The Papers of George Washington: September 1798-April 1799V. 1. During the first ten months of Washington's retirement, Washington was, as he said, busier than ever before, breaking in a new farm manager, repairing and refurbishing long-neglected buildings, hiring new overseers and a new gardener from Britain, and most difficult, and perhaps most important of all, getting a proper cook for Mrs. Washington. v. 2. In the early months of 1798, Washington's correspondence relates mostly to such private concerns as the management of his Mount Vernon estate, his tenants in Virginia, his lands in the West and in Pennsylvania, and the education of Washington Parke Custis and the marriage of Nelly Custis, but he continues to correspond with friends and strangers, the low and the mighty, throughout America and abroad. By late spring James Monroe's attacks and the furor over the XYZ affair are drawing Washington back into the political arena. The letters in the latter part of this volume are in large part written to and from Washington as the commander in chief of an army being raised to repulse a feared French invasion. v. 3. In the fall of 1798, Washington was immersed in the business of creating a military force to deal with the threat of an all-out war with France. A clash over Alexander Hamilton's rank in the army led Washington to contemplate resignation of his own post as commander in chief of the army, and the resolution of this affair brought no opportunity for rest as Washington engaged in the tedious task of finding officers for the new military formations. Despite all of this he still found time in the months that followed to build houses on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., seek the funds to put his financial affairs in order, oversee the marriage of Nelly Custis to Lawrence Lewis, and lament the divided state of American politics. v. 4. In the spring of 1799, the relaxation of tensions between France and the United States allowed Washington to redirect his attention to his personal affairs. He drew up a new will that summer and made arrangements for the breakup of the estate he had amassed in the course of his life; but he also kept his gaze on the future, drawing up extensive plans for farming at Mount Vernon in 1800, the management of which he planned to take on himself. Washington also supervised the compilation of a comprehensive list of his Mount Vernon slaves, while at the same time making plans for their eventual freedom. Washington died at Mount Vernon on 14 December, behaving with a courage that was witnessed by his friend and secretary, Tobias Lear, whose accounts of the event bring the volume to a close.--publisher. |
