We were in the 9:00 mansion tour and when I say we were herded, I mean herded. They had planned for a huge crowd and we were in a line as we moved through the mansion. I was almost stepping on the heels of the person in front of me and Gary was on my heels. We were all that close as we moved through. We also did not get to see all of the house, parts that are on the regular everyday tour. But, we did get to see so much more because of the encampment.
We all know about Washington the President and Washington the General but Washington was also a very successful farmer with some unique ideas that put him ahead of his time. He realized that tobacco used up the soil so he planted crops in rotation to build up the soil. Here’s his schedule for what crops went where and when.
He also saw that everyone else planted tobacco which was taxed by the British and that the price for his crop was dependent up on these two factors. He decided that wheat would be a good crop - he was the only one growing it and it was not taxed. Pretty clever man. He also experimented with many other crops to see which grew best and sold for the most. With this he kept meticulous notes on what crops he planted and in which field, what the yield was and how it sold. He also had a gristmill which everyone in the county used and from which he sold his flour from his wheat and the largest distillery in VA at the time.
Here’s his ‘necessary’. Note the design which matched the other buildings on his plantation. It is actually a 3-seater and has a drawer underneath that is emptied when needed.
So, how did he die? Not easily and probably in much pain. It was December and it was cold and miserable. He worked in that cold all day around his fields and then went out the next day in the snow. The third day he awoke feeling quite sick and asked his overseer to come to bleed him with leeches. (This was a very common treatment for illness - to get rid of the ‘bad’ blood) and then called in his doctors who bled him more. It is estimated that half of his blood was taken. His throat was swabbed, he was given an enema, his feet were washed in warm water and still he grew worse.
The next day he told his secretary: ‘I am just going. Have me decently buried and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead.’ His secretary agreed and he said: ’Tis Well’ and died at 10 pm on Saturday, December 14, 1799 at the age of 67. After his death, Martha locked the door to their rooms and moved upstairs to a much smaller room on the 3rd floor of Mount Vernon. Here she burned all their letters so no one in the future could pry into their private lives. She died only 2 years later and is buried next to him in the family tomb on Mount Vernon.
After we ‘toured’ Mount Vernon, we wandered around the various out-buildings where the business of plantation was carried out: the blacksmith, the laundress, the paint cellar, the ? the stables and then wandered over to his tomb which is on the other side of the extensive gardens. Here we found a large crowd and the fifer we had spoken with before leading a discussion. When we got there he asked us all to sing the National Anthem. He asked us to take off our caps and put our right hand over our heart and then he played the introduction. We all began to sing. Then Gary tapped me gently on my arm and asked: ‘Who is that in the brown jacket over there?’ Hmmm. Oh, yeah - that’s Nancy Pelosi with her family. How cool.
But then we met this cool dude who bowed and doffed his hat just as I was taking the picture of the two in their period garb.
We wandered up the hill to the encampment and wandered around this asking questions of people as we came to them. One ‘physician’s assistant’ told us that most people spend about $2500 on their period clothing (don’t call it a ‘costume’), accoutrements, tents, and everything else they have and then spend money getting to events such as this. It’s not a cheap hobby but they love doing it. He had been an ordinary soldier for quite a few years and then decided that he wanted to be a ‘gentleman’ and have his own tent. So, he 'promoted' himself. That's the neat thing about re-enacting - you can be who you want to be: soldier one day, officer the next, Colonial the third day and Brit the fourth. He had constructed his own bed - note how it folds up and can actually be put into the trunk of a car.
I liked these nice trunks that he had. (Note that all these people have to keep their tent neat since there are so many nosy tourists wandering around. Some tents were tied shut and we didn’t look in them but his was open for us to look inside.)
We met two women who have been doing this for 12 years. Today, they were just touring since their ‘company’ hadn’t come in any official capacity. But, on the other hand, they came in their correct period clothing.
There were rows of tents and fires with cooking pots out. There were vendors there also selling their wares like 18th Century buttons, cloth, ribbons, jewelry, cast iron pots and pans, glasses and anything else you might want to buy if you wanted to be a re-enactor.
We also stopped by a medical tent where they had various medical implements displayed. They told us that more men died of infection than from being killed on the battlefield. When someone was shot, the bullet pushed cloth into the wound. And, here was where the infection began. With no antibiotics, it just spread.
The battle itself was really interesting. Because the weapons were so inaccurate and could only fire 3 shots a minute, the battles seemed to be in slow motion as the armies walked towards each other firing. The shots were obviously loud and the artillery pieces even louder, both putting up a cloud of smoke.
Sometimes the smoke on the battlefields in the 18th C was so thick that the armies couldn’t see each other. Finally, the obvious larger numbers of the Americans pushed the British back and a victory was declared.
Next we wandered though the museum and educational center. Both were very interesting and educational. They had a wealth of the Washington’s personal effects: china, furniture, toiletries, clothing, etc. We couldn’t take pictures of these so I have none. The educational center really told more about Washington himself, the history of the times, his legacy, etc.
Here’s a trick question: How many British colonies were there in America? 13? Is that your answer? Wrong. Actually, there were several more: Nova Scotia, Ontario and several others. These colonies just chose not to revolt and stay within the British empire.
Here’s another trick question. Were Washington’s dentures made out of wood? No, they were not made out of wood - anyone as wealthy as Washington would have had much better dentures. On the other hand, they were made of bone, hippopotamus ivory, human teeth, brass screws, lead, and gold metal wire, all of which might be just as uncomfortable as wood. Not only were they uncomfortable but they impacted the shape of his face: ‘which causes both upper, and under lip to bulge out, as if swelled’ Washington wrote to his dentist. And, yes, they probably were the reason that he disliked speaking formally and is not smiling in many of his formal pictures.
Did you know that his teeth were instrumental in our willing our independence? Well, yes. they were a part of a bunch of misinformation that Washington executed that kept British General Clinton bottled up in New York while he left to head down to fight Cornwallis in Yorktown, VA. Washington wanted to keep Clinton from joining Cornwallis so sent a note to his dentist saying that he had ‘little prospect of being in Philadelphia. soon.’ and to send his tooth scrapers to him outside of New York. Then he arranged to have this letter ‘intercepted’ by the British. This was only part of his disinformation plan for the British and it all worked: Clinton stayed in New York and Washington moved his army south to VA to beat Cornwallis.
Not only did Washington use the letter to his dentist to misinform Clinton about his plans, he also kept a lot of tents in place, had soldiers marching around and used drums and fifes to make Clinton think that he was still in New York while he was actually on his way down to Yorktown to face Cornwallis, he also had quite a network of spies. These spies used secret codes, invisible ink and hid information in the cloth buttons of a 10-yr old boy. One laundress used the color of handkerchiefs hung out on her line to pass information on to Washington. Who would suspect an innocent washerwoman?
We had a marvelous day at Mount Vernon, especially with all the re-enactors.
‘Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.’
George Washington
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