1March [1797] (Washington Papers)
1. Mercury at 24. Wind Westerly and cold all day. 2. Wind as yesterday; cloudy, cold & Raw all day. Towards night it began to Snow. Mercury at 26. 3. Mercury at 34. Morning very lowering & threatning but clear & pleasant afterwards. Wind fresh from the So. Wt. 4. Much such a day as yesterday in all respects. Mercury at 41. 5. Not unlike the two preceding days. M. at 50. 6. The wind Shifted to...
2[Diary entry: 4 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
4. Much such a day as yesterday in all respects. Mercury at 41.
3[Diary entry: 5 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
5. Not unlike the two preceding days. M. at 50.
4From George Washington to Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, 5 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
The multiplicity of business which occurred in the course of the last Session, particularly in the latter part of it, placed it entirely out of my power to attend to matters of private concern. This reason, I hope, you will have the goodness to accept as an apology for my delay in acknowledging the receipt of your very polite and obliging favour of the 16th of January, at an earlier period—&...
5[Diary entry: 6 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
6. The wind Shifted to the No. Wt. and turned Cold M: 24.
6From George Washington to George Ball, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
Enclosed is the copy of a letter I wrote to you in answer to yours from Lancaster, & to that place directed it supposing your residence to be in that County. This letter will be directed to the care of the Postmaster in Fredericksburgh, but as you are not particular in designating the place at which you are to be found, it may not, any more than the former, find its way to you. The receipt of...
7From George Washington to Caleb Gibbs, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
I will turn over your letter of the 13th instant to the President of the United States. You may be assured that I have not been wanting in disposition to serve you in anything that was consistent with my duty as a public Officer; but permit me to add that you seem to have lost sight of three things. 1st that there are a number of very deserving men to be provided for, whose situation during...
8From George Washington to Elizabeth Willing Powel, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
My Coach horses, having performed (faithfully & well) all the duties I have required of them, they are sent to you, agreeably to my promise; hoping they will be as serviceable to whomsoever they are committed, as they have been to me; and it is my wish that they may meet with a continuance of their former kind usage. As every moment of our time while we remain in this City, will be closely...
9From George Washington to Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
For your affectionate Address on my retireing from public life, I beg you to accept my grateful acknowledgments; And be assured, that no circumstance can tend more to sweeten the few remaining years of my life, than the pleasing remembrance of my services having been approved by those who have participated in the arduous struggle to establish our Independence, or to regulate the important Era...
10From George Washington to John Sinclair, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
On the 11 th of Decr I wrote you a long letter; and intended before the close of the last Session of Congress (which ended on the third instant, conformably to the Constitution) to have addressed you again; but oppressed as I was with the various occurences incident thereto, especially in the latter part of it, it has not been in my power to do so during its continuance; and now, the...
11From George Washington to Jeremiah Wadsworth, 6 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 27th Ulto reached me in the forenoon, & the Salmon in the afternoon of the 3d instant; and merit, & receive, my particular thanks. The latter regaled a number of Gentlemen at an entertainment given by the Merchants of this City on the 4th. I shall thank you (when re-published) for the refutation of the impudent forgeries of letters, carrying my signature, which Mr Bache has...
12[Diary entry: 7 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
7. A hard No. Wt. [wind] all day. Hard frost this morning & but little [sun] all day—snowing at times. Mer. at 24.
13[Diary entry: 8 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
8. Very thick morning with sprinkling rain clear afterwards with a brisk So. Westerly wind. Mer. 52.
14From George Washington to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 8 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
Your conduct during a six Years residence in my family, having been such as to meet my full approbation & believing that a declaration to this effect would be satisfactory to yourself & justice requiring it from me, I make it with pleasure. And in full confidence that the principles of honor, integrity & benevolence wch I have reason to believe have hitherto guided your steps will still...
15[Diary entry: 9 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
9. Wind changed to No. Wt. blew very hard & turned very cold. Mer. at 28. Left Phila. on my return to Mt. Vernon—dined at Chester & lodged at Wilmington. Accompanying GW and Mrs. Washington on the trip home to Mount Vernon were Nelly Custis and the marquis de Lafayette’s son, George Washington Motier Lafayette (1779–1849), accompanied by his tutor, Felix Frestal. George Washington Parke Custis...
16From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 9 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
Thus far we have arrived safe, but found it disagreeably cold. To give the greater surety to the large looking Glasses, and such other articles as are liable to be injured by the jolting of a dray; be so good as to have taken down by hand, and stowed where they will not be trod on; or tossed about in the Vessel’s hold. The grate (from Mr. Morris’s) pray have packed first in some of the old...
17[Diary entry: 10 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
10. Dined & lodged at Elkton. Tolerably pleasant all day. “At Elkton . . . Hollingsworth’s is a quiet orderly Tavern, with good beds, and well in other respects” ( GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, 26 Mar. 1797 , ViMtvL ). “We encountered no adventures of any kind, & saw nothing uncommon, except the light Horse of Delaware, & Maryland, who insisted upon attending us through their states” (Eleanor...
18From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 10 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
We arrived at this place to dinner and shall remain all night. To morrow we shall proceed but slowly. As I have missed the Post of this afternoon, and another does not happen until Monday it is probable this letter will not reach your hands in time. If the case however should be otherwise, and you have means to accomplish it, let me request you to provide for me as usual new Carpeting as will...
19[Diary entry: 11 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
11. Snowing from day light until 10 Oclock—in the Afternoon a little rain. Breakfasted at Susquehanna—dined & lodged at Hartford. “At the Ferry, on both sides, are good Taverns: Mrs. Rogers’ on the East, & Mr. Barney’s on the West. From thence to Hartford (commonly called Bushtown) twelve miles from the ferry, a good house used to be kept but ... it was to be sold the Wednesday after we passed...
20[Diary entry: 12 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
12. Lowering, but tolerably pleasant. Breakfasted at Websters. Dined & lodged in Baltimore. Met & escorted into town by a great concourse of people. websters : “Thirteen miles from thence [Harford] a pretty good Inn is kept by one Webster. From that to Baltimore is 14 Miles” ( GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel, 26 Mar. 1797 , ViMtvL ). GW’s entrance into Baltimore was described in a contemporary...
21From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 12 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
As I ride on matters occur to me and I shall take the chance of mentioning them to you before you may have left Philadelphia. A boat was bespoke, but no direction given either for the payment or mode of getting it round. My credit is at stake as it respects the first, and my interest as it regards the second, and I shall be obliged to you for seeing how both can be promoted. It is incumbent on...
22[Diary entry: 13 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
13. Breakfasted at Spurriers & dined & lodged in Bladensburgh. Morning lowered but clear afterwards. Spurrier’s was “much resorted, not because it is well kept but because there is no other; the lodging is bad—the eating tolerable ... better for lodging than eating. At Bladensburgh nine miles beyond a good house is kept by one Ross (sign of the Indian Queen)” ( GW to Elizabeth Willing Powel,...
23[Diary entry: 14 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
14. Dined at Mr. Laws & lodged at Mr. Thos. Peters. Day warm. mr. laws : Thomas Law (1759–1834), son of Edmund Law, bishop of Carlisle, was in India from 1773 to 1791 in the service of the East India Company, where he held several important administrative positions and acquired a sizable fortune. Apparently sometime during his stay in India, Law was married, for when ill health forced his...
24From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 14 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
The pressure of business in the last days of my administration, occasioned my dispatching the enclosed Instrument to the Commissioners of this City without the Seal of the United States (as certified); and I should not have known it wanted this evidence, had not those Gentlemen (upon my arrival here) informed me of the omission. I now forward it for the purpose of having this defect remedied;...
25[Diary entry: 15 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
15. Recd. the Compliments of the Citizens of George Town as I had done the day before of those of the City of Washington. Stopped in Alexa. & got to Mt. V. to dinner. city of washington : The Washington Gazette on this day reported that “Yesterday George Washington (God bless him) passed through the city on his way to Mount Vernon. When he reached the Capitol the company of Artillery, under...
26[Diary entry: 16 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
16. At home all day alone. Wind at East & very cloudy all day.
27[Diary entry: 17 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
17. Wind in the same place with rain from 10 oclock until 12—clear afterwards.
28[Diary entry: 18 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
18. Clear—with the Wind fresh from So. Wt. in the forenoon and at No. Wt. in the afternoon.
29[Diary entry: 19 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
19. Wind at No. Wt. and fresh after the morning continuing so all day & cold.
30[Diary entry: 20 March 1797] (Washington Papers)
20. Cool in the morning with the wind still at No. W. but very moderate afternoon.