BOOK REVIEW: Washington at the Plow: The Founding Father and the Question of Slavery by Bruce A. Ragsdale (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021) In Washington at the Plow: The Founding Father and the Question of Slavery, Bruce Ragsdale provides an in-depth examination of George Washington’s passion for agriculture and the way it changed his […]
Mount Vernon was George Washington’s lifetime project, from his inheritance of the property in the mid-1700s until his death in 1799. It was his prized home and final resting place. Today it’s one of the most visited historic sites in the country. This was my first time at Mount Vernon, and I was eager to learn […]
At the beginning of March 1777, Arthur Lee, a delegate to the United States Congress, urgently requested to meet with the Marquis de Grimaldi, who until just a few weeks before had been the Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs of King Carlos III of Spain, and who was now on his way to take […]
George Washington slept here. After the commander in chief was summoned to Princeton, New Jersey during the summer of 1783, and finding no rooms for rent, certainly not anything sizeable enough to serve his needs, Washington, his wife Martha, their servants and enslaved persons, and a small company of soldiers managed to find a place […]
William “Will” Costin was found dead in his own bed on the morning of May 31, 1842. Washington City’s leading newspaper, the Daily National Intelligencer, reported the passing of this “free colored man, aged 62 years,” then praised Costin’s years of service to the Bank of Washington, the capital’s largest. Costin’s job sounds modest today—he […]
Restrictions on travel and gather due to the coronavirus pandemic have had a significant impact on historic sites and institutions dedicated to the American Revolution. We asked our contributors to recommend sites and organizations for our readers to consider supporting. The list is in the order received. Brady J. Crytzer Historic Hanna’s Town, Greensburg, PA: […]
Between 1775 and 1784 Catharine Macaulay’s social and personal life was one traumatic event after another. She accepted the invitation from Rev. Dr. James Wilson, a retired minister from London now living in Bath who admired her writing, “to share his home—No. 2 Alfred Street;” because she was twenty-eight years his junior rumors started almost […]
Much has been written about George Washington’s lack of formal education and his eager grasp of learning from other men, especially those of status and wealth such as Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Probably the most influential man in the young Washington’s early life was his older half-brother, Lawrence. Born in 1718, Lawrence was the eldest surviving […]
On June 18, 1775, soon after learning that he had been chosen to lead the Continental Army, George Washington sat down to write a difficult letter to his wife, Martha, who was back home at Mount Vernon, to tell her about this unexpected change in circumstances and what it would mean for her: “… I […]
Mount Vernon is proud to serve as the 2015 conference host and co-sponsor for the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)’s Annual Conference on the American Revolution. Other partner organizations include the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and Friends of Hermione – Lafayette in America. This conference will highlight the well-known alliance between the United States and […]
The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, home of the George Washington Leadership Institute, is proud to host George Washington’s Yorktown: From Mount Vernon to Victory, June 6-7, 2015. Join us for a two-day tour and battlefield excursion experience that highlights the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of the Yorktown […]
When George Washington returned to Mount Vernon in the last days of 1783, he became the new Cincinnatus. Roman senators in the fifth-century B.C. made the farmer Cincinnatus a dictator during a national crisis, but after the war was over he voluntarily resigned his position and returned to his plow. Similarly, Washington laid down his […]
George Washington was a slave owner for his entire life, a fact that surprises many of his fellow citizens more than 200 years after his death. When they find out, people respond to this information in surprising ways. A visitor from California to a historic site in Virginia sat down in shock when upon learning […]
The inhabitants of Alexandria, Virginia, awoke on April 11, 1781 to a disturbing sight. A flotilla of enemy ships that had spent the last ten days pillaging property on both sides of the Potomac River many miles to the south, had suddenly arrived off of Alexandria. One observer in Alexandria counted, “three Ships, two Brigs […]
He may have beaten the British, but by the time George Washington became president, his sweet tooth (singular tooth)[i] for tasty desserts had not yet been conquered. Puddings, jellies and pies had been commonplace dessert offerings when George and Martha entertained at Mount Vernon, which they did before and after the War for Independence. But […]
After an early morning drive-by of multiple Maryland monuments and historical sites, we focused our attention on Virginia. Whoever said doing Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg in one day was impossible never drove a Porsche Cayenne. George Washington’s estate opens at 8 am, Colonial Williamsburg closes at 5 pm, and they are separated by a […]
