The True George Washington [10th Ed.] by Paul Leicester Ford

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[Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795]

The True George Washington

By
Paul Leicester Ford

Author of "The Honorable Peter Stirling"
Editor of "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson" and
"The Sayings of Poor Richard"

"That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I should
esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
perfection."

--_Washington_

"Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."

--_Shakespeare_

1896
BY
J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

_Tenth Edition_

Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
TO
WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,

IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION
OF
WASHINGTONIANA.

+Note+

In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to
make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the legends
of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the native
races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man gifted
with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in which
these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written form, their
origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the creation of a
mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the keen, practical
American of to-day should engage in the same process of hero-building
which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and others. By a slow
evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives of our greatest men
of the past all human faults and feelings; have enclosed their greatness
in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up a sign, "Do not touch."
Indeed, with such characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln we have
practically adopted the English maxim that "the king can do no wrong." In
place of men, limited by human limits, and influenced by human passions,
we have demi-gods, so stripped of human characteristics as to make us
question even whether they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and
deeds.

But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we have
gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the greatest
veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the view
expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man than
Washington, for the latter "couldn't tell a lie, while he could, but
wouldn't" We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in all
the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking down
Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. And so it
seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of humanity round
our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental in themselves, but
because they will make them examples, not mere idols.

If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a
man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been fulfilled.
In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as is possible,
been made to speak for himself, even though at times it has compelled the
sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own words would convey a
greater sense of the personality of the man. So, too, liberal drafts have
been made on the opinions and statements of his contemporaries; but,
unless the contrary is stated or is obvious, all quoted matter is from
Washington's own pen. It is with pleasure that the author adds that the
result of his study has only served to make Washington the greater to him.

The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of which
his "Writings of George Washington" is easily first in importance of all
works relating to the great American, but also for much manuscript
material which he has placed at the author's service. Hitherto unpublished
facts have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich
collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the Department
of State in Washington, and from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Frederick D.
Stone, of the latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I.--FAMILY RELATIONS

II.--PHYSIQUE

III.--EDUCATION

IV.--RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX

V.--FARMER AND PROPRIETOR

VI.--MASTER AND EMPLOYER

VII.--SOCIAL LIFE

VIII.--TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS

IX.--FRIENDS

X.--ENEMIES

XI.--SOLDIER

XII.--CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER

List of Illustrations with Notes

MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS

Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert)
Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington's adopted son. Her son
George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were made,
often spoke of the likeness as "almost perfect."

MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH,
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire
disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the present
century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since the above
tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been stolen,
leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the Washington arms.

BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS

Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original in
the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.

JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS

Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington,
Virginia.

MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS

From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson,
Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.

FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON

The lettering reads, "Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by Alex'r
Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act directs
9 Sept'r 1775 by C. Shepherd." It is the first engraved portrait of
Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity concerning the
new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original print in the
possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.

COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN'S COMPANION

The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which his
earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the
possession of the author.

LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX

Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From
original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of State.

PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE

From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.

PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS

Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been asserted
by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is a portrait
of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in error, as proof
exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before her second
marriage.

SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS

Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his
work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before
Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original in
the Department of State.

MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET

From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

FAMILY GROUP

Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in
1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F.
Havemeyer, of New York.

DINNER INVITATION

The official invitation while President, from the original in the
possession of the author.

DANCING AGREEMENT

This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original was
formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.

BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON

This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the
changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the
possession of the author.

SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD

Washington's birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his
father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in the
possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.

WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE

This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was
written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession of
Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.

MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON

By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G.W.
Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.

EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON

On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, "This
autograph of Genl. Washington's name is believed to be the earliest
specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 or 9 years
of age." This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom Washington's library
descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum.

RULES OF CIVILITY

First page of Washington's boyish transcript, written when he was about
thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
"Public Opinion," who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire
rules.

LIFE MASK BY HOUDON

Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania.

TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754

Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the
Lenox Library.

PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the
time Congress sat in that city, but Washington "wholly declined living in
any public building," and rented this house from Robert Morris. Though it
was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington several times
complained of being cramped.

THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON

I

FAMILY RELATIONS

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 attention," few Americans can prove a better pedigree.
The earliest of his forebears 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 filius"
(the intermediate class between sons of the nobility, "armigeri filius,"
and of the people, "plebeii filius"), 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 tippling there ... but hath oft been drunk,"--a charge
indignantly denied by the royalists, who asserted that he was a "worthy
Pious man, ... 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."

Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to the
sea, and in 1656 assisted "as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
Virginia." Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function he
commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and when his
great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, was called
by the Indians "Conotocarius," or "devourer of villages," the formidable
but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is supposed to have
been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among
the Indians eighty years before.

[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE
CHURCH]

Both John's son, Lawrence, and Lawrence's son, Augustine, describe
themselves in their wills as "gentlemen," and both intermarried with the
"gentry families" of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby School,
in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time, was
interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than
the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married,--which
marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his will as "several
Ventures,"--had ten children, and died in 1743, when George, his fifth
child and the first by his second "Venture," was a boy of eleven. The
father thus took little part in the life of the lad, and almost the only
mention of him by his son still extant is the one recorded in Washington's
round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to the effect that "Augustine
Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March 17-30/31.
Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye 12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49
Years."

The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by mere
length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten years
before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to the Balls
is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been lavished about the
relations between the two and her influence upon him, partakes of fiction
rather than of truth. After his father's death the boy passed most of his
time at the homes of his two elder brothers, and this was fortunate, for
they were educated men, of some colonial consequence, while his mother
lived in comparatively straitened circumstances, was illiterate and
untidy, and, moreover, if tradition is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her
course with the lad was blamed by a contemporary as "fond and unthinking,"
and this is borne out by such facts as can be gleaned, for when his
brothers wished to send him to sea she made "trifling objections," and
prevented his taking what they thought an advantageous opening; when the
brilliant offer of a position on Braddock's staff was tendered to
Washington, his mother, "alarmed at the report," hurried to Mount Vernon
and endeavored to prevent him from accepting it; still again, after
Braddock's defeat, she so wearied her son with pleas not to risk the
dangers of another campaign that Washington finally wrote her, "It would
reflect dishonor upon me to refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_
to give you greater uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command."
After he inherited Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each
other, though, when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually
stopped to see her for a few hours, or even for a night.

Though Washington always wrote to his mother as "Honored Madam," and
signed himself "your dutiful and aff. son," she none the less tried him
not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
father's estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
"a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days comfortable
and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own expence,
purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in
Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, her only
daughter,--and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes at a
certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her own
nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the
estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia
I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have directed my
steward to do the same." Furthermore, he gave her a phaeton, and when she
complained of her want of comfort he wrote her, "My house is at your
service, and [I] would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to
accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me to say, it will never
answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For in truth it may be
compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any strangers who are
going from north to south, or from south to north, do not spend a day or
two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant of it, oblige you to
do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to appear in company; 2d,
to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d to be as it were a prisoner
in your own chamber. The first you'ld not like; indeed, for a person at
your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like,
because those who resort here are, as I observed before, strangers and
people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not
be pleasing to either of us."

Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington
learned that complaints of hers that she "never lived soe poore in all my
life" were so well known that there was a project to grant her a pension.
The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense dislike to
taking even money earned from public coffers, and who refused everything
in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood. He at once wrote a
letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in which, after reciting
enough of what he had done for her to prove that she was under no
necessity of a pension,--"or, in other words, receiving charity from the
public,"--he continued, "But putting these things aside, which I could not
avoid mentioning in exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part;
confident I am that she has not a child that would not divide the last
sixpence to relieve her from real distress. This she has been repeatedly
assured of by me; and all of us, I am certain, would feel much hurt, at
having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her;
but in fact she has an ample income of her own. I lament accordingly that
your letter, which conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to
my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in
agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, or
in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and repealed
at my request."

Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that
she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned "on
good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all companies,
complaining ... of her wants and difficulties; and if not in direct terms,
at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a belief that times
are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes _her_ appear in an
unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are connected with her."
To save her feelings he did not express the "pain" he felt to her, but he
wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there was the slightest basis
in her complaints, and "see what is necessary to make her comfortable,"
for "while I have anything I will part with it to make her so;" but
begging him "at the same time ... to represent to her in delicate terms,
the impropriety of her complaints, and _acceptance_ of favors, even when
they are voluntarily offered, from any but relations." Though he did not
"touch upon this subject in a letter to her," he was enough fretted to end
the renting of her plantation, not because "I mean ... to withhold any aid
or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you
shall have part," but because "what I shall then give, I shall have credit
for," and not be "viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the
world as [an] unjust and undutiful son."

In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to
have "dressed," and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the "Old
Lady" and he had "a small battle every day." Once Washington was summoned
by an express to her bedside "to bid, as I was prepared to expect, the
last adieu to an honored parent," but it was a false alarm. Her health was
so bad, however, that just before he started to New York to be inaugurated
he rode to Fredericksburg, "and took a final leave of my mother, never
expecting to see her more," a surmise that proved correct.

Only Elizabeth--or "Betty"--of Washington's sisters grew to womanhood, and
it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that, disguised
with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between them was
scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at "Kenmore
House" on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a night, as did
the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while visiting there,
she wrote her brother, "Oh, when will that day arrive when we shall meet
again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,--till when, you have the prayers
and kind wishes for your health and happiness of your loving and sincerely
affectionate sister." Her husband died "much indebted," and from that time
her brother gave her occasional sums of money, and helped her in other
ways.

Her eldest son followed in his father's footsteps, and displeased
Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by conduct
concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:

"Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands 'till
yesterday. Altho' your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into
this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me,
entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that
you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house on
your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you what your
views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, originated
with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably will exist no
longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those who make the
most frequent applications to them. I am, &c."

[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)]

Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an
officer in his own "Life Guard." Of another he wrote, when President, to
his sister, "If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully
employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months
with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow him
at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is diligent in
discharging the duties of it from breakfast until dinner--Sundays
excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am particular in
declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may expect, that there
may be no disappointment, or false expectations on either side. He will
live in the family in the same manner his brother Robert did." This Robert
had been for some time one of his secretaries, and at another time was
employed as a rent-collector.

Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and
Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a home at
Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington's grandchild,
Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he made
arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in his will
named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this property, as
well as a portion of the residuary estate.

As already noted, much of Washington's early life was passed at the homes
of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived
respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed
consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to Barbadoes,
and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came the bequest of
Mount Vernon to "my loveing brother George." To Augustine, in the only
letter now extant, Washington wrote, "The pleasure of your company at
Mount Vernon always did, and always will afford me infinite satisfaction,"
and signed himself "your most affectionate brother." Surviving this
brother, he left handsome bequests to all his children.

Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two years,
though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He seems to have
had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five marriages, and by
(perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In 1781, Washington
wrote to another brother, "In God's name how did my brother Samuel get
himself so enormously in debt?" Very quickly requests for loans followed,
than which nothing was more irritating to Washington. Yet, though he
replied that it would be "very inconvenient" to him, his ledger shows that
at least two thousand dollars were advanced, and in a letter to this
brother, on the danger of borrowing at interest, Washington wrote, "I do
not make these observations on account of the money I purpose to lend you,
because all I shall require is that you return the net sum when in your
power, without interest." Better even than this, in his will Washington
discharged the debt.

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