DEFEAT IN WAR: SUCCESS IN LOVE
Washington was only nineteen when Virginia appointed him one of her adjutants-general. He was "Major Washington" now when he visited his mother at "Ferry Farm," visiting her only, because the failing health of his brother Lawrence demanded his care. His mother gladly surrendered him for the comfort of this, her devoted stepson, to whom she had always deferred as the head of the family. He went with this brother to try the warmer climate of Barbados, bringing him back ere long to die at Mount Vernon.
George Washington as Major.
In 1752 Governor Dinwiddie had information about the French. They had commenced establishing forts in the territory on the banks of the Ohio claimed by Virginia. The governor needed some trusty messenger to send to the Chevalier Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, the French commander, to claim that country as belonging to his Britannic Majesty, "and," says Burnaby in his "Travels in Virginia," 1759, "Mr. Washington, a young gentleman of fortune just arrived at age, offered his service on this important occasion. The distance was more than four hundred miles; two hundred of which lay through a trackless wilderness, inhabited by cruel and merciless savages, and the season was uncommonly severe. Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, Mr. Washington, attended by one servant only, set out upon this dangerous enterprise; travelled from Winchester on foot, carrying his provisions on his back, executed his commission; and after incredible hardships, and many providential escapes, returned safe to Williamsburg."
He was in love with action and adventure! He had said to Governor Dinwiddie, "For my own part I can answer that I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials, and I flatter myself resolution to face what any man dares,—as I shall prove when it comes to the test."
France refused to surrender her claim. The courtly old chevalier abated nothing of his punctilious courtesy when he received the youthful ambassador—doubtless bronzed and travel-soiled. He said, very politely, "I am here by the orders of my General, and I entreat you, Sir, not to doubt one moment but that I am determined to conform myself to them with all exactness and resolution that can be expected from the best officer." So, in 1754, Dinwiddie sent the young major back again—this time at the head of some soldiers. In writing to the other governors for men, he says, "I sent a Gent: to the Place by whom I know the Truth." A large force of the French appearing, "The Gent" (Major Washington) was compelled to surrender and, politely bowed out by the old chevalier, permitted to return to Virginia.
This bitter experience had not the effect of discouraging Washington. It only made him long for another chance, with another result. He had written lightly to Governor Dinwiddie, as if he were arranging a tournament, "We have prepared a charming field for an encounter." It is even said that he added, "I know no music so pleasing as the whistling of Bullets." This was repeated to George the Second. "He would not say so," said the soldier-king, "had he been used to many!" Years afterward Washington was reminded of this incident, and he thoughtfully replied, "If I said so, it was when I was young!"
His mother, foreseeing the tendency of all these events, had bitterly opposed his last disastrous expedition. He was a man of independent fortune, and had declined remuneration for his services as he afterwards declined all pay during the years he served in the war of the Revolution. She wished him to live on his own estate as became a country gentleman. Her opposition to his fighting against the English crown was not one whit greater than her opposition to his fighting for the crown. The word "loyal" was a shifting quantity in her time, meaning one thing to-day and another to-morrow! The peril and the hardship were the same in either case.
The first time that he set forth for the frontier his mother almost succumbed. "Oh, this fighting and killing!" she exclaimed, as she entreated him not to go. When convinced that she must sacrifice herself to his duty to his country she became calm. Laying her hand upon his shoulder, she said, solemnly: "God is our sure trust. To Him I commend you." She thus unconsciously provided him with an unanswerable argument for another time. When General Braddock offered him a place on his staff she drove to Mount Vernon to entreat him not to accept the honor. "The God to whom you commended me, Madam, when I set out on a more perilous errand, defended me from all harm, and I trust he will do so now," was the reply.
General Braddock.
When the news of Braddock's defeat and the dreadful slaughter of his army reached Fredericksburg the anxious mother was forced to wait twelve days before she could be assured of her son's safety. In a long, calm letter he tells her of all his dangers and his own wonderful escape, with four bullets through his coat and two horses shot under him. He tells her, too, of an illness which confined him in a wagon for more than ten days; how he was not half recovered at the time of the fight; how he must halt and rest often upon his way home to Mount Vernon, which he could scarce hope to leave before September; how he was, "Honored Madam," her most dutiful son.
She drove to Mount Vernon to meet him, and warmly entreated him to leave the service forever, urging the loss of health and fortune should he remain in it. He had no answer then, but after she was at home she received his final word.
"Honored Madam: If it is in my power to avoid going to Ohio again, I shall; but if the command is pressed upon me by the general voice of the country, and offered upon such terms as cannot be objected against, it would reflect dishonor upon me to refuse it, and that, I am sure must, or ought, to give you greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable command. Upon no other terms will I accept it."
The code of manners which ruled Virginia in the eighteenth century forbade familiarity or the discussion of personalities. Washington's letters to "Honored Madam," as he always addressed his mother, relate mainly to important public events. Nothing is told of his ups and downs, which he seems to have had in common with ordinary mortals; of the envious slanderers who strove to undermine him in the estimation of the governor; still less of his repulse by the father of Miss Mary Cary who curtly refused him his daughter's hand for the reason that she was "accustomed to riding in her own carriage" and therefore above Virginia's young major. Bishop Meade says that this lady, afterwards the wife of Edward Ambler, was in the throng of applauding citizens when Washington passed through Williamsburg at the head of the American army. He recognized her, and gallantly waved his sword to her, whereupon she fainted. Nobody knows that she ever wished to accept Major Washington. Had he waited until 1753, her prudent father could have urged no objection to the handsome young lover. In 1752 Lawrence Washington died, directing in his will, in case of the demise of his wife without issue, the estate at Mount Vernon should become the property of his brother George. Within the year the young major received this legacy.
He seems to have been—for him—very faithful to an early dream. If he cherished, as he doubtless did, hopes of winning his "Lowland Beauty," she now put an end to his dream by marrying, in 1753, Henry Lee of Stafford; and it may be remembered that it was in this year, and only one month before her marriage, that he sought the governor's permission to bear a message of remonstrance to the Chevalier de St. Pierre. Like a wise soldier he knew when he was defeated and retreated accordingly.
MOUNT VERNON.
He did not marry until 1759; but it is not to be supposed that his heart was breaking all these six years for Miss Mary Cary or for the lovely Lucy Grymes, the "Lowland Beauty." Do we not know of Miss Mary Philipse, whose father's manor-house may still be seen on the Hudson? Washington Irving thinks she could not have refused him, that he "rode away" before he had "made sufficient approaches in his siege of the lady's heart to warrant a summons of surrender."
However this may be, all went well with the parties to the drama in Virginia. The "Lowland Beauty" was the wife of one of Virginia's honored sons, and the mother of "Light-horse Harry" Lee. Perfect happiness was only waiting a few necessary preliminary events to crown the young soldier's life with joy, in the person of the fascinating widow, Martha Custis, who, according to old Bishop Meade (who relished an innocent bit of gossip), resembled Miss Cary as one twin-sister does another. He resigned his position as commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces, and reasonably looked forward to a life of calm content in his home on the right bank of the Potomac.
Washington had always, his rebuffs to the contrary nevertheless, flattered himself that he could "get along" with the ladies. There was never a moment that some "Faire Mayde" was not well to the fore, and it is known that he offered his heart and sword to three,—Mary Cary, Lucy Grymes, and Mary Philipse. With the latter he acknowledged that he had been too hasty. He thought things might have resulted differently if he had "waited until ye ladye was in ye mood."
Two years later he repeated his imprudence. Mr. Tony Weller had not then been born, and there was nobody to bid him beware. He paid an afternoon call, fell in love in an hour, and stayed on and on until he was accepted. In a few days we find this entry in his cash account, "One Engagement Ring, £2, 16s., 0d."
Mrs. Custis felt a little shy in announcing so hasty an engagement to her friends, "My dear, the truth is my estate is getting in a bad way, and I need a man to look after it."
The estate was large. She owned fifteen thousand acres of land, many city lots, two hundred negroes, and money besides,—a great fortune in colonial days. He had just returned from a brilliant campaign; was gallant, young, and handsome; was just elected member of the House of Burgesses; and was master of a fair domain on the right bank of the Potomac, and so "ye ladye" found herself "in ye mood."
When he married the beautiful, rich widow, his mother was exultant. Now he was safe! All the killing and fighting were over and done with. He was to live near her at Mount Vernon. She was now fifty-two years old, and was going to enjoy a serene and happy old age at last. She wrote her brother, "I have had a great deal of trouble about George, but it is all over now."
St. Peter's Church, in which George Washington was married.
She had a long season of busy home life, happy when she might be in the happiness of her children. Her warrior son was behaving at last as became a dignified country gentleman. But Fate was only preparing him for future greatness. In the administration of his large estate, and in the county and provincial business, he was acquiring the rare skill in reading and managing men, for which he became so remarkable. But of this he was totally unconscious. He had small ambitions. He was proposing himself to the electors of Frederick County, having "an easy and creditable Poll," cheerfully paying his self-imposed assessment of thirty-nine pounds and ten shillings besides "cyder and dinner" for his constituency. He was attending the Annapolis races; going down to Williamsburg for the assembly with Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis; loading his wagons to provision his family and Colonel Bassett's on a visit "to try the waters of the warm springs," much exercised lest Jack Custis were premature in winning the affections of Miss Calvert (for Jack was only eighteen, had been "fickle, and might wound the young lady"); nay, he was beating his sword into a ploughshare, his spear into a pruning-hook, planting May-Duke cherries and guelder-roses, and lamenting "Rust in the wheat and Drought in the Corn crop." Moreover, he was writing letters to England, giving orders for all sorts of foreign elegancies, for his own wear and that of Madam Washington and her children. Let us copy a summer order sent to London in 1761.
Williamsburg.
MARTHA CUSTIS.
For his use the great man wants "a superfine velvet suit with garters for the breeches; pumps, riding-gloves, worked ruffles at twenty shillings a pair; housings of fine cloth edged with embroidery, plain clothes with gold or silver buttons!" For Mrs. Washington he orders "a salmon-colored tabby velvet with satin flowers; ruffles of Brussels lace or point, to cost twenty pounds; fine silk hose, white and black satin shoes; six pairs of mitts; six pairs of best kid gloves; one dozen most fashionable pocket-handkerchiefs; one dozen knots and breast-knots; real miniken (very small) pins and hairpins; a puckered petticoat; six pounds of perfumed powder; handsome breast flowers (bouquets de corsage) and some sugar candy."
I have not room for Master Custis's outfit at eight years old, nor that of Master Custis's liveried servant of fourteen years old, but I cannot omit the delightful order for little "Miss Custis, six years old," namely, "A coat of fashionable silk, with bib apron, ruffles and lace tucker; four fashionable dresses of long lawn; fine cambric frocks; a satin capuchin hat and neckatees; satin shoes and white kid gloves; silver shoe-buckles; sleeve-buttons, aigrettes; six thousand pins, large and short and minikin; a fashionable dressed doll to cost a guinea; gingerbread, toys, sugar images and comfits; a Bible and prayer-book; and one very good spinet, to be made by Mr. Plinius, harpsichord maker, in South Audley street, Grosvenor square, with a good assortment of spare strings." Not too much, assuredly, for the little beauty, but not Spartan simplicity nevertheless.
Six years later, it is recorded that "the Fair Sex, laying aside the fashionable ornaments of England, exulted, with patriotic pride, in appearing dressed with the produce of their own looms."