23d. Morning very heavy & cloudy with the wind at East & the Mer. at 46. About 6 oclock in the afternoon a fine rain began & continued for an hour. Mer. 54 at Night. Doctr. Craik went away before breakfast & a Majr. Jones—a british Officer came to dinner & Mr. George Peter at Night.
George Peter (1779–1861), youngest brother of Thomas Peter of Georgetown, had come to Mount Vernon soliciting a commission in the provisional army. GW wrote him a recommendation, describing “the young Gentleman . . . [as] likely, well grown, and of good behaviour,” and added, “all of the family of them are warm Federalists” (GW to James McHenry, 1 Feb. 1799 and 24 April 1799, DLC:GW). After participating in western exploration in the early years of the nineteenth century, Peter returned to Maryland, settling in Georgetown and Montgomery County, where he represented his district in Congress as a Democrat (, 150–51).