There was great suffering in Virginia. The British governor, Lord Dunmore, held the province under military rule. Many feared that he would send a detachment and lay Mount Vernon in ashes. Lady Washington was advised to seek a retreat beyond the Blue Ridge. But the armed patriots were on the alert. Washington had left the management of the large estate under the care of Mr. Lund Washington, in whose integrity and ability he had entire confidence.
To his agent Washington wrote, “Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them to idleness. And I have no objection to your giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. What I mean by having no objections is, that it is my desire that it should be done. You are to consider that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do these good offices.”[109]
Mrs. Washington was very lonely, very anxious, very sad. By invitation of her husband she visited him at Cambridge. Her son accompanied her, and she travelled with her own horses and carriage. She took easy stages, as Washington was very careful of his horses, which were remarkable for their beauty.
The pageantry of aristocratic England pervaded the higher classes in this country, at that time, much more than at the present day. Lady Washington was escorted from town to town by guards of honor. At Philadelphia she was received like a princess, and was detained several days by the hospitalities of the patriotic inhabitants. The whole army greeted her arrival at Cambridge with acclaim. She entered the camp in a beautiful chariot, drawn by four horses. Her black postilions were quite gorgeously dressed, in liveries of scarlet and white. This was the usual style of the magnates of Virginia at that day.
The presence of Mrs. Washington was of great assistance to her husband. She presided over his household, and received his guests with great dignity and affability. Family prayers were invariably observed, morning and evening. On the Sabbath Washington punctually attended the church, in which he was a communicant.
A party of Virginia riflemen came to the camp. They were a strange looking set of men, in half-savage equipments, with deer-skin hunting shirts, fringed and ruffled. As they were strolling about, they met a party of Marblehead fishermen. To the Virginians, the costume of the fishermen was grotesque, with tarpaulin hats, flowing trousers, and round jackets.
The two parties began to banter each other. There was snow upon the ground; and snow-balls began to fly thickly. The contest grew warm. It was a battle between Virginia and Massachusetts. Both sides were reinforced. Angry feelings were excited. From snow-balls they proceeded to blows. It became a serious tumult, in which more than a thousand were engaged.
At this moment Washington appeared, mounted, and followed by a single servant. There was something in his majestic frame and commanding air which impressed the common mind with awe. He sprang from his horse, plunged into the thickest of the mêlée, and seizing two of the most brawny Virginians, held them at arm’s length, as though they had been children, while he administered a very severe reproof. The other combatants instantly dispersed. In three minutes there was not one left upon the ground.[110]
In December a vessel was captured, which was conveying supplies, from Lord Dunmore, in Virginia, to Boston. In a letter to General Howe, found in the vessel, Lord Dunmore urged that the war should be transferred from New England to the southern States. He said that by liberating and arming the negroes, their force could be greatly augmented, consternation could be thrown into all the southern provinces, and victory would thus be speedy and sure. The despatch alarmed Washington. He said:
“If this man is not crushed, before spring, he will become the most formidable enemy America has. His strength will increase as a snow ball.”