The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without
friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained general
credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how absolutely his
private life has been neglected in the study of his public career.
In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance "to the acquaintances
and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert
Washington of Chotanck," the latter presumably the "dear Robin" of his
earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to
know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any
record exists. Contemporary with them was a "Dear Richard," whose letters
gave Washington "unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
memory of so worthy a friend,--a friendship I shall ever be proud of
increasing."
Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
began with Washington's visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington
had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was
taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as
surveyor of his great tract of land, "the northern neck," which he had
obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had
obtained it from the "Merrie Monarch" by means so disreputable that they
are best left unstated. From that time till his death Washington
corresponded with several of the family and was a constant visitor at
Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount Vernon.
[Illustration Removed: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]
In 1755 Washington told his brother that "to that family I am under many
obligations, particularly the old gentleman," but as time went on he more
than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
twelve years later his diary records, "Set off with Mrs. Washington and
Patsey,... in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax's third son, which I did
together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady." For one of the
family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington's time became public
property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes' need of them,
for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this, "the
friendship," Washington assured them, "which I ever professed and felt for
you, met no diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,"
and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from
persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his
lordship in the following words:
"There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than at
others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been unmindful
of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the highest and mine
at the lowest, and when it is so common for men's resentments to run up
high against those, who differ from them in opinion, you should act with
your wonted kindness towards me, has affected me more than any favor I
have received; and could not be believed by some in New York, it being
above the run of common minds."
In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with confiscation,
he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, "I hope, I trust, that no
act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has affected, or can affect,
the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than in common with that of
every good and well disposed citizen of America," and this was sufficient
to put an end to the project At the close of the war he wrote to this
absentee, "There was nothing wanting in [your] Letter to give compleat
satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and myself but some expression to induce
us to believe you would once more become our neighbors. Your house at
Belvoir I am sorry to add is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since
you saw it), is most sincerely and heartily at your service till you could
rebuild it. As the path, after being closed by a long, arduous, and
painful contest, is to use an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth,
I shall please myself with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and
till you forbid me to indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you
and Mrs. Fairfax once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you
both there the intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our
younger years." And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will.
One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians.
After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and
signed himself "your friend and brother." In a less general sense he
requested an Indian agent to "recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and
others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an
opportunity of taking them by the hand." A little later he had this
pleasure, and he wrote the governor, "the Indians are all around teasing
and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce know what I
write." When Washington left the frontier this intercourse ceased, but he
was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his Western trip of 1770
a hunting party was met, and "in the person of Kiashuto I found an old
acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that went [with me] to the
French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us
with great kindness, giving us a quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted
upon our spending that night with him, and, in order to retard us as
little as possible moved his camp down the river."
With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. From
the earliest of these--Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence Washington
in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to live at Mount
Vernon--Washington had previously taken lessons in fencing, and when
appointed the bearer of a letter to the French commander on the Ohio he
took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A little later, on receiving his
majority, Washington appointed Van Braam his recruiting lieutenant, and
recommended him to the governor for a captain's commission on the grounds
that he was "an experienced good officer." To Van Braam fell the duty of
translating the capitulation to the French at Fort Necessity, and to his
reading was laid the blunder by which Washington signed a statement
acknowledging himself as an "assassin." Inconsequence he became the
scapegoat of the expedition, was charged by the governor with being a
"poltroon" and traitor, and was omitted from the Assembly's vote of thanks
and extra pay to the regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when
himself burgess succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom
Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance
him, promising that if the governor "should be pleased to indulge me in
this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light." Peyroney
was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during which he
wrote his commander, "I have made my particular Business to tray if any
had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank God I meet
allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one entertining
such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself." He served again
in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington wrote, "Captain
Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was killed."
With Captain Stewart--"a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity
are second to none in our Service"--Washington was intimate enough to have
Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to purchase a
commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. But because of
"a regard of that high nature that I could never see you uneasy without
feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause," Washington lent him three
hundred pounds towards it, apparently without much return, for some years
later he wrote to a friend that he was "very glad to learn that my friend
Stewart was well when you left London. I have not had a letter from him
these five years." At the close of the Revolution he received a letter
from Stewart containing "affectionate and flattering expressions," which
gave Washington "much pleasure," as it "removed an apprehension I had long
labored under, of your having taken your departure for the land of
Spirits. How else could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall
always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon."
His friend William Ramsay--"well known, well-esteemed, and of unblemished
character"--he appointed commissary, and long after, in 1769, wrote,--
"Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William
there ... I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than what
may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as it is
convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency a year
for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the completion of his
education. If I live to see the accomplishment of this term, the sum here
stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die in the mean while, this
letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or executors, to do it according
to the true intent and meaning hereof. No other return is expected, or
wished, for this offer, than that you will accept it with the same freedom
and good will, with which it is made, and that you may not even consider
it in the light of an obligation or mention it as such; for, be assured,
that from me it will never be known."
The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended Washington
in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled near Mount
Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became the family
medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote, "tell Doctor
Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there was anything
worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to
go by them that they lay hands upon." In 1777 the General secured his
appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle Department, and three
years later, when the hospital service was being reformed, he used his
influence to have him retained. Craik was one of those instrumental in
warning the commander-in-chief of the existence of the Conway Cabal,
because "my attachment to your person is such, my friendship is so
sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt your honor, wounds
me most sensibly." The doctor was Washington's companion, by invitation,
in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his trust in him was so strong
that he put under his care the two nephews whose charge he had assumed. In
Washington's ledger an entry tells of another piece of friendliness, to
the effect, "Dr. James Craik, paid him, being a donation to his son, Geo.
Washington Craik for his education £30," and after graduating the young
man for a time served as one of his private secretaries. After a serious
illness in 1789, Washington wrote to the doctor, "persuaded as I am, that
the case has been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the
nature of the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your
inspection of it," and later he wrote, "if I should ever have occasion for
a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, who,
from 40 years' experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of them put
together." Craik was the first of the doctors to reach Washington's
bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man predicted his own
death, "the Doctor pressed his hand but could not utter a word. He retired
from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed in grief." In Washington's
will he left "to my compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend, Doctor
Craik I give my Bureau (or as the Cabinet makers called it, Tambour
Secretary) and the circular chair, an appendage of my study."
The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle of
military friends. Washington "was very particularly noticed by that
General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain's
commission by brevet (which was the highest grade he had it in his power
to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies given him to
dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance." In this position
he was treated "with much complaisance ... especially from the General,"
which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing but curses for
nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he "had frequent
disputes," which were "maintained with warmth on both sides, especially on
his." But the general, "though his enmities were strong," in "his
attachments" was "warm," and grew to like and trust the young volunteer,
and had he "survived his unfortunate defeat, I should have met with
preferment," having "his promise to that effect." Washington was by the
general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted him into a covered cart,
and "brought him over the first ford of the Monongahela," into temporary
safety. Three days later Braddock died of his wounds, bequeathing to
Washington his favorite horse and his body-servant as tokens of his
gratitude. Over him Washington read the funeral service, and it was left
to him to see that "the poor general" was interred "with the honors of
war."
Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend and
guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he visited
the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of Warner
Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and there was
acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, Corbins,
Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other prominent families.
In fact, one friend wrote him, "your health and good fortune are the toast
of every table," and another that "the Council and Burgesses are mostly
your friends," and those two bodies included every Virginian of real
influence. It was Richard Corbin who enclosed him his first commission, in
a brief note, beginning "Dear George" and ending "your friend," but in
time relations became more or less strained, and Washington suspected him
"of representing my character ... with ungentlemanly freedom." With
John Robinson, "Speaker" and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington
in 1756, "our hopes, dear George, are all fixed on you," a close
correspondence was maintained, and when Washington complained of the
governor's course towards him Robinson replied, "I beg dear friend, that
you will bear, so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and
slights you have too often met with." The son, Beverly Robinson, was a
fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington's host on his
visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship, but
it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made an
appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save André. The appeal
was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons of
Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
exchanged, so one of them asserted, "in consequence of the embers of
friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my father
and General Washington."
Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many prominent
families, with whom there was more or less interchange of hospitality.
Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking of bread with
the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, Edens, Ringgolds,
and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, Morrises, Shippens,
Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of Pennsylvania, and the De
Lanceys and Bayards of New York.
Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and
added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of
intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member most
in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics, but
Washington assured Harrison that "my friendship is not in the least
lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political
sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have
acted." Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the
Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the
famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt "most grateful
obligations." Henry and Washington differed later in politics, and it was
reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former, but this
Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the Secretaryship of
State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to come forward and
combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to which Henry
responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, as already
noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates of his home.
Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, and, it is
claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from being arrested
in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President, Washington sent him
on a most important mission to Great Britain, and on its completion made
him Minister to France. From that post the President was, at the request
of France, compelled to recall him; but in doing so Washington wrote him a
private letter assuring Morris that he "held the same place in my
estimation" as ever, and signed himself "yours affectionately." Charles
Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of the General, and very much
disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling him "almost literally that
anybody who displeased or did not admire the Commander-in-chief, ought not
to be kept in the army." And to Edward Rutledge Washington wrote, "I can
but love and thank you, and I do it sincerely for your polite and friendly
letter.... The sentiments contained in it are such as have uniformly
flowed from your pen, and they are not the less flattering than pleasing
to me."
The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in the
young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was Joseph
Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a close
friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the most
confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to Reed to
take the position once more, in one instance adding that if "you are
disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too fortunate and
happy to wish for a change." Yet Washington none the less sent Reed
congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly, "although I
consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you" again a "member of my
family," to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to get Reed legal
business, and when all law business ceased and the would-be lawyer was
without occupation or means of support, he used his influence to secure
him the appointment of adjutant.
Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even
such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
"gratefully" acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was what
he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort Washington,
for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to Lee, and
probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, the latter
boasted that "I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my general's
favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same time treating
him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his character when absent.
This is more than a ruling member of the Council of Pennsylvania can say."
Washington learned of this criticism in a letter from Lee to Reed, which
was opened at head-quarters on the supposition that it was on army
matters, and "with no idea of its being a private letter, much less the
tendency of the correspondence," as Washington explained in a letter to
Reed, which had not a word of reproach for the double-dealing that must
have cut the General keenly, coming as it did at a moment of misfortune
and discouragement. Reed wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later
sought to "regain" the "lost friendship" by an earnest appeal to
Washington's generosity. Nor did he appeal in vain, for the General
replied that though "I felt myself hurt by a certain letter ... I was
hurt ... because the same sentiments were not communicated immediately to
myself." The old-time intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal
feeling had influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous
to this peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command
one of the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never
quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself "yours
affectionately."
John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The
young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father (then
President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when Charles Lee
was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself bound to
resent it, "as well on account of the relation he bore to General
Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect for his
character," and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into him. To
his commander he signed himself "with the greatest veneration and
attachment your Excellency's Faithful Aid," and Washington in his letters
always addressed him as "my dear Laurens." After his death in battle,
Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,--
"You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
Independent Chronicle of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is
literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly
entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the amor
patriae. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless
intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination;
and to this he was excited by the purest motives."
Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, "he has been a zealous
servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for near
five years, great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor
and gratitude interest me in his favor." As an instance of this, the
commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to Congress the
news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to that body that
Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in acknowledging a letter
Washington said, "I receive with great sensibility and pleasure your
assurances of affection and regard. It would be but a renewal of what I
have often repeated to you, that there are few men in the world to whom I
am more attached by inclination than I am to you. With the Cause, I
hope--most devoutly hope--there will be an end to my Military Service, when
as our places of residence will not be far apart, I shall never be more
happy than in your Company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear
from, and keep up a correspondence with you." When Tilghman died,
Washington asserted that
"He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human character,"
and to his father he wrote, "Of all the numerous acquaintances of your
lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings that are mingled on that
melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert that (excepting those of his
nearest relatives) none could have felt his death with more regret than I
did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth, or had
imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had done.... Midst
all your grief, there is this consolation to be drawn;--that while living,
no man could be more esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than
Colo. Tilghman."
To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending him
to the notice of that body for his "attention, fidelity, and good
services." This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close of
the Revolution, and was "the last officer belonging to the army" who
parted from "the Commander-in-chief." Shortly after, Humphreys returned to
Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion, and he
alluded to this time in his poem of "Mount Vernon," when he said,--
"Twas mine, return'd from Europe's courts
To share his thoughts, partake his sports."
[Illustration Removed: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD]
When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys
published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, for
which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to Mount
Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented "the cause which has
deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies," and on another
assured Humphreys of his "great pleasure [when] I received the intimation
of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation was not less
sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only stipulations I shall
contend for are, that in all things you shall do as you please--I will do
the same; and that no ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on
any one." Humphreys was visiting him when the notification of his election
as President was received, and was the only person, except servants, who
accompanied Washington to New York. Here he continued for a time to give
his assistance, and was successively appointed Indian commissioner,
informal agent to Spain, and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding
this latter position Washington wrote to him, "When you shall think with
the poet that 'the post of honor is a private station'--& may be inclined
to enjoy yourself in my shades ... I can only tell you that you will meet
with the same cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always
experienced at that place," and when Humphreys answered that his coming
marriage made the visit impossible, Washington replied, "The desire of a
companion in my latter days, in whom I could confide ... induced me to
express too strongly ... the hope of having you as an inmate." On the
death of Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest
affection and admiration for "my friend."
The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very young
and obscure officer attracted Washington's attention in the campaign of
1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff, and quickly
became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as "my boy."
Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however, reciprocated by
Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to
which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then himself, in evident
irritation, wrote as follows:
"Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told
me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him
immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent
to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting
nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis
de Lafayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of
business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left
him in a manner which, but for our intimacy would have been more than
abrupt. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, in his room, I met
him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone,
'Colonel Hamilton,' said he 'you have kept me waiting at the head of the
stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you treat me with
disrespect.' I replied without petulancy, but with decision: 'I am not
conscious of it, sir; but since you have thought it necessary to tell me
so, we part.' 'Very well, sir,' said he, 'if it be your choice,' or
something to this effect, and we separated. I sincerely believe my
absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes. In less
than an hour after, Tilghman came to me in the General's name, assuring me
of his great confidence in my abilities, integrity, usefulness, etc, and
of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could
not have happened but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to
tell him--1st. That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be
revoked ... Thus we stand ... Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in
rejecting the overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure
you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the
deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own
conduct.... I believe you know the place I held in the General's
confidence and counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to
learn that for three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have
professed none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each
other, and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I
did not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on
his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I had
no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a footing
of military confidence than of private attachment."
Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have
forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when
compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he said
that "my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you will
impute my refusal to your request to other motives." On this refusal
Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but "Tilghman came to me
in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an assurance that he
would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command." Later Washington did
more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave him the leading of the
storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by every officer in the army.
Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton's resentment, for a
correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, though
Madison stated long after "that Hamilton often spoke disparagingly of
Washington's talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first
part of the presidentcy," and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to the
effect that "Hamilton often spoke with contempt of General Washington. He
said that ... his heart was a stone." The rumor of the ill feeling was
turned to advantage by Hamilton's political opponents in 1787, and
compelled the former to appeal to Washington to save him from the injury
the story was doing. In response Washington wrote a letter intended for
public use, in which he said,--
"As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries,
and may obtain credit, 'that you palmed yourself upon me, and was
dismissed from my family,' and call upon me to do you justice by a
recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both charges
are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no cause to
believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the most
distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you were
invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting it was
altogether the effect of your own choice."
With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
developed. Hamilton became the President's most trusted official, and was
tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office he
performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which Washington
did "not know how to thank" him "sufficiently," and the President leaned
on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. This service produced
affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington wrote from Mount Vernon, "We
have learnt ... that you have some thoughts of taking a trip this way. I
felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it is unnecessary to add, that it
would be considerably increased by seeing you under this roof; for you may
be assured of the sincere and affectionate regard of yours, &c." and
signed other letters "always and affectionately yours," or "very
affectionately," while Hamilton reciprocated by sending "affectionate
attachment."
On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once sought
the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring the
Secretary of War that "of the abilities and fitness of the gentleman you
have named for a high command in the provisional army, I think as you
do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost any price." To
this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but Washington refused
to take the command unless this wish was granted, and Adams had to give
way. They stood in this relation when Washington died, and almost the last
letter he penned was to this friend. On learning of the death, Hamilton
wrote of "our beloved Commander-in-chief,"--
"The very painful event ... filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no
man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I
have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an
Ægis very essential to me. But regrets are unavailing. For great
misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends
of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness
in another world, he is happy."
Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of
general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the war
the two corresponded, and Knox expressed "unalterable affection" for the
"thousand evidences of your friendship." He was appointed Secretary of War
in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional army
Washington secured his appointment as a major-general, and at this time
asserted that, "with respect to General Knox I can say with truth there is
no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater
intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have
had a greater friendship."
Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and
their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best evidence
of friendship is in Washington's treatment of a story involving his
financial honesty, of which he said, "persuaded as I always have been of
Genl Greene's integrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended to
calumniate his conduct ... being perfectly convinced that whenever the
matter should be investigated, his motives ... would appear pure and
unimpeachable." When on Greene's death Washington heard that his family
was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would
"entrust my namesake G. Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as
good an education as this country (I mean the United States) will afford,
and will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds.
may chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost
& expence."
For "Light-horse Harry" Lee an affection more like that given to the
youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began a
letter to him "Dear General," and then continued,--
"Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you
has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so
quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds its place in
my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the
title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with awkwardness.... My
reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a
further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been roused above every
feeling of ceremony by the heart rending intelligence, received yesterday,
that your life was despaired of. Had I had wings in the moment, I should
have wafted myself to your bedside, only again to see the first of men;
but alas! despairing as I was, from the account received, after the
affliction of one day and night, I was made most happy by receiving a
letter, now before me from New York, announcing the restoration of your
health. May heaven preserve it!"
It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering him
in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political manuvres
in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the army in the
Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the provisional army.
Lee was in Congress when the death of the great American was announced to
that body, and it was he who coined the famous "First in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the general
officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this
young Frenchman the commander saw only "embarassment," but he received
"the young volunteer," so Lafayette said, "in the most friendly manner,"
invited him to reside in his house as a member of his military family, and
as soon as he came to know him he recommended Congress to give him a
command. As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor was
made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by bribing him with an
appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, independent of control
by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to
the General, and furthermore he "braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw
them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general." At
the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party
to Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter,
"passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking." In the same way
Washington distinguished him by giving him the command of the expedition
to rescue Virginia from Cornwallis, and to his division was given the
most honorable position at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was
completed, Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in
France, and as he was on the point of sailing he received a personal
letter from Washington, for "I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate
regard for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without
carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you," and in his absence
Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter "can tell you more
forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to embrace
you."
A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an eagerness
of which he wrote, "by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with
a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I go to Mount
Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General; and the
happiness of being once more with you will be so great, that no words can
ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount
Vernon, and I do already feel delighted with so charming a prospect."
After this visit was over Washington wrote, "In the moment of our
separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have
felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with which length of
years, close connexion, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked
myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever
should have of you?" And to this letter Lafayette replied,--
"No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well see
you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of embracing you
in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your name is adored, I
do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within
the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times. My firm plan
is to visit now and then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the
most beloved of all friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is
too strong an inducement for me to return to him, not to think that
whenever it is possible I shall renew my so pleasing visits to Mount
Vernon.... Adieu, adieu, my dear General. It is with inexpressible pain
that I feel I am going to be severed from you by the Atlantic. Everything,
that admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship, and fillial love, can
inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly
to you. In your friendship I find a delight which words cannot express.
Adieu, my dear General. It is not without emotion that I write this word,
although I know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health.
Let me hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu."
The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
"To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his
own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your family, it
must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence is quite
insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of that
paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to
let me hear from my dear General."
One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious
illness, and Lafayette responded, "What could have been my feelings, had
the news of your illness reached me before I knew my beloved General, my
adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at the idea of the
situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so distant from you,
was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear from you, and the
still more endearing prospect of visiting you and presenting you the
tribute of a revolution, one of your first offsprings. For God's sake, my
dear General, take care of your health!"
Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was
reversed, Washington writing that "The lively interest which I take in
your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your
personal safety." This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after
Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was appealing
to her husband's friend for help. Our ministers were told to do all they
could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a personal letter to the
Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first news of the
"truly affecting" condition of "poor Madame Lafayette," he had written to
her his sympathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had deposited at
Amsterdam two hundred guineas "subject to your orders."
When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette's son,
and Washington's godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
godfather wrote that, "to express all the sensibility, which has been
excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette's letter, from the
recollection of his father's merits, services, and sufferings, from my
friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to
his son is unnecessary." The lad became a member of the family, and a
visitor at this time records that "I was particularly struck with the
marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of
Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with
pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest." With Washington he
continued till the final release of his father, and a simple business note
in Washington's ledger serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity
to the boy: "By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting
himself such small articles of Clothing as he might not choose to ask for
$100." Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars "to defray
his exps. to France," and by him Washington sent a line to his old friend,
saying, "this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your
son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable
lady."
Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette,
couched in the following terms:
"Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of
the pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is
restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and honors,
which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her from me
(which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her assurances
of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of being her
well-wisher,
George Washington."
In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington's relations with
children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no
liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or
assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children of
his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a
letter without a line about the "little ones." His kindnesses to the sons
of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed.
Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his
friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to
Providence with Washington, that "we arrived there at night; the whole of
the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by a
crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of the
citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they called
their father, and pressed so closely around us that they hindered us from
proceeding. General Washington was much affected, stopped a few moments,
and, pressing my hand, said, 'We may be beaten by the English; it is the
chance of war; but behold an army which they can never conquer,'"
In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at an
inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all payment was
refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,--
"Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
called another after Mrs. Washington's family, and being moreover very
much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters,
Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece
of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, and who
waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she
may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may dispose of
them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these
things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its being known, the
less there is said about the matter the better you will please me; but,
that I may be sure the chintz and money have got safe to hand, let Patty,
who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line informing me thereof,
directed to 'The President of the United States at New York.'"
Miss Stuart relates that "One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting for
his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my father
thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the
General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a
little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each
other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived, that
Washington had talked with him."
For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great
fondness, and in one instance the father was told that "It gave Mrs.
Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our
little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We
sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter--that he may always be
as charming and promising as he now is--and that he may live to be a
comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his country. As a
testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in the lottery which
is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should be his fortune to
draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in giving it." A second
letter condoled with "little Lincoln," because owing to the collapse of
the lottery the "poor little fellow" will not even get enough to "build
him a baby house."
For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and
remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest affection
and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last
illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time. Holding Washington's
hand, he received from him his last orders, and later when Washington
"appeared to be in great pain and distress from the difficulty of
breathing ... I lay upon the bed and endeavored to raise him, and turn him
with as much ease as possible. He appeared penetrated with gratitude for
my attentions, and often said 'I am afraid I shall fatigue you too much.'"
Still later Lear "aided him all in my power, and was gratified in
believing he felt it; for he would look upon me with eyes speaking
gratitude, but unable to utter a word without great distress." At the
final moment Lear took his hand "and laid it upon his breast." When all
was over, "I kissed the cold hand, laid it down, and was ... lost in
profound grief."
