; but, recoiling from its snaky touch, Andre 
 swept his hand aside, and drawing another handkerchief 
 from his pocket,- allowed his elbows to be loosely fastened 
 behind his back. Then he said in a firm voice " I am 
 ready!" 
 
 Almost at the word, the wagon was rolled swiftly away, 
 and, with a terrible jerk and shock, the noble soul of John 
 Andre was severed from the beautiful frame with which 
 the Creator had clothed it. 
 
 Pemberton, Henry Peterson p. 376. 
 
 No Patriot Would Perform the Task 
 
 Crowds of people from all the country round men, 
 women, and children came to see him die. Most of them 
 would have torn Arnold limb from limb, but they were 
 weeping over Andre. Everything he did charmed them; 
 the touching letter he wrote to Washington asking to be shot 
 instead of hanged ; the outline of his beautiful slender figure 
 as he stood upon the gallows; his arranging with his own 
 hands the noose around his neck and turning down his collar. 
 No patriot could be found who would perform the, task of
 
 too THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 executioner. They had to procure one of the half-way loyalist 
 breed, who blackened his face and disguised himself, so that 
 he could never again be recognized. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, page 403. 
 
 An English Poetess Prophesies against Washington 
 
 Remorseless Washington! the day shall come 
 
 Of deep repentance for this barbarous doom ; 
 
 When injured Andre's memory shall inspire 
 
 A kindling army with resistless fire, 
 
 Each falchion sharper than the Britons wield, 
 
 And yield their fiercest lion to the field. 
 
 Then, when each hope of thine shall set in night, 
 
 When dubious dread and unavailing flight 
 
 Impel your host, thy guilt upbraided soul 
 
 Shall wish untouched the sacred life you stole. 
 
 And when thy heart appalled and vanquished pride 
 
 Shall vainly ask the mercy they denied, 
 
 With horror shalt thou meet the fate thou gave, 
 
 Nor pity gild the darkness of thy grave, 
 
 For infamy with livid hand shall shed 
 
 Eternal mildew on thy ruthless head. 
 
 General Washington and Major Andre, Charles J. Biddle, The Historical Magazine, Vol. 
 I, No. 7, July, 1857, p. 202. 
 
 An English Officer's View of the Case 
 
 He was tried by a board of general officers as a spy, and 
 condemned to be hanged. The American general has been 
 censured for directing this ignominious sentence to be 
 carried into execution; but doubtless Major Andre was well 
 aware when he undertook the negotiation, of the fate that 
 awaited him should he fall into the hands of the enemy. 
 The laws of war award to spies the punishment of death. 
 It would, therefore, be difficult to assign a reason why 
 Major Andre should have been exempted from that fate
 
 Copyright by The Century Co. From the Original by Howard Pyl9. 
 ARNOLD AND HIS WIFE IN ENGLAND
 
 ARNOLD AND ANDRE 101 
 
 to which all others are doomed under similar circ\imstances, 
 although the amiable qualities of the man rendered the 
 individual case a subject of peculiar commiseration. 
 
 Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards, Col. MacKinnon, Vol. II. p. 9. 
 
 Benedict Arnold's Reward 
 
 He was rewarded with a gift of at least 6315 in money, 
 which was a fortune in those days. His wife was given a 
 pension of five hundred pounds a year, and each of his 
 children one hundred pounds a year. He had also a com- 
 mand in the British army with perquisites and opportunities. 
 Although some of the Whigs avoided his company, he was 
 well received by the Tory aristocracy and the king, and his 
 family married into the peerage. He accomplished a large 
 part of his ambition. Had he succeeded in surrendering West 
 Point he would have no doubt been made a peer. His sons 
 entered the British army, and his descendants still occupy 
 positions of respectability in England, devoting themselves 
 to the enlargement of the British dominion, which was the 
 only cause their ancestor had at heart. 
 
 The True History of the American Revolution, Sydney George Fisher, p. 401 
 
 Charleston (S.C.) captured by the British, May 12, 1780 
 British victory at Camden (S. C.) . . . .August 16, 1780 
 Arnold's treachery at West Point. . . .September, 1780 
 
 Execution of Andre October., 1780 
 
 American victory at King's Mountain, October 7, 1780
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 HELPLESSLY WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 
 "Would to God They Were to End Here!" 
 
 The height reached by the troubles in the army and 
 their menacing character, had, however, a good as well as 
 a bad side. They penetrated the indifference and careless- 
 ness of both Congress and the States. Gentlemen in the 
 confederate and local administrations and legislatures 
 woke up to a realizing sense that the dissolution of the army 
 meant a general wreck, in which their own necks would be 
 in very considerable danger; and they also had an uneasy 
 feeling that starving and mutinous soldiers were very 
 uncertain in taking revenge. The condition of the army 
 gave a sudden and piercing reality to Washington's indignant 
 words to Mathews on October 4th : 
 
 " At a time when public harmony is so essential, when 
 we should aid and assist each other with all our abilities, 
 when our hearts should be open to information and our 
 hands ready to administer relief, to find distrusts and 
 jealousies taking possession of the mind and a party spirit 
 prevailing affords a most melancholy reflection, and fore- 
 bodes no good. " The hoarse murmur of impending mutiny 
 emphasized strongly the words written on the same day to 
 Duane: "The history of the war is a history of false hopes 
 and temporary expedients. Would to God they were to 
 end here!" 
 
 The events in the South, too, had a sobering effect. 
 The congressional general Gates had not proved a success. 
 His defeat at Camden had been terribly complete, and his 
 flight had been too rapid to inspire confidence in his capacity 
 for recuperation. The members of Congress were thus led
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 103 
 
 to believe that as managers of military matters they left 
 much to be desired ; and when Washington, on October nth, 
 addressed to them one of his long and admirable letters on 
 reorganization, it was received in a very chastened spirit. 
 They had listened to many such letters before, and had 
 benefited by them always a little, but danger and defeat 
 gave this one peculiar point. They therefore accepted the 
 situation, and adopted all the suggestions of the com- 
 mander-in-chief. They also in the same reasonable frame 
 of mind determined that Washington should select the next 
 general for the Southern arm)''. A good deal could have 
 been saved had this decision been reached before ; but even 
 now it was not too late. October i4th, Washington 
 appointed Greene to this post of difficulty and danger, and 
 Greene's assumption of the command marks the turning- 
 point in the tide of disaster, and the beginning of the ulti- 
 mate expulsion of the British from the only portion of the 
 colonies where they had made a tolerable campaign. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 285. 
 
 A Combined Movement at the South 
 
 The failure to accomplish anything in the North caused 
 Washington, as the year drew to a close, to turn his thoughts 
 once more toward a combined movement at the South. In 
 pursuance of this idea, he devised a scheme of uniting with 
 the Spaniards in the seizure of Florida, and of advancing 
 thence through Georgia to assail the English in the rear. 
 De Rochambeau did not approve the plan and it was aban- 
 doned ; but the idea of a southern movement was still kept 
 steadily in sight. The governing thought now was, not 
 to protect this place or that, but to cast aside everything 
 else in order to strike one great blow which would finish the 
 war. Where he could do this, time alone would show, 
 but if one follows the correspondence closely, it is apparent 
 that Washington's military instinct turned more and more 
 toward the South.
 
 io 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF- WASHINGTON 
 
 In that department affairs changed their aspect rapidly. 
 January i yth, Morgan won his brilliant victory at Cowpens, 
 withdrew in good order with his prisoners, and united 
 his army ' with that of Greene. Cornwallis was terribly 
 disappointed by this unexpected reverse, but he determined 
 to push on, defeat the combined American army, and then 
 join the British forces on the Chesapeake. Greene was too 
 weak to risk a battle, and made a masterly retreat of two 
 hundred miles before Cornwallis, escaping across the Dan 
 only twelve hours ahead of the enemy. The moment the 
 British moved away, Greene recrossed the river and hung 
 upon their rear. For a month he kept in their neighborhood, 
 checking the rising of the Tories, and declining battle. At 
 last he received reinforcements, felt strong enough to stand 
 his ground, and on March 1 5th the battle of Guilford Court 
 House was fought. It was a sharp and bloody fight; the 
 British had the advantage, and Greene abandoned the field, 
 bringing off his army in good order. Cornwallis on his part 
 had suffered so heavily, however, that his victory was turned 
 to ashes. On the i8th he was in full retreat, with Greene 
 in hot chase, and it was not until the 28th that he succeeded 
 in getting over the Deep River and escaping to Wilmington. 
 Thence he determined to push on and transfer the seat of 
 war to the Chesapeake. Greene, with the boldness and 
 quickness which showed him to be a soldier of a high order, 
 now dropped the pursuit and turned back to fight the Brit- 
 ish in detachments and free the southern States. There 
 is no need to follow him in the brilliant operations which 
 ensued, and by which he achieved this result. It is sufficient 
 to say here that he had altered the whole aspect of the war, 
 forced Cornwallis into Virginia within reach of Washington, 
 and begun the work of redeeming the Carolinas. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 293. 
 
 "Mad Anthony" and the Mutiny 
 
 The year 1781 opened in the Continental Army with 
 a practical temperance lecture. As there were no ladies
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 105 
 
 in camp to be called upon and to offer wine, the soldiers 
 visited one another, and the Government dealt out extra 
 whiskey. The liquor had not "aged"; indeed, nothing in 
 this new country had a chance to grow old, except the 
 soldiers' clothes and grievances. Under the excitement 
 caused by too much stimulation, too little food and clothing, 
 and a great deal of hair-splitting trickery on the part of their 
 State, a portion of the Pennsylvania line turned out under 
 arms, and, commanded only by their non-commissioned 
 officers, started from near New York to march to Philadel- 
 phia and lay their grievances before Congress. Wayne, 
 their rightful commander, reasoned with them, but they 
 had heard something of the sort before. Then, without 
 any supporting force but his own courage, he drew his 
 pistols; this demonstration they suppressed with fixed 
 bayonets, expressing in a single breath their entire willing- 
 ness to kill him if he tried to prevent them from carrying 
 out their plan. Wayne ordered out such Pennsylvanians 
 as had not yet mutinied, but the insurgents coaxed these 
 also to join the procession, and there was seen, for the first 
 and last time in the world, several thousand soldiers march- 
 ing in order with not a commissioned officer among them, 
 eve,ry man desperate at bad treatment experienced but not 
 one man willing to go over to the enemy. 
 
 Wayne lives in history as the hot-headed hero of Stony 
 Point, but his greatest claim to fame was his admirable 
 coolness during this mutiny. He sent mounted officers 
 ahead to inform Congress what to expect; he sent others 
 to prepare the country through which the party would 
 march; he sent a well appointed provision train with the 
 insurgents, so there should be no excuse for foraging and rob- 
 bery by the way; he informed Washington of what had 
 happened, and then he accompanied the insurgents, not 
 as commander, and hardly knowing whether he was guest 
 or prisoner. A mere soldier could not have done as Wayne 
 did; the occasion demanded a patriot, so, as usual when 
 such emergencies were felt, the patriot was there.
 
 io6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington, too, forgot for the moment that he was 
 a soldier, and remembered that he was an American. He 
 deprecated opposition, and begged Wayne "to labor with 
 Congress for relief, for he feared an attempt to reduce them 
 (the insurgents), by force "will either drive them to the 
 enemy or dissipate them in such a manner that they will 
 never be recovered." Then the commander-in-chief, who 
 tried to make all ill-winds blow good, shrewdly hurried 
 messengers off to New England to tell what had happened 
 and to beg for money and supplies for the men who had not 
 yet mutinied, and he succeeded so well as to obtain three 
 months' pay for the New England troops. 
 
 Meanwhile the insurgents marched on, maintaining 
 perfect order; their commander-in-chief was a sergeant- 
 major who had deserted from the British, but he gave no 
 indication of a desire to return to his old allegiance, yet, 
 when Lafayette, General St. Clair and other officers visited 
 the camp they were ordered away. This had the effect of 
 keeping President Reed, of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 
 from venturing into camp, although he, with a congres- 
 sional committee, had advanced from Philadelphia to meet 
 them. 
 
 The patriot cause was therefore in a very bad way, 
 and the most serious apprehensions were being felt on both 
 sides, when the British Commander, bless him! came 
 to the rescue, as he and his predecessors often unconsciously 
 did at just the critical moment. Sir Henry Clinton sent 
 two messengers to the insurgents with flattering invitations. 
 Not being an American he did not know any better; he 
 supposed all private soldiers, like his own, were mercenaries. 
 But the Pennsylvanians felt terribly insulted by the impli- 
 cation that because they were mutineers they might become 
 traitors, they explained their position by handing the 
 messengers over to Wayne, who afterward had them 
 effectually hanged as spies, and when the General offered 
 a hundred guineas to the board of sergeants for surrendering
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 107 
 
 the men, the money was declined on the ground that "it 
 was not for the sake or through any expectation of reward, 
 but for love of our country, that we sent the spies immedi- 
 ately to General Wayne; we do not consider ourselves 
 entitled to any other reward, and do jointly agree to accept 
 no other." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 213. 
 
 Discontent in the Army and an Appeal for Money 
 
 General Washington who had been extremely chagrined 
 at the issue of the mutiny in the Pennsylvania line, and who 
 was now assured of the confidence to be placed in the 
 fidelity of the eastern troops, who were composed of natives, 
 determined, by strong measures, to stop farther progress of 
 a spirit which threatened the destruction of the army, and 
 ordered a detachment to march against the mutineers, and 
 to bring them to unconditional submission. General Howe, 
 who commanded this detachment, was instructed to make 
 no terms with the insurgents while in a state of resistance; 
 and, as soon as they should surrender, to seize a few of the 
 most active leaders, and to execute them on the spot. These 
 orders were promptly obeyed, and the Jersey mutineers 
 returned to their duty. 
 
 In the hope of being more successful with the revolters 
 of Jersey than he had been with those of Pennsylvania, 
 Sir Henry Clinton offered them the same terms wriich had 
 been proposed to the mutineers at Princeton; and General 
 Robertson, at the head of three thousand men, was detached 
 to Staten Island with the avowed purpose of crossing over 
 into Jersey, and covering any movement which they might 
 make towards New York. The emissary, being in the 
 American interest, delivered his papers to the officer com- 
 manding at the first station to which he came. Other 
 papers were dispersed among the mutineers ; but the mutiny 
 was crushed too suddenly to allow time for the operation 
 of these propositions.
 
 ro8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The vigorous measures taken in this instance were 
 happily followed by such an attention on the part of the 
 States, to the actual situation of the army, as checked the 
 progress of discontent. Influenced by the representations 
 of the commander-in-chief, they raised three months' pay 
 in specie, which they forwarded to the soldiers, who received 
 it with joy, considering it as evidence that their fellow 
 citizens were not entirely unmindful of their sufferings. 
 
 Although the army was thus reduced to such extreme 
 distress, the discontents of the people were daily multiplied 
 by the' contributions which they were required to make, 
 and by the irritating manner in which those contributions 
 were drawn from them. Every article for public use was 
 obtained by impressment ; and the taxes were either unpaid, 
 or collected by coercive means. Strong remonstrances 
 were made against this system; and the dissatisfaction 
 which pervaded the mass of the community was scarcely 
 less dangerous than that which had been manifested by the 
 army. 
 
 To the judicious patriots throughout America, the 
 necessity of giving greater powers to the federal government 
 became every day more apparent ; but the efforts of enlight- 
 ened individuals were too feeble to correct that fatal dis- 
 position of power which had been made by enthusiasm 
 uninstructed by experience. 
 
 To relieve the United States from their complicated 
 embarrassments, a foreign loan seemed an expedient of 
 indispensable necessity, and from France they hoped to 
 obtain it. Congress selected Lieutenant Colonel Laurens, 
 a gentleman whose situation in the family of the commander- 
 in-chief had enabled him to take a comprehensive view of 
 the military capacities and weakness of his country, for this 
 interesting service; and instructed him also to urge the 
 ' advantage of maintaining a naval superiority in the Ameri- 
 can seas. Before his departure, he passed some days at 
 headquarters, and received from General Washington in
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 109 
 
 the form of a letter, the result of his reflections on the 
 existing state of things. 
 
 In this paper he detailed the pecuniary embarrassments 
 of the government, and represented, with great earnestness, 
 the inability of the nation to furnish a revenue adequate 
 to the support of the war. He dwelt on the discontents 
 which the system of impressment had excited among the 
 people, and expressed his fears that the evils felt in the 
 prosecution of the war, might weaken the sentiments which 
 began it. 
 
 From this state of things, he deduced the vital impor- 
 tance of an immediate and ample supply of money, which 
 might be the foundation for substantial arrangements of 
 finance, for reviving public credit, and giving vigor to 
 future operations ; as well as of a decided effort of the allied 
 arms on the continent to effect the great objects of the 
 alliance, in the ensuing campaign. 
 
 Next to a supply of money, he considered a naval 
 superiority in the American seas as an object of the deepest 
 interest. 
 
 To the United States, it would be of decisive importance, 
 and France also might derive great advantages from trans- 
 ferring the maritime war to the coast of her ally. 
 
 The future ability of the United States to repay any 
 loan which might now be obtained was displayed; and he 
 concluded with assurances that there was still a fund of 
 inclination and resource in the country, equal to great and 
 continued exertions, provided the means were afforded of 
 stopping the progress of disgust, by changing the present 
 system, and adopting another more consonant with the 
 spirit of the nation, and more capable of infusing activity 
 and energy into public measures; of which a powerful suc- 
 cor in money must be the basis. "The people were dis- 
 contented, but it was with the feeble and oppressive mode 
 of conducting the war, not with the war itself. " 
 
 The Life of George Washington, John Marshall, Vol. I, p. 424.
 
 no THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "A Difference in a Moment of Passion" 
 
 "An unexpected change has taken place in my situa- 
 tion," writes Hamilton (Feb. 18, 1781). "I am no longer 
 a member of the General's family. This information will 
 surprise you, and the manner of the change will surprise 
 you more. Two days ago the General and I passed each 
 other on the stairs : he told me he wanted to speak to me. 
 I answered that I would wait on him immediately. I 
 went below and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent 
 to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing "and 
 interesting nature. 
 
 " Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way 
 by the Marquis de Lafayette, and we conversed together 
 about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify 
 how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a 
 manner, which, but for our intimacy, would have been more 
 than abrupt. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, 
 in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, 
 accosting me in an angry tone, "Colonel Hamilton" (said 
 he), "you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs 
 these ten minutes; I must tell you, sir, you treat me with 
 disrespect. " I replied without petulancy, but with decision, 
 " I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you have thought 
 it necessary to tell me so, we part." "Very well, sir," 
 (said he) "if it be your choice, " or something to this effect, 
 and we separated. I sincerely believe my absence, which 
 gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes. 
 
 " In less than an hour after, Tilghman came to me in 
 the General's name, assuring me of his great confidence in 
 my abilities, integrity, usefulness, etc., and of his desire, 
 in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could 
 not have happened but in a moment of passion. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 269. 
 
 "It Is out of My Power" 
 
 The winter passed quietly away, but as soon as the 
 snow was off the ground in 1781, the Indians renewed their
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH m 
 
 ravages. Early in the winter Clark went to Virginia to 
 try to get an army for an expedition against Detroit. He 
 likewise applied to Washington for assistance. Washington 
 fully entered into his plans, and saw their importance. He 
 would gladly have rendered him every aid. But he could 
 do nothing, because of the importance to which the central 
 authority, the Continental Congress, had been reduced by 
 the selfishness and supine indifference of the various states 
 Virginia among the number. He wrote Clark : 
 
 "It is out of my power to send any reinforcements to 
 the westward. If the States would fill their continental 
 battalions we should be able to oppose a regular and per- 
 manent force to the enemy in every quarter. If they will 
 not, they must certainly take measures to defend themselves 
 by their militia, however expensive and ruinous the sys- 
 tem." 
 
 It was impossible to state with more straightforward 
 clearness the fact that Kentucky owed the unprotected 
 condition in which she was left, to the divided or States- 
 right system of government that then existed; and that 
 she would have had ample protection and incidentally 
 greater liberty had the central authority been stronger. 
 
 The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. II, p. 115. 
 
 Disappointments and Cross Purposes 
 
 Washington heard frequently from Greene, and in 
 reply sent sympathy which was all he had to offer. He 
 strained a point, however, in favor of the South when 
 he learned that Arnold was operating in southern Virginia ; 
 to capture this rascal he sent off Lafayette, with twelve 
 hundred men, to co-operate with a French naval force that 
 was to blockade the traitor at Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
 Lafayette's march, which was unknown to any one, the 
 beginning of the end, began on Washington's birthday; 
 believers in coincidences should stick a pin here. 
 
 A fortnight later the entire French fleet left Newport,
 
 ii2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the blockade having kindly been raised by Providence 
 through the medium of a storm, and sailed for the Chesa- 
 peake to assist in the capture of Arnold and his large army. 
 Two days afterward the British fleet started in pursuit, and 
 the French were overtaken off the Virginia capes. A severe 
 fight occurred; each fleet used up the other, and hurried 
 off to make repairs, which was the leading industry of the 
 two navies during the war. 
 
 The failure of the French fleet seems to have brought 
 Washington nearer to discouragement than any other event 
 of the war had done; he wrote Laurens, the new minister 
 at Paris, that the affair was to be regretted because a suc- 
 cessful blow in that quarter would probably have given 
 a decisive turn to southern affairs, and saved Virginia much 
 unnecessary expense, "because the world is disappointed 
 at not seeing Arnold in gibbets; and, above all, because 
 we stood in need of something to keep us afloat until the 
 result of your mission was known; for be assured, my dear 
 Laurens, that day does not follow night more certainly than 
 it brings with it some additional proof of the impracticability 
 of carrying on the war without the aids you were directed 
 to solicit. . , '.' / I give it decisively as my opinion that, 
 without a foreign loan, our present force, which is but the 
 remnant of an army, cannot be kept together this campaign, 
 much less will it be increased and in readiness for another. 
 . ; ; . . We can not transport provisions from the States 
 in which they are assessed, to the army, because we cannot 
 pay the teamsters." The situation was about that of the 
 young man who starved to death because he had not a 
 postage stamp to carry a letter asking aid of his father. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 220. 
 
 A Letter Intended to be Intercepted 
 
 Meantime, Washington had written a letter to the 
 Marquis de Lafayette, then in Virginia, which he caused to 
 be intercepted. In the letter he remarked that he was
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH n 3 
 
 pleased with the probability that Earl Cornwallis would 
 fortify either Portsmouth or Old Point Comfort, for, were 
 he to fix upon Yorktown, from its great capabilities of de- 
 fense, he might remain there snugly and unharmed, until 
 a superior British fleet would relieve him with strong re- 
 inforcements, or embark him altogether. 
 
 This fated letter quieted the apprehensions of the 
 British commander-in-chief as to the danger of his lieutenant, 
 and produced those delays in the operations of Sir Henry 
 that tended materially to the success of the allies and the 
 surrender of Yorktown. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 232. 
 
 "Your Duty, Young Man, Is Not to Talk, but to Obey !" 
 
 Washington wrote other similar letters. The bearer 
 of one of these was a young Baptist clergyman, named 
 Montagnie, an ardent Whig, who was directed by Washing- 
 ton to carry a despatch to Morristown. He directed the 
 messenger to cross the river at King's Ferry, proceed by 
 Haverstraw to the Ramapo clove, and through the pass to 
 Morristown. Montagnie, knowing the Ramapo pass to be 
 in possession of the cow-boys and other friends of the enemy, 
 ventured to suggest to the commander-in-chief that the 
 upper road would be the safest. " I shall be taken, " he 
 said, " if I go through the clove. " " Your duty, young man, 
 is not to talk, but to obey!" replied Washington, sternly 
 enforcing his words by a vigorous stamp of his foot. Mon- 
 tagnie proceeded as directed, and, near the Ramapo pass, 
 was caught. A few days afterward he was sent to New 
 York, where he was confined in the Sugar-house, one of 
 the famous provost prisons in the city. The day after his 
 arrival, the contents of the despatches taken from him were 
 published in Rivington's Gazette with great parade, for they 
 indicated a plan of an attack upon the city. The enemy 
 was alarmed thereby, and active preparations were put in
 
 ii 4 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 motion for receiving the besiegers. Montagnie now per- 
 ceived why he was so positively instructed to go through the 
 Ramapo pass, where himself and despatches were quite 
 sure to be seized. 
 
 Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Benson J. Lossing, Vol. I, p. 781. 
 
 Wondering What to Do and How to Do It 
 
 While Washington was wondering what to do and how 
 to do it, his uncertainty was ended by information that the 
 Count de Grasse, with a large fleet and army, was to leave 
 the West Indies early in August and make for Chesapeake 
 Bay. Then the commander's long suppressed uncertainty 
 ended; he informed Lafayette (but scarcely any one else) 
 of what to expect, and warned him not to let Cornwallis 
 get into the Carolinas again a warning that the young 
 Frenchman heeded with a degree of industry and skill for 
 which American historians have never given him credit. 
 Then Washington, after making preparations that put the 
 British and his own army under the impression that New 
 York was to be attacked by the allied armies, moved his 
 own and the French troops from the east to the west side 
 of the Hudson River, frightened the- enemy into their works 
 on the Jersey shore, menaced Staten Island, and was more 
 than half way to Philadelphia before Clinton realized that 
 he had been out-generaled. The indignation of the British 
 commander seems to have temporarily deprived him of his 
 sense of honor and decency, for he allowed Benedict Arnold, 
 whom Cornwallis would not have near him in Virginia, to go 
 off to New London (Arnold's native city) and destroy it. 
 
 The City of Brotherly Love received Washington with 
 characteristic hospitality, but greatly wondered what he 
 came for. The only man whose curiosity was satisfied to 
 any extent was Robert Morris, for Washington borrowed 
 twenty thousand dollars of him to cheer the pockets of the 
 scant two thousand men, shabby, uncomfortable, and
 
 Marquis Lafayette 
 
 Count Rochambeau 
 
 Kosciuszko Baron Steuben 
 
 FOUR FOREIGN CHAMPIONS OF LIBERTY
 
 WATCHING THE WAR IN THE SOUTH 115 
 
 penniless, who were going farther south than they had ever 
 been before. Three days after Washington's arrival, the 
 citizens obtained a hint by the appearance of the little army, 
 which was so skillfully expanded that in column it covered 
 two miles of roadway. Fortunately the streets were dusty, 
 so the rags and faded uniforms were not as noticeable as they 
 might have been. On the following day Rochambeau's 
 army passed through in gay attire and with plenty of martial 
 music such as the natives had not heard since the British 
 hurried away. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 225. 
 
 "A Tempting Proposal to a Young General of Twenty-four" 
 
 The fleet of the Count de Grasse, consisting of twenty- 
 eight sail of the line, and a due proportion of frigates, con- 
 taining three thousand veteran troops under the Marquis 
 de St. Simon, anchored in the Chesapeake on the thirtieth 
 of August. The frigates were, immediately employed in 
 conveying the troops up the James river, where they were 
 landed, and reinforced the army of Lafayette, who then 
 commanded in Virginia. An instance of virtue and mag- 
 nanimity that occurred at this period of our narrative adorns 
 the fame and memory of Lafayette. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the French land and naval forces 
 in our waters, their commander said to Lafayette : 
 
 "Now, marquis, now is your time; a wreath of never- 
 fading laurel is within your grasp ! Fame bids you seize it. 
 With the veteran regiments of St. Simon, and your own 
 continentals, you have five thousand ; to these add a thou- 
 sand marines, and a thousand seamen, to be landed from the 
 fleet, making seven thousand good soldiers, which, with 
 your militia, give you an aggregate exceeding ten thousand 
 men. With these, storm the enemy's works while they 
 are yet in an unfinished state, and before the arrival of the 
 combined armies you will end the war, and acquire an 
 immortal renown."
 
 n6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "Believe me, my dear sir," said the good Lafayette, 
 during his visit in America, "this was a most tempting 
 proposal to a young general of twenty-four, and who was not 
 unambitious of fame by honest means; but insuperable 
 reasons forbade me from listening to the proposal for a single 
 moment. Our beloved General had intrusted to me a com- 
 mand far above my deserts, my age, or experience in war. 
 From the time of my first landing in America, up to the 
 campaign of 1781, I had enjoyed the attachment, nay, 
 parental regard of the matchless chief. Could I then dare 
 to attempt to pluck a leaf from the laurel, that was soon to 
 bind his honored brow the well-earned reward of long 
 years of toils, anxieties, and battles? And, lastly, could I 
 have been assured of success in my attack, from the known 
 courage and discipline of the foe, that success must have 
 been attended by a vast effusion of human blood. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 P- 233- 
 
 "Less Painful to Me if They Had Burnt My House" 
 
 The troops which Cornwallis intended to join had been 
 sent in detachments to Virginia during the winter and spring. 
 The first body had arrived early in January under the com- 
 mand of Arnold, and a general marauding and ravaging 
 took place. A little later General Phillips arrived with 
 reinforcements and took command. On' May i3th, General 
 Phillips died, and a week later Cornwallis appeared at 
 Petersburg, assumed control, and sent Arnold back to New 
 York. 
 
 Meantime Washington, though relieved by Morgan's and 
 Greene's admirable work, had a most trying and unhappy 
 winter and spring. He sent every man he could spare, 
 and more than he ought to have spared, to Greene, and 
 he stripped himself still further when the invasion of Vir- 
 ginia began. But for the most part he was obliged, from 
 lack of any naval strength, to stand helplessly by and see
 
 more British troops sent to the South, and witness the 
 ravaging of his native State, without any ability to prevent 
 it. To these grave trials was added a small one, which 
 stung him to the quick. The British came up the Potomac, 
 and Lund Washington, in order to preserve Mount Vernon, 
 gave them refreshments, and treated them in a conciliatory 
 manner. He meant well but acted ill, and Washington 
 wrote : 
 
 " It would have been a less painful circumstance to me 
 to have heard that, in consequence of your non-compliance 
 with their request, they had burnt my house and laid the 
 plantation in ruins. You ought to have considered yourself 
 as my representative, and should have reflected on the bad 
 example of communicating with the enemy, and making a 
 voluntary offer of refreshments to them, with a view to 
 prevent a conflagration." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 295. 
 
 "If You Had Looked behind You at the Battle of Cowpens" 
 
 In a personal encounter with Colonel William Washing- 
 ton, cousin to the commander-in-chief , at the battle of Cow- 
 pens, Colonel Tarleton was severely wounded in the hand. 
 According to Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution," 
 this wound was twice made the point of severe wit by two 
 American ladies, who were daughters of Colonel Montfort, 
 of Halifax, North Carolina. Because of his cruel and resent- 
 ful disposition he was most heartily despised by the republi- 
 cans. The occasions were as follows: When Cornwallis 
 and his army were at Halifax, on their way to Virginia, 
 Tarleton was at the house of an American. In the presence 
 of Mrs. Willie Jones (one of these sisters), Tarleton spoke of 
 Colonel Washington as an illiterate fellow, hardly able to 
 write his name. 
 
 "Ah, Colonel," said Mrs. Jones, "you ought to know 
 better, for you bear on your person proof that he knows very 
 well how to make his mark!"
 
 n8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 At another time Tarleton was speaking sarcastically 
 of Colonel Washington, in the presence of her sister, Mrs. 
 Ashe. 
 
 "I would be happy to see Colonel Washington," he 
 said, with a sneer. Mrs. Ashe instantly replied, " If you had 
 looked behind you, Colonel Tarleton, at the battle of Cow- 
 pens, you would have enjoyed that pleasure. " 
 
 Stung with this keen wit, Tarleton placed his hand on 
 his sword. General Leslie, who was present, remarked, 
 "Say what you please, Mrs. Ashe, Colonel Tarleton knows 
 better than to insult a lady in my presence. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 252-
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 
 "Gone to Catch Cornwallis in His Mouse-trap !" 
 
 As the army marched through the streets of Philadel- 
 phia, there was an outburst of exulting hope. The plan 
 could no longer be concealed. Congress was informed of 
 it, and a fresh light shone upon the people, already elated 
 by the news of Greene's career of triumph. The windows 
 were thronged with fair ladies, who threw sweet flowers 
 on the dusty soldiers as they passed, while the welkin rang 
 with shouts, anticipating the great deliverance that was 
 soon to come. The column of soldiers, in the loose order 
 adapted to its swift march, was nearly two miles in length. 
 First came the war-worn Americans, clad in rough toggery, 
 which eloquently told the story of the meager resources of a 
 country without a government. Then followed the gallant 
 Frenchmen, clothed in gorgeous trappings, such as could 
 be provided by a government which at that time took three- 
 fourths of the earnings of its people in unrighteous taxation. 
 There was some parading of these soldiers before the Presi- 
 dent of Congress, but time was precious. Washington in 
 his eagerness galloping on to Chester, received and sent back 
 the joyful intelligence that Grasse had arrived in Chesapeake, 
 and then the glee of the people knew* no bounds. Bands of 
 music played in the streets, every house hoisted its Stars 
 and Stripes, and all the roadside taverns shouted success 
 to the bold general. "Long live Washington!" was the 
 toast of the day. " He has gone to catch Cornwallis in his 
 mouse- trap!" 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske. Vol. II, p. 277. 
 
 ("9)
 
 120 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Visits Mount Vernon after Six Years 
 
 Pushing on after the joyful news of the arrival of de 
 Grasse had been received, Washington left the army to go 
 by water from the Head of Elk, and hurried to Mount 
 Vernon, accompanied by de Rochambeau. It was six 
 years since he had seen his home. He had left it a Virginia 
 colonel, full of forebodings for his country, with a vast and 
 unknown problem awaiting solution at his hands. He re- 
 turned to it the first soldier of his day, after six years of 
 battle and trial, of victory and defeat, on the eve of the last 
 and crowning triumph. As he paused on the well-beloved 
 spot, and gazed across the broad and beautiful river at his 
 feet, thoughts and remembrances must have come thronging 
 to his mind which it is given to few men to know. He 
 lingered there two days, and then pressing on, was in 
 Williamsburg on the i4th, and on the iyth went on board 
 the Ville de Paris to congratulate de Grasse on his victory, 
 and to concert measures for the siege. 
 
 The meeting was most agreeable. All had gone well, 
 all promised well, and everything was smiling and harmo- 
 nious. Yet they were on the eve of the greatest peril which 
 occurred in the campaign. Washington had managed to 
 scrape together enough transports ; but his almost unassisted 
 labors had taken time, and delay followed. Then the trans- 
 ports were slow, winds and tides were uncertain, and there 
 was further delay. The interval permitted de Grasse to 
 hear that the British fleet had received reinforcements, 
 and to become nervous in consequence. He wanted to 
 get out to sea; the season was advancing, and he was anx- 
 ious to return to the West Indies ; and above all he did not 
 wish to fight in the bay. He therefore proposed firmly 
 and vigorously to leave two ships in the river, and stand 
 out to sea with his fleet. The Yorktown campaign began 
 to look as if it had reached its conclusion. Once again 
 Washington wrote one of his masterly letters of expostu-
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 121 
 
 lation and remonstrance, and once more he prevailed, aided 
 by the reasoning and appeals of Lafayette, who carried the 
 message. De Grasse consented to stay, and Washington, 
 grateful beyond measure, wrote him that " a great mind 
 knows how to make personal sacrifice to secure an im- 
 portant general good." Under the circumstances, and in 
 view of the general'truth of this complimentary sentiment, 
 one cannot help rejoicing that de Grasse had "a great mind." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 306. 
 
 Jolly Knox Laughed Till His Fat Sides Shook 
 
 The general, attended by a numerous suite of American 
 and French officers, repaired to Hampton, and thence on 
 board the Ville de Paris, the French admiral's ship, lying 
 at anchor in the chops of the capes, to pay their respects to 
 the Count de Grasse, and consult with him as to their 
 future operations. 
 
 On the American chief's reaching the quarter-deck, the 
 admiral flew to embrace him, imprinting the French salute 
 upon each cheek. Hugging him in his arms, he exclaimed, 
 "My dear little general!" De Grasse was of lofty stature; 
 but the term petit or small, when applied to the majestic 
 and commanding person of Washington produced an effect 
 upon the risible faculties of all present not to be described. 
 The Frenchmen, governed by the rigid etiquette of the 
 ancien regime, controlled their mirth as best they could; 
 but our own jolly Knox, heedless of all rules, laughed, and 
 that aloud, till his fat sides shook again. 
 
 Washington returned from this conference by no means 
 satisfied with its result. The admiral was extremely restless 
 at anchor while his enemy's fleet kept the sea; and having 
 orders limiting his stay in the American waters to a certain 
 and that not distant day, he was desirous of putting to sea 
 to block up the enemy's fleet in the basin of New York, 
 rather than to run the risk of being himself blockaded in the 
 bay of the Chesapeake.
 
 i 2 2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington urged de Grasse to remain, because his 
 departure, he said, "by affording an opening for the succor 
 of New York, which the enemy would instantly avail them- 
 selves of, would frustrate our brilliant prospects; and the 
 consequence would be, not only the disgrace and loss of 
 renouncing an enterprise, upon which the fairest expectations 
 of the allies have been founded, after 'the most expensive 
 preparations, but perhaps disbanding the whole army for 
 want of provisions. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Sonf George Washington Parke Custis, 
 
 P- 235. 
 
 Not to His Glass but to His Grave 
 
 The first headquarters of Earl Cornwallis were in the 
 house of -Mr. Secretary Nelson, a relative of the governor, 
 and a gentleman attached to the royal cause. It was a 
 very large and splendid bnck mansion, and .towering above 
 the ramparts, afforded a fine mark for the American artillery, 
 that soon riddled it, having learned from a deserter that it 
 contained the British headquarters. His lordship remained 
 in the house until his steward was killed by a cannon-ball 
 while carrying a tureen of soup to his master's table. 
 
 The British general then removed his headquarters 
 to the house of Governor Nelson, and finally to apartments 
 excavated in the bank on the southern extremity of the 
 town, where two rooms were wainscoted with boards, 
 and lined with baize, for his accommodation. It was in 
 that cavernous abode that the earl received his last letter 
 from Sir Henry Clinton. It was brought by the honorable 
 Colonel Cochran, who, landing from an English cutter on 
 Cape Charles, procured an open boat, and threading his 
 way, under cover of a fog, through the French fleet, arrived 
 safely, and delivered his despatches. They contained 
 orders for the earl to hold out to the last extremity, assuring 
 him that a force of seven thousand men would be immedi- 
 ately embarked for his relief.
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 123 
 
 While taking wine with his lordship after dinner, the 
 gallant colonel proposed that he should go up to the ram- 
 parts and take a look at the Yankees, and upon his return 
 give Washington's health in a bumper. He was dissuaded 
 from so rash a proceeding by every one at the table, the 
 whole of the works being at that time in so ruinous a state 
 that shelter could be had nowhere. The colonel however 
 persisted, and gayly observing that he would leave his glass 
 as his representative till his return, which would be quickly, 
 away he went. Poor fellow, he did return, and that quickly, 
 but he was borne in the arms of the soldiers, not to his 
 glass, but to his grave. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 
 p. 244. 
 
 The Battle Wages 
 
 On the 1 4th we reached Williamsburg. The army 
 rapidly came in by divisions, French and American. Before 
 the 25th we had from the fleet cannon and intrenching-tools, 
 and all our available force was to hand. 
 
 I can make clear in a few words the situation of the 
 enemy. The peninsula of York lies between the James and 
 the York rivers. On the south bank of the latter sits the 
 little town of York. Seven redoubts surrounded it. The 
 town was flanked right and left by deep ravines and creeks 
 falling into the York river. Intrenchments, field-works, and 
 abatis, with felled trees, lay to landward. 
 
 Gloucester Point, on the opposite shore of the river, 
 was well fortified, and before it lay a small force of British 
 war-ships, the channel being obstructed lower down by 
 sunken vessels. The French fleet held the river below the 
 town, and we the peninsula. 
 
 On tl>e night of the 25th, after a brief visit to the fleet, 
 our chief lay down in the open under a mulberry-tree with 
 one of its roots for a pillow, and slept well, as was audible 
 enough to us who lay at a distance.
 
 124 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 That night his lordship abandoned his outworks and 
 drew within the town. We seized these lines next day, 
 losing Colonel Scammel, formerly of the staff, in whose 
 amusing songs and gay talk our chief had used to take so 
 much pleasure. On the 28th the armies marched twelve 
 miles down the peninsula, and camped two miles from the 
 town, driving in the pickets and some parties of horse. 
 
 By October i , the weather being fine, we had completed 
 a half-moon of intrenchments, resting at each wing on the 
 river. Two advanced redoubts we threw up and were 
 severely cannonaded, so as to interrupt the men at work. 
 
 His Excellency, somewhat anxious, came out of his 
 tent, and calling Mr. Tilghman and me, who were writing, 
 rode forth, followed by his faithful black Billy, whom we 
 used to credit with knowing more of what went on than did 
 we of the staff. Mr. Evans, a chaplain, was fain to see more 
 of the war than concerned him, and came after us. As we 
 approached, Billy, riding behind me, said as the cannon-shot 
 went over us : 
 
 "Dem redcoats is p'intin' us mighty well." 
 
 Then a shot ricochetted, .striking the ground in front 
 and covering us with dust. Mr. Evans, who was standing 
 by, and had now seen quite enough of it, said, "We shall 
 all be killed, " and then looked ruefully at his new beaver, 
 well dusted and dirty. 
 
 " You had better carry that home to your wife and chil- 
 dren, " said the chief. " This is not the place for you, sir. " 
 
 Neither was it much to my own liking, and I was not 
 sorry when we rode back. 
 
 On the night of the gth of October his Excellency put 
 a match to the first gun, and for four days and nights a 
 furious cannonade went on from both sides. 
 
 Late on the night of the loth ... a monstrous 
 smoke hung over the town. Now and then a gust of sea 
 wind tore it apart, and through the rifts we saw the silver 
 cup of the moon and the host of stars. We lay long on the
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN , 125 
 
 hillock. I suppose the hour and the mighty fates involved 
 made us serious and silent. Far away seventy cannon 
 thundered from our works, and the enemy's batteries roared 
 their incessant fury of reply. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 4go. 
 
 " Save Me, for I Have Been a Good Soldier " 
 
 At a given signal the detachments advanced to the 
 assault. As the Americans were mounting the redoubt, 
 Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, aide-de-camp to the commander- 
 in-chief , appeared suddenly on their flank, at the head of two 
 companies. Upon Major Fish hailing him with, " Why, 
 Laurens, what brought you here?" the hero replied, "I 
 had nothing to do at headquarters, and so came here to see 
 what you all were about. " Bravest among the brave, this 
 Bayard of his age and country rushed with the foremost 
 into the works, making with his own hand, Major Campbell, 
 the British commandant, a prisoner-of-war. The cry of 
 the Americans as they mounted to the assault was, " Remem- 
 ber New London." But here, as at Stony Point, notwith- 
 standing the provocation to retaliate was justified by the 
 iuhuman massacres of Paoli and Fort Griswold, mercy, 
 aivine mercy, perched triumphantly on our country's 
 colors. 
 
 Washington, during the whole of the siege, continued to 
 expose himself to every danger. It was in vain his officers 
 remonstrated. It was in vain that Colonel Cobb, his 
 aide-de-camp, entreated him to come down from a parapet, 
 whence he was reconnoitring the enemy's works, the shot 
 and shells flying thickly around, and an officer of the New 
 England line killed within a very few yards. During one 
 of his visits to the main battery, a soldier of Colonel Lamb's 
 artillery had his leg shattered by the explosion of a shell. 
 As they x were bearing him to the rear, he recognized the 
 chief, and cried out, " God bless your excellency, save me 
 if you can, for I have been a good soldier, and served under
 
 I2 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 you during the whole war." Sensibly affected by the 
 brave fellow's appeal, the general immediately ordered 
 him to the particular care of Doctor Craik. It was too late ; 
 death terminated his sufferings after an amputation was 
 performed. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Park Custis, 
 
 p. 241- 
 
 "The Work is Done and Well Done." 
 
 On the nth the second parallel was begun, and on the 
 1 4th the American batteries played on the two advanced 
 redoubts with such effect that the breaches were pronounced 
 practicable. Washington at once ordered an assault. The 
 smaller redoubt was stormed by the Americans under 
 Hamilton and taken in ten minutes. The other, larger and 
 more strongly garrisoned, was carried by the French with 
 equal gallantry, after a half an hour's fighting. During the 
 assault Washington stood in an embrasure of the grand 
 battery, watching the advance of the men. He was always 
 given to exposing himself recklessly when there was fighting 
 to be done, but not when he was only an observer. This 
 night, however, he was much exposed to the enemy's fire. 
 One of his aides, anxious and disturbed for his safety, told 
 him that the place was perilous. "If you think so," was 
 the quiet answer, "you are at liberty to step back." The 
 moment was too exciting, too fraught with meaning, to 
 think of peril. The old fighting spirit of Braddock's field 
 was unchained for 1 the last time. He would have liked to 
 head the American assault, sword in hand, and as he could 
 not do that he stood as near his troops as he could, utterly 
 regardless of the bullets whistling in the air about him. Who 
 can wonder at his intense excitement at that moment? 
 Others saw a brilliant storming of two outworks, but to 
 Washington the whole Revolution, and all the labor and 
 thought and conflict of six years were culminating in the 
 smoke and din on those redoubts, while out of the dust and
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 127 
 
 heat of the sharp quick fight success was coming. He had 
 waited long, and worked hard, and his whole soul went out 
 as he watched the troops cross the abatis and scale the 
 works. He could have no thought of danger then, and when 
 all was over he turned to Knox and said, " The work is done, 
 and well done. Bring me my horse. " 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 307. 
 
 The Surrender of Cornwallis 
 
 On the iyth of October, the Marquis Cornwallis having 
 had a stomach full of fighting, and having failed of his 
 schemes to get away across the York River, beat a parley, 
 and after some discussion signed the articles of capitulation. 
 The soldiers were to remain prisoners in Virginia and Mary- 
 land, the officers were to return to Europe upon parole. 
 The beaten army at two on the igth came down the road 
 between the French and our lines, with the colors in their 
 cases, and the bands playing a British march; for it is of 
 the etiquette of such occasions that the captured army play 
 none but their own tunes. Some wag must have chosen the 
 air, for they marched by to the good old English music of 
 "The World Turned Upside Down"; such must have 
 seemed sadly the case to these poor devils. 
 
 As I was of the staff, I was privileged to see well this 
 wonderful and glorious conclusion of a mighty strife. Our 
 chief sat straight in the saddle, with a face no man could 
 read, for in it was neither elation nor show of satisfaction, 
 as the sullen ranks came near. 
 
 At the head of the line rode General O'Hara. He 
 paused beside our chief and begged his Excellency to receive 
 the excuses of my Lord Cornwallis, who was not well enough 
 to be present, which no one believed nor thought a manly 
 thing to do. 
 
 His Excellency bowed, tnisted it was not very serious, 
 but would not receive General O'Hara's sword. With quiet 
 dignity he motioned him to deliver it to Major-general
 
 i 2 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Lincoln, who now had these grateful amends for the mis- 
 fortune of having had to surrender his own good blade at 
 Charleston. 
 
 After this the long array of chagrined and beaten men 
 went by, and, returning to York, were put under guard. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker. S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 510. 
 
 The Crowning Glory of the War 
 
 At length, on the morning of the seventeenth, the thun- 
 dering ceased, hour after hour passed away, and the most 
 attentive ear could not catch another sound. What had 
 happened? Can Cornwallis have escaped? To suppose 
 he had fallen was almost too much to hope for. And now 
 an intense anxiety prevails: every eye is turned toward 
 the great southern road, and "the express! the express!" 
 is upon every lip. Each hamlet and homestead pours forth 
 its inmates. Age is seen leaning on his staff; women with 
 infants at the breast; children with wondering eves, and 
 tiny hands outstretched all, all, with breathless hopes and 
 fears, await the courier's coming. Ay, and the courier rode 
 with a red spur that day ; but had he been mounted on the 
 wings of the wind, he could scarcely have kept pace with the 
 general anxiety. 
 
 At length there is a cry "He comes! he comes!" 
 and emerging from a cloud of dust, a horseman is seen at 
 headlong speed. He plies the lash and spur; covered with 
 foam, with throbbing flank, and nostril dilated to catch the 
 breeze, the generous horse devours the road, while ever 
 and anon the rider waves his cap, and shouts to the eager 
 groups that crowd his way "Cornwallis is taken!" 
 
 And now arose a joyous cry that made the very welkin 
 tremble. The Tories, amazed and confounded, slunk away 
 to their holes and hiding-places, while the patriot Whigs 
 rushed into each other's arms, and wept for gladness. 
 And oh! on that day of general thanksgiving and praise, 
 how many an aspiration ascended to the Most High, implor-
 
 THE STORMING OF YORK TOWN 129 
 
 ing blessings on him whom all time will consecrate as the 
 FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. That event was indeed the crown- 
 ing glory of the war of the Revolution . hostilities languished 
 thereafter, while Independence and empire dawned upon the 
 destinies of America, from the surrender at Yorktown. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 245. 
 
 " Posterity Will Huzza for Us " 
 
 After Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, Washington 
 said to his army : 
 
 "My brave fellows, let no sense of satisfaction for the 
 triumphs you have gained induce you to insult your fallen 
 enemy. Let no shouting, no clamorous huzzaing increase 
 their mortification. It is sufficient for us that we witness 
 their humiliation. Posterity will huzza for us." 
 
 Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, p. 246. 
 
 " Then They Did Look at Us, but Were Not Very Well Pleased " 
 
 After a fruitless attempt to escape, in which the ele- 
 ments, as at Long Island, were on the side of America and 
 her cause, on the morning of the seventeenth Cornwallis 
 beat a parley. Terms were arranged, and, on the nine- 
 teenth, the British army laid down its arms. 
 
 The imposing ceremony took place at two o'clock. 
 The American troops were drawn up on the right, and the 
 French on the left, of the high road leading to Hampton. 
 A vast crowd of persons from the adjoining country attended 
 to witness the ceremony. 
 
 The captive army, in perfect order, marched in stern 
 and solemn silence between the lines. All eyes were turned 
 toward the head of the advancing column. Cornwallis, the 
 renowned, the dreaded Cornwallis, was the object that 
 thousands longed to behold. He did not appear, but sent 
 his sword by General O'Hara, with an apology for his non- 
 appearance on account of indisposition. It was remarked 
 that the British soldiers looked only toward the French army 
 on the left, whose appearance was assuredly more brilliant
 
 1 3 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 than that of the Americans, though the latter were respect- 
 able in both their clothing and appointments, while their 
 admirable discipline and the hardy and veteran appearance 
 of both officers and men showed they were no " carpet 
 knights," but soldiers who had seen service and were inured 
 to war. 
 
 Lafayette, at the head of his division, observing that 
 the captives confined their admiration exclusively to the 
 French army, neglecting his darling light-infantry, the 
 very apple of his eye and pride of his heart, determined to 
 bring " eyes to the right. " He ordered his music to strike 
 up Yankee Doodle: "Then," said the good general, "they 
 did look at us, my dear sir, but were not very well pleased. " 
 
 When ordered to ground arms, the Hessian was con- 
 tent. He was tired of the war; his pipe and his patience 
 pretty well exhausted, he longed to bid adieu to toilsome 
 marches, battles, and the heat of the climate that con- 
 sumed him. Not so the British soldier; many threw their 
 arms to the ground in sullen despair. One fine veteran 
 fellow displayed a soldierly feeling that excited the admira- 
 tion of all around. He hugged his musket to his bosom, 
 gazed tenderly on it, pressed it to his lips, then threw it from 
 him, and marched away dissolved in tears. 
 
 On the day of the surrender, the commander-in-chief 
 rode his favorite and splendid charger, named Nelson,' a 
 light sorrel, sixteen hands high, with white face and legs, 
 and remarkable as being the first nicked horse seen in Amer- 
 ica. This famous charger died at Mount Vernon many 
 years after the Revolution, at a very advanced age. After 
 the chief had ceased to mount him, he was never ridden, but 
 grazed in a paddock in summer, and was well cared for in 
 winter ; and as often as the retired farmer of Mount Vernon 
 would be making a tour of his grounds, he would halt at the 
 paddock, when the old war-horse would run, neighing, to 
 the fence, proud to be caressed by the great master's hands. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 347.
 
 THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS 
 
 (This fine picture is not true to the facts, for Cornwallia sent General 
 
 O'Hara with the sword, and Washington allowed 
 
 General Lincoln to receive it.)
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 131 
 
 The Numbers Involved 
 
 The number of prisoners made by the above capitulation 
 amounted to 7,073, of whom 5,950 were rank and file, six 
 commissioned, and twenty-eight non-commissioned officers, 
 and privates, had previously been captured in the two 
 redoubts, or in the sortie of the garrison. The loss sustained 
 by the garrison during the siege, in killed, wounded, and 
 missing, amounted to 552. That of the combined army in 
 killed was about 300. The combined army to which Corn- 
 wallis surrendered, was estimated at 16,000, of whom 7,000 
 were French, 5,500 continentals, and 3,500 militia. 
 
 Holmes's Annals, Vol. II, p. 333. 
 
 The Manly, Frank, and Soldierly Bearing of Cornwallis 
 
 The day after the surrender, Earl Cornwallis repaired 
 to headquarters to pay his respects to General Washington 
 and await his orders. The captive chief was received with 
 all the courtesy due to a gallant and unfortunate foe. The 
 elegant manners, together with the manly, frank, and sol- 
 dierly bearing of Cornwallis soon made him a prime favorite 
 at headquarters, and he often formed part of the suite of the 
 commander-in-chief in his rides to inspect the leveling of 
 the works previous to the retirement of the combined armies 
 from before Yorktown. 
 
 At the grand dinner given at the headquarters to the 
 officers of the three armies, Washington filled his glass, and, 
 after his invariable toast, whether in peace or war, of "All 
 our friends," gave "The British Army," with some com- 
 plimentary remarks upon its chief, his proud career in arms, 
 and his gallant defense of Yorktown. When it came to 
 Cornwallis's turn, he prefaced his toast by saying that the 
 war was virtually at an end, and the contending parties 
 would soon embrace as friends; there might be affairs of 
 posts but nothing on a more enlarged scale, as it was scarcely 
 to be expected that the ministry would send another army
 
 1 3 2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 to America. Then turning to Washington, his lordship 
 continued: "And when the illustrious part that your 
 Excellency has borne in this long and arduous contest becomes 
 matter of history, fame will gather your brightest laurels 
 rather from the banks of the Delaware than from those of 
 the Chesapeake." In this his lordship alluded to the 
 memorable midnight march made by Washington with the 
 shattered remains of the grand army, aided by the Pennsyl- 
 vania militia, on the night of the second of January, 1777, 
 which resulted in the surprise of the enemy in his rear, and 
 the victory of Princeton, restoring hope to the American 
 cause when it was almost sinking in despair. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 249. 
 
 Several Samples of Washington's Humor 
 
 There were on the Mount Vernon plantation three 
 hundred and seventy head of cattle, and Washington 
 appends to the report a sad regret that with all this number 
 of horned beasts, he yet has to buy butter. There is also 
 a fine, grim humor shown in the incident of a flag of truce 
 coming in at New York, bearing a message from General 
 Howe, addressed to "Mr. Washington." The General 
 took the latter from the hand of the red-coat, glanced at the 
 superscription, and. said, "Why, this letter is not for me! 
 It is directed to a planter in Virginia I'll keep it and give 
 it to him at the end of the war." Then, cramming the 
 letter into his pocket, he ordered the flag of truce out of the 
 lines and directed the gunners to stand by. In an hour 
 another letter came back addressed to " His Excellency, 
 General Washington." [This is not literally true. W. W.] 
 
 It was not long after this that a soldier brought to 
 Washington a dog that had been found wearing a collar 
 with the name of General Howe engraved on it. Wash- 
 ington returned the dog by a special messenger with a note 
 reading, "General Washington sends his compliments to
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 
 
 General Howe, and begs to return one dog that evidently 
 belongs to him." In this instance I am inclined to think 
 that Washington acted in sober good faith but was the vic- 
 tim of a practical joke on the part of his aides. 
 
 Another remark that sounds like a joke, but perhaps 
 was not one, was when, on taking command of the army 
 at Boston, the General writes to his life-long friend, Dr. 
 Craik, asking what he can do for him and adding a sentiment 
 still in the air: 
 
 " But these Massachusetts people suffer nothing to go 
 by them that they can lay their hands on." 
 
 In another letter he pays his compliments to Connecti- 
 cut thus; 
 
 " Their impecunious meanness surpasses belief. " 
 
 When Gornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Washington 
 refused to humiliate him and his officers by accepting their 
 swords. He treated Cornwallis as his guest and 'even gave 
 a dinner in his honor. At this dinner Rochambeau being 
 asked for a toast gave "The United States." Washington 
 proposed "The King of France." Cornwallis merely gave 
 "The King," and Washington, putting the toast, expressed 
 it as Cornwallis intended, "The King of England," and 
 added a sentiment of his own that made even Cornwallis 
 laugh "may he stay there!" Washington's treatment of 
 Cornwallis made him a life-long friend. 
 
 Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statesmen, Elbert Hubbard, p. 34. 
 
 " There Are Modes of Discharging a Soldier's Duty " 
 
 Colonel Tarleton, alone of all the British officers of rank, 
 was left out of the invitations to headquarters. Gallant and 
 high-spirited, the colonel applied to the Marquis de Lafayette 
 to know whether the neglect might not have been accidental. 
 Lafayette well knew that accident had nothing to do with 
 the matter, but referred the applicant to Lieutenant-colonel 
 Laurens, who, as aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief,
 
 134 
 
 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 must of course be able to give the requisite explanation. 
 Laurens at once said: 
 
 " No, Colonel Tarleton, no accident at all ; intentional, 
 I can assure you, and meant as a reproof for certain cruelties 
 practised by the troops under your command in the cam- 
 paigns of the Carolinas. " 
 
 "What, sir," haughtily rejoined Tarleton, "and is it 
 for severities inseparable from war, which you are pleased 
 to term cruelties, that I am to be disgraced before junior 
 officers? Is it, sir, for a faithful discharge of my duty to my 
 king and my country, that I am thus humiliated in the eyes 
 of three armies?" 
 
 "Pardon me," continued Colonel Laurens, "there are 
 modes, sir, of discharging a i^oldier's duty more acceptable 
 to both friends and foes. " 
 
 Tarleton stalked gloomily away to his quarters, which 
 he seldom left until his departure from Virginia. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, Geroge Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 251. 
 
 "And Cornwallis Is Taken!" 
 
 The accomplished Lieutenant-colonel Tilghman, one of 
 Washington's aids, was sent to Philadelphia by the chief, 
 with despatches to the Congress, announcing the surrender* 
 of Cornwallis. He arrived there in the night, and soon the 
 watchmen of the city were calling the hours, with the suffix, 
 "and Cornwallis is taken!" That annunciation ringing out 
 on the frosty night-air, aroused thousands from their slum- 
 bers. Lights were soon seen moving in almost every house ; 
 and presently the streets were thronged with men and women, 
 all eager to hear the details. It was a joyous night for 
 Philadelphia. The old state-house bell rang out its jubilant 
 notes more than an hour before dawn, and the first .blush 
 of morning was greeted with the booming of cannon. The 
 Congress assembled at an early hour, when Charles Thomson 
 read Washington's despatch, and then they resolved to go in
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 135 
 
 procession at two o'clock the same day, to a temple of wor- 
 ship, " and return thanks to Almighty God for crowning 
 the allied armies of the United States and France with suc- 
 cess. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 246. 
 
 The "Financier of the Revolution " in Prison for Debt 
 
 "When, a few months later," she [the mother of Mr. 
 Robert E. Gray, of Philadelphia] was one night roused from 
 her sleep by the old watchman crying under her window, 
 'Past twelve o'clock, and Lord Cornwallis is taken!' she 
 knew, and all our people knew, that Robert Morris had had 
 a great deal to do in bringing about that surrender, which 
 virtually ended the war. He had been the right hand of 
 Washington. Yet, while Washington was President, Robert 
 Morris was confined in the old debtor's prison in Philadel- 
 phia. " 
 
 "What a shame!" one of us hotly exclaimed. "Why 
 did not Congress pay his debts, and liberate one to whom 
 the nation owed so great a debt?" 
 
 " Well, that was not thought practicable. His liabili- 
 ties were immense, and the precedent would have been, 
 perhaps, a little dangerous. He was a rash manager of his 
 own affairs. He bore his misfortunes bravely, they said; 
 but I think he used to look very sad as he walked up and 
 down the narrow prison-yard. Sometimes, I remember, 
 he seemed to be listening, in a pleased sort of way, to old 
 Billy Wood, the play-actor, who was also in difficulties. 
 Wood was an educated man, and good company." 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. 23. 
 
 " It Is High Time for Me to Die " 
 
 Lord Fairfax on hearing that Washington had captured 
 Lord Cornwallis and all his army, he called to his black
 
 136 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 waiter, "Come, Joe! cany me to bed, for it is high time 
 for me to die!" 
 
 Then up rose Joe, all at the word, 
 
 And took his master's arm, 
 And thus to bed he softly led 
 
 The lord of Greenway farm. 
 
 There oft he called on Britain's name, 
 
 And oft he wept full sore, 
 Then sighed "Thy will, oh Lord, be done" 
 
 And word spake never more. 
 The Life of Washington, Mason L. Weems, p. 27. 
 
 The News of Yorktown in America and England 
 
 Early on a dark morning of the fourth week in October, 
 an honest old German, slowly pacing the streets of Phila- 
 delphia on his night watch, began shouting, " Basht dree 
 o'glock, und Gornwallis ish dakendt!" and light sleepers 
 sprang out of bed and threw up their windows. Washing- 
 ton's courier laid the dispatches before Congress in the fore- 
 noon, and after dinner a service of prayer and thanksgiving 
 was held in the Lutheran Church. At New Haven and 
 Cambridge the students sang triumphal hymns, and every 
 village green in the country was ablaze with bonfires. The 
 Duke de Lauzun sailed for France in a swift ship, and on the 
 27th of November all the houses in Paris were illuminated 
 and the aisles of Notre Dame resounded with the Te Deum. 
 At noon of November 2nd, the news was brought to Lord 
 George Germaine, at his house in Pall Mall. Getting into a 
 cab, he drove hastily to the Lord Chancellor's house in Great 
 Russell Street, Bloomsbury, and took him in ; and then they 
 drove to Lord North's office in Downing Street. At the 
 staggering news, all the prime minister's wonted gayety 
 forsook him. He walked wildly up and down the room, 
 throwing his arms about and crying, " Oh G6d! it is all over! 
 it is all over! it is all over!" A dispatch was sent to the 
 king at Kew, and when Lord George received the answer
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 137 
 
 that evening at dinner, he observed that his Majesty wrote 
 calmly, but had forgotten to date his letter, a thing which 
 had never happened before. 
 
 "The tidings," says Wraxall, who narrates these 
 incidents, " were calculated to diffuse a gloom over the most 
 convivial society, and opened a wide field for political specu- 
 lation. " There were many people in England, however, 
 who looked at this matter differently from Lord North. 
 This crushing defeat was just what the Duke of Richmond, 
 at the beginning of the war, fta'd publicly declared he hoped 
 for. Charles Fox always took especial delight in reading 
 about the defeats of invading armies, from Marathon and 
 Salamis downward; and over the news of Cornwallis's 
 surrender he leaped from his chair and clapped his hands. 
 In a debate in Parliament, four months before, the youthful 
 William Pitt had denounced the American war as "most 
 accursed, wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and 
 diabolical," which led Burke to observe, "He is not a chip 
 of the old block ; he is the old block itself ! ' ' 
 
 The fall of Lord North's ministry, and with it the over- 
 throw of the personal government of George III, was now 
 close at hand. For a long time the government had been 
 losing favor. In the summer of 1780, the British victories 
 in South Carolina had done something to strengthen it; 
 yet when, in the autumn of that year, Parliament was dis- 
 solved, although the king complained that his expenses for 
 purposes of corruption had been twice as great as ever 
 before, the new Parliament was scarcely more favorable to 
 the ministry than the old one. Misfortunes and perplexities 
 crowded in the path of Lord North and his colleagues. The 
 example of American resistance told upon Ireland, and it 
 was in the full tide of that agitation which is associated with 
 the names of Flood and Grattan that the news of Cornwallis's 
 surrender was received. ; .." ~. , ; ; 
 
 After the surrender of Cornwallis, no one but the king 
 thought of pursuing the war. in America any further. Even
 
 i 3 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 he gave up all hope of subduing the United States but he 
 insisted upon retaining the state of Georgia, with the cities 
 of Charleston and New York; and he vowed that, rather 
 than acknowledge the independence of the United States, 
 he would abdicate the throne and retire to Hanover. Lord 
 George Germaine was dismissed from office, Sir Henry 
 Clinton was superseded by Sir Guy Carleton, and the king 
 began to dream of a new campaign. But his obstinacy was 
 of no avail. During the winter and spring, General Wayne, 
 acting under Greene's orders, drove the British from Georgia, 
 while at home the country squires began to go over to the 
 opposition; and Lord North, utterly discouraged and dis- 
 gusted, refused any longer to pursue a policy of which he 
 disapproved. The baffled and beaten king, like the fox 
 in the fable, declared that the Americans were a wretched 
 set of knaves, and he was glad to be rid of them. The 
 House of Commons began to talk of a vote of censure on the 
 administration. A motion of Conway's, petitioning the king 
 to stop the war, was lost by only a single vote ; and at last, 
 on the 2oth of March, 1782, Lord North bowed to the storm 
 and resigned. The two sections of the Whig party coalesced. 
 Lord Rockingham became Prime Minister, and with him 
 came into office Shelburne, Camden, and Grafton, as well 
 as Fox and Con way, the Duke of Richmond, and Lord John 
 Cavendish, staunch friends of America, all of them, whose 
 appointment involved the recognition of the independence 
 of the United States. 
 
 Lord North observed that he had often been accused of 
 issuing lying bulletins, but he had never told so big a lie 
 as that with which the new ministry announced its entrance 
 into power; for in introducing the name of each of these 
 gentlemen, the official bulletin used the words, " His Majesty 
 has been pleased to appoint ! " It was indeed a day of bitter 
 humiliation for George III, and the men who had been his 
 tools. But it was a day of happy omen for the English 
 race in the Old World as well as in the New. The
 
 THE STORMING OF YORKTOWN 139 
 
 decisive battle of freedom in England as well as in America, 
 and in that vast colonial world for which Chatham prophesied 
 the dominion of the future, had now been fought and won. 
 And foremost in accomplishing this glorious work had been 
 the lofty genius of Washington, and the steadfast valor 
 of the men who suffered with him at Valley Forge, and whom 
 he led to victory at Yorktown. 
 
 The American Revolution, John Fiske, Vol. II, p. 285.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 
 Grief in the Midst of Rejoicing 
 
 A domestic affliction threw a shade over Washington's 
 happiness, while his camp still rang with shouts of triumph 
 for the surrender of Yorktown. His stepson (to whom he 
 had been a parent and protector, and to whom he was fondly 
 attached), who had accompanied him to the camp at Cam- 
 bridge, and. was among the first of his aids in the dawn of 
 the Revolution, sickened while on duty as extra aid to the 
 commander-in-chief in the trenches before Yorktown. 
 Aware that his disease (the camp fever), would be mortal, 
 the sufferer had yet one last lingering wish to be gratified, 
 and he would die content. It was to behold the surrender of 
 the sword of Cornwallis. He was supported to the ground, 
 and witnessed the admired spectacle, and was then removed 
 to Eltham, a distance of thirty miles from camp. 
 
 An express from Dr. Craik announced that there was 
 no longer hope, when Washington, attended by a single 
 officer, and a groom, left the headquarters at midnight, and 
 rode with all speed for Eltham. 
 
 The anxious watchers by the couch of the dying were, 
 in the gray of the twilight, aroused by a trampling of horse, 
 and looking out, discovered the commander-in-chief alight- 
 ing from a jaded charger in the courtyard. He immediately 
 summoned Dr. Craik, and to the eager inquiry, " Is there 
 any hope ? ' ' Craik mournfully shook his head. The General 
 retired to a room to indulge his grief, requesting to be left 
 alone. In a little while the poor sufferer expired. Wash- 
 ington, tenderly embracing the bereaved wife and mother, 
 observed to the weeping group around the remains of him 
 
 (140)
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 
 he so dearly loved, " From this moment I adopt his two 
 youngest children as my own."* Absorbed in grief, he 
 then waved with his hand a melancholy adieu, and, fresh 
 horses being ready, without rest or refreshment, he re- 
 mounted and returned to camp. ^-f 
 
 * These were Eleanor Parke Custis, who married Lawrence Lewis, 
 the favorite nephew of General Washington, and George Washington 
 Parke Custis the latter, the author of these Recollections. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 254- 
 
 " No Part of the Blame Shall Be Mine " 
 
 From Eltham, Washington proceeded to Mount Vernon; 
 but public cares gave him little leisure to attend to his 
 private concerns. We have seen how repeatedly his steady 
 mind had been exercised in the darkest times of the revolu- 
 tionary struggle, in buoying up the public heart when sinking 
 into despondency. He had now an opposite task to perform. 
 to guard against an overweening confidence inspired by 
 the recent triumph. In a letter to General Greene he 
 writes: "I shall remain but a few days here, and shall 
 proceed to Philadelphia, when I shall attempt to stimulate 
 Congress to the best improvement of our late success, by 
 taking the most vigorous and effectual measures to be 
 ready for an early and decisive campaign the next year. 
 My greatest fear is, that Congress, viewing this stroke in too 
 important a point of light, may think our work too nearly 
 closed, and will fall into a state of languor and relaxation. 
 To prevent this error I shall employ every means in my 
 power, and if unhappily we sink into that fatal mistake, no 
 part of the blame shall be mine." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 445. 
 
 The Mother of Washington at a Ball in His Honor 
 
 Meantime in the village of Fredericksburg, all was joy 
 and revelry; the town was crowded with the officers of the 
 French and American armies, and with gentlemen for many
 
 1 42 THE STORY- LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 miles around, who hastened to welcome the conquerors of 
 Cornwallis. The citizens got up a splendid ball, to which 
 the matron was specially invited. She observed, that al- 
 though her dancing days were pretty well over, she should 
 feel happy in contributing to the general festivity, and con- 
 sented to attend. 
 
 The foreign officers were anxious to see the mother of 
 their chief. They had heard indistinct rumors touching her 
 remarkable life and character, but forming their judgments 
 from European examples, they were prepared to expect in 
 the mother, that glitter and show which would have been 
 attached to the parents of the great, in the countries of the 
 old world. How were they surprised, when leaning on the 
 arm of her son, she entered the room dressed in the very 
 plain, yet becoming garb, worn by the Virginia lady of the 
 old time. Her address, always dignified and imposing, 
 was courteous, though reserved. She received the compli- 
 mentary attentions which were paid to her without evincing 
 the slightest elevation, and at an early hour, wishing the 
 company much enjoyment of their pleasures, observed, that 
 it was high time for old folks to be in bed, and retired, lean- 
 ing, as before, on the arm of her son. 
 
 The foreign officers were amazed in beholding one whom 
 so many causes conspired to elevate, preserving the even 
 tenor of her life, while such a blaze of glory shone upon her 
 name and offspring. It was a moral spectacle such as the 
 European world had furnished no examples. Names of 
 ancient lore were heard to escape from their lips ; and they 
 declared, " if such are the matrons in America, well may she 
 boast of illustrious sons." 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis. 
 p. 142- 
 
 " At the President's Feet, Congress and All! " 
 
 On Saturday last (November 3, 1781), between three 
 and four o'clock in the afternoon, arrived here twenty-four
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 143 
 
 standards of colors taken with the British army under the 
 command of Earl Cornwallis. The volunteer cavalry of 
 this city received these trophies of victory at Schuylkill, 
 from whence they escorted and ushered them into town 
 amidst the acclamations of a numerous concourse of people. 
 Continental and French colors, at a distance, preceded the 
 British, and thus they were paraded down Market street 
 to the state-house. They were then carried into Congress 
 and laid at their feet. 
 
 The crowd exulting fills with shouts the sky, 
 The walls, the woods, and long canals reply: 
 Base Britons! Tyrant Britons knock under, 
 Taken's your earl, soldiers and plunder. 
 Huzza! what colors of the bloody foe, 
 Twenty-four in number, at the state-house door; 
 Look: they are British standards, how they fall 
 At the President's feet, Congress and all! 
 
 A newspaper account ouoted in the Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son 
 George Washington Parke Custis, p. 25 5. 
 
 Washington Goes to Newburg 
 
 It was now evident that the war could not last much 
 longer, but it was still necessary to be prepared and vigilant, 
 in case the British should undertake another campaign; 
 and in this opinion Congress fully agreed with Washington. 
 
 Toward the close of 1781, Lafayette, who had done 
 such good service in the late campaign, returned on a 
 visit to France, with the thanks and commendations of 
 Congress. 
 
 In April, 1782, General Washington joined the army 
 at Newburg, on the Hudson ; and in May, Sir Guy arleton 
 arrived from England to take the place of Sir Henry Clinton, 
 who had grown weary of the war, and desired to be relieved. 
 Sir Guy brought assurances of a desire for peace on the part 
 of Great Britain, but as nothing official had been sent, 
 there was nothing to be done but to prepare for more fighting. 
 
 Thf Young Folks' Life of Washington, Mrs. Anna M. Hyde, p. 183.
 
 144 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " Patch up an Inglorious Peace " 
 
 Nothing was ever finished with Washington until it 
 was really complete throughout, and he had as little time 
 for rejoicing as he had for despondency or despair, while a 
 British force still remained in the country. He probably 
 felt that this was as untoward a time as he had ever met in 
 a pretty large experience of unsuitable occasions, for offering 
 sound advice, but he was not deterred thereby from doing 
 it. This time, however, he was destined to an agreeable 
 disappointment, for on his arrival at Philadelphia he found 
 an excellent spirit prevailing in Congress. That body was 
 acting cheerfully on his advice, it had filled the depart- 
 ments of the government, and set on foot such measures 
 as it could to keep up the army. So Washington remained 
 for some time at Philadelphia, helping and counseling 
 Congress in its work, and writing to the States vigorous 
 letters, demanding pay and clothing for the soldiers, ever 
 uppermost in his thoughts. 
 
 But although Congress was compliant, Washington 
 could not convince the country of the justice of his views, 
 and of the continued need of energetic exertion. The 
 steady relaxation of tone, which the strain of a long and 
 trying war had produced, was accelerated by the brilliant 
 victory of Yorktown. Washington, for his own part, had 
 but little trust in the sense or knowledge of the enemy. 
 He felt that Yorktown was decisive, but he also thought 
 that Great Britain would still struggle on, and that her 
 talk of peace was very probably a mere blind, to enable 
 her to gain time, and, by taking advantage of our relaxed 
 and feeble condition, to strike again in hope of winning 
 back all that had been lost. He therefore continued his 
 appeals in behalf of the army, and reiterated everywhere 
 the necessity for fresh and ample preparations. 
 
 As late as May 4th he wrote sharply to the States for 
 men and money, saying that the change of ministry was
 
 145 
 
 likely to be adverse to peace, and that we were being lulled 
 into a false and fatal sense of security. A few days later, 
 on receiving information from Sir Guy Carleton of the ad- 
 dress of the Commons to the king for peace, Washington 
 wrote to Congress: 
 
 "For my own part, I view our situation as such that, 
 instead of relaxing, we ought to improve the present moment 
 as the most favorable to our wishes. The British nation 
 appear to me to be staggered, and almost ready to sink 
 beneath the accumulating weight of debt and misfortune. 
 If we follow the blow with vigor and energy, I think the 
 game is our own." 
 
 Again he wrote in July : " Sir Guy Carleton is using every 
 art to soothe and lull our people into a sense of security. 
 Admiral Digby is capturing all our vessels, and suffocating 
 as fast as possible in prison-ships all our seamen who will 
 not enlist into the service of his Britannic Majesty; and 
 Haldimand, with his savage allies, in scalping and burning 
 on the frontiers." ... . A month later he wrote to 
 Greene: "From the former infatuation, duplicity, and 
 perverse system of British policy, I confess I am induced 
 to doubt everything, to suspect everything. " 
 Yet again, a month later still, when the negotiations were 
 really going forward in Paris, he wrote to McHenry: "If 
 we are wise let us prepare for the worst. There is nothing 
 which will so soon produce a speedy and honorable peace 
 as a state of preparation for war; we must either do this, 
 or lay our account to patch up an inglorious peace, after 
 all the toil, blood, and treasure we have spent." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 315. 
 
 The Asgill Affair 
 
 In the month of March, 1782, one Philip White, an 
 infamous Tory, was taken prisoner by a party of light- 
 horse; after laying down his arms in token of surrender, 
 he took up his musket and killed one of his captors. He was,
 
 I 4 6 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 however, secured, while being taken to Freehold, New Jersey, 
 was put to death, as some accounts say, in an effort to escape. 
 
 About the same time, Capt. Joshua Huddy, a gallant 
 and honorable officer of the American army, while in com- 
 mand of a block house, at Tom's river, New Jersey, was 
 attacked by a party of refugees, and after a gallant resistance, 
 was taken prisoner and conveyed to New York. Shortly 
 ' afterwards, he, with two others, was sent by the Board of 
 Loyalists to Sandy Hook, to be exchanged, under the care 
 of Capt. Lippencut, who, on his return, reported that "he 
 had exchanged the two as directed, and that Huddy had 
 been exchanged for Philip White." He had, in fact, hung 
 him [Huddy] on a tree, on the Jersey shore. 
 
 Gen. Washington, on hearing of this Tact, demanded 
 of Sir Henry Clinton, the delivery of Lippencut, the mur- 
 derer of Huddy, but though Lippencut was tried by a court 
 martial for the offense, the loyalists interposed for his 
 protection. On the failure of compliance with his demand, 
 Gen. Washington determined, with the advice of his officers, 
 on retaliation, and accordingly Capt. Charles Asgill, who 
 had been taken prisoner at the capitulation of Yorktown, 
 was selected, by lot, to atone the death of Huddy. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Sir Guy Carleton, who was known for 
 his humanity, superseded Clinton, as commander of the 
 British army, and broke up the Board of Associated Loy- 
 alists, thereby preventing a repetition of similar excesses. 
 The war also drawing to a close, the motives for retaliation, 
 in a great measure, ceased. 
 
 Mrs. Asgill on hearing of the perilous situation of her 
 son, wrote to M. Vergennes, the French minister, a touching 
 letter, describing her distress and that of her family, and 
 begging his interference, in consequence of which, Ver- 
 gennes interposed with Washington in Asgill's behalf. 
 Copies of these letters were forwarded to Congress, and in the 
 month of November following, they resolved that the eom- 
 mander-in-chief be directed to set Capt. Asgill at liberty.
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 
 Asgill, who had received every indulgence, and who 
 had been treated with all possible politeness, was accordingly 
 released, and permitted to rejoin his friends at New York. 
 He returned to England, and afterwards became General 
 Sir Charles Asgill, and died in 1823, at the age of seventy 
 years. 
 
 The Conduct of General Washington Respecting the Confinement of Capt. Asgill, Preface, 
 
 p. 
 
 " Let Me Conjure You to Banish These Thoughts from Your 
 
 Mind!" 
 
 Underlying all these general discontents, there was, 
 besides, a well-defined movement, which saw a solution 
 of all difficulties and a redress of all wrongs in a radical 
 change of the form of the government, and in the elevation 
 of Washington to supreme power. This party was satisfied 
 that the existing system was a failure, and that it was not 
 and could not be made either strong, honest, or respectable. 
 The obvious relief was in some kind of monarchy, with a 
 large infusion of the one-man power; and it followed as a 
 matter of course that the one man could be no other than 
 the commander-in-chief. In May, 1782,- when the feeling 
 in the army had risen very high, this party of reform brought 
 their ideas before Washington through an old and respected 
 friend of his, Colonel Nicola. The colonel set forth very 
 clearly the failure and shortcomings- of the existing govern- 
 ment, argued in favor of the substitution of something much 
 stronger, and wound up by hinting very plainly that his 
 correspondent was the man for the crisis and the proper 
 savior of society. The letter was forcible and well written, 
 and Colonel Nicola was a man of character and standing. 
 It could not be passed over lightly or in silence, and Wash- 
 ington replied as follows: 
 
 " With a mixttire of surprise and astonishment, I have 
 read with attention the sentiments you have submitted 
 to my perusal. Be assured, sir, no occurrence in the course
 
 i 4 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 of the war has given me more painful sensations than your 
 information of there being such ideas existing in the army 
 as you have expressed, and which I must view with abhor- 
 rence and reprehend with severity. For the present, the 
 communication of them will rest in my own bosom, unless 
 some further agitation in the matter shall make a disclosure 
 necessary. I am much at a loss to conceive what part of 
 my conduct could have given encouragement to an address 
 which seems to me big with the greatest mischiefs which can 
 befall my country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of 
 myself, you could not have found a person to whom your 
 schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in justice 
 to my own feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more 
 sincere wish to see justice done to the army than I do : and 
 as far as my power and influence in a constitutional way 
 extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities 
 to effect it, should there be any occasion. Let me con- 
 jure you, then, if you have any regard for your country, 
 concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to 
 banish these thoughts from your mind, and never com- 
 municate, as from yourself or anyone else, a sentiment 
 of the like nature. '.' 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 328. 
 
 " It Is High Time for a Peace " 
 
 Nothing was ever again heard of the project to make 
 of Washington "King George I, of America"; on the con- 
 trary, the Nicola letter made Washington more anxious 
 than berore to have peace concluded so that he might dis- 
 band his army. While keeping his men in fighting trim, 
 offering a threatening front to the enemy at New York, 
 and even coaxing Rochambeau and the French from Vir- 
 ginia to the Highlands so as to frighten Carleton, Clinton's 
 successor, into keeping his force intact instead of detaching 
 some to fight the French in the West Indies, he was sincerely 
 longing for the end. And y~t, even the assurance of peace,
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 149 
 
 when it came, was not to relieve his mind of forebodings and 
 fears. The poverty of the country was beyond expression ; 
 persons who saw some portions of the South just after the 
 late civil war may form an impression of it, but the most 
 afflicted localities in the South were not in as helpless con- 
 dition as were all the colonies at the close of the war period. 
 So poor were some of Washington's officers of high rank 
 that they did not dare invite their acquaintances in the 
 French army to their tents, for they could not offer them 
 as good a dinner as every private soldier in the United 
 States now enjoys daily. In the autumn of 1782, writing 
 of the reduction of the army that had been proposed, there 
 being then little doubt, on either side, of the speedy conclu- 
 sion of a treaty of peace, Washington said: 
 
 " I cannot help fearing the result of the measure in 
 contemplation, under present circumstances, when I see 
 such a number of men, goaded by a thousand stings of 
 reflection on the past, and of anticipation in the future, 
 about to be turned into the world, soured by penury, and 
 what they call the ingratitude of the public, involved in 
 debts, without one farthing of money to carry them home, 
 after spending the flower of their days, and many of them 
 their patrimonies, in establishing the freedom and indepen- 
 dence of their country, and suffered everything that human 
 nature is capable of enduring on this side of death ; I 
 repeat it, that when I consider these irritating circum- 
 stances, without one thing to soothe their feelings or dispel 
 gloomy prospects, I cannot avoid apprehending that a train 
 of evils will follow, of a very serious and distressing nature. 
 I wish not to heighten the shades of the picture 
 so far as the reality would justify me in doing it. I could 
 give anecdotes of patriotism and distress, which have 
 scarcely ever been paralleled, never surpassed in the history 
 of mankind. But you may rely upon it, the patience and 
 long-suffering of this army are almost exhausted, and that 
 there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at this
 
 i S o THE STORY- LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 instant. While in the field I think it may be kept from 
 breaking out into acts of outrage; but when we retire into 
 winter quarters, unless the storm is previously dissipated, 
 I cannot be at ease respecting the consequences. It is high 
 time for a peace." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 238. 
 
 " A Bitter Pill to Royalty " 
 
 (Letter to Tench Tilghman). 
 
 "Newburg, 10 January, 1783 
 "My dear Sir, 
 
 " I have been favored with your letters of the 226. & 24th 
 of last month from Philadelphia; and thank you for the 
 trouble you have had with my small commissions. . . . 
 I have sent Mr. Rittenhouse the glass of such spectacles 
 as suit my eyes, that he may know how to grind his 
 Christals. 
 
 "Neither Duportail nor Gouvion are arrived at this 
 place. . . . To the latter, I am referred by the Marqs. la 
 Fayette for some matters which he did not chuse to commit 
 to writing. The sentim'nt however which he has delivered 
 (with respect to the negociations for Peace) accord precisely 
 with the ideas I have entertained of this business ever since 
 the secession of Mr. Fox, viz that no peace would be con- 
 cluded before the meeting of the British parliament. 
 And that, if it did not take place within a month 
 afterwards, we might lay our acc't for one more Campaign 
 at least. 
 
 "The obstinacy of the King, and his unwillingness to 
 acknowledge the Independence of the Country, I have ever 
 considered as the greatest obstacles in the way of a Peace. 
 Lord Shelburne, who is not only at the head of the Admin- 
 istration, but has been introducing others of similar senti- 
 ments to his own, has declared, that nothing but dire 
 necessity should ever force the measure. Of this necessity,
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 1S1 
 
 men will entertain different opinions. Mr. Fox, it seems, 
 thought the period had arrived some time ago ; and yet the 
 Peace is not made nor will it, I conceive, if the influence 
 of the Crown can draw fresh supplies from the Nation, for 
 the purpose of carrying on the War. By the meeting of 
 Parliament, Lord Shelburne would have been able to ascer- 
 tain two things first, the best terms on which G. Britain 
 could obtain the Peace. Secondly, the ground on which 
 he himself stood. If he found it slippery, and that the voice 
 of the people was for pacific measures ; he would then have ' 
 informed the Parliament that, after many months spent in 
 negociation, such were the best terms he could obtain; 
 and that the alternative of accepting them, or preparing 
 vigorously for the prosecution of the War, was submitted 
 to their consideration (being an extraordinary case) and 
 decision. A little time therefore, if I have formed a just 
 opinion of the matter, will disclose the result of it. Con- 
 sequently we shall either soon have Peace, or not the most 
 agreeable prospect of War, before us as it appears evident 
 to me, that the States generally, are sunk into the most 
 profound lethargy, while some of them are running quite 
 retrograde. 
 
 " The King of G. B. by his letters Patent, (which I have 
 seen) has authorized Mr. Oswald to treat with any Com- 
 missioner or Com'rs from the United States of America, who 
 shall appear with proper powers. This, certainly, is a 
 capital point gained. It is at least a breaking ground 
 on their part, and I dare say proved a bitter pill to Royalty; 
 that, it was indispensably necessary to answer one of the 
 points above mentioned, as the American Commissioners 
 would enter in no business with Mr. Oswald till his Powers 
 were made to suit their purposes. Upon the whole, I am 
 fixed in an opinion that Peace, or a pretty long continuance 
 of the War, will have been determined before the adjourn- 
 ment for the Hollidays ; and as it will be the middle or last 
 of February before we shall know the result, time will pass
 
 i 5 2 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 heavily on in this dreary mansion where, at present fast 
 locked in frost and snow." 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 178. 
 
 British Jeers at the Stars and Stripes 
 
 "There is a vessel in the harbor with a very strange 
 flag. Thirteen is a number peculiar to the rebels. A party 
 of naval prisoners, lately returned from Jersey, say that the 
 rations among the rebels are thirteen dried clams a day. 
 The titular Lord Stirling takes thirteen glasses of grog 
 every morning, has thirteen rum bunches on his nose, and 
 that when he gets drunk makes thirteen attempts before he 
 can walk. Sachem Schuyler has a top-knot of thirteen stiff 
 hairs which erect themselves on the crown of his head when 
 he gets mad. It takes thirteen Congress paper dollars to 
 equal one shilling sterling. Polly [Gen. Anthony] Wayne 
 was just thirteen hours in subduing Stony Point, and 
 thirteen seconds leaving it. Every well-organized rebel 
 household has thirteen children, all of whom expect to be 
 major-generals or members of the high and mighty Congress 
 of the thirteen United States when they attain the age of 
 thirteen years. Mr. Washington has thirteen teeth in each 
 jaw, and thirteen toes on each foot, the extra ones having 
 grown since that wonderful Declaration of Independence, 
 and Mrs. Washington has a tomcat with thirteen yellow 
 rings around his tail, and that his flaunting it suggested 
 to the Congress the same number of stripes for the 
 rebel flag." 
 
 London Chronicle, February 7, 1783. 
 
 " The Odious Aroma of Impotent Malice " 
 
 The 3oth of the previous November, it was now 
 March, 1783, had seen the signing of the preliminaries of 
 peace at Paris, after long and difficult negotiations between
 
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 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 
 
 Oswald, Grenville, and Strachey on behalf of the British, 
 and Franklin, Adams, Jay, and Laurens on behalf of the 
 other side. Perhaps the very news of peace excited the 
 suspicions of the army that Congress would disband them 
 without settling its accounts, and that thus their sufferings 
 would never be requited. 
 
 This mutinous spirit, which had before filled the Penn- 
 sylvania and Jersey troops, and had lately caused Congress 
 to flee in terror from Philadelphia to Princeton, was, not 
 without reason, attributed to Gates, "about whom hangs 
 the odious aroma of impotent malice"; the ambiguous 
 politician-commander had claimed the glory of Saratoga, 
 had been forced to retire after his crushing defeat by Corn- 
 wallis at Camden, South Carolina, and, now reinforced, 
 had by the magnanimity of Washington been put in com- 
 mand of the right wing of the American army at the New 
 York headquarters. 
 
 Perhaps the return of the French troops, in October 
 and January, aroused that longing for home, "the desire 
 to kiss wives and sweethearts," which all along had made 
 the American soldiers' position one of peculiar hardship. 
 Washington's keen appreciation of the fortitude of his men 
 crops out in a letter of congratulation to General Greene, 
 on the happy ending of the Charleston campaign : 
 
 "It is with a pleasure, which friendship only is suscep- 
 tible of, that I congratulate you on the glorious end you 
 have put to the hostilities in the Southern States. The 
 honor and advantages of it, I hope and trust you will long 
 live to enjoy. . . If historiographers should be hardy 
 enough to fill the page of History with the advantages, 
 that have been gained with unequal numbers (on the part 
 of America), in the course of this contest, and attempt to 
 relate the distressing circumstances under which they have 
 been obtained, it is more than probable, that posterity 
 will bestow on their labors the epithet and marks of fiction ; 
 for it will not be believed, that such a force as Great Britain
 
 i 54 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 has employed for eight years in this country could he 
 baffled in their plan for subjugating it, by numbers infinitely 
 less, composed of men oftentimes half starved, always in 
 rags, without pay, and experiencing at times every species 
 of distress, which human nature is capable of undergoing. 
 I intended to have wrote you a long letter on sundry matters ; 
 but Major Burnet popped in unexpectedly at a time, when 
 I was preparing for the celebration of the day, and was 
 just going to a review of the troops, previous to the feu 
 de joie." 
 
 George Washington, Patriot, Soldier, Statesman, James A. Harrison, p. 366. 
 
 Rode Like Black Care behind Him 
 
 Much as Washington thought about holding fast the' 
 western country, there was yet one idea that overruled it 
 as well as all others. There was one plan which he knew 
 would be a quick solution of the dangers and difficulties 
 for which inland navigation and trade connections were at 
 best but palliatives. He had learned by bitter experience 
 as no other man had learned, the vital need and value of 
 union. He felt it as soon as he took command of the army, 
 and it rode like black care behind him from Cambridge to 
 Yorktown. He had hoped something from the confedera- 
 tion, but he soon saw that it was as worthless as the utter 
 lack of system which it replaced, and amounted merely to 
 substituting one land of impotence and confusion for 
 another. Others .might be deceived by phrases as to 
 nationality and a general government, but he had dwelt 
 among hard facts, and he knew that these things did not 
 exist. He knew that what passed for them, stood in their 
 place and wore their semblance, were merely temporary 
 creations born of the common danger, and doomed, when 
 the pressure of war was gone, to fall to pieces in imbecility 
 and inertness. To the lack of a proper union, which meant 
 to his mind national and energetic government, he attributed 
 the failures of the campaigns, the long drawn miseries, and
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 155 
 
 in a word the needless prolongation of the Revolution. 
 He saw, too, that what had been so nearly ruinous in war 
 would be absolutely so in peace, and before the treaty was 
 actually signed he had begun to call attention to the great 
 question on the right settlement of which the future of the 
 country depended. 
 
 To Hamilton he wrote on March 4, 1783 : 
 
 " It is clearly my opinion, unless Congress have powers 
 competent to all general purposes, that the distresses we 
 have encountered, the expense we have incurred, and the 
 blood we have spilt, will avail us nothing. " 
 
 Again he wrote to Hamilton, a few weeks later: 
 
 " My wish to see the union of these States established 
 upon liberal and permanent principles, and inclination to 
 contribute my mite in pointing out the defects of the 
 present constitution, are equally great. All my private 
 letters have teemed with these sentiments, and whenever 
 this topic has been the subject of conversation, I have 
 endeavored to diffuse and enforce them." 
 
 His circular letter to the governors of the States at the 
 close of the war, which was as eloquent as it was forcible, 
 was devoted to urging the necessity of a better central 
 government. "With this conviction," he said, "of the 
 importance of the present crisis, silence in me would be a 
 crime. I will therefore speak to your Excellency the 
 language of freedom and of sincerity without disguise. 
 
 . There are four things which I humbly conceive 
 are essential to the well-being, I may even venture to say, 
 to the existence of the United States, as an independent 
 power : 
 
 " First. An indissoluble union of the States under one 
 federal head. 
 
 " Second. A regard to public justice. 
 
 "Third. The adoption of a proper peace establish- 
 ment; and, 
 
 "Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly
 
 i S 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 disposition among the people of the United States, which 
 will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies ; 
 to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to 
 the general prosperity; and in some instances to sacrifice 
 their individual advantages to the interest of the com- 
 munity. " The same appeal went forth again in his last 
 address to the army, when he said: "Although the General 
 has so frequently given it as his opinion, in the most public 
 and explicit manner, that unless the principles of the 
 federal government were properly supported, and the 
 powers of the Union increased, the honor, dignity, and 
 justice of the nation would be lost forever; yet he cannot 
 help repeating on this occasion so interesting a sentiment, 
 and leaving it as his last injunction to every soldier, who 
 may view the subject in the same serious point of light, 
 to add his best endeavors to those of his fellow-citi- 
 zens toward effecting those great and valuable purposes 
 on which our very existence as a nation so materially 
 depends." 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II. p. 16. 
 
 News of the Treaty of Peace 
 
 A week after the meeting of officers in Washington's 
 camp, the intelligence reached America, through a letter 
 from Lafayette to the President of Congress, that the treaty 
 of peace had been signed at Paris nearly two months before. 
 Washington subsequently received the same information 
 through Sir Guy Carleton, and by a proclamation of Con- 
 gress. His first act, and he committed it the day after 
 hearing from Congress, was to ask when and how to dis- 
 charge his men, and suggesting, as few or no generals before 
 him ever had enough true soldierly feeling to do, that the 
 private soldiers and non-commissioned officers should be 
 allowed, when discharged, to retain their arm? and accoutre- 
 ments. "This," he said, "would be deemed an honorable 
 testimonial from Congress of the regard they bear to these
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 157 
 
 distinguished worthies and the sense they have of their 
 suffering, virtues, and services. " Truer sympathy and better 
 heart seldom were combined in the space of thirty words. 
 "These constant companions of their toils," continued the 
 commander-in-chief, "preserved with sacred attention, 
 would be handed down from the present possessors to their 
 children as honorary badges of bravery and military merit, 
 and would probably be brought forth on some future occa- 
 sion, with pride and exultation, to be improved with the 
 same military ardor and emulation in the hands of posterity, 
 as they have been used by their forefathers in the present 
 establishment and foundation of our national independence 
 and glory." This sentence will not meet the views of the 
 rhetorician, but the patriot will understand it distinctly, 
 and patriots, not rhetoricians, are the men who make 
 nations. 
 
 One day after and it was the anniversary of the battle 
 of Lexington, the first fight of the war the cessation of 
 hostilities was formally proclaimed in every camp, with 
 Washington's orders that "the chaplains with the several 
 brigades will render thanks to Almighty God for all His 
 mercies." Even when the war was at its end, Washington 
 could not avoid showing a point of difference between 
 himself and other soldiers, to the effect that in the vicissi- 
 tudes incident to military life he had lost none of his religious 
 feeling. The general order of the day showed that he had 
 been equally successful with his idea of the dignity of man- 
 hood, for it read: "The generous task for which we first 
 flew to arms being accomplished ; the liberties of our country 
 being fully acknowledged and firmly secured, and the charac- 
 ters of those who have persevered through every extremity 
 of hardship, suffering and danger being immortalized by 
 the illustrious appellation of 'the patriot army,' nothing 
 now remains but for the actors of this mighty scene to pre- 
 serve a perfect, unvarying consistency of character through 
 the verv last act, to close the drama with applause, and to
 
 i 5 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 retire from the military theater with the same approbation 
 of angels and men which has crowned all their former vir- 
 tuous actions. " 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 349. 
 
 The Eighth Anniversary 
 
 Eight years from the first shock of arms at Lexington, 
 the commander-in-chief issued the proclamation of Congress 
 ordering cessation of hostilities. The news was received 
 with huzzas, followed by prayer; to the accompaniment 
 of the band the army sang the anthem "Independence." 
 For the evening celebration the regiments were ordered to 
 bring in timbers from ten to thirty feet long to form a 
 frame for fireworks over the New Building. Combustibles 
 collected on the summit of Beacon, Cro' Nest and Storm 
 King, for the purpose of heralding the approach of the enemy, 
 were now used in the celebration of peace. Amidst this 
 rejoicing Washington left for Ringwood, N. J., to arrange 
 with the Secretary of War for the exchange of prisoners, 
 so that the more imposing celebration was reserved for the 
 city of New York. 
 
 George Washington Day by Day, Elizabeth Bryant Johnston, p. 58. 
 
 Independence 
 
 (Sung in celebration of the close of the War). 
 
 The States, O Lord, with songs of praise, 
 
 Shall in thy strength rejoice, 
 
 And blessed with thy salvation raise 
 
 To Heaven their cheerful voice ; 
 
 And all the Continent shall sing 
 
 Down with this earthly king; 
 
 No King but God ! 
 
 No King but God ! 
 
 George Washington Day by Day, Elizabeth Bryant Johnston, p. 58.
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 159 
 
 "An Independent People Yet to Learn Political Tactics " 
 
 (Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette}. 
 
 " HEAD-QUAS., NEWBURG, 5 April, 1783 
 " My dear Marqs: ' 
 
 " We stand, now, an Independent People, and 
 have yet to learn political Tactics. We are placed among 
 the nations of the Earth, and have a character to establish ; 
 but how we shall acquit ourselves, time must discover. 
 The probability (at least I fear it), is that local or State 
 politics will interfere too much with the more liberal and 
 extensive form of government, which wisdom and foresight, 
 freed from the mist of prejudice, would dictate; and that 
 we shall be guilty of many blunders in treading this bound- 
 less theatre, before we shall have arrived at any perfection 
 in this art; in a word, that the experience which is pur- 
 chased at the price of difficulties and distress, will alone 
 convince us that the honor, power and true Interest of this 
 Country must be measured by a Continental scale, and that 
 every departure therefrom weakens the Union, and may 
 ultimately break the band that holds us together. To 
 avert these evils, to form a Constitution, that will give 
 consistency, stability, and dignity to the Union, and suffi- 
 cient powers to the great Council of the nation for general 
 purposes, is a duty which is incumbent on every man, who 
 wishes well to his country, and will meet with my aid as 
 far as it can be rendered in the private walks of life; 
 for henceforward my mind shall be unbent and I will 
 endeavor to glide gently down the stream of life till I 
 come to that abyss from whence no traveller is permitted 
 to return." 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of George Washington. Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph D., p. 243.
 
 160 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " For Heaven's Sake, Who Are Congress ? " 
 
 (From a letter to Dr. William Gordon.) 
 
 "HEAD QUARTERS, NEWBURG, 
 
 "8 July, 1783. 
 " Dear Sir: 
 
 . . " It now rests with the Confederated Powers, by 
 the line of conduct they mean to adopt, to make this Country 
 great, happy, and respectable ; or to sink it into littleness 
 worse perhaps into Anarchy and confusion; for certain 
 I am, that unless adequate Powers are given to Congress 
 for the general purposes of the Federal Union, that we shall 
 soon moulder into dust and become contemptible in the eyes 
 of Europe, if we are not made the sport of their Politicks. . 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, who are Congress? are they 
 not the creatures of the People, amenable to them for their 
 conduct, and dependent from day to day on their breath? 
 Where then can be the danger of giving them such Powers 
 as are adequate to the great ends of the Government, and 
 to all the general purposes of the Confederation (I repeat 
 the word general, because I am no advocate for their having 
 to do with the particular policy of any State, further than 
 it concerns the Union at large)? What may be the con- 
 sequences if they have not these Powers, I am at no loss to 
 guess; and deprecate the worst; for sure I am, we shall, 
 in a little time become as contemptible in the great scale 
 of Politicks, as we now have it in our power to be respect- 
 able. And that, when the band of Union gets once broken, 
 everything ruinous to our future prospects is to be appre- 
 hended. The best that can come of it, in my humble 
 opinion is, that we shall sink into obscurity, unless our 
 civil broils should keep us in remembrance and fill the page 
 of history with the direful consequences of them. 
 
 You say that, Congress loose time by pressing a mode
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 161 
 
 that does not accord with the genius of the People, and will 
 thereby, endanger the Union, and that it is the quantum 
 they want. Permit me to ask if the quantum has not 
 already been demanded? Whether it has obtained? and 
 whence proceeds the accumulated evils, and poignant 
 distresses of many of the Public Creditors particularly 
 in the Army. For my own part I hesitate not a moment to 
 confess, that I see nothing wherein the Union is endangered 
 by the late requisition of that body, but a prospect of much 
 good, justice, and prosperity from the compliance with it. 
 I know of no tax more convenient, none so agreeable, as that 
 which every man may pay, or let it alone, as his con- 
 venience, abilities, or Inclination shall prompt. I am 
 therefore a warm friend to the impost." 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 244. 
 
 Washington Takes Leave of His Officers 
 
 In April, 1783, peace was proclaimed. In November of 
 that year I heard from Colonel Hamilton that our beloved 
 general would, on December 4, take leave of his officers, 
 and that he was kind enough to desire that all of his old staff 
 who wished should be present. I was most pleased to go. 
 
 In New York, at Fraunces' Tavern, near Whitehall 
 Ferry, I fotind the room full of the men who had humbled 
 the pride of England and brought our great war to a close. 
 His Excellency entered at noon, and seeing about him these 
 many companions in arms, was for a little so agitated that 
 he could not speak. Then with a solemn and kindly expres- 
 sion of face, such as I had once before seen him wear, he 
 filled a glass with wine, and, seeming to steady himself, 
 said: 
 
 "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I take my 
 leave of you, most devoutly wishing that your latter days 
 may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have 
 been glorious and honorable."
 
 1 6 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 So saying, he drank his wine, and one after another 
 went by him shaking his hand. No word was said, and these 
 worn veterans of the winter camps and the summer battle- 
 fields moved out, and saw their former general pass down, 
 between lines of infantry, to the shore. There he got into 
 a barge. 
 
 As he was rowed away he stood up and lifted his hat. 
 All of us uncovered, and remained thus till he passed from 
 sight, to be seen no more by many of those who gazed sadly 
 after his retreating form. 
 
 There is an old book my grandchildren love to hear 
 me read to them. It is the "Morte d'Arthur, " done into 
 English by Sir Thomas Malory. Often when I read therein 
 of how Arthur the king bade farewell to the world and to 
 the last of the great company of his Knights of the Round 
 Table, this scene at Whitehall slip comes back to me, and 
 I seem to see once more those gallant soldiers, and far away 
 the tall figure of surely the knightliest gentleman our days 
 have known. 
 
 Hugh Wynne: Free Quaker, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., p. 565. 
 
 Kissing His Officers While Tears Flowed down Their Cheeks 
 
 When the British had evacuated New York, in Novem- 
 ber, 1783, and the American army was disbanded, Washing- 
 ton prepared to proceed to Annapolis to resign his com- 
 mission. On Thursday, the fourth of December, the prin- 
 cipal officers in the army yet remaining in the service, 
 assembled at Fraunces' , to take a final leave of their beloved 
 chief. The scene is described as one of great tenderness. 
 Washington entered the room where they were all waiting, 
 and taking a glass of wine in his hand, he said, 
 
 "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take 
 leave of you. I devoutly wish that your latter days may 
 be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have 
 been glorious and honorable. "
 
 f<*z^. *&**pS4. 
 
 TWO PAGES FROM WASHINGTON'S PRIVATE EXPENSE BOOK 
 
 Notice that he began to reckon in dollars and cents immediately after 
 independence was -declared.
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 163 
 
 Having drank, he continued, 
 
 " I can not come to each of you to take my leave, 
 but shall be obliged to you if each will come and take me 
 by the hand." 
 
 Knox, who stood nearest to him, turned and grasped his 
 hand, and, while the tears flowed down the cheeks of each 
 the commander-in-chief kissed him. This he did to each 
 of his officers, while tears and sobs stifled utterance. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son. George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 420. Note by Benson J. Lossing, Editor. 
 
 Rendering His Account 
 
 On his way to Annapolis, Washington stopped for a 
 few days at Philadelphia, where with his usual exactness 
 in matters of business, he adjusted with the Comptroller of 
 the Treasury his accounts from the commencement of 
 the war down to the i3th of the actual month of Decem- 
 ber. These were all in his own handwriting, and kept in 
 the cleanest and most accurate manner, each entry being 
 accompanied by a statement of the occasion and object of 
 the charge. 
 
 The gross amount was about fourteen thousand five 
 hundred pounds sterling; in which were included moneys 
 expended for secret intelligence and service, and in various 
 incidental charges. All this, it must be noted, was an 
 account of money actually expended in the progress of the 
 war; not for arrearage of pay, for it will be recollected 
 Washington accepted no pay. Indeed on the final adjust- 
 ment of his accounts, he found himself a considerable 
 loser, having frequently, in the hurry of business, neglected 
 to credit himself with sums drawn from his private purse 
 in moments of exigency. 
 
 The schedule of his public account furnishes not the 
 least among the many noble and impressive lessons taught 
 by his character and example. It stands a touchstone of
 
 1 64 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 honesty in office, and a lasting rebuke on that lavish ex- 
 penditure of the public money, too often heedlessly, if not 
 wilfully, indulged in by military commanders. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 502. 
 
 " How Small Ambitious Caesar Seems! " 
 
 All was over now, and Washington prepared to go 
 
 to Annapolis and lay down his commission 
 
 At Philadelphia he stopped a few days and adjusted his 
 accounts, which he had in characteristic fashion kept 
 himself in the neatest and most methodical way. He had 
 drawn no pay, and had expended considerable sums from 
 his private fortune, which he had omitted to charge to the 
 government. The gross amount of his expenses was about 
 15,000 pounds sterling, including secret service and other 
 incidental outlays. In these days of wild money-hunting, 
 there is something worth pondering in this simple business 
 settlement between a great general and his government, 
 at the close of eight years of war. This done, he started 
 again on his journey. From Philadelphia he proceeded to 
 Annapolis, greeted with addresses and hailed with shouts 
 at every town and village on his route, and having reached 
 his destination, he addressed a letter to Congress on De- 
 cember 2oth, asking when it would be agreeable to them to 
 receive him. The 23d was appointed, and on that day, at 
 noon, he appeared before Congress. 
 
 The following year a French orator and "maitre 
 avocat, " in an oration delivered at Toulouse upon the 
 American Revolution, described this scene in these words: 
 "On the day when Washington resigned his commission in 
 the hall of Congress, a crown decked with jewels was placed 
 upon the Book of the Constitutions. Suddenly Washington 
 seizes it, breaks it, and flings the pieces to the assembled 
 people. How small ambitious Caesar seems beside the hero 
 of America ! ' ' 
 
 George Washington. Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 337.
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 165 
 
 How He Must Have Longed to Laugh ! 
 
 Washington's farewell address to his army was unlike 
 most papers of similar purport ; it was full of fatherly advice, 
 all of which is better worth reading than any of the political 
 utterances of to-day. His parting with his officers has 
 frequently been described by pen and pencil, but as there 
 was much hand-shaking and no talk it may even now be 
 better imagined than described. In the same building, still 
 standing, and then known as Fraunces' Tavern, many a 
 solid, sober citizen has since swallowed glasses of bad 
 liquor in memory of the hero, who, in an upper chamber of 
 that old house, first broke down when he drank his last glass 
 of wine with his old companions as a body. 
 
 Of farewell addresses Washington delivered about this 
 time nearly as many as any actress who ever began to retire 
 from the stage, but with this important difference: they 
 all referred to the same event. Besides his general farewell 
 to the army he wrote long letters to each governor on the 
 state of the country; all of them will repay reading at the 
 present day, for all were full of expressions of loyal pride 
 in the new nation and of warning against sectional jealousies. 
 
 Finally he bade farewell to Congress, his address being 
 verbal, by request of that body. His speeches were as 
 famous for brevity as were his letters for length, yet the 
 enterprising local journalist of the day, Congress being in 
 session at Annapolis, remarked that "few tragedies ever 
 drew so many tears from so many beautiful eyes as the mov- 
 ing manner in which his Excellency took his final leave of 
 Congress. " As reporters at that time seldom had a chance 
 to "spread themselves," this rather exuberant sentence 
 might be susceptible of some discount, had not several care- 
 ful writers used even stronger language. 
 
 Washington's speech was certainly affecting, and his 
 manner dignified, but how he must have longed to laugh 
 when, in response to his short address, the reply of Congress
 
 166 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and it was all that Washington could have desired was 
 spoken by Mifflin, who a few years before was a member 
 of the detestable Con way cabal! "Time at last makes all 
 things even." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 252. 
 
 Written Address on Resigning His Commission 
 
 "ANNAPOLIS, 23 December, 1783. 
 "Mr. President: 
 
 " The great events, upon which my resignation depended, 
 having at length taken place, I have now the honor of 
 offering my sincere congratulations to Congress, and of 
 presenting myself before them, to surrender into their 
 hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indul- 
 gence of retiring from the Service of my Country. 
 
 " Happy in the confirmation of our Independence and 
 Sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded 
 the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign 
 with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence ; 
 a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, 
 which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the 
 rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme Power of 
 the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. . 
 
 "The successful termination of the war has verified the 
 most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude for the 
 interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have 
 received from my countrymen, increases with every review 
 of the momentous contest. 
 
 "While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, 
 I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, 
 in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merits 
 of the gentlemen, who have been attached to my person 
 during the war. It was impossible that the choice of con- 
 fidential officers to compose my family should have been 
 more fortunate. Permit me, Sir, to recommend in particular
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 167 
 
 those, who have continued in service to the present moment, 
 as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress. 
 
 " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last 
 solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests 
 of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, 
 and those who have the superintendence of them to His holy 
 keeping. 
 
 ''Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire 
 from the great theatre of action ; and, bidding an affection- 
 ate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have 
 so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave 
 of all the employments of public life. " 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 237. 
 
 Thackeray Contrasts the Two Georges 
 
 The scene was the hall of Congress. The members 
 representing the sovereign power were seated and covered, 
 while all the space about was filled by the governor and State 
 officers of Maryland, by military officers, and by the ladies 
 and gentlemen of the neighborhood, who stood in respectful 
 silence with uncovered heads. Washington was intro- 
 duced by the Secretary of Congress, and took a chair which 
 had been assigned to him. There was a brief pause, 
 and then the president said that " the United States in Con- 
 gress assembled were prepared to receive his communi- 
 cation. " . . . 
 
 In singularly graceful and eloquent words his old 
 opponent, Thomas Mifflin, the president, replied, the 
 simple ceremony ended, and Washington left the room a 
 private citizen. 
 
 The great master of English fiction, touching this 
 scene with skilful hand, has said: 
 
 " Which was the most splendid spectacle ever witnessed, 
 the opening feast of Prince George in London, or the resigna- 
 tion of Washington? Which is the most noble character
 
 1 68 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 for after ages to admire, yon fribble dancing in laces and 
 spangles, or yonder hero who sheathes his sword after a life 
 of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage indomi- 
 table, and a consummate victory?" 
 
 Geqrge Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 339- 
 
 Blessings on Thee ! 
 
 Traitors shall perish and treason shall fail ; 
 Kingdoms and thrones in thy glory shall pale ! 
 Thou shalt live on, and thy people shall own 
 Loyalty's sweet when each heart is thy throne ; 
 Union and freedom thine heritage be. 
 Country of Washington ! blessings on thee ! 
 
 Lines by W. S. Robinson, Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, 
 P. 132- 
 
 Americans victorious at Cowpens. . . .January 17, 1781 
 Americans defeated at Guilford Court House, 
 
 March 15, 1781 
 
 Arnold's invasion of Virginia for the British, 1781 
 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. .October 19, 1781 
 Suspension of hostilities in War for Independence, 1782 
 Treaty of peace with Great Britain signed, Sep- 
 tember 3, 1783
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 "THE ClN(JINNATUS OP THE WEST" 
 Mount Vernon Becomes a Mecca 
 
 Having resigned his commission, Washington stood 
 not upon the order of his going, but went at once to Virginia, 
 and reached Mount Vernon the next day, in season to enjoy 
 the Christmas- tide at home. It was with a deep sigh of 
 relief that he sat himself down again by his own fireside, 
 for all through the war the one longing that never left his 
 mind was for the banks of the Potomac. He loved home 
 after the fashion of his race, but with more than common 
 intensity, and the country life was dear to him in all its 
 phases. He liked its quiet occupations and wholesome 
 sports, and, like most strong and simple natures, he loved 
 above all an open-air existence. He felt that he had earned 
 his rest, with all the temperate pleasures and employments 
 that came with it, and he fondly believed that he was about 
 to renew the habits which he had abandoned for eight weary 
 years. Four days after his return he wrote to Governor 
 Clinton : 
 
 " The scene is at last closed. I feel myself eased of a 
 load of public care. I hope to spend the remainder of my 
 days in cultivating the affections of good men and in the 
 practice of the domestic virtues. " 
 
 That the hope was sincere we may well suppose, but 
 that it was more than a hope may be doubted. It was a wish, 
 not a belief, and Washington must have felt that there was 
 work that he would surely be called to do. Still for the 
 present the old life was there, and he threw himself into it 
 with eager zest, though age and care put some of the former 
 habits aside. He resumed his hunting, and Lafayette sent 
 
 (169)
 
 1 70 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 him a pack of splendid French wolf-hounds. But they 
 proved somewhat fierce and unmanageable, and were given 
 up, and after that the following of the hounds was never 
 resumed. In other respects there was little change. The 
 work of the plantation and the affairs of the estate, much 
 disordered by his absence, once more took shape and moved 
 on successfully under the owner's eye. There were, as 
 of old, the long days in the saddle, the open house and 
 generous hospitality, the quiet evenings, and the thousand 
 and one simple labors and enjoyments of rural life. But 
 with all this were the newer and deeper cares, born of the 
 change which had been wrought in the destiny of the 
 country. The past broke in and could not be pushed 
 aside, the future knocked at the door and demanded an 
 answer to its questionings. 
 
 He had left home a distinguished Virginian ; he returned 
 one of the most famous men ity the world, and such celebrity 
 brought its usual penalties. Every foreigner of any posi- 
 tion who came to the country made a pilgrimage to Mount 
 Vernon, and many Americans did the same. Their coming 
 was not allowed to alter the mode of life, but they were all 
 hospitably received, and they consumed many hours of their 
 host's precious time. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. i. 
 
 " Tell George to Come Here Instantly ! " 
 
 On Christmas Eve, 1783, he was once more at Mount 
 Vernon, to resume the life he loved more than victory and 
 power. He had a zest for the means and the labor of 
 succeeding, but not for the mere content of success. He put 
 the Revolution behind him as he would have laid aside a 
 book that was read; turned from it as quietly as he had 
 turned from receiving the surrender of Cornwallis at York- 
 town interested in victory not as a pageant and field of 
 glory, but only as a means to an end. He looked to find 
 very sweet satisfaction in the peace which war had earned,
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 171 
 
 as sufficient a scope for his powers at home as in the field. 
 Once more he would be a Virginian, and join his strength 
 to his neighbors' in all the tasks of good citizenship. He 
 had seen nothing of the old familiar places since that far- 
 away spring of the year 1775, when he had left his farming 
 and fox-hunting, amidst rumors of war, to attend the 
 Congress which was to send him to Cambridge. He had 
 halted at Fredericksburg, indeed, with the Count de Rocham- 
 beau, two years ago, ere he followed his army from York 
 to his posts upon the Hudson. Mrs. Lewis, his sister, 
 had returned one day from visiting a neighbor in the quiet 
 town to look in astonishment upon an officer's horses and 
 attendants at her door, and had entered to find her beloved 
 brother stretched upon her own bed within, sound asleep 
 in his clothes, like a boy returned from hunting. There 
 had been a formal ball given, too, in celebration of the victory, 
 before the French officers and the commander-in-chief left 
 Fredericksburg to go northward again, and Washington had 
 had the joy of entering the room in the face of the gay 
 company with his aged mother on his arm, not a whit bent 
 for all her seventy-four years, and as quiet as a queen at 
 receiving the homage of her son's comrades in arms. A 
 servant had told her that "Mars George" had put up at 
 the tavern. "Go and tell George to come here instantly," 
 she had commanded; and he had come, masterful man 
 though he was. He had felt every old affection and every 
 old allegiance as he saw former neighbors crowd around him ; 
 and that little glimpse of Virginia had refreshed him ilke 
 a tonic deeply, as if it renewed his very nature, as only 
 a silent man can be refreshed. But a few days in 
 Fredericksburg and at Mount Vernon then had been 
 only an incident of campaigning, only a grateful pause 
 on march. Now at last he had come back to keep his 
 home and be a neighbor again, as he had not been these 
 nine years. 
 
 George Washington, Woodrow Wilson, p. 228.
 
 1 72 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 From Virginian to American 
 
 No man of that time with the exception of Hamilton, 
 ever grasped and realized as he did the imperial future which 
 stretched before the United States. It was a difficult 
 thing for men who had been born colonists to rise to a sense 
 of national opportunities, but Washington passed at a 
 single step from being a Virginian to being an American, 
 and in so doing he stood alone. He was really and 
 thoroughly national from the beginning of the war, at a 
 time when, except for a few oratorical phrases, no one had 
 ever thought of such a thing as a practical and living ques- 
 tion. In the same way he had passed rapidly to an accurate 
 conception of the probable growth and greatness of the 
 country, and again he stood alone. Hamilton, born outside 
 the colonies, unhampered by local prejudices and attach- 
 ments, and living in Washington's family, as soon as he 
 turned his mind to the subject, became, like his chief, 
 , entirely national and imperial in his views ; but the other 
 American statesmen of that day, with the exception of 
 Franklin, only followed gradually and sometimes reluctantly 
 in adopting their opinions. Some of them never adopted 
 them at all, but remained embedded in local ideas, and very 
 few got beyond the region of words and actually grasped 
 the facts with the absolutely clear perception which Wash- 
 ington had from the outset. Thus it was that when the 
 war closed one of the ruling ideas in Washington's mind 
 was to assure the future which he saw opening before the 
 country. He perceived at a glance that the key and the 
 guarantee of that future were in the wild regions of the 
 West. Hence his constant anxiety as to the western posts, 
 as to our Indian policy, and as to the maintenance of a 
 sufficient armed force upon our borders to check the aggres- 
 sions of English or savages, and to secure free scope for 
 settlement. In advancing these ideas on a national scale, 
 however, he was rendered helpless by the utter weakness of
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 173 
 
 Congress, which even his influence was powerless to over- 
 come. He therefore began, immediately after his retreat to 
 private life, to formulate and bring into existence such 
 practical measures as were possible for the development 
 of the West, believing that if Congress could not act, the 
 people would, if any opportunity were given to their natural 
 enterprise. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 7 . 
 
 " Under My Own Vine and Fig-tree " 
 
 "Under my own vine and fig-tree" was the most 
 attractive picture Washington's mind could conceive. 
 During the war he referred many times to the happy day 
 coming when he could return to private life. When he 
 came back to Mount Vernon after eight years of toil, hazard, 
 anxiety and exasperation, he felt that he had at last gained 
 his reward the privilege of passing the rest of his days in 
 quiet with his family. The adulation of those who had once 
 ridiculed or hampered him was a great satisfaction to him. 
 People could at last see that Washington, and he alone, 
 had saved the country. 
 
 But the country was still incoherent. The separate 
 States relapsed into their former ways of thinking and acting. 
 There was no head, no organization, no real sympathy. 
 The country was like thirteen colonial staves without a hoop 
 to hold them together. Washington saw this from the quiet 
 of Mount Vernon and did his best to remedy existing con- 
 ditions as he had done twenty years before, during the days 
 of the Stamp Act. He was too philanthropic, too public 
 spirited to keep aloof. 
 
 People nowadays seem to think life at Mount Vernon 
 was a prosy, stilted existence. Nothing could be further 
 from the truth. Washington was a great man to laugh, 
 and a man of jovial humor. He appreciated a good story, 
 and enjoyed a practical joke like an undergraduate. Judge 
 Marshall tells a story which shows Washington in a new
 
 I 74 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 light. It was about a predicament he and Washington's 
 favorite nephew, Bushrod, got into. They were going to 
 Mount Vernon, and stopped in a neighboring grove to take 
 off their dusty clothes and make themselves fresh, clean and 
 presentable on their arrival at the mansion. After they 
 had taken off all their clothes and were ready for a body- 
 servant to hand them clean apparel', he opened the port- 
 manteau he had brought and was aghast to find in it only 
 fancy soaps, tape, needles and the small wares of an itinerant 
 pedler. At the last inn at which they had stopped the man 
 had exchanged valises with a Scotch peddler. His rueful 
 countenance made them laugh in spite of their own plight. 
 Their laughter attracted the attention of Washington, who 
 happened to be walking near, and he came to see what 
 amused them. The two naked men, full of mirth and con- 
 sternation, made signs deprecating their absurd predicament. 
 Washington took in their dilemma at a glance and was so 
 overcome by the ludicrousness of the situation that he 
 actually rolled upon the ground, shouting with uncontrolled 
 merriment at his friends' expense ! 
 
 Many stories are told of his giving way to mirth after 
 the greatest mental strain, even at Valley Forge, and during 
 the darkest days of the war. A jackass given him by the 
 King of Spain, was always a source of amusement. He 
 compared the animal to and even had a mind to name the 
 beast for the king, his former master. 
 
 A facetious writer says of him: 
 
 "Although we have been told that when Washington 
 was six years old he could not tell a lie, yet he afterwards 
 partially overcame the disability. On one occasion he 
 writes to a friend that the mosquitoes of New Jersey can 
 bite through the thickest boot." 
 
 This "authority" goes on to prove that Washington 
 told white lies. He forgets that " all is fair in love and war, " 
 as in the case of the brilliant feints which deceived Clinton 
 and permitted Washington to go to Virginia and then and
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST' 175 
 
 there end the war. This joker should be the last to complain 
 because .George Washington was the originator of the old 
 joke about Jersey mosquitoes. 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar. Wayne Whipple. December 4 to 10. 1910. 
 
 Van Braam Again, after Thirty Years 
 
 It was a curious circumstance, that scarce had Wash- 
 ington retired from the bustle of arms and hung up his 
 sword at Mount Vernon, when he received a letter from the 
 worthy who had first taught him the use of that sword in 
 these very halls. In a word, Jacob Van Braam, his early 
 teacher of the sword exercise, his fellow campaigner and 
 unlucky interpreter in the affair of the Great Meadows, 
 turned up once more. His letter gave a glance over the 
 current of his life. It would appear that after the close of 
 the French war, he had been allowed half pay in considera- 
 tion of his services and misadventures; and, in process of 
 time, had married, and settled on a farm in Wales with his 
 wife and his wife's mother. He had carried with him to 
 England a strong feeling in favor of America, and on the 
 breaking out of the Revolution had been very free, and, as 
 he seemed to think, eloquent and effective in speaking in 
 all companies and at country meetings against the American 
 war. Suddenly, as if to stop his mouth, he received orders 
 from Lord Amherst, then commander-in-chief, to join his 
 regiment (the 6gth), in which he was appointed eldest 
 captain in the 3d battalion. In vain he pleaded his rural 
 occupations; his farm cultivated at so much cost, for 
 which he was in debt, and which must go to ruin should 
 he abandon it so abruptly. No excuse was admitted he 
 must embark and sail for East Florida, or lose his half pay. 
 He accordingly sailed for St. Augustine in the beginning of 
 1776, with a couple of hundred recruits picked up in London, 
 resolving to sell out of the army on the first opportunity. 
 By a series of cross-purposes he was prevented from doing 
 so until in 1779, having in the interim made a campaign in
 
 i 7 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Georgia. "He quitted the service," he adds, "with as 
 much pleasure as ever a young man entered it. " 
 
 He then returned to England and took up his residence 
 in Devonshire; but his invincible propensity to talk against 
 the ministry made his residence there uncomfortable. His 
 next move, therefore, was to the old fertile province of 
 Orleannois in France, where he was still living near Males- 
 herbes, apparently at his ease, enjoying the friendship of 
 the distinguished person of that name, and better versed, 
 it is to be hoped, in the French language than when he 
 officiated as interpreter in the capitulation at the Great 
 Meadows. The worthy major appeared to contemplate 
 with joy and pride the eminence to which his early pupil in 
 the sword exercise had attained. 
 
 "Give me leave, sir, before I conclude," writes he, 
 "to pour out the sentiments of my soul in congratulating 
 you for your successes in the American contest; and in 
 wishing you a long life, to enjoy the blessing of a great 
 people whom you have been the chief instrument in freeing 
 from bondage." 
 
 So disappears from the scene one of the earliest per- 
 sonages of our history. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving. Vol. IV. p. 511. 
 
 Fine Clothes Do Not Make Fine Men 
 
 Although always very particular about his dress, 
 Washington was no dandy, as some have supposed. "Do 
 not," he wrote to his nephew in 1783, "conceive that fine 
 clothes make fine men any more than fine feathers make 
 fine birds. A plain, genteel dress, is more admired and 
 obtains more credit than lace or embroidery in the eyes of 
 the judicious and sensible." 
 
 Sullivan thus describes Washington at a levee: "He 
 was dressed in black velvet, his hair full dress, powdered, 
 and gathered behind in a large, silk bag, yellow gloves on his 
 hands; holding a cocked hat, with a cockade in it, and the
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" m 
 
 edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. 
 He wore knee and shoe buckles, and a long sword. 
 The scabbard was of white polished leather." 
 
 Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, p. 245. 
 
 Ploughs and Hunting 
 
 Like other country gentlemen of his time, he tried his 
 inventive faculty with a new plough, and the diary describes 
 the manufacture: 
 
 " March 6th. Fitted a two-eyed plough, instead of a 
 duck-billed plough, and with much difficulty made my 
 chariot -wheel horses plough, yth. Put the pole-end horses 
 into the plough in the morning, and put in the postilion 
 and hind horses in the afternoon, but the ground being well 
 swarded over, and very heavy ploughing, I repented putting 
 them in at all, for fear it should give them a habit of stopping 
 in the chariot." 
 
 The diaries have frequent allusions to success or 
 failure in hunting. Washington delighted in the chase. 
 Even in going to watch the works in parts of the estate 
 where he supposed a fox might be started he would take 
 the dogs with him. He was always a bold rider and a good 
 horseman. It is recollected that, at the battle of Princeton, 
 when he saw an English regiment give way, he turned to 
 his staff and said, "An old-fashioned Virginia fox-hunt, 
 gentlemen. ' ' 
 
 Life of George Washington Studied Anew, Edward Everett Hale. p. 137. 
 
 The Nephew and the Ice-house 
 
 The session of the Cincinnati did not detain him 
 longer than May in Philadelphia. He came back to Mount 
 Vernon to find, among other things, that his ice had not 
 kept, or, as he says, that he was "lurched." A friendly 
 letter to Robert Morris, asking his help for a nephew, a 
 brother to the gentleman who became Judge Bushrod 
 Washington, announces this misfortune: 
 
 v
 
 i 7 8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " MOUNT VERNON, June 2, 1784. 
 
 v r . The inclination of the young gentleman 
 also points to this walk of life; he is turned twenty; pos- 
 sesses, I am told (for he is a stranger to me), good natural 
 abilities, an amiable disposition, and an uncommon share 
 of prudence and circumspection. 
 
 " Would it suit you, my dear sir, to take him into your 
 counting-house, and to afford him your patronage ? If this 
 is not convenient, who would you recommend for this 
 purpose? What advance and what other requisites are 
 necessary to initiate him? Excuse this trouble; to comply 
 with the wishes of a parent anxious for the welfare of his 
 children, I give it, and my friendship prompted it, but I wish 
 you to be perfectly unembarrassed by the application, on 
 either account. 
 
 " If General Armand should have left Philadelphia, 
 you will oblige me by placing the enclosed in the readiest 
 channel of conveyance. My affectionate regards, in which 
 Mrs. Washington joins me, attend Mrs. Morris, yourself, 
 and family. With every sentiment of friendship and 
 pure esteem, 
 
 " I remain, dear sir, etc., etc., 
 
 "G. WASHINGTON. 
 
 "P. S. The house I rilled with ice does not answer; 
 it is gone already. If you will do me the favor to cause a 
 description of yours to be taken the size, manner of 
 building, and mode of management, and forward it to me, 
 I shall be much obliged. My house was filled chiefly with 
 snow. Have you ever tried snow? Do you think Jt is 
 owing to this that I am lurched?" 
 
 Life of Georg" Washington Studied Anew , Edward Everett Hale, p. 284. 
 
 The Fact Called " George Washington " 
 
 The scheme which he proposed was to open the western 
 country by means of inland navigation. The thought had
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 179 
 
 long been in his mind. It had come to him before the 
 Revolution, and can be traced back to the early days when 
 he was making surveys, buying wild lands, and meditating 
 very deeply, but very practically on the possible develop- 
 ment of the colonies. Now the idea assumed much larger 
 proportions and a much graver aspect. He perceived in 
 it the first step toward the empire which he foresaw, and 
 when he had laid down his sword and awoke in the peaceful 
 morning at Mount Vernon, " with a strange sense of freedom 
 from official cares, " he directed his attention at once to this 
 plan, in which he really could do something, despite ah inert 
 Congress and a dissolving confederation. His first letter 
 on the subject was written in March, 1784, and addressed 
 to Jefferson, who was then in Congress; and who sym- 
 pathized with Washington's views without seeing how far 
 they reached. He told Jefferson how he despaired of 
 government aid, and how he therefore intended to revive 
 the scheme of a company, which he had started in 1775, 
 and which had been abandoned on account of the war. He 
 showed the varying interests which it was necessary to 
 conciliate, asked Jefferson to see the governor of Maryland, 
 so that that State might be brought into the undertaking, 
 and referred to the danger of being anticipated and beaten 
 by New York, a chord of local pride which he continued to 
 touch most adroitly as the business proceeded. Very char- 
 acteristically, too, he took pains to call attention to the fact 
 that by his ownership of land he had a personal interest in 
 the enterprise. He looked far beyond his own lands, but 
 he was glad to have his property developed, and with his 
 usual freedom from anything like pretense, he drew atten- 
 tion to the fact of his personal interests. 
 
 The practical result was that the legislature took the 
 question up, more in deference to the writer's wishes and 
 in gratitude for his services, than from any comprehension 
 of what the scheme meant. The companies were duly 
 organized, and the promoter was given a hundred and fifty
 
 i8o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 shares, on the ground that the legislature wished to take 
 every opportunity of testifying their sense of "the unex- 
 ampled merits of George Washington towards his country. " 
 Washington was much touched and not a little troubled 
 by this action. He had been willing, as he said, to give up 
 his cherished privacy and repose in order to forward the 
 enterprise. He had gone to Maryland even, and worked 
 to engage that State in the scheme, but he could not bear 
 the idea of taking money for what he regarded as part of 
 a great public policy. 
 
 "I would wish," he said, "that every individual who 
 may hear that it was a favorite plan of mine may know also 
 that I had no other motive for promoting it than the 
 advantage of which I conceived it would be productive to 
 the Union, and to this State in particular, by cementing the 
 eastern and western territory together, at the same time 
 that it will give vigor and increase to our commerce, and be 
 a convenience to our citizens. 
 
 " How would this matter be viewed, then, by the eye of 
 the world, and what would be the opinion of it, when it 
 comes to be related that George Washington has received 
 twenty thousand dollars and five thousand pounds sterling 
 of the public money as an interest therein ? ' ' 
 
 He thought it would make him look like a "pensioner 
 or dependent" to accept this gratuity, and he recoiled from 
 the idea. There is something entirely frank and human in 
 the way in which he says "George Washington," instead 
 of using the first pronoun singular. He always saw facts 
 as they were, he understood the fact called "George Wash- 
 ington" as perfectly as any other, and although he wanted 
 retirement and privacy, he had no mock modesty in esti- 
 mating his own place in the world. At .the same time, 
 while he wished to be rid of the kindly gift, he shrank from 
 putting on what he called the appearance of "ostentatious 
 disinterestedness" by refusing it. Finally he took the 
 stock and endowed two charity schools with the dividends.
 
 THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 181 
 
 The scheme turned out successfully, and the work still 
 endures, like the early surveys and various other things 
 of a very different kind to which Washington put his hand. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 9. 
 
 Goes to Visit Lands on the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers 
 
 Washington now prepared for a tour to the west of the 
 Appalachian Mountains, to visit his lands on the Ohio and 
 Kanawha rivers. Dr. Craik, the companion of his various 
 campaigns, and who had accompanied him in 1770 on a 
 similar tour, was to be his fellow-traveler. The way they 
 were to travel may be gathered from Washington's direc- 
 tions to the doctor: "You will have occasion to take 
 nothing from home but a servant to look after your horses, 
 and such bedding as you may think proper to make use of. 
 I will carry a marquee, some camp utensils, and a few 
 stores. A boat, or some other kind of a vessel, will be 
 provided for the voyage down the river, either at my place 
 on the Youghiogheny or Fort Pitt, measures for this pur- 
 pose have already been taken. A few medicines, and hooks 
 and lines, you may probably want." 
 
 This soldier-like tour, made in hardy military' style, 
 with tent, pack-horses, and frugal supplies, took him once 
 more among the scenes of his youthful expeditions when a 
 land surveyor in the employ of Lord Fairfax; a leader of 
 Virginia militia, or an aide-de-camp of the unfortunate 
 Braddock. A veteran now in years, and a general renowned 
 in arms, he soberly permitted his steed to pick his way 
 across the mountains by the old military route, still called 
 Braddock's road, over which he had spurred in the days 
 of youthful ardor. His original intention had been to 
 survey and inspect his lands on the Monongahela river; 
 then to descend the Ohio to the great Kanawha, where he 
 also had large tracts of wild land. On arriving at the 
 Monongahela, however, he heard such accounts of 'dis- 
 content and irritation among the Indian tribes, that he did
 
 1 82 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 not consider it prudent to venture among them. Some of 
 his land on the Monongahela was settled; the rest was in 
 the wilderness, and of little value in the present unquiet 
 state of the country. He abridged his tour, therefore; 
 proceeded no further west than the Monongahela ; ascended 
 that riyer, and then struck . southward through the wild, 
 unsettled regions of the Alleghanies, until he came out into 
 the Shenandoah valley near Staunton. He returned to 
 Mount Vernon on the 4th of October; having since the 
 ist of September traveled on horseback six hundred and 
 eighty miles, for a great part of the time in wild, moun- 
 tainous country, where he was obliged to encamp at night. 
 This, like his tour to the northern forts with Governor 
 Clinton, gave proof of his unfailing vigor and activity. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving Vol. IV, p. si 7- 
 
 From Washington's Diary of September, MDCC Imiv 
 
 Set out about 7 Oclock with the Doct r . (Craik) and his 
 Son William, and my Nephew Bushrod Washington, who 
 were to make the tour with us. about ten I parted with 
 them at 5 Miles Creek, & recrossed the Potomack (having 
 passed it ab*. 3 Miles from the Springs before) to a tract of 
 mine on the Virginia Side which I find exceedingly Rich, & 
 must be very valuable. the lower end of the land is rich 
 white oak in places springey; and in the winter wet. the 
 upper part is exceedingly rich, and covered with Walnut of 
 considerable size many of them. Note I requested a M r . 
 M c . Craker at whose House I fed my horses, & got a snack, 
 & whose land joins mine to offer mine to any who might 
 apply for 10 the first year, 15 the next, & 25 the third- 
 trie Tenant not to remove any of the Walnut timber from 
 off the Land ; or to split it into Rails ; as I should reserve 
 that for my own use. 
 
 After having reviewed this Land I again crossed the 
 River & getting into the Waggon Road I pursued my
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 183 
 
 journey to the old Town where I overtook my Company & 
 Baggage lodged at Col. Cresaps ab l . 35 Miles this day 
 
 9 th . 
 
 Having discharged the hired Horses which were ob- 
 tained at the springs & hired one more only to supply the 
 place of one of mine, whose back was much hurt, we had 
 them loaded by Six oclock, and was about to set out when 
 it began to Rain; which looking very likely to continue 
 thro the day, I had the Loads taken off to await the issue. 
 
 at this place I met a Man who lives at the Mouth of ten 
 Miles Creek on Monongahela, who assured me, that this 
 Creek is not Navigable for any kind of a Craft a Mile from 
 its Mouth; unless the Water of it is swelled by Rain; at 
 which time he has known Batteaux brought 10 or 12 Miles 
 down it. He knows little of the Country betw n . that and 
 the little Kanahwa & and not more of that above him, on 
 the Monongahela. 
 
 The day proving rainy we remained here. 
 
 Washington and the West, Archer Butler Hulbert, p. 37. 
 
 " Big with Great Political as Well as Commercial Consequences " 
 
 Ah, says some critic in critic's fashion, you are carried 
 away by your subject; you see in a simple business enter- 
 prise, intended merely to open western lands, the far-reach- 
 ing ideas of a statesman. Perhaps our critic is right, for 
 as one goes on living with this Virginian soldier, studying 
 his letters and his thoughts, one comes to believe many 
 things of him, and to detect much meaning in his sayings 
 and doings. Let us, however, show our evidence at least. 
 Here is what he wrote to his friend Humphreys a year after 
 his scheme was afoot: "My attention is more immediately 
 engaged in a project which I think big with great political 
 as well as commercial consequences to the States, especially 
 the middle ones" ; and then he went on to argue the neces- 
 sity of fastening the Western States to the Atlantic seaboard
 
 184 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and thus thwarting Spain and England. This looks like 
 more than a money-making scheme; in fact, it justifies all 
 that has been said, especially if read in connection with 
 certain other letters of this period. Great political results, 
 as well as lumber and peltry, were what Washington intended 
 to float along his rivers and canals. 
 
 In this same letter to Humphreys he touched also on 
 another point in connection with the development of the 
 West, which was of vast importance to the future of the 
 country, and was even then agitating men's minds. He said : 
 
 " I may be singular in my ideas, but they are these : 
 that to open a door to, and make easy the way for those 
 settlers to the westward, (who ought to advance regularly 
 and compactly) before we make any stir about the navi- 
 gation of the Mississippi, and before our settlements are far 
 advanced toward that river, would be our true line of policy. " 
 
 Again he wrote: 
 
 " However singular the opinion may be, I cannot divest 
 myself of it, that the navigation of the Mississippi, at this 
 time [i 785], ought to be no object with us. On the contrary, 
 until we have a little time allowed to open and make easy 
 the ways between the Atlantic States and the western 
 territory, the obstructions had better remain." 
 
 He was right in describing himself as " singular" in his 
 views on this matter, which was just then exciting much 
 attention. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 13. 
 
 The Long-expected Visit of Lafayette 
 
 The long-expected visit of Lafayette took place in the 
 autumn of 1784, but the Marchioness was not with him. 
 He arrived at Mount Vernon on the i7th of August, and 
 remained there twelve days. During that time Mount 
 Vernon was crowded with other guests who came to meet 
 him, and when he left for Baltimore a large cavalcade of 
 Virginia gentlemen accompanied him on his way. Among
 
 i8 S 
 
 other offerings from Europe Lafayette brought Washington 
 a letter from Mesmer, the great charlatan to whom we owe 
 the word "mesmerism," as related to the science which is 
 yet unexplained. Washington's answer is amusing, as 
 showing his faculty for saying something when he had to say 
 it but had nothing to say. 
 
 " The Marquis of Lafayette did me the honor of pre- 
 senting to me your favor of the i6th of June, and of entering 
 into some explanation of the powers of magnetism, the dis- 
 covery of which, if it should prove as extensively beneficial 
 as it is said it will, must be fortunate indeed for mankind, 
 and redound very highly to the honor of that genius to whom 
 it owes its birth. For the confidence reposed in me by the 
 society which you have formed for the purpose of diffusing 
 all the advantages expected, and for your favorable senti- 
 ments of me, I pray you to receive my gratitude and the 
 assurances of the respect and esteem with which I have the 
 honor to be, etc., etc." 
 
 To the Marchioness Lafayette, when her husband 
 returns, he writes: 
 
 "The Marquis returns to you with all the warmth and 
 ardor of a newly inspired lover. We restore him to you in 
 good health, crowned with wreaths of love and respect from 
 every part of the Union. That his meeting with you, his 
 family, and friends, may be propitious, and as happy as 
 your wishes can make it, that you may live long together, 
 revered and beloved, and that you may transmit to a 
 numerous progeny the virtues which you both possess, is 
 the fervent wish of your devoted and most respectful 
 humble servant. 
 
 " N. B. In every good wish for you, Mrs. Washington 
 sincerely joins me." 
 
 Lafayette and his heirs male, were, by special statutes, 
 made citizens of Maryland and of Virginia. 
 
 The Life of George Washington Si'udied Anew, Edward Everett Hale, p. 280.
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Lafayette Goes to See the Mother of Washington 
 
 In 1784 the Marquis de Lafayette came back to 
 Virginia "crowned everywhere," as Washington wrote 
 to the Marchioness de Lafayette, ' ' with wreaths of 
 love and respect." He visited Mount Vernon, and 
 from there he went to Fredericksburg to pay his respects 
 to the mother of Washington, before returning to France. 
 A multitude of citizens and soldiers crowded into town 
 to do him honor. One of the old soldiers from the 
 country had heard much of a new character who had 
 followed the armies, and had lately appeared in Virginia 
 active, prevalent, and most successful. This man was 
 bound to see Lafayette, "pickpocket" or no "pickpocket." 
 Had he not hands? One should always keep a firm 
 grasp on the watch in his pocket. He succeeded, after 
 pushing through the crowd, in reaching the general. In his 
 enthusiasm at being greeted so warmly by the great mar- 
 quis, he seized both Lafayette's hands in his own. The 
 nobleman was not to be outdone in politeness by 
 the countryman. After a friendly interview the latter 
 clapped his hand on his exposed watch-pocket. It was 
 empty. Yet the honest fellow did not think his honor 
 too dearly bought. 
 
 After shaking hands with the crowds, an undertaking 
 the marquis keenly enjoyed, he found Washington's sister 
 Betty's son ready to guide the French nobleman to the 
 home oi. the mother of his great friend. 
 
 " Accompanied by her grandson," says Mr. Custis, " he 
 approached the house; when the young gentleman observed, 
 There, sir, is my grandmother.' Lafayette beheld, working 
 in the garden, clad in domestic-made clothes, and her gray 
 head covered with a plain straw hat, the mother of his hero. 
 The lady saluted him kindly, observing, 'Ah, Marquis, you 
 see an old woman ; but come , I can make you welcome to my 
 poor dwelling without the parade of changing my dress.'
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" . 187 
 
 " The Marquis spoke of the happy effects of the Revolu- 
 tion, and the goodly prospect which opened upon indepen- 
 dent America; stated his speedy departure for his native 
 land ; paid the tribute of his heart, his love and admiration 
 of her illustrious son. To the encomiums which he had 
 lavished upon his hero and paternal chief, the matron replied 
 in her accustomed words, 'I am not surprised at what George 
 has done, for he was always a very good boy.' 
 
 " In her latter days, the mother often spoke of 'her own 
 good boy,' of the merits of his early life, of his love and duti- 
 fulness to herself ; but of the .deliverer of his country, the 
 chief magistrate of the great republic, she never spoke. 
 Call you this insensibility? or want of ambition? Oh, 
 no! her ambition had been gratified to overflowing. She 
 had taught him to be good-; that he became great when the 
 opportunity presented, was a consequence, not a cause. " 
 w. w. 
 
 " Nothing Left but Obey " 
 
 During the war, and indeed during her useful life, and 
 until within three years of her death, when an afflictive 
 disease prevented exertion, the mother of Washington set a 
 most valuable example in the management of her domestic 
 concerns, carrying her own keys, bustling in her household 
 affairs, providing for her own wants, and living and moving 
 in all the pride of independence. There are some of the 
 aged inhabitants of Fredericksburg who well remember the 
 matron as, seated in an old-fashioned open chaise, she was 
 in the habit of almost daily visiting her little farm in the 
 vicinity of the town. When there, she would ride about her 
 fields, giving her orders, and seeing that they were obeyed. 
 On one occasion an agent to whom she had given directions 
 as to a particular piece of work, varied from his instructions 
 in its execution. The lady, whose coup d'oeil was as perfect 
 in rural affairs as that of her son in war, pointed out the
 
 1 88 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 error. The agent excused himself by saying, that "in his 
 judgment the work was done to more advantage than it 
 would have been by his first directions. " Mrs. Washington 
 replied, "And pray, who gave you any exercise of judgment 
 in the matter? I command you, sir; there is nothing left 
 for you to do but obey." 
 
 In a very humble dwelling, at the advanced age of 
 eighty-two, and suffering under an excruciating disease 
 (cancer of the breast), thus lived this mother of the first of 
 men, preserving unchanged her peculiar nobleness and 
 independence of character. She was continually visited 
 and solaced by her children and numerous grandchildren, 
 particularly her daughter, Mrs. Lewis. To the repeated 
 and earnest solicitations of this lady, that she would remove 
 to her house and pass the remainder of her days; to the 
 pressing entreaties of her son that she would make Mount 
 Vernon the home of her old age, the matron replied: "I 
 thank you for your affectionate and dutiful offers, but my 
 wants are few in this world, and I feel perfectly confident 
 to take care of myself." Upon her son-in-law, Colonel 
 Fielding Lewis, proposing that he should relieve her in the 
 direction of her affairs, she observed : " Do you, Fielding, 
 keep my books in order, for your eyesight is better than 
 mine, but leave the executive management to me. " 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 P. 139- 
 
 Marriage Congratulations, Humorous but Hearty 
 
 Washington's ideas on marriage reflect his personal 
 experience as well as his thoughtful observation of that 
 of others. To a nephew he wrote as follows on this im- 
 portant question: 
 
 "If Mrs. Washington should survive me, there is a 
 moral certainty of my dying without issue: and should 
 I be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion, is hardly 
 less certain; for while I retain the faculty of reasoning, I
 
 ' 
 
 Engraved by H. U. Hall after Picture from Life by Robert Edge Pine. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON IN 1785
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 189 
 
 shall never marry a girl ; and it is not probable that I should 
 have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own, 
 should I be disposed to enter into a second marriage." 
 
 In a more jocular strain he wrote to the Marquis de 
 Chastellux : 
 
 I was, as you may well suppose, not less delighted 
 than surprised to meet the plain American words, 'my wife.' 
 A wife! Well, my dear Marquis, I can hardly refrain from 
 smiling to find you are caught at last. I saw, by the eulo- 
 gium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in 
 America, that you had swallowed the bait, and that you 
 would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you 
 were a philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at length 
 come! I am glad of it, with all my heart and soul. It 
 is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served 
 for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the 
 way across the Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible 
 contagion domestic felicity which same, like the small- 
 pox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life; 
 because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in America 
 I don't know how you manage these matters in France) 
 for his whole life time. And yet after all these malsdictions 
 you so richly merit on the subject, the worst wish which I 
 can find in my heart to make against Madame de Chastellux 
 and yourself is, that you may neither of you ever get the 
 better of this same domestic felicity during the entire course 
 of your mortal existence." 
 w. w. 
 
 " Standing at My Bedside with a Bowl of Hot Tea" 
 
 An observant traveler, Mr. Elkanah Watson, who 
 visited Mount Vernon in the winter of. 1785, bearer of a 
 letter of introduction from General Greene and Colonel 
 Fitzgerald, gives a home picture of Washington in his 
 retirement. Though sure that his credentials would secure 
 him a respectful reception, he says: "I trembled with
 
 ipo THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 awe, as I came into the presence of this great man. I 
 found him at table with Mrs. Washington and his private 
 family, and was received in the native dignity, and with that 
 urbanity so peculiarly combined in the character of a soldier 
 and an eminent private gentleman. He soon put me at my 
 ease, by unbending, in a free and affable conversation." 
 
 In the evening Mr. Watson sat conversing for a full 
 hour with Washington after all the family had retired, 
 expecting, perhaps, to' hear him fight over some of his bat- 
 tles; but, if so, he was disappointed, for he observes: " He 
 modestly waived all allusions to the events in which he had 
 acted so glorious and conspicuous a part. Much of his con- 
 versation had reference to the interior country, and to the 
 opening of the navigation of the Potomac by canals and locks, 
 at the Seneca, the Great and Little Falls. His mind 
 appeared to be deeply absorbed by that object, then in 
 earnest contemplation. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Watson had taken a severe cold in the course of a 
 harsh winter journey, and coughed excessively. Wash- 
 ington pressed him to take some remedies, but he declined. 
 After retiring for the night his coughing increased. " When 
 some time had elapsed," writes he, "the door of my room 
 was gently opened, and, on drawing my bed curtains, I 
 beheld Washington himself, standing at my bedside with a 
 bowl of hot tea in his hand. I was mortified and distressed 
 beyond expression. This little incident occurring in 
 common life with an ordinary man, would not have been 
 noticed ; but as a trait of the benevolence and private virtue 
 of Washington, deserves to be recorded. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 534. 
 
 The General " Parted with " His Pack! 
 
 Although somewhat faded was the huntsman's bravery 
 of blue and scarlet worn in the gala-days of yore, the man 
 inside of it sat with the old ease upon his fiery Blueskin 
 Will Lee, on "Chinkling, " closely following. These two
 
 "THE CINCINJ^ATUS OF THE WEST" 191 
 
 rode straight forward, over brake and brier, from sunrise, 
 when the gray fox of Virginia was unkenneled, till -no 
 matter what hour the fate of her ladyship was settled, and 
 her followers drew rein before one house or the other of her 
 belongings, to seek pot-luck. Custis said that Washington 
 required of a horse "but one good quality, and that was to 
 go along. He ridiculed the idea that he could be unhorsed, 
 provided the animal kept on his legs?" 
 
 The hounds used in these latter days of chase were a 
 pack sent, in 1785, to Mount Vernon by Lafayette. A fierce, 
 big-mouthed, savage breed, absolutely disproportioned to 
 their prey, were the French dogs, built to grapple with the 
 stag in his death-agony, or with the maddened boar. Mrs. 
 Washington never fancied having such monsters near the 
 house, and after one of them, Vulcan by name, was discovered 
 in the act of carrying off a ham, just out of the oven, their reign 
 was short. The General soon after '' parted with ' ' his pack! 
 
 Washington at Mount Vernon, after the Revolution, Constance Gary Harrison, The 
 Century Magazine, New Series, Vol. XV, April, 1889, p. 835. 
 
 Last Days of Nelson, the War Horse 
 
 One ceremony of his daily round for, rain, or shine, 
 he made the circuit of his farms, between twelve and fifteen 
 miles was, in season, never omitted by the chief. It was 
 to lean over the fence around the field wherein a tall, old 
 sorrel horse, with white face and legs, was grazing luxuri- 
 ously in the richest grass and clover Mount Vernon could 
 afford. At the sight of him the old steed would prick up 
 his ears and run neighing to arch his neck beneath his mas- 
 ter's hand. This was Nelson, the war-horse upon whose 
 back, at Yorktown, the commander-in-chief of the American 
 armies had received the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 
 The war ended, Nelson's work was over. Turned out to graze 
 in summer, in winter carefully groomed and stabled, he lived 
 to a good old age, but by his master's strict command was 
 never again allowed to feel the burden of a saddle. 
 
 Washington at Mount Vernon, after the Revolution, Constance Can' Harrison, The 
 Century Magazine, New Series. Vol. XV, April, 1889, p. 840.
 
 1 92 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Head of the Society of the Cincinnati 
 
 Then there were the artists and sculptors, who came 
 to paint his portrait or model his bust. 
 
 " In for a penny, in for a pound is an old adage, ' ' he 
 wrote to Hopkinson in 1785. "I am so hackneyed to the 
 touches of painters' pencils that I am now altogether at 
 their beck, and sit 'like patience on a monument,' whilst 
 they are delineating the lines of my face. It is a proof, 
 among many others, of what habit and custom can accom- 
 plish." 
 
 Then there were the people who desired to write his 
 memoirs, and the historians who wished to have his rem- 
 iniscences, in their accounts of the Revolution. Some of 
 these admiring and inquiring souls came in person, while 
 others assailed him by letter and added to the vast flood 
 of correspondence which poured in upon him by every 
 post. His correspondence, in fact, in the needless part of 
 it, was the most formidable waste of his time. He seems 
 to have formed no correct idea of his own fame and what it 
 meant, for he did not have a secretary until he found not 
 only that he could not arrange his immense mass of papers, 
 but that he could not even keep up with his daily letters. 
 His correspondence came from all parts of his own country, 
 and of Europe as well. The French officers who had been 
 his companions in arms wrote him with affectionate interest, 
 and he was urged by them, one and all, and even by the 
 king and queen, to visit France. These were letters which 
 he was only too happy to answer, and he would fain have 
 crossed the water in response to their kindly invitation; 
 but he professed himself too old, which was a mere excuse, 
 and objected his ignorance of the language, which to a man 
 of his temperament was a real obstacle. Besides these 
 letters of friendship, there were schemers everywhere who 
 sought his counsel and assistance. The notorious Lady 
 Huntington, for example, pursued him with her project 
 of Christianizing the Indians by means of a missionary
 
 "THE CINCINNATUS OF THE WEST" 193 
 
 colony in our western region, and her persistent ladyship 
 cost him a good deal of time and thought, and some long and 
 careful letters. Then there was the inventor Rumsey, with 
 his steamboat, to which he gave careful attention, as he did 
 to everything that seemed to have merit. Another class 
 of correspondents were his officers, who wanted his aid with 
 Congress and in a thousand other ways, and to these old 
 comrades he never turned a deaf ear. In this connection 
 also came the affairs of the Society of the Cincinnati. He 
 took an active part in the formation of the society, he became 
 its head, and he steered it through its early difficulties, and 
 saved it from the wreck with c which it was threatened by 
 unreasoning popular prejudice. All these things were suc- 
 cessfully managed ; but at much expense of time and labor. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 3. 
 
 His Strong Affection for Mount Vernon 
 
 A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785 states that his host's 
 " greatest pride is, to be thought the first farmer in America. - 
 He is quite a Cincinnatus. " 
 
 Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong 
 affection for Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the 
 place that he never seems to have been entirely happy away 
 from it, and over and over again, during his enforced 
 absences, he "sighs" or "pants" for his "own vine and fig- 
 tree." In writing to an English correspondent, he shows 
 his feeling for the place by saying, "No estate in United 
 America, is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in 
 a high, dry and healthy country, three hundred miles by 
 water from the sea, and, as you will see by the plan, on one 
 of the finest rivers in the world. " 
 
 The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, 
 when Lord Culpeper conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and 
 Lieutenant-colonel John Washington five thousand acres 
 of land "scytuate Lying and being within the said terry - 
 tory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the Potto-
 
 i 9 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 mocke River and . . . bounded betwixt two Creeks. " 
 Colonel John's half was bequeathed to his son Lawrence, and 
 by Lawrence's will it was left to his daughter Mildred. She 
 sold it to the father of George, who by his will left it to his 
 son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should Lawrence 
 die without issue. The original house was built about 
 1740, and the place was named Mount Vernon by Lawrence, 
 in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served at 
 Carthagena. After the death of Lawrence, the estate of 
 twenty-five hundred acres came under Washington's manage- 
 ment, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been prac- 
 tically even in his brother's life. 
 
 Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at 
 Mount Vernon, the first time in 1760 and the second in 
 1785, and a visitor reports, that "it's a pity he did not build 
 a new one at once, for it has cost him nearly as much to 
 repair his old one." These alterations consisted in the 
 addition of a banquet-hall at one end (by far the finest room 
 in the house), and a library and dining-room at the other, 
 with the addition of an entire story to the whole. 
 
 The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine 
 approach, or bowling green, was laid out, a "botanical 
 garden," a "shrubbery," and greenhouses were added, and 
 in every way possible the place was improved. A deer 
 paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese pheasants 
 and geese, French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent 
 him, and were gratefully acknowledged, and from all the 
 world over came curious, useful, or beautiful plants. 
 
 The Trite George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 113. 
 
 "Four Dollars to Be Drunk Four Days and Four Nights" 
 
 All the busy life of the negro world was regulated by his 
 personal directions to overseers and bailiffs. No item was 
 too insignificanj to bring to his notice, the minutest contract 
 for work agreed upon was put "into writing. How curious, 
 for example, the agreement with Philip Barter, the gardener,
 
 "THE CINCittNATUS Of THE WEST" 195 
 
 found among Washington's papers, wherein Philip binds 
 himself to keep sober for a year, and to fulfill his duties on 
 the place, if allowed " four dollars at Christmas, with which 
 to be drunk four days and four nights ; two dollars at Easter, 
 to effect the same purpose; two dollars at Whitsuntide, to 
 be drunk for two days, a dram in the morning, and a drink 
 of grog at dinner, at noon. For the true and faithful per- 
 formance of all these things, the parties have hereunto set their 
 hands, this twenty-third day of April, Anno Domini, 1787. 
 
 his 
 "PHILIP BARTER X 
 
 mark 
 
 "GEORGE WASHINGTON" 
 " Witness : 
 
 "George A. Washington, 
 "Tobias Lear." 
 
 Washington at Mount Vernon, after the Revolution, Constance Gary Harrison, The 
 Century Magazine, New Series, Vol. XV, April, 1889, p. 838. 
 
 The Name of Washington 
 
 Where may the wearied eye repose 
 
 When gazing on the great. 
 Where neither guilty glory glows 
 
 Nor despicable state ? 
 Yes, one, the first, the last, the best, 
 The Cincinnatus of the West, 
 
 Whom envy dared not hate, 
 Bequeathed the name of Washington 
 To make men blush there was but one. 
 
 Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, Poetry of Byron, Chosen and Arranged by Matthew 
 Arnold, p. 56.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 
 Without a Single Hoop to Hold Us Together 
 
 But though America had won her independence, she 
 had not secured harmony and union. While the war lasted 
 the States fought like brothers, side by side ; now that the 
 danger was over, they threatened to fall apart. We were 
 like a barrel made of thirteen stout staves, but yet without 
 a single hoop to hold us together. Under the Articles of 
 Federation or Constitution adopted in 1781, the nation had 
 no President no head. It had only a Congress, and that 
 Congress was destitute of power. It might pass good and 
 useful laws, but it could not compel the people to obey them. 
 It might beg the people to give money, but it could not make 
 them furnish it. It might ask for soldiers to defend the 
 country, but it could not draft them. 
 
 The truth is, that the people had come out of the war 
 in a distressed condition. They were heavily in debt. 
 Business was at a standstill. Gold and silver coin was 
 scarce. The States had an abundance of paper stuff which 
 pretended to be money, but nobody knew what it was worth, 
 and what passed for a dollar in one State might riot pass 
 at all in another. Distress and discontent grew worse and 
 worse. The States quarreled with each other about bound- 
 ary lines, about commerce, about trade. Instead of being 
 a united and friendly people, they were fast getting to be 
 thirteen hostile nations ready to draw the sword against 
 each other. 
 
 This feeling was shown in the fact that a man could 
 not buy and sell freely outside of his own State. If, for 
 instance, a farmer in New Jersey took a load of potatoes to 
 
 (196)
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 197 
 
 I 
 
 New York, he might have to pay a tax of five or ten cents 
 a bushel to that State before he could offer them for sale. 
 On the other hand, if a New York merchant sent a case of 
 boots to New Jersey to sell to the farmers, that State might, 
 if it chose, tax him ten cents a pair before he could get a 
 permit to dispose of his goods. 
 
 The Leading Facts of American History, D. H. Montgomery, p. 189. 
 
 "Let Us Know the Worst at Once " 
 
 It is interesting to observe the ease and certainty with 
 which, in dealing with the central question, he grasped all 
 phases of the subject and judged of the effect of the existing 
 weakness with regard to every relation of the country and 
 to the politics of each State. He pointed out again and again 
 the manner in which we were exposed to foreign hostility, 
 and analyzed the designs of England, rightly detecting a 
 settled policy on her part to injure and divide where she 
 failed to conquer. Others were blind to the meaning of the 
 English attitude as to the western posts, commerce, and 
 international relations. Washington brought it to the 
 attention of our leading men, educating them on this as 
 on other points, and showing too, the stupidity of Great 
 Britain in her attempt to belittle the trade of a country which, 
 as he wrote Lafayette in prophetic vein, would one day 
 "have Weight in the scale of empires." 
 
 He followed with the same care the course of events 
 in tne several States. In them all he resisted the craze for 
 issuing irredeemable paper money, writing to his various 
 correspondents, and urging energetic opposition to this 
 specious and pernicious form of public dishonesty. It was 
 to Massachusetts, however, that his attention was most 
 strongly attracted by the social disorders which culminated 
 in the Shays rebellion. There the miserable condition of 
 public affairs was bearing bitter fruit, and Washington 
 watched the progress of the troubles with profound anxiety. 
 He wrote to Lee :
 
 i 9 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "You talk, my good sir, of employing influence to 
 appease the present tumults in Massachusetts. I know 
 not where that influence is to be found, or, if attainable, 
 that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders. In- 
 fluence is not government. Let us have a government by 
 which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, 
 or let us know the worst at once." 
 
 Through "all this mist of intoxication and folly," 
 however, Washington saw that the Shays insurrection 
 would probably be the means of frightening the indifferent, 
 and of driving those who seemed impervious to every 
 appeal to reason into an active support of some better form 
 of government. He rightly thought that a riot and blood- 
 shed-would prove convincing arguments. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 23. 
 
 Washington's Word Was Law 
 
 v Washington's personal influence was very great, some- 
 thing we of this generation with a vast territory and sixty 
 millions of people, cannot readily understand. To many 
 persons his word was law; to all that was best in the com- 
 munity, everything he said had immense weight. This 
 influence he used with care and without waste. Every 
 blow he struck went home. It is impossible to estimate just 
 how much he effected, but it is safe to say that it is to Wash- 
 ington, aided first by Hamilton and then by Madison, that 
 we owe the development of public opinion and the forma- 
 tion of the party which devised and carried the Constitution. 
 Events of course worked with them, but they used events, 
 and did not suffer the golden opportunities, which without 
 them would have been lost, to slip by. 
 
 When Washington wrote of the Shays rebellion to Lee, 
 the movement toward a better union, which he had begun, 
 was on the brink of success. That ill-starred insurrection 
 became, as he foresaw, a powerful spur to the policy started 
 at Mount Vernon, and adopted by Virginia and Maryland.
 
 Robert Morris 
 
 Thomas Jefferson John Adams 
 
 THREE PILLARS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 199 
 
 From this. had come the Annapolis convention, and thence 
 the call for another convention at Philadelphia. As soon 
 as the word went abroad that a general convention was to 
 be held, the demand for Washington as a delegate was 
 heard on all sides. At first he shrank from it. Despite the 
 work which he had been doing, and which he. must have 
 known would bring him once more into public service, he 
 clung to the vision of home life which he had brought with 
 him from the army. November 18, 1786, he wrote to Madi- 
 son, that from a sense of obligation he should go to the con- 
 vention, were it not that he had declined on account of his 
 retirement, age, and rheumatism, to be at a meeting of the 
 Cincinnati at the same time and place. But no one heeded 
 him, and Virginia elected him unanimously to head her dele- 
 gation at Philadelphia. He wrote to Governor Randolph, 
 acknowledging the honor, but reiterating what he had said 
 to Madison, and urging the choice of some one else in his 
 place. Still Virginia held the question open, and on February 
 3d he wrote to Knox that his private intention was not to 
 attend. The pressure continued, and, as usual when the 
 struggle drew near, the love of battle and the sense of duty 
 began to reassert themselves. March 8th he again wrote to 
 Knox that he had not meant to come, but that the question 
 had occurred to him, " Whether my non-attendance in the 
 convention will not be considered as dereliction of repub- 
 licanism; nay, more, whether other motives may not, how- 
 ever injuriously, be ascribed for my not exerting myself on 
 this occasion in support of it"; and therefore he wished to 
 be informed as to the public expectation on the matter. On 
 March 28th he wrote again to Randolph that ill health might 
 prevent his going, and therefore it would be well to appoint 
 some one in his place. April 3d he said that if representation 
 of the States was to be partial, or powers cramped, he did 
 not want to be a sharer in the business. " If the delegates 
 assemble," he wrote, "with such powers as will enable the 
 convention to probe the defects of the Constitution to the
 
 200 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 bottom and point out radical cures, it would be an honorable 
 employment; otherwise not. " This idea of inefficiency and 
 failure in the convention had long been present to his mind, 
 and he had already said that if their powers were insufficient, 
 the convention should go boldly over and beyond, and make 
 a government with the means of coercion, and able to enforce 
 obedience, without which it would be, in his opinion, quite 
 worthless. Thus he pondered on the difficulties, and held 
 back his acceptance of the post ; but when the hour of action 
 drew near, the rheumatism and the misgivings alike dis- 
 appeared before the inevitable, and Washington arrived 
 in Philadelphia, punctual as usual, on May i3th, the day 
 before the opening of the convention. 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 28. 
 
 "Thirteen Sovereignties Pulling against Each Other !" 
 
 To Madison he wrote: "How melancholy is the 
 reflection that in so short a time we should have made such 
 large strides towards fulfilling the predictions of our trans- 
 Atlantic foes ! 'Leave them to themselves, and their govern r 
 ment will soon dissolve.' Will not the wise and good strive 
 hard to avert this evil? Or will their supineness suffer 
 ignorance and the arts of self-interested and designing, 
 disaffected and desperate characters, to involve this great 
 country in wretchedness and contempt? What stronger 
 evidence can be given of the want of energy in our govern- 
 ment than these disorders? If there is not power in it to 
 check them, what security has a man for life, liberty or 
 property? To you, I am sure I need not add aught on the 
 subject. The consequences of a lax or inefficient government 
 are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties 
 pulling against each other, and all tugging at the federal 
 head, will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas, a liberal 
 and energetic constitution, well checked and well watched, 
 to prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree 
 of respectability and consequence to which we had the 
 fairest prospect of attaining."
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 201 
 
 Great as Washington was, he occasionally made mis- 
 takes, and one of these was, that the people had forgotten 
 him. Ambitious politicians let him alone, for there was 
 no hope for them if he was prominent; some unselfish 
 patriots thought he had enjoyed as much honor and power 
 as any man could safely be trusted with, but all these 
 together were but a handful to the mass who believed little 
 in theories but much in men. The sentiments of these were 
 clearly expressed when Col. Humphreys, once his aide-de- 
 camp, wrote : " In case of civil discord, I have already 
 told you it was seriously my opinion that you could not 
 remain neuter, and that you would be obliged, in self-defense, 
 to take one part or the other, or withdraw from the con- 
 tinent. Your friends are of the same opinion. " 
 
 It may be safely assumed that Washington had no 
 intention of withdrawing from the continent, and that 
 Humphreys' opinion braced his spirits and comforted the 
 wounds of his self-esteem. Another evidence of the public 
 regard was soon tendered him; a convention, afterward 
 known as the Constitutional Convention, had been arranged 
 for, each State to send delegates to consult upon the defects 
 of the federal system, and to suggest improvements, the 
 suggestions to be forwarded to Congress and the State 
 governments for such further action as might be advisable. 
 Washington was, by a unanimous vote, put at the head of 
 the Virginia delegation, and when enough delegates had 
 assembled at Philadelphia to form a quorum, they, by 
 unanimous vote, made Washington the permanent chairman 
 of the convention. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 169. 
 
 The Patient President of the Constitutional Convention 
 
 When a quorum was finally obtained, Washington was 
 unanimously chosen to preside over the convention; and 
 there he sat during the sessions of four months, silent, 
 patient, except on a single occasion, taking no part in de-
 
 2 o2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 bate, but guiding the business, and using all his powers 
 with steady persistence to compass the great end. The 
 debates of that remarkable body have been preserved in 
 outline in the full and careful notes of Madison. Its history 
 has been elaborately written, and the arguments and opin- 
 ions of its members have been minutely examined and 
 unsparingly criticised. We are still ignorant, and shall 
 always remain ignorant, of just how much was due Washing- 
 ton for the final completion of the work. His general views 
 and his line of action are clearly to be seen in his letters and 
 in the words attributed to him by Morris. That he labored 
 day and night for success we know, and that his influence 
 with his fellow-members was vast we also know, but the rest 
 we can only conjecture. There came a time when every- 
 thing was at a standstill, and when it looked as if no agree- 
 ment could be reached by the men representing so many 
 conflicting interests. Hamilton had made his great speech 
 and, finding the vote of his State cast against him by his two 
 colleagues on every question, had gone home in a frame of 
 mind which we may easily believe was neither very con- 
 tented nor very sanguine. Even Franklin, most hopeful 
 and buoyant of men, was nearly ready to despair. Wash- 
 ington himself wrote to Hamilton, on July loth: 
 
 " When I refer you to the state of the counsels which 
 prevailed at the period you left this city, and add that they 
 are now, if possible, in a worse train than ever, you will find 
 but little ground on which the hope of a good establishment 
 can be formed. In a word, I almost despair of seeing a 
 favorable issue to the proceedings of our convention, and do 
 therefore repent having had any agency in the business." 
 
 Matters were certainly in a bad state when Washington 
 could write in this strain, and when his passion for success 
 was so cooled that he repented of agency in the business. 
 There was much virtue, however, in that little word "almost". " 
 He did not quite despair yet, and, after his fashion, he held 
 on with grim tenacity. We know what the compromises
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 203 
 
 finally were, and how they were brought about, but we can 
 never do exact justice to the iron will which held men to- 
 gether when all compromises seemed impossible, and which 
 even in the darkest hour would not wholly despair. All 
 that can be said is, that without the influence and the labors 
 of Washington the convention of 1787, in all probability, 
 would have failed of success. 
 
 At all events it did not fail, and after much tribulation 
 the work was done. On September 17, 1787, a day ever to 
 be memorable, Washington affixed his bold and handsome 
 signature to the Constitution of the United States. Tradi- 
 tion has it that as he stood by the table, pen in hand, he said : 
 
 " Should the States reject this excellent Constitution, 
 the probability is that opportunity will never be offered to 
 cancel another in peace ; the next will be drawn in blood. " 
 
 Whether the tradition is well or ill founded, the sen- 
 tence has the ring of truth. A great work had been accom- 
 plished. If it were cast asicle, Washington knew that the 
 sword and not the pen would make the next Constitution and 
 he regarded that awful alternative with dread. He signed 
 first and was followed by all the members present, with 
 three notable exceptions. Then the delegates dined together 
 at the city tavern, and took a cordial leave of each other. 
 
 "After which," the president of the convention wrote 
 in his diary, " I returned to my lodgings, did some business 
 with, and received some papers from, the secretary of the 
 convention, and retired to meditate upon the momentous 
 work which had been executed. " 
 
 George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. II, p. 33. 
 
 "I Almost Despair of Seeing a Favorable Issue" 
 
 (The whole letter to Alexander Hamilton) , 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, 10 July, 1787. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " I thank you for your communication of the 3d. When 
 I refer you to the state of the counsels, which prevailed at
 
 204 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the period you left this city, and add that they are now if 
 possible in a worse train than ever, you will find but little 
 ground on which the hope of a good establishment can be 
 formed. In a word, I almost despair of seeing a favorable 
 issue to the proceedings of our convention, and do therefore 
 repent having had any agency in the business. 
 
 "The men, who oppose a strong and energetic govern- 
 ment, are in my opinion narrow-minded politicians, or are 
 under the influence of local views. The apprehension ex- 
 pressed by them, that the people will not accede to the form 
 proposed, is the ostensible, not the real cause of opposition. 
 But, admitting that the present sentiment is as they prog- 
 nosticate, the proper question ought nevertheless to be, 
 Is it, or is it not, the best form such a country as this. can 
 adopt? If it be the best recommend it, and it will assuredly 
 obtain, maugre opposition. I am sorry you went away. I 
 wish you were back. The crisis is equally important and 
 alarming, and no opposition, under such circumstances, 
 should discourage exertions till the signature is offered. I 
 will not at this time trouble you with more than my best 
 wishes and sincere regard. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, " &c., 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 280. 
 
 "Little Short of a Miracle !" 
 
 " It appears to me little short of a miracle that the dele- 
 gates from so many States, different from each, other, as 
 you know, in their manners, circumstances and prejudices, 
 should unite in forming a system of national government so 
 little liable to well-founded objections. Nor am I such an 
 enthusiastic, partial, or undiscriminating admirer of it, 
 as not to perceive it is tinctured with some real, though not 
 radical defects. With regard to the two great points, the 
 pivots upon which the whole machine must move, my creed 
 is simply, First, that the general government is not invested
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 205 
 
 with more powers than are indispensably necessary to per- 
 form the functions of a good government ; and consequently, 
 that no objection ought to be made against the quantity of 
 power delegated to it. 
 
 " Secondly that these powers, as the appointment of all 
 rulers will forever arise from, and at short stated intervals 
 recur to, the free suffrages of the people, are so distributed 
 among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches into 
 which the general government is arranged, that it can never 
 be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, 
 an aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form, 
 so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the 
 people. 
 
 " It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed 
 Constitution, that it is provided with more checks and 
 barriers against the introduction of tyranny, and those of a 
 nature less liable to be surmounted, than any government 
 hitherto instituted among mortals. 
 
 " We are not to expect perfection in this world ; but 
 mankind, in modern times, have apparently made some 
 progress in the science of government. Should that which 
 is now offered to the people of America be found on experi- 
 ment less perfect than it can be made, a constitutional door 
 is left- open for its amelioration." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 270. 
 
 "The Best That Could Be Obtained" 
 
 (Letter to Patrick Henry}. 
 
 " MOUNT VERNON, 24 SEPTEMBER, 1787. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " In the first moment after my return, I take the liberty 
 of sending you a copy of the Constitution, which the federal 
 convention has submitted to the people of these States. I 
 accompany it with no observations. Your own judgment 
 will at once discover the good and exceptionable parts of it ;
 
 20 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and your experience of the difficulties, which have ever 
 arisen when attempts have been made to reconcile such 
 variety of interests and local prejudices, as pervade the 
 several States, will render explanation unnecessary. I wish 
 the Constitution, which is offered, had been more perfect ; 
 but I sincerely believe that it is the best that could be ob- 
 tained at this time. And, as a constitutional door is opened 
 for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it, under the 
 present circumstances of the Union, is in my opinion de- 
 sirable. 
 
 " From a variety of concurring accounts it appears to me 
 that the political concerns of this country are in a manner 
 suspended by a thread, and that the convention has been 
 looked up to, by the reflecting part of the community, with 
 a solicitude which is hardly to be conceived ; and, if nothing 
 had been agreed on by that body, anarchy would soon have 
 ensued, the seeds being deeply sown in every soil . I am, " &c. , 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 281. 
 
 Thirteen a Magic Number in History 
 
 In that nobler sense of the word, a colony which is not 
 independent has not risen to the full rank of a colony ; it is 
 hardly a home for the new folk of the motherland ; it is little 
 more than an outpost of its dominion. Surely the English- 
 men of those Thirteen lands, who had unhappily to fight 
 their way to the full rights of Englishmen, did not cease to 
 be Englishmen, to be colonists of England, because they 
 won them. Surely . . . they became in a higher 
 and truer sense colonies of the English folk because they 
 had ceased to be dependencies of the British crown. ' 
 
 I speak of- Thirteen lands ; and Thirteen is as it were a 
 magic number in the history of federations. It is a memor- 
 able number alike in the League of Achaia and in the Old 
 League of High Germany. But in none of the three was 
 Thirteen to be the fated stint and bound among the sharers
 
 THE THIRTEEN BECOME UNITED STATES 207 
 
 in the common freedom. Thirteen stars, Thirteen stripes, 
 were wrought on the banner of the United States of America 
 in their first day of independence, the day of their second 
 birth as truly and fully a second English nation. Look at 
 that banner now; tell the number of those stars and call 
 them by their names, each of them the name of a free com- 
 monwealth of the English folk. See we not there the expan- 
 sion of England in its greatest form ? See we not there the 
 work of Hengest and Cerdic carried out on a scale on which 
 it could never have been carried out in the island which they 
 won for us ? The dependent provinces of England stretched 
 but in name to the banks of the Father of Waters; from 
 the border ridge of Alleghany, as from the height of Pisgah, 
 they did but take a glance at the wider land beyond. The 
 independent colonies of England have found those bounds 
 too strait for them. They have gone on and taken posses- 
 sion; they have carried the common speech and the 
 common law, beyond the mountains, beyond the rivers, 
 beyond the vaster mountains, beyond the Eastern Ocean 
 itself, till America marches upon Asia. Such has been the 
 might of independence; such has been the strength of a 
 folk which drew a new life from the axe which did not hew 
 it down, but by a health-giving stroke parted it asunder. 
 It may be, it is only in human nature, that so it should be, 
 that the fact that independence was won by the sword 
 drew forth a keener life, a more conscious energy, a firmer 
 and fiercer purpose to grow and to march on. The growth 
 of a land free from the beginning might perchance have been 
 slower; let it be so; a slight check on the forward march 
 would not have been dearly purchased by unbroken friend- 
 ship between parent and child from the beginning. 
 
 George Washington, the Expander of England, Edward A. Freeman, D.C.L., LL.D.. 
 p. 95.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI- 
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 
 
 First President Unanimously Elected on the First Ballot 
 
 Once more he was called to listen to the highest demands 
 of his country in his unanimous election to the presidency. 
 With what emotions, with what humble resignation, with 
 how little fluttering of vainglory let the modest entry in his 
 diary, of the i6th of April, 1789, tell: 
 
 " About ten o'clock, " he writes, " I bade adieu to Mount 
 Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity; and with 
 a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations 
 than I have words to express, set out for New York with the 
 best disposition to render service to my country in obedi- 
 ence to its call, but with less hope of answering its expecta- 
 tions. " 
 
 George Washington, Evart A. Duyckinck, Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women, 
 Vol. I, p. 137. 
 
 President-elect Washington's Farewell to His Mother 
 
 Immediately after the organization of the present 
 government, the chief magistrate repaired to Fredericks- 
 burg, to pay his humble duty to his mother, preparatory 
 to his depart are for New York. An affecting scene ensued. 
 The son feelingly remarked -the ravages which a torturing 
 disease had made upon the aged frame of the mother, and 
 addressed her with these words: "The people, madam, 
 have been pleased, with the most nattering unanimity to 
 elect me to the chief magistracy of these United States, but 
 before I can assume the functions of my office, I have come 
 to bid you an affectionate farewell. So soon as the weight 
 of public business, which must necessarily attend the outset 
 
 (208)
 
 log 
 
 of a new government, can be disposed of, I shall hasten to 
 Virginia, and" here the matron interrupted with "And 
 you will see me no more ; my great age, and the disease which 
 is fast approaching my vitals, warn me that I shall not be 
 long in this world ; I trust in God that I may be somewhat 
 prepared for a, better. But go, George, fulfil the high 
 destinies which Heaven appears to have intended for you; 
 go, my son, and may Heaven's and a mother's blessing be 
 with you always. " 
 
 The President was deeply affected. His head rested 
 upon the shoulder of his parent, whose aged arm feebly yet 
 fondly encircled his neck. That brow on which fame had 
 wreathed the purest laurel virtue ever gave to created man, 
 relaxed from its awful bearing. That look which could 
 have awed a Roman senate in its Fabrician day, was bent in 
 filial tenderness upon the time-worn features of the aged 
 matron. He wept. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 144. 
 
 The First President-elect on His Way to New York 
 
 Washington was elected President on the first ballot; 
 there was no need for any one to move that the ballot be 
 made unanimous, for not a single vote was cast against 
 him. On receipt of. formal notification from Congress, he 
 started for the seat of government, which was then at New 
 York, and from the beginning of his journey to its end 
 he found that the entire community had business that called 
 them to the roadside. Again he crossed the Delaware, 
 not, as before, at night, by stealth and in desperation. 
 There was, as before, a storm, but it was of deafening 
 applause instead of blinding snow, and those who followed 
 him, as did a messenger from Congress on that eventful 
 Christmas night in 1776, found their way not marked by the 
 bloody footprints of patriot soldiers, but by flowers cast in 
 the road by patriots' children.
 
 2i6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Before reaching New York, Washington had taken as 
 much reception as he could enjoy, so he wrote Governor 
 Clinton that he would be glad to enter the city without 
 ceremony, which showed that he did not understand the 
 people of New York. At Elizabeth Point, in the Kills, 
 he was placed in a handsome barge manned by thirteen 
 American ship captains (for there were American ships, and 
 consequently ship captains, in those days), and rowed to the 
 Battery through a long avenue of boats of all kinds and all 
 full of vociferous patriots. Enough people were on shore, 
 however, to fill the streets and windows and give him the 
 heartiest reception that the city ever extended to any one, 
 for at last, after many years, Washington had captured New 
 York. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p 273. 
 
 Song of the Girls Strewing His Path with Flowers 
 
 Welcome, mighty chief, once more 
 Welcome to this grateful shore ; 
 Now no mercenary foe 
 . Aims again the fatal blow 
 Aims at thee the fatal blow. 
 Virgins fair and matrons grave, 
 These thy conquering arm did save. 
 Build for thee triumphal bowers, 
 Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers 
 Strew your Hero's way with flowers. 
 
 Written for the occasion by Richard Howell, Governor of New Jersey, and sung at 
 the bridge at Trenton, 1789. 
 
 Ovation at New York 
 
 He approached the landing-place of Murray's Wharf 
 amid the ringing of bells, the roaring of cannonry, and the 
 shouting of multitudes collected on every pier-head. On 
 landing, he was received by Governor Clinton. General 
 Knox, too, who had taken such affectionate leave of him on
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 211 
 
 his retirement from military life, was there to welcome him 
 in his civil capacity. Other of his fellow-soldiers of the 
 Revolution were likewise there, mingled with the civic 
 dignitaries. At this juncture an officer stepped up and 
 requested Washington's orders, announcing himself as 
 commanding his guard. Washington directed him to pro- 
 ceed according to the directions he might have received 
 in the present arrangements, but that for the future 
 the love of his fellow-citizens was all the guard he 
 wanted. 
 
 Carpets had been spread to a carriage prepared to 
 convey him to his destined residence, but he preferred to 
 walk. He was attended by a long civil and military train. 
 In the streets through which he passed the houses were 
 decorated with flags, silken banners, garlands of flowers 
 and evergreens, and bore his name in every form of orna- 
 ment. The streets were crowded with people, so that it 
 was with difficulty a passage could be made by the city 
 officers. Washington frequently bowed to the multitude 
 as he passed, taking off his hat to the ladies, who thronged 
 every window, waving their handkerchiefs, throwing flowers 
 before him, and many of them shedding tears of en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 That day he dined with his old friend Governor Clinton, 
 who had invited a numerous company of public functionaries 
 and foreign diplomatists to meet him, and in the evening 
 the city was brilliantly illuminated. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p.. 578. 
 
 Why the Inauguration Was Delayed 
 
 The inauguration was delayed several days by a 
 question which had risen as to the form or title by which the 
 President-elect was to be addressed; and this had been 
 deliberated in a committee of both Houses. The question 
 had been mooted without Washington's privity, and con- 
 trary to his desire ; as he feared that any title might awaken
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the sensitive jealousy of republicans, at a moment when 
 it was all-important to conciliate public good-will to the 
 new form of government. It was a relief to him, therefore, 
 when it was finally resolved that the address should be 
 simply "the President of the United States," without any 
 addition of title; a judicious form which has remained to 
 the present day. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p. 580. 
 
 A National Tribute of Affection 
 
 For a week Washington remained quietly in New 
 York, where great preparations were being made for install- 
 ing him as President. On Wall Street a fine building, 
 known as Federal Hall, had been erected and presented to 
 Congress, and here the inauguration was to take place. 
 Those who feared that American liberty would be endan- 
 gered by the observance of any forms whatsoever, were 
 exceedingly critical of the arrangements made for the 
 occasion, but it was, after all, a very simple ceremony that 
 marked the inauguration of the fir^t President of the 
 United States. 
 
 Early in the morning of April 30, 1789, the bells of 
 all the churches summoned the people to their various 
 places of worship for the special services ordained for the 
 day, and by the time these were concluded the military and 
 civil procession was already moving toward the Franklin 
 House, and Wall Street and its vicinity were crowded with 
 a dense mass of spectators. Washington left his residence 
 shortly after twelve o'clock, but so great was the throng in 
 the streets that his carriage did not reach Federal Hall for 
 almost an hour, and he was obliged to alight some little 
 distance from the building and make his way to it on foot, 
 passing through the cheering crowd between a double 
 line of troopers. A moment's pause followed, and then he 
 appeared on the balcony facing Wall and Broad streets, 
 and behind him came John Adams, Chancellor Livingston,
 
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 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 213 
 
 Baron Steuben, General Knox, and other distinguished 
 officers and officials. He was dressed in a plain brown- 
 cloth suit, with metal buttons ornamented with eagles; 
 his stockings were white silk and his shoe buckles silver; 
 and at his side he carried a steel-hilted dress sword, and his 
 powdered hair was worn in a queue. 
 
 Never did any man receive a more general and heart- 
 felt welcome than that which greeted Washington as he 
 faced the mass of spectators, but he was evidently unpre- 
 pared for the wild outburst with which he was acclaimed. 
 It was at once a roar of triumphant thanksgiving, a national 
 salute, and a tribute of admiration and affection, and 
 visibly affected by it, he stepped back for a moment to 
 recover his composure. 
 
 On the Trail of Washington, Frederick Trevor Hill, p. 256. 
 
 "Long Live President Washington!" 
 
 Nearly eight years after the Revolution . . Wash- 
 ington was elected the first President of the United States. 
 He took the oath of office, April 30, 1789, on the balcony 
 of a building in front of City Hall, which they afterwards 
 called Federal Hall, on the corner of Wall and Nassau 
 streets, New York City, where the United States Sub-Treas- 
 ury now stands. It had been intended that the inaugura- 
 tion should take place March 4th, when the Constitution 
 went into effect, but for several reasons the ceremony was 
 postponed. When Washington took the oath as President 
 the Judge who administered i't raised his hand and cried to 
 the crowd below: "Long live George Washington, Presi- 
 dent of the United States." Then-a flag was run up above 
 the cupola of the building, bells rang, cannon boomed, 
 and all the people shouted: 
 
 "Long live George Washington, President of the United 
 States!" 
 
 The Story of the White House, Wayne Whipple, p. 13.
 
 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Part of the First Inaugural Address 
 
 " Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Represen- 
 tatives: 
 
 " Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could 
 have filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which the 
 notification was transmitted by your order, and received on 
 the 1 4th day of the present month. On the one hand I was 
 summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear 
 but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had 
 chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering 
 hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my 
 declining years; a retreat which was rendered every day 
 more necessary, as well as more dear to me, by the addition 
 of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my 
 health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On 
 the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust, 
 to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient 
 to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens 
 a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but 
 overwhelm with despondence one, who, inheriting inferior 
 endowments from nature, and unpractised in the duties of 
 civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his 
 own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare 
 aver is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my 
 duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by 
 which it might be affected. All I dare hope is, that, if in 
 executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a 
 grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affec- 
 tionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the con- 
 fidence of my fellow-citizens; and have thence too little 
 consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the 
 weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be 
 palliated by the motives which misled me, and its conse- 
 quences be judged by my country with some share of the 
 partiality in which they originated
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 215 
 
 " Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they 
 have been awakened by. the occasion which brings us 
 together, I shall take my present leave, but not without 
 resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human 
 race, in humble supplication, that, since He has been pleased 
 to favor the American people with, opportunities for de- 
 liberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding 
 with unparalleled unanimity on the form of government 
 for the security of their union and the advancement of their 
 happiness ; so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous 
 in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the 
 wise measures, on which the success of this government 
 must depend." 
 
 Washington's First Inaugural Address, Old South Leaflets, Fifth Series, 1887, No. 8, 
 p. i. 
 
 Guide the "Ship of State" Aright 
 
 O noble brow, so wise in thought ! 
 
 heart, so true! O soul unbought! 
 
 O eye, so keen to pierce the night 
 
 And guide the " Ship of State " aright! 
 
 O life, so simple, grand and free, 
 
 The humblest still may turn to thee. 
 
 O king uncrowned! O prince of men! 
 
 When shall we see thy like again? 
 
 The century, just passed away, 
 
 Has felt the impress of thy sway, 
 
 While youthful hearts have stronger grown 
 
 And made thy patriot zeal their own. 
 
 In marble hall or lowly cot 
 
 Thy name hath never been forgot. 
 
 The world itself is richer, far, 
 
 For the clear shining of a star. 
 
 And loyal hearts in years to run 
 
 Shall turn to thee, -O Washington ! 
 
 Washington, Mary Wingatc, Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauf- 
 fler, p. S7.
 
 2 i6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Starting the New Government 
 
 On assuming the responsibilities of the new office, 
 Washington found himeslf in about the same position as 
 when, nearly fifteen years before, he took command of the 
 army, for everything was to be done and there was nothing 
 with which to do it. He had no Cabinet, for although the 
 convention had provided for "constitutional advisers," 
 the States and cliques had not yet learned the trick of getting 
 rid of troublesome politicians by inflicting them upon the 
 President. There was a treasury, but no money to put 
 into it, although there was an indebtedness of fifty million 
 dollars, for which money the creditors had been clamoring 
 for a long time. There were Indian troubles at the west, 
 discontent among the settlers in the Mississippi Valley, 
 and British soldiers trying to act as bailiffs, at some posts 
 in the (then) northwest. And, to crown all, there was a 
 general willingness, among State officials, to stand off as far 
 as possible and see if the new government could stand alone. 
 
 Fortunately, the old departments of the confederation 
 contained some men on whom Washington had learned to 
 rely; one was John Jay, soon afterward appointed Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court, and another was General 
 Knox, who remained in his old position by being appointed 
 Secretary of War. Hamilton was quickly made Secretary 
 of the Treasury. Edmund Randolph of Virginia became 
 Attorney General, and Jefferson was invited to return from 
 France and become Secretary of State. 
 
 As no two members of the Cabinet were entirely agreed 
 as to the powers of the government and the probable drift 
 of the nation, not even the smallest question could be settled 
 without a great deal of talk. One of the first subjects of 
 general wonder was that of etiquette, and no two men, in 
 the Cabinet or out of it, agreed about it. Washington's 
 sole personal concern in the matter was to be approachable, 
 yet have some time to himself for private and public 
 purposes; since his inauguration the throngs that dropped
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 217 
 
 in to see the President had been so great that the unfortu- 
 nate man had scarcely time for eating and sleeping. 
 
 Washington finally asked the advice of his friends on 
 this perplexing subject; the replies were various, but the 
 one that savored most of European court customs came 
 not from descendants of Virginia cavaliers or New York 
 aristocrats; it was given by John Adams of Massachusetts. 
 A form of etiquette was finally patched together, as simple 
 and republican as any one could have made it. There were 
 receptions every week at the Executive Mansion, which 
 any respectable citizen could attend without special invita- 
 tion, yet so refined and graceful were the natural manners 
 of the President and his wife; and so stiff was Washing- 
 ton's carriage, thanks to rheumatic lirrbs and other 
 infirmities incident to approaching age, that suspicious people 
 began to talk of levees, drawing-rooms, courtly style, etc. 
 
 For many weeks Washington was saved from outside 
 annoyances by an attack of sickness that sent him almost 
 to his grave. He had not yet recovered when his mother 
 died, so he had neither time nor inclination to care at all 
 for forms and ceremonies. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 276. 
 
 Mrs. Washington's "Queenly Drawing-rooms !" 
 
 On the i yth of May, Mrs. Washington, accompanied by 
 her grandchildren, Eleanor Custis and George Washington 
 Parke Custis, set out from Mount Vernon in her travelling 
 carriage with a small escort of horse, to join her husband at the 
 seat of government ; as she had been accustomed to join him at 
 headquarters, in the intervals of his Revolutionary campaigns. 
 
 Throughout the journey she was greeted with public 
 testimonials of respect and affection. As she approached 
 Philadelphia, the President of Pennsylvania and other 
 State functionaries, with a number of the principal inhabit- 
 ants of both sexes, came forth to meet her, and she was 
 attended into the city by a numerous cavalcade, and wel- 
 comed with the ringing of bells and firing of cannon.
 
 2 i8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Similar honors were paid her in her progress through 
 New Jersey. At Elizabethtown she alighted at the resi- 
 dence of Governor Livingston, whither Washington came 
 from New York to meet her. They proceeded thence by 
 water, in the same splendid barge in which the General had 
 been conveyed for his inauguration. It was manned as on 
 that occasion, by thirteen master pilots, arrayed in white, 
 and had several persons of note on board. There was a 
 salute of thirteen guns as the barge passed the Battery at 
 New York. The landing took place at Peck Slip, not far 
 from the presidential residence, amid the enthusiastic cheers 
 of an immense multitude. 
 
 On the following day, Washington gave a demi-official 
 dinner, of which Mr. Wingate, a senator from New Hamp- 
 shire, who was present, writes as follows: 
 
 "The guests consisted of the Vice-President, the foreign 
 ministers, the heads of departments, the Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, arid the Senators from New 
 Hampshire and Georgia, the then most Northern and 
 Southern States. It was the least showy dinner that I ever 
 saw at the President's table, and the company was not large. 
 As there was no chaplain present, the President himself 
 said a very short grace as he was sitting down. After 
 dinner and dessert were finished, one glass of wine was 
 passed around the table, and no toast. The President rose, 
 and all the company retired to the drawing-room, from which 
 the guests departed, as every one chose, without ceremony. " 
 
 On the evening of the following day (Friday, May 29th), 
 Mrs. Washington had a general reception, which was at- 
 tended by all that was distinguished in official and fashion- 
 able society. Henceforward there were similar receptions 
 every Friday evening, from eight to ten o'clock, to which 
 the families of all persons of respectability, native or for- 
 eign, had access, without special invitation; and at which 
 the President was always present. These assemblages were 
 as free from ostentation and restraint as the ordinary recep-
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 219 
 
 tions of polite society ; yet the reader will find they were 
 soon subject to invidious misrepresentation; and caviled 
 at as " court-like-levees " and "queenly drawing-rooms!" 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 39. 
 
 Supreme Court and Congress 
 
 By the judicial system established for the federal 
 government, the Supreme Court of the United States was 
 to be composed of a chief justice and five associate judges. 
 There were to be district courts with a judge in each State, 
 and circuit courts held by an associate judge and a district 
 judge. John Jay, of New York, received the appointment 
 of Chief Justice, and in a letter enclosing his commission, 
 Washington expressed the singular pleasure he felt in 
 addressing him "as the head of that department which 
 must be considered as the keystone of our political fabric." 
 
 Jay's associate judges were, John Rutledge of South 
 Carolina, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, William Gushing 
 of Massachusetts, John Blair of Virginia, and James Iredell 
 of North Carolina. Washington had originally nominated 
 to one of the judgeships his former military secretary, 
 Robert Harrison, familiarly known as the old Secretary; but 
 he preferred the office of Chancellor of Maryland, recently 
 conferred upon him. 
 
 On the 2 pth of September, Congress adjourned to the 
 first Monday in January, after an arduous session, in which 
 many important questions had been discussed, and powers 
 organized and distributed. The actual Congress was 
 inferior in eloquence and shining talent to the first Congress 
 of the Revolution; but it possessed men well fitted 
 for the momentous work before them; sober, solid, up- 
 right, and well informed. An admirable harmony had 
 prevailed between the legislature and the executive, and the 
 utmost decorum had reigned over the public deliberations. 
 
 Fisher Ames, then a young man, who had acquired a 
 brilliant reputation in Massachusetts by the eloquence
 
 220 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 with which he had championed the new constitution in the 
 convention of that important State, and who had recently 
 been elected to Congress, speaks of it in the following terms : 
 " I have never seen an assembly where so little art was 
 used. If they wish to carry a point, it is directly declared 
 and justified. Its merits and defects are plainly stated, 
 not without sophistry and prejudice, but without, manage- 
 ment. . . . There is no intrigue, no caucusing, little 
 of clanning together, little asperity in debate, or personal 
 bitterness out of the House. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 53. 
 
 "The First and Dearest Wish of My Heart" 
 
 As to Mrs. Washington, those who really knew her at 
 the time, speak of her as free from pretension or affectation ; 
 undazzled by her position, and discharging its duties with 
 the truthful simplicity and real good-breeding of one 
 accustomed to preside over a hospitable mansion in the 
 "Ancient Dominion." She had her husband's predilection 
 for private life. In a letter to an intimate she writes: "It 
 is owing to the kindness of our numerous friends in all 
 quarters that my new and unwished for situation is not 
 indeed a burden to me. When I was much younger, I 
 should probably have enjoyed the innocent gayeties of 
 life as much as most persons of my age; but I had long 
 since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happiness 
 in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon. 
 
 ' ' I little thought, when the war was finished, that any cir- 
 cumstances could possibly happen, which would call the Gen- 
 eral into public life again. I had anticipated from that moment 
 we should be suffered to grow old together in solitude and tran- 
 quillity. That was the first and dearest wish of my heart." 
 
 Life of George Washington Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 42. 
 
 "The General Always Retires at Nine" 
 
 To protect himself from being at everybody's call, and 
 so unable to be of the greatest service, he established certain
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 221 
 
 rules. . Every Tuesday, between the hours of three and 
 four, he received whoever might come. Every Friday 
 afternoon Mrs. Washington received with him. At all 
 other times, he could be seen only by special appointment. 
 He never accepted invitations to dinner, and that has been 
 the rule of Presidents ever since; but he invited constantly 
 to his own table foreign ministers, members of the govern- 
 ment, and other guests. He received no visits on Sunday. 
 He went to church with his family in the morning, and 
 spent the afternoon by himself. The evening he spent with 
 his family and sometimes had with him an intimate friend. 
 
 He still kept up his old habit of rising at four and going 
 to bed at nine. Mrs. Washington had a grave little formula 
 with which she used to dismiss visitors in the evening: 
 
 "The General always retires at nine o'clock, and I 
 usually precede him." 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 232. 
 
 Why Was Jefferson Secretary of State? 
 
 Washington's extreme desire to have Jefferson act as 
 Secretary of State has never been distinctly explained ; it is 
 not unlikely that it was because the ex-governor of Virginia 
 and author of the Declaration of Independence was what in 
 modern parlance would be called a "red hot republican," 
 and his presence in the Cabinet would do much to allay the 
 suspicion, often uttered, that the tendency of the new gov- 
 ernment would be monarchical. Washington himself was 
 known to be a believer in strong governments ; so was Jay ; 
 Hamilton, although not wishing a monarchy in America, 
 was an ardent admirer of the English system; and Knox, 
 being a soldier, might be supposed willing to use the army 
 in favor of the ruler and against the people in case of emer- 
 gency, as soldiers in foreign cabinets had always been ready 
 to do. But to Jefferson the people were everything, and 
 rulers nothing ; "there" is not a crowned head in Europe," 
 he said, "whose talents or merits would entitle him to be
 
 222 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America. " 
 He was jealous, for his country's sake, of nearly everything 
 and everybody in the government but Washington himself, 
 for whom he had so great respect that, although he opposed 
 the re-election of any man to the presidency, he said of the 
 principle, " I would not wish it to be altered during the life- 
 time of our great leader, whose executive talents are superior 
 to those, I believe, of any man in the world, and who alone, by 
 the authority of his name and . the confidence reposed in 
 his perfect integrity, is fully qualified to put the new govern- 
 ment so under way as to secure it against the efforts of 
 opposition. " 
 
 Jefferson's hatred of monarchical institutions had been 
 further evinced by the hearty sympathy he was known to 
 have with all the Frenchmen who were preparing for the 
 revolution. While minister from the United States to the 
 King of France, he consorted by choice with the most 
 radical of the radicals, and wrote enthusiastic letters about 
 them to his American acquaintances. How could any 
 government be suspected of monarchical tendencies, if such 
 a man stood next in importance to the executive? 
 
 George Washington, Jhn Habberton, p. 278. 
 
 Hamilton versus Jefferson 
 
 Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, had been ordered 
 by Congress, at its previous session, to prepare i plan of 
 payment ; he accordingly advised that the State liabilities 
 should be assumed by the nation, and the entire debt be 
 funded, Congress to impose taxes for its reduction and final 
 payment. Washington heartily approved Hamilton's plan, 
 but nearly half and the noisiest half of Congress opposed 
 it. They were willing to pay the money due to foreigners, 
 otherwise they might have to fight again; the home debt, 
 much of which had passed into the hands of speculators, 
 they wanted to "scale" according to -the holders, and they 
 objected stoutly to the assumption of the war debts of the
 
 223 
 
 States. This last measure was defeated in the House, by a 
 majority of two, which afterward was overcome by a little 
 dicker whereby Jefferson secured two Virginia votes for the 
 assumption of the State debts a northern measure on 
 Hamilton's obtaining a majority in favor of the plan of the 
 ultimate removal of the seat of government to the south. 
 Both men meant well, but unfortunately Jefferson, who knew 
 nothing whatever of finance, and, being human, distrusted 
 whatever he did not understand, was persuaded that Hamil- 
 ton had tricked him, and from that time forth he suspected 
 the Secretary, politically, of every thing that was bad even 
 of secret designs to turn the government into a monarchy. 
 
 The subsequent disagreements of the two men were an 
 unfailing source of misery to Washington, and he devoted 
 many precious hours to the task of showing Jefferson his 
 mistake, but all was of no avail. When the Secretary of State 
 was not complaining of the Secretary of the Treasury, he 
 was begging Washington to abate form and ceremony. He 
 was not alone at this business, although he cannot be excused 
 on account of ignorance, as could Patrick Henry, who actually 
 declined to be elected to the Senate because he felt too old to 
 adopt the manner which he had been informed prevailed at 
 the seat of government. Another Virginian, one Colonel 
 B , had reported that there was more pomp than at 
 the British court, and that Washington's bows were more 
 distant and stiff. 
 
 When this came to Washington's ears, he seized his pen 
 and wrote : " That I have not been able to make bows to the 
 taste of Colonel B - (who by the way, I believe never 
 saw one of them) is to be regretted, especially as upon those 
 occasions they were indiscriminately bestowed and the best 
 I was master of. Would it not have been better to throw a 
 veil of charity over them, ascribing the stiffness to the effects 
 of age or the unskillfulness of my teacher, rather than to 
 pride and the dignity of office, which God knows has no 
 charms for me? For I can truly say I had rather be at
 
 224 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Mount Vernon, with a friend or two about me, than 
 to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of 
 state and the representatives of every power in Europe." 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 280. 
 
 A Very Sensible Rule 
 
 From the first, he began to be besieged by applicants 
 for office, and he made immediately the very sensible rule 
 that he would not give any pledge or encouragement to any 
 applicant. He heard what they and their friends had to say, 
 and then made up his mind deliberately. He had, however, 
 certain principles in his mind which governed him in making 
 appointments, and they were so high and honorable, and 
 show so well the character of the man, that I copy here what 
 he said with .regard to the matter: 
 
 "Scarcely a day passes in which applications of one 
 kind or another do not arrive ; insomuch that, had I not early 
 adopted some general principles, I should before this time 
 have been wholly occupied in this business. As it is, I have 
 found the number of answers, which I have been, necessi- 
 tated to give in my own hand, an almost insupportable 
 burden to me. The points in which all these answers have 
 agreed in substance are, that, should it be my lot to go again 
 into public office, I would go without being under any 
 possible engagements of any nature whatsoever; that, so 
 far as I knew my own heart, I would not be in the remotest 
 degree influenced in making nominations by motives arising 
 from the ties of family or blood; and that, on the other 
 hand, three things, in my opinion, ought principally to be 
 regarded, namely : the fitness of characters to fill the offices, 
 the comparative claims from the former merits and suffer- 
 ings in service of the different candidates, and the distri- 
 bution of appointments in as equal a proportion as might be 
 to 'persons belonging to the different States in the Union. 
 Without precautions of this kind, I clearly foresaw the end- 
 less jealousies and possibly the fatal consequences to which
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 225 
 
 a government, depending altogether on the good-will of the 
 people for its establishment, would certainly be exposed 
 in its early stages. Besides, I thought, whatever the effect 
 might be in pleasing or displeasing any individuals, at the 
 present moment, a due concern for my own reputation, not 
 less decisively than a sacred regard to the interests of the 
 community, required that I should hold myself absolutely 
 at liberty to act, while in office, with a sole reference to 
 justice and the public good. " 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, Horace E. Scudder, p. 231. 
 
 The Country's Credit 
 
 Among the most important objects suggested in the 
 address for the deliberation of Congress, were provisions for 
 the national defense; provisions for facilitating intercourse 
 with foreign nations, and defraying the expenses of diplo- 
 matic agents; laws for the naturalization of foreigners; 
 uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the 
 United States; facilities for the advancement of commerce, 
 agriculture, and manufactures; attention to the post- 
 office and post -roads ; measures for the promotion of science 
 and literature, and for the support of public credit. 
 
 The last object was the one which Washington had 
 more immediately at heart. The government was now 
 organized, apparently, to the satisfaction of all parties; 
 but its efficiency would essentially depend on the success of a 
 measure which Washington had pledged himself to institute, 
 and which was yet to be tried ; namely, a system of finance 
 adapted to revive the national credit, and place the public 
 debt in a condition to be paid off. The credit of the country 
 was at a low ebb. The confederacy, by its articles, had the 
 power of contracting debts for a national object, but no 
 control over the means of payment. Thirteen independent 
 legislatures could grant or withhold the means. The 
 government was then a government under governments 
 the States had more power than Congress. At the close of
 
 226 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the war the debt amounted to forty-two millions of dollars ; 
 but so little had the country been able to fulfil its engage- 
 ments, owing to the want of a sovereign legislature having 
 the sole and executive power of laying duties upon imports, 
 and thus providing adequate resources, that the debt had 
 swollen, through arrears of interest, to upwards of fifty- 
 four millions. Of this amount nearly eight millions were 
 due to France, between three and four millions to private 
 lenders in Holland, and about two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand in Spain; making, altogether, nearly twelve millions 
 due abroad. The debt, contracted at home amounted to 
 upwards of forty-two millions, and was due, originally, to 
 officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War, who had 
 risked their lives for the cause; farmers who had furnished 
 supplies for the public service, or whose property had been 
 assumed for it; capitalists who, in critical periods of the 
 war, had ventured their fortunes in support of their coun- 
 try's independence. The domestic debt, therefore, could 
 not have had a more sacred and patriotic origin ; but, in the 
 long delay of national justice, the paper which represented 
 these outstanding claims, had sunk to less than a sixth of its 
 nominal value, and the larger portion of it had been parted 
 with at that depreciated rate, either in the course of trade, 
 or to speculative purchasers, who were willing to take the risk 
 of eventual payment, however little their confidence seemed 
 to be warranted, at the time, by the pecuniary condition 
 and prospects of the country. 
 
 The debt, when thus transferred, lost its commanding 
 appeal to patriotic sympathy ; but remained as obligatory in 
 the eye of justice. In public newspapers, however, and in 
 private circles, the propriety of a discrimination between 
 the assignees and the original holders of the public securities, 
 was freely discussed. Beside the foreign and domestic 
 debt of the federal government, the States, individually, 
 were involved in liabilities contracted for the common cause, 
 to an aggregate amount of about twenty-five millions of
 
 227 
 
 dollars ; of which, more than one-half was due from three of 
 them; Massachusetts and South Carolina each owing more 
 than five millions', and Virginia more than three and a half, 
 The reputation and well-being of the government were, 
 therefore, at stake upon the issue of some plan to retrieve 
 the national credit, and establish it upon a firm and secure 
 foundation. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 82. 
 
 A Virulent Attack of Anthrax 
 
 As soon as Washington could command sufficient lei- 
 sure to inspect papers and documents he called unofficially 
 upon the heads of departments to furnish him with such 
 reports in writing as would aid him in gaining a distinct idea 
 of the state of public affairs. For this purpose also he had 
 recourse to the public archives, and proceeded to make 
 notes of the foreign official correspondence from the close 
 of the war until his inauguration. He was interrupted 
 in his task by a virulent attack of anthrax, which for several 
 days threatened mortification. The knowledge of his peril- 
 ous condition spread alarm through the community; he, 
 however, remained unagitated. His medical adviser was 
 Dr. Samuel Bard, of New York, an excellent physician and 
 most estimable man, who attended him with unremitting 
 assiduity. Being alone one day with the doctor, Washing- 
 ton regarded him steadily, and asked his candid opinions 
 as the probable result of the case. " Do not flatter ^ne with 
 vain hopes, " said he, with placid firmness; " I am not afraid 
 to die, and therefore can bear the worst." The doctor 
 expressed hope, but owned that he had apprehensions. 
 " Whether to-night or twenty years hence, makes no differ- 
 ence, " observed Washington. "I know that I am in the 
 hands of a good Providence." His sufferings were intense, 
 and his recovery was slow. For six weeks he was obliged 
 to lie on his right side; but after a time he had his carriage
 
 228 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 so contrived that he could extend himself at full length in 
 it, and take exercise in the open air. 
 
 While rendered morbidly sensitive by bodily pains, he 
 suffered deep annoyance from having one of his earliest 
 nominations, that of Benjamin Fishburn, for the place of 
 naval officer of the port of Savannah, rejected by the Senate. 
 
 If there was anything in which Washington was scru- 
 pulously conscientious, it was in the exercise of the nominat- 
 ing power ; scrutinizing the fitness of the candidates ; their 
 comparative claims on account of public services and 
 sacrifices, and with regard to the equable distribution of 
 offices among the States; in all which he governed himself 
 solely by considerations for the public good. He was 
 especially scrupulous where his own friends and connections 
 were concerned. " So far as I know my own mind, " would 
 he say, " I would not be in the .remotest degree influenced in 
 making nominations by motives arising from the ties of 
 family or blood. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 46. 
 
 "You See How Well He Bears It" 
 
 " It was while residing in Cherry street that the Presi- 
 dent was attacked by a severe illness, that required a surgical 
 operation. He was attended by the elder and younger 
 Doctors Bard. The elder being somewhat doubtful of his 
 nerves, gave the knife to his son, bidding him cut away 
 deeper, deeper still; don't be afraid; you see how well he 
 bears it.' Great anxiety was felt in New York, at this time, 
 as the President's case was considered extremely danger- 
 ous. Happily, the operation proved successful, and the 
 patient's recovery removed all cause of alarm. During the 
 illness a chain was stretched across the street, and the side- 
 walks were lined with straw. Soon after his recovery, the 
 President set out on his intended tour through the New 
 England States. " 
 
 Quoted in The Pictorial Life of General Washington, by J. Frost, LL.D.. p. 509.
 
 LAUNCHING THE SHIP OF STATE 229 
 
 Death of Washington's Mother 
 
 While yet in a state of convalescence, Washington 
 received intelligence of the death of his mother. The event, 
 which took place at Fredericksburg in Virginia, on the 25th 
 of August, was not unexpected; she was eighty-two years 
 of age, and had for some time been sinking under an incur- 
 able malady, so that when he last parted with her he had 
 apprehended that it was a final separation. Still he was 
 deeply affected by the intelligence; consoling himself, how- 
 ever, with the reflection that " Heaven had spared her to an 
 age beyond which few attain ; had favored her with the full 
 enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily 
 health as usually falls to the lot of fourscore. " 
 
 Mrs. Mary Washington is represented as a woman of 
 strong plain sense, strict integrity, and an inflexible spirit 
 of command. We have mentioned the exemplary manner 
 in which she, a lone widow, had trained her little flock in 
 their childhood. The deference for her, then instilled in 
 their minds, continued throughout life, and was manifested 
 by Washington when at the height of his power and reputa- 
 tion. Eminently practical, she had thwarted his military 
 aspirings when he was about to seek honor in the British 
 navy. During his early and disastrous campaigns on the 
 frontier she would often shake her head and exclaim, "Ah, 
 George had better have staid at home and cultivated his 
 farm." Even his ultimate success and renown had never 
 dazzled, however much they may have gratified her. When 
 others congratulated her, and were enthusiastic in his praise, 
 she listened in silence, and Would temperately reply that he 
 had been a good son, and she believed he had done his duty 
 as a man. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V p. 49.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 VISITING THE STATES 
 
 Boston Authorities Quarrel over Receiving the President 
 
 At the time of writing the letter to Jefferson, offering him 
 the department of State, Washington was on the eve of 
 a journey through the Eastern States, with a view, as he 
 said, to observe the situation of the country, and with a hope 
 of perfectly reestablishing his health, which a series 0f indis- 
 positions had much impaired. Having made all his arrange- 
 ments, and left the papers appertaining to the office of 
 Foreign Affairs under the temporary superintendence of 
 Mr. Jay, he set out from New York on the i5th of October, 
 traveling in his carriage with four horses, and accompanied 
 by his official secretary, Major Jackson, and his private 
 secretary, Mr. Lear. Though averse from public parade, 
 he could not but be deeply affected and gratified at every 
 step by the manifestation of a people's love. Wherever 
 he came, all labor was suspended ; business neglected. The 
 bells were rung, the guns were fired ; there were civic pro- 
 cessions and military parades and triamphal arches, and all 
 classes poured forth to testify, in every possible manner, 
 their gratitude and affection for the man whom they hailed 
 as the Father of his Country; and well did his noble stature, 
 his dignified demeanor, his matured years, and his benev- 
 olent aspect, suit that venerable appellation. 
 
 On the 22nd, just after entering Massachusetts, he 
 was met by an express from the governor of the State (the 
 Hon. John Hancock), inviting him to make his quarters 
 at his house while he should remain in Boston, and announc- 
 ing to him that he had issued orders for proper escorts to 
 attend him, and that the troops with the gentlemen of the 
 
 (230)
 
 VISITING THE STATES. 231 
 
 council would receive him at Cambridge and wait on him to 
 town. 
 
 Washington, in a courteous reply, declined the Gover- 
 nor's invitation to his residence, having resolved, he said, 
 on leaving New York, to accept no invitations of the kind 
 while on his journey, through an unwillingness to give trouble 
 to private families. . . . Governor Hancock was now 
 about fifty-two years of age, tall and thin, of a commanding 
 deportment and graceful manner, though stooping a little, 
 and much afflicted with the gout. He was really hospitable, 
 which his ample wealth enabled him to be, and was no 
 doubt desirous of having Washington as a guest under his 
 roof, but resolved at all events, to give him a signal reception 
 as the guest of the State over which he presided. Now it so 
 happened that the "select men," or municipal authorities 
 of Boston, had also made arrangements for receiving the 
 President in their civic domain, and in doing so had pro- 
 ceeded without consulting the governor ; as might have been 
 expected, some clashing of rival plans was the result. 
 
 Here ensued a great question of etiquette. The execu- 
 tive council insisted on the right of the governor, as chief 
 of state, to receive and welcome its guest, at the entrance 
 of its capital. " He should have met him at the boundary 
 of the State over which he presides," replied the others; 
 "and there have welcomed him to the hospitalities of the 
 commonwealth. When the President is about to enter the 
 town, it is the delegated right of the municipal authorities 
 thereof to receive and bid him welcome." 
 
 The contending parties were drawn up resolutely in 
 their carriages, while aides-de-camp and marshals were 
 posting to and fro between them, carrying on a kind of dip- 
 lomatic parley. 
 
 In the meantime the President, and Major Jackson, his 
 secretary, had mounted on horseback, and were waiting on 
 the Neck to be conducted into the town. The day was 
 unusually cold and murky. Washington became chilled
 
 2 3 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and impatient, and when informed of the cause of the 
 detention, "Is there no other avenue into the town?" 
 demanded he of Major Jackson. He was, in fact, on the 
 point of wheeling about, when word was brought that the 
 controversy was over, and that he would be received by 
 the municipal authorities. 
 
 We give his own account of the succeeding part of the 
 ceremony. "At the entrance, I was welcomed by the select 
 men in a body. Then following the lieutenant-governor 
 and council in the order we came from Cambridge (preceded 
 by the town corps, very handsomely dressed), we passed 
 through the citizens, classed in their different professions, 
 and under their own banners, till we came to the state 
 house." 
 
 The streets, the doors, the windows, the housetops, 
 were crowded with well-dressed people of both sexes. " He 
 was on horseback," says an observer, "dressed in his old 
 continental uniform, with his hat off. He did not bow to the 
 spectators as he passed, but sat on his horse with a calm, 
 dignified air. He dismounted at the old state house, 
 and came out on a temporary balcony at the west 
 end ; a long procession passed before him, whose salutations 
 he occasionally returned. These and other ceremonials 
 being over, the lieutenant governor and council, accom- 
 panied by the Vice-President, conducted Washington to his 
 lodgings, where they took leave of him." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 67. 
 
 Governor Hancock's Ludicrous Call on the President 
 
 And now he is doomed to the annoyance of a new ques- 
 tion of etiquette. He had previously accepted the invita- 
 tion of Governor Hancock to an informal dinner, but had 
 expected that that functionary would wait upon him as soon 
 as he should arrive ; instead of which he received a message 
 from him pleading that he was too much indisposed to do so. 
 Washington distrusted the sincerity of the apology. He
 
 233 
 
 had been given to understand that the governor wished to 
 evade paying the first visit, conceiving that, as governor 
 of a State, and within the bounds of that State, the point of 
 etiquette made it proper that he should receive the first visit, 
 ev^en from the President of the United States. Washington 
 determined to resist this pretension; he therefore excused 
 himself from the informal dinner, and dined at his lodgings, 
 where the Vice-President favored him with his company. 
 
 The next day the governor, on consultation with his 
 friends, was persuaded to waive the point of etiquette, and 
 sent "his best respects to the President," informing him 
 that, if at home and at leisure, he would do himself the honor 
 of visiting him in half an hour, intimating that he would have 
 done it sooner had his health permitted, and that it was 
 not without hazard to his health that he did it now. 
 
 The following was Washington's reply, the last sentence 
 of which almost savors of irony: 
 
 " Sunday, 26th October, i o'clock. 
 
 "The President of the United States presents his best 
 respects to the Governor, and has the honor to inform him 
 that he shall be home till two o'clock. 
 
 "The President need not express the pleasure it will 
 give him to see the Governor ; but at the same time, he most 
 earnestly begs that the Governor will not hazard his health 
 on the occasion." 
 
 From Washington's diary we find that the governor 
 found strength to pay the litigated visit within the specified 
 time though, according to one authority, he went envel- 
 oped in red baize and was borne, in the arms of servants, 
 into the house. 
 
 It does not appear that any harm resulted from the 
 hazard to which the Governor exposed himself. At all 
 events, the hydra etiquette was silenced and everything 
 went on pleasantly and decorously throughout the remainder 
 of Washington's sojourn in Boston. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 71.
 
 234 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " I Thought You Had Been Too Long in My Family Not to 
 
 Know" 
 
 When he visited Boston in 1789, he appointed eight 
 o'clock in the morning as the hour he should set out for 
 Salem; and while the Old South clock was striking eight, 
 he was crossing the saddle. The company of cavalry which 
 volunteered to escort him, not anticipating this strict 
 punctuality, were parading in Tremont street after his 
 departure; and it was not until the President had reached 
 Charles River bridge where he stopped a few moments, 
 that the troop of horse overtook him. On passing the 
 corps, the President said, with perfect good nature, 
 
 " Major Blank, I thought you had been too long in my 
 family not to know when it was eight o'clock." 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 94. 
 
 Kissing and Kicking for Kissing 
 
 In Haverhill, Mass., they have a pretty tradition about 
 Washington. When he visited that town, on his Northern 
 tour in 1789, he stopped at a public-house. As the night 
 was chilly, the landlady decided that his bed should be 
 warmed, and for this purpose filled with coals her best brass 
 warming-pan, and sent it up to his chamber in the hands 
 of her fair young daughter. The tradition goes on to say 
 that this modest maiden was so overcome by the sight of the 
 great man, standing on the hearth, winding up his watch, 
 that she hurried through her task, but in tripping from the 
 room she unluckily, or luckily, as the event proved, stumbled 
 and fell, and that Washingon not only lifted her to her feet, 
 but kissed her. 
 
 Well was it for the "immortal chief" that no Yankee 
 Prince Giglio appeared on the scene, to come down on that 
 anointed head with the warming-pan! 
 
 Now, they have in Philadelphia a tradition which 
 strikingly contrasts with the above. When Washington was
 
 VISITING THE STATES 
 
 residing in the presidential mansion on High Street, now 
 Market, some painters were engaged in painting the upper 
 hall, and one of them, a gay young fellow, meeting one 
 morning, at the head of the stairs, a favorite maid of Mrs. 
 Washington, not only barred her passage but kissed her. 
 Taken by surprise, the damsel sent forth a scream which 
 brought the Father of his Country in alarm from his chamber. 
 Immediately on the offense being made known to him, he 
 elevated his foot, which was by no means a small one, and 
 kicked the unlucky painter downstairs. 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. 10. 
 
 "Hail Columbia," the President's March 
 
 "There was but one theater in New York in 1789, 
 (in John street) and so small were its dimensions, that the 
 whole fabric might be placed upon the stage of one of our 
 modern theaters. Yet, humble as was the edifice, it pos- 
 sessed an excellent company of actors and actresses, includ- 
 ing old Morris, who was the associate of Garrick, in the 
 very outset of that great actor's career at Goodmans-fields. 
 The stage boxes were appropriated to the President and Vice- 
 President, and were each of them decorated with emblems, 
 trophies, etc. At the foot of the play-bills were always the 
 words 'Vivat Respublica:' Washington often visited this 
 theatre, being particularly gratified by Wignell's performance 
 of Darby, The Poor Soldier. 
 
 " It was in the theater of John street, that the now 
 national air of 'Hail Columbia,' then called the 'President's 
 March,' was first played. It was composed by a German 
 musician, named Fyles, the leader of the orchestra, in com- 
 pliment to the President. The national air will last as long 
 as the nation lasts, while the meritorious composer has been 
 long since forgotten. " 
 
 Quoted in the Pictorial Life of George Washington, by J. Frost, LL.D., p. 508.
 
 236 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The First Week in 1790 
 
 (From Washington's Journal.) 
 
 Friday, ist, [January]. 
 
 The Vice-President, the Governor, the Senators, Mem- 
 bers of the House of Representatives in town, foreign public 
 characters, and all the respectable citizens, came between 
 the hours of 12 and 3 o'clock, to pay the compliments of the 
 season to me and in the afternoon a great number of gen- 
 tlemen and ladies visited Mrs. Washington on the same 
 occasion. 
 
 Saturday, 2d. 
 
 Exercised in the carriage with Mrs. Washington. Read 
 the report of the Secretary of the Treasury respecting the 
 state of his Department and proposed plans of finance. 
 Drank tea at the Chief Justice's of the U. States. 
 
 Sunday, 3d. 
 Went to St. Paul's Chapel. 
 
 Monday, 4th. 
 
 Informed the President of the Senate, and Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives that I had some oral com- 
 munications to make to Congress when each house had a 
 quorum, and desired to be informed thereof and of the 
 time and place they would receive them. 
 
 Walked round the Battery in the afternoon. 
 
 Received a report from the Secretary at War respecting 
 the state of the frontiers and Indian affairs, with other 
 matters which I ordered to be laid before Congress, as part 
 of the papers which will be referred to in my speech to that 
 body. 
 
 Tuesday, 5th. 
 
 Several Members of Congress called in the forenoon to 
 pay their respects on their arrival in town, but though a
 
 Etched by~ H. /?. If all from the Painting Inj Rembrandt Peale. 
 A FAMOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
 
 VISITING THE STATES 237 
 
 respectable Levee, at the usual hour, three o'clock, the 
 
 visitors were not numeious. 
 
 
 
 Wednesday, 6th. 
 
 Sat from half after 8 o'clock for the portrait painter, 
 Mr. Savage, to finish the picture of me which he had begun 
 for the University of Cambridge. 
 
 In the afternoon walked round the Battery. 
 
 Miss Anne Brown stayed here, on a visit to Mrs. Wash- 
 ington, to a family Dinner. 
 
 Thursday, yth. 
 
 About one o'clock rec'd a Committee from both Houses 
 of Congress, informing me that each had made a house, and 
 would be ready at any time I would appoint to receive the 
 communications I had to make in the Senate Chamber. 
 Named to-morrow, u o'clock, for this purpose. 
 
 The following gentlemen dined here, viz : Messrs. Lang- 
 don, Wingate, Strong and Few, of the Senate, the Speaker, 
 Genl. Muhlenberg and Scott, of Pennsylvania, Judge Liver- 
 more and Foster, of New Hampshire, Aimes and Thatcher 
 and Goodhue of Massachusetts, Mr. Burke, of South Caro- 
 lina, and Mr. Baldwin, of Georgia. 
 
 The Diary of George Washington, from 1789 to IJQI, Edited by Benson J. Lossing, 
 p. 65. 
 
 The President's "Speech" and a Minor "Message" 
 
 Friday, 8th. [January, 1790.] 
 
 According to appointment, at n o'clock, I set out for 
 the City Hall in my coach, preceded by Colonel Humphreys 
 and Majr. Jackson in uniform, (on my two white horses) 
 and followed by Messer. Lear and Nelson, in my chariot, 
 and Mr. Lewis, on horseback following them. In their rear 
 was the Chief Justice of the United States and Secretary of 
 the Treasury . and War Departments, in their respective 
 carriages, and in the order they are named. At the outer 
 door of the hall I was met by the door-keepers of the Senate
 
 238 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and House, and conducted to the door of the Senate Cham- 
 ber ; and passing from thence to the Chair through the Senate 
 on the right, and House of Representatives on the left, I 
 took my seat. The gentlemen who attended me followed 
 and took their stand behind the Senators; the whole rising 
 as I entered. After being seated, at which time the mem- 
 bers of both Houses also sat, I rose, (as they also did) and 
 made my speech; delivering one copy to the President 
 of the Senate, and another to the Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives after which, and being a few moments 
 seated, I retired, bowing on each side to the assembly (who 
 vStood) as I passed, and descending to the lower hall, attended 
 as before, I returned with them to my house. 
 
 In the evening a great number of ladies; and many 
 ladies, and many gentlemen visited Mrs. Washington. 
 
 On this occasion I was dressed in a suit of clothes made 
 at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the buttons 
 also were. 
 
 Saturday, 
 
 Exercised with Mrs. Washington and the children in 
 the coach the 14 miles round. In the afternoon walked 
 round the Battery. 
 
 Sunday, loth. ..' 
 
 Went to St. Paul's Chapel in the forenoon wrote 
 private letters in the afternoon for the Southern mail. 
 
 Monday, nth. 
 
 Sent my instructions to the Commissioners (appointed 
 to negotiate a Treaty with the Creek Indians) with the 
 report of their proceedings, to the Senate by the Secretary 
 at War, previous to their being laid before them and the 
 other house in their legislative capacities. 
 
 Also communicated to both Houses, transcripts of 
 the adoption and ratification of the New Constitution by 
 the State of North Carolina, with copies of the letter from
 
 VISITING THE STATES 239 
 
 His Excellency, Saml. Johnson, President of the Convention, 
 enclosing the same. These were sent by my private Secre- 
 tary, Mr. Lear. 
 
 Tlie Diary of George Washington, from 1780 to 1791, Edited by Benson J. Losang 
 P. 67. 
 
 Exercises, Addresses, Levies and an Aching Tooth 
 
 Tuesday, i2th [January, 1790]. 
 
 Exercised on horseback between 10 and 12 ye riding 
 bad. Previous to this, I sent written messages to both 
 Houses of Congress, informing them that the Secretary at 
 War would lay before them a full and complete statement 
 of the business as it respected the negotiation with the Creek 
 Indians my instructions to, and the Commissioners' report 
 of their proceedings with those people the letters and other 
 papers respecting depredations on the western frontiers of 
 Virginia, and District of Kentucky. All of which was for 
 their full information, but communicated in confidence, and 
 under injunction that no copies be taken, or communications 
 made of such parts as ought to be kept secret. 
 
 About two o'clock a Committee of the Senate waited 
 on me with a copy of their address, in answer to my speech, 
 and requesting to know at what time and place it should be 
 presented, I named my own house, and Thursday next, at 
 ii o'clock, for the purpose. 
 
 Just before the Levee hour, a Committee from the 
 House of Representatives called upon me to know when and 
 where they should deliver their address. , I named twelve 
 o'clock on Thursday; but finding it was their wish it should 
 be presented at the Federal Hall, and offering to surrender 
 the Representatives' Chamber for this purpose, by retiring 
 into one of the Committee rooms, and there waiting till I 
 was ready to receive it, I would consider on the place, and 
 let them know my determination before the House should 
 sit to-morrow. 
 
 A respectable, though not a full Levee to-day.
 
 24 o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Wednesday, 
 
 After duly considering on the place for receiving the 
 address of the House of Representatives, I concluded that it 
 would be best to do it in my own house first, because it 
 seems most consistent with usage and custom 2d, because 
 there is no third place in the Federal Hall (prepared) to 
 which I could call them, and to go into either of the chambers 
 appropriated to the Senate or Representatives, did not 
 appear proper; and 3d, because I had appointed my own 
 house for the Senate to deliver theirs in, and accordingly 
 appointed my own house to receive it. 
 
 Thursday, i4th. 
 
 At the hours appointed, the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives presented their respective addresses the mem- 
 bers of both coming in carriages, and the latter with the 
 Mace preceding the Speaker. The address of the Senate 
 was presented by the Vice-President and that of the 
 House by the Speaker thereof. 
 
 The following gentlemen dined here to-day, viz: 
 Messrs. Henry and Maclay, of the Senate and Messrs. 
 Wadsworth, Trumbull, Floyd, Boudinot, Wynkoop, Seney, 
 Page, Lee, and Matthews, of the House of Representatives 
 and Mr. John Trumbull. 
 
 Friday, 
 
 Snowing all day but few ladies and gentlemen as 
 visitors this evening to Mrs. Washington. 
 
 Saturday, i6th. 
 
 Exercised in the coach with Mrs. Washington and the 
 two children, about 12 o'clock. 
 
 Sent the Report of the Post Master General relative to 
 the necessary changes in that office to the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, that it may be laid before Congress or such parts 
 thereof as may be necessary for their information.
 
 VISITING THE STATES 24I 
 
 Sunday, iyth. 
 At home all day not well. 
 
 Monday, i8th. 
 
 Still indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and 
 inflamed gums. 
 
 Tuesday, ipth. 
 
 Not much company at the Levee to-day but the visi- 
 tors were respectable. 
 
 The Diary of George Washington from 1789 to 1791, Edited by Benson J Lossing 
 p. 69. 
 
 Planning and Discussing a National Capital 
 
 Monday, 28th [March, 1791]. 
 
 Left Bladensburgh at hall after six, & breakfasted at 
 George Town about 8; where, having appointed the Com- 
 missioners under the Residence Law to meet me, I found 
 Mr. Johnson one of them (& who is Chief Justice of the 
 State) in waiting & soon after came in David Stuart, & 
 Danl. Carroll Esqrs. the other two. A few miles out of 
 Town I was met by the principal Citizens of the place and 
 escorted in by them; and dined at Sutor's tavern (where I 
 also lodged) at a public dinner given by the Mayor & Cor- 
 poration previous to which I examined the Surveys of 
 Mr. Ellicot who had been sent to lay out the district of ten 
 miles square for the federal seat; and also the works of 
 Majr. L' Enfant who had been engaged, to examine & make 
 a draught of the grds. in the vicinity of George Town and 
 Carrollsburg on the Eastern branch making arrangements 
 for examining the ground myself to morrow with the 
 Commissioners. 
 
 Tuesday, 2Qth. 
 
 In a thick mist, and under strong appearances of 
 settled rairi (which however did not happen) I set out 
 about seven o'clock, for the purpose above mentioned
 
 242 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 but from the unfavorableness of the day, I derived no great 
 satisfaction from the review. 
 
 Finding the interests of the Landholders about George- 
 town and those about Carrollsburgh much at varience and 
 that their fears and jealousies of each were counteracting 
 the public purposes & might prove injurious to its best 
 interests whilst if properly managed they might be made 
 to subserve it I requested them to meet me at six o'clock 
 this afternoon at my lodgings which they accordingly did. 
 
 To this meeting I represented that the contention in 
 which they seemed to be engaged, did not in my opinion 
 comport either with the public interest or that of their 
 own; that while each party was aiming to obtain the 
 public buildings, they might by placing the matter on a 
 contracted scale, defeat the measure altogether; not only 
 by procrastination but for want of the means necessary to 
 effect the work; That neither the offer from George-town 
 or Carrollsburgh, separately, was adequate to the end of 
 insuring the object. That both together did not compre- 
 hend more ground nor would afford greater - means than 
 was required for the federal City; and that, instead of 
 contending which of the two should have it they had better, 
 by combining more offers make a common cause of it, and 
 thereby secure it to the district other arguments were 
 used to show the danger which might result from delay 
 and the good effects that might proceed from a Union. 
 
 Dined at Col. Forrest's to day with the Commissioners 
 & others. 
 
 Wednesday, 3oth. 
 
 The parties to whom I addressed myself yesterday 
 evening, having taken the matter into consideration saw 
 the propriety of my observations; and that whilst they 
 were contending for the shadow they might loose the sub- 
 stance; and therefore mutually agreed and entered into 
 articles to surrender for public purposes, one half of the land
 
 VISITING THE STATES 243 
 
 they severally possessed within bounds which were desig- 
 nated as necessary for the City to stand with some other 
 stipulations, which were inserted in the instrument which 
 they respectively subscribed. 
 
 This business being thus happily finished and some 
 directions given to the Commissioners, the Surveyor and 
 Engineer with respect to the mode of laying out the dis- 
 trict Surveying the grounds for the City & forming them 
 into lots I left Georgetown dined in Alexandria & 
 reached Mount Vernon in the evening. 
 
 The Diary of George Washington, from 1789 to ijgi. Edited by Benson J. Lossing, 
 p. 158. 
 
 Resting on Southern Tour at Mount Vernon ' 
 
 Thursday, 3ist, [March, 1791]. 
 
 From this time, until the yth of April, I remained at 
 Mount Vernon -visiting my Plantations every day. and 
 was obliged also, consequence of Colo. Henry Lee's de- 
 clining to accept the command of one of the Regiments 
 of Levies and the request of the Secretary at War to appoint 
 those officers which had been left to Colo. Lee to do for 
 a Battalion to be raised in Virginia East of the Alligany 
 Mountains to delay my journey on this account and after 
 all, to commit the business as will appear by the letters & for 
 the reasons there mentioned to Colo. Darke's management. 
 
 From hence I also wrote letters to the Secretaries of 
 State, Treasury and War, in answer to those received 
 on interesting subjects desiring in case of important 
 occurances they would hold a consultation and if they were 
 of such a nature as to make my return necessary to give me 
 notice & I would return immediately. My Rout was given 
 them & the time I should be at the particular places therein 
 mentioned. 
 
 Thursday, 7 April. 
 
 Recommenced my journey with Horses apparently 
 much refreshed and in good spirits.
 
 244 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 In attempting to cross the ferry at Colchester with the 
 four Horses hitched to the Chariot by the neglect of the 
 person who stood before them, one of the leaders got over- 
 board when -the boat was in swimming water and 50 yards 
 from the shore with much difficulty he escaped drowning 
 before he could be disengaged His struggling frightened 
 the others in such a manner that one after another and in 
 quick succession they all got overboard harnessed & fastened 
 as they were and with the utmost difficulty they were saved 
 & the Carriage escaped being dragged after them, as the 
 whole of it happened in swimming water & at a distance 
 from shore Providentially indeed miraculously by the 
 exertions 'of people who went off in Boats & jumped into 
 the River as soon as the Batteau was forced into wading 
 water no damage was sustained by the horses, Carriage 
 or harness. 
 
 Proceeded to Dumfries where I dined after which 
 I visited & drank Tea with my Niece Mrs. Thos. Lee. 
 
 Friday, 8th. 
 
 Set out about 6 o'clock breakfasted at Stafford Court 
 House- -dined and lodged at my Sister Lewis's in Fred- 
 ericksburgh. 
 
 Saturday, Qth. 
 
 Dined at an entertainment given by the Citizens of 
 the town. Received and answered an address from the 
 Corporation. 
 
 Was informed by Mr. Jno. Lewis,, who had, not long 
 since been in Richmond that Mr. Patrick Henry had avowed 
 his interest in the Yazoo Company; and made him a 
 .tender of admission into it which he declined but asking 
 if the Company did not expect the Settlement of the lands 
 would be disagreeable to the Indians was answered by Mr. 
 Henry that the Co. intended to apply to Congress for 
 protection which, if not granted they would have recourse 
 to their own means to protect the settlement That General
 
 VISITING THE STATES 245 
 
 Scott had a certain quantity of land (I think 40,000 acres) in 
 the Company's grant & was to have the command of the 
 force which was to make the establishment and moreover 
 that General Muhlenburg had offered 1000 for a certain 
 part of the grant the quantity I do not recollect if it was 
 mentioned to me. 
 
 The Diary of George Washington, from 1780 to 1701, Edited by Benson J. Lossing. 
 p. 161. 
 
 " A Long Journey over the Devil's Own Roads " 
 
 The coachman, John Pagan, by birth a Hessian, was 
 tall and burly in person, and an accomplished coachman in 
 every respect. He understood the mechanism of a carriage, 
 and could take to pieces and put. together again all the 
 parts, should he meet with any accident on his road. He 
 drove for the President throughout his whole tour of the 
 then Southern States, from Mount Vernon to Savannah, 
 and by Augusta and the interior of South and North Carolina , 
 in the white chariot built by Clarke, of Philadelphia, with- 
 out the slightest accident or misfortune happening in so 
 long a journey. 
 
 On the President's return Clarke was in attendance to 
 learn the success of what he deemed his masterpiece of coach- 
 making. No sooner had the horses stopped at the door 
 of the presidential mansion than the anxious coach-maker 
 was under the body of the white chariot, examining every- 
 thing with a careful and critical eye, till Fagan shouted 
 from the box, 
 
 " All right, Mr. Clarke ; all right, sir ; not a bolt or screw 
 started in a long journey and over the devil's own roads. " 
 
 The delighted mechanic now found his hand grasped 
 in that of the President, who complimented him upon his 
 workmanship, assuring him that it had been sufficiently 
 tested in a great variety of very bad roads. Clarke, the 
 happiest of men, repaired to his shop, in Sixth street, where 
 he informed the people of the success of the white chariot,
 
 246 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the account of which he had received from the President's 
 own lips, when the day ended in a jollification at the 
 coachmaker's. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son* George Washington Parke Custis, 
 P. 425. 
 
 The Gallant "Ladies' Man" 
 
 At his wife's receptions . . . Washington did not 
 view himself as host, and "conversed without restraint, 
 generally with women, who rarely had other opportunity 
 of seeing him," which perhaps accounts for the statement 
 of another eye-witness that Washington "looked very much 
 more at ease than at his own official levees." Sullivan 
 adds that "the young ladies used to throng around him, 
 and engaged him in conversation. There were some of the 
 well-remembered belles of the day who imagined themselves 
 to be favorites with him. As these were the only oppor- 
 tunities which they had for conversing with him, they were 
 disposed to use them. " In his Southern trip of 1791 Wash- 
 ington noted, with evident pleasure, that he "was visited 
 about 2 o'clock, by a great number of the most respectable 
 ladies of Charleston the first honor of the kind I had ever 
 experienced and it was flattering as it was singular." And 
 that this attention was not merely the respect due to a great 
 man is shown in the letter of a Virginian woman, who wrote 
 to her correspondent in 1777, that when "General Wash- 
 ington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty agree- 
 able Companion he can be down right impudent some- 
 times such impudence, Fanny, as you and I like." 
 
 Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly 
 laudatory poem which was enclosed to him, with a letter 
 begging forgiveness, to which he playfully answered, 
 
 "You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as 
 tho' I was your father Confessor; and as tho' you had 
 committed a crime, great in itself, yet of the venial class. 
 You have reason good for I find myself strangely disposed
 
 VISITING THE STATES 247 
 
 to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; 
 and, notwithstanding 'you are the most offending Soul 
 alive' (that is, if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry) yet 
 if you will come and dine with me on Thursday, and go 
 thro' the proper course of penitence which shall be prescribed 
 I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical 
 trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests 
 with me to direct your future lucubrations, I shall certainly 
 urge you to a repetition of the same conduct, on purpose 
 to shew what an admirable knack you have at confession 
 and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I shall 
 venture to command the muse, not to be restrained by ill- 
 grounded timidity, but to go on and prosper. You see. 
 Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we have 
 tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking 
 our appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You 
 will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine Descendants 
 of those who are reputed to be our great Progenitors." 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 109. 
 
 "Gentlemen, We Are Punctual Here" 
 
 Washington accomplished the most part of his great 
 works with apparent ease, by a rigid observance of punc- 
 tuality. It is known that whenever he assigned to meet 
 Congress at noon, he never failed to be passing the door when 
 the clock struck twelve. 
 
 His dining hour was at four, when he always sat down 
 to his table, allowing only five minutes for the variation of 
 timepieces, whether his guests were present or not. It was 
 frequently the case with new members of Congress, that they 
 did not arrive until dinner was nearly half over; and he 
 would remark : 
 
 "Gentlemen, we are punctual here; my ccok never 
 asks whether the company has arrived, but whether the 
 hour has. " 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 93.
 
 248 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "Hearty Fits of Laughter" 
 
 More than one instance is told of Washington being 
 surprised into hearty fits of laughter, even during the war. 
 We have recorded one caused by the sudden appearance 
 of old General Putnam on horseback, with a female prisoner 
 en croupe. The following is another which occurred at the 
 camp at Morristown. Washington had purchased a young 
 horse of great spirit and power. A braggadocio of the army, 
 vain of his horsemanship, asked the privilege of breaking it. 
 Washington gave his consent, and with some of his officers 
 attended to see the horse receive his first lesson. After 
 much preparation, the pretender to equitation mounted 
 into the saddle and was making a great display of his 
 science, when the horse suddenly planted his forefeet, threw 
 up his heels, and gave the unlucky Gambado a somersault over 
 his head. Washington, a thorough horseman, and quick to 
 perceive the ludicrous in these matters, was so convulsed 
 with laughter that we are told the tears ran down his cheeks. 
 
 Still another instance is given, which occurred at the 
 return of peace, when he was sailing in a boat on the Hudson, 
 and was so overcome by the drollery of a story told by Major 
 Fairlie of New York, of facetious memory, that he fell back 
 in the boat in a paroxysm of laughter. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV, p 539. 
 
 Leading Events, 1786 to 1790. 
 
 Shays's Rebellion in Western Massachusetts 1786 
 
 Convention meets and frames the Constitution .... 1787 
 
 States adopt the Constitution 1788 
 
 Settlement of Cincinnati 1788 
 
 Washington elected President 1789 
 
 First inauguration, in New York City April 30, 1789 
 
 United States Government organized I 7^9 
 
 First Census of the United States I 79 
 
 Removal of National Capital to Philadelphia i?9
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 
 Removing to Philadelphia 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, Septf. 5th. I7QO. 
 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 "After a pleasant journey we arrived in this city about 
 2 o'clock on Thursday last. Tomorrow we proceed (if 
 Mrs. Washington's health will permit, for she had been much 
 indisposed since she came here) towards Mount Vernon. 
 
 " The house of Mr. R. Morris had, previous to my arrival, 
 been taken by the Corporation for my residence. It is the 
 best they could get. It is. I believe, the best Single house 
 in the City; yet without additions, it is inadequate to the 
 commodious accommodation of my family. These, I 
 believe will be made. 
 
 "The first floor contains only two public Rooms (except 
 one for the upper Servants), The second floor will have 
 two public (drawing) Rooms & with the aid of one Room 
 with the partition in it, in the back building, will be sufficient 
 for the accommodation of Mrs. Washington & the children 
 & their maids besides affording me a small place for 
 a private study and dressing room. The third story will 
 furnish you and Mrs. Lear with a good lodging Room, 
 a public office (for there is no place below for one) and two 
 Rooms for the Gentlemen of the family. The Garret has 
 four good Rooms which must serve Mr. and Mrs. Hyde 
 (unless they should prefer the Room over the Wash house), 
 William and such servants as it may not be better to place 
 in the addition (as proposed) to the back building. There 
 is a room over the Stable (without a fireplace, but by means 
 of a Stove) may serve the Coachman and Postillions- and 
 
 (249)
 
 2S o THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 there is the smoke house, which possibly may be more useful 
 to me for the accommodation of servants, than for smoking 
 of meat. The intention of the addition to the back Building 
 is to provide a Servant's Hall, and one or two (as it will 
 afford) lodging Rooms for the Servants, especially those who 
 are coupled. There is a very good Wash house adjoining 
 the Kitchen (under one of the Rooms already mentioned). 
 There are good Stables, but for 12 horses only, and a Coach 
 house which will hold all my carriages. . 
 
 "The pressure of business under which I laboured for 
 several days before I left New York, allowed me no time to 
 enquire who of the female servants it was proposed or 
 thought advisable to remove here, besides the wives of the 
 footmen, namely, James and Fidas. The Washerwomen, 
 I believe, are good, but as they or one of them at least, has 
 a family of children quere, whether it is necessary to incum- 
 ber the march, and the family afterwards with them? I 
 neither contradict or advise the measure your own judg- 
 ment, and the circumstances of the case must decide the 
 point: but unless there is better reason than I am 
 acquainted with for bringing Mrs. Lewis, her daughter and 
 their families along, they had better, I should conceive 
 be left : but as I never investigated the subject, I will give 
 no decisive opinion thereon. 
 
 "As I have got to the end of the paper and am tired, 
 I shall only add that your letter of the 3d. with its enclosures 
 came safe and that Mrs. Washington joins me in best 
 wishes for Mrs. Lear and yourself. I am sincerely & affec- 
 tionately 
 
 " Yrs. 
 "P. S. 
 
 " In a fortnight or 20 days from this time, it is expected 
 Mr. Morris will have removed out of the house. It is 
 proposed to add bow windows to the two public Rooms in 
 the South front of the house, but as all the other apartments 
 will be close and secure the sooner after that time you
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 251 
 
 can be in the house, with the furniture, the better, that you 
 may be well fixed and see how matters go on during my 
 absence. 
 
 "MR. LEAR." 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear. p. 3. 
 
 The Pagoda, Lustre, Franklin Stoves, Chariot and Mangle 
 
 " MOUNT VERNON, Septr. 27th. 1790. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " Since my last to you (the date I do not recollect, keep- 
 ing no copies of my letters to you) I have reed, yours of the 
 1 7th. & 2oth. Inst. and shall answer such parts of them as 
 require it. 
 
 " I am glad to find that the house according to Mr. 
 Morris's notification to you will be ready about the time 
 you had made arrangements for the removal of my furni- 
 ture, the mode of doing which, is, I am persuaded, the 
 cheapest and best. How have you disposed (for safety) 
 of the Pagoda? It is a delicate piece of stuff and will 
 require to be tenderly handled. 
 
 " I expected that Mr. Macomb, if he found that no other 
 person was disposed to take the house off my hands, would 
 endeavor to impose his own terms; and allowing me only 
 ;ioo for seven months use of it, when the rent (independent 
 of the houses I put on the lots) is ^400, is a pretty strong 
 evidence of it. And if you do not take some measures to 
 see what can be had for the Wash house and Stable, he will 
 impose his own terms there also. But after all, we are in 
 his power, and he must do as he pleases with us. 
 
 " As the Lustre is paid for & securely packed up and may 
 suit the largest drawing Room at Mr. Morris's, I do not 
 incline to part with it ; the Franklin Stoves and other fixtures, 
 if they cannot be disposed of without loss, must be brought 
 round with the other furniture: we may find use for them. 
 Such things as are freighted in the common way (if the vessel
 
 252 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 you desired Colo. Biddle to procure is unable to carry the 
 whole) had better be of the kinds which require least care. 
 
 " The sale of the old Charriot was proper, for although 
 the price is small it will be so much saved for the public. 
 If much worn or lumbering articles could be disposed of 
 to any tolerable amount, might it not be better to sell them 
 at New York & buy (if necessary) new ones at Philadelphia, 
 than to pay freight for them round? 
 
 " Mrs. Morris has a mangle (I think they are called) for 
 Ironing of Clothes, which, as it is fixed in the place where 
 it is commonly used, she proposed to leave and take mine. 
 To this I have no objection provided mine is equally good 
 and convenient; but if I should obtain any advantage, 
 besides that of its being up, and ready for use, I am not 
 inclined to receive it. 
 
 "Mrs. Washington and all of this family unite in best 
 wishes for you and Mrs. Lear, and I am your sincere friend and 
 "Affectionate Servant," 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 13. 
 
 Rather "Plain and Elegant" than "Rich and Elegant" 
 
 Congress reassembled, according to adjournment, on 
 the first Monday in December, at Philadelphia, which was 
 now, for a time, the seat of government. A house belong- 
 ing to Mr. Robert . Morris, the financier, had been hired by 
 Washington for his residence, and at his request, had 
 undergone additions and alterations "in a plain and neat, 
 and not by any means in an extravagant style. " 
 
 His secretary, Mr. Lear, had made every preparation 
 for his arrival and accommodation, and, among other things, 
 had spoken of the rich and elegant style in which the state 
 carriage was fitted up. 
 
 "I had rather have heard," replied Washington, "that 
 my repaired coach was plain and elegant than rich and 
 elegant." 
 
 .Life of George Washington, Washington Irving. Vol. V, p 114.
 
 
 as 
 
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 in 
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 253 
 
 Secretary Humphreys' Poetic License 
 
 " The President's mansion was so limited in accommoda- 
 tion that three of his secretaries were compelled to occupy 
 one room Humphreys, Lewis, and Nelson. 
 About this time Humphreys was composing his 'Widow of 
 Malabar.' Lewis and Nelson, both young men, were con- 
 tent, after the labors of the day, to enjoy a good night's 
 repose. But this was often denied them; for Humphreys, 
 when in the vein, would rise from his bed at any hour, and 
 with stentorian voice, recite his verses. The young men, 
 roused from their slumbers, and rubbing their eyes, beheld 
 a great, burly figure, en chemise, striding across the floor, 
 reciting with great emphasis, particular passages from his 
 poem, and calling on his room-mates for their approbation. 
 Having in this way, for a considerable time, 'murdered the 
 sleep' of his associates, Humphreys, at length, wearied by 
 his exertions, would sink upon his pillow in a kind of dreamy 
 languor. So sadly were the young secretaries annoyed by 
 the frequent outbursts of the poet's imagination, that it was 
 remarked of them that to the end of their lives . . they 
 were never known to evince the slightest taste for poetry. ' ' 
 
 Quoted from The National Intelligencer, in The Pictorial Life of General Washington, 
 J. Frost, LL..D., p. 500. 
 
 Lafayette Presents the Key of the Bastile 
 
 In concluding his letter, he writes: "Permit me, my 
 dear General, to offer you a picture of the Bastile, such as it 
 was some days after I had given orders for its demolition. 
 I make you homage, also, of the principal key of this fortress 
 of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe you, as son to my 
 adopted father, as aide-de-camp to my general, as missionary 
 of liberty to its patriarch." 
 
 Thomas Paine was to have been the bearer of this key, 
 but he forwarded it to Washington from London. " I feel 
 myself happy," writes he, "in being the person through 
 whom the marquis has conveyed this early trophy of the
 
 2 S 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 spoils of despotism, and the first ripe fruits of American 
 principles, transplanted into Europe, to his great master 
 and patron. That the principles of America opened the 
 Bastile is not to be doubted, and, therefore, the key comes 
 to the right place. " 
 
 Washington received the key with reverence, as "a token 
 of the victory gained by liberty over despotism" ; and it is still 
 preserved at Mount Vernon, as a precious historical relic. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 106. 
 
 The First Division into Parties 
 
 About this time Washington received a unique present 
 the key of the Bastile from his old associate Lafayette, 
 who was at that time the most prominent figure in the 
 French Revolution, that political change not having yet 
 excited the ambitions of aspiring thieves and murderers. 
 The first President of the American republic had every 
 reason to sympathize with his ally of a few years before, 
 and wrote many letters filled with expressions of hope and 
 cheer. The more noisy class, however, of American sym- 
 pathizers with the French republicans was led by Jefferson, 
 who, with all his ability, never could distinguish between 
 abstract theories and the men who professed them, so the 
 struggle in France provoked a steady struggle at the Ameri- 
 can capital, which at the end of 1790, was no longer New 
 York, but Philadelphia. Both cities were gainers by the 
 change; the Quaker city had the satisfaction of having 
 the national government within its own geographical limits, 
 and New York could cease to devote its entire attention to 
 political rumors. 
 
 The first year in Philadelphia was marked by the 
 division of the people into parties, not on any grounds of 
 necessity, but because two members of the cabinet 
 Hamilton and Jefferson distrusted each other. These 
 wise men for wise they certainly were in many things 
 were almost evenly balanced in idiocy about things that
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 255 
 
 they did not understand. Hamilton urged the establish- 
 ment of a national bank ; that was enough to make Jefferson 
 the violent enemy of banks of all kinds, although he was 
 utterly ignorant of the principles of finance and always 
 remained so until he made Albert Gallatin the custodian of 
 his conscience so far as it affected Treasury affairs. Jef- 
 ferson also continued to insist that Hamilton was one of a 
 party that wanted to establish a monarchy a fancy the 
 source of which no one has ever been able to find in any 
 manner creditable to Jefferson's sense. Hamilton's sus- 
 picions consisted principally in imagining that Jefferson 
 was a dangerous man, and as he himself had been a soldier 
 and Was afraid of nobody, he never lost a chance to strike 
 back at the Secretary of State. The first followers the 
 combatants obtained were from the Cabinet itself, Randolph 
 uniformly siding with Jefferson, and Knox with Hamilton, 
 both Randolph and Knox being far more ignorant than 
 their principals about the points over which disputes 
 occurred. Then members of Congress began to take sides, 
 the people of Philadelphia followed, and the general public 
 came later into a battle that was utterly unnecessary but 
 nevertheless full of fun for the mass of the people, who had 
 nothing to lose and could spare unlimited quantities of talk, 
 which was the only ammunition called for. The rise of 
 parties meant merely the fall of man and parties continue 
 to exist because when man falls on account of an overload 
 of prejudices, he finds it hard work to get up again. 
 
 Fortunately the Cabinet discussions were not all on 
 politics. The Indians were troublesome on the border, as 
 Indians always will be when swindled and abused by traders 
 and land-grabbers, and expeditions sent against them had 
 cost much money and many men and brought nothing but 
 disaster. Congressmen, too, had learned the art of fighting 
 viciously, and the rival political newspapers of the capital 
 never let the truth stand in the way of a cutting paragraph, 
 so Jefferson and Hamilton &d not monopolize the fighting. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 283.
 
 356 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The Discharging of Reuben Rouzy and His Debt 
 
 One Reuben Rouzy, of Virginia, owed the great general 
 about i ,000 pounds. While President of the United States, 
 one of his agents brought an action for the money; judg- 
 ment was obtained, and execution issued against the body 
 of the defendant, who was taken to jail. He had a con- 
 siderable landed estate, but this kind of property cannot 
 be sold in Virginia for debts, unless at the discretion of the 
 person. He bad a large family, and for the sake of his 
 children preferred lying in jail to selling his land. 
 
 A friend hinted to him that probably General Wash- 
 ington did not know anything of the proceedings and it 
 might be well to send him a petition, with a statement of the 
 circumstances. He did so; and the very next post from 
 Philadelphia, after the arrival of the petition in that city, 
 brought him an order for his immediate release, together 
 with a full discharge, and a severe reprimand to the agent 
 for having acted in such a manner. 
 
 Poor Rouzy was in consequence restored to his family, 
 who never laid down their heads at night without presenting 
 prayers to Heaven for- their " beloved Washington. " Provi- 
 dence smiled upon the la,bors of the grateful family, and in 
 a few years Rouzy enjoyed the exquisite pleasure of being 
 able to lay the 1,000 pounds at the feet of the truly great 
 man. Washington reminded him that the debt was dis- 
 charged. Rouzy replied that the debt of the family to the 
 Father of his Country and preserver of their parent could 
 never be discharged ; and the General, to avoid the pleasing 
 importunity of the grateful Virginian, who would not be 
 denied, accepted the money, only, however, to divide 
 it among Rouzy's children, which he immediately did. 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833), p. 89. 
 
 "His Horse Levees" 
 
 I asked Mr. Gray if he remembered the Custis children. 
 "Yes," he said; "I often saw them at the windows, or 
 driving out with Mrs. Washington in her English coach. "
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 257 
 
 They did not seem to have left a very vivid and human 
 impression on his memory. With their fine clothes and 
 company manners, with their attendants, tutors, dancing 
 and music masters, they must have seemed very strange, 
 inaccessible, and unenviable little personages to all the 
 happy, free-and-easy children of the neighborhood. 
 
 " Do you remember Washington's levees and Mrs. 
 Washington's drawing-rooms?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, I reinember hearing about them. All the evening 
 parties were over by nine o'clock, and the President's house 
 was dark and silent .by ten. They were great affairs, but 
 I was too young to know much about them. I attended 
 his horse-levees. I was very fond of visiting his stables, 
 early in the morning, at the hour when he always went to 
 inspect them. I liked to see him at that work, for he 
 seemed' to enjoy it himself. Like General Grant, he was a great 
 lover of horses. I can almost think I see him now, come 
 striding out from his house across the yard to the stables, 
 booted and spurred, but bareheaded and in his shirt-sleeves." 
 
 "Washington in his shirt-sleeves!" 
 
 "Yes, madam; but he was always Washington. The 
 grooms stood aside, silent and respectful,. while he examined 
 every stall and manger, and regularly went over every 
 horse I mean, he passed over a portion of its coat his 
 large white hand, always looking to see if it was soiled, or 
 if any loose hairs had come off on it. If so, the groom was 
 reprimanded and ordered to do his work over. Generally, 
 however, Washington would say: 'Very well. Now, John, 
 get out Prescott and Jackson' (his white chargers). Til be 
 ready by the time you come round.' 
 
 " Did he ride at so early an hour? " 
 
 " Yes ; generally between five and six of a pleasant morn- 
 ing he was off; and he almost always rode up to Point-no- 
 Point , on the Delaware , a little way above Richmond . He was 
 a fine horseman, and, being a long-bodied man, looked grandly 
 on horseback. It was a sight worth getting up early to see. " 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. 15-
 
 25 8 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON' 
 
 "Such an Example of Luxury and Extravagance !" 
 
 We have mentioned Sam. Fraunces, the President 'r 
 steward. He was a rare Whig in the Revolutionary day, 
 and attached no little importance to his person and char- 
 acter, from the circumstance that the memorable parting of 
 the commander-in-chief with his old and long endeared com- 
 panions-in-arms had taken place at his tavern in New York. 
 
 The steward was a man of talent and considerable 
 taste in the line of his profession, but was at the same time 
 ambitious, fond of display, and regardless of expense. 
 This produced continued difficulties between the President 
 and certainly one of the most devotedly attached to him of 
 all his household. 
 
 The expenses of the presidential mansion were settled 
 weekly; and, upon the bills being presented, the President 
 would rate his steward soundly upon his expensiveness, 
 saying that, while he wished to live conformably to his 
 high station, liberally, nay handsomely, he abhorred waste 
 and extravagance, and insisted that his household should 
 be conducted with due regard to economy and usefulness. 
 
 Fraunces would promise amendment, and the next 
 week the same scene would be re-enacted in all its parts, 
 the steward retiring in tears, and exclaiming, " Well, he may 
 discharge me; he may kill me if he will; but while he is 
 President of the United States, and I have the honor to be 
 his steward, his establishment shall be supplied with the 
 very best of everything that the whole country can afford. " 
 
 Washington was remarkably fond of fish. It was the 
 habit for New England ladies frequently to prepare the 
 codfish in a very nice manner, and send it enveloped in 
 cloths, so as to arrive quite warm for the President's Satur- 
 day dinner, he always eating codfish on that day in compli- 
 ment to his New England recollections. 
 
 It happened that a single shad was caught in the Dela- 
 ware in February, and brought to the Philadelphia market 
 for sale. Fraunces pounced upon it with the speed of an
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 259 
 
 osprey, regardless of price, but charmed that he had secured 
 a delicacy that, above all others, he knew would be agree- 
 able to the palate of his chief. 
 
 When the fish was served, Washington suspected a 
 departure from his orders touching the provisions to be 
 made for his table, and said to Fraunces, who stood at his 
 post at the sideboard: 
 
 "What fish is this?" 
 
 "A shad, a very fine shad," was the reply; "I knew 
 your excellency was particularly fond of this kind of fish,, 
 and was so fortunate as to procure this one in market a 
 solitary one, and the first of the season." 
 
 "The price, sir; the price!" continued Washington, in 
 'a stern commanding tone; "the price, sir?" 
 
 " Three three three dollars," stammered out the 
 conscience-stricken steward. 
 
 "Take it away," thundered the chief; "take it away, 
 sir ; it shall never be said that my ta>le sets such an example 
 of luxury and extravagance." 
 
 . Poor Fraunces tremblingly obeyed, and the first shad 
 of the season was removed untouched, to be speedily 
 discussed by the gourmands of the servants' hall. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis. 
 p. 420. 
 
 "Here!" 
 
 An Englishman in Philadelphia, speaking of the presi- 
 dency of Washington, was expressing a wish to behold 
 him. 
 
 " There he goes ! ' ' replied the American, pointing to a tall, 
 erect, dignified personage passing on the other side of the 
 street. 
 
 "That General Washington!" exclaimed the English- 
 man; "where is his guard?" 
 
 "Here!" exclaimed the American, striking his bosom 
 with emphasis. 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston. 1833). p. 127-
 
 260 THE STORY -LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Fact, Tact and Fiction 
 
 Washington showed that he was becoming an adept in 
 diplomacy when he tendered his friend Patrick Henry a place 
 in the government after assuring himself that the offer would 
 be declined with a profusion of thanks. Then the tactful way 
 he evaded the importunity of a French anarchist, named 
 Volney, was worthy of Franklin or even Lincoln. On several 
 accounts he did not wish to refuse to do a favor for the visit- 
 ing Frenchman, nor did he care to endorse a red republican 
 with a wholesale introduction. So he wrote on his card, 
 simply : 
 
 C. Volney 
 
 needs no recommendation 
 from 
 
 G. Washington 
 
 Contrary to the universal notion that practical politics 
 cannot go hand in hand with strict truthfulness, it may be 
 argued that Washington was considered fairly successful in 
 politics. ' ' Parson ' ' Weems is responsible for the general belief 
 that Washington, when a little boy with a little hatchet , ' 'could 
 not tell a lie," but it is asseverated that he overcame this 
 nervous weakness after he became a general and a statesman. 
 
 As a general, he proved himself an expert in devising 
 decoys, and ruses which always deceived the British generals, 
 yet when they tried the same tactics with him he saw through 
 them all, so that they managed only to put him on instead 
 of off his guard, and bobbed up, laughing in his sleeve, all 
 ready for them, instead of rushing off in the wrong direction 
 as they had tried to induce him to do. 
 
 Washington knew very well that the only way to keep 
 a secret is not to let any one know you have one to keep. In 
 several critical junctures the commander-in-chief did not 
 dare let even his confidential officers know the true state of 
 affairs. Once when he divulged a secret stratagem to a 
 certain colonel who had to be informed in order that he
 
 Engraved by H. B. Hell from the Painting bj/ A. Wertmiilier. 
 AN UNFAMILIAR PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON

 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 261 
 
 might cooperate with the general in its execution, he wrote 
 at the end of his instructions, " For Heaven's sake keep this 
 to yourself; for, if known, it would be fatal to us!" 
 
 " All is fair in love and war, " and Washington was gener- 
 ally in one or the other if not both at the same time. Some 
 humorous writers, nowadays, pretend to be shocked because 
 Washington resorted to feints and counterfeits to deceive the 
 enemy, and to diplomatic strategy while President. But it 
 is not widely known that General Washington originated the 
 extravagant joke against the Jersey mosquito. Having his 
 headquarters in New Jersey much of the time, he had excellent 
 opportunities for observing that interesting insect and, one 
 day, he spoke of mosquitoes to an Englishman named Weld, 
 who went home and wrote in his " Travels in America, " that 
 " General Washington told me that . . . they used to bite 
 through the thickest boot." 
 
 An eminent divine, not seeing the joke, rushed to the 
 rescue with a tarradiddle to save Washington's reputation, 
 stating in another book that " a gentleman of great respecta- 
 bility who was present when General Washington made the 
 observation referred to, told me that he said when describ- 
 ing those mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they, ' bit through 
 his stockings above the boots.' 
 
 Now, any one who knew about army boots knew that 
 they came far above the stockings, and for a mosquito to bite 
 through them was still more impossible. Washington needed 
 to be defended from his friends, while he was defeating his 
 enemies. His reputation has suffered many things from 
 "gentlemen of great respectability" who never could see 
 
 through an innocent joke, 
 w. w. 
 
 
 
 General St. Clair Made Commander-in-chief 
 
 In the course of the present session, Congress received 
 and granted the applications of Kentucky and Vermont 
 for admission into the Union, the former after August, 1792 ; 
 the latter immediately. 
 
 On the 3d of March the term of this first Congress
 
 262 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 expired. Washington, after reciting various important 
 measures that had been effected, testified to the great har- 
 mony and cordiality which had prevailed. In some few 
 instances, he admitted, particularly in passing the law for 
 higher duties on spirituous liquors, and more especially on 
 the subject of the bank, " the line between the southern and 
 eastern interests had appeared more strongly marked than 
 could be wished, " the former against and the latter in favor 
 of 'those measures, "but the debates," adds he, "were con- 
 ducted with temper and candor." 
 
 As the Indians on the northwest side of the Ohio still 
 continued their hostilities,, one of the last measures of 
 Congress had been an act to augment the military establish- 
 ments, and to place in the hands of the executive more ample 
 means for the protection of the frontiers. A new expedition 
 against the belligerent tribes had, in consequence, been 
 projected. General St. Clair, actually governor of the 
 territory west of the Ohio, was appointed commander-in- 
 chief, of the forces employed. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 120. 
 
 Planning and Building " the President's Palace" 
 
 While the capital was moved about, Washington gave 
 all the attention he could to planning and building the 
 Federal City. They went to work to erect, first of all, the 
 Capitol and the "President's Palace," as Washington called 
 it. He presided at the laying of the cornerstone of the 
 Mansion, October, 13, 1792, three hundred years, almost 
 to a day, after the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 
 There was considerable controversy over this matter. 
 Certain self-appointed " watchdogs of the treasury" claimed 
 that one building would do for both purposes that the 
 President could live in a wing of the Capitol, or the Houses 
 of Congress could meet in two wings of the " President's 
 Palace." This seems rather ridiculous to us now, but we 
 must bear in mind that the people were few and money was
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 263 
 
 scarce. New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore 
 were only small towns then; a man with ten thousand 
 dollars was wealthy, and men "worth" one hundred thous- 
 and were fewer than multimillionaires to-day. So it was a 
 wonderful thing that, through the great influence of Wash- 
 ington and others, Congress appropriated the then magni- 
 ficent sum of three hundred thousand dollars for the 
 "palace" alone. 
 
 A prize of five hundred dollars had been offered for the 
 best plans for the building. James Hoban, a young Irish 
 architect of Charleston , South Carolina, won this prize, 
 for the design of a palace like the palace of the Duke of 
 Leinster, in Dublin. Hoban was engaged as superintendent 
 of construction, and it took about seven years to get the 
 building ready to live in. 
 
 The Story of the White House, Wayne Whipple, p. 14. 
 
 How the" President Received the News 
 
 The President was dining, when an officer arrived from 
 the western army with despatches, his orders requiring that 
 he should deliver them only to the commander-in-chief. 
 The President retired, but soon appeared, bearing in his 
 hand an open letter. No change was perceptible ill his 
 countenance, as addressing the company he observed that 
 the army of St. Clair had been surprised by the Indians, 
 and was cut to pieces. The company soon after retired. 
 The President repaired to his private parlor, attended by 
 Mr. Lear, his principal secretary, and a scene ensued of 
 which our pen can give but a feeble description. 
 
 The chief paced the room in hurried strides. In his 
 agony, he struck his clenched hands with fearful force against 
 his forehead, and in a paroxysm of anguish exclaimed: 
 
 "That brave army, so officered Butler, Ferguson, 
 Kirkwood such officers are not to be replaced in a day 
 that brave army cut to pieces. O God!" 
 
 Then turning to the secretary, who stood amazed at a
 
 264 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 spectacle so unique, as Washington in all his terrors, he 
 continued : 
 
 "It was here, sir, in this very room, that I conversed 
 with St. Clair, on the eve of his departure for the West. 
 I remarked, 'I shall not interfere, General, with the orders of 
 General Knox, and the War Department ; they are sufficiently 
 comprehensive and judicious; but, as an old soldier, as one 
 whose early life was particularly engaged in Indian warfare, 
 I feel myself competent to counsel; General St. Clair, in 
 three words, beware of surprise ; trust not the Indian, leave 
 not your arms for a moment; and when you halt for the 
 night, be sure to fortify your camp again and again, 
 General, beware of surprise \ ' And yet that brave army 
 surprised, and cut to pieces, with Butler and a host of others 
 slain, O God!" 
 
 Here the struggle ended, as with mighty efforts the 
 hero chained down the rebellious giant of passion, and 
 Washington became "himself again." In a subdued tone 
 of voice, he proceeded: "But he shall have justice done; 
 yes, long, faithful, and meritorious services have their 
 claims. I repeat he shall have justice." 
 
 Thus concluded a scene as remarkable as rare. It 
 served to display this great man as nature had made him, 
 with passions fierce and impetuous, which, like the tornado 
 of the tropics, would burst for a while in awful grandeur, 
 and then show, in higher relief, a serene and brilliant sky. 
 
 The first interview of the President with St. Clair, 
 after the fatal fourth of November, was nobly impressive. 
 The unfortunate general, worn down by age, disease and 
 the hardship of a frontier campaign, assailed by the press, 
 and with the current of popular opinion setting hard against 
 him, repaired to his chief, as to a shelter from the fury of 
 so many elements. Washington extended his hand to 
 one who appeared in no new character; for, during the 
 whole of a long life, misfortune seemed to have " marked him 
 for her own." Poor old St. Clair hobbled up to his chief,
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 265 
 
 seized the offered hand in both of his, and gave vent to his 
 feelings in an audible manner. He was subsequently tried 
 by a commission of government, and proved to have been 
 
 unfortunate. 
 
 In the Alexandria Gazette, George Washington Parke Custis, July 12, 1827. 
 
 The Same Scene Described Thirty Years Later 
 
 Towards the close of a winter's day in 1791, an officer 
 in uniform was seen to dismount in front of the President's 
 in Philadelphia, and, giving the bridle to his servant, 
 knock at the door of his mansion. Learning from the por- 
 ter that the President was at dinner, he said he was on public 
 business and had despatches for the President. A servant 
 was sent into the dining-room to give the information to 
 Mr. Lear, who left the table and went into the hall where 
 the officer repeated what he had said. Mr. Lear replied 
 that, as the President's secretary, he would take charge of 
 the despatches and deliver them at the proper time. The 
 officer made answer that he had just arrived from the west- 
 ern army, and his orders were to deliver them with all 
 promptitude, and to the President in person; but that he 
 would wait his directions. Mr. Lear returned, and in a 
 whisper imparted to the President what had passed. Gen- 
 eral Washington rose from the table, and went to the 
 officer. He was back in a short time, made a word of 
 apology for his absence, but no allusion to the cause of it. 
 He had company that day, Everything went on as usual. 
 Dinner over, the gentlemen passed to the drawing-room of 
 Mrs. Washington, which was open in the evening. The 
 General spoke courteously to every lady in the room, as 
 was his custom. His hours were early, and by ten o'clock 
 all the company had gone. Mrs. Washington and Mr. 
 Lear remained. Soon Mrs. Washington left the room. 
 
 The General now walked backward and forward slowly 
 for some minutes without speaking. Then he sat down 
 on a sofa by the fire, telling Mr. Lear to sit down. To this
 
 2 66 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 moment there had been no change in his manner since his 
 interruption at table. Mr. Lear now perceived emotion. 
 This rising in him, he broke out suddenly, " It's all over 
 St. Clair's defeated routed; -the officers nearly all killed, 
 the men by wholesale; the rout complete too shocking 
 to think of and a surprise into the bargain ! ' ' 
 
 He uttered all this with great vehemence. Then he 
 paused, got up from the sofa, and walked about the room 
 several times, agitated but saying nothing. Near the door 
 he stopped short and stood still a few seconds, when his 
 wrath became terrible. 
 
 "Yes" he burst forth, "here on this very spot, I took 
 leave of him; I wished him success and honor; 'you have 
 your instructions,' I said, 'from the Secretary of War, I had 
 a strict eye to them, and will add but one word, Beware 
 of a surprise! I repeat it, BEWARE OF A SURPRISE 
 you know how the Indians fight us.' He went off with that 
 as my last solemn warning thrown into his ears. And yet! 
 to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hack'd, butchered, 
 tomahawk 'd by a surprise the very thing I guarded him 
 against! O God, O God, he's worse than a murderer! how 
 can he answer it to his country; the blood of the slain 
 is upon him the curse of widows and orphans the curse 
 of Heaven!" 
 
 This torrent came out in tones appalling. His very 
 frame shook. 'It was awful!' said Mr. Lear. 'More than 
 once he fhrew his hands up as he hurled imprecations upon 
 St. Clair.' Mr. Lear remained speechless, awed into breath- 
 less silence. 
 
 The roused chief sat down on the sofa once more. He 
 seemed conscious of his passion, and uncomfortable. He 
 was silent. His warmth beginning to subside, he at length 
 said in an altered voice: "This must not go beyond this 
 room." Another pause followed a longer one when 
 he said in a tone quite low, " General St. Clair shall have 
 justice; I looked hastily through the despatches, saw the
 
 CAPITAL REMOVED TO PHILADELPHIA 267 
 
 whole disaster but not all the particulars ; I will receive him 
 without displeasure; I will hear him without prejudice; 
 he shall have full justice." 
 
 He was now, said Mr. Lear, perfectly calm. Half an 
 hour had gone by. The storm was over; and no sign of it 
 was afterwards seen in his conduct or heard in his conver- 
 sation. The result is known. The whole case was investi- 
 gated by Congress. St. Clair was exculpated and regained 
 the confidence Washington had in him when appointing 
 him to that command. He had put himself into the thickest 
 of the fight and escaped unhurt, though so ill as to be car- 
 ried on a litter, and unable to mount his horse without help. 
 
 Washington in Domestic Life, Richard Rush, (1857) p. 65.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 His SECOND TERM 
 After a Long and Painful Conflict of Feelings 
 
 It was after a long and painful conflict of feelings that 
 Washington consented to be a candidate for re-election. 
 There was no opposition on the part of the public, and the 
 vote for him in the electoral college was unanimous. In 
 a letter to a friend, he declared himself gratefully impressed 
 by so distinguished and honorable a testimony of public 
 approbation and confidence. In truth he had been appre- 
 hensive of being elected by but a meager majority, which he 
 acknowledged would have been a matter of chagrin. 
 
 George Clinton, of New York, was held up for the 
 vice-presidency, in opposition to John Adams; but the 
 latter was re-elected by a majority of twenty-seven electoral 
 votes. 
 
 But though gratified to find that the hearts of his 
 countrymen were still with him, it was with no emotion of 
 pleasure that Washington looked forward to another term 
 of public duty, and a prolonged absence from the quiet 
 retirement of Mount Vernon. 
 
 On his birthday (Feb. 22) many of the members of 
 Congress were desirous of waiting on him in testimony of 
 respect as chief magistrate of the Union, and a motion was 
 made to adjourn for half an hour for the purpose. It met 
 with serious opposition as a species of homage it was 
 setting up an idol dangerous to liberty it had a bias 
 toward monarchy! 
 
 To guide him on the coming occasion, Washington 
 called the heads of departments together, and desired 
 they would consult with one another, and agree on any 
 
 (268)
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 269 
 
 changes they might consider for the better, assuring them 
 he would willingly conform to whatever they should advise. 
 They held such consultation, and ultimately gave 
 their individual opinions in writing, with regard to the 
 time, manner and place of the President's taking the oath 
 of office. As they were divided in opinion, and gave no 
 positive advice as to any change, no change was made. On 
 the 4th of March, the oath was publicly administered to 
 Washington by Mr. Justice Gushing, in the Senate Chamber, 
 in the presence of the heads of departments, foreign min- 
 isters, such members of the House of Representatives as 
 were in town, and -as many spectators as could be accom- 
 modated. 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 170. 
 
 From Washington's Second Inaugural 
 
 (Delivered in the Senate Chamber, Philadelphia, 
 March 4, 1793.} 
 
 "Fellow-Citizens: 
 
 "I am again called upon, by the voice of my country, 
 to execute the functions of its chief magistrate. When the 
 occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to 
 express the high sense I entertain of this, distinguished 
 honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me 
 by the people of United America. Previous to the execu- 
 tion of any official act of the President, the Constitution 
 requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to 
 take and in your presence ; that, if it shall be found during 
 my administration of the government, I have in any instance 
 violated willingly or knowingly the injunction thereof, I 
 may, besides incurring constitutional punishment, be sub- 
 ject to the upbraiding of all who are now witnesses of the 
 present solemn ceremony." 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph. D., p. 3S.
 
 2 7 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Reading His Opening Address to Congress 
 
 Of the awe and reverence which the presence of Wash- 
 ington inspired we have many records. "I stood," says 
 one writer, " before the door of the Hall of Congress in 
 Philadelphia when the carriage of the President drew up. 
 It was a white coach, or rather of a light cream color, painted 
 on the panels with beautiful groups representing the four 
 seasons. As Washington alighted and ascending the steps, 
 paused on the platform, he was preceded by two gentlemen 
 bearing large white wands, who kept back the eager crowd 
 that pressed on every side. At that moment I stood so near I 
 might have touched his clothes; but I should as soon have 
 thought of touching an electric battery. I was penetrated 
 with deepest awe. Nor was this the feeling of the schoolboy 
 I then was. It pervaded, I believe, every human being that 
 approached Washington ; and I have been told that even in 
 his social hours, this feeling in those who shared them never 
 suffered intermission. I saw him a hundred times afterward, 
 but never with any other than the same feeling. The 
 Almighty, who raised up for our hour of need a man so pecu- 
 liarly prepared for its whole dread responsibility, seems to 
 have put a stamp of sacredness upon his instrument. The 
 first sight of the man struck the eye with involuntary homage 
 and prepared everything around him to obey. 
 
 "At the time I speak of he stood in profound silence 
 and had the statue-like air which mental greatness alone 
 can bestow. As he turned to enter the building, and was 
 ascending the staircase to the Congressional hall, I glided 
 along unseen, almost under the cover of the skirts of his 
 dress, and entered into the lobby of the House which was in 
 session to receive him. 
 
 "At Washington's entrance there was a profound silence. 
 House, lobbies, gallery, all were wrapped in deepest attention. 
 And the souls of the entire assemblage seemed peering from 
 their eyes as the noble figure deliberately and unaffectedly
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 271 
 
 advanced up the broad aisle of the hall between ranks of 
 standing senators and members, and slowly ascended the 
 steps leading to the speaker 's chair. 
 
 "The President having seated himself remained in si- 
 lence, and the members took their seats, waiting for the 
 speech. No house of worship was ever more profoundly 
 still than that large and crowded chamber. 
 
 "Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted 
 him in full-length portrait in a full suit of the richest black 
 velvet, with diamond knee-buckles and square silver buckles 
 set upon shoes japanned with most scrupulous neatness; 
 black silk stockings, his shirt ruffled at the breast and waist, 
 a light dress sword, his hair profusely powdered, fully dressed 
 so as to project at the sides, and gathered behind in a silk 
 bag ornamented with a large rose of black ribbon. He held 
 his cocked hat, which had a large black cockade on one side 
 of it, in his hand, as he advanced toward the chair, and 
 when seated, laid it on the table. 
 
 "At length, thrusting his hand within the side of his 
 coat, he drew forth a roll of manuscript which he opened, 
 and rising, read in a rich, deep, full, sonorous voice his 
 opening address to Congress. His enunciation was deliber- 
 ate, justly emphasized, very distinct, and accompanied with 
 an air of deep solemnity as being the utterance of a mind 
 conscious of the whole responsibility of its position, but not 
 oppressed by it. There was ever about the man something 
 which impressed one with the conviction that he was exactly 
 and fully equal to what he had to do. He was never 
 hurried; never negligent ; but seemed ever prepared for the 
 occasion, be it what it might. In his study, in his parlor, 
 at a levee, before Congress, at the head of the army, he 
 seemed ever to be just what the situation required. He 
 possessed, in a degree never equaled by any human being I 
 ever saw, the strongest, most ever-present sense of pro- 
 priety." 
 
 Heroes Every Child Should Know, Edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, p. 284.
 
 272 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "The Proceedings of a Person Unfortunately Minister 
 Plenipotentiary" 
 
 In a message to both Houses, on the 5th of December, 
 concerning foreign relations, Washington spoke feelingly 
 with regard to those with the representative and executive 
 bodies in France: "It is with extreme concern that I have 
 to inform you that the proceedings of a person whom they 
 have unfortunately appointed their minister plenipotentiary 
 here, have breathed nothing of the friendly spirit of the 
 nation which sent him; their tendency, on the contrary, 
 has been to involve us in war abroad, and discord and 
 anarchy at home. So far as his acts, or those of his agents, 
 have threatened our immediate commitment in the war, or 
 flagrant insult to the authority of the laws, their effect has 
 been counteracted by the ordinary cognizance of the laws, 
 and by an exertion of the powers confided to me. Where 
 their danger was not imminent, they have been borne with, 
 from sentiments of regard for his nation; from a sense of 
 their friendship toward us; from a conviction, that they 
 would not suffer us to remain long exposed to the action of 
 a person, who has so little respected our mutual dispositions ; 
 and, I will add, from a reliance on the firmness of our 
 fellow-citizens in their principles of peace and order. " 
 
 John Adams, speaking of this passage of the message, 
 says: "The President has given Genet a bolt of thunder." 
 He questioned, however, whether Washington would be 
 supported in it by the two Houses ' 'although he stands at 
 present, as high in the admiration and confidence of the 
 people as he ever did, I expect he will find many bitter 
 and desperate enemies arise in consequence of his just 
 judgment against Genet." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 233. 
 
 The National Government Removes to Germantown on Account 
 of Yellow Fever 
 
 Washington set out from Mount Vernon for German- 
 town on Monday, the 28th of October [1793], accompanied
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 
 
 by his secretary, Bartholomew Dandridge, his coachman, 
 Lewis Lut, and servant, Austin, with five horses. At Balti- 
 more they were overtaken by Thomas Jefferson, who had 
 left Monticello on the 25th. . . They reached Germantown 
 in time for dinner on Friday, November ist. This was a 
 cold, rainy day, and Jefferson says they experienced the 
 extremes of heat, cold, dust and rain on the journey. . . 
 
 . . .The President, accompanied by Mr. Dandridge 
 and his servants, set out on the nth of November for 
 Lancaster and Reading, going first into Philadelphia. He 
 apparently was not satisfied that Congress could be accom- 
 modated in Germantown, or at least wished to see for him- 
 self what the other Pennsylvania towns had to offer, in case 
 the members declined to meet in Philadelphia 
 
 Washington returned to Germantown on Saturday, the 
 1 6th, having been gone all the week. Before leaving he 
 had written a personal note to Colonel Isaac Franks, asking 
 for the use of his house. . . .. It reached Colonel 
 Franks, who had sought refuge from the yellow fever, at 
 Bethlehem, Pa., on November i6th, and he immediately 
 responded by hiring a light two-horse wagon, with a driver, 
 and setting out for Germantown with Mrs. Franks, to put 
 the house in order for the President's occupancy. 
 
 The Frank's house, or the Morris House, as it is known 
 to-day, remains as it was when Washington occupied it, an 
 interesting and as fine an example of the Colonial period as 
 is to be found anywhere in America. . . . 
 
 Washington occupied it until the end of the month, 
 making, however, frequent daily visits into the city, and so 
 well did it suit him that he again occupied it the following 
 summer. 
 
 The gathering of the loose ends of business, sundered 
 by the hiatus of the yellow fever, the preparation of the 
 President's speech and message, before the assembly of 
 Congress [in Germantown Academy] the first Monday of 
 December, made the month of November, passed in Ger-
 
 274 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 man town, as busy and as important as any in Washington's 
 administration. 
 
 In the early days, during Washington's and Adams' 
 administrations, it was customary for the President to 
 appear in person at the opening of Congress before both 
 houses assembled in one body, and read an address to 
 them, designated as the speech, and later the matters to be 
 more specifically communicated were forwarded as mes- 
 sages. Washington's draft of the various subjects which 
 should be included either in the speech or in later messages 
 to Congress is here given: 
 (Sundry matters to be communicated for the information 
 
 of Congress either in the speech at the opening of the 
 
 session or by Messages thereafter 'as shall be thought best.) 
 
 "Proclamation informing the United States, of the ac- 
 tual state of things as they stood between them and the 
 powers at war. 
 
 "State of our application respecting the surrender of 
 the Western posts. 
 
 "Additional instructions of his Britannic Majesty 
 relative to corn, &c., in neutral vessels. 
 
 "State of matters as it respects our negotiations with 
 Spain relative to territory and the navigation of the river 
 Mississippi. 
 
 "Correspondence with Mr. Genet, minister from the 
 French republic. 
 
 "The impediments which have taken place in the in- 
 tended ransoms of our citizens, captives in Algiers, and 
 treaty with the Barbary States. 
 
 "Treaty attempted with the Western Indians, and the 
 result of it. 
 
 "March of the Army in consequence of it delayed by 
 the suspension we were held in thereby. 
 
 "State of matters as they relate to the Creeks and 
 Cherokees; and to the frontiers of, Georgia and the South- 
 western Territory.
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 275 
 
 "Would not trade on public ground with all the bor- 
 dering tribes of Indians (if they can once be made sensible 
 of their folly by the superiority of our arms) be an effec- 
 tual mean of attaching them to us by the strongest of all 
 ties, interest? 
 
 "The utility of establishing proper arsenals, unfolds 
 itself more and more every day ; and the propriety of a 
 military academy for teaching the art of gunnery and 
 engineering, can scarcely be doubted. A war at any time 
 would evince the impropriety of such a neglect. 
 
 "Might it not be expedient to take off the tax upon 
 the transportation of newspapers, &c. 
 
 "An act of the legislature, south-west of the Ohio, 
 passed November 2oth, 1792, deposited in the Secretary of 
 States's office. 
 
 "As both Representatives and President are newly 
 chosen, and it is their first meeting, may it not be a good 
 occasion, and proper for the latter to express his sentiments 
 of the honor conferred on him by his fellow citizens? The 
 former is an augmented body. The times are critical, and 
 much temper, and cool, deliberate reflection is necessary to 
 maintain peace with dignity and safety to the United 
 States, 
 
 "Appointments during the recess of Congress to be 
 laid before the Senate." 
 
 Washington in Germantown , Charles Francis Jenkins, pp. 99 to 138 
 
 Washington's Wrath over the Ribaldry of the Press 
 
 Washington, already weary and impatient, under the 
 incessant dissensions of his Cabinet, was stung by the sug- 
 gestion that he might be held up as in conflict with Genet, 
 and subjected, as he had been, to the ribaldry of the press. 
 At this unlucky moment Knox blundered forth with a speci- 
 men of the scandalous libels already in circulation; a pas- 
 quinade lately printed, called the " Funeral of George Wash- 
 ington," wherein the President was represented as placed
 
 276 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 upon a guillotine, a horrible parody on the late decapitation 
 of the French King. " The President, ' ' writes Jefferson, " now 
 burst forth into one of those transports of a passion beyond 
 his control ; inveighed against the personal abuse which had 
 been bestowed upon him, and defied any man on earth to 
 produce a single act of his since he had been in the govern- 
 ment that had not been done on the purest, motives. 
 
 "He had never repented but once the having slipped 
 the moment of resigning his office, and that was every 
 moment since. In the agony of his heart he declared that 
 he had rather be in his grave than in his present situation; 
 that he had rather be on his farm than to be made emperor 
 of the world and yet, said he, indignantly, they are 
 charging me with wanting to be a king ! 
 
 "All were silent during this burst of feeling a pause 
 ensued it was difficult to resume the question. Washing- 
 ton, however, who had recovered his equanimity, put an end 
 to the difficulty. There was no necessity, he said, for decid- 
 ing the matter at present ; the propositions agreed to, respect- 
 ing the letter to Mr. Morris, might be put into a train of 
 execution, and, perhaps, events would show whether the 
 appeal would be necessary or not." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 218. 
 
 "That Rascal Freneau" 
 
 The President was much inflamed ; got into one of those 
 passions when he cannot command himself; ran on much 
 on the personal abuse which had been bestowed on him; 
 defied any man on earth to produce one single act of his 
 since he had been in the government, which was not done 
 on the purest motives ; that he had never repented but once 
 the having slipped the moment of resigning his office, and 
 that was every moment since ; that by God he had rather be 
 in his grave than in his present situation; that he had 
 rather be on his farm than to be made Emperor of the world; 
 and yet that they were charging him with wanting to be a
 
 HT5 SECOND TERM 277 
 
 King. That that rascal Freneau sent him three of his papers 
 every day, a? if he thought he would become the distributor 
 of his papers; that he could see in this, nothing but an 
 impudent design to insult him : he ended in this high tone. 
 
 "Anas," Works of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. IX, p. 164. 
 
 " Ten Thousand People Threatened to Drag Washington 
 out of His House " 
 
 Although Washington was twice unanimously elected 
 to the presidency he had many bitter enemies. He was 
 the most vilified and abused of all the Presidents of the 
 United States, excepting Lincoln, perhaps, during the first 
 years of his administration. Popular feeling was so strong 
 in favor of French republicanism that many good men, 
 including Jefferson, then Secretary of State, were greatly 
 incensed against President Washington because he was 
 unwilling to break the existing treaty of neutrality. He 
 saw that the lowest element in Paris had given themselves 
 over to the most unbridled lust for blood and power, and 
 that they "bawled for liberty," their idea of freedom being 
 only license to commit crimes in freedom's name. 
 
 John Adams, then Vice-President, wrote of the feeling 
 against Washington at this soul-trying time: 
 
 " Ten thousand people in the streets of Philadelphia, day 
 after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house, 
 and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to de- 
 clare in favor of the French Revolution and against England." 
 
 In spite of his great popularity there was nothing of 
 bravado or defiance in Washington's attitude toward the 
 people. John Adams once wrote of this : 
 
 "General Washington, one of the most attentive men 
 in the world to the manner of doing things, owed a great 
 proportion of his celebrity to this circumstance." 
 
 Washington, once speaking on this subject, expressed 
 the following sentiment : 
 
 " I have found it of importance and highly expedient 
 to yield to many points in fact, without seeming to have
 
 278 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 done it, and this to avoid bringing on a too frequent dis- 
 cussion of matters which in a political view ought to be 
 kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made too 
 much the subjects of disquisition. Time only can 
 eradicate and overcome customs and prejudices of long 
 standing they must be got the better of by slow and 
 gradual advances." 
 
 On another occasion he added, " In a word, if a man 
 cannot act in all respects as he would wish, he must do what 
 appears best under the circumstances he is in. This I aim 
 at, however short I may fall of the end. " 
 w. w. 
 
 The Jay Treaty a Benefit to the West 
 
 In such a welter of intrigue, of land speculation, and of 
 more or less piratical aggression, there was- imminent danger 
 that the West would relapse into anarchy unless a firm 
 government were established, and unless the boundaries 
 with England and Spain were definitely established. As 
 Washington's administration grew steadily in strength and 
 in the confidence of the people the first condition was met. 
 The necessary fixity of boundary was finally obtained by 
 the treaties negotiated through John Jay with England, 
 and through Thomas Pinckney with Spain. 
 
 Jay's treaty aroused a perfect torrent of wrath through- 
 out the country, and nowhere more than in the West. A 
 few of the coolest and most intelligent men approved it, 
 and rugged old Humphrey Marshall, the Federalist senator 
 from Kentucky, voted for its ratification; but the general 
 feeling against him was intense. Even Blount, who by 
 this time was pretty well digusted with the way he had been 
 treated by the central government, denounced it, and 
 expressed his belief that Washington would have hard work 
 in explaining his conduct in procuring its ratification. -Yet 
 the westerners were the very people who had no cause what- 
 ever to complain of the treaty. It was not an entirely 
 satisfactory treaty ; perhaps a man like Hamilton might have
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 279 
 
 procured rather better terms ; but, taken as a whole, it worked 
 an immense improvement upon the condition of things 
 already existing. Washington's position was undoubtedly 
 right. He would have preferred a better treaty, but he 
 regarded the Jay treaty as very much better than none at all. 
 
 The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. IV, p. 194. 
 
 Noble Reply to Jefferson 
 
 In Bache's Aurora of June 9th, [1796] an anonymous 
 article had appeared, disclosing queries -propounded by 
 Washington, in strict confidence, to members of the Cabinet 
 in 1793, as to the conduct to be observed in reference to 
 England and France. As soon as Jefferson saw this article 
 he wrote Washington, (June igth) disclaiming his having 
 had any concern in that breach of official trust. " I have 
 formerly mentioned to you, " observed he, "that from a very 
 early period of my life, I had laid it down as a rule of conduct 
 never to write a single word for the public papers. From 
 this I have never departed in a single instance." 
 
 Jefferson further intimates a suspicion that a third 
 party had been endeavoring to sow tares between him and 
 Washington, by representing him (Jefferson) as still engaged 
 in the bustle of politics, and in turbulence and intrigue 
 against the government. 
 
 This drew forth a noble reply from Washington. " If I had 
 entertained any suspicions before, " writes he, "that the quer- 
 ies, which have been published in Bache's paper, proceeded 
 from you, the assurances you have given me of the contrary, 
 would have removed them ; but the truth is, I harbored none." 
 
 Life o f George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 305. 
 
 A Dinner at the Vice-President's at Richmond Hill 
 
 In the centre of the table sat Vice-President Adams, 
 in full dress, with bag and solitaire, his hair frizzed out on 
 each side of his head as you see it in Stuart 's old picture 
 of him. On his right sat Baron Steuben, our royalist
 
 2 8o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 republican disciplinarian general. On his left was Mr. 
 Jefferson, who had just returned from France, conspicuous 
 in his red waistcoat and breeches, the fashion of Versailles. 
 Opposite sat Mrs. Adams with her cheerful, intelligent face. 
 She was placed between the courtly Count de Moustier, the 
 French ambassador, in his red-heeled shoes and ear rings, 
 and the grave, polite, and formally bowing Mr. Van Berkel, 
 the learned and able envoy from Holland. Here too was 
 Chancellor Livingston, then still in the prime of life, so deaf 
 as to make conversation with him difficult, yet so overflow- 
 ing with wit, eloquence, and information that while listening 
 to him the difficulty was forgotten. The rest were mem- 
 bers of Congress and of our Legislature, some of them no 
 inconsiderable men. 
 
 Being able to talk French, a rare ..accomplishment in 
 America at that time, a place was assigned to me next the 
 count. De Moustier, after taking a little soup, kept an 
 empty plate before him, took now and then a crumb of 
 bread into his mouth, and declined all the luxuries of the 
 table that were pressed upon him, from the roast beef to 
 the lobsters. We were all in perplexity to know how the 
 count would dine, when at length his own body-cook, in a 
 clean white linen cap, a clean tablier, and a brilliantly white 
 serviette flung over his arm , and a warm pie of truffles and 
 game in his hand, came bustling eagerly through the crowd 
 of waiters and placed it before the count, who, reserving a 
 moderate share, distributed the rest among his neighbors, 
 of whom being one I can attest the truth of the story and 
 the excellence of the pate. 
 
 Reminiscences in The Talisman, in 1829, edited by "Francis Herbert". 
 
 How the President Would Encourage Robert Fulton 
 
 'PHILADELPHIA i4th December, 1796. 
 "To Tobias Lear: 
 
 "A treatise on the improvement of canal navigation, 
 came to my hands by Doctr Edwards as a present from the
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 281 
 
 Author, a few days ago. As I shall have no time to look 
 into it while I remain in this City, I make a deposit of it 
 with you, until I return to Mount Vernon. According to 
 Doctr Edwards account, Fulton's system is putting Lock 
 Navigation out of vogue. I have not read a page in the 
 Book, but if the Potomack Company can extract any 
 thing useful from it I shall feel happy in having sent it to 
 you." 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Catalogue of the Washington Collection in the Boston Athenaeum, p. 544. 
 
 "You Are Just a Man!" 
 
 Awhile since, in looking over a Philadelphia Directory 
 for 1797 my heart gave a great bound as I came upon this 
 entry: 
 
 "Washington, George, 1 90 High Street." 
 
 To the disgrace of Philadelphia, that house, second 
 only in historic interest to Independence Hall, was many 
 years ago demolished. 
 
 But, for a few charmed hours of a midsummer evening, 
 some twenty years ago, that mansion stood again for me, 
 and Washington walked again before my eyes, "in his 
 habit as he lived;" and yet the only magic conjuration was 
 the clear memory of a gracious old man, , who, in his early 
 childhood, was a neighbor of Washington, his parents living 
 on Sixth street, near High street. 
 
 At the house of a friend in Philadelphia, Gen. Hector 
 Tyndal, I was so fortunate as to meet this Mr. Robert E. 
 Gray, a man past fourscore, but wonderfully well preserved 
 looking much younger than his years a gentleman of the 
 old school in courteousness of manner and neatness of dress, 
 tall and stately, and with a fresh and handsome counte- 
 nance 
 
 When I first asked Mr. Gray for his recollections : . . 
 
 " Was Washington the stately and formal person he has 
 been represented? "
 
 282 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " Yes, he was a very dignified gentleman, with the most 
 elegant manners very nice in his dress, careful and punctual. 
 I suppose he would be thought a little stiff nowadays." 
 
 " Did you ever hear him laugh heartily? " 
 
 " Why no, I think I never did. ' ' 
 
 " Was he always grave, as you remember him, or did he 
 smile now and then? " 
 
 "Why, bless you, yes, he always smiled on children! 
 He was particularly popular with small boys. When he 
 went in state to Independence Hall, in his cream-colored 
 chariot, drawn by six bays, and with postilions and out- 
 riders, and when he set out for and returned from Mount 
 Vernon, we boys were on hand ; he could always count us in, 
 to huzza, and wave our hats for him, and he used to touch his 
 hats to us as politely as though we had been veteran soldiers 
 on parade." 
 
 " Were you ever in his house as a child? " 
 
 "Oh, yes; after his great dinners he used to tell the 
 steward to let in the little fellows, and we, the boys of the 
 immediate neighborhood, who were never far off on such 
 occasions, crowded about the table and made quick work of 
 the remaining cakes, nuts, and raisins. 
 
 " Washington had a habit of pacing up and down the 
 large room on the first floor, in the early twilight, with his 
 hands behind him ; and one evening a little boy, who had never 
 seen him, in attempting to climb up to an open window to 
 look in upon him, fell and hurt himself. Washington heard 
 him cry, rang for a servant, and sent him to inquire about the 
 accident for, after all, he was very soft-hearted, at least 
 toward children. The servant came back and said: 
 
 '' *The boy was trying to get a look at you, sir. ' 
 
 "Bring him in,' said the General, and, when the boy 
 came in, he patted him on the head and said : 
 
 '"You wanted to see General Washington, did you? 
 Well, I am General Washington. ' 
 
 " But the little fellow shook his head and said :
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 283 
 
 "No, you are only just a man, I want to see the 
 President. ' 
 
 " They say Washington laughed, and told the boy that 
 he was the President, and a man for all that. Then he had 
 the servant give the little fellow some nuts and cakes and 
 dismissed him." 
 
 Stories and Sketches, Grace Greenwood, p. n. 
 
 t 
 
 Publishing the Farewell Address 
 
 The period for the presidential election was drawing 
 near, and great anxiety began to be felt that Washington 
 would consent to stand for a third term. No one, it was 
 agreed, had greater claim to the enjoyment of retirement, 
 in consideration of public services rendered; but it was 
 thought the affairs of the country would be in a very 
 precarious condition should he retire before the wars of 
 Europe were brought to a close. 
 
 Washington, however, had made up his mind irrevoca- 
 bly on the subject, and resolved to announce, in a farewell 
 address, his intention of retiring. 
 
 The publication of the address produced a great sensa- 
 tion. Several of the State Legislatures ordered it to be 
 put on their journals, "The President's declining to be again 
 elected," writes the elder Wolcott, "constitutes a most 
 important epoch in our national affairs." 
 
 The address acted as a notice, to hush the acrimonious 
 abuse of him which the opposition was pouring forth under 
 the idea that he would be a candidate for a renomination. 
 "It will serve as a signal, like the dropping of a hat, for the 
 party races to start, " writes Fisher Ames, "and I expect 
 a great deal of noise, whipping and spurring." 
 
 Congress formed a quorum on the fifth day of Decem- 
 ber', the first day of the session which succeeded the publi- 
 cation of the Farewell Address. On the ;th, Washington 
 met the two Houses of Congress for the last time. In his 
 speech he recommended an institution for the improve-
 
 284 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 ment of agriculture, a military academy, a national uni- 
 versity, and a gradual increase of the navy. 
 
 "In pursuing this course, however, I cannot forget 
 what is due to the character of our government and nation, 
 or to a full and entire confidence in the good sense, patriot- 
 ism, self-respect, and fortitude of my countrymen." 
 
 In concluding his address he observes: "The situation 
 in which I now stand for the last time in the midst of the 
 representatives of the people of the United States, naturally 
 recalls the period when the administration of the present 
 form of government commenced, and I cannot omit the 
 occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success 
 of the experiment, nor to repeat my fervent supplications 
 to the Supreme Ruler of the universe and Sovereign Arbiter 
 of nations, that his providential care may be still extended 
 to the United States ; that the virtue and happiness of the 
 people may be preserved, and that the government which 
 they have instituted for the protection of their liberties may 
 be perpetual. " 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. 311 
 
 More Farewell Addresses 
 
 Both Houses made formal replies to the address. The 
 Senate attributed much of the success of the government to 
 the ability, firmness, and virtue of the President, and said: 
 "The most effectual consolation that can offer for the loss 
 we are about to sustain arises from the animating reflection 
 that the influence of your example will extend to your 
 succession, and the United States thus continue to enjoy 
 an able, upright and energetic administration. " 
 
 The House replied in a similar strain, expressing earnest 
 admiration of the President's moderation, magnanimity, 
 wisdom and firmness, and continued, " For our country's 
 sake, and for the sake of republican liberty, it is our earnest 
 wish that your example may be the guide of your successors,
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 285 
 
 and thus, after being the ornament and safeguard of the 
 present age, become the patrimony of our descendants. " 
 
 A Virginian named Giles made objection to the express- 
 ions of regret and admiration; Mr. Giles was a Franco- 
 maniac. His motion to expunge these expressions received 
 exactly twelve votes, one of which was cast by a young Ten- 
 nessee member named Andrew Jackson, who could not avoid 
 this splendid opportunity for blundering. Addresses, similar 
 to those of Congress began to arrive in large quantities from 
 State legislatures, city councils, etc., all of which were im- 
 mensely consoling to a man who had previously found, like 
 every other prominent man who ever lived, that enemies are 
 generally a hundred times as noisy as friends. 
 
 His last torment in official life was a letter written by the 
 French minister and given to the newspapers, denouncing 
 the proclamation of neutrality as insidious. This letter was 
 evidently written in the interest (though undoubtedly with- 
 out the knowledge) of Jefferson, who was a candidate for the 
 presidency, but it was unsuccessful, for Adams was elected to 
 succeed Washington. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 312. 
 
 An Affecting Scene 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1797, Washington went to the 
 inauguration of his successor as President of the United 
 States, The Federal Government was sitting at Philadel- 
 phia at that time, and Congress held sessions in the court- 
 house on the corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets. 
 
 At the appointed hour Washington entered the hall 
 followed by John Adams, who was to take the oath of office. 
 When they were seated Washington arose and introduced 
 Mr. Adams to the audience, and then proceeded to read in 
 a firm clear voice his brief valedictory not his great "Fare- 
 well Address," for that had already been published. A 
 lady who sat on "the front bench," immediately in front 
 of Washington, describes the scene in these words:
 
 2 86 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "There was a narrow passage from the door of entrance 
 to the room. General Washington stopped at the end to 
 let Mr. Adams pass to the chair. The latter always wore a 
 suit of bright drab, with loose cuffs to his coat. General 
 Washington's dress was a full suit of black. His military 
 hat had the black cockade. There stood the ' Father of his 
 Country' acknowledged by nations the first in war, first 
 in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. No 
 marshals with gold-colored scarfs attended him ; there was 
 no cheering, no noise ; the most profound silence greeted him 
 as if the great assembly desired to hear him breathe. Mr. 
 Adams covered his face with both his hands ; the sleeves of 
 his coat and his hands were covered with tears. Every now 
 and then there was a suppressed sob. I cannot describe 
 Washington's appearance as I felt it perfectly composed 
 and self-possessed till the close of his address. Then when 
 strong, nervous sobs broke loose, when tears covered 'the 
 faces, then the great man was shaken. I never took my eyes 
 from his face. Large drops came from his eyes. He looked 
 as if his heart was with them, and would be to the end," 
 
 Heroes Every Child Should Know, Edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, p 274 
 
 X 
 
 "If There Ever Was a Period of Rejoicing, This Is the 
 Moment!" 
 
 " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for 
 mine eyes have seen thy salvation," was the pious ejacu- 
 lation of a man who-beheld a flood of happiness rushing upon 
 mankind. If ever there was a time that would license the 
 reiteration of the exclamation, that time is now arrived ; for 
 the man who is the source of all the misfortunes of our 
 country, is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens, 
 and is no longer possessed of power to multiply evils upon the 
 United States. If ever there was a period for rejoicing, this 
 is the moment ; every heart in unison with the freedom and 
 happiness of the people, ought to beat high with exultation 
 that the name of Washington, from this day, ceases to give a
 
 HIS SECOND TERM 287 
 
 currency to political iniquity, and to legalize corruption. A 
 new era is now opening upon us, an era which promises much 
 to the people ; for public measures must now stand upon their 
 own merits, and nefarious projects can no longer be sup- 
 ported by a name. When a retrospect is taken of Wash- 
 ington's administration for eight years, it is a subject of the 
 greatest astonishment that a single individual should have 
 cankered the principles of republicanism in an enlightened 
 people, just emerging from the gulf of despotism, and should 
 have carried his designs against the public liberty so 
 far as to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such, how- 
 ever, are the facts, and with these staring us in the face, this 
 day ought to be a JUBILEE in the United States. 
 
 Aurora, (newspaper) Edited by Benjamin Franklin Bache, March 7, i?97.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 
 
 Only a Man after All 
 
 On reaching Mount Vernon, Washington was quickly 
 reminded that he was only a man, for, his house being out 
 of repairs, he was obliged to fill it with carpenters, plasterers, 
 and painters. " I have scarcely a room to put a friend into, 
 or to sit in myself, without the music of hammer or the 
 odoriferous smell of paint. " But, as there were no plumbers 
 in those days, his repairs were completed without driving 
 him into bankruptcy or the grave. Then he began to 
 enjoy himself ; he wrote to his late Secretary of the Treasury 
 that "To make and sell a little flour annually, to repair 
 houses fast going to ruin, to build for the security of my 
 papers of a public nature, and to amuse myself in agricul- 
 tural and rural pursuits, will constitute employment for 
 the few years I have to remain on this terrestrial globe. 
 If also I could now and then meet the friends I esteem, it 
 would fill the measure and add zest to my enjoyment, but 
 if this ever happens, it must be under my own vine and fig- 
 tree, as I do not think it probable that I shall go beyond 
 twenty miles from there. ' ' 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 314. 
 
 Neighbor, Business Man and Juryman 
 
 Dr. Edward Everett Hale made the statement, in 
 lectures and conversations, that there is good authority 
 for the belief that one reason for Washington's declining 
 to allow his name to be used for a third election to the 
 presidency was because he was by no means certain of 
 carrying his own State, Virginia. While all the other 
 
 (288)
 
 From the Original by Gilbert Stuart 
 
 in the Museum of the Fine Arts, Boston. 
 
 MARTHA WASHINGTON
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 289 
 
 States would doubtless have elected him, he seemed to feel 
 it keenly that he was "not without honor save in his own 
 country." 
 
 This belief is corroborated, at least, by the fact that, 
 even as late as September in the year 1796, John Adams 
 was elected President he did not know, nor did Washington 
 himself seem to know, whether he intended to accept a 
 third term. 
 
 Also, on the same authority, Hannibal Hamlin, Vice- 
 President during Lincoln's first term, used to relate that, 
 in 1842, when Hamlin began his first term in Congress, 
 there were Virginians still living at the national capital 
 who knew Washington personally. The neighbors, after 
 his retirement, used to consult him about common farm 
 and business matters, and, notwithstanding the immortal 
 services he had given his country, he even served as a mem- 
 ber of the county jury, 
 w. w. 
 
 " Mr. Stuart Is Right " 
 
 Stuart, the portrait painter, once said to General Lee 
 that Washington had a tremendous temper, but that he 
 had it under wonderful control. While dining with the 
 Washingtons, General Lee repeated the first part of Stuart's 
 remark. Mrs. Washington flushed and said that Mr. 
 Stuart took a great deal upon himself. Then General Lee 
 said that Mr. Stuart had added that the President had his 
 temper under wonderful control. Washington seemed to 
 be thinking for a moment, and then he smiled and said, 
 "Mr. Stuart is right." 
 
 Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, p. 343. 
 
 "A Great Deal of My Work Is Done while Others Sleep" 
 
 Washington's last days, like those that preceded them 
 in the course of a long and well-spent life, were devoted to
 
 2 9 o THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 constant and careful employment. His correspondence both 
 at home and abroad was immense. Yet no letter was un- 
 answered. One of the best-bred men of his time, Washing- 
 ton deemed it a grave offense against the rules of good 
 manners and propriety to leave letters unanswered. He 
 wrote with great facility and it would be a difficult matter 
 to find another who had written so much, whq had written 
 so well . General Harry Lee once observed so him : 
 
 " We are amazed, sir, at the vast amount of work you 
 get through." Washington answered, "Sir, I rise at four 
 o'clock, and a great deal of my work is done while others 
 sleep." 
 
 Heroes Every Child Should Know, Edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, p. 277. 
 
 Washington and the Federal City 
 
 Although Washington never lived in the White House 
 he did more than any other man toward making it what it 
 is and what it stands for to-day. 
 
 Btit there was no national capital ; even the President's 
 official residence had to be rented. The people in the 
 southern States, of course, objected to having a capital 
 as far north as New York. Philadelphia was nearer the 
 center of population, but the most influential men of the 
 time lived in Virginia. Washington, "the Father of his 
 Country"; Jefferson, "the writer of the Declaration of 
 Independence"; Madison, "the Father of the Constitu- 
 tion"; and Monroe, originator of "the Monroe Doctrine," 
 all lived in Virginia, within driving distance of one another. 
 They were four of the first five Presidents of the United 
 States, each of them for eight years, while John Adams, 
 the only President from another State, served only one 
 term of four years, so that, of the first thirty-six years after 
 the establishment of the presidential office, thirty-two were 
 filled by Virginians (after that three more Presidents, 
 Harrison, Tyler and Taylor were Virginia-born) ; so Vir- 
 ginia was well named "the Mother of Presidents." It was
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 291 
 
 natural that Virginia, and the States farther south, were 
 desirous of having the national capital located nearer the 
 geographical center of the thirteen original States. On 
 the other hand, Massachusetts, New York and the other 
 States objected to the selection of a Virginia city for the 
 capital of the whole nation. Therefore, the States of 
 Virginia and Maryland each gave a little territory to make 
 a tract ten miles square, which they called the District of 
 Columbia. The location of this district, for "the Federal 
 City," was left to Washington, and he chose the present 
 site on the Potomac river, a few hours' drive from Mount 
 Vernon, his beautiful home estate. 
 
 The Story of tlie White House, Wayne Whipple, p. n. 
 
 "What Would You Have Been, Meesther Washington?" 
 
 He retired to his home at Mount Vernon where he had 
 been allowed to stay but a few years out of the nearly 
 fifty he had devoted to the service of his country. He had 
 been loyal and true to the king as long as he could' be 
 without sacrificing sacred principles and his higher manhood. 
 After a heroic life of toil, hardships, privations and dangers, 
 he was an old man before his time, for he was only sixty-five 
 when he went to take a well-earned rest at beautiful Mount 
 Vernon. Yet he had but little rest, for he often drove 
 over to superintend the building of the palace he was never 
 to see occupied. 
 
 It is too easy, now, to think of Washington as having 
 had everything in his favor. But the English were not 
 his bitterest enemies. "A prophet is not without honor 
 save in his own country ' ' and city. Many were incapable 
 of appreciating his greatness. They were mentally near- 
 sighted, and they were too near him. When you stand 
 near a mountain, you see only a part of it and can't take in 
 its true grandeur. There was an old Scotchman, Davie 
 Burns, who lived in a little cottage between the hill on 
 which they were erecting "the palace" and the Potomac,
 
 29 2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 where a wharf had been built to receive the sandstone 
 brought there for it from Virginia and Maryland. Davie 
 Burns made a great fuss and did his best to hinder and 
 annoy the laborers, because the stone for the" building had 
 to be hauled across his land. As this did not interfere 
 with Burns in any way, it was very unreasonable of him, 
 since much of the land for the Federal City had been pur- 
 chased from him. In fact, it was making him a rich man. 
 Washington, one day, took occasion to remonstrate with 
 him, reminding him that but for the building of the national 
 capital on his land, he would have lived on to the end 
 "nothing but a poor tobacco planter." 
 
 "Aye, mon!" retorted the little Scotchman in great 
 wrath, "and what would you have been, Meesther Wash- 
 ington, if you hadn't married the Widow Custis, with all 
 her niggers? You'd be nothing but a land surveyor to-day, 
 and a mighty poor one at that!" 
 
 -This must have been a new idea to Washington. Here 
 was an old fellow without patriotism. Evidently he was 
 grossly ignorant of everything George Washington had 
 done to make' this the greatest and best country in the 
 history of the world. He was a too near neighbor. He 
 couldn't see beyond the "niggers" of the "Widow Custis!" 
 In a letter to a friend after this, Washington mentioned 
 the little old Scotchman as "the obstinate Mr. Burns." 
 
 The Story of the White House, Wayne Whipple, p. 15. 
 
 "Ah, Lee, You Are a Funny Fellow!" 
 
 Colonel Harry Lee, too, who used to be a favorite 
 guest at Mount Vernon, does not seem to have been much 
 under the influence of that "reverential awe" which Wash- 
 ington is said to have inspired; if we may judge from the 
 following anecdote. Washington one day at table men- 
 tioned his being in want of carriage horses, and asked Lee 
 if he knew where he could get a pair. 
 
 "I have a fine pair, General," replied Lee, "but you 
 cannot get. them. "
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 293 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because you will never pay more than half price for 
 anything ; and I must have full price for my horses. " 
 
 This bantering reply set Mrs. Washington laughing, 
 and her parrot, perched beside her, joined in the laugh. 
 The General took this familiar assault upon his dignity in 
 great good part. 
 
 "Ah, Lee, you are a funny fellow," said he "see, that 
 bird is laughing at you!" 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. IV. p. 40. 
 
 "Dabs about in Every Hole and Corner" 
 
 His niece, Harriot, who lived in the Washington home 
 from 1785 to 1796, was a great trial to him. "She has," 
 he wrote, "no disposition to be careful of her clothes, which 
 she dabs about in every hole and corner, and 'her best 
 things always in use, so that she costs me enough. " 
 
 One of the characteristics of a truly great man is his 
 readiness to ask pardon. Once when Nelly Custis, Mrs. 
 Washington's granddaughter, was severely reprimanded 
 for walking alone by moonlight in the grounds of Mount 
 Vernon, Washington tried to intercede for the girl. 
 
 "Perhaps she was not alone; I would say no more," 
 he said. 
 
 "Sir," said Nelly Custis, "you have brought me up 
 to speak the truth, and when I told grandmother that I was 
 alone, I hoped that you would believe me." 
 
 "My child," said Washington, bowing in his courtly 
 fashion, " I beg your pardon. " 
 
 Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, p. 241. 
 
 Physical Proportions of Washington 
 
 In person Washington was unique. He looked like no 
 one else. To a stature lofty and commanding he united a 
 form of the manliest proportions, and a dignified, graceful,
 
 294 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and imposing carriage. In the prime of life he stood six 
 feet two inches. From the period of the Revolution there 
 was an evident bending in his frame so passing straight 
 before, but the stoop came from the cares and toils of that 
 arduous contest rather than from years. For his step was 
 firm, his appearance noble and impressive long after the 
 time when the physical properties of men are supposed to 
 wane. 
 
 A majestic height was met by corresponding breadth 
 and firmness. His whole person was so cast in nature's 
 finest mould as to resemble an ancient statue, all of whose 
 parts unite to the perfection of the whole. But with all its 
 development of muscular power, Washington's form had no 
 look of bulkines, and so harmonious were, its proportions 
 that he did not appear so tall as his portraits have repre- 
 sented. .He was rather spare than full during his whole life. 
 
 The strength of Washington's arm was shown on 
 several occasions. He threw a stone from the bed of the 
 stream to the top of the Natural Bridge, Virginia, and 
 another stone across the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg. 
 The stone was said to be a piece of slate about the size of a 
 dollar with which he spanned the bold river, and it took 
 the ground at least thirty yards on the other side. Many 
 have since tried this feat, but none have cleared the 
 water. . . " ,, : 
 
 Washington's powers were chiefly in his limbs. His 
 frame was of equal breadth from the shoulders to the hips. 
 His chest was not prominent but rather hollowed in the 
 center. He never entirely recovered from a pulmonary 
 affection from which he suffered in early life. His frame 
 showed an extraordinary development of bone and muscle, 
 his joints were large, as were his feet ; and could a cast of 
 his hand have been preserved, it would have been ascribed 
 to a being of a fabulous age. Lafayette said, " I never saw 
 any human being with a hand so large as the General's. " 
 
 Heroes Every Child Should Knou: Edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, p. a8o.
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 295 
 
 How He Was Dressed 
 
 The Washington family were subject to hereditary 
 gout. The chief never experienced a pang. His temper- 
 ance, and the energetic employment of both his body and 
 mind, seemed to forbid the approach of a disease which 
 severely afflicted several of his nearest kindred. His 
 illnesses were of rare occurrence, but were particularly severe. 
 His aversion to the use of medicine was extreme ; and, even 
 when in great suffering, it was only by the entreaties of his 
 lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his oldest friend 
 and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) , that he could be 
 prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine. 
 
 General Washington, during the whole of his public 
 and private life, was a very early riser ; indeed, in the maternal 
 mansion, at which his first habits were formed, the character 
 of a sluggard was abhorred. Whether as chief magistrate, or 
 the retired citizen, we find this man of method and labor seated 
 in his library from one to two hours before day, in winter, and 
 at daybreak in summer. We wonder at the amazing amount 
 of work which he performed. Nothing but a method the most 
 remarkable and exemplary could have enabled him to accom- 
 plish such a world of labor, an amount which might have given 
 pretty full employment to half a dozen ordinary and not idle 
 men all their lives. When we consider the volume of his 
 official papers his vast foreign, public and private corres- 
 pondence we are scarcely able to believe that the space of 
 one man's life could have comprehended the doing of many 
 things and doing them so well. 
 
 His toilet was soon made. A single servant prepared 
 his clothes, and laid them in readiness. He also combed 
 and tied his hair. He shaved and dressed himself, but 
 giving very little of his precious time to matters of that 
 sort, though remarkable for the neatness and propriety of 
 his apparel. His clothes were made after the old-fashioned 
 cut of the best, though plainest materials. 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis, 
 p. 162.
 
 296 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 What He Ate 
 
 The library and a visit to the stables occupied the 
 morning until the hour of breakfast. This meal was without 
 change to him, whose habits were regular, even to matters 
 which others are so apt to indulge themselves in to an 
 endless variety. Indian cakes, honey, and tea, formed 
 this temperate repast. On rising from the table, if there 
 were guests (and it was seldom otherwise), books and 
 papers were offered for their amusement; they were re- 
 quested to take good care of themselves, and the illustrious 
 farmer proceeded to the daily tour of his agricultural con- 
 cerns. He rode upon his farms entirely unattended, 
 opening his gates, pulling down and putting up his fences, 
 as he passed, visiting his laborers at their work, inspecting 
 all the operations of his extensive agricultural establish- 
 ments with a careful eye, directing useful improvements, 
 and superintending them in their progress. He introduced 
 many and valuable foreign as well as domestic modes of 
 improved husbandry, showing, by experiment, their prac- 
 tical utility, and a peculiar adaptment to our system of 
 rural affairs; and, by his zeal and ability, "gave a speed to 
 the plow," and a generous impulse to the cause of agricul- 
 tural and domestic economy those important sources 
 of national wealth, industry, and independence. 
 
 The tour of the farms might average from ten to 
 fifteen miles per day. An anecdote occurs to us at this 
 moment, which, as it embraces a Revolutionary worthy, 
 a long-tried and valued friend of the chief, and is descriptive 
 of Washington on his farm, we shall, without apology 
 present it to our readers. 
 
 We were accosted while hunting by an elderly stranger, 
 who inquired whether the General was to be found at the 
 mansion house, or whether he had gone to visit his estate. 
 We replied, that he was abroad, and gave directions as to 
 the route the stranger was to pursue, observing at the
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 297 
 
 same time, "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 saddlebow that 
 person, sir, is General Washington!" 
 
 Recollections of Washington, by His Adopted Son, George Washington Parke Custis 
 p. 166. 
 
 "Laughing until Tears Rolled down His Face" 
 
 When at home he amused himself by managing his 
 estate; as the land under cultivation exceeded five square 
 miles, and his stables and pastures contained several 
 hundred horses and cattle, he could hardly have found time 
 to tell stories at the village store, had there been such a 
 place. With all the responsibilities of a farmer, however, 
 he seemed to have none of the vices peculiar to that station 
 of life; indeed, so different from the farmer of the present 
 day was he, that instead of cutting down shade trees 
 wherever he found them, he planted a great many; at 
 Mount Vernon, more than anywhere else, men learned that 
 the elm was not the only tree that could cast a shadow, 
 and he set the fashion of planting the beautiful horse- 
 chestnut by bringing many of the seeds with him on his 
 return from a trip to what is now the " Buckeye state. " 
 
 Much as he tried, however, to be a simple farmer and 
 no better than his neighbors, he had still to suffer many 
 of the miseries of greatness. Once he had been great; 
 that was enough to make his mere presence overawe many 
 people with whom he came in contact, so when he wanted 
 to enjoy the spectacle of a merry company he frequently 
 had to keep himself behind a door and peer through the 
 crack. With those who knew him well and familiarly, he 
 was not treated as an idol but was allowed to behave as a 
 human being and be treated as one, and numerous letters 
 and other records prove that in such circumstances he 
 could be jolly good company. It was impossible for him
 
 298 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 not to be thoughtful not to be silent when he had any- 
 thing to think about, but he was among the first to be 
 'iifected by any merriment about him. There is a pleasant 
 story about his frequently growing hilarious with old 
 friends at Fredericksburg and laughing at comic songs. 
 Miss Custis, the daughter of Washington's stepson, said, 
 " I have sometimes made him laugh most heartily from 
 sympathy with my joyous and extravagant spirits," and 
 horrible as it may seem to some of his worshipers, there are 
 several well authenticated reports of his laughing until 
 tears rolled down his face. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 259. 
 
 Advice in a Love Affair 
 
 " Men and women feel the same inclination toward 
 each other now that they always have done, and which 
 they will continue to do until there is a new order of things, 
 and you, as others have done, may find that the passions of 
 our sex are easier raised than allayed. Do not, therefore, 
 boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility. 
 Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is there- 
 fore contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in 
 part only, for, like all things else, when nourished and 
 supplied plentifully with aliment, it is rapid in its progress, 
 but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its 
 birth or much stunted in its growth. . . . Although 
 we cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place 
 them under guard. . . . When the fire is beginning 
 to kindle, and your heart growing warm, propound these 
 questions to it: Who is this invader? Have I a com- 
 petent knowledge of him? Is he a man of good character? 
 A man of sense? (for be assured a sensible woman can never 
 be happy with a fool). What has been his walk in life? 
 Is his fortune sufficient to maintain me in the 
 manner I have been accustomed to live, and in which my 
 sisters live? And is he one to whom my friends can have
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 299 
 
 no reasonable objection? If all these interrogatories can 
 be satisfactorily answered, there will remain but one more 
 to be asked; that, however, is an important one. Have I 
 sufficient ground to conclude that his affections are engaged 
 by me?'] 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 317. 
 
 A Letter to Kosciuszko 
 
 " MOUNT VERNON, i$th. Octr. 1797. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your favour dated Elizabeth Town October has been 
 duly received. I am sorry that the state of your health 
 should deprive me of the pleasure of your company at this 
 place, and I regret still more that the pain you feel from 
 the wounds you have received though glorious for your 
 reputation is the occasion of it. 
 
 " Whatever I can do as a private citizen (and in no other 
 capacity I can now act) consistently, with the plan I have 
 laid down for my future government, you may freely com- 
 mand. You will find, however, contrary as it may be to 
 your expectation or wishes, that all pecuniary matters must 
 flow from the Legislature and in a form which cannot be 
 dispensed with I may add I am sure, that your claim upon 
 the justice & feelings of this country will meet with no 
 delay Nor do I suppose that the loss of your certificate 
 will be any impediment. Your rank and services in the 
 American Army are too well known to require that testi- 
 mony of your claim and the Books of the Treasury will 
 show that you have received nothing in discharge of it or 
 if any part, to what amount. With the highest esteem & 
 regard and respect. 
 
 " I am, Dear Sir 
 " Your Most Obedt. Hble. Servant " 
 
 " G. WASHINGTON." 
 " To General Tadeusz Koscieuszko. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 237.
 
 3 oo THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " Marriage the Most Interesting Event " 
 
 However well Washington thought of "the honorable 
 state," he was no match-maker, and when asked to give 
 advice to the widow of Jack Custis, replied, " I never did, 
 nor do I believe I ever shall, give advice to a woman, who 
 is setting out on a matrimonial voyage; first, because I 
 never could advise one to marry without her own consent; 
 and, secondly, because I know it is to no purpose to advise 
 her to refrain, when she has obtained it. A woman very 
 rarely asks an opinion or requires advice on such an occasion, 
 till her resolution is formed; and then it is with the hope 
 and expectation of obtaining a sanction, not that she 
 means to be governed by your disapprobation, that she 
 applies. In a word the plain English of the application 
 may be summed up in these words : ' I wish you to think as 
 I do; but, if unhappily you differ from me in opinion, my 
 heart, I must confess, is fixed and I have gone too far now 
 to retract." 
 
 Again he wrote : 
 
 " It has ever been a maxim with me through life, 
 neither to promote nor prevent a matrimonial connection, 
 unless there should be something indispensably requiring 
 interference in the latter. I have always considered mar- 
 riage as the most interesting event of one's life, the founda- 
 tion of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore 
 in bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each 
 other, and may soon become objects of disgust; or to pre- 
 vent a union, which is prompted by the affections of the 
 mind, is what I never could reconcile with reason, and 
 therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever said 
 a word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their 
 intended connection." 
 
 The question whether Washington was a faithful 
 husband might well be left to the facts already given, were 
 it not that stories of his immorality are bandied about in
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 301 
 
 clubs, a well-known clerygman has vouched for their truth, 
 and a United States senator has given further currency to 
 them by claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since 
 such are the facts, it -seems best to consider the question 
 and show what evidence there actually is for these stories, 
 that at least the pretended "letters," etc., which are always 
 being cited, and are never produced, may no longer have 
 credence put in them, and the true basis for all the stories 
 may be known and valued at its worth. 
 
 The True George Washington, Paul Leicester Ford, p. 104. 
 
 " I May Be Looking in Doomsday Book " 
 
 " I have nothing to say that could either inform or 
 amuse a Secretary of War at Philadelphia. I might tell 
 him that I begin my diurnal course with the sun, that if 
 my hirelings are not in their places at that time, I send 
 them messages of sorrow for their indisposition, that having 
 put these wheels in motion, I examine the state of things 
 further; that the more they are probed the deeper I find 
 the wounds that my buildings have sustained by an absence 
 and neglect of eight years; that by the time I have accom- 
 plished these matters . . . breakfast is ready; that 
 this being over, I mount my horse and ride round my farm, 
 which employs me until it is time to dress for dinner, at 
 which I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come, they say, 
 out of respect to me. . Pray, would not the word curiosity 
 answer as well? How different this from having a few 
 friends at a cheerful board! 
 
 " The usual time of sitting at table, talk, 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 
 tirea 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 cause for postponement and so on.
 
 3 o2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHIXGTOX 
 
 Having given you the history of a day, it will serve for 
 a year, and I am persuaded you will not require a second 
 edition of it. But it may strike you that in this detail no 
 mention is made of any portion of time allotted for reading. 
 The remark would be just, for 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 Doomsdav 
 Book." 
 
 Gtorge Washington, John Habberton, p. 315. 
 
 Washington as a Joker 
 
 Washington was something of a joker himself in his 
 kindly, ponderous way. Once he wrote : 
 
 " Without a coinage, or unless a stop can be put to the 
 cutting and clipping of money, our dollars, pistareens, etc., 
 will be converted, as Teague says, into five quarters!" 
 
 While the Federalists were being accused of stealing 
 from the public treasury, Washington wrote facetiously 
 to a member of the Cabinet: 
 
 " And pray, my good sir, what part of the $800,000 have 
 come to your share? As you are high in office, I hope you 
 did not disgrace yourself in the acceptance of a paltry bribe 
 $100,000 perhaps!" 
 
 After a certain poetess had sent him some verses which 
 praised him in a somewhat fulsome manner, he wrote to 
 thank her, and ended his letter with this labored humor : 
 
 "Fiction is sure to be the very life and soul of poetry. 
 All poets and poetesses have been indulged in the free and 
 indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige 'you 
 to make such an excellent poem on such a subject without 
 any materials but those of simple reality would be as cruel 
 as the edict of Pharaoh which compelled the children of 
 Israel to manufacture bricks without the necessary ingre- 
 dients."
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 303 
 
 Washington even joked about his own death. In 
 writing out a letter for his wife to copy he continued : 
 
 " I am now by desire of the General to add a few words 
 on his behalf; which he desires may be expressed in the 
 terms following, that is to say that despairing of hearing 
 what may be said of him, if he should really go off in an 
 apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all fits that issue 
 in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, and 
 many other kinds that he could name) he is glad to hear 
 beforehand what will be said of him on that occasion; con- 
 ceiving that nothing extra will happen between this and 
 then to make a change in his character for better, or for 
 worse. And besides, as he has entered into an engagement 
 not to quit this world before the year 1800, it 
 may be relied upon that no breach of contract shall be laid 
 to him on that account, unless dire necessity should bring 
 it about, maugre all his exertions to the contrary. In that 
 case, he shall hope they would do by him as he would do 
 by them excuse it. At present there seems to be no 
 danger of his thus giving them the slip, as neither his health 
 nor his spirits were ever in greater flow, notwithstanding 
 he adds, he is descending, and has almost reached the 
 bottom of the hill; or in other words, the shades below. 
 For your particular good wishes on this occasion he charges 
 me to say that he feels highly obliged, and that he recipro- 
 cates them with great cordiality." 
 w. w. 
 
 " What Has Not Been Done within the Last Twenty 
 Years by Us " 
 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am alone at present, and shall be glad to see you this 
 evening. 
 
 "Unless some one pops in, unexpectedly Mrs. Wash- 
 ington & myself will do what I believe has not been done
 
 3 o 4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 within the last twenty Years by us, that is to set down to 
 dinner by ourselves. I am 
 
 "Your Affectionate" 
 [Mr. Tobias Lear.] [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 1 20. 
 
 "I Should Not Intrench Myself under Cover of Age" 
 
 (Letter to John Adams, President of the United States.) 
 
 "Mount Vernon, 4 July, 1798. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Not being in the habit, since my return to private life, 
 of sending regularly to the post-office, (nine miles from 
 hence) every post-day, it often happens that letters addresssed 
 to me lye longer there on that account, than they otherwise 
 would do. 
 
 " I have delayed no time unnecessarily since I had the 
 honor of receiving your obliging favor of the 22d ultimo, to 
 thank you for the polite and flattering sentiments you have 
 been pleased to express relatively to me, and to assure you, 
 that, as far as it is in my power to support your administra- 
 tion, and to render it easy, happy, and honorable, you may 
 command me without reserve. 
 
 "At the epoch of my retirement, an Invasion of these 
 States by an European Power, or even the probability of 
 such an event happening in my days, was so far from being 
 contemplated by me, that I had no conception that that 
 or any other occurrence would arise in so short a period, 
 which could turn my eyes from the shades of Mount Vernon. 
 But this seems to be the age of wonders; and reserved for 
 intoxicated and lawless France (for purposes of Providence 
 far beyond the reach of human ken) to slaughter its own 
 citizens, and to disturb the repose of all the world besides. 
 
 " From a view of the past, from the prospect present and 
 of that which seems to be expected, it is not easy for me to 
 decide satisfactorily on the part it might best become me to
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUXT VERNON 305 
 
 act. In case of actual Invasion by a formidable force, I 
 should certainly not Intrench myself under cover of age and 
 retirement, if my services should be required by my Country 
 to assist in repelling it. . . - -. 
 
 " The difficulty in which you expect to be involved, in 
 the choice of general officers, when you come to form the 
 army, is certainly a serious one; and, in a government like 
 ours, where there are so many considerations to be attended 
 to and to combine, it will be found not a little perplexing. 
 But, as the mode of carrying on the War against the Foe 
 that threatens must differ widely from that practised in the 
 contest for Independence, it will not be an easy matter, I 
 conceive, to find, among the old set of Generals, men of 
 sufficient activity, energy, and health, and of sound politics, 
 to train troops to the " quick step, " long marches, and severe 
 conflicts they may have to encounter; and, therefore, that 
 recourse must be had, (for the greater part at least) to the 
 well-known, most experienced, best proved and intelligent 
 officers of the late army without respect to Grade. 
 
 " I speak with diffidence, however, on this head, having 
 no list by me with which my memory could be refreshed. 
 There is one thing though, on which I can give a decided 
 opinion ; and, as it is of the utmost importance to the Public, 
 to the Army, and to the officer commanding it, be him who 
 he will, I will take the liberty of suggesting it now. It is 
 that the greatest circumspection be used in appointing the 
 general staff. If this corps is not composed o*f respectable 
 characters, with knowledge of the duties of their respective 
 Departments, able, active, and firm, and of incorruptible 
 integrity and prudence, and withal such as the Commander- 
 in -Chief can place entire confidence in, his plans and move- 
 ments, if not defeated altogether, may be so embarrassed 
 and retarded, as to amount nearly to the same thing; and 
 this is almost with impunity on their part. 
 
 " The opening given me in your letter is such, as hath 
 prompted me to express these sentiments with freedom ; and
 
 3 o6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 persuading myself, that you will ascribe them to pure 
 motives although they may differ from your own ideas, I 
 have no doubt of their being well received. With the 
 greatest respect and consideration I have the honor to be, 
 dear Sir," &c., 
 
 [G. WASHINGTON.] 
 
 Writings of Washington Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D., p. 428. 
 
 Preparing for War with France 
 
 Early in November (1798) Washington left his retire- 
 ment and repaired to Philadelphia, at the earnest request 
 of the secretary of war, to meet that public functionary and 
 Major-generals Hamilton and Pinckney, and make arrange- 
 ments respecting the forces about to be raised. The secre- 
 tary had prepared a series of questions for their considera- 
 tion, and others were suggested by Washington, all bearing 
 on the organization of the provisional army. Upon these 
 Washington and the two major-generals were closely engaged 
 for nearly five weeks, at great inconvenience and in a most 
 inclement season. The result of their deliberations was 
 reduced to form, and communicated to the secretary in two 
 letters drafted by Hamilton, and signed by the commander- 
 in-chief. Not the least irksome of Washington's task, in 
 his present position, was to wade through volumes of applica- 
 tions and recommendations for military appointments; a 
 task which he performed with extreme assiduity, anxious 
 to avoid the influence of favor or prejudice, and sensitively 
 alive to the evil of improper selections. 
 
 As it was a part of the plan on which he had accepted 
 the command of the army to decline the occupations of the 
 office until circumstances should demand his presence in 
 the field; and as the season and weather rendered him 
 impatient to leave Philadelphia, he gave the secretary of 
 war his views and plans for the charge and direction of 
 military affairs, and then set out once more for Mount Ver- 
 non. The cares and concerns of office, however, followed
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 307 
 
 him to his retreat. "It is not the time nor the attention 
 only," writes he, "which the public duties I am engaged in 
 require, but their bringing me applicants, recommenders of 
 applicants, and seekers of information, none of whom, 
 perhaps, are my acquaintances, with their servants and 
 horses to aid in the consumption of my forage, and what to me 
 is more valuable, my time, that I most regard ; for a man in 
 the country, nine miles from any house of entertainment, is 
 differently situated from one in a city, where none of these 
 inconveniences are felt." 
 
 Life of George Washington, Washington Irving, Vol. V, p. a8a. 
 
 " A Very Complete Tumble " . 
 
 Up to his sixty-eighth year he mounted a horse with 
 surprising agility and rode with ease and grace. Rickets, 
 the celebrated equestrian, used to say, " I delight to see the 
 General ride, and make it a point to fall in with him when I 
 hear he is out on horseback his seat is so firm, his manage- 
 ment so easy and graceful that I who am an instructor in 
 horsemanship would go to him and learn to ride. " 
 
 In his later days, the General, desirous of riding pleas- 
 antly, procured from the North two horses of a breed for 
 bearing the saddle. They were well to look at, and pleas- 
 antly gaited under the saddle, but also scary, and therefore 
 unfitted for the service of one who liked to ride quietly on 
 his farm, occasionally dismounting and walking in his fields to 
 inspect improvements. From one of these horses the Gen- 
 eral sustained a fall probably the only fall he ever had from 
 a horse in his life. It was upon a November evening, and 
 he was returning from Alexandria to Mount Vernon with 
 three friends and a groom. Having halted a few moments 
 he dismounted, and upon rising in his stirrup again, the 
 horse, alarmed at the glare from a fire near the road- side, 
 sprang from under his rider who came heavily to the ground. 
 His friends rushed to give him assistance, thinking him hurt. 
 But the vigorous old man was upon his feet again, brushing
 
 3 o8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the dust from his clothes, and after thanking those who came 
 to his aid, said that he had had a very complete tumble and 
 that it was owing to a cause no horseman could well avoid 
 or well control that he was only poised in his stirrups and 
 had not yet gained his saddle when the scary animal sprang 
 from under him. 
 
 Herots Every Child Should Know, Edited by Hamilton Wright Mabie, p. a8a. 
 
 " The Recollection of Those Happy Moments " 
 
 But the friend most missed of all was the one who in 
 boyhood had slept under the same blanket side by side with 
 him by light of stars or before wigwam fire in the Shenandoah 
 wilderness George William Fairfax, whose father had been 
 as a father to him, who had married Sally Gary, the lady of 
 Washington's first love, the true "lowland beauty" of his 
 boyish sighs. Fairfax, a loyalist in sympathy, had gone 
 with his wife, before the actual clash of arms, to England, 
 where, taking possession of an estate in Yorkshire coming 
 to him by inheritance, he had resided until his death, in 
 1787. Washington's deep regret at the severance of their 
 families tinges many of his letters at the time. Belvoir 
 House the old mansion, built by the sturdy colonel, who, 
 except his uncle's son, the lord of Greenway Court, was the 
 only Fairfax to settle in America in whose veins ran the 
 blood of the hero of Marston Moor, and at whose lips 
 Washington had learned his first lesson of how a soldier may 
 serve his country had been destroyed by fire in 1783, after 
 the departure of its owners to live in England. Its melan- 
 choly ruin faced the master of Mount Vernon whenever he 
 looked from his river portico southward across Dogue 
 creek, which like a glistening ribbon ran between. In a 
 letter written in the last year of his life to his old love, Sarah 
 Fairfax, then at Bath in England, Washington dwells upon 
 the principal circumstances of the twenty-five years of his 
 career, since their parting, and ends with these words:
 
 THE SAGE OF MOUNT VERNON 309 
 
 " None of these events nor all of them put together, have 
 been able to eradicate from my mind the recollection of those 
 happy moments, the happiest of my life, which I have en- 
 joyed in your company at Belvoir. " 
 
 Washington at Mount Vernon, after the Revolution, Constance Gary Harrison, Tk* 
 Century Magazine, New Series, Vol. XV, Apnl, 1889, p. 836. 
 
 Events of the Last Ten Years of the Eighteenth Century 
 
 Establishment of the United States Bank I79 1 
 
 Establishment of the United States Mint 1792 
 
 First division into political parties I 79 2 
 
 Washington laid the corner-stone of the White House, 
 
 October 13, 1792 
 
 Cotton-gin invented by Eli Whitney 1793 
 
 Washington's second inauguration March 4, 1793 
 
 The Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania 1794 
 
 The Jay Treaty with Great Britain 1795 
 
 John Adams inaugurated President, Philadelphia. . 1797 
 
 War with France begun 1798 
 
 Peace with France ' 1799 
 
 Death of Washington December 14, 1799 
 
 City of Washington becomes the national capital . , 1800
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 " FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF His COUNTRYMEN " 
 Washington's Secretary's Account of the General's Last Illness 
 
 (A true copy, made at Mrs. Lear's request, from the diary of 
 
 Col. Lear.) 
 
 Saturday, Deer. i4th, 1799. 
 
 This day being marked by an event which will be 
 memorable in the History of America, and perhaps of the 
 World, I shall give a particular statement of it, to which 
 I was an eye witness 
 
 The last illness and death of 
 General Washington 
 
 On Thursday Deer. i2th. the General rode out to his 
 farms about ten o'clock, and did not return home till past 
 three. Soon after he went out the weather became very 
 bad, rain, hail, and snow falling alternately with a cold wind. 
 When he came in, I carried some letters to him to frank, 
 intending to send them to the Post-Office in the evening. 
 He franked the letters; but said the Weather was too bad 
 to send a servant to the office that evening. I observed 
 to him that I was afraid he had got wet ; he said no, his great 
 Coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be wet, 
 and the snow was hanging upon his hair. He came to dinner 
 (which had been Waiting for him) without changing his 
 dress. In the evening he appeared as well as usual. 
 
 A heavy fall of snow took place on Friday (which 
 prevented the General from riding out as usual). He had 
 taken cold (undoubtedly from being so much exposed the 
 day before) and complained of a sore throat: he however 
 
 (310)
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 3 rr 
 
 went out in the afternoon into the ground between the 
 House and the River to mark some trees which were to be 
 cut down in the improvements of that spot. He had a 
 Hoarseness which increased in the evening ; but he made 
 light of it. In the evening the Papers were brought from 
 the Post Office, and he sat in the Parlour, with Mrs. Washing- 
 ton & myself reading them till about nine o'clock when 
 Mrs. W. went up into Mrs. Lewis's room, who was confined 
 in Child Bed, and left the General & myself reading the 
 papers. He was very cheerful and when he met with any- 
 thing interesting or entertaining, he wd. read it aloud as 
 well as his hoarseness would permit him. He requested 
 me to read to him the debates of the Virginia Assembly on 
 the election of a Senator and a Governor; and on hearing 
 Mr. Madison's observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he 
 appeared much affected and spoke with some degree of 
 asperity on the subject, which I endeavoured to moderate, as 
 I always did on such occasions. On his retiring I observed 
 to him that he had better take something to remove his cold. 
 He answered no; "you know I never take anything for a 
 cold. Let it go as it came". 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 129. 
 
 Bled by an Overseer 
 
 Between two & three o'clock on Saturday morning, 
 he awoke Mrs. Washington, and told her he was very unwell, 
 and had had an ague. She observed that he could scarcely 
 speak and -breathed with difficulty; and would have got up 
 to call a Servant; but he would not permit her lest she 
 should take cold. As soon as the day appeared, the Woman 
 (Caroline) went into the Room to make a fire, and Mrs. 
 Washington sent her immediately to call me. I got up, put 
 on my clothes as quickly as possible, and went to his Cham- 
 ber. Mrs. Washington was then up, and related to me his 
 being taken ill as before stated. I found the General breath- 
 ing with difficulty, and hardly able to utter a word intelli-
 
 3 i2 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 gibly. He desired that Mr. Rawlins (one of the overseers) 
 might be sent for to bleed him before the Dr. could arrive. 
 I dispatched a servant instantly for Rawlins, and another 
 for Dr. Craik, and returned again to the General's Chamber, 
 where I found him in the situation as I had left him. A 
 mixture of Molasses, Vinegar & butter was prepared to try 
 its effects in the throat; but he could not swallow a drop. 
 Whenever he attempted it he appeared to be distressed, 
 convulsed and almost suffocated. Rawlins came in soon 
 after sun rise, and prepared to bleed him. When the arm 
 was ready the General observing that Rawlins appeared 
 to be agitated, said, as well as he could speak "Don't be 
 afraid." And after the incision was made, he observed, 
 "The orifice is not large enough." However the blood ran 
 pretty freely. Mrs. Washington not knowing whether 
 bleeding was proper or not in the General's situation, begged 
 that much might not be taken from him, lest it should be 
 injurious, and desired me to stop it; but when I was about 
 to untie the string the General put up his hand to prevent it, 
 and as soon as he could speak, said "More, more." Mrs. 
 Washington still being very uneasy lest too much blood 
 should be taken, it was stopped after taking about half a 
 pint. Finding that no relief was obtained from bleeding, and 
 that nothing would go down the throat, I proposed bathing 
 it externally with salvolatila, which was done; and in the 
 operation, which was with the hand, and in the gentlest 
 manner, he observed " tis very sore." A piece of flannel 
 dipped in salvolatila was put around his neck, and his feet 
 bathed in warm water; but without affording any relief. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 130. 
 
 Bled and Dosed by Three Doctors 
 
 In the meantime, before Dr. Craik arrived Mrs. Wash- 
 ington desired me to send for Dr. Brown of Post Tobacco, 
 whom Dr. Craik had recommended to be called, if any case 
 should occur that was seriously alarming. I dispatched a
 
 'FIRST /.V THE HEARTS" 313 
 
 messenger (Cyrus) immediately for Dr. Brown (between 
 8 & 9 o'clock). Dr. Craik came in soon after, and upon 
 examining the General, he put a blister of Cantharides on 
 the throat, took some more blood from him, and had a gargle 
 of Vinegar & sage tea, and ordered some Vinegar and hot 
 water for him to inhale the steam which he did; but in 
 attempting to use the garble he was almost suffocated. 
 When the gargle came from his throat some phlegm followed 
 it, and he attempted to Cough, which the Doctor encouraged 
 him to do as much as possible ; but he could only attempt it. 
 About eleven o'clock Dr. Craik requested that Dr. Dick 
 might be sent for, as he feared Dr. Brown might not come in 
 time. A messenger was accordingly dispatched for him. 
 About this time the General was bled again. No effect 
 however was produced by it, and remained in the same state, 
 unable to swallow anything. , A blister was administered 
 about 12 o'clock, which produced an evacuation; but caused 
 no alteration in his complaint. 
 
 Dr. Dick came in about 3 o'clock, and Dr. Brown 
 arrived soon after. Upon Dr. Dick's seeing the General and 
 consulting a few minutes with Dr. Craik he was bled again ; 
 the blood came very slow, was thick, and did not produce 
 any symptoms of fainting. Dr. Brown came into the cham- 
 ber soon after; and upon feeling the General's pulse &c. 
 the Physicians went out together. Dr. Craik returned soon 
 after. The General could now swallow a little. Calomel & 
 tarter em. were administered, but without any effect. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 131 
 
 His Last Will and Other Papers 
 
 About half past 4 o'clock he desired me to call Mrs. 
 Washington to his bed side, when he requested her to go 
 down into his room, and take from .his desk two Wills 
 which she would find there, and bring them to him, which 
 she did. Upon looking at them he gave her one, which he 
 observed was useless, as being superseded by the other, and
 
 3i4 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 desired her to burn it, which she did, and took the other 
 and put it into her Closet. 
 
 After this was done, I returned to his bed side, and took 
 his hand. He said to me, " / find I am going, my breath can 
 not last long. I believed from the first that the disorder would 
 prove fatal. Do you arrange and record all my late military 
 letters and papers. Arrange my accounts and settle my books, 
 as you know more about them than anyone else, and let Mr. 
 Rawlins finish recording my other letters which he has begun" . 
 I told him this should be done. He then asked if I recol- 
 lected anything which it was essential for him to do, as he 
 had but a very short time to continue among us. I told him 
 I could recollect nothing; but that I hoped he was not so 
 near his end; he observed smiling, that he certainly was, 
 and that as it was the debt that all must pay, he looked to 
 the event with perfect resignation. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon he appeared to be in great 
 pain and distress, from the difficulty of breathing, and fre- 
 quently changed his position on the bed. On these occa- 
 sions I lay upon the bed, and endeavoured to raise him, and 
 turn him with as much care as possible. He appeared pene- 
 trated with gratitude for my attentions, & of ten said, il l am 
 afraid I shall fatigue you too much," and upon assuring him 
 that I could feel nothing but a wish to give him ease, he 
 replied, "Well it is a debt we must pay to each other, and I 
 hope when you want aid of this kind you will find it. " 
 
 He asked when Mr. Lewis & Washington Custis would 
 return, (they were in New Kent) I told him about the 2oth 
 of the month. 
 
 About 5 o'clock Dr. Craik came again into the room 
 & upon going to the bed side the Genl. said to him, "Doctor 
 I die hard; but I am not afraid to go; I believed from my first 
 attack that I should not survive it; my breath can not last long. ' ' 
 
 The Doctor pressed his hand, but could not utter a 
 word. He retired from the bed side, & sat by the fire 
 absorbed in grief. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington. Tobias Lea p. 132
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 315 
 
 Further Details Not in Lear's Diary 
 
 The General's servant Christopher was in the room 
 through the day ; and in the afternoon the General directed 
 him to sit down, as he had been standing almost the whole 
 day; he did so. 
 
 About 8 o'clock in the morning he expressed a desire to 
 get up. His clothes were put on and he was led to a chair 
 by the fire. He found no relief from this position, and lay 
 down again about 10 o'clk. About 5 P. M. he was helped 
 up again & after sitting about half an hour desired to be 
 undressed & put in bed; which was done. 
 
 During his whole illness he spoke but seldom, and with 
 great difficulty; and in so low & broken a voice as at times 
 hardly to be understood. His patience, fortitude, & resigna- 
 tion never forsook him for a moment. In all his distress he 
 uttered not a sigh, nor a complaint; always endeavouring 
 (from a sense of duty as it appeared) to take what was 
 offered him, and to do as he was desired by the Physicians. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington Tobias Lear, p. 135. 
 
 ' His Last Words 
 
 Between 5 & 6 o'clock Dr. Dick & Dr. Brown came into 
 the room, and with Dr. Craik went to the bed; when Dr. 
 Craik asked him if he could sit up in the bed? He held out 
 his hand & I raised him up. He then said to the Physicians, 
 
 " / feel myself going, I thank your for your attentions; 
 but I pray you to take no more trouble about me, let me go off 
 quietly, I cannot last long.' ' 
 
 They found that all which had been done was without 
 effect ; he laid down again and all retired except Dr. Craik. 
 He continued in the same situation, uneasy & restless, but 
 without complaining; frequently asking what hour it was. 
 When I helped him to move at this time he did not speak, 
 but looked at me with strong expressions of gratitude. 
 
 About 8 o'clock the Physicians came again into the room
 
 3 i6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 and applied blisters and cataplasms of wheat and bran to his 
 legs and feet ; after which they went out (except Dr. Craik) 
 without a ray of hope. I went out about this time and 
 wrote a line to Mr. Law & Mr. Peter, requesting them to 
 come with their wives (Mrs. Washington's Granddaughters) 
 as soon as possible to Mount Vernon. 
 
 About ten o'clk he made several attempts to speak to 
 me before he could effect it, at length he said 
 
 ' ' / am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my 
 body be put into the Vault in less than three days after I am dead. ' ' 
 
 I bowed assent, for I could not speak. He then looked 
 at me again and said, 
 
 "Do you understand me?" 
 . I replied "Yes." 
 
 "'Tis well," said he. 
 
 About ten minutes before he expired (which was be- 
 tween ten & eleven o'clk.) his breathing became easier; he 
 lay quietly; he withdrew his hand from mine, and felt his 
 own pulse. I saw his countenance change. I spoke to Dr. 
 Craik who sat by the fire ; he came to the bed side. The 
 General's hand fell from his wrist I took it in mine and 
 put it into my bosom. Dr. Craik put his hands over his 
 eyes and he expired without a struggle or a sigh. 
 
 While we were fixed in silent grief, Mrs. Washington 
 (who was sitting at the foot of the bed) asked with a firm & 
 collected voice, 
 
 "Is he gone?" 
 
 I could not speak, but held up my hand as a signal that 
 he was no more. 
 
 " 'Tis well', said she in the same voice, "A// is now over. I 
 shall soon follow him! I have no more trials to pass through!" 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 133. 
 
 The Last Sad Arrangements 
 
 At the time of his decease Dr. Craik and myself were 
 in he situation before mentioned Mrs. Washington was
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS'' 317 
 
 sitting near the foot of the bed. Christopher was standing 
 by the bedside, Caroline, Molly & Charlotte were in the room 
 standing near the door. Mrs. Forbes the House keeper, was 
 frequently in the room during the day and evening. 
 
 As soon as Dr. Craik could speak after the distressing 
 scene was closed, he desired one of the servants to ask the 
 Gentln. below to come upstairs. When they came to the 
 bedside; I kissed the cold hand which I had held to my 
 bosom ; laid it down, & went to the other end of the room ; 
 where I was for some time lost in profound grief; until 
 aroused by Christopher desiring me to take care of the Gen- 
 eral's keys and other things which were taken out of his 
 pockets; and which Mrs. Washington directed him to give 
 to me; I wrapped them in the General's handkerchief, & 
 took them with me to my room. 
 
 About 12 o'clk the Corpse was brought down stairs, and 
 laid out in the large room. 
 
 Sunday Deer. i5th. 
 
 "The above statement so far as I can recollect is correct. 
 
 "JAS. CRAIK." 
 
 Sunday Deer. i5th. 1799. 
 
 Fair Weather. 
 
 Mrs. Washington sent for me in the Morning and desired 
 I would send up to Alxa. and have a Coffin made: which I 
 
 did. Doctor Dick measured the body, 
 
 After breakfast I gave Dr. Dick & Dr. Brown forty dollars 
 each, which sum Dr. Craik advised as very proper; and they 
 left us after breakfast. 
 
 I wrote letters to the following persons informing them 
 of the late melancholy event: 
 
 The President of the United States 
 
 General Hamilton 
 
 Genl. Pinckney 
 
 Bushrod Washington 
 
 Col. W. A. Washington
 
 3 i8 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Lawrence Lewis 
 
 G. W. P. Custis 
 
 Geo. S. Washington 
 
 Saml. Washington 
 
 Colo. Ball 
 
 Capt. Hammond also to 
 
 John Lewis, desiring him to inform his Brothers, George, 
 Robert & Howells. 
 
 Mrs. Stuart was sent for in the Morning. About 10 
 o'clk. Mr. Thos. Peter came down; and about two, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Law to whom I had written on Saturday Eveng. Dr. 
 Thornton came down with Mr. Law. Dr. Craik tarried all 
 day & all night. 
 
 In the evening I consulted with Mr. Law, Mr. Peter & 
 Dr. Craik on fixing a day for depositing the Body in the 
 Vault. I wished the ceremony to be postponed until the 
 last of the week, to give time to some of the General's rela- 
 tives to be here: But Dr. Craik & Dr. Thornton gave it 
 decidedly as their opinion that considering the disorder 
 of "which the General died, being of an inflammatory nature, 
 it would not be proper nor perhaps safe, to keep the body 
 so long ; and therefore Wednesday was fixed upon for the 
 funeral, to allow a day (Thursday) in case the weather 
 should be unfavorable on Wednesday. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 136. 
 
 Preparations for the Funeral 
 
 Monday, Deer. i6th. 1799. 
 
 I directed the people to open the family Vault, clean 
 away the rubbish from about it, and make everything decent. 
 Ordered a door to be made to the Vault, instead of closing 
 it again with brick, as had been the custom. Engaged Mr. 
 Inglis and Mr. McMunn to have a Mahogany Coffin made, 
 lined with lead, in which the body was to be deposited. 
 
 Dr. Craik, Mr. Peter, & Dr. Thornton left us after
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 319 
 
 breakfast. Mrs. Stuart & her daughters came in the after- 
 noon. Mr. Anderson went to Alxa. to get a number of things 
 preparatory for the funeral. Mourng. was ordered for the 
 Family Domestics and Overseers. 
 
 Having received information from Alexa. that the 
 Militia, Freemasons &c. were determined to show their 
 respect to the General's Memory by attending his body to 
 the Grave, I directed provision to be prepared for a large 
 number of people, as some refreshment would be expected 
 by them. Mr. Robert Hamilton wrote me a letter informing 
 that a Schooner of his wd. be off Mount Vernon to fire 
 Minute guns when the body was carrying to the grave. 
 
 Tuesday Deer. iyth. 1799. 
 
 Every preparation for the mournful ceremony was 
 making. Mr. Diggs came here in the forenoon. Also Mr. 
 Stewart, Adjutant to the Alexa. Regimt. to view the ground 
 for the procession. 
 
 About one o'clock the Coffin was brought from Alexa. 
 in a stage. Mr. Inglis & Mr. McMunn accompanied it. Also 
 Mr. Grater with a shroud. The Body was laid in the Coffin 
 at which time I cut off some of the hair. 
 
 The Mahogany Coffin was lined with lead, soddered at 
 the joints and a cover of lead to be soddered on after the 
 body should be in the Vault. The whole was put into a 
 case lined & covered with black Cloth. 
 
 Wednesday Deer. i8th. 1799. 
 
 About eleven o'clk numbers of people began to assemble 
 to attend the funeral, which was intended to have been at 
 twelve, but as a great part of the Troop expected did not get 
 down in time, it did not take place till three. 
 
 Eleven pieces of Artillery were brot. from Alexa. and a 
 Schooner belonging to Mr. R. Hamilton came down & lay 
 off Mt. Vernon to fire Minute guns. 
 
 About 3 o'clock the procession began to move. The
 
 320 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 arrangements of the procession were made by Colonels 
 Little, Simms & Deneale, and Dr. Dick. 
 
 When the Body arrived at the Vault the Revd. Mr. 
 Davis read the service & pronounced a short extempore 
 speech. 
 
 The Masons performed their ceremonies, & the Body 
 was deposited in the Vault. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 138. 
 
 The Faithful Secretary after the Funeral 
 
 After the Ceremony the Company returned to the 
 house where they took some refreshment, & retired in good 
 order. The remains of the provisions were distributed 
 among the blacks. 
 
 Mr. Peter, Dr. Craik & Dr. Thornton tarried here all night. 
 
 When the Ceremony was over I retired to my room 
 (leaving to Mr. Law & Mr. Diggs the care of the Company) 
 to give a loose to those feelings which I had been able to 
 keep under control, while I found it necessary for me to 
 give personal attention to the preparations for interring 
 the body of my deceased friend. 
 
 What those feelings were is not to be told, if it were 
 even possible to describe! 
 
 Monday Deer. 23d. 1799. 
 Employed as yesterday. 
 
 Tuesday Deer. 24th. 1799. 
 
 Spent the day in looking over & arranging papers in 
 the General's Study. 
 
 Wednesday Deer. 2$th. 1799. 
 
 I this day sent to Alexa. for the Plumber to come down 
 & close the leaden Coffin containing the General's Body, as 
 Judge Washington had arrived, and did not incline to see 
 the remains. The Plumbers came. I went with them to 
 the Tomb I took a last look a last farewell of that face,
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 321 
 
 which still appeared unaltered. I attended the Closing of 
 the Coffin and beheld for the last time that face wh. shall 
 be seen no more here; but wh. I hope to meet in Heaven. 
 
 Letters and Recollections of George Washington, Tobias Lear, p. 141. 
 
 Washington's Most Vicious Enemy 
 
 The most vicious of Washington's enemies, however, 
 was Thomas Paine, a man of noblest possible sentiments, 
 but whose practices were so unlike his theories that had he 
 been a church member he would have come down to pos- 
 terity branded as the most villainous hypocrite that ever 
 breathed. In his later days, which should have been his 
 nobler ones, Paine delighted to gather his neighbors in a 
 grove and preach to them the purest, sweetest religion of 
 humanity, his manner and matter suggesting that of the 
 preacher of the Sermon on the Mount ; on Monday he 
 would borrow money on which to get drunk. That he was 
 as much in earnest in his virtues as in his vices can never be 
 doubted ; but, unfortunately, he never neglected a chance to 
 give his vices exercise. He did so much for his country in her 
 early hours of need, and he told so many noble truths, that it 
 is not strange that the man who now keeps his monument in 
 order (and without charge) is a staunch Presbyterian four 
 score years of age; on the other hand, the results of his 
 improvidence, dissipation, and uncurbed temper have 
 compelled his fellow-countrymen to believe him the worst 
 of the vilifiers of the first President. 
 
 " A man is known by the company he keeps. " If men 
 will judge Washington by his friends and admirers, they 
 will believe better of him than any human pen can ask 
 them to. No man has written' higher praise of him 'than 
 Jefferson, the nominal leader of his political enemies. All 
 the other honored names of the revolutionary and formative 
 period the Adamses, the Trumbulls, the Clintons, the 
 Lees, the Pinckneys; Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Aler- 
 ander Hamilton; the better of his generals, with nobl-
 
 322 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Greene and Schuyler at their head all these are to be 
 found prominent in the list of Washington's friends, and 
 among his foreign contemporary admirers even such unlike 
 and unsympathetic characters as Talleyrand and Napoleon 
 were obliged to appear, while at the court of the nation 
 from which he has wrested the best part of a continent, his 
 personal character was of more service to his country than 
 were the assurances of his country's envoys. Is this the 
 sort of man to be hidden away in Fourth-of-July smoke 
 and the mists of tradition? 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 330. 
 
 Some of His Worst Admirers 
 
 Of Washington's admirers who were also enemies, the 
 worst, after Jefferson, was Jared Sparks, D.D., LL.D., once 
 president of Harvard College. To this gentleman was 
 intrusted the duty of editing Washington's writings; his 
 method was to correct the grammar and spelling the dear, 
 old, delightfully inaccurate spelling to expunge the alleged 
 profanity (which never was profane) to reduce the thou- 
 sands of vigorous idioms to the linguistic level of a bacca- 
 laureate sermon, and then oh, stupid, inexcusable Sparks! 
 to burn the originals! Were it not for the occasional 
 discovery, since the death of Mr. Sparks, of letters that had 
 escaped the envious tooth of time and the remorseless pen 
 of the reviser, the entire world might still believe that 
 Washington never wrote without a Latin dictionary and a 
 "gentleman's complete letter- writer " at his elbow. If old 
 scores can be settled by personal combat in the next world, 
 Jared Sparks must have been a pitiable object to look at 
 within five minutes after he entered the pearly gates, for 
 Washington's detestation of "fine writing" was a promi- 
 nent trait in his character. 
 
 Portrait painters did almost as much as Sparks to 
 remove the real Washington from the knowledge of later 
 generations. It is said that they were assisted by a dentist,
 
 "FIRST LV THE HEARTS" 323 
 
 who made Washington a set of teeth that changed the 
 shape of his face for the worse. This may be true, but the 
 said teeth do not seem to have greatly troubled Gilbert 
 Stuart, whose painting not the countless engravings and 
 chromos that have caricatured it discloses fine features, 
 a magnificent complexion, an expression of alertness yet 
 one of composure, from all of which it is hard for a beholder 
 to tear himself away. An inveterate "ladies' man" once 
 said to the writer of these pages that he would travel 
 further to look at Stuart's Washington than to see the 
 handsomest woman in America. The best proofs of the 
 accuracy of Stuart's picture are, that the artist himself said 
 he wasted much time in waiting at formal sittings for Wash- 
 ington to look like himself, and that Stuart was obliged to 
 make no less than twenty-six copies of it. Other portraits 
 were painted from life, some very bad and others, notably 
 Peale's, not so bad; the latter are not to be despised, for 
 they catch expressions peculiar to certain strains of thought 
 and experience. Most of those painted after the Revolu- 
 tionary period, however, were taken in such quick suc- 
 cessionwhen painters were so numerous at Mount Vernon 
 that they awaited their "turn" like so many unshaven men 
 at a barber's shop that the pictures have a weary, resigned, 
 lamb-led-to-the-slaughter look which is entirely unfair to 
 the subject. 
 
 If sculptors were not unfair to Washington as were the 
 painters, it was only because there were fewer of them to 
 spoil raw material. As it is still the fashion to transpose a 
 man's face into marble or metal, it may be conceded that 
 the sculptors of a century ago knew. -no better, but the best 
 head of Washington extant looks as if its subject had been 
 operated upon, in early youth, by some expert from the 
 Flathead Indian tribe. Fortunately, however, most of the 
 statues stand so high above the beholder, and have gathered 
 so much dust, that it is difficult to realize how bad they are. 
 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 332.
 
 324 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington's Nurses 
 
 A proper regard for the shapeliness of a book would 
 suggest that comments upon the persons who nursed a man 
 in his infancy should appear in the earlier chapters, instead 
 of the later ones, and that the headquarters of a soldier 
 should receive due mention at such times as campaigns are 
 the subjects of narratives. There is reason in such a sug- 
 gestion, as a rule, but not in the case of Washington; for 
 neither his nurses nor his headquarters were ever heard of 
 until long after his death. 
 
 Still, "better late than never." It is now known, on 
 the authority of a great many persons whose stories were 
 implicitly believed by those to whom they were first told, 
 that in childhood's happy hour the Father of his Country 
 was cared for by at least two thousand nurses, all colored. 
 For how many years he enjoyed the ministrations of these 
 faithful persons is not known, but as the cherry-tree incident 
 occurred in his sixth year, it is unreasonable to imagine 
 him cared for by nurses after that date. Two thousand 
 nurses in six years gives an average of about one a day, so 
 the amount of information and reminiscence that each 
 dusky "mammy" brought from the Washington mansion is 
 a lasting rebuke to those obstinate persons who persist that 
 the colored race is deficient in power and memory. The 
 apparent plethora of nurses in the Washington family has 
 been accounted for, by some thinkers, on the theory that 
 Washington's mother, being very particular, took each 
 nurse on trial for a few hours, and had to discharge most of 
 them as unsatisfactory; but this train of reasoning will not 
 do, for in Virginia, a century and a half ago, nurses were 
 bought, not hired. How it was that although Washington, 
 nor his father, nor his mother, ever sold slaves, and although 
 all the two thousand or more nurses survived their dis- 
 tinguished charge, there never were half that many persons 
 on the combined estates of the family has not yet been
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 325 
 
 explained. It is to be hoped that mathematical science 
 will some day reconcile the seeming discrepancy; if it does 
 not, then so much the worse for the reputation of mathe- 
 matics, for of course the statements of the nurses were 
 entirely accurate* the nurses themselves said so. 
 
 *In estimating the number of Washington's nurses at two thousa d, 
 the author of this volume reserves the right to modify the figures in 
 coming editions; for although the lists seem to have been completed 
 some years ago, influences now at work may suddenly enlarge it. The 
 Southern negro now enjoys all the advantages of free schools and free 
 Bibles ; when the former have enabled him to read the latter and learn 
 that some persons have lived to be a thousand years old, he may be 
 expected to resuscitate some of Washington's nurses now supposed to 
 be dead and materially extend heir years. 
 George Washington, John Habberton, p. 324. 
 
 The Greatest Man Had There Been No Revolution 
 
 If, as Professor McMaster has said, "George Waslr- 
 ington is an unknown man," it is because we know the 
 heroic figure and have forgotten the sane, busy, clear- 
 headed man portrayed in his diary. Washington, in the 
 abstract, as taking command of the Continental army under 
 the Cambridge elm, is an unknown man ; not so the Wash- 
 ington viewing his white oak land on the upper Potomac, 
 or righting an honest land claim in the courts, or sleeping a 
 night in his military cloak amid the great glades of the 
 Youghiogheny. " It does not detract from Washington's 
 true greatness," wrote Professor Adams, "for the world to 
 know this material side of his character. On the contrary, 
 it only exalts that heroic spirit which, in disaster, never 
 faltered, and which, in success, would have no reward. To 
 be sure, it brings Washington nearer the level of humanity 
 to know that he was endowed with the passions common 
 to men, and that he was as diligent in business as he was 
 fervent in his devotion to country. It may seem less ideal 
 to view Washington as a man than as a hero or statesman, 
 but it is the duty of history to deal with great men as they 
 actually are. Man lives for himself, as well as in and for
 
 326 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 the State, and the distinction of individual from patriotic 
 motives is one of the necessary tasks of historical investiga- 
 tion. " In passing it should be noted that in all his en- 
 deavors to "open the door to the West", Washington was 
 ever subject to the accusation of self-interest ; he virtually 
 acknowledges in a letter to Jefferson that he is looked upon 
 as a prejudiced prophet when he affirmed that he (Wash- 
 ington) was glad to know that Jefferson coincided with him 
 in the importance of the intercommunication scheme 
 although he had no property in the West. So 'far as self- 
 interest goes Washington was insistent for Potomac improve- 
 ment, whereas the vast bulk of his Western property lay 
 on the lower fifty miles of the Great Kanawha River; had 
 he been influenced by personal motives he would have given 
 his whole attention to the James River improvement and 
 not the Potomac; it would have meant far more to him 
 financially. And when both (Potomac and James) com- 
 panies were established, the State of Virginia subscribed to 
 fifty shares in both and voted them to George Washington 
 in token of public esteem for services rendered ; yet Wash- 
 ington refused the gift until he had found a method of 
 acceptance that left him not one penny the richer for it. 
 
 But return to the proposition made by Professor Adams, 
 that it not only does not lessen our esteem of Washington 
 to know the details of his business enterprises, but indeed 
 increases it. I submit that it has been because of the 
 lack of knowledge of Washington's private ambitions and 
 interests that Professor McMaster can say that the General 
 and President are known to as, but "George Washington 
 is an unknown man." What is needed to keep the per T 
 sonality of that truly great man distinct and vivid is a 
 properly adjusted estimate of the "material" as well as the 
 "heroic" elements of his character; in no case is there more 
 urgent need of a "distinction of individual from patriotic 
 motives" than in that of Washington; else we shall keep 
 the "General" and "President" and lose this man most
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 327 
 
 perfectly represented in the diary of 1784 and its affiliated 
 correspondence the greatest man in America had there been 
 no Revolutionary War. 
 
 Washington and the West, Archer Butler Hulbert, p. 108. 
 
 The Sublimest Figure in American History 
 
 The sublimest figure in American history is Washington 
 on his knees at Valley Forge. He was in that hour and 
 place the American people personified, not depending on 
 their own courage or goodness, but asking aid from God, 
 their Father and Preserver. Washington knew that morals 
 are priceless, but he knew that morals are from within. 
 And he knew that in that dread day when all, save courage, 
 had forsaken the American arms, appeal must be to that 
 Power beyond ourselves, eternal in the heavens, which after 
 all, in every crisis of the lives of men and nations, has been 
 their surest source of strength. 
 
 Men and nations go forward in their prosperous days 
 boastfully content with their well-fed and often narrowly 
 righteous lives. Men and nations in these fruitful periods 
 of their existence glory in their strength and even in their 
 goodness. But the strength is intoxication; the righteous- 
 ness is conventionality. Fate, that schoolmaster of the 
 universe, brings to such men and nations her catastrophes. 
 And in an instant their proud tongues are still, their arrogant 
 hearts humbled, and they learn the great truth that enduring 
 power and peace come not from within, but from the Giver 
 of every good and perfect gift. 
 
 George Washington knew that. That is why he made 
 the snows of Valley Forge his altar, and on his knees asked 
 aid from Him "whom the enemy had forgotten. The enemy 
 trusted in numbers and munitions in infantry, cavalry, 
 artillery. Washington trusted in these things, too; but 
 he also trusted in the God of men and nations. And Wash- 
 ington won. 
 
 American Character Illustrated by Washington, in Work and Habits, Albert J. Beveridge, 
 P- 77.
 
 328 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Washington the Property of All Mankind 
 
 % 
 Such was the government whose policy and whose aims 
 
 were directed against our rights and liberties during the 
 Revolutionary War. As soon as the struggle began, it was 
 obvious that England could hold dominion over no part of 
 the country, except what her armies occupied or wasted for 
 the time; and that the issue of the contest turned on the 
 question as to which would first yield, the obstinacy of 
 the king or the fortitude of the Americans. It was plain 
 that George the Third would never yield except under com- 
 pulsion from the other forces of the English constitution; 
 that, as long as a corrupt' House of Commons would vote 
 supplies, he would prosecute the war, no matter what might 
 be the expense of blood and treasure to England, no matter 
 what might be the infliction of misery upon America. Con- 
 quest was hopeless; and Lord North, before the war was 
 half concluded, was in favor of abandoning it. But all 
 considerations of policy and humanity were lost upon the 
 small mind and conscientiously malignant temper of the 
 king. Indeed, the peculiarity of our struggle consisted in its 
 being with an unwise ruler, who could not understand that 
 war waged after the objects for which it was declared have 
 utterly failed becomes mere rapine and murder; and our 
 energy and endurance were put to the terrible test of bearing 
 up against the king's armies, until the English nation, 
 humbling its irritated pride, should be roused in our behalf v 
 and break down the king's stubborn purpose. We all know, 
 and may we never forget, that this resistance to tyrannical 
 innovation was no fiery outbreak of popiilar passion, spend- 
 ing itself in two or three battles, and then subsiding into 
 gloomy apathy; but a fixed and reasonable resolve, proof 
 against corrupt and sophistical plans of reconciliation, 
 against defeats and massacres, against universal bankruptcy 
 and commercial ruin, a resolve, which the sight of burning 
 villages, and cities turned into British camps, only mad-
 
 H. K. Brown, Sculptor. 
 
 EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 Union Square, New York.
 
 "FIRST IN THE HEARTS" 329 
 
 dened into fiercer persistence, and which the slow consuming 
 fever of eight years' war, with its soul-sickening calamities 
 and vicissitudes, could not weaken into submission. The 
 history, so sad and so glorious, which chronicles the stern 
 struggle in which our rights and liberties passed through the 
 awful baptism of fire and blood, is eloquent with the deeds 
 of many patriots, warriors, and statesmen; but these all 
 fall into relations to one prominent and commanding figure, 
 towering up above the whole group in unapproachable 
 majesty, whose exalted character, warm and bright with 
 every public and private virtue, and vital with the essential 
 spirit of wisdom, has burst all sectional and national bounds, 
 and made the name of Washington the property of all 
 mankind. 
 
 Character and Characteristic Men, Edwin P. Whipple, p. 303. 
 
 Man, Soldier, Hero, Statesman 
 
 There dwelt a Man, the flower of human kind, 
 Whose visage mild bespoke his nobler mind. 
 There dwelt the Soldier, who his sword ne'er drew 
 But in a righteous cause, to Freedom true. 
 There dwelt the Hero, who ne'er killed for fame, 
 Yet gained more glory, than a Caesar's name. 
 There dwelt the Statesman, who, devoid of art, 
 Gave soundest counsels from an upright heart ; 
 And, O Columbia, by thy sons caressed, 
 There dwelt the Father of the realms he blessed; 
 Who no wish felt to make his mighty praise, 
 Like other chiefs, the means himself to raise; 
 But there retiring, breathed in pure renown, 
 And felt a grandeur that disdained a crown. 
 
 The Home of Washington, Written by William Day on the back of a picture of Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 " To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, 
 and first in the hearts of his countrymen" 
 
 (Resolutions drafted by Colonel Henry fLight-horse Harry] Lee and presented to the. 
 House of Representatives, December 36, I799-)
 
 WORDS OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "We should never despair." 
 
 " Influence is not government. " 
 
 "The voice of mankind is with me. " 
 
 "The work is done, and well done." 
 
 "Discourage vice in every shape." 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, who are Congress?" 
 
 "Men are very apt to run into extremes." 
 
 "Letters of friendship require no study." 
 
 "Speak not evil of the absent, it is unjust." 
 
 "True friendship is a plant of slow growth." 
 
 " Men's minds are as variant as their faces. " 
 
 " Be courteous to all, but intimate with few. " 
 
 "Peace with all the world is my sincere wish." 
 
 " It is better to be alone than in bad company. " 
 
 " Let your hand give in proportion to your purse. " 
 
 "Those murderers of our cause the monopolizers!" 
 
 " I require no guard but the affections of the people. " 
 
 "True religion affords government its surest support." 
 
 "It is our duty to make the best of oftr misfortunes. " 
 
 " Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. '' 
 
 " Commerce and industry are the best mines of a nation. ' ' 
 
 "It is not for man^to scan the wisdom of Providence. T> 
 
 "Envious of none, I am determined to be -pleased with 
 all." 
 
 <33)
 
 "A good moral character is the first essential in a 
 man. " 
 
 " I feel everything that hurts the sensibility of a gentle- 
 man. " 
 
 "Time may unfold more than prudence ought to dis- 
 close." 
 
 "My policy has been to cultivate peace with all the 
 world." 
 
 "A brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's 
 breast." 
 
 " I shall ever be happy to relieve the anxiety of parted 
 friends. " 
 
 " When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the 
 Citizen." 
 
 "Unnecessary severity, and every species of insult I 
 despise." 
 
 " Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid 
 growth. " 
 
 "Let us, as a nation be just; let us fulfil the public 
 contracts. " 
 
 "The Constitution is the guide which I never can 
 abandon." 
 
 " Faithful to ourselves, we have violated no obligations 
 to others. " 
 
 " I hate deception even where the imagination only is 
 concerned." 
 
 "The power, under the Constitution, will always be in 
 the people." 
 
 " I do not like to add to the number of our national 
 obligations." 
 
 "The friendship I have conceived will not be impaired 
 by absence. "
 
 332 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to 
 be dreaded." 
 
 ' " The love of my country will be the ruling influence of 
 my conduct." 
 
 "It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Su- 
 preme Being." 
 
 "Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses 
 of every one." 
 
 "To correspond with those I love is one of my highest 
 gratifications." 
 
 " We are now an independent people and have yet to 
 learn political tactics." 
 
 " A wagon-load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon- 
 load of provisions!" 
 
 "To persevere in one's duty and be silent is the best 
 answer to calumny." 
 
 "The scene is at last closed. I feel myself eased of a 
 load of public care." 
 
 " I hope, some day, we shall become a store-house and 
 granary for the world. " 
 
 " The company in which you will improve most will be 
 least expensive to you. ' ' 
 
 "Resentment, reproaches and submission seem to be all 
 that would be left to us." 
 
 "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual 
 means of preserving peace." 
 
 "To an active external commerce the protection of a 
 naval force is indispensable. " 
 
 " Bankruptcy will probably be made their ladder to 
 climb to absolute authority." 
 
 "Could the poor horses tell their tale, it would be a 
 strain still more lamentable."
 
 WORDS OF WASHINGTON 333 
 
 " I pray devoutly that we may both witness, and that 
 shortly, the return of peace." 
 
 "There is no restraining men's tongues or pens, when 
 charged with a little vanity." 
 
 "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of 
 celestial fire called Conscience." 
 
 " Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties 
 and properties shall be secured." 
 
 " I believe that man was not designed by the all- wise 
 Creator to live for himself alone." 
 
 " I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial 
 patron of genuine, vital religion." 
 
 "The man who wishes to steer clear of shelves and 
 rocks must know where they lie." 
 
 " It is a maxim with me not to ask what, under similar 
 circumstances, I would not grant." 
 
 "To patch up an inglorious peace, after all the toil, 
 blood and treasure we have spent." 
 
 " Why should I expect to be exempt from censure, the 
 unfailing lot of an elevated station." 
 
 " It is my full intention to devote my life and fortune to 
 the cause we are engaged in, if needful." 
 
 " The welfare of the country is the great object to which 
 our cares and efforts ought to be directed. " 
 
 "Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free- 
 men fighting for the blessings of liberty." 
 
 " Slavery will be your portion and that of your posterity, 
 if you do not acquit yourselves like men." 
 
 "We do not wish to be the only people to taste the 
 sweets of an equal and good government." 
 
 "We must not despair; the game is yet in our own 
 hands; to play it well is all we have to do. "
 
 334 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 "To the efficacy and permanency of our Union a 
 government for the whole is indispensable." 
 
 " I can never think of promoting my convenience at the 
 expense of a friend's interest and inclination. " 
 
 "The great Ruler of events will not permit the hap- 
 piness of so many millions to be destroyed." 
 
 " I shall rely confidently on that Providence which has 
 hitherto preserved and been bountiful to me." 
 
 "Would to God the harmony of nations were ah object 
 that lay nearest to the hearts of sovereigns!" 
 
 "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that 
 morality can be maintained without religion." 
 
 " Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that 
 country has a right to concentrate your affections. " 
 
 " I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than 
 to private affairs, that ' honesty is the best policy. ' 
 
 "That the [U. S.] Government, though not actually 
 perfect, is one of the best in the world, I have little doubt. " 
 
 " Our cause is noble. It is the cause of mankind ; and 
 the danger to it is to be apprehended from ourselves." 
 
 " No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the 
 man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin. " 
 
 "The once happy and peaceful plains of America are 
 either to be drenched with blood, or inhabited by slaves." 
 
 " Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can 
 possibly do. A peace on other terms would be a peace of war !" 
 
 "The history of the war is a history of false hopes and 
 temporary expedients. Would to God they were to end 
 here!" 
 
 "Speculation, peculation, and an insatiable thirst for 
 riches seem to have got the better of every other consid- 
 eration. "
 
 WORDS OF WASHINGTON 335 
 
 "As you were pleased to leave it to my discretion to 
 punish or pardon the criminals, I have resolved on the 
 latter." 
 
 " Nothing is more a stranger to my breast, or a sin that 
 my soul abhors, than that black and detestable one of 
 ingratitude. " 
 
 " I cannot conceive one [rank] more honorable than 
 that which flows from' the uncorrupted choice of a brave 
 and free people." 
 
 " It appears to me that little more than common sense 
 and common honesty would be necessary to make us a great 
 and happy nation." 
 
 " The foundation of a great empire is laid ; and I please 
 myself with the persuasion that Providence will not leave 
 its work imperfect." 
 
 " Here every portion of our country finds the most com- 
 manding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the 
 Union of the whole." 
 
 " With joy I once beheld my country feeling the liveliest 
 sense other rights and maintaining them with a spirit appor- 
 tioned to their worth. " 
 
 " I am resolved that no misrepresentations, falsehoods, 
 or calumny shall make me swerve from what I conceive to be 
 the strict line of duty." 
 
 " I believe there is public virtue enough left among us 
 to deny ourselves everything but the bare necessities of life 
 to accomplish our ends." 
 
 " It does not accord with the policy of this government 
 to bestow offices, civil or military, upon foreigners to the 
 exclusion of our own citizens." 
 
 "The consciousness of having attempted faithfully to 
 discharge my duty, and the approbation of my country, will 
 be sufficient recompense for my services."
 
 33 6 THE STORY-LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 " The very idea of the power and the right of the people 
 to establish government presupposes the duty of every in- 
 dividual to obey the established government." 
 
 "It is only in our united character, as an empire, that 
 our independence is acknowledged, that our power can be 
 regarded, or our credit supported among foreign nations. " 
 
 " The great Searcher of human hearts is my witness that 
 I have no wish which aspires beyond the humble and happy 
 lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm." 
 
 " I need not mention to you that every possible tender- 
 ness that is consistent with the security of him should be 
 shown to the person whose unfortunate lot it may be to 
 suffer." 
 
 "Though I prize, as I ought, the good opinion of my 
 fellow-citizens, yet, if I know myself, I would not seek or 
 retain popularity at the expense of one social duty Or moral 
 virtue. " 
 
 "The affairs of this country cannot go amiss. There 
 are so many watchful guardians of them (!) and such 
 infallible guides (!) that no one is at a loss for a director at 
 every turn. " 
 
 " Happy, thrice happy, shall they be pronounced, who 
 have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature, 
 and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of 
 all nations and religions." 
 
 " It appears as clear to me as ever the sun did in its 
 meridian brightness, that America never stood in more 
 eminent need of the wise, patriotic, and spirited exertions 
 of her sons than at this period. " 
 
 "There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely 
 than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it 
 [slavery]. Would to God a like spirit might diffuse itself 
 into the minds of the people of this country!"
 
 WORDS OF WASHINGTON 337 
 
 "Avoid gaming. This is a vice which is productive 
 of every possible evil. It has been the ruin of many a worthy 
 family, the loss of many -a man's honor, and the cause of 
 suicide. Few gain by this abominable practice, while 
 thousands are injured. " 
 
 "The supplicating tears of the women, and moving 
 petitions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow that 
 I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer 
 myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, providing 
 that would contribute to the people's ease. " [From a letter 
 written when he was 24.] 
 
 "Tis well." [His last words.]
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Jacob, story, I: 171. 
 
 Adams, John, I: 204-7, 2I 3. 2 45. 
 246, 263, 264, 275, 277. II: 
 39, 217, 232, 233, 235, 236, 268, 
 272, 274, 277, 279-80, 285-6, 
 289, 290, 309. 
 
 Adams, Mrs. John, I: 24.^-6. II: 
 39, 280. 
 
 Adams, Samuel, I: iv, 199, 203, 
 204-7, 16 5- II: 3 8 . 39. 8 5- 
 
 Alexandria, Va., I: 101, 114, 116, 
 121, 145, 176. II: 243; "Ga- 
 zette," 265; 307,317,319,320. 
 
 Aliquippa, "Queen," Indian chief, 
 I: no. 
 
 Allegheny River, I: 83, 102 103, 
 121, 123. 
 
 Allen, Gen. Ethan, I: 216, 237. 
 
 Alliance, French, II: 62, 67-75, 86 - 
 
 Ames, Fisher, II: 283. 
 
 Amory, T. C., story, I: 236. 
 
 Ancestry of W., I: 1-20. 
 
 Andre", Maj. John, II: 37, 87-101. 
 
 Annapolis, I: 185. II: 162-7. 
 
 Appleby School, England, I: 32-50. 
 
 Arnold, Gen. Benedict, I: 215, 232, 
 238. II: ii 12, 87101, in, 
 112, 116, 168. 
 
 Arnold, Mrs. Benedict (' ' Peggy ' ' 
 Shippen), II: 90, 91. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, editor, II: 195. 
 
 Asgill, Capt. Charles, II: 145-7. 
 
 "Athenaeum," Boston, W. collec- 
 tion in, II: 281. 
 
 "Aurora," newspaper, II; 279, 
 287. 
 
 B 
 
 Bache, Benjamin Franklin, editor, 
 
 II: 279, 287. 
 Baker, William Spohn, stories. I: 
 
 2 S9, 37- 
 Baldwin, James, stories, I: 33. 
 
 II: 34- 
 Ball, Colonel, W.'s grandfather, I: 
 
 *3. M. 
 Ball, John, Mary W.'s ancestor. I: 
 
 4-7- 
 
 Ball, Joseph, Mary W.'s brother, I: 
 14, 58-60, letter, 61-3; 66. 
 
 Barbadoes, W. I., I: 87-92; W.'s 
 Journal, 89-90, 95, 112. 
 
 Bard, Dr. Samuel, II: 227-8. 
 
 Barter, Philip, gardener, II: 194-5. 
 
 Bassett, Colonel, I: 182-3, 212. 
 
 Bastile, Key of, see Key. 
 
 Battles (W. not present at those 
 in parentheses), Great Mead- 
 ows, I: 123-30; Ft. Necessity, 
 130-4; Ft. Duquesne, 146-55; 
 (Bunker Hill, 207, 217); (Lex- 
 ington and Concord, 210) ; (Ti- 
 conderoga and Crown Point, 
 210, 216); storming Boston, 
 248-56; Long Island, 278-80; 
 Kip 'sBay, 281-5 ;White Plains, 
 286-7; 290-1 ; Trenton, 309-14; 
 Princeton, 319-23; Brandy- 
 wine, or Chad's Ford, 332-7; 
 Germantown, 337-45 ; (Sarato- 
 ga, II: 13-16); Monmouth, 50- 
 64; (Stony Point, 77-81) ; (Paul 
 Jones's, off Flamborough Head, 
 England, 86) ; (Charleston.S.C., 
 10 1); (Camden, S. C., 101); 
 
 (339)
 
 340 
 
 JNDEX 
 
 (King's Mountain, S. C., 
 10 1); Yorktown, Va., 119-39; 
 (Cowpens, S. C., 168); (Guil- 
 ford Court House, N. C., 168). 
 
 Beaver Creek, Pa., I: 84, 103.. 
 
 "Belvoir, " I: 40, 43, 69, 93, 185, 
 197. II: 308-9. 
 
 Bermuda, W. I., I: 91-3, 232. 
 
 Bernard, John, actor, I: 71. 
 
 Beveridge, Albert J., story, II: 327. 
 
 Bienville, Celeron de, I: 82, 84. 
 
 Big Bear, Indian chief, I: 72-3. 
 
 Bishop, W.'s servant, I: 162-3. 
 
 "Blockade of Boston," burlesque, 
 
 I: 249-50. 
 
 -Blue Ridge, I: 68, 72, 73, 74, 76, 
 189. 
 
 Bolden Book, first record of W. 
 family, I: 2. 
 
 Boston, Mass., I: 158-60; "Massa- 
 cre," 186; 192, 193, 199; "Tea 
 Party," 210; Port Bill, 210; 
 213, 215, 217, 225-7, 231, 2 33> 
 234, 236, 237, 240, 242-55; 
 "Blockade," 249-50; Evacua- 
 tion, 24956, 257, 258, 314, 
 II: ir, 2304. 
 
 "Boston Massacre," I: 186, 248. 
 
 Braddock, Gen. Edward, 1 : 141-51, 
 159, 162, 1657, I ^9, 199, 217, 
 2 35i 2 54- II : I2 6, 181. 
 
 Brand ywine, see Battles, also I : 
 332-6, 344. II: 14, 22. 
 
 Bridges' Creek, Va., I: 12, 13, 18, 
 20, 46. 
 
 Brington, Great and Little, Eng- 
 land, I: 79. 
 
 Brooks, Elbridge S., story, I: 220. 
 
 Brown, Doctor, W.'s last illness, II : 
 312-17. 
 
 Bunker Hill, see Battles, also I: 
 207, 217, 234, 238, 247, 250, 
 2 53, 257. 290. , 
 
 Burgesses, House of, Va., I: 12, 
 
 114, 1412,144, 160, 1689,184, 
 
 187, 192. (Delegates) II: 49; 
 
 (Assembly) 311. 
 Burgoyne, Gen. John, I: 202, 231, 
 
 250. II: 1 119, 22, 67. 
 Burke, Edmund, I: 230. II: 19. 
 Burns, David, I: v-vi. 11:291-2. 
 Bustle, William, playmate, I: 34. 
 Butler, Caleb, I: 13, 16. 
 Butterworth, Hezekiah, stories, I : 
 
 43. 76. 
 
 Byron, George Noel Gordon, Lord, 
 lines on W. II: 195. 
 
 Cabal, Comvay's, see also Conway, 
 
 II: 38-48, 166. 
 Cabinet, W.'s, II: 216, 221, 255, 
 
 275. 279, 32. 
 Cadwalader, Gen. John, I: 307, 
 
 313. II: 44, 47. 
 Ctesar, Julius, I: 219. II: 164, 
 
 329- 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., I: 218-55. H : 
 55, 136, 140, 154, 171, 231-2, 
 
 237. 325- 
 Camden, S. C., see Battles, also II: 
 
 loi, 102, 153. 
 Capital, National, New York, II: 
 
 209-48 ; Philadelphia, 248-309; 
 
 Washington, 309. 
 Carleton, Sir Guy, II: 138, 143, 
 
 145, 146, 148, 156. 
 Carlyle, Thomas, remarks on W., 
 
 I: iv-v, 1 12-13. 
 Carpenters' Hall, I: 200. 
 Carroll, Charles, I: 200. 
 Carter, Mr., Barbadoes, I: 87-90. 
 Carthagena, siege, I: 39, 41, 60, 
 
 86. II: 194. 
 
 Castle Williams, I: 247, 249. 
 Census, First in U. S., II: 248. 
 Chad's Ford, see Brandywine. 
 Chamberlayne, Major, I: 162.
 
 INDEX 
 
 341 
 
 Charles I, I: 9-12, 81. 
 
 Charles II, I: 151. II: 62. 
 
 Charleston, S. C., II: 101, 153, 246. 
 
 Charlestown, Mass., I: 217, 224, 
 242. 
 
 Chastellux, Marquis cle, II: 80-4, 
 189. 
 
 Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, see 
 Pitt, William, 
 
 Cherry Valley, N. Y., Indian mas- 
 sacre, II: 76. 
 
 Chester, Pa., I: 335-6. 
 
 Chew House, German town, Pa., I: 
 339-41. See also, Battles, 
 German town. 
 
 Choptank, Va., I: 34, 41. 
 
 Cincinnati, city, II: 248. 
 
 Cincinnati, Order of the, II: 177, 
 
 192-3, 199- 
 "Cincinnatus of the West," II: 
 
 169-95. 
 
 Clark, William, explorer, II: in. 
 Clarke, Major, Governor of Barba- 
 
 does, I: 87-90. 
 Clinton, Gen. George, I: 274. Gov., 
 
 II: 169, 182, 210, 211, 268. 
 
 Clinton, Gen. (Sir) Henry, I: 202, 
 231, 243, 271, 278. II: 12, 13, 
 
 5, S3, 59, 6 , 6 2, 73, 79, 8l > 
 
 92. ro6, 107, 114, 122, 143, 174. 
 
 Cochran, Doctor, surgeon- general, 
 
 II: 84-5- 
 
 Coffin, Charles Carleton,story,1 : 1 50. 
 
 Collins, William, lines, "Captain 
 Molly, " II: 5760. 
 
 Comegys, Cornelius, stories, I: 272. 
 II: 21. 
 
 Commission, as Commander-in- 
 chief, W. received, I: 209-10; 
 resigned, II: 1656. 
 
 Congress, Continental, and U. S., 
 first, I: 1 86; 193-6; second, 
 
 198, 2O2, 2O4-IO, 2l6I7, 222, 
 
 227, 233, 236, 240-2, 257, 259- 
 
 66, 271, 288-9, 292, 3 O2 > 35> 
 306, 308, 312-14, 316, 321-5, 
 33 T > 335-6- II: 15, 19, 21-2, 
 24, 28, 34, 38-49, 61, 63, 67, 
 72, 746, 84, 102, 105, 106, in, 
 119, 141, 143, 144-6, 152, !53, 
 155-6, 158, 160, 165, 171, 179, 
 
 193, 196, 2OI, 209, 211 12, 222, 
 
 225, 236-40, 247, 255, 262, 
 268, 270-1, 272, 273-5, 280, 
 283-5, 28 9- 3 2 9- 
 
 Constitution of the U. S., II: 159, 
 
 196207, 213, 238, 248, 290. 
 Continental Congress, see Congress. 
 Continental money, I: 270-1. 
 
 II: 77,85,86, 152. 
 Contrecoeur, Captain, I: 117, 120. 
 Conway, Moncure D., stories, 
 
 "Rules of Civility," I: 54-8. 
 Conway, Col. Thomas, I: 329-30. 
 
 II: 38-48. - 
 Cornwallis, Charles, Gen., Marquis, 
 
 I: 278, 292, 319, 326, 333. II: 
 
 50, IO4, 113, Il6, 117, 119, 122, 
 
 127-37, X 68, 170, 191. 
 Cowpens, see Battles, also II: 117, 
 
 118, 168. 
 Craik, Dr. James, I: 188, 343. II: 
 
 126,133,140,181-2,295,312-20. 
 Croftan, Captain, landlord at Bar- 
 
 badoes, I: 88. 
 Croghan, George, Indian trader, I: 
 
 83-5. J37- 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, I: 12, 113. 
 Crown Point, see Battles. 
 Cumberland, Fort and town (Wills' 
 
 Creek), I: 83, 102, 152, 157. 
 Custis, Mrs. Daniel Parke (Martha 
 
 Dandridge), I: vi, 164-5, l66 - 
 
 170. II: 292. See Washing- 
 ton, Martha, 
 Custis, Eleanor ("Nelly :> ), II: 141, 
 
 217, 256, 293, 298; Mrs. Lewis, 
 
 3"-
 
 342 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Custis, George Washington Parke, 
 stories, etc., I: 53, 163, 316, 
 
 3 2r - 33 8 . 342-5- II: S 6 -7. "3 
 116, 118, 1223, I 26,- 129, 130, 
 
 *32, 134-5. 141-3. l6 3. 186-7, 
 209, 217, 246, 256, 259, 265, 
 
 295, 297, 314, 318. 
 
 Custis, John, ("Jack"), W. 's step- 
 son, I: 175, 179, 197. II: 
 1401. 
 
 Custis, Martha ("Patsy"), W. 's 
 stepdaughter, I: 169 172, 175, 
 179-80. 
 
 Dagworthy, Captain, I: 157, 159, 
 
 1 60. 
 Dandridge, Bartholomew, W. 's 
 
 secretary, II: 273. 
 Davidson, John, interpreter, I: 102. 
 Day, William, lines on W., II: 
 
 329- 
 
 Deane, Silas, I: 330. ' 
 Declaration of Independence, I: 
 
 157, 241, 264-6, 272-4, 314. 
 
 II: 152, 221, 290. 
 Declaratory Act, I: 186. 
 Delaware, W. crossing, I: 30711. 
 Delaware Indians, I: 85, 103-4, 126. 
 D'Estaing, Count Charles Hector, 
 
 II: 68-70. 
 Dick, Doctor, W.'s last illness, 313- 
 
 I 7- 
 
 Dickinson, John, "Farmer's Let- 
 ters," I: 199, 201, 265. 
 
 Dinwiddie, Gov. Robert (Va.), I: 
 97-100, 104, 108, in 12, 114, 
 116, 11819, 122 128, 131, 
 137, 141-3, 156, 160-1. 
 
 Dismal Swamp Company, I: 185, 
 186. 
 
 Dorchester Heights, near Boston, 
 I: 243-9, 278. 
 
 Drouillon, prisoner, I: 127-8. 
 
 Duchd, Rev. Doctor, I: 200. 
 Duer, William, II: 46-7. 
 Dumas, Count, II: 89. 
 Dunbar, Colonel, with Braddock, 
 
 I: ij6, 153, 253. 
 Dunmore, Lord, Gov. of Va., I: 
 
 193, iQ7. 23 8 , 243- 
 Duquesne, Fort,seeFort Duquesne. 
 Duyckinck, Evart A., story, II: 208. 
 
 E 
 
 Eltham, Va., I: 183. II: 140-1. 
 
 Emerson, Rev. William (grand- 
 father of Ralph Waldo), I: 223. 
 
 "Entertaining Anecdotes of Wash- 
 ington," stories,- I: 190, 329. 
 II: 66, 256, 259. 
 
 Estaing, Comte Charles Hector, d', 
 > II: 68-70. See D 'Estaing. 
 
 Evacuation of Boston, see Battles, 
 and Boston. 
 
 "Evangelist," the New York, 
 story, I: 34. 
 
 Evans, Lawrence B., Ph.D., letters, 
 etc., I: 153, 164, 210, 256, 314, 
 323, 336. II: 18, 152, 159, 
 161, 167, 204, 206, 269, 306. 
 
 Ewing, General, I: 313. 
 
 Fairfax, Anne (Mrs. Lawrence W.), 
 
 ' I: 41, 43, 44, 60, 67, 93, 94. 
 Fairfax, Bryan"; I: 194. 
 Fairfax, George William, I: 69, 71, 
 
 74, 164, 196, 197, 202. II: 
 
 308. 
 Fairfax, "Sally" (Gary), I: 136, 
 
 164-3. II: 3 8 ' 
 Fairfax, Thomas, SLxth Earl of, I: 
 
 40, 67-70, 72, 74, 76, 80, 
 
 98, 160, 194. II: 135-6, 181. 
 Fairfax ("Sir," "the .Hon."), 
 
 William, I: 40-1, 43, 65, 67. 
 Fairlie, Major, II: 248.
 
 INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 Falmouth (Portland), Me., burning 
 
 of, I: 238. 
 
 Falmouth Church, Va., I: 33. 
 Farewells of W., to army officers, 
 
 II: 1613; address, 283-6; 
 
 "more farewells," 284-5; as 
 
 President, 285-6; last words, 
 
 314-16. 
 "Farmer's Letters," Dickinson's, 
 
 I: 199- 
 Federal City (Washington, D. C.), 
 
 I: vi, 177. II: 242, 262, 2902. 
 Federal Hall, N. Y., II: 212-13, 
 
 239-40. 
 "Ferry Farm" ("Pine Grove"), 
 
 opp. Fredericksburg, Va., I: 
 
 43- 
 
 "First in war, first in peace, and 
 first in the hearts of his coun- 
 trymen, "II: 329. 
 
 Fisher, Sydney George, stories, I: 
 226, 327, 337. II: 36, 82, 
 
 IOO, IOI. 
 
 Fiske, John, I: 219. II: 19, 35, 
 53, 61, 64, 86, 119, 134. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Colonel, I: 319-20. 
 
 Five (Six) Nations, Indian con- 
 federation, I: 77, 97. 
 
 Flag, colonial, I: 239-42; U. S., 
 260-4; 314, II: 152, 213. 
 
 Flying camp, I: 270-2. 
 
 Forbes, Gilbert, I: 268-9. 
 
 Ford, Paul Leicester, stories, I: 12, 
 51, 78, 136, 139, 165, 178, 180, 
 185, 212, 285. II: 194, 247, 
 301. 
 
 Fork of the Ohio, I: 83, 97, 102, 
 
 I3 1 - 
 Fort Cumberland, (Wills' Creek), 
 
 I: 83, 152. See Cumberland. 
 Fort Duquesne, I: 103, 121, 131, 
 
 1367, 147, 162, 1657, see 
 
 Battles. 
 Fort Lpfayette, II: 80. 
 
 Fort Lee, I: 271, 276, 288, 291-2 
 
 Fort Moultrie, I: 314. 
 
 Fort Necessity, I: -131-3, 137. See 
 
 also Battles. 
 
 Fort Need ham, Barbadoes, I: 89-90. 
 Fort Niagara, I: 85. 
 Fort Pitt (from Duquesne), I: 162, 
 
 167. II: 181. 
 Fort Schuyler, II: 12. 
 Fort Ticonderoga, I: 210, 237. 
 Fort Washington, I: 271-3, 276, 
 
 288-9, 291-2, 314. 
 Fox, Charles James, I: 230. II: 
 
 137-8, 150-1. 
 Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, I: 41, 144, 
 
 1502, 167, 201, 203, 21314, 
 
 2 37. 2 39-4o ( 261, 274-5, 330. 
 
 II: 67, 153, 172, 202, 321. 
 Fraser, Mrs. Hugh, stories, I: 29, 
 
 36, 47, 59, 101, 124, 125, 140. 
 Fraunces, Sam, II: 1612, 165, 
 
 258-9. 
 
 Frazier, John, I; 84, 102, 105, no. 
 Fredericksburg, Va., I: 35, 49, 50, 
 
 54,101. 11:141-2,171,186-7, 
 
 229, 244-5, 294, 298. 
 Fredericktown, Md., I: 74, 75, 145. 
 Freeman, Edward A., story, II: 
 
 207. 
 Freemasons, W. 's lodge, II: 
 
 319-20. 
 French Alliance, see Alliance, 
 
 French. 
 French and Indian War, I: 96, 99, 
 
 120, 151, 156, 170, 186. 
 French Creek, Pa., fort and region, 
 
 I: 104, 107. 
 
 French Revolution, II: 254. 
 Freneau (attacks on W.), II: 
 
 276-7. 
 Frost, J., LL.D., story, II: 235, 
 
 253- 
 Fry, Col. Joshua, I: 115, 116, 121,
 
 344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fulton, Robert, II: 280-1. 
 Funeral of W., II: 318-20. 
 
 Gage, Gen. Thomas, I: 148,195, 196, 
 
 202, 203, 210, 21-4-15, 223-5, 
 
 231. 234-5. 257, 277. 
 Gallatin, Albert, II: 255. 
 "Gaspe'e," Commodore Whipple, 
 
 I: 192. 
 Gates, Gen. Horatio, I: 204, 208, 
 
 222, 260, 287, 306-9. II: 
 
 11-15, 22, 39-46, 102, 153. 
 
 Genet, Edmond Charles, II: 272, 
 
 274-5- 
 Genn, James, surveyor, 1 : 65,7 1-2 , 
 
 74- 
 
 George II, I: 114, 130-1, 139. 
 George III, I: 194, 215, 226, 228- 
 
 30, 239-40, 273, 276, 324, 325. 
 
 II: 136-8, 328. 
 
 Germaine, Lord George, II: 136,138. 
 Germantown, Pa., see Battles, also 
 
 I: 337-45. II: 16-18, 20, 22, 
 
 272-5, 
 Gist, Christopher, I; 76, 82-5, 97, 
 
 100-10. 1256. 
 Grasse, Count Franjois Joseph 
 
 Paul de, II: 114-15, 119-22. 
 Gray, Robert E., I: 317-19. II: 
 
 1.35. 256-7, 281-3. 
 Great Meadows, see Battles, also 
 
 I: 122-34. II: 176. 
 Greene, Gen. Nathanael, I: 208, 
 
 222, 231, 280, 28992, 3IO, 343. 
 
 II: 25, 45, 57-9, 89, 103-4, in, 
 116, 119, 138, 141, 153, 322. 
 
 Green way Court, I: 43. II: 136, 308. 
 
 "Greenwood," "Grace," (Mrs. 
 Sarah J. Lippincott), stories, 
 I: 319. II: 28, 135, 235, 257, 
 283. 
 
 Gregory, Mildred (Washington), I: 
 20. II: 194. 
 
 Grenville, George, I: 228-9. II: 
 
 i53- 
 
 Guichen, Count de, II: 89. 
 Guilford, Court House, see Battles, 
 
 also II: 168. 
 
 Habberton, John, stories, I: 26, 
 32, 96, 108, 115 121, 142, 145, 
 157, 158, 161, 167, 173, 188, 
 194, 197, 208, 217, 220, 223, 
 227, 231, 238, 252, 274, 280, 
 289, 291, 293, 307, 309, 312. 
 II: 14, 45, 49, 73, 81, 88, 107, 
 112, 115, 150, 158, 166, 201, 
 
 2O5, 210, 217, 222, 224, 255, 
 285, 288, 298, 299, 302, 322, 
 323. 325- 
 
 Hackensack, N. J., I: 272, 292. 
 
 "Hail Columbia," the President's 
 March, II: 235. 
 
 Hale, Rev. Dr. Edward Everett, I: 
 iii; stories, 38, 186, 254, 294. 
 II: 54, 177, 178, 185, 288. 
 
 Hale (Sir), Matthew, "Contempla- 
 tions," I: 18, 42. 
 
 Hale, Capt. Nathan, I: 285-6. II: 
 
 93- 
 
 Half- King, see Tanacharisson. 
 Hamilton, Alexander, I: 279. II: 
 
 28, 54, 90, 94-5. IIQ . i55. T 7 2 , 
 
 198, 202, 2l6, 221-4, 237, 243, 
 
 254-5. 3 6 - 3i7. 321- 
 Hamilton, Robert, II: 319. 
 Hancock, John, I: iv, 203, 205-6, 
 
 210, 259. II: 230-3. 
 "Harper's Weekly," story, I: 183. 
 Harrison, Constance Gary, stories, 
 
 II: 191, 195, 309. 
 Harrison, James A., II: 154. 
 Harrison, Peleg D., stories, I: 240, 
 
 261, 264. 
 Heath, Gen. William, I: 269, 286, 
 
 291, 293, 326.
 
 7NDEX 
 
 345 
 
 Henry, Patrick, I: 50, 187, 198-200. 
 208,225. H : 205-6,223,244. 
 
 Henry VIII, granted Sulgrave to 
 W. family, I: 4, 8, n. 
 
 "Herbert," "Francis," editor, 
 story, II: 280. 
 
 Hertburn (Hartburn), William de, 
 early ancestor of W., 1: 1-2. 
 
 Hessians, I: 221, 280, 289, 309-11. 
 II: 50, 59, 60, 245. 
 
 Hickey, Thomas, I: 267-70. 
 
 Hill, Frederick Trevor, stories, I: 
 341. II: 26, 213. 
 
 Historical Tables, see Tables of 
 Events. 
 
 "Hobby" (Mr. Grove?), W.'s first 
 teacher, 1: 32-4. 
 
 Holmes's Annals, story, II: 131. 
 
 House of Burgesses, see Burgesses. 
 
 Howe, Admiral (Earl), Richard, I: 
 271, 274-9, 3 00 - 1 ' 3 2 4-6. 
 II: 36, 68. 
 
 Howe, Gen. ("Sir"), William (Vis- 
 count),!: 202,220-1,231,247, 
 249-54, 266, 276-9, 286-7, 
 289-91 ,294, 302, 305, 322, 325- 
 7, 328, 333-4, 337- 345- H: 
 11-12, 36-7, 132-3. 
 
 Ho well, Richard, Gov. of N. J., 
 lines to W., II: 210. 
 
 Hubbard, Elbert, story, II: 133- 
 
 Huddy, Capt. Joshua, II: 146. 
 
 Hulbert, Archer Butler, stories, 
 II: 183, 327. 
 
 Humphreys, Col. David, II: 183-4, 
 201, 237, 253. 
 
 Huntingdon, Lady (Selina, Coun- 
 tess of), II: 1923. 
 
 Hyde, Rev. Dr. Ammi Bradford, 
 stories, I: 333. II: 55. 
 
 Hyde, Mrs. Anna M., story, II: 143- 
 
 Inaugural, W.'s first, II: 212-15, 
 248; second, 269-71, -309. 
 
 Independence, U. S., see also 
 Declaration. France acknowl- 
 edges, II: 16, 76; hymn, 158; 
 168. 
 
 Innes, Col. James, I: 131, 156. 
 
 Iroquois Indians, I: 83. 
 
 Irving, Washington, stories, I: 4, 
 ii, 13, 41, 43, 49, 69, 79, 82, 
 84, 85, 87, 92, 103, 105, 106, 
 129, 137, 146, 166, 242, 243, 
 244, 246, 247, 249, 250, 252, 
 254, 269, 273, 288, 297, 300, 
 304, 308, 316, 331, 332. II: 
 22, 27, 37, 41, 48, 76, 83, 84, 
 no, 141, 164, 176, 182, 190, 
 
 211, 212, 219, 22O, 227, 228, 
 
 229, 232, 233, 248, 252, 254, 
 
 262, 269, 272, 276, 279, 284, 
 293. 37- 
 
 Jackson, Major, W.'s secretary, II: 
 230-1, 237. 
 
 Jay, John, Chief Justice, II: 216, 
 219, 230, 236-7, 278, 321. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, I: 264-6. II: 
 179, 216, 221-3, 230, 243, 254- 
 5, 273, 276-7; story, "Anas, " 
 277; 280, 285, 290, 322, 
 326. 
 
 Jenkins, Charles Francis, story, II: 
 
 275- 
 Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant, stories, 
 
 II: 158- 
 
 Joliet, Louis, I: 77. 
 
 Joncaire, Captain, I: 105-8.- 
 
 Jones, Commodore John Paul, I: 
 212. II: 86. 
 
 Journals of W., first, I: 74-76; 
 Barbadoes, 87-90; as envoy, 
 108-10; 1754, 116-120; Sept., 
 1784, II: 182-3; 1789 to 1791, 
 
 236-45- 
 Jumonville, Sieur de, I: 124-6, 
 
 130-3-
 
 INDEX 
 
 Kanawha, river and region, I: no, 
 
 188. II: 181-3, 326. 
 Key of the Bastile, II: 253-4. 
 "King George," see George II, 
 
 George III. 
 
 King George's War, I: 41. 
 King's Mountain, see Battles, also 
 
 II: 101. 
 
 Kip's Bay, see Battles. 
 Knowlton, General, I: 242, 285. 
 Knox, Gen. Henry, I: 237. 11:53, 
 
 59, 89, 91, 121, 127, 163, 199, 
 
 210, 213, 216, 236, 237, 243, 
 
 255, 264, 275. 
 Knyphausen, Hessian general, II : 
 
 5. 53- 
 
 Kosciuszko, Thaddeus, I: 330. II. 
 299. 
 
 L 
 
 Lafayette, Gilbert Motier, Marquis 
 de, I: 331-2,336. II. 22,29, 
 42, 51, 56, 68-9, 71, 83, 89, 91, 
 ni-12, 115-16, 130, 143, 159, 
 169, 184-7, I 9 I r 97- 2 S3. 294. 
 
 La Force, prisoner at Great Mead- 
 ows, I: 125, 128. 
 
 Lanahan, Dr., Barbadoes, I: 90. 
 
 Laurens, Col. Henry, II: 44-5, 93-4, 
 108, 112, 125, 153. 
 
 Lear, Col. Tobias, secretary, II: 
 195, 230, 237, 239, 249-52, 
 265-7, 280, 299, 304, 31021. 
 
 Lee, Arthur, M.D., I: 18, 213. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Charles, I: 204, 208, 
 217, 222. 237, 256, 287-8, 
 2903, 298-300, 3026. II: 
 
 50-65- 
 
 Lee, Ezra, I: 3001. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Henry ("Light-horse, 
 Harry"), I: 18. II: 26-7, 77, 
 81 2, 243, 28990, 2923, 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry ("Dickey"), 
 I: 18, 36-8, 265. II: 39. 
 
 Lee, Thomas, I: 81. 
 
 L'Enfant, Major, II: 241. 
 
 Letters of W., to "Dickey" (Lee), 
 I: 36-8; to Brother "Jack," 
 152-3; to Mrs. Custis, 164; to 
 * Adjt. Muse, 170; to Mrs. W., 
 21 r ; to Gen. Gage, 234; to sec. 
 Reed, 239-40; to Reed, 2412; 
 to "Jack," 255-6; to Mrs. 
 Philipse, 293; to Reed, 299; 
 (part) to bro. Augustine, 304; 
 to Col. Cadwalader, 307: to 
 President of Congress, 312-14; 
 reports Battle of Princeton, 
 321-3; reports B.randywine, 
 335-6; (part) to Gates, II: 14; 
 to John A. W., 1 6-1 8; to Con- 
 gress, 21 ; to "Light-horse 
 Harry," 27; (part) to President 
 of Congress, 38; (part) to 
 Laurens, 44 5 ; to a friend, 46; 
 to speaker Va. House, 49; to 
 Gen. Chas. Lee, 60-1 ; to G. 
 Morris, 67, 70-1; to President 
 of Congress, 67-8; to Gen. 
 Sullivan, 68; to Lafayette, 68- 
 9; to D'Estaing, 68; to Reed, 
 71; to James Warren, 72; to 
 President of Congress, 723, 
 75-6; to Lafayette, 83; to Dr. 
 Cochran, 84-5; (part) to Lau- 
 rens, 93-4 ; (part) to explorer 
 Clark, in; (part) to Laurens, 
 1 1 2 ; to Lund W. , 117-. (part) to 
 Greene, 145; part to Mc-Henry, 
 145; to Col. Nicola, 147-8; on 
 reducing the army, 149-50; to 
 Tench Tilghman, 150-2; (parts) 
 to Hamilton, 155; to gover- 
 nors, 155 -6*; to Lafayette, 159; 
 to Dr. Gordon, 160 i; (part) 
 to Gov. Clinton, 169; to R.
 
 INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Morris, 178; (part) to Mesmer, 
 185; to Marchioness Lafayette, 
 185; (part) to a nephew, 188- 
 9; (part) to Marquis Chastel- 
 lux, 189; (part) to Madison, 
 200; (part) to Hamilton, 202; 
 (whole) to Hamilton, 203-4; 
 to Henry, 205-6; to Hancock, 
 233; to a poetess, 246-7; to 
 Lear, 249-50; 251-2"; 280-1; 
 (part) about niece, 293; about 
 love, 298; to Kosciuszko, 299; 
 (part) to Jack Custis's widow, 
 300; about marriage, 300; to 
 the Secretary of War, 301-2; 
 to a Federalist, 302; to a 
 poetess, 302; about his own 
 death, 303; to Lear, 303-4; to 
 John Adams, 304-6; (part) to 
 Sally (Gary) Fairfax, 309. 
 
 Lewis, secretary, II: 237, 253. 
 
 Lexington and Concord, see Battles, 
 also I: 203, 210, 213-14. II: 
 
 '57-8- 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, compared to W. 
 I: v, ix. II: 289. 
 
 Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, II: u, 128. 
 
 Lippencut (Lippincott), Captain, 
 II: 146. 
 
 Livingston, Chancellor Robert R., 
 II : 212, 280. 
 
 Livingston, Gov. William (of N. J.) , 
 1 : 292. 
 
 Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot, 
 stones, I: 71, 73, 95- XI 3- I22 ' 
 130, 135, 143- T 47, i55. 1 59< 
 162, 169, 181, 184, 193, 195. 
 196, 203, 204, 233, 258, 281, 
 287, 292, 302, 306, 324, 329, 
 335. 345- II: 12,39,42, 44- 7 1 - 
 90, 92, 94, 103, 104, 117, 121, 
 127, 145, 148, 156, 164, 168, 
 170, 173, 181, 184, 193, i9 8 > 
 200, 203. 
 
 Logstown, Indian village on the 
 
 Ohio, I: 83-5, 97-9, 103-5. 
 "London Chronicle," newspaper; 
 
 I: 250. Story, II: 152. 
 Long Island, see Battles, also, I: 
 
 287, 289, 290, 314, 344. II: 
 
 129. 
 Lossing, Benson J., LL.D., stories, 
 
 etc., I: 7, 14, 16, 17, 19, 264. 
 
 II: 16, 114, 163, 239, 241, 
 
 243- 245- 
 
 Loudon, Lord, I: 143. 
 Louisburg captured, I: 41. 
 "Lowland Beauty," who? I: 77-8. 
 
 M 
 Mabic, Hamilton Wright, editor, 
 
 stones, II: 271, 286, 290, 294, 
 
 308. 
 MacKinnon, of Coldstream Guards, 
 
 story, II: 101. 
 Marblehead fishermen (company 
 
 of), I: 236, 279, 290. 
 Marquette, Pere, I: 77. 
 Marshall, John, Chief Justice, I: 
 
 339. Stories, II: 79, 109; 
 
 W. 's laughter, 173-4- 
 Marye, Rev. James, I: 49-5, 54~5- 
 " Mary landers, " Smallwood's 
 
 (troop), I: 266. 
 Mason, George, I: 69, 179. 
 McMaster, John Bach, II: 325-6. 
 Meade, Bishop of Va., letter, I: 61. 
 Mercer, Gen. George, I: 184, 320, 
 
 322. 
 
 Mesmer, Friedrich Anton, II: 185. 
 Miami, river, village and Indians, 
 
 I: 83,85,97. 
 Mimin, Gen. Thomas, I: 260, 279, 
 
 282-3, 292. II: 40, 166-7. 
 Miller, Peter, II: 32-4. 
 Mingo Indians, I: 84, 104, 117, 126. 
 Mischianza, the, II: 36-7. 
 Mitchell, S. Weir, M.D., LL.D,
 
 348 
 
 INDEX 
 
 stories, I: 34, 41, 44, 46, 50, 66, 
 
 70, 73, 80, 98. 200, 202, 203, 
 
 221, 331. II: 29, 96, 125, 128, 
 
 162. 
 "Molly," "Captain," of Mon- 
 
 mouth, II: 57-60. 
 Moneami, see Miami. 
 Monmouth , see Battles, also 1 : 301. 
 
 II: 50-64, 76. 
 Monongahela, river and region, I: 
 
 1023, JI 9i I2I i I2 3> *47> 189. 
 
 II: 181-3. 
 Monroe, James, I: 18, 311. II: 
 
 290, 311. 
 
 Montagnie, Rev. Mr., II: 113-14. 
 Montgomery, D. H., stones, I: 279, 
 
 319. II: 197. 
 Montgomery, Gen. Richard, I: 208, 
 
 23 8 . 243- 
 Moore, George H., stories, I: 276. 
 
 II: 65. 
 Morgan, Gen. Daniel, I: 225, 236. 
 
 II : 59, 104, 1 16. 
 Morris, Gouverneur, II: 46-7, 67, 
 
 70. 
 Morris, Robert, I: 201,260-3,316- 
 
 J 9- 332-3- II: 114, 135, 177, 
 
 202, 249-52, 276. 
 
 Morristown, N. J., headquarters, 
 1:323,326,328-9. II: 22,113, 
 248. 
 
 Mount Vernon, I: vii-ix, 43, 60, 67, 
 69, 78, 86, 93-5, 135, 140-1, 
 152-3, 161, 168-86, 196-7, 
 204, 2ir 12. II: 117, 120, 
 130, 141, 16994, 198, 217, 
 
 220, 224, 243, 245, 249, 254, 
 268, 282, 288-321. 
 
 Moustier, Count de, II: 280. 
 Murphy, Thos. D., story, I: 9. 
 Muse, Adjutant (Colonel), I: 86, 
 
 170. 
 
 Musgrave, Colonel, I: 339-41. 
 Muskingum, Indian, village, I: 84. 
 
 Napoleon, contrasted with W., I: 
 
 v; compared, 219. II: 322. 
 Nash, General, I: 343-4. 
 "National Intelligencer," story, 
 
 II: 253. 
 Nations, Five (Six), the, I: 77, 97, 
 
 118. 
 
 Needham, see Fort Needham. 
 Nelson, secretary, II: 237, 253. 
 Nelson, war-horse, II: 130, 191. 
 Newburg, headquarters, II: 143, 
 
 150, 159-60. 
 
 Newport, R. I., I: 302. 11:68, in. 
 Niagara, town and fort, I: 85. 
 Nicola, Colonel, II: 147-8. 
 Norfolk, Va., I: 238,257. II: in. 
 Norman ancestors of W., 1 : 1-3. 
 North, Lord Frederick, I: 227, 230. 
 
 II: 19, 62-3, 136-8, 328. 
 "Northern Neck," Va., I: 12, 76. 
 
 Oglethorpe, James Edward, Ga., I: 
 41. 
 
 O'Hara, General, II: 127-8. 
 
 Ohio Company, the, I: 7<. 94, 97, 
 103, 114, 
 
 Ohio, river and region, I' 77, 94, 
 97-9, 102, 108, 114, 7.6, 133, 
 166. II: 275. 
 
 "Old South Leaflets," fi st In- 
 augural, II: 214-15. 
 
 Orders, W.'s, I: 275. II: "0-31. 
 
 Oswald, British commissioner, II: 
 
 I5L T 53- 
 Otis, James, I: 199. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, I: 274, 314 
 Peale, Charles Willson, II : 323. 
 Penn, William, and his descendants, 
 I: 151.
 
 INDEX 
 
 349 
 
 "Pennsylvania Gazette," the, I: 
 151, 260. 
 
 "Pennsylvania Journal," the, two 
 accounts, I: 269-70. 
 
 Peter, negro slave, I: 33,41,45,93. 
 
 Peterson, Henry; stories, II: 75, 99. 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., I: 20, 159, 197, 
 203, 208, 214, 217, 259-66, 
 271, 289, 302, 307-9, 317-19, 
 322, 326, 332, 337, 341. II: 
 12, 16, 20, 317, 47, 60, 62, 
 76, 84, 86, 87, 91, 1056, 114, 
 119, 134, 141, 144, 15. T 53. 
 163-4, 177, 199, 200, 201-3, 
 217, 234-5, 248, 249-59, 301, 
 306. 
 
 Philipse, Mary, I: 159; W.'s letter 
 to mother, 293-4. 
 
 Pickering, Colonel, I: 294. 
 
 "Pine Grove" see "Ferry Farm", 
 opp. Fredericksburg, I: 35,46. 
 
 Piqua, O., Indian village, I: 85. 
 
 Pitt, William ("the Elder"), Earl 
 of Chatham, I: 161-2, 208, 
 229. II: 15-16,36,63,139. 
 
 Pitt, William ("the Younger"), 
 II: 137- 
 
 Pittsburg (Fort Pitt), I: 83, 138. 
 
 Pohick Church, near Mount Ver- 
 non, 1 : 21, 179. 
 
 Political Parties, first, II: 254-5, 
 
 39- 
 
 Pontiac War, I: 186. 
 
 Pope, Anne, W.'s great-grand- 
 mother, I: 12. 
 
 Pope's Creek, Va., I: 18, 20, 45. 
 
 Population of States in 1775, 1:215. 
 
 Port Bill, I: 192, 210. 
 
 Porto Bello, I: 39, 60. 
 
 Potomac River, I: 12, 18, 20, 29, 
 45, 60, 127, 171. II: 117, 
 169, 190, 1934, 281, 291, 
 326. 
 
 Prescott, Gen. William, I: 208, 290. 
 
 "President's Palace" (the White 
 House), I: v. II: 262, 290-1. 
 
 Presque Isle (Erie), Pa., I: 117. 
 
 Primus, negro servant, I: 294-5. 
 
 Princeton, N. J., see Battles, also I: 
 301, 311, 319-26, 328. II: 
 22, 132, 153. 
 
 Proclamation. W.'s in N. J., I: 324^ 
 k . 5; the Howes', 325-6. 
 
 Pulaski, Count Casimir, I: 337-8. 
 
 Putnam, Gen. Israel, I: 208, 215, 
 222, 235, 242-3, 248, 252-3, 
 278, 280, 283, 326. II: 13, 248. 
 
 Quadrille, dance introduced by 
 
 Frenchofficers.il: 745. 
 Quakers, J: 8r. II: 74. 
 Quebec captured, I: 167. 
 
 Rahl (Rail), Gen., Hessian com- 
 mander, I: 310-12. 
 Ramapo Pass, II: 113-14. 
 Randolph, Edmund, II: 199, 216, 
 
 255- 
 
 Randolph, Peyton, I: 201, 221. 
 Rappahannock, river, I: 12, 14, 
 
 20,31, 43.48, 171- H : 294- 
 Reed, Col. Joseph (secretary), I: 
 
 239, 241, 282, 292-3, 298-300. 
 
 II: 71. 
 Reed, President Pa. Legislature, 
 
 II: 75, 82, 106. 
 Resigning his (W.'s) cornmission, 
 
 II: 166-7. 
 Robinson, Colonel, tory, II: 89- 
 
 90. 
 Robinson, W. S., lines on W., II: 
 
 168. 
 Rochambeau, Count de, II: 88-9, 
 
 103, 115, 120, 133, 148, 171. 
 Rockingham, Marquis of, I: 229. 
 
 II: 138-
 
 INDEX 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, stories, II: 
 
 in, 279. 
 Ross, Mrs. Elizabeth ("Betsy"), 
 
 I: 260-3. 
 
 Ross, Col. George, I: 261-3. 
 Rouzy, Reuben, II: 256. 
 "Rules of Civility and Behaviour, " 
 
 I: 40, 54-8; (47 of the no 
 
 "Rules"), 55-8. 
 Rush, Richard, story, II: 267. 
 Rutledge, Edward, I: 265, 275. 
 
 Saratoga, see Battles, also II: 22, 
 
 62. 
 
 Savannah, Ga., II: 76. 
 Sayings of Washington, II: 330-7. 
 Scammel, Adjt.-Gen., II: 99, 124. 
 Schauffler, Robert Haven, stories, 
 
 I: 295, II: 129, 177, 289, 293. 
 Schuyler, Gen. Philip, I: 208, 217, 
 
 218, 223, 259, 306. II: 13- 
 
 14, 87, 152, 322. 
 Scudder, Horace E., stories, I: 176, 
 
 179, 191, 198, 218. II: 25, 
 
 47, 85, 221, 225. 
 Seawell, Molly Elliot, stories, I: 
 
 6 5- 94, 99- 
 
 Seelye, Mrs. Elizabeth Eggleston, 
 story, I: 21. 
 
 Selections from Washington's let- 
 ters, speeches, etc. ("Words 
 of Washington"), II: 330-7. 
 
 Shannoah Indians, I: 104-5. 
 
 Shannopih (town), Indian village, 
 I: 83, 109. 
 
 Shawnee Indians, I: 85. 
 
 Shays's Rebellion, II: 1978, 248. 
 
 Shelburne, Lord, II: 150-1. 
 
 Shenandoah, river and valley, 1:72, 
 74, 101, 160. II: 64, 182, 308. 
 
 Shingiss, Delaware chief, I: 103. 
 
 Shirley, Gen. William, I: 157, 159- 
 60. 
 
 Shuldham, Admiral, I: 249, 252. 
 Six Nations, see Five Nations. 
 Smillpot, W. ill with, I: 90. 
 Smith, Nora Archibald, stories, I: 
 
 30, 161. 
 Sparks, Rev. Dr. Jared, I: vi. II: 
 
 322. 
 
 "Spectator" the, I: 67. 
 Speech belts (wampum), I: 105, 
 
 117-19. 
 Spottswood, Alexander, Gov. of 
 
 Va., I: 14, 49. 
 Stamp Act, the, I: 186-7, ~ 2I 3' 
 
 228-9. II: 173. 
 Stark, Gen. John, I: 208, 215. 
 St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, I: 308. 
 
 II: 106, 2612, 2637. 
 Stephen, Gen. Adam, I: 338. 
 Steuben, Baron Frederick William, 
 
 II: 34, 45- 52-3, 7 ' 1 . 2 79- 
 Stirling, Lord, I: 269. II: 152. 
 Stobo, Capt. Robert, I: 133, 136 
 
 7, 141. 
 Stony Point, see Battles, also II: 
 
 77-81,86, 105, 125, 152. 
 St. Pierre, Chevalier Legardeur de, 
 
 I: 107-8, 1 1 1-12. 
 Strahan, William, I: 214. 
 Stuart, Gilbert, I: 70. II: 279, 
 
 289, 323. 
 
 "Sugar House," the, II: 113. 
 Sulgrave, "Washington Manor," 
 
 I: 7-9- 
 Sullivan, Gen. John, I: 236, 280, 
 
 306, 309-11, 331, 333-4, 342. 
 
 II: 68, 176. 
 Surveying, W.'s, I: 46, 49, 65, 67, 
 
 69, 70, 71-6, 77, 79-80. 
 Sutherland, Canon R. G., verse, II: 
 
 35- 
 
 Tables of Events, 1732 to 1752, I: 
 41; 1750 to 1760, 167; 1760 to
 
 i77i 186; 1770 to 1775, 210; 
 177,6, 314. 1777, II: 22; 1778, 
 76; 1779, 86; 1780, 101; 1781 
 to 1783, 168; 1786 to 1790, 
 248; 1790 to 1800, 309. 
 
 Taft, William Howard, President, 
 I: 181. 
 
 "Talisman" (magazine), story, II: 
 280. 
 
 Tanacharisson, "the Half-King" 
 (Seneca chief), I: 83, 97, 103- 
 5 ; ( W. calls him Scruneyattha), 
 117-20; 125-8, 132-3, 138. 
 
 Tarleton, Col. Banastre, II: 117- 
 18, 133-4- 
 
 Tax on tea, paper, paint and glass, 
 I: 186, 2to. 
 
 "Taa Party," Boston, I: 210, 213. 
 
 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 
 stories, I: 138. II: 167-8. 
 
 Thomas, Gen. John, I: 246, 248. 
 
 Thomson, Charles, I: 210. II: 134. 
 
 Thornton, Doctor, II: 318-20. 
 
 Ticonderoga, Fort, I: 210, 237, see 
 Battles, and Fort. 
 
 Tilghman, Col. Tench, secretary, I: 
 288. II: no, 124, 134. 
 
 Tomlinson, Everett, stories, I: 
 207, 216, 225, 266, 286, 298, 
 
 301. 3"- 
 
 Toner, J. M., M.D., W.'s diaries, 
 First Journal, I: 76; Barba- 
 does, 90; to Ohio, no; Jour- 
 nal of 1754, 120; Ft. Necessity, 
 
 133- 
 
 Tories (Loyalists), I: 232, 243, 
 249-52, 257-8, 267-70, 274, 
 304, 310. II: 31, 73, 89, 101, 
 104, 128, 145-7. 
 
 Townshend, Charles, I: 229-30. 
 
 Treaty, Utrecht, I: 114; French 
 and Indian War, 186. Revo- 
 lution, II: 150, 152-6, 156-8, 
 161, 168; Jay, 278-9, 309. 
 
 Trent, Capt. William, I: 97, 114, 
 
 Il6I7, I2O, 122, 137. 
 
 Trenton, see Battles, also I: 301, 
 
 35> 307, 39- I 9. 32!-2. 32 6 - 
 
 II: 210. 
 Trumbull, Jonathan, Gov. of Ct., 
 
 I: 222. 
 Tryon, William, British Gov. of 
 
 N. Y., I: 232, 243, 267. II: 73. 
 Twightwees, Indians, I: 83. 
 Tyler, Wat, I: 4-6. 
 
 U 
 
 United Colonies of North America, 
 I: 206; flag, 239-41. 
 
 United States of America, govern- 
 ment organized, II: 20927. 
 
 United States Bank, II: 309. 
 
 United States Mint, II: 309. 
 
 Utrecht, Treaty of, see Treaty. 
 
 Valley Forge, I: vii. II: 22-37, 
 82, 139, 174, 327. 
 
 Van Braam, Jacob, I: 86, 100-9, 
 116, 133, II: 175-6. 
 
 Venango, village, river and region, 
 I: 102, 105, 117. 
 
 Vergennes, Count Charles Gravier 
 de, I: 345. II: 146. 
 
 Vernon, Admiral Edward, I: 35, 
 39, 60, 62, 64. II: 194. 
 
 "Ville de Paris," French man-of- 
 war, II: 120 i. 
 
 Villier, Capt. Coulon de, I: 131, 
 
 133- 
 
 Virginia, neighbors' views of W., I: 
 v; arrival of W.'s ancestors in, 
 12; no free schools in, 15; 
 schools, 31-3; instruction, 38; 
 aristocracy of, 43 ; education, 
 50 ; fondness for horses, 5 1 ; 
 sea less, favored in, 65; sur- 
 veying not considered "gentle-
 
 INDEX 
 
 manly," 67; fox-hunting in, 
 68; bad roads, 72; interest in 
 Ohio region, 77; settled, 81; 
 war spirit, 85; belles, 95; dis- 
 turbed by French, 97; hubbub 
 in, 114; storm raised in, 138; 
 troops with Braddock, 147, 
 149-50; belief in Col. W., 153; 
 frontier ravaged, 159; planta- 
 tion in, 174-6; general con- 
 vention, 194; army of, 198; 
 ancestry and spirit, 222, 257. 
 Invasion by Arnold, II: 116; 
 W. a distinguished citizen of, 
 170; like a tonic, 171; to 
 American, 172-3; "old-fash- 
 ioned fox-hunt," 177; Lafay- 
 ettes become citizens of, 185 ; 
 would not have re-elected W., 
 389; "Mother of Presidents," 
 290. 
 Volney, C., Frenchman, II: 260. 
 
 W 
 
 Waggoner, Captain, I: 126, 149. 
 "Wake field," W.'s birthplace, I: 
 
 20, 45, 49. 
 
 Walpole, Horace, I: 130. 
 Ward, Ensign, I: 117-18. 
 Ward, Gen. Artemas, I: 205-8, 
 
 222, 253. 
 
 Warren, James, II: 72. 
 Washington, Augustine, W.'s 
 
 father, I: 13, 16-18, 20, 41, 58. 
 Washington, Augustine ( ' ' Austin' ') , 
 
 W.'s half-brother, I: 13, 18, 
 
 20, 32, 45, 49, 50. 
 
 Washington, "Betty," see Wash- 
 ington, Elizabeth. 
 Washington, Bushrod, W.'s nephew, 
 
 I: viii. II: 174,177,182,317, 
 
 320. 
 Washington, Butler, infant son of 
 
 Augustine and Jane, I: 16. 
 
 Washington, Charles, W.'s brother, 
 I: 13, 46. 
 
 Washington, Elizabeth (sister 
 "Betty,") married to Fielding 
 Lewis, I: 13, 46. II: 171, 186, 
 188, 244. 
 
 Washington, George, born in Eng- 
 .land, 1608, I: 7. 
 
 Washington, George, "true," I: i; 
 boy, ii; hatchet story, iii; love 
 of truth, iii, iv; fondness for 
 tea, iv; for women, iv; shy- 
 ness, iv; false stories about, iv; 
 unsavory tales about, iv; Car- 
 lyle's opinion of, iv; British 
 views of, iv; teeth, v; neigh- 
 bors' opinion of, v; with David 
 Burns, vi; sense of humor, vii, 
 viii, disapproval of mother's 
 acts, vii; uncontrollable laugh- 
 ter, viii ; hospitality, viii ; brings 
 hot tea to guest at night, 
 viii, ix; the real man, ix; 
 diaries, ix; ancestry, 1-20; 
 sends (1792) genealogical table 
 to London, 16; birth of, 19; 
 "sin of selfishness," 22-3; 
 cherry-tree story, 23-6; lesson 
 of the plants, 26-8; throws 
 stone across the Rapphannock, 
 31; "Hobby's" school, 32-4;* 
 cousins at Choptank, 34; letter 
 to "Dickey," 36-8; father ' v 
 death, 41; life at "Ferry 
 Farm," 43; first fox-hunt, 44-, 
 at Mr. Williams's school, 45-6; 
 sports and exercises, 48; at 
 school in Fredericksburg, 50-8; 
 studies Latin, 50; not good 
 in spelling or grammar, 51; 
 "breaks" the sorrel colt, 513; 
 prevented from going to sea, 
 58-66 ; fox-hunting and sur- 
 veying, 66-70; facial expres-
 
 INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 sion at 16 and 65 compared, 
 70-1; attack of ague, 71; sur- 
 veying Fairfax estates, 71-6; 
 first journal, 74-6; describes 
 Indian war dance, 75-6; writes 
 love "poetry," 77-8; county 
 surveyor, 7980; lessons in 
 military tactics and broad- 
 sword, 86; goes with Lawrence 
 to Barbadoes, 87-91 ; journal 
 of Barbadoes, 87-90; sees play 
 of "George Barnwell, " 90; 
 suffers with smallpox, 90; 
 returns to Va., 91; inherits 
 Mount Vernon, 95 ; envoy to 
 Ohio country, 98-112; Indian 
 council at Logstown, 103-4; 
 on to Venango, 105; sups with 
 French there, 106-7; to fort 
 on French Creek, 107; starts 
 home, 1 08; narrowly escapes 
 shooting, 109; narrowly es- 
 capes drowning, no; delivers 
 French reply to Gov. of 
 Va., in; Col. Washington, 
 11516; journal of 1754, 116 
 20; his first battle, 124; de- 
 fends action, 125-8; Great 
 Meadows and Fort Necessity, 
 129-35; capitulates, 133; end 
 of first campaign, 137-8; 
 trouble with governor, 139-43; 
 Braddock's aide, 141-55; ill 
 with fever, 146; battle of Fort 
 Duquesne, 146-50; letter to 
 "Jack," 152-3; affected by 
 sufferings at Winchester, 153 
 5; goes to Boston, 156-9; calls 
 on Mary Philipse, 159; broken 
 in health, 161; pays court to 
 Mrs. Custis, 162-7 ; fal1 of Fort 
 Duquesne, 165-6; elected to 
 House of Burgesses, 166-7; 
 marriage, 168; a Va. planter, 
 
 168-86; aroused against Eng- 
 land, 187-204; "I will raise 
 1000 men," 195; delegate to 
 Continental Congresses, 193 
 208; elected commander-in- 
 chief, 2078; commission, 209- 
 10; letter to Mrs. W., 211; 
 leaves for Boston, 217; takes 
 command, 218-21; hospitality 
 222-3; superintends fortifica- 
 tions, 222-55; trials with re- 
 cruits, 22536; breaks up a 
 brawl, 236; searches for pow- 
 der, 231-7; raises flag of United 
 Colonies, 239-40; siege of Bos- 
 ton, 24254; occupies Dor- 
 chester Heights, 244-8; Brit- 
 ish evacuation, 24954; en- 
 ters Boston, 253-4; letter to 
 brother "Jack" 255-6; re- 
 moves to N. Y., 258 ; in Phila., 
 259-66; returns to N. Y., 266; 
 conspiracy to kill or kidnap 
 W., 267 70; announces the Dec- 
 laration, 272-3: order against 
 profanity, 275; declines to re- 
 ceive British letter, 2767; 
 John Adams's estimate, 277; 
 battle of Long Island, 278-80; 
 anger at Kip's Bay, 280-5; 
 action at White Plains, 286-7 ; 
 secretary Tilghman against 
 him, 288; weeps over loss of 
 Fort Washington, 29 1-2; let- 
 ter to Mary Philipse 's mother, 
 293-4; shares only blanket 
 with negro, 294-5; misjudged 
 by friends, 296-7; forwards 
 Lee's letter to Col. Reed, 298- 
 9; many trials in N. J., 301-2; 
 writes brother about Lee's 
 capture, 304-5; note to Cad- 
 walader, 307 ; crosses the Dela- 
 ware and takes Trenton, 309-
 
 354 
 
 INDEX 
 
 316; "intrusted with unlimited 
 power," 316; receives "hard 
 money" from Morris, 316-19; 
 battle of Princeton, 319-23; 
 proclamation about allegiance, 
 323-5; retires to Morristown, 
 326; has narrow escape, 331; 
 meets Kosciuszko, 330; weeps 
 because Morris has no more 
 money for soldiers, 332-3; 
 battle of Chad's Ford, Brandy- 
 wine, 333-6; dares Howe to 
 fight again, 337; battle of 
 Germantown, 33745. Hears 
 of Burgoyne's surrender, II: 
 1117; writes brother John A. 
 "(Jack"), 16-18; headquarters 
 at White Marsh, 20; letter to 
 Congress, 21; at Valley Forge, 
 2349; writes to Henry Lee, 
 27; orders arrest of insolent 
 officer, 28 ; three days from 
 Orderly Book, 29-31; par- 
 dons Michael Wittman, 33 ; 
 allows Steuben to drill troops, 
 34; prays in a grove, 35 ; replies 
 to Congress, 38; writes to 
 Gates, 40-3 ; to Laurens, 44-5 ;. 
 worries Gates, 45-6; Conway 
 apologizes, 47-8; writes Col. 
 Harrison, 49; battle of Mon- 
 mouth, 50-64; angry with 
 Chas. Lee, 52-5; writes to 
 him, 60-1 ; "did W. swear?" 
 64-5 ; attends Presbyterian 
 communion service, 65-6; 
 troubles of French Alliance, 
 67-73 1 writes many letters, 67- 
 73; at ball at Bush Hill, 73-5; 
 Congress discusses W.'s power, 
 76; writes of the worst trials 
 of the war, 82 ; letter to Lafay- 
 ette, 83; W.'s personal ap- 
 pearance described, 83-4; 
 
 humorous invitation to dinner, 
 84-5; "a wagon load of 
 money," 83; mildly repri- 
 mands Arnold, 88 ; writes 
 Rochambeau, 89; starts for 
 Hartford, 89; "whom can we 
 trust now? " 90-1 ; orders pur- 
 suit of Arnold, 91; declines to 
 interfere in Andre's case, 92; 
 writes about Arnold, 934; 
 ' ' remorseless Washington ! ' ' 
 100; chained in the North, 
 watching war in the South, 
 102-17; sends decoy letter, 
 11314; gives Clinton the slip, 
 114; writes to Lund W., 117; 
 visits Mount Vernon after six 
 years; 120; meets de Grasse 
 and surrounds Cornwallis, 121- 
 2; storming Yorktown, 123-5; 
 surrender of Cornwallis, 127; 
 dinner to officers, 1313; 
 beside "Jacky " Custis's death- 
 bed, adopts two children, 140 
 i; to Mount Vernon, 141; at 
 ball with his mother, 141-2; 
 to Philadelphia, 142-3; to 
 Newburg, N. Y., 143; writes 
 on state of affairs, 145; de- 
 mands Capt. Lippencut, 146; 
 "banish these thoughts from 
 your mind!" 147-8; on the 
 condition of the army, 149-50; 
 letter to Tilghman, 150-2; to 
 Greene, 153-4; to Hamilton. 
 155; to governors, 155-6; 
 news of the treaty of peace, 
 156-8; celebrations, 158; let- 
 ter to Lafayette, 159; to Gor- 
 don, 160 i; taking leave of 
 his officers, 161-3; renders his 
 account, 163; resigns his com- 
 mission, 164-8; at Mount Ver- 
 non, 169-95 ; invents a plough,
 
 INDEX 
 
 355 
 
 177; writes to Robert Morris, 
 178; on promoting the West, 
 178-81; visits the Kanawha 
 region, 181-3; on connecting 
 West with East, 183-4; a visit 
 from Lafayette, 184-7; con- 
 gratulates Chastellux, 189; 
 brings guest hot tea in the 
 night, 190; "parts with his 
 pack," 191; the Society of the 
 Cincinnati, 193; contract with 
 gardener, 194; Byron's tribute, 
 195; convention for Consti- 
 tution, 196-206; arrives at 
 Phila., 200; writes to Madi- 
 son, 200; president of conven- 
 tion, 201-3; letter to Hamil- 
 ton, 203-4; to Patrick Henry, 
 205-6; elected President, 208; 
 farewell to mother, 208-9; on 
 way to N. Y., 209-11; at 
 Trenton, 209-10; ovation in 
 N. Y., 210-11; inauguration, 
 21213; part of address, 214- 
 15; starting the government, 
 216-17; Supreme Court and 
 Congress, 21 9^20; Jefferson vs. 
 Hamilton, 221-3 ; good rule for 
 applicants, 224-5; the coun- 
 try's credit, 225-7; danger- 
 ously ill with anthrax, 227-8; 
 death of his mother, 229; visits 
 Boston, 230-4; note to Gov. 
 Hancock, 233; kisses a young 
 girl, and kicks a man down 
 stairs for kissing Mrs. W.'s 
 maid, 234-5 ; " Hail Columbia," 
 235; parts of his diary from 
 1789-91,236-45; "speeches" 
 and "messages" to Congress, 
 236-40; plans a national capi- 
 tal, 241-3; rests at Mount 
 Vernon, 243; visits "Betty" 
 at Fredericksburg, 244; recep- 
 
 tion at Charleston, S. C., 246; 
 returns to Philadelphia, 245; 
 writes to a poetess, 246; 
 his punctuality, 247; hearty 
 laughter, 248; letters about 
 removing to Philadelphia, 249- 
 52; receives key of the Bastile 
 from Lafayette, 253; first 
 party lines drawn, 254-5; for- 
 gives a debt, 256; fondness for 
 horses, 256-7; reproves stew- 
 ard's extravagance, 258-9; an 
 evasive introduction, 260; mos- 
 quito joke, 261; superintends 
 "President's Palace," 262-3; 
 wrath over St. Clair's defeat, 
 263-7; elected again, 268-9; 
 part of 2nd Inaugural, 269; the 
 scene described, 270-1; re- 
 proves Genet, 272; removes to 
 Germantown, 272-5; indigna- 
 tion at Freneau, 276-7; 10,000 
 people threaten to mob W., 2 67 ; 
 yields when feasible, 277-8; 
 Jay Treaty, 278-9; generosity 
 to Jefferson, 279; writes about 
 Fulton, 280-1 ; publishes Fare- 
 well Address, 283-4; many 
 farewells, 284-7 ; repairs at 
 Mount Vernon, 288; a good 
 neighbor, serving on jury, 288- 
 9; works "while others sleep," 
 289-90; deeply engaged with 
 Federal City, 290-1; remon- 
 strates with David Burns, 291- 
 2; remark about a niece, 293; 
 his physique, 294; what he 
 ate, how he dressed, etc., 295- 
 7; "jest and youthful jollity," 
 297-8; letter to Kosciuszko, 
 290; on love and marriage, 
 298-301; jokes about curiosity 
 and "graft," and about his 
 own death, 301-3; alone with
 
 3S 6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 wife at dinner first time in 
 twenty years, 303-4; writes 
 to Adams that he will still do 
 military duty, 304-6; prepares 
 for war with France, 306-7 ; 
 falls in mounting horse, 307-8 ; 
 writes to "Sally" Fairfax, 
 308-9; rides in snowstorm and 
 takes cold, 310; reads mail, 
 311; "let it go as it came," 
 311; last illness, 31116; last 
 words, 315-16; death, 316; 
 final arrangements, 316-19; 
 funeral, 319-20; buried with 
 Masonic rites, 320; "first in 
 war, first in peace, and first in 
 the hearts of his countrymen," 
 329. Words of Wisdom, 330-7. 
 
 Washington, George A., W.'s 
 nephew, II: 195. 
 
 Washington, Harriot, ni'.ce, II: 
 
 2 93- 
 Washington (Sir) Henry, time of 
 
 Charles I, I: TO-II. 
 Washington, Lieut .-Col. James, 
 
 killed at Pontefract Castle, 
 
 I: 10. 
 Washington, Jane, infant daughter 
 
 of Augustine and Jane, I: 16. 
 Washington, Jane Butler, first 
 
 wife of W.'s father, I: 13, 16, 
 
 20. 
 
 Washington, Col. John, W.'s great- 
 grandfather, I: 12-13. II: 
 
 I 93~4- 
 
 Washington, John Augustine, 
 ("Brother Jack"), I: 13, 152- 
 3, 198, 255. 
 
 Washington, Laurence (Lawrence), 
 in Henry VII I 's time, I: 4, 8. 
 
 Washington, Lawrence, W.'s great- 
 great-grandfather, I: 9, 12. 
 
 Washington, Rev. Lawrence, I: 
 
 II, 12. 
 
 Washington, Lawrence, W.'s grand- 
 father, II: 194. 
 
 Washington, Lawrence, W.'s half- 
 brother, I: 13, 18, 20, 32, 38- 
 9. 43-5. 5- 59-6o, 66, 69, 81- 
 95; president Ohio Co., 81-2; 
 secures military appointment 
 for George, 86; goes to Bar- 
 badoes, 8791; visits Bermu- 
 da, 91-93; death 93-4; 98, 
 169. II: 194. 
 
 Washington, Lawrence, W.'s cousin 
 at Choptank, Va., I: 34, 51. 
 
 Washington, Lund, W.'s nephew, 
 I: 294 II : 117. 
 
 Washington, Martha (Dandridge 
 Custis) W.'s wife, I: 168-9; 
 182,185,21112,237,259. II: 
 152, 178, 185, 188, 1901, 217- 
 19, 2201, 2367, 240, 249-52, 
 256-7, 265, 289, 295, 303, 310- 
 17. See also Custis, Mrs. 
 Daniel Parke. 
 
 Washington, Mary Ball, W.'s 
 mother, I: vi, 13, 20, 28-9, 
 4266, 314-16. II: 142, 171, 
 186-8, 208-09, 229. 
 
 Washington, Mildred, W.'s baby 
 sister, I: 13. 
 
 Washington, Robert, married 1565, 
 I: 7. 
 
 Washington, Samuel, W.'s brother, 
 
 !: *3. 37- 8 , 46. 
 Washington, Col. William, W.'s 
 
 cousin, II: 117-18,317. 
 Washington (Sir) William, with 
 
 Charles I, I: 9-10. 
 Washington (city 1 ), see Federal 
 
 City, Capital, National, II: 309. 
 Washington ( : s) Manor, Sulgrave, 
 
 England, I: 4, 7-9. 
 Wasshington, Wassington, forms of 
 
 family name, I: 4. 
 Waterloo, field of. I: 130.
 
 INDEX 
 
 357 
 
 Watson, Elkanah, II: 189-90. 
 Wat Tyler's Rebellion, I: 4-6. 
 Wayne, Gen. ("Mad") Anthony, 
 
 I: 334-5. 337- 339-41- II: 
 
 5L 53. 57, 59- 77-8i. 104-7, 
 
 152. 
 
 Webster, Noah, I: 218. . 
 Weems, Rev. Mason L. ("Parson"), 
 
 1: ii, iii, 21; stories, 23-25, 
 
 2628. II: 136; 260. 
 Weschington (Sir), William de, I: 3. 
 Weshington, William, I: 2. 
 Wessyngton, Bondo.DionisiaJohn, 
 
 Stephen, William, de, I: 2-4. 
 Westmoreland (county), Va., I: 
 
 13, 18, 45, 65, 86. 
 West Point, II: 90-1, 101. 
 Whartor, Anne Hollingsworth, 
 
 story, I: 163. 
 
 Whigs, I: 199. II: 101, 258. 
 Whipple, Commodore Abraham, I: 
 
 191-2, 210, 212-13. 
 Whipple, Edwin Percy, stories, I : 
 
 230. II: 329. 
 Whipple, Wayne, Introduction,!: 
 
 ix; stories, 61, 68, 77, 132; 
 
 corrections in translation, 133 ; 
 
 152, 170, 192, 213, 214, 235, 
 
 241, 263, 275, 277. II: 55, 
 
 6 9- 73. J 75. l8 7, l8 9. 2I 3. 26l 
 
 263, 278, 289, 291, 292, 303. 
 Whiskey Rebellion, II: 309. 
 White House, Washington, see 
 
 "President's Palace." 
 Whiting, Beverly, W.'s godfather, 
 
 I: 20. 
 
 White Marsh, Pa., II: 20. 
 White Plains, N. Y., see Battles, 
 
 also I: 290, 314. 
 
 White Thunder, Indian chief, I: 
 
 105, 108. 
 Wilkinson, Maj. James, I: 303-4, 
 
 306-8, II: 15, 41-2, 44. 
 William and Mary College, I: 80. 
 William the Conqueror, I: i. 
 Williams, W.'s schoolmaster, I: 
 
 45-6. 49. 65. 
 Williamsburg, Va., I: 13, 44, 98, 
 
 101, 135, 145, 154, 162, 164, 
 
 168-70. 
 Wills, Col. Byrd, Col. Harry, and 
 
 Lewis, I: 54. 
 Wills Creek (Fort Cumberland), 
 
 I: 83, 101-2, 121, 123, 131, 134. 
 Wilson, Woodrow, story, II : 171. 
 Winchester, Va., I: 101, 127, 153, 
 
 157- 
 Wingate, Mary, lines on W., II: 
 
 215. 
 
 Wister, Owen, story, I: 235. 
 Witherspoon, Doctor, II: 41. 
 Wittman, Michael, tory, II: 31-4. 
 Worcester, England, I: 10-12. 
 Wyandot Indians, I: 84. 
 Wyoming, Pa., Indian massacre, 
 
 II: 76. 
 
 "Yankee Doodle," I: 199. II: 130. 
 Yellow fever epidemic in 1793, 
 
 II: 272-5. 
 Yorktown, Va., II: 55, 113, 119 
 
 40, 144, 146, 154, 168, 170, 191. 
 Youghiogheny river and region, I: 
 
 no, 122. II: 181, 325. 
 "Young America, " I: iii. 
 "Youth's Companion," the, W.'s 
 
 book, I: 49.
 
 It is an agreeable duty, again, to acknowledge the liberality of the 
 publishers in granting permissions to use valuable materials concerning 
 Washington and his time. The pleasure of recording so many specific 
 courtesies is enhanced by the fact that their aggregate, as listed below, 
 constitutes a practical bibliography of the best in literature and art 
 pertaining to the Father of his Country. 
 
 First acknowledgments are accorded 
 
 To G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, for many excellent stories from their 
 great five-volume 
 
 Life of George Washington, by Washington Irving, which, though 
 written two generations ago, remains a standard biography, full of 
 authority, incident and anecdote. From it much of this Story-Life is 
 necessarily drawn; from that thoroughly patriotic biography, 
 
 The Life of George Washington Studied Anew, by Edward Everett 
 Hale, the author of "The Man without a Country;" for the privilege of 
 re-copying many letters and documents from the 
 
 Writings of Washington, Edited by Lawrence B. Evans, Ph.D.; for 
 a comprehensive selection from 
 
 George Washington, Patriot, Soldier, Statesman, by James A. Harrison; 
 one from 
 
 Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statesmen, by Elbert Hub- 
 bard; for two valuable excerpts from 
 
 The Winning of the West, by Theodore Roosevelt; and for the 
 privilege of reproducing numerous portraits and battle pictures from the 
 Putnam collection of steel-engravings of Washington and the Revolution. 
 
 Compiler and reader are deeply indebted 
 
 To HOUGHTON & MIFFLIN Co., for many frequent and copious 
 extracts from that judicial biography, 
 
 George Washington, by Henry Cabot Lodge, whose rare abilities in 
 research and presentation are evident in the many selections from his 
 painstaking work; for that dignified and authoritative book for young 
 people, 
 
 George Washington, an Historical Biography, by Horace E. Scudder; 
 as well as for that inimitable book for little children, 
 
 The Story Hour, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith ; 
 for several brilliant periods from a lecture by America's first critic and 
 litterateur, published in 
 
 (359)
 
 360 SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 Character and Characteristic Men, by Edwin Percy Whipple; and 
 several graphic descriptions of battles and forensic scenes from one of the 
 great works of a high authority in the philosophy of history, 
 
 The American Revolution, by John Fiske. 
 
 To THE CENTURY Co. many acknowledgments are due for uniform 
 courtesies, first, in allowing the use of excerpts from two widely different 
 works by a distinguished novelist and technical writer, which, though 
 treated lightly, are vividly accurate in careful details, a single word 
 revealing intimate sympathy and research, namely: 
 
 Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker, and 
 
 The Youth of Washington, Told in the Form of an Autobiography, both 
 by S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D.; for extracts from 
 
 Washington and the West, by Archer Butler Hulbert; for parts of 
 two comprehensive instalments entitled, 
 
 Washington at Mount Vernon after the Revolution, by Constance Gary 
 Harrison, in The Century Magazine; also for the privilege of reproducing 
 two superb illustrations from famous originals by Howard Pyle and Percy 
 Moran. 
 
 To HENRY HOLT & COMPANY, the readers and publishers of thi: 
 Story-Life are indebted for proffered selections from the graphic novel, 
 
 In the Shadow of the Lord, by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, of which Mary Ball, 
 Washington's mother, is the heroine, and for many sage and witty com- 
 ments from 
 
 George Washington, by John Habberton, best known, perhaps, as the 
 author of ' ' Helen's Babies, " yet whose editorial and critical writings are 
 eclipsed only by the popularity of his brilliant work in lighter vein. 
 Thanks are herewith tendered 
 
 To D. APPLETON & COMPANY, for a single selection from that 
 entertaining work for young people, 
 
 Tiie Story of Washington, by Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye ; for several 
 extracts from the breezy book, 
 
 The Boys of Greenway Court, by Hezekiah Butterworth, in which the 
 scene is laid around the forest retreat of Lord Fairfax, in the Shenandoah 
 Valley ; also for a number of thrilling stories from 
 
 On the Trail of Washington, by Frederick Trevor Hill, a recent book 
 with which no man or boy with the true sportsman spirit could help 
 being fascinated. 
 
 To HARPER & BROTHERS is accorded the gratitude of publishers 
 and writer for permission to quote numerous excerpts from 
 
 Mary and Martha, by Benson J. Lossing (copyright, 1886, by Har- 
 per & Brothers) ;
 
 SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 361 
 
 A Virginia Cavalier, by Molly Elliot Seawell (copyright, 1886, by 
 Harper & Brothers) ; one selection from 
 
 George Washington, by Woodrow Wilson (copyright, 1896, by Har- 
 per & Brothers) ; a vivid description of the disastrous battle at Fort 
 Duquesne, from 
 
 Old Times in the Colonies, by Charles Carleton Coffin (copyright, 
 1908, by Sallie R. Coffin) ; and a recently published, humorous 
 
 Letter to Colonel Bassett, from an editorial in 
 
 Harper's Weekly. 
 
 To J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, for numerous extracts from the biog- 
 raphy of one of the most painstaking of modern students of history, 
 
 The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford ; as well as from 
 that radical work entitled 
 
 The True Story of the American Revolution, by Sydney George Fisher, 
 who evidently believes in giving even th British their due. 
 
 To L. C. PAGE & COMPANY, for a story of several ancestral homes 
 of the Washingtons from that unusual book of travel, 
 In Unfamiliar England, by Thos. D. Murphy. 
 
 To THE AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY, for consent to the use of several 
 stories from 
 
 Four Great Americans, by James Baldwin, Ph.D., and 
 An American Book of Golden Deeds, by the same author. 
 
 To CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS for a selection from 
 Martha Washington, by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton. 
 
 To DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & Co., for their generous permission to copy 
 
 parts of 
 
 A Short History of the Revolution, by Everett Tomlinson, and from 
 Letters and Recollections of Washington, by Tobias Lear, the devoted 
 
 secretary who describes, minutely and effectively, the last hours of his 
 
 chief. 
 
 To HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY, for a number of connecting stories 
 from 
 
 The Story of the White House, 
 
 The Story of the American Flag, and 
 
 The Story of the Liberty Bell, by Wayne W hippie ; and for 
 
 American Character Illustrated* by Washington, in an effective book 
 entitled 
 
 Work and Habits, by Albert J. Beveridge. 
 
 To LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, for three brief extracts from 
 
 The Stars and Stripes, and Other American Flags, by Peleg D. Harrison.
 
 362 SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 To DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, for a graphic story from 
 Janice Meredith, by Paul Leicester Ford. 
 
 To MOFFAT & YARD COMPANY, for numerous pieces of prose and 
 poetry from 
 
 Washington's Birthday, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler. 
 
 To GINN & COMPANY, for several short selections from that brilliant 
 school authority, 
 
 The Leading Facts of American History, by D. H. Montgomery. 
 
 To LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD COMPANY, for a single story from 
 The True Story of George Washington, by Elbridge S. Brooks. 
 
 To THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, for vivid descriptions from 
 the spirited novel, entitled 
 
 Pemberton, by Henry Peterson. 
 
 To THE CYCLE PUBLISHING Co., for a selection from that ingenious 
 compilation entitled, 
 
 Washington Day by Day, by Elizabeth Bryant Johnston. 
 
 To THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY,' for assistance in tracing 
 copyrights ; 
 
 To JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, for numerous extracts from 
 Washington's First Journal; 
 The Diary of Washington's Journey to the Ohio; 
 The Journal of 1754; 
 
 The Journal of Washington's Visit to the Barbadoes, all carefully re- 
 produced, verbatim et literatim, by Joseph M. Toner, M.D. 
 
 To the successors, heirs and assigns 
 
 Of LAMSON, WOLFFE & Co., for extracts from 
 
 The Orderly Book of General Washington, at Valley Forge; 
 
 Of TAIT, SONS & COMPANY, for bright, gossipy extracts from 
 Stories and Sketches, by Grace Greenwood; 
 
 Of ALEXANDER BRADLEY, for many intimate relations from 
 Recollections of Washington, by George Washington Parke Custis, 
 the General 's adopted son; 
 
 Of JACOB ABBOTT, for one extract from his life of 
 George Washington; 
 
 Of GEORGE H. MOORE, for two selections from his pamphlet 
 entitled 
 
 Libels on Washington; 
 
 Of the publishers of the 
 
 Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women, by Evert A. Duyckinck;
 
 SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 363 
 
 Of the publishers of 
 
 Pictorial Life of George Washington, by J. Frost, LL.D., 
 The Diary of George Washington, from 1789 to 1791, Edited by Benson 
 J. Lossing; 
 
 Of the several publishers of 
 
 The Washington Story-Calendar, and 
 
 The Franklin Story-Calendar, by Wayne Whipple; 
 
 Of the publishers of 
 
 Anas, from 
 
 The Works of Thomas Jefferson; 
 
 The Life of Jeremiah Smith, Chief -Justice of New Hampshire; 
 
 The Life of James Sullivan, by T. C. Amory ; 
 
 Old Families of Virginia, by Bishop Meade; 
 
 Entertaining Anecdotes of Washington (Boston, 1833); 
 
 Old South Leaflets; 
 
 Alexandria (Va.) Gazette; 
 
 The Pennsylvania Gazette, Edited by Benjamin Franklin; 
 
 Aurora, Edited by his grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache; 
 
 The National Intelligencer; and 
 
 The London Chronicle. 
 
 To the English publishers of 
 
 The Young Folks' Life of Washington, by Mrs. Anna M. Hyde; 
 
 George Washington, the Expander ef England, by E. A. Freeman; 
 
 The Poems of Byron; 
 
 The Virginians, by William Makepeace Thackeray; and 
 
 Origin and Services of the Coldstr earn Guards, by Colonel MacKinnon. 
 
 Thanks are here expressed for innumerable personal courtesies 
 tendered during the years required to prepare this Story-Life for the press : 
 
 To Colonel THEODORE ROOSEVELT, for his kind consent to the quota- 
 tion of two extracts from 
 
 The Winning of the West; 
 
 To Senator HENRY CABOT LODGE, for personal interest and aid in 
 securing his publishers' permission to quote so largely from 
 
 George Washington, the great biography of the ' ' American Statesmen " 
 series ; 
 
 To Senator A. J. BEVERIDGE, for the use of the excerpts on Wash- 
 ington in his masterly brochure entitled 
 Work and Habits; 
 
 ToW. W. ELLSWORTH, of The Century Co., for suggestions as to 
 sources, and courtesies in the selection of illustrations;
 
 364 SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 To H. EARL WOODS, of Germantown, Pennsylvania, for the facsimile of 
 Washington's Account with the United States of America, from which 
 two pages are reproduced for the second volume of this work; 
 
 To JEAN L. GEROME FERRIS, for kindness in arranging for the repro- 
 duction, for the first time in a book, as the frontispiece of the second vol- 
 ume of this work, of his famous painting, "Washington's Last Farewell to 
 His Mother " ; 
 
 To THE GERLACH-BARKLOW Co., the great Art-Calendar publishers of 
 America, for permission to reproduce Mr. Ferris's beautiful picture; 
 
 To CHARLES S. BRADFORD, for artistic photographs of original 
 paintings and manuscripts published herein for the first time ; 
 
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 Germantown, Pennsylvania; 
 
 To the Librarian and Assistants of the FREE LIBRARY of PHILADEL- 
 DELPHIA, and of the GERMANTOWN BRANCH; 
 
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 PENNSYLVANIA, at Philadelphia, for the use of the great William Spohn 
 Baker Collection of Washington 'books and engravings; 
 
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 PHILADELPHIA; 
 
 To the Librarian and Assistants of the PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY 
 COMPANY; 
 
 To the Librarian and Assistants of the BOSTON ATHEN^UM, for the 
 privilege of working with the greatest Washington collection in the world; 
 
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 Gloucester, Massachusetts ; 
 
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 Massachusetts ; 
 
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 Maiden, Massachusetts; 
 
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 Massachusetts.
 
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