In 1758, another expedition marched against Fort Du Quesne, under the command of General Forbes. Colonel Washington commanded the advanced division of this army, which was sent forward to clear and prepare the way for the main body.—The night before the expedition reached Fort Du Quesne, the French, amounting to about five hundred men, set the Fort on fire, embarked on board their boats by the light of it, and sailed down the Ohio; so that the army had nothing to do but to take possession of the spot where the Fort stood. This they did on the 25th of November, 1758. General Forbes called the place Pittsburg, in honor of Mr. Pitt.
Immediately after his return to Virginia from this expedition, Colonel Washington resigned his military commission. On the 6th of January, 1759, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Martha Custis, the widow of Daniel Parke Custis, and daughter of John Dandridge. Colonel Washington, though absent at the time, was elected a member of the Virginia Assembly by a large majority over three active rival candidates. He attended the session of the Assembly held in the month of February. The house had resolved, without the knowledge of Washington, to return their thanks to him in a public manner for the distinguished services he had rendered his country. This duty devolved on Mr. Robinson, the Speaker. As soon as Colonel Washington took his seat, the Speaker, following the impulse of his feelings, discharged the duty assigned him with dignity, but with such warmth and strength of expression as entirely confounded the young hero. He rose to express his acknowledgments for the honor done him, but such was his trepidation and confusion that he could not give distinct utterance to a single sentence. He blushed, stammered and trembled for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him by a stroke of address that would have done honor to Louis the Eighteenth in his proudest and happiest moment. “Sit down, Colonel Washington,” said he, with a conciliating smile, “your modesty is equal to your valor; and that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.”[8]
[8] Wirt’s Life of Patrick Henry, page 45.
When the session closed, the Colonel repaired, with Mrs. Washington, to his residence at Mount Vernon. Here he enjoyed the pleasures of domestic life and his favorite agricultural occupations for sixteen years, until called by the voice of his country to take command of the American armies at the commencement of the war of the Revolution. He cultivated and improved his lands with remarkable judgment. He conducted his business upon a regular system. Economy was observed through every department of it. His accounts were inspected weekly. The divisions of his farm were numbered, an exact account was kept of the produce of each lot together with the expense of cultivating it, so that the profit or loss of any crop as well as the relative advantages of different modes of husbandry might be seen at one view.
During Washington’s retreat from military life he was a magistrate of the county in which he resided, and frequently a member of the Virginia Legislature. He was hospitable and charitable; a friend to the church in the parish where he lived, and ever ready to do all in his power to promote the interests of morality and religion. He was indeed a friend of his country and a friend of mankind.
APPENDIX.
The first Congress of the United Colonies met at Philadelphia in 1774. Washington was a leading member of that body, and took an active part in opposition to the principles assumed by the then British administration and parliament in relation to the American colonies.