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 Some Incidents in the Life of 
 
 Uastjingtnn, 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 JOSEPH I. KEEPER, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
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LIBSARYctCOVCTif.SS 
 Tvw) Copies Weceivefl 
 
 OUy 6 1906 
 
 CLASSr Cb XXc, No, 
 
 COPY 
 
 ,5 
 
 OALEHDAR. — The Gregorian amendment act of 
 the Italian calendar, was passed by England in 
 1751, and went into effect September 3, 1752, which 
 day by its provisions was recorded as the 14th, 
 to cancel the difference between the old and new 
 styles, and further transferred the beginning of 
 the new year from March 25 to January 1, begin- 
 ning in 1753. — Dictionary. 
 
 Entered according to act of Congress, 1906, by 
 Joseph I. Keefer, in the Office of the Librarian of 
 Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
GENERflU WASHINGTON. 
 
 The family name of Washington is derived from 
 a person orig-inally named William De Hertburn, 
 which was changed in the 13th century to that of 
 his manor called Washington, in Durham, Eng- 
 land. Their pedigree dates from Odiu, B. C. 70, 
 involving a period of eighteen centuries, including^ 
 to General Washington fifty-five generations, and 
 contains some illustrious names. His mother was 
 from an ancient and very distinguished family 
 also. The episode about the cherry tree took place 
 at Wakefield, and here the garden was laid out 
 with his name made in different colors of flowers. 
 He early developed a roving disposition and fond- 
 ness for out-door life and sports. Some of the 
 many things he did out of the ordinary before he 
 was thirteen, were throwing a stf ne across the 
 Rappahannock river; breaking in a blooded colt, 
 which dropped dead; also climbing up and cutting 
 his name above the rest on the side of the Natural 
 Bridge, Va. He rapidly took his place among the 
 men in sports and hunting, and although silent in 
 his manner, there was a pleasing something in his 
 face which made him a general favorite. Lord 
 Fairfax helped much to shape his earlier talents. 
 The onlv time he was ever out of the country was 
 when he accompanied his brother Lawrence to the 
 Barbadoe Islands for six months for their health. 
 
 Mary Ball, Washington's mother, was the 
 daughter of Col. Joseph Ball of Epping Forest, 
 Va., of which she was called the Bslle, and was 
 the only child of his second wife, Widow Johnson. 
 She grew to womanhood surrounded by all the 
 comforts and luxuries that the then earlier times 
 afforded. Among her company was Augustine 
 Washington, a neighbor, and to whom she took 
 a fancy, subsequently marrying him. After their 
 
2 Born at Wakefield. 
 
 marriag-e they went to Wakefield on the Potomac 
 river, where George wa.s born. The house caught 
 fire three years after from a bonfire started to 
 burn up the leaves, and was raised to the ground, 
 the cradle being among the things saved. 
 
 Mary Ball had six children of which George was 
 the eldest. After the fire they moved to another 
 plantation on the Rappahannock river, opposite 
 Fredericksburg. Here George Washington spent 
 his childhood days, learning to read, write and 
 cipher at a small school kept by the sexton. Hobby 
 
 A large stone with the following inscription is 
 all at Wakefield that marks his birthplace, which 
 reads: "Here the 11th of February, 1732, George 
 Washington was born." 
 
 Augustine Washington, George's half-brother» 
 by the first wife, lived at Bridges Creek and here 
 he made his home, going to school to Mr. Williams 
 until he was nearly sixteen years old. His other 
 half-brother, Ivawrence, went to England for his 
 education, upon returning was sent to the West 
 Indies. He soon returned, married Annie Fairfax, 
 and went to live upon a large tract of land owned 
 by him near Hunting Creek, to which he gave the 
 name of Mt. Vernon, after Admiral Vernon of 
 England, under whom he served in the navy. 
 
 Lawrence Washington built the first house at 
 Mt. Vernon, two stories high with a porch running 
 along the front, high above the Potomac river, 
 facing the Maryland fields and woods. A few 
 miles below Mt. Vernon lived William Fairfax, 
 whose daughter, Eawrence Washington married. 
 Their nearness to Mt. Vernon, made the visits of 
 George Washington frequent, and he partly made 
 his home there. Here he met George William 
 Fairfax who was six years older, and also Lord 
 Thomas Fairfax who v as at that time staying at 
 
Became a Surveyor. 3 
 
 Belvoir. Fairfax's mother had an immense prop- 
 erty in Virginia, nearly one-fifth of the State, 
 which King Charles the Second, had given her, lie 
 came to this country to settle it up, appointiii;,'- 
 William Fairfax his agent. 
 
 Neither did Lord Fairfax or his cousin William 
 know the bounds or extents of his lands, beyond 
 the Blue Rid^e mountains, and he therefore deter- 
 mined to have his property surveyed, and gave the 
 commission to George Washington who had just 
 passed his sixteenth birthday. George Washing- 
 ton and George William Fairfax set out accom- 
 panied by John Gist in March 1748, and after five 
 weeks in the wilderness crossed the Blue Ridge 
 at Ashby's Gap, entering the Shenandoah Valley 
 about twelve miles south of Winchester, where 
 Lord Fairfax had his home, the famous Greenway 
 Court. 
 
 It was this commission from Fairfax to survey 
 his lands which made the beginning of Washing- 
 ton's public life, and soon after brought him an 
 appointment from Governor Dinwiddie as public 
 surveyor. For three years he followed this pursuit 
 and laid out large tracts of land up and down the 
 Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Meanwhile, he 
 had his home at several places. He often went to 
 see his mother at Fredericksburg; lived with his 
 brother Lawrence at Mt. Vernon; was always a 
 welcome visitor at Belvoir; and when in the upper 
 country spent his time with Fairfax. 
 
 At this time, the country to the westward was a 
 wilderness, known as the Ohio Valley. Washing- 
 ton determined some time to get a look into this 
 section. In 1748 Thomas Lee formed the Ohio 
 Company with Augustine and Lawrence Wash- 
 ington and others, their object being to establish 
 trade between Maryland, Virginia and the Ohio. 
 
4 Death of General Braddock. 
 
 Virginia was then divided into military districts 
 and Washington was made adjutant-general ■for 
 the district which included Mt. Vernon, showing 
 himself so capable that he was again appointed 
 with the rank of major. In September 1751 he 
 accompanied Lawrence to the West Indies, who 
 shortly after died, making George executor of his 
 estate. 
 
 The French and Indians gave the Ohio Company 
 considerable trouble and in October 1753 Washing- 
 ton was sent to pacify them. 1754 he was made 
 lieutenant-colonel and marched against the enemy 
 under Colonel Fry, who dying in July, he took his 
 place as commander, overwhelming the hostiles at 
 Fort Necessity and Great Meadows, after which he 
 returned to Mt. Vernon. 1755 war again broke 
 out and he accompanied General Braddock, who 
 beiflg killed, Washington was given command of 
 the army, pushing the war to victory. 1758 he 
 retired from the army, seventeen years before the 
 War of Independence. 
 
 June 6, 1759 he married Mrs. Martha Custis, re- 
 tiring to Mt. Vernon until 1774, when he was sent 
 to the first Congress in Philadelphia. April 1775, 
 the battles of Lexington and Concord having been 
 fought, it became necessary to have a military 
 commander, Washington was given the position; 
 two days before the famous battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 Next to Mt. Vernon in interest is Newburgh- 
 on-the-Hudson, N. Y., where General Washington 
 had his Headquarters during the Revolutionary 
 period. Here he formulated many of his plans, 
 which made not only himself famous in history, 
 but added, Lafayette, Steuben, Wayne, Putnam, 
 Rochambeau, Greene and others. Also at the 
 Valley Forge Headquarters occurred some of the 
 memorable incidents of the War of Independence. 
 
Mt. Vernon Mansion. 
 
 Mt. Vernon the home ot General Washington, is 
 in Fairfax County, Va., on the Potomac river, 17 
 miles south of Washing-ton city. The Mansion 
 building- of which, is two stories and attic hig-h, 96 
 feet long-, and 30 feet wide.i The foundation was 
 started by Aug-ustine Washington, the General's 
 father, in 1736, and finished by his son Lawrence 
 in 1743. The land orig-inally belongfed to Colonel 
 John Washing-ton and Colonel Nicholas Spencer, 
 and was but little improved until the year 1690, 
 when by an order of the court of Stafford, John 
 Washington and George Brent were commissioned 
 to divide it between Ivawrence Washington and 
 the Spencer heirs. This division was made so that 
 each should have half of the river boundary, and 
 half of the back line, so that one creek would 
 belong- to one share, and the other creek to the 
 other. The part next to Epsewasson creek fell to 
 the Spencers, and the part next to Little Hunting- 
 Creek fell to Lawrence Washington, who dying 
 soon after, left his share of 2500 acres to his child 
 Mildred, who married Rodger Greg-ory. and they 
 in 1726 deeded the property to Captain Augustine 
 Washington, the General's father, who was a sea- 
 
6 Washington Married. 
 
 faring- man, and in 1725 owned a ship carrying 
 iron from this country to England and bringing 
 back convicts as settlers. In 1734 or 35, he came 
 up from Westmoreland to make improvements in 
 the upper Potomac grant, bringing his family 
 of five children, the sixth one Mildred, was born 
 at the new place. He settled at Doeg Bay, on 
 Epsewasson creek, constructing a grist and saw 
 mill, witli a nearby dwelling, and here the youth- 
 ful George, the hope afterwards of unborn millions, 
 passed several years of his life, until his father 
 built the middle and original part of Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Lawrence Washington died July 26, 1752, at the 
 age of 34. He married a Fairfax, and his picture 
 is in the Mansion; his remains are among those 
 in the family vault. His widow was well provided 
 for with lands, and afterward married Col George 
 Lee, uncle of Arthur and Richard Henry Lee of 
 Revolutionary fame. By Lawrence's will, the Mt. 
 Vernon estate was devised to his daughter Sarah, 
 with the provision that if she should die without 
 issue, it was to become the property of her nephew 
 George, which so transpired. She survived her 
 father but a short while, and he came into full pos- 
 session of it and its twenty-five hundred acres of 
 land, before he was twenty-one years of age. 
 
 Owing to Washington's military operations with 
 the colonists against the French and Indians on 
 the Ohio frontier at that time, he was compelled to 
 be absent from Mt. Vernon during the most of 
 seven years. After the fall of Fort Duquesne and 
 defeat of the combined enemies, the hostilities 
 ceased, and he returned. Soon afterwards, Jan. 6, 
 1759, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Mrs. 
 Martha Custis, the widow of Daniel Parke Custis. 
 
 Lawrence Washington was a man of correct 
 habits and good business qualifications, and with 
 
First House at Mt. Vernon. 7 
 
 his brother Aug-ustine was among^ the organizers 
 of the "Ohio Company," to encourage trade with 
 the Indians, explore the new Western country and 
 open up to settlements. He was never very strong 
 physically, and in 1751 he went to the Barbadoes 
 for his health, returning-, and died at Mt. Vernon.-— 
 
 The first structure at Mt. Vernon, which was 
 only the middle part, as we see it now, was plain 
 and simple, with only four rooms. Between tl)en 
 and 1786, the Mansion took on about its present 
 appearance. General Washington sent to En-land 
 for material and workmen, making- the improve- 
 ments, of which he was his own architect. The 
 interior of the house was unchang^ed, wing^s were 
 added to the exterior, and the remodelling- was 
 completed. The elevation of the building is 124 
 feet above tide water; built of the most substan- 
 tial frame-work, the weather covering- cut in like 
 imitation of stone. The piazza is fifteen feet deep, 
 extending along the entire eastern or river front, 
 supported by square columns twenty-five feet in 
 height, over which is a light balustrade, and in 
 the center of the roof is an observatory and spire. 
 There are seven high domer windows, three on 
 the eastern side, one on each end, and two on the 
 western or lawn side. 
 
 The ground floor contains six rooms, with the 
 old spacious hall in the center of the building, ex- 
 tending through it from east to west, and the stair- 
 •way. On the south side of the hall was the parlor, 
 library, and breakfast room, from which a narrow 
 stairway led to the study on the second floor. In'^V 
 this parlor, is one of the famous mantiepieces sent 
 to Washington by Lafayette, upon his return to 
 France. The other being in "Harewood," built 
 by Samuel Washington, at Charlestown, W. Va. 
 
 On the north side is the music room, parlor, and 
 
8 Famous Marble Mantel. 
 
 dancing' room, in which, when there was much 
 company, they were oftentimes entertained at 
 table. The principal feature of this room was the 
 larg-e mantelpiece from Italy, made of statuary and 
 Sienite marbles, presented in 1785 to the General, 
 by Samuel Vaughen, of L^ondon, having- upon its 
 freii;e, sculptured with a masterly hand in bas- 
 relief, prominent objects of ag-riculture and hus- 
 bandry-; presenting a beautiful, gay, and graceful 
 appearance. The interior of the new rooms were 
 finished to correspond with the old ones, and near 
 the Mansion connected by wide colonades on either 
 side, was a substantial kitchen and laundry, which 
 with other outlying buildings are still preserved. 
 Exact plans and dimensions of the Mansion have 
 been made, and are kept in case of destruction. 
 
 The Mansion on the west front has a very exten- 
 sive lawn, surrounded by serpentine walks, their 
 borders skirted in symmetry and beauty with the 
 choiest forest trees, which were transplanted from 
 the woods on the estate, with everg-reens, flowering 
 shrubs, and plants, all selected and cared for by 
 Washington. South of the lawn, and a consider- 
 able distance from the left wing- of the house, is 
 the veg-etable garden, opposite to which, on the 
 north of the lawn, about the same distance from 
 the rig-ht wing, are g-ardens and a conservatory for 
 ornamental shrubs, plants and flowers, which con- 
 tain many valuable species gathered from differ- 
 ent parts of the world by Washing-ton, horticulture 
 being one of his favorite pursuits. Also on the 
 south front were located the houses for the work- 
 ing people, seed and tool houses, and stables. 
 
 A.t the time of Washington's marriage, hardly 
 one-fourth of his land was under cultivation, and 
 only along the water courses had clearings been 
 made, original growth of oaks and walnuts cov- 
 
Washtncton as a Farmer. 
 
 ered the rest He with abundant means and oppor- 
 tunities at his command, g-ave to everything- his 
 practical and profjressive ideas. He not only en- 
 larged the dwelling place, but extended the limits 
 of the estate by purchasing the other 2500 acres of 
 the Spencer tract, and more adjoining properties, 
 including Clifton Neck and its 2000 acres, until his 
 domain included over 8000 acres, with ten miles of 
 river fronting. Washington made many improve- 
 ments in farm arrangements and crop cultivation, 
 which demonstrated to all who witnessed the fine 
 results, that he was a sensible and thrifty farmer. 
 He drained the grounds, adopted the plan of rota- 
 ting crops, procured the best agricultural tools, 
 planted and sowed the best seeds, erected comfort- 
 able shelters for his overseers and hands, had his 
 home smithy and wagon shops for the repair of 
 all tools, carts and wagons; his carpenters for 
 building and repairing the buildings and fences; 
 had his grist-mill, his huntsman for wild game, 
 and his fisherman for supplying everybody on the 
 premises with fish of the finest catch of the river. 
 Washington had an inventive turn of mind, and 
 was always devising some new method for lessen- 
 
TO Washington's Coach. 
 
 ing: the labor on his estate, and improved many of 
 the implements then in use. He built a circular 
 or six-sided barn, of brick and frame, sixty feet in 
 diameter, two stories high, which was a marvel 
 for those days. The threshing -out floor was in 
 the second story, the oxen and horses were taken 
 up an inclined plane. The floor was of open slats, 
 so that the grain might fall through to the floor 
 below. He afterwards constructed a device that 
 was worked by horse-power, in which the heads 
 of the wheat-sheaves were held on a rapidly re- 
 volving table and the grain beaten out. This was 
 probably one of the first steps towards the power 
 thresher which has reached the success of today. 
 
 Washington's coach was made in England, in 
 1789, the body and wheels were cream color, with 
 gilt relief, which was then very fashionable, and 
 was suspended upon the old-fashioned heavy, 
 leather straps, like those of the bygone stage 
 coaches. The sides and front were shaded by 
 green Venetian blinds, enclosed by black leather, 
 and the Washington arms with the characteristic 
 motto, were painted upon the doors — The result 
 proves actions — " Exitus, acta probat." Upon 
 each of the four panels of the coach was a picture 
 of the four seasons. Usually, the General drove 
 only four horses, but on going from Mt. Vernon 
 to the seat of Government, at Philadelphia or New 
 York, or when he and Mrs. Washington paid an 
 occasional visit to Annapolis, to partake of the 
 gaiety which prevailed there during the session of 
 the legislature, he drove six horses. 
 
 Daily about sunrise General Washington inva- 
 riably visited and inspected his stables, for he was 
 very fond of horses, and his equipments were 
 always of a superior ordejrTN The horses which he 
 rode in the war of Independence, were said to have 
 
Favorite Horse Nelson. ii 
 
 been superb, The charg'er which bore him in the 
 greatest of his triumphs, the battle of Yorktown, 
 Va. when he received the sword of the vanquished 
 Lord Cornwallis, on the memorable 19th of Octo- 
 ber, 1781, was a chestnut one, with white face and 
 legs, and named Nelson, after the patriotic gov- 
 ernor of Virginia. After the battle, Washington 
 relinquished its back, and it was never mounted 
 again, but cropped the herbage in summer, was 
 housed and well cared for in winter, often caressed 
 by visitors and otl.ers, and died of old age at Mt. 
 Vernon, many years after the Revolution. 
 
 His library, and visit to the stables, occupied 
 the morning until tlie hour of breakfast, whicli 
 meal was without change to him, Indian cakes and 
 honey, and tea, forming this simple repast. On 
 arising from table if there were guests, books and 
 papers were offered them for their amusement, they 
 were requested to take good care of themselves, 
 and the illustrious farmer Washington, proceeded 
 on the daily tour of his agricultural concerns. Ho 
 rode upon his farms entirely unattended, opening 
 the gates, pulling down and putting up the fences 
 as he passed, visiting his laborers at their work, 
 inspecting all the operations of his extensive agri- 
 cultural establishments with a careful eye, direct- 
 ing new improvements, and superintending them 
 in their progress. The tour of the farms would 
 average from ten to twenty miles per day. 
 
 Col. Meade, one of his aide-de-camps in the war 
 of the Revolution, afterwards called at the Man- 
 sion House to see him, and was told he had gone 
 to visit his estate, describing him " as an old gen- 
 tleman riding alone, in plain drab clothes, a broad 
 brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his hand, 
 and carrying an umbrella with a long staff, which 
 is attached to his saddle-bow — that personage, sir, 
 
12 Washington on Sunday. 
 
 is General Washington." The stranger laugh- 
 ingly remarked, "tl.at if he fell in with the Gen- 
 eral, he would be rather apt to know hitn." They 
 met all right, and Col. Meade dined at Mt. Vernon. 
 This umbrella was used by him to protect his face 
 from the raj's of the sun, his complexion being fair. 
 He returned from his ride, at a quarter to three, 
 dressed and took his dinner, at which meal he ate 
 l)lentif ull)', not being so particular in his diet. He 
 was fond of fish, and usually ate heartily of tliat 
 dish, partook sparingly of dessert, drank a home- 
 made beverage, and several glasses of Maderia 
 wine. With old-fashioned courtesy he drank to 
 the health of every person present, and gave his 
 only toast, " all our friends." The afternoon was 
 usually devoted to the library, and at night he 
 would join his family and friends at the tea-table, 
 took no supper, and regularly at nine he retired. 
 When there was no company, he frequently read 
 to his family extracts from publications of the daj'; 
 on Sunday, sermons and other sacred writings. In 
 winter when the weather prevented him taking 
 his usual exercise, he was in the habit of walking 
 for an hour on the portico, before retiring to rest. 
 As the eastern portico is more than ninety feet in 
 length, this walk would comprise several miles. 
 Thus, in the varied routine of useful industry, and 
 temperate enjoyments, sped the latter days of Gen- 
 eral Washington, resting from his mighty labors, 
 amid the quiet and retirement of Mt. Vernon. He 
 was partial to children, their playfulness appeared 
 to please him, and many are the parents who re- 
 joiced that his hands had touched their offspring. 
 Washington was always a strict and decorous ob- 
 server of the Sabbath, and invariably attended at 
 divine service once a day. when within reach of a 
 place of worship, and he gave liberally to religion. 
 
Old Home at Epsewasson 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 "^^■^iA 
 
 
 This picture of the Epsewasson mill, was made 
 from a drawing- of long ago, and in its day was 
 provided with the best machinery that could be ob- 
 tained, for in it was ground all the flour and meal 
 for the surrounding neighborhood, as well as for 
 the five large plantations of the Mt. Vernon estate, 
 and stood until about the beginning of 1850. The 
 long race-way which led the water from the pond 
 far up the valley, and acoss the fields, to turn the 
 wheels is now a grazing ground. The great tiether 
 stone of the mill, is the bottom of a pair of steps 
 to the door of a nearby farm house. The stream 
 were the youthful George angled and took his first 
 lesson in swimming, has been filled by the alluvian 
 from the near hills and is no more. This place 
 was one of the last visited by General Washington 
 on the day previous to his sudden death, and is 
 two miles from old Belvoir; the home of the Fair- 
 faxes; one mile from Woodlawn, Nellie Custis's 
 home; and half a mile from the turnpike leading 
 from Alexandria to Accotink, which was called 
 the King's Highway, and ran from Williamsburg 
 the ancient capital of Virginia, to Harper's Ferry 
 and the Shenandoah, over which the celebrated 
 
14 Washington President. 
 
 General Daniel Morgan of Occoquao, then a boy, 
 used to haul iron ore for Washing-ton's father. 
 
 Early in April 1789, a wearied messenger arrived 
 in haste at the gates of Mt. Vernon, it was the 
 venerable Charles Thompson, secretary to the Con- 
 tinental Congress, and one of the signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence, who had been com- 
 missioned by the new Congress to announce to 
 General Washington, that he had been chosen to 
 the first Presidency of the United States, and for 
 which Thompson had ridden from New York city, 
 two hundred and sixty miles distant, partly in 
 stage coaches and partly on horseback, over a 
 highway abounding in ferries and fording places, 
 much of it very rugged and difficult of passage. 
 Washington's presence being urgently desired, he 
 set about arranging his domestic affairs at Mt. 
 Vernon, making a final tour of his large estates, 
 and giving all needed directions to his overlookers. 
 
 The filial disposition and duty to his mother was 
 a strong characteristic of Washington, and he did 
 not forget her, who had ever been kind and affec- 
 tionate to him, and who had proven so influential 
 in shaping his young inclinations, he having been 
 so early bereft of the care and parential guidance 
 of his father. She was living near Fredericks- 
 burg, fifty miles distant, and was aged and infirm, 
 and it might be the last opportunity for him to see 
 her alive. He decided to go there first, so mount- 
 ing his fleetest horse, accompanied by a servant, 
 started along the pike, leaving Accotink, through 
 the gullied ways and winding courses, that were 
 rough and vexatious, along which fifty odd years 
 before, when a small boy four or five years of age, 
 with his parents, his little sister Betty, and his 
 younger brother Samuel, they came up in the fam- 
 ily carriage from the old homestead in Westmore- 
 
Visits Pits Mother. 15 
 
 land, to the new home at Epsewasson. Over the 
 same road thirty years before, he had ridden in 
 coach and four from Williamsburg with his bride, 
 the widow Custis, to their new home at Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Through the chill and lonely hours of the night, 
 did Washington ride with the one great and con- 
 trolling purpose of seeing his mother. At Col- 
 chester, eight miles away, he stopped for refresh- 
 ments at the " Arms of Fairfax," when he again 
 mounted his horse and rode to the banks of the 
 Occoquan, where the ferryman made haste to carry 
 him over the swiftly flowing stream, and bid him 
 good speed over the hills and valleys of old Prince 
 William. He left behind him the highlands of 
 Occoquan and its falls and cascades, crossing the 
 waters of the Neabsco, Quantico, Acquia and Po- 
 tomac creeks, into the sandy soil of Stafford and 
 Spottsylvania counties, where for thirty years he 
 had been prominently connected with their affairs, 
 and had for a long time been their representative 
 in the Virginia Assembly. He had also been a 
 member of the Continental Congress, had been 
 commander-in-chief of the victorious armies of the 
 Revolution, and now was to be the first President. 
 
 The road he was upon was historic, and over it 
 in 1676 the armed rangers of the Bacon Rebellion, 
 under the lead of his great graadfather, Col. John 
 Washington, had hurried to the scene of bloodshed 
 at Assomeek and Piscataway. In 1716 over this 
 path had ridden the Knights of the Golden Horse 
 Shoe, underthe gallant Spottswood, to open a way 
 for the white man through the Alleghenies to the 
 great West. Later in 1740, Virginia's contingent 
 of Provincials passed over it to join the forces of 
 Admiral Vernon, to fight the Spaniards at Cartha- 
 genia. Again in 1755, passed more Virginia troops 
 on their way with General Braddock, to fight the 
 
i6 Ou) Road and Ferries. 
 
 French and Indians on the banks of the Ohio; and 
 in 1781 it was gay and noisy with the Continental 
 soldiers going- to and from the battle of Yurktown. 
 
 Before early dawn, Washington had finished his 
 journey, and damp with the night air was standing 
 at the gate of his mother's house, on the borders 
 of the Rappahannock. He had come unheralded 
 and unannounced. After exchanging first greet- 
 ings, he told his mother the people of the Republic 
 had chosen him for their chief magistrate, and 
 before he assumed that office he had come to her 
 for an affectionate farewell, and to ask her bless- 
 ing. " She told him to go and fulfill the destiny 
 which it appeared Heaven had intended for him." 
 Washington was deeply moved, his head resting 
 upon the shoulder of his parent, whose aged arm 
 affectionately encircled his neck. He wept ! A 
 thousand recollections crowded upon his unnd as 
 metnory retaining scenes long passed, carried hi.n 
 back to his early home, where he first beheld that 
 mother whose care, education and discipline had 
 enabled him to reach the topmost height of lauda- 
 ble ambition. She died soon after, August, 1789. 
 
 The old road was not only the one of Colonial 
 days, but in long after time was the great thor- 
 oughfare of all the southern travel, and in those 
 days it was not so,easy a matter as now, for the 
 traveler to get about. On this same highway Gen- 
 eral Sherman in 1865, led his army back to the 
 National Capital from "Atlanta to the Sea " 
 ■>^There were a number of ferries across the upper 
 Potomac, more or less noted, the first one being 
 at Nominy in Westmoreland; as well as at Occo- 
 quan, and Marshall Hall across from Mt. Vernon. 
 Fox's ferry, across from Alexandria, where some 
 of the Ganeral's relatives lived; and the old Clifton 
 ferry, six miles below the city of Washington. 
 
Bust of Washington. 17 
 
 RELICS AT MT. VERNON. 
 
 There are many things of note and some highly 
 esteemed relics in the House, among them the an- 
 cient map of Virginia, representing the territory 
 between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ohio river, 
 with penciled traces and marks from Washington's 
 own hand, designing the route he traveled during 
 Braddock's campaign against the French and In- 
 dians. The big key of the Bastile is here, enclosed 
 in a glass case, and was sent by Lafaj'ette from 
 France, to General Washington, soon after the 
 destruction of the prison. In the banquet hall the 
 central ornament is a fine mantelpiece carved by 
 the Italian sculptor, Canova, with an immense 
 grate underneath with a capacity for a large pile 
 of fuel. The hearth is of white marble inlaid with 
 ornaments of polished maroon colored tiles. The 
 dark blue vases upon the mantel covered with 
 paintings of flowers, and the bronze candelabra 
 on each end occupy the same place as of long ago. 
 Over the door of the library, upon a bracket, is a 
 model bust of the General, taken from life by M. 
 Houdon, a French sculptor, who visited Mt. Ver- 
 non in October 1785, and spent three weeks pro- 
 curing what is admitted to be without doubt the 
 best likeness extant of General Washington, 
 
 The room in which Washington died is the south 
 bedroom, and the furniture is the same as that 
 which was used by him. The bedstead is the one 
 upon which he died, and the chair upon which lay 
 the open Bible that his wife was reading to him 
 from, is here too. In this room is a large chair and 
 toilet case that belonged to Washington's mother. 
 The room of Mrs. Washington was in the attic, 
 and overlooked ll.e grave of her husband from its 
 dormer window, and where she died May 2, 1801. 
 
i8 Mrs. Washington's Po:aK.\iT. 
 
 Nellie Custis's room is quaintly furnished with 
 antique belong'ings, and contains a washstand and 
 chair from the home of Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
 ton, whose son was one of her admirers; and on 
 the mantel is an autograph letter from her hus- 
 band, Lawrence Lewis. There is also the room 
 which the Marquis Lafayette occupied, when he 
 was a guest, and it now contains a number of val- 
 uable pictures, among them a portrait of Martha 
 Washington, as the bride of Mt. Vernon. A wal- 
 nut stand, made from a tree on the estate of Robert 
 Morris; and an embroidered fruit piece in fine 
 needlework of the days of the Revolution. 
 
 The river room has a chair, which came to this 
 country in the Mayflower; also a bedstead used 
 by Washington in Pennsylvania, in 1777. In the 
 green room, is the bedstead upon which John P. 
 Custis died from camp fever, at Eltham; and on 
 one of the window panes, cut with a diamond, is 
 the name, Eliza P. Custis, August 2, 1792. These 
 rooms including hallways, have been assigned to 
 the particular care of the various vice Rej^ents of 
 the several States, and have been furnished by 
 them in most cases. In the kitchen, the old crane 
 still hangs in the great fireplace, and the brick 
 oven is well preserved. The old hominy mortar is 
 in the Superintendent's office. The sun dial on the 
 west law^ was erected by the citizens of Rhode 
 Island in 1888, to replace the old one of long ago. 
 
 Among other valuables is a card table used by 
 Washington and Lafayette for whist. A silver 
 heel worn by Martha Washington, and a lock of 
 her hair; also a lock of the General's hair. Afoot- 
 bench from their old pew in Trinity Church, N. Y. 
 A brick from Faunces' Tavern, where Washington 
 read his "immortal farewell" to his officers. And 
 a point lace collar last worn by Mrs. Washington. 
 
ToMU OF Washington. 
 
 19 
 
 Washing^ton's tomb is one hundred yards west 
 of the old vault, and three hundred southwest of 
 the Mansion, situated on a lovely hillside, and 
 though not seen from the river, is brought sud- 
 denly into full view, as one ascends the hill from 
 the landing, where the steamer George McAllister 
 leaves its visitors from Washington city. His 
 remains and those of his wife lie in a marble sar- 
 cophagi, the two occupying an antechamber, one 
 on the right side, and the other on the left, and are . 
 visible from the outer gate. The antechamber is 
 covered with a metallic roof, and its walls, built 
 of brick and elevated to the height of twelve feet, 
 are so extended in the rear as to environ the new 
 vault on all sides. Its front is surrounded by a 
 stone coping, pierced by a grating, over which is 
 a plain slab, with the following wording: "Within 
 this enclosure rest the remains of General George 
 Washington." He died December 14, 1799.»i 
 
 The construction of the sarcophagi is of the 
 niodern form, and is made from a solid block of 
 marble, eight feet in length, three feet in width, 
 and two feet high, resting on a plinth, which pro- 
 jects four inches around the base of the coffin. 
 The stone covering is a ponderous block of Italian 
 
20 F.wALY Vault at AIt. Vernon 
 
 marble, emblazoned with the arms and insignia of 
 the United States, beautifully sculptured in the 
 boldest relief. The desig^n occupies a large portion 
 of the top or lid, and represents a shield divided 
 into thirteen perpendicular stripes, which rests on 
 the flag of our country, and is attached by cords 
 to a spear, embellished with tassels, forming a 
 background to the shield, by which it is supported. 
 The crest is an eagle with open wings, perching 
 upon a superior bar of the shield, in the act of 
 clutching the arrows and olive branch. Between 
 these and the foot of the coffin, upon the plain field 
 of the lid, is the name, Washington. On the other 
 sarcophagus is inscribed, " Martha, consort of 
 Washington, died May 21, 1801, aged 71 years. 
 
 Within tlie vault rest forty members of the Wash- 
 ington, Custis and related families. Near the en- 
 closure are four monuments to the memory of 
 Judge Bushrod Washington who inherited Mt. 
 Vernon; his nephew John A, Washington, his suc- 
 cessor; Eleanor P. Lewis, who was Nellie Custis, 
 and her daughter Mrs. M. E. H. Conrad. The re- 
 mains of General Washington were placed in the 
 marble sarcophagus and sealed from sight the last 
 time on October 7, 1837, and since then have never 
 been disturbed. There are two rooms in the second 
 story of the rotunda of the United States Capitol 
 building, which were intended to be used for the 
 bodies of General Washington and his wife, but 
 to this he objected, and his will read as follows: 
 
 "The family vault at Mt. Vernon requiring re- 
 pairs and being improperly situated, I desire that 
 a new one be built of brick, and upon a larger 
 scale, at the foot of what is called the Vineyard 
 Inclosure, on the ground which is marked out — in 
 which my remains, with those of my family as 
 may choose to be entombed there, may be depos- 
 
Washington's Funeral. 21 
 
 ited — and it is my express desire that my corpse 
 may be interred in a private manner, without pa- 
 rade or funeral orations." His fellow citizens 
 could not be dissuaded from going' contrary to his 
 wish, and assembled in great numbers to pay 
 their last tribute of respect. The arrangements 
 for the funeral were made for 12 o'clock Wednes- 
 day, December 18, but as some of the persons from 
 a distance failed to arrive, the hour was postponed, 
 and between two and three o'clock a gun was 
 heard from a vessel near the shore, in token that 
 the funeral was in readiness to start. The pro- 
 cession moved out through the gate, around the 
 east front of the Mansion, down the lawn, to the 
 old family vault, in the following order: Cavalry, 
 infantry, and guard, with arms reversed; music, 
 and five gentlemen of the clergy. The General's 
 horse with his saddle, holsters and pistols, led by 
 two grooms. Colonel Blackburn preceding the 
 corpse. There were a number of his family as 
 mourners, also Dr. Craik, his physician; and his 
 secretary, Tobias Lear, together with Lord Fair- 
 fax and Fernando Fairfax; Lodge No. 23 of Free 
 Masons; Corporation of Alexandria, followed by 
 the people of his home, Mt. Vernon, and citizens. 
 As soon as the procession neared the tomb, the 
 cavalry halted and formed into line, as also the in- 
 fantry, after which the clergy, masonic brethren, 
 and relatives descended to the vault. Mr. Davis 
 read the funeral services and made a short address, 
 after which the masonic brethren performed their 
 cermonies and deposited the corpse in the arch. 
 A general discharge of guns from the boats which 
 lined the river closed the scene. An English gun- 
 boat fired a salute in respect to the memory of 
 the illustrious name and deeds of Washington. 
 The sudden news of his death can better be con- 
 
22 Sale of Mt. Vkknon. 
 
 ceived than expressed. At first a general disorder 
 prevailed, which soon gave place to sensations of 
 the most poignant sorrow and extreme regret. 
 Stores were closed and all business suspended, 
 as if each family had lost its father. Bells tolled 
 continuously, and on Wednesday the people flocked 
 to Mt. Vernon. Until the time of interment the 
 corpse was placed on the portico fronting the river, 
 so that every one might have a farewell view. 
 
 The Mt. Vemon Ladies Association of the Union, 
 having for its object the restoration of the Mansion 
 and grounds, was incorporated by the Legislature 
 of Virginia in 1856, and the work of obtaining 
 necessary funds was earnestly begun. Miss Pam- 
 ela Cunningham, of South Carolina, and who had 
 charge of the work was first regent and manager, 
 and she appointed a vice-regent for every State of 
 the Union as her assistant. These ladies bought 
 the estate with two hundred acres of land, for 
 $200,000 from John Augustine Washington, the 
 grand nephew of Judge Bushrod Washington, who 
 fell heir to the property upon the death of Martha 
 Washington. This John Augustine, afterwards 
 moved to Fauquier, purchasing a farm known 
 as Wareland. At the outbreak of the war in 1861 
 he was killed in the first skirmish. His two sons 
 were the only children ever born in the Mansion, 
 
 Judge Edward Everett of Massachusetts, a dis- 
 tinguished statesman, became interested and trav- 
 eled about the country at his own expense, deliv- 
 ering his lecture upon the sublime character of 
 Washington, which he orated nearly one hundred 
 and fifty times in different places. Within two 
 years he raised fifty thousand dollars, which he 
 afterwards doubled, receiving from the proprietor 
 of the New York Ledger $10,000 for contributing 
 to that paper an article every week for one year. 
 
Martha Dandridge. 
 
 23 
 
 Mrs. Washing^ton, Martha Dandridge, was born 
 June 21, 1731, and was the daughter of Col. John 
 Dandridge, a noted lawyer who lived on the Pani- 
 unkey river. She was a pretty girl, a little below 
 the usual height, with dark eyes, fair complexion, 
 and brown hair. She played on the spinet, was 
 sprightly and winning in her manners, and always 
 dressed very fashionably. She attended the balls 
 or assemblies as they were called, in Williamsburg 
 and was the belle of the little capital. One of her 
 lovers was Daniel Parke Custis, a man of over 
 thirty and the son and heir of a very rich father, 
 Col. John Custis of Williamsburg, who wished him 
 to marry his cousin Evelyn Bird, who was four 
 years older and a very lovelj' woman, the descend- 
 ant of a highly connected family. Daniel Parke 
 Custis refused to marry Miss Bird, and the father 
 in his anger willed all his propertj^ to a little neg^ro 
 pet, named Jack. The old gentleman finally re- 
 lented and in the course of time gave his consent 
 to his son marrying little Patsy Dandridge. They 
 
24 Washington's Courtship. 
 
 were married in Jul^^ 1749, less than three weeks 
 after, being- in haste, fearing the old gentleman 
 would change his mind. They lived very happily 
 together for seven years, having four children, 
 two of them dying young. Custis died 1756, leav- 
 ing Martha a young widow with a large fortune, 
 equally divided between her and the two children, 
 John Parke and Martha Martha died when she 
 was nineteen, at Mt. Vernon, and John Parke grew 
 to manhood, and was an aide-de-camp to Wash- 
 ington at the battle of Yorktown, where he caught 
 the camp fever, and died at Eltham, his home. 
 
 Martha had been a widow about one year when 
 she met Colonel Washington, who was on some 
 provincial business upon his way to Williamsburg, 
 when on crossing the Pamunkey river he met Mr. 
 Chamberlain who invited him to take dinner with 
 him. Washington accepted, and among other com- 
 pany was introduced to the widow Custis. They 
 fell in love at first sight, and it was next morning 
 before he was on his journey again. He visited 
 her only four times during their courtship, the 
 reason for this being, he was carrying on a cam- 
 paign against the Indians on the frontier, that he 
 was eager to finish. In September he began his 
 attack upon Fort Duquesne, where his troops were 
 beaten back with terrible loss. He again rallied 
 his forces and captured the fort, leaving two hun- 
 dred men to garrison it. By the close of the year 
 the French had g-iven up the struggle, and the In- 
 dians becoming quieted, Washington resigned his_ 
 commission, and on January 6, 1758, he married* 
 Mrs. Custis, and for the next sixteen years his life 
 passed quietly and contentedly at Mt. Vernon. 
 They were married at the White House on the 
 Pamunkey river, two ministers officiating; one 
 was Mr. Warner, the rector of St. Peter's Church, 
 
Washington's Wedding. 
 
 25 
 
 MRS. MARTHA CUSTIS AND HER FAMILY. 
 
 on the York river; and the other one the Rev. Mr. 
 Munson, a clergyman sent out by the Bishop of 
 London to look over the diocese in the colony 
 of Virg-inia. Her son John was then six years old, 
 and herdaug-hter Martha, only four years. Wash- 
 ington had no children of his own, but was very 
 fond of his wife's son and daughter. They had 
 some difficulty in the education of John, especially 
 after the death of his sister, as Mrs. Washington 
 was inclined to indulge him too much. When he 
 died, Washington threw himself full length upon 
 a couch, and wept like a child over his unexpected 
 demise. John Custis left a widow and four child- 
 ren, two of whom, were brought up by Washington 
 as his own, at Mt. Vernon. These were Eleanor, 
 "Nellie," aged two and a half years, and George W. 
 Parke, called "Tut," aged six months; and they 
 took the place of their father and his sister. 
 
 At the Washington wedding there was a very 
 fashionable party assembled, including the Gov- 
 ernor of Virg'inia, in scarlet cloth embroidered in 
 frold, with dress sword. Some English army and 
 
26 Mrs. Washington's Minature 
 
 navy oflRcers, and a member of the Virginia Assem- 
 bly. Washington wore a suit of blue cloth, the 
 coat lined with red silk, an embroidered white 
 satin waistcoat, shoe and knee buckles of gold, a 
 sword and powdered hair. The bride wore a petti- 
 coat of white quilted satin, with an overdress of 
 white corded silk interwoven with silver threads, 
 high-heeled white satin shoes, diamond buckles, 
 point-lace ruffles, pearl ear-rings, bracelets, neck- 
 lace, and pearls in her hair. One of the most strik- 
 ing persons in appearance is said to have been 
 Bishop, Washington's mulatto body servant, who 
 came to this country with General Braddock, and 
 upon his death at Mountain Meadows, a short time 
 before, enlisted with Washington. Bishop was 
 dressed in the scarlet uniform of a British soldier, 
 standing on the porch holding the bridegroom's 
 handsoTue horse. He died after at Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Washington's wedded life was in every respect 
 felicitous, and for forty years from the time of his 
 marriage, to the day of his death, he wore his 
 wife's minature, (painted by the celebrated artist 
 C. W. Peale) about his neck, next his breast. 
 
 In July of 1799, only a' few months previous to 
 Washington's death, he made his last will, which 
 was noted for brevity and clearness of language. 
 This interesting document is still preserved in the 
 clerk's office of Fairfax county, and is written in 
 his usual careful and legible style. To his wife, 
 Martha, he gave all his estate, real and personal 
 for the term of her natural life. Upon her death. 
 May 22, 1802, his estate left by her, was divided 
 among his many relatives, and to public institu- 
 tions of learning, and charities. The executors of 
 his will were Martha Washington, John Augus- 
 tine Washington, Bushrod Washington, George 
 Steptoe Washington, Samuel Washington, L,aw- 
 
Mrs. Washington's Will. 27 
 
 Pa i. 
 
 rence Ivcwis, and Parke Custis. The last will of 
 Mrs. Martha Washintjton is not extant, it havings 
 
 been destroyed with other county records during- I 
 
 the civil war. Moist of her estate was divided i 
 
 ainon^ her four grnnd-children, Georg-e Washing-- < 
 
 ton Custis. Mrs. EH-ia Law, Mrs. Martha Peters, ( 
 
 and Mrs. Eleanor (Nellie) Lewis. \ 
 
 Both factions of the war between the North and ! 
 
 South, during- the four years of the civil war, con- | 
 
 sidercd Mt. Vernon as sacred and inviolable from ] 
 
 their deeds, and consequently was left undisturbed, j 
 
 the different armies g-oing- around it, preferring j 
 
 not to pitch their battles near its peaceful shades. ,1 
 
 The character of Mrs. Washington to her inti- 
 mate acquaintances, and to the Nation, was ever a ; 
 theme of praise. Affable and courteous, exem- * 
 plary in her deportment, remarkable for her deeds 1 
 of charity and piety, unostentious, and without \ 
 vanity, she adorned by her domestic virtues the ; 
 sphere cf private life, and filled with dignity every j 
 station in -which she was placed. During- the eig-ht 
 years of war, Mrs. Washing-ton while her husband \ 
 was absent, made the most strenous efforts to sus- j 
 tain her added responsibilities, and to endure with ] 
 chang-eless trust in Heaven, the continued anxiety 
 for the safety of her husband and welfare of the ' 
 country. At the close of each campaig-n she re- .( 
 paired, in compliance with his wishes, to his head- \ 
 quarters, wherever they were located, and where , 
 the ladies of the g-eneral officers joined her in form- i 
 ing- such a society, as diffused a charming- influ- \ 
 ence over even the gloom of similar winters, as i 
 those at Valley Forge and Morristown. At the , 
 opening- of every summer's campaig-n. Lady Wash- 
 ing-ton returned to her domestic cares and duties \ 
 at Mt. Vernon. She said; " I heard the first and 
 last cannon of the Revolutionary War." . 
 
28 Captain Molly Pitcher. 
 
 Mrs. Washing-ton's son, John Parke Custis, mar- 
 ried in 1774 Eleanor Calvert, a daughter of Bene- 
 dict (?alvert, son of I ord Baltimore, and had four 
 cliildren; Eliza, Martha, Eleanor, and George W. 
 Parke. John's widow, soon after his death married 
 Dr. Stewart, near Hope Hill, four miles be'.ow Mt. 
 Vernon, and by him she had sixteen children. Of 
 her first children, Elizabeth married Thomas Law, 
 who was secretary to Warren Hastings in India, 
 and who bought a large tract of land and built a 
 number of houses in Washington city. Martha 
 married Thomas Peters, an extensive merchant of 
 Georgetown, D. C. Eleanor married Major Law- 
 rence Lewis, and George W. Parke married !Mary 
 Lee Fitzhugh, of Arlington, whose daughter was 
 the wife of Robert E. Lee, of Confederate fame. 
 
 Among the different persons to be found about 
 Washington's Headquarters, was Captain Molly 
 Pitcher, who wore an artilleryman's coat, with the 
 cocked hat and feather, the costume of Proctor's 
 artillery. At the battle of Monmouth, her husband 
 received a shot in the head, and fell lifeless under 
 the wheels of a cannon. She grasped the ramrod 
 from his dying hand, and took up his duties, keep- 
 ing at her post until night closed the scene, after 
 which she was introduced to General Greene and 
 presented to Washington, who made a non-com- 
 missioned officer of her in appreciation of the act. 
 
 During Washington's Presidency, Mrs. Wash- 
 ington's drawing-rooms, on Friday nights, were at- 
 tended by the grace and beauty of New York citv. 
 On one of these occasions, owing to the lowness of 
 the ceiling, the ostrich feathers in the head-dress 
 of one of the ladies took fire from the chandelier. 
 Major Jackson with great presence of mind, flew 
 to the rescue of the lady, and clapping the burn- 
 ing plume between his hands, put out the flame. 
 
Eleanor Custis. 
 
 29 
 
 ^^^^^^^■r ^^^ t^^l 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^ -^-j! ^^^^H 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 '^^^K ^^1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 NELLIE CUSTIS AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. 
 
 Eleanor Custis was born at Abingdon, four miles 
 below the city of Washing^ton, May 21, 1778, and 
 was the third child of John Parke Custis, Mrs. 
 Washington's son. She married Major Lawrence 
 Lewis, the son of Washington's sister, Betty; on 
 the 22d of February, 1799, the last birthday the 
 General was alive, and which event caused unusual 
 bustle at Mt. Vernon. General Washington upon 
 his arrival in Alexandria, January 10, 1799, wrote 
 to Mt. Vernon that he had signed the papers be- 
 coming the guardian of Nellie, and to authorize a 
 license for her marriage, They were married at 
 "candle light" in the Banquet Hall, which was a 
 blaze of waxen tapers, bringing out in strong re- 
 lief the silent portraits on the walls, in curious 
 contrast with the merry throng before them. Ten 
 months later the dead body of General Washington 
 was laid in state in the same room, to receive the 
 
30 Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 homage due to his remains. And fifty-two years 
 after, Nellie's body was broug^ht there and laid in 
 funeral robes in the silence of death, to await bur- 
 ial in the family vault. She died at Audley, Va. 
 
 Great preparations had been made for the wed- 
 ding; the Mansion was decked with flowers and 
 evergreens, and ample provision made for a time 
 of festivity and good cheer. The gentlefolk of the 
 surrounding country were invited, and there was 
 assembled for the occasion representatives of most 
 all of the distinguished familes of the wedding 
 pair. The spirited Virginia reel and the stately 
 minuet, were danced to lively music. It was a 
 brilliant scene, the picturesque costumes of the 
 Colonial days were still worn; there'were rich fab- 
 rics, and richer colors, stomachers, and short cloth- 
 ing, jeweled buckles, and broaches, powder and 
 muffles everywhere. For years after, in many a 
 home on the Potomac, the folks of whom were at 
 the wedding, delighted to tell of the grand sights 
 and personages of that occasion, and of the stately 
 appearance of General Washington and his wife, 
 as they reviewed the visitors. Also of the charm- 
 ing manners of Nellie and her handsome husband, 
 in his buff, blue and lace; and of his renown upon 
 the staff of General Morgan, (the wagon boy of 
 Occoquan), during the war of the Revolution. 
 
 It was the wish of the young bride that General 
 Washington should appear in the splendid uni- 
 form given him for the occasion. The idea of him 
 wearing a costume bedizened with gold embroid- 
 ery, was altogether at variance with his style, and 
 he persisted in wearing his old uniform of blue 
 and buff, which was invariably his military cos- 
 tume; unless to receive his brethren of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati, when he wore the brilliant epau- 
 lets given to him by Lafayette; and the diamond 
 
Home of Nellie Custis. 
 
 31 
 
 ^^li^ Ctyt£l<:U'C^'', 
 
 order of the Cincinnati, presented him by the mem- 
 bers of the French fleet. The magnificent white 
 plume oriven to him, he turned over to Nellie. 
 
 Woodlawn, the home of Nellie Custis, is three 
 miles west of Mt. Vernon, and was so named from 
 the Lewis home in Fairfax county. It is built on 
 part of the two thousand acres of land which Gen- 
 eral Washing-ton gave to Nellie and her husband, 
 together with a distillery and mill, as a dower. It 
 is said he planned the building some time before 
 his death, and it was not completely finished until 
 about 1805, although part of it was occupied prior 
 to then. It is substantially built of old-fashioned 
 brick, having a main building- sixty by forty feet, 
 with spacious halls and apartments; ample wings 
 united to the main portion by wide corridors, and 
 has twenty-two rooms. Stands upon a high eleva- 
 tion, commanding a pleasant view of the Potomac 
 river and Dogue bay. Of past years Woodlawn 
 had gone to decaj', but recently an artist purcha- 
 sed the place and restored it to near its original 
 appearance. Under the roof of Woodlawn, as at 
 Mt. Vernon, was ever dispensed a generous hos- 
 pitality, and many were the distinguished visitors 
 from near and afar, who came to cross its thresh- 
 
32 Nellie and the Button. 
 
 old and pay their respects to its agreeable matron. 
 General Lafayette, on his second visit to Amer- 
 ica in 1825, came to Woodlawn to renew his fondly 
 cherished acquaintance with Nellie, now a stately 
 housewife, and who was but a child when he had 
 seen her forty years before, in the home of his old 
 Commander, at Mt. Vernon, and had often taken 
 her upon his knee in her sweet laughing- moods, 
 and then kissed her with a parential fondness, 
 doubtlessly remembering- his own dear ones far 
 away in France. Nellie was no strang-er to the 
 faces of titled dignitaries of the old world, for she 
 had seen scores of them, and hundreds of our own 
 celebrites both civil and military, when a child in 
 the time of the first Presidency of Washington. 
 With all the conditions of life and times around 
 her, she was the courteous and agreeable lady, win- 
 ning the esteem of all who knew her. For nearly 
 forty years Nellie was the mistress of Woodlawn 
 Mansion, and here was born her four children. 
 She died July 15, 1852, in the seventy-fourth year 
 of her age Her husband, Lawrence Lewis, died 
 November 20, 1839, at Arlington, Virginia. 
 
 She was often urged to write her memoirs, but 
 never complied. She said that when she was a 
 little girl and wished to attract the attention of 
 the General, she used to seize him by a button, and 
 he would look down upon her with a benignant 
 smile, and her wishes were seldom slighted. No 
 one laughed more heartily than he did, when she 
 would play her tricks and pranks, and that he 
 would retire from the room in which her young 
 companions were amusing themselves-, because his 
 presence caused a reserve. When Zachray Taylor 
 .was elected to the Presidency, Nellie was for some 
 time an honored guest in the White House, where 
 she received the attention of many high people. 
 
Calvert Mansion at Mi. Airv. 23 
 
 The home of the elder branch of the Calvert fam- 
 ily has been for the past 150 years at Mt. Airy, 
 Prince George Co., Md., on the Patuxent river, six- 
 teen miles from Washington, and five miles from 
 upper Marlboro, the county seat. The land upon 
 which Mt. Airy stands was originally purchased 
 by Benedict Calvert, the son of Charles VI, Lord 
 Baltimore, who was at the time of its purchase 
 in 1751, collector of the port of Annapolis. Bene- 
 dict Calvert married Elizabeth, (daughter of the 
 then Governor Calvert), who was a great heiress 
 and famous beauty. The mansion house is built 
 in the old style of two stories, with several wings. 
 An old fashioned passage, with wide stairs runs 
 through its center. It was built in 1751, of bricks 
 brought from England, and paid for in hogsheads 
 of tobacco. The bricks have mellowed in the clear 
 atmosphere, and the green English ivy has laid 
 its clinging fingers upon the walls, making the old 
 place still beautiful. But more than all else, it 
 abounds in a wealth of hallowed associations. 
 
 To Mt. Airy, came in the summer time, many of 
 the most distinguished men and women of the day. 
 General and Mrs. Washington were frequent visi- 
 tors. The guests came in splendid coaches, with 
 outriders and servants in full livery, and with a 
 great pile of trunks and baggage, these old Mary- 
 land homes being always open to friends and visi- 
 tors. Here also came John Parke Custis, (who 
 afterwards married Eleanor Calvert), then a youth 
 of twenty summers, but so carefully educated and 
 trained that he seemed much older. General Wash- 
 ington in speaking of him at that time, said in a 
 letter to his tutor: "I will allow you an extra sixty 
 dollars for your pains with Parke. I want you to 
 be good to him for he is a most promising lad, the 
 last of his family, and will have a large fortune at 
 
34 Eleanor Calvert's Marriage. 
 
 maturity. I wish to make him a useful man." 
 The General also sent a servant and several fine 
 horses, that he inig^ht have the necessary exercise. 
 
 Eleanor Calvert whom Custis married, was a 
 splendid horsewoman, and used often to g"o hunt- 
 ing with the young aids of General Washington. 
 A beautiful picture of her in riding habit, with 
 its lovely girlish face, full of intelligence and ani- 
 mation, now hangs in the old house. Eleanor was 
 married in 1774, and in the pictures that we see of 
 Mrs. Washington, she is the beautiful woman who 
 stands upon the right of that lady, and upon a 
 great many of state occasions she was present. 
 Her marriage and that of her sister, took place at 
 Mt. Airy on the same evening, and was the finest 
 affair of its kind that the State of Maryland could 
 boast of. There were many distinguished guests. 
 
 Both the Calverts and Custis were descendents 
 of John Parke, who was a member of the English 
 Parliament, and afterwards a soldier in Queen 
 Anne's army in Holland, and was an officer at the 
 great battle of Blenheim, in Germany. Col. Parke 
 brought the joyful news to Queen Anne, of the 
 success of the German arms, and received a mina- 
 ture portrait of her, together with one thousand 
 pounds, and the governorship of Leeward Islands. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, Bene- 
 dict Calvert lost the position of collector of the 
 port of Annapolis, which he had held for a long 
 term, retiring to Mt. Airy, moving thereto his fam- 
 ily portraits, silver and household furniture, mak- 
 ing that place his permanent residence. On the 
 drawing room walls he had all the Barons of Bal- 
 timore, arranged in a line of fine oil portraits. 
 Mt. Airy continued in the family until it reached 
 Eleanor Calvert, who was unmarried, and died in - 
 1902, when it was purchased by Secretary Hay. 
 
Washington's Mother. 
 
 35 
 
 Mary Ball, the mother of Washing-ton, was born 
 1706, at Millenbeck, on the Rappahannock river. 
 She was the daug-hter of Col. Joseph Ball, by his 
 second wife, widow Johnson, who lived at Epping- 
 Forest, of which Mary was called the Belle. She 
 married Auj^ustine Washington, while on a visit, 
 in Lancaster county, March 6, 1731, and they went 
 to Wakefield, in Westmoreland, soon afterwards. 
 They had six children, Georg^e, Betty, Samuel, 
 John Augustine, Charles, and Mildred. Her hus- 
 band died in 1743, leaving her much land and some 
 ready money..* She early took to the manag-ement 
 of her household affairs, and with kind, but firm 
 judg^ement. successfully met the many obstacles of 
 those times. Beingf not very large of stature, she 
 was often spoken of as the "Little Widow Wash- 
 
36 After Yorktown Victory. 
 
 ington" of Kenmore. Washington owed much of 
 his training to his mother, who was a woman born 
 to command, and since she was left alone with an 
 estate and family to care for, she took the reins in 
 her own hands. She used to drive about in an old- 
 fashioned chaise, visiting the various parts of the 
 farm. Said one of Washington's companion's: 
 "We were all as mute as mice, when in her pres- 
 ence," and common report makes her to have been 
 very much such a woman, as her son afterwards 
 was a man. Her sons, even when they were tall 
 fellows, stood in awe of her, and one of George's 
 comrades said: *'he feared her much more than he 
 did his own parents." She was kind, but reserved. 
 
 In her last days, she presented a true picture of 
 matronly dignity, and was visited often, by her 
 children and grand-children while in her declining 
 years. She preferred to live by herself, in a house 
 overlooking the river, and her daughter, Betty, 
 earnestly solicited her to pass her remaining days 
 with her, but she objected. Her son requested her 
 to make her home at Mt. Vernon, but she replied: 
 "I thank you for your affectionate and dutiful 
 oflFer, and as my wants in this world are few, I 
 feel perfectly competent to take care of myself." 
 To Betty's husband's proposition to relieve her, 
 she responded: "Keep my books in order, for your 
 eyesight is better than mine; but leave the execu- 
 tive management to me " Such was the energy 
 she preserved to an age beyond that usually given 
 to mortals, and which lasted to within three years 
 of her death, which was occasioned by cancer. 
 
 Washington's meeting with her, after his victory 
 at Yorktown, illustrated her character strikingly. 
 After an absence of seven years, he returned and 
 dismounted in the midst of a brilliant and numer- 
 ous suite, sending to tell her of his arrival, and to 
 
Attends Grand Ball. 
 
 S7 
 
 WASHINGTON'S INTEBWIEW WITH HIS MOTHER. 
 
 know when it would be her pleasure to receive him. 
 She said anytime! That she was alone, and her 
 hands were employed with domestic duties. She 
 welcomed him with a warm embrace, calling him 
 by a faniilar name, inquirinjf as to his health, and 
 remarking' upon the lines which cares and trials 
 had made upon his face. She spoke of old times, 
 and old friends, but would make no mention of 
 his many and successful achievements. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the village of Fredericksburg, 
 all was joy and revelry. The town was crowded 
 with the French and American armies, and with 
 people from all the country around, who had has- 
 tened to welcome the conquerer of Corn wallis. The 
 citizens made arrangements for a splendid ball, to 
 which the mother of Washington, was especially 
 invited. The old lady observed, that although her 
 dancing days were pretty well over, she would feel 
 happy in contributing to the general festivity, and 
 consented to attend. The foreign officers were 
 anxious to see the mother of the Chief. They had 
 
38 Washington Going to Sea. 
 
 heard indistinct rumors respecting her remark- 
 able life and character, and in their country peo- 
 ple of such prominence were expected to have a 
 great show attached to them. They were greatly 
 surprised when plain Mrs. Washington entered 
 the room, leaning upon the arm of her son. 
 
 In 1746, occurred an incident in the life of George 
 Washington, worthy of especial notice. And that 
 was when his brother Lawrence secured for him a 
 midshipman's warrant in the British nav^', and 
 placed it in his hands, greatly to his delight. He 
 made immediate arrangements to embark upon a 
 man-of-war then anchored in the river. His bag- 
 gage was on the ship. All that remained for him 
 to do before departing, was to go bid his mother 
 good-bye. She had doubts of the advantage of the 
 project, and looked at the many evils associated 
 with scenes of naval service, and she dwelt upon 
 the thoughts of a separation which would take him 
 forever from his home; and refused her consent. 
 George unmurmuringly acquiesced, and immedi- 
 ately gave up the project; returning to school 
 
 When Mary Washington died, August 25, 1789, 
 aged eighty-three years, her body was buried on 
 a spot chosen by herself on the home plantation, 
 Kenmore, near Fredericksburg, upon the Rappa- 
 hannock river, on a beautiful eminence, overlook- 
 ing the town in which so much of her life was 
 passed, and within sight of her own house and that 
 of her daughter's, Betty Lewis. The view in every 
 direction from this locality is beautiful and inspir- 
 ing, and she preferred it as a resting place to the 
 family vault in Westmoreland, where her husband 
 was buried. Over her grave is a white marble 
 monument, the corner stone of which was laid on 
 May 7, 1833, by General Andrew Jackson, when 
 he was President of the United States. 
 
Washington's Sister Betty. 39 
 
 Mary Ball was a lady of uncommon excellence, 
 and was greatly endeared to all who had the hap- 
 piness of her acquaintance, and was truly estima- 
 ble in all the relations of life. Among- the dis- 
 tinguished traits of her character, none was more 
 remarkable than her constant and generous atten- 
 tions to the necessities of the poor. 
 
 Her habits were very simple in her old days, and 
 it was a difficult matter to get her to inake much 
 change in her dress for company. In the Fall of 
 1784, the Marquis Lafayette previous to his leav- 
 ing- for Europe, being desirous of paying his part- 
 ing respects to Mrs. Washington, was shown by 
 one of her grand-children up to her house, with the 
 remark: "There, sir, is my grandmother." He 
 was introduced to an old lady in homespun, wear- 
 ing a broad straw hat, gathering up chips in the 
 garden. "Ah, Marquis," said Mrs. Washington, 
 "You see an old woman; but come in, I can make 
 you welcome to my dwelling without the parade of 
 chang-ing my dress " When Lafayette talked to 
 her about her son's g-reatness, she merely said: 
 "I am not much surprised at what George has 
 done; he was always a good boy." 
 
 Washington's sister, Betty, was a most majestic 
 woman, and so strikingly like her brother, that it 
 was a niatter of frolic to throw a cloak around her, 
 and place a military hat upon her head, and such 
 was the perfect resemblance, that had she ridden 
 on her brother's steed, battalions would have pre- 
 sented arms, and senates risen to do homage to 
 the chief. Her son, Lawrence Lewis, was so much 
 the counterpart of General Washington, that it 
 was difficult for some people with but slight famil- 
 iarity with them to tell one from the other. Many 
 jokes were played by this pair, of which the Gen- 
 eral was fond of telling in after years. One time 
 
40 Battle of Monmouth. 
 
 near the redoubts at Yorktown, the enemy mistook 
 Lewis for the General, and made a report that 
 Washington was near at hand; so they laid in wait. 
 It developed to their sorrow, shortly afterwards, 
 that the Commander-in-chief of the Army was at 
 an altogether different point. At a ball given in 
 New York city, the same thinj'' occurred with some 
 ladies, who thought they had been dancing' with 
 the General, and it was Lawrence Lewis who was 
 pleasantly deceiving them for the evening. 
 
 On June 28, 1778, at the battle of Monmouth, as 
 Washington, accompanied by a numerous suite, 
 approached the court house, he was met by a little 
 fifer-boy who archly observed, "They are all com- 
 ing this way, your honor." Who are coming, my 
 little man, asked General Knox? "Why, our boj's, 
 your honor, and the British right after them," re- 
 plied the little musician. "Impossible," exclaimed 
 Washington! And spuring his horse, proceeded at 
 full gallop to an eminence ahead. There to his 
 pain and mortification, it was discovered that the 
 boy's intelligence was but too true. The very elite 
 of the American army, five thousand picked offi- 
 cers and men, were in full retreat, closely pursued 
 by the enemy. The first inquiry of the chief was 
 for Major General Lee, who first commanded the 
 advance, and who soon appeared. After a warm 
 conversation, he was ordered to the rear. Wash- 
 ington now set himself in earnest about resting 
 the fortunes of the day, and proceeded to form his 
 troops again, with such vigor that the white horse 
 he rode on. sank under its rider and expired. He 
 next mounted a chestnut blooded mare, and upon 
 this nharger he flew along the line of his army, 
 cheering to his soldiers. His presence stopped the 
 retreat, and his disposition of troops, fixed the vic- 
 tory of one of the greatest battles of the Revolution. 
 
Arlington Mansion. 41 
 
 ARLINGTON, BUILT BY G. W. PARKE CUSTIS. 
 
 About three miles directly west of the U. S. Capi- 
 tol building, and situated under the brow of a hig-h 
 hill, can be seen from the center of Washington 
 city, Arling-ton, the home of George Washington 
 Parke Custis, who upon the death of Mrs. Wash- 
 ington at Mt. Vernon in 1802, moved to his new 
 home, which he planned and built. He was the 
 son of John Parke Custis, and was born at Mt. 
 Airy, April 30, 1781, and married Mary Fitzhugh 
 in 1802. Their only child, a daughter, married 
 Col, Robert E. Lee in 1831, in the drawing room of 
 the mansion. Mr. Custis inherited the land from 
 his father, who purchased it of Gerard Alexander 
 in 1745. Upon the death of Mr. Custis, October 10, 
 1857, this estate consisting of 1160 acres became 
 the property of General Lee. Custis enjoyed the 
 distinction of being the adopted son of Genera] 
 Washington and drew to Arlington annually a host 
 of visitors and friends. General Lafayette upon 
 his second visit to this countrj' was a distinguished 
 guest at Arlington House, and pronounced the 
 view from the portico, one of the most beautiful he 
 
42 , National Cemetery. 
 
 had ever looked upon. The rooms of the mansion 
 were stored with aricli collection of memorials 
 and valuable articles, brought from Mt. Vernon. 
 Some of these are now in the National Museum, 
 and the others found their way to various places. 
 
 On April 22, 1861, when the Civil war came on, 
 Colonel L.ee resigned from the U. S. Army and 
 moved his family and belongings to Richmond, 
 Va., there to take command of the Confederate 
 army. Arlington remained unoccupied until 1863, 
 when it was sold under the confiscation act for $93 
 and became the property of the U. S. Government, 
 which set apart 200 acres for a National Cemetery. 
 In 1877 the L/ce heirs established their rights to the 
 property, their claim was adjusted, and they were 
 paid $150,000. A portrait of Nellie Custis, painted 
 by Gilbert Stuart, was for about fifty years the 
 most attractive picture among the paintings at 
 Arlington, and is now in the possession of Prof. 
 W. F. Lee. of Lexington University, Va. 
 
 Wl:en General Washington adopted the Custis 
 children, he had a private tutor of collegiate train- 
 ing, named Tobias Lear, who afterwards became 
 his private and military secretary, provided for 
 them, and under the exemplary care of their dis- 
 tinguished guardians, their young minds were de- 
 veloped for the practical duties of life. Custis fin- 
 ished a classical education at Princeton, and was 
 distinguished by an original genius for eloquence, 
 poetry, and the fine arts; also of the history of 
 this country, which he did much to forward. By 
 Washington will, he gives to G. W. Parke Custis a 
 tract of land near four-mile-run, containing twelve 
 hundred acres, and a square in Washington city. 
 
 During General Lafayette's visit to Mt. Vernon 
 in 1824, he told Parke Custis that "on that same 
 portico they were first introduced," and "that he 
 
Hat and Sword. 43 
 
 was then holding- on by a single finder of General 
 Washing-ton's hand, which was about all he could 
 do." Parke Custis in his memoirs tells us many 
 interesting- thing-s about General Washington, 
 among- them a description of the cocked hat the 
 General wore in the Indian wars, which had been 
 pierced by two bullets, and which during- the war 
 for Independence he also wore continuously, with 
 the addition of a black cockade which was given 
 him by a little boy on a shagg3' pony, named Simon 
 Crosby, at the beg-inning- of the Revolution. This 
 cocked hat, and the sword which Washing-ton car- 
 ried during- the entire war, upon the night of his 
 death at Mt. Vernon, disappeared, and were not 
 found until President Jackson's time, when they 
 were returned by a relative of General Greene. 
 Both hat and sword are now in the U. S. State 
 Department Library, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington resigned his commission in 1783, in 
 the court house at Annapolis, Md. The first set- 
 tlers of Maryland were Lord Baltimore, (Leonard 
 Calvert) who came to this country in two ships, 
 the Dove and the Ark, in 1632, accompanied by 
 between two and three hundred gentlemen, their 
 wives and families, and came up the Potomac to 
 Piscataway Creek, a short distance below Alexan- 
 dria. The country was then thickly inhabited by 
 Indians, and Calvert being afraid, went back down 
 the Potomac to the Chesepeake bay, and settled on 
 St. George's Island, called St. Mary's. In 1642 
 the Puritans came over, sailed up the Bay, and 
 settled Annapolis. The celebrated Captain John 
 Smith in 1680, made his famous voyage to the Pa- 
 tapsco River, records of which are at Annapolis. 
 
 In 1789 when General Washington was on his 
 way from Mt. Vernon to New York to take the oath 
 of office as President, he stopped by Annapolis, 
 
44 First Theater in America. 
 
 ^^^/y 
 ^V-^ 
 
 where he was met by Generals Gates and Small- 
 wood, who attended him to Mr. Mann's hotel 
 where apartments had been prepared for his recep- 
 tion. The old hotel is still standing- and Room 9, 
 which he occupied is in one of the wings; some of 
 the furniture which it contained is still preserved. 
 The first theater in America was in a room in this 
 hotel. In 1750 a theater building was erected and 
 called the Colonial, at which Washington often at- 
 tended. He liked Annapolis, and considered it 
 next to Alexandria as one of his homes. He would 
 cross the Potomac river from Mt. Vernon by way 
 of Marshall Hall, from where he would go to the 
 Chesapeake bay, where he had a fine vessel of his 
 own manned with a uniformed crew, waiting for 
 him, in which he would sail to Annapolis. The 
 reigning belle of his boat was his grand-daughter, 
 Nellie Custis, who wore a female sailor costume, 
 and with a company of joyous young people would 
 make the surroundings abound in mirth and mer- 
 riment, which much pleased General Washington. 
 When Lafayette visited Annapolis he was most 
 sumptuously received, the town turned out in full 
 force, held a g^rand ball, and illuminated the place. 
 The first inauguration of Washington deserved 
 some notice, inasmuch, as in its chief outlines it 
 has served for the precedent to all succeeding ones. 
 Congress in New York had determined it should 
 take place in the open air, which it did on April 30, 
 1789. At twelve o'clock the procession was formed 
 at the residence of the President in Grand street, 
 consisting of a military escort, Congressmen and 
 heads of Departments, followed by Washington, 
 riding- alone in his carriage, Colonel Humphreys 
 and Secretary L/ear coming after. The procession 
 moved to the halls of Congress, where Chancellor 
 L/ivingston administered the oath on the balcony. 
 
Washington a Vestryman. 
 
 45 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. 
 
 Christ Church, Alexandria, Va., was built in 1767, 
 and finished in 1773. Among- its first vestrymen 
 was George Washing-ton, then thirty-three years 
 of age, who subscribed the highest price paid for 
 a pew, $185, at an annual rent of $25. Here he fre- 
 quently mingled during religious service with his 
 neighbors and friends. His pew is on the left side 
 near the front, and is marked with his autograph 
 on a silver plate. Across the aisle is the pew of 
 the Lee family. In the vestry room are the records 
 of the old church, including Washington's pur- 
 chase of his pew in 1773, and the first church-ser- 
 vice; also a bible printed in Edinburgh in 1767, and 
 a long handled purse used in Washington's time for 
 ofl^erings. The church has long, narrow windows, 
 an old pulpit of years ago, and is still used to hold 
 divine service in. The old pews, which originally 
 were square, were changed to the modern kind in 
 1860, except that of Washington's. The church 
 still retains the style of the old Colonial days, the 
 
46 Washington's Argument. 
 
 chancel rail and mural tablets are the same as of 
 those times, also the communion table, reading 
 desk and chairs. In the center of the church is a 
 crystal chandelier of solid brass with twelve can- 
 dlesticks, representing the twelve apostles. In 
 the yard surrounding the church are a number of 
 old and well-preserved tombstones, containing the 
 names of many of the first families of Virginia. 
 
 In Washington's time, there were few towns in 
 Virginia, and the country was marked off in par- 
 ishes, after the old English custom. When a man 
 became of any importance in his neighborhood, he 
 was made a vestryman in the parish. Mt. Vernon 
 was in Trur parish, and Washington was a vestry- 
 man, as well as of Fairfax parish. The first church 
 built about 1732, had fallen into deca)', and it being 
 necessary to build another, a meeting was called. 
 One faction proposed to rebuild at the same place, 
 while the other urged a locality more convenient 
 to the parishoners. A final meeting was held to 
 settle the matter, when one of Washington's near 
 neighbors, George Mason, a man of fine speech, 
 arose, and spoke most eloquently in favor of hold- 
 ing to the old site, as there their fathers had wor- 
 shipped, and their bodies were laid to rest. Every 
 one seemed satisfied with Mason's proposal, when 
 Washington who had also come with a plea, arose. 
 
 He had not Mason's power of speech, but he had a 
 roll of paper which he spread before the meeting, 
 upon which he had drawn oflF a plan of his parish, 
 the site of the old church, and the place where 
 every parishoner lived. He said very little, show- 
 ing the people his survey, and telling them of the 
 advantages of the new site as being the most cen- 
 tral, and that a church first of all should be for the 
 living. His argument carried the day against the 
 eloquent speech of Mason, and on the new site was 
 
St. George's Chapel. 47 
 
 built Pohick Church in 1772, from Washing-ton's 
 own plans. He was made a vestryman and was a 
 frequent attendant at its services. The church is 
 six miles below Mt. Vernon, and is still standing-. 
 
 Near Charlestown, W. Va., (the land of which 
 was owned by Washington, he having laid out the 
 town and named it after his young-est and favorite 
 brother, Charles), is another worshippingf place of 
 long- ag-o, the four walls of which are still stand- 
 ing-, and which was in its day the fashionable meet- 
 ing place of "Northern Neck." Here Lord Thomas 
 Fairfax, and such gentry as could be gathered to- 
 gether, held their communions. Washington was 
 a vestryman there also, and made many valuable 
 presents to the parish. Lord Fairfax died in 1781, 
 at the age of eighty-three, and was buried in the 
 Episcopal churchyard in Winchester, Va. 
 
 Four-mile-run is situated south of the Capitol 
 that distance, and is where Washington owned sev- 
 eral hundred acres of land, upon which he had 
 mills, and shipped cargoes of flour to the West 
 Indies in the earlier Colonial times. Near here is 
 Abingdon, where the Custis family lived, also the 
 old Wellington hou.se, built by William Clifton in 
 1750, which was occupied by Col. Tobias Lear, 
 Washington's secretary, free of rent while he lived. 
 Lear died in 1816, and the old house which is still 
 standing, was occupied by two generations of the 
 Washington family until about 1850. 
 
 Seven miles below Washington city, is Alexan- 
 dria, which was founded in 1748, by Lord Thomas 
 Fairfax, Lawrence Washington and others, by 
 authority of the General Assembly of Virginia. 
 Fifty years before that time, not a single white 
 man had residence there, and six thousand acres 
 were purchased in 1699, by Captain Robert How- 
 son, under a royal patent granted him for bring- 
 
48 First Birth-night Ball. 
 
 ing over a certain number of emigrants. The old 
 town's historic associations abound in interesting' 
 events of the earlier Colonial times, and no locality 
 in the thirteen orig'inal States was more intimately 
 connected with the beginning of American Inde- 
 pendence. Here it was that George Washington, 
 first stepped forth amid the plaudits of a crowd, 
 and gave fifty pounds towards the support of the 
 new cause of Freedom and self government. 
 
 Here in the spring of 1755, met the Colonial Gov- 
 ernors of Virginia, to arrange plans for the prose- 
 cution of the then French and Indian war on the 
 Ohio river. In Alexandria there is still standing 
 the engine house of the old Friendship Fire Com- 
 pany', organized in 1774, of which Washington was 
 a member, also the City Hall, from the steps of 
 which he gave his last military command in 1799, 
 and where on the 22d of February, was first cele- 
 brated the "Birth-Night Ball," given in his honor. 
 Here is also the Masonic Lodge room in which he 
 presided, as also the Carlyle House built in 1752, 
 and which was the headquarters of General Brad- 
 dock, and where W^ashington received his first com- 
 mission The remnants of the old Marshall house 
 are still standing, where Colonel Ellsworth was 
 killed for tearing down the Confederate flag. The 
 mansion where General Lafayette was entertained 
 while on his visit to this country, is well preserved, 
 and this great event called out the old town to do 
 its utmost to pay homage to one they all revered. 
 
 Before the final establishment of the seat of gov- 
 ernment on the Potomac river, liberal offers of 
 land and money were made by several cities, but 
 the desire of General Washington to have the 
 National Capital located where it is, took the favor- 
 ite lead and was acquiesced to. The District of 
 Columbia was authorised in 1790; surveyed in 1796. 
 
Built by George Washington. 
 
 49 
 
 Harewood House, three miles north of Charles- 
 town, W. Va., is the oldest and most notable of all 
 the Washington mansions, and is built upon the 
 first parcel of land that "Washington took up for 
 himself, when he began to survey that section for 
 Lord Fairfax in 1747. The house was built by 
 ijfh^HB Washington, out of limestone from a fine 
 quarry near b)'. and intended for his home, but his 
 brother Lawrence dj'ing and leaving him by his 
 will, Mt. Vernon, he sold this place to his other 
 brother Samuel in 1756, who was a man of the world 
 and had married five times, having seven sons, 
 some of whom are buried in the graveyard nearby. 
 Samuel died in 1781, and General Washington be- 
 came guardian of his young children. George Step- 
 toe Washington, and Lawrence Augustine Wash- 
 ington, and, also of Ferdinand, a son by another 
 wife. At the age of seventeen, George Stepto^ 
 Washington married Lucy Payne, the fifteen year 
 old sister of Dolly Madison, who was called the 
 beauty of the White House. At a Mrs. Lee's house 
 in Philadelphia in 1794, the celebrated Aaron Burr 
 introduced Mr. James Madison to the charming 
 little widow, Dolly Payne Todd, her husband hav- 
 
50 King of France a Guest. 
 
 ing^ died a short time before, in 1793, from an epi- 
 demic fever. Madison openly declared himself a 
 suitor for her hand, and Mrs. General Washington 
 sent for Dolly to know if it were true. She said 
 yes; and allowed her betrothal to be formally pro- 
 claimed, and arrangements were made for the 
 wedding- which took place September 15, 1794, in 
 Harewood House and was attended by General and 
 Mrs. Washington. It then took the widow Todd six 
 days to make the journey in Thomas Jefferson's 
 coach from Philadelphia, accompanied by her little 
 boy, Payne Todd, and her sister Anne, a child of 
 twelve years. General Lee, "Light Horse Harry," 
 attended the wedding upon the finest horse iu all 
 Virginia. John Randolph and Dolly Payne went 
 to school together when children at Hanover, Va. 
 After Madison's marriage he went to Montpelier, 
 (^ ' near Richmond, Va., where he remained until he 
 became President of the United States. 
 
 In Harewood House, Louis Philippe, afterwards 
 King- of France, spent nearly a year, together with 
 his two brothers, the Duke de Montpensier and 
 the Count de Beaujolias, and the servant Boudouin, 
 during their exile from their native land. Lafay- 
 ette was entertained there, as was also his son and 
 a tutor, M. Frestel. The Mansion is about 100 feet 
 long and 30 feet wide. Heavy oaken panels cover 
 the interior walls, and the clumsy iron hooks of 150 
 years ago mark the place where great tapestries 
 and paintings have hung. The stairway is a solid 
 piece of joiner work, on the landing of which stood 
 a tall ancient clock, exactly where it chimed the 
 hour when Dolly Madison and her statesman lover 
 were married, and before they were called to Wash- 
 ington, him twice as President, and she to reign 
 eight years mistress of the White House. Hare- 
 wood contains one of the famous mantels sent f ronj 
 
Burning of the Capital. 51 
 
 France by Ivafayette to Washingfton as a present. 
 The other mantel is at Mt. Vernon. In transit the 
 top slab of this one was broken, so some clever 
 artificer was employed to make one like it of wood, 
 which was painted a mottled black to imitate the 
 marble and put in place, and is about as solid as 
 the stone below. One mile below Harewood is St. 
 Geor{,^e's chapel, built in 1747, and to which the 
 Washing^ton family came to worship, also George, 
 who was a constant attendant during- the years 
 when he was a young man and lived in the valley 
 of the Shenandoah. There were a number of fine 
 houses built in this section by different members 
 of the Washington family, among them being, 
 Happy Retreat, Ciaymont, Blakely House, Meg- 
 wille Place, and Cedar Lawn. Among the distin- 
 guished military men of this region, were five 
 generals of the Continental army; Horatio Gates, 
 Charles Lee, William Darke, Adam Stephen, and 
 Robert Buckles, besides other ones less noted. 
 
 During the war of 1812, in President Madison's 
 time, when the British burned the Capital, there 
 was a life-size portrait of General Washington 
 secured to the wall of the dining room in the White 
 House, and Parke Custis came over from Arling- 
 ton to see to its preservation. In the meantime, 
 others became fearful for its safety, and John 
 Sousa the doorkeeper, and Magraw the gardener, 
 broke the frame with an axe, loosening the picture, 
 and it was hid in Georgetown by Paul Jennings, a 
 colored man. During this siege Madison was in 
 Philadelphia, and Dolly was compelled to flee 
 across the Potomac river into Virginia, where a 
 few miles above Georgetown, she took refuge in 
 the house of Mrs. Love. The British pursuing her 
 party closely, she escaped through a back door, to 
 a Mrs. Miners, further on, who hid her in a closet 
 
52 Fairfax's Greenway Court. 
 
 until Mr. Madison could be coinmunicated with in 
 Philadelphia. It took eighteen months to restore 
 the White House, during- which time President 
 Madison occupitd the Octagon House, situated 
 around the corner, the ground for which General 
 Washington laid off. His architect Dr. W^illiam 
 Thornton planned and built it. Col. John Taylof /^ 
 was its first owner, and here the famous council of 
 Ghent was then signed. Dolly's sister Lucy Payne, 
 the wife of George Steptoe Washington, became k 
 widow in 1812, and soon after married Judge Todd 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 General Washington had an aunt on his mother's 
 side, Esther Ball Chinn, who lived in Middleburg, 
 Va., and whose husband's family came from a very 
 old lineage in England, near the Washington home 
 in Northumberland. They had many noted fam- 
 ily connections, among whom were the Harrisons, 
 Custis, Lees and others. Washington made his 
 home there a good deal of his time, and five miles^ 
 below at Aldie, is the first house he planned and 
 built, also the first road he surveyed and filled up 
 the bed of, called Braddock road. Near Charles- 
 town is located Braddock well, which was dug and 
 given to General Braddock by George Washington 
 during the Indian wars, he fearing they would 
 poison the water in the river. Washington had a 
 great reverence for this old place and its people 
 and he paid them a visit in 1796,_ the last time he 
 was in that section of the country while alive. 
 
 In the Shenandoah valley, thirteen miles from 
 Winchester, Lord Thomas Fairfax built his cele- 
 brated Greenway Court, not far from the village 
 of Millwood, and here he passed over a quarter of 
 a centurj', surrounded by trappers, Indians, dogs 
 and horses. He owned the surrounding country, 
 and was a real hospitable old fox-hunting baron. 
 
Valuable Articles Lately Found. 53 
 
 RECENT DISCOVERIES. 
 
 Mrs. Washington's minature spoken of on Page 
 26, which for a long while has been an object of 
 diligent search by the author of this book, was re- 
 cently brought to light through a casual remark 
 made to one of the Calvert descendants, upon their 
 preparation for a dress ball to be given on Wash- 
 ington's Birthday. This more than precious arti- 
 cle of jewelry is well preserved in a safe place of 
 keeping, and is the property of a well known so- 
 ciety lady of Washington city. 
 
 The last will and testament of Martha Washing- 
 ton which was supposed to have been destroyed by 
 fire many years ago, of which mention is made on 
 Page 27, has recently been found . During the war 
 of 1861, while some soldiers were burning up a lot 
 of papers at Fairfax Court House, Va., one of them 
 came up and noticing the name of Washington 
 upon the outside of one of the burning packages, 
 caught it up, knocked the fire out of it, and after- 
 wards found it was Mrs. Washington's will. He 
 took it home, keeping it hidden all these years 
 until recently, when he told about it at the U. S. 
 Capitol lyibrary. 
 
 From the 'Washington Star' of April 27, 1906.— 
 *'Mr. Joseph I Keefer of Washington city, recently 
 received a letter from Missouri, asking him to help 
 to find a book which belonged to General Wash- 
 ington and which was lost during the Civil war. 
 The book is a volume of Shakespeare, and on one 
 of the pages is written the name of George Wash- 
 ington, also comments and marks placed there by 
 him in 1796. At the time the book was lost, part 
 of the library of General Washington was at the 
 home of Col. John Washington; in Charlestown, 
 
JUN. 6 1906 
 
 54 Mrs. Martha Washington's Bible. 
 
 W. Va., and during- the Civil war while the Eighth 
 Illinois Cavalry was on a scout in that region some 
 of the soldiers carried off this valuable Shakes- 
 peare. Another book belonging to General Wash- 
 ington, and bearing- the sigrnature of General La- 
 fayette, which was taken from the same place, has 
 recently been restored." 
 
 Martha Washing-ton's bible, which until recently 
 was supposed to have been lost, has lately been 
 ^MiWBWWWfTto Miss Mary Custis L,ee. a daug-hter of 
 General Robert E. Lee, by a Philadelphia gentle- 
 man who purchased it from a wanderer some time 
 ag-o. The book was taken from Arlington during 
 the Civil war by either the servants or soldiers, 
 and in spite of its strangle experience is in fine con- 
 dition-having been kept with g^reat care, and its 
 black leather cover shows few scratches. Some 
 pages are torn, but the ink is still unfaded, and 
 many leaves and flowers, pressed by members of 
 the Lee family are yet within it. The book was 
 printed in London in 1702 by "Charles Bill and 
 the executrix of Thomas Newcomb, deceased, who 
 were printers to the King-'s most excellent maj- 
 esty." The earliest birth recorded in it, is that of 
 Fanny Parke Custis, in 1710; that of her brother, 
 Daniel Parke Custis, being- g-iven as 1711. The 
 marriage of Daniel Parke Custis to Martha Dan- 
 dridge, afterward Martha Washing^ton, is recorded 
 as having- taking place in 1750, she being then only 
 seventeen years old. 
 
 The Book contains the old "Order for Morning 
 Pra^-er Throug^hout the Year," including the com- 
 munion service, the articles of religion, the Old 
 and New Testaments, with the apocrypha, the 
 metrical version of the Psalms, and the table of 
 kindred affinity; all printed in clear, large type. 
 
L 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 836 662 
 
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