Unexpected George Washington : His Private Life (9780470255285) by Unger Harlow Giles

Author:Unger, Harlow Giles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

9

A Broken Promise

Heavy snows all but buried Washington’s Mansion at Mount Vernon in early 1784. With few travelers about, the Washingtons had almost no visitors, and Washington had hoped to put his voluminous papers in order, review his financial affairs, and reply to hundreds of accumulated letters of adulation. A swarm of children all but shattered his hopes. They were everywhere, waddling and gadding about, with slave girls and boys frantically chasing after, desperately trying to follow Martha’s admonitions to keep the children out of mischief.

The youngest were Martha’s two grandchildren, five-year-old Nelly and three-year-old Mr. Tub, or “Washy,” whom the Washingtons had “adopted” after the death of their father, Jacky Custis. He had left his wife, Nelly, with four children. Unable to cope, she settled into a house in Alexandria with her two oldest and gratefully surrendered the two youngest to the Washingtons to raise at nearby Mount Vernon. The Washingtons also were caring for the three children of George’s late brother Samuel: eight-year-old Harriot, ten-year-old Lawrence Augustine Washington, and twelve-year-old George Steptoe Washington. Left destitute, they faced a difficult life—even bondage, perhaps—had the Washingtons not taken them in.

The two oldest “children” in the snowbound Mansion were Martha’s sixteen-year-old niece Fanny Bassett, and George’s twenty-six-year-old nephew and godson George Augustine Washington, who was suffering from tuberculosis. Martha had offered to raise Fanny in 1777, after the death of Fanny’s mother, Nancy Bassett, and she moved into the Mansion when Martha returned for good at the end of the war in November 1783. At sixteen, Fanny was old enough to be a welcome companion for Martha and young enough to be an equally welcome playmate and part-time caretaker for Nelly and Washy. George Augustine Washington was the son of his godfather’s youngest brother, Charles Washington, an inadequate provider and a drunk. George Augustine had emulated his uncle George by enlisting and serving gallantly in the war—and earning his uncle’s trust and affection. The elder Washington rewarded him by appointing him personal aide to Lafayette.

“At length my Dear Marquis,” Washington wrote to Lafayette amid the din of squealing children, “I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow of my own Vine & my own Fig tree, free from the bustle of camp & the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the Soldier who is ever in pursuit of fame . . . can have very little conception. . . .

Envious of none . . . I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my Fathers . . . come with Madame la Fayette & view me in my domestic walks—I have often told you, & I repeat it again, that no man could receive you in them with more friendship & affection than I should do; in which I am sure Mrs Washington would cordially join me. We unite in respectful compliments to your Lady & best wishes for your little flock.

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