Upper Marlboro was a small tobacco town on the western branch of the Patuxent River in Prince George’s County, Md., about halfway between Annapolis and Mount Vernon. In 1775 it was described by a visitor as “a very pleasant” place, “containing about a Dozen very neat houses & 3 or 4 stores” (HONYMAN description begins Philip Padelford, ed. Colonial Panorama 1775: Dr. Robert Honyman’s Journal for March and April. San Marino, Calif., 1939. description ends , 4).

Atty. Gen. John Randolph of Williamsburg and Edmund Pendleton (1721–1803) of Caroline County were retained by GW about this time to act with James Mercer of Fredericksburg as attorneys for the Custis estate in a suit that was apparently to be heard in the General Court at Williamsburg between 10 and 15 Oct. The case involved an old claim against the family for payment of a substantial sum of money allegedly owed to descendants of an illegitimate daughter of Daniel Parke (1669–1710), Jacky and Patsy Custis’s great-grandfather. That dispute, which had been going on for more than 50 years, would continue for at least a few more years, but the plaintiffs would never obtain a final judgment in their favor (General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 345; FREEMAN description begins Douglas Southall Freeman. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York, 1948–57. description ends , 2:281–91, 298–301, 3:225–27, 282, 335).

John Randolph had attended the races in Annapolis with his daughters, traveling there on board the armed schooner Magdalen (Va. Gaz., P&D, 17 Sept. 1771).

John Oliffe of Norfolk was a sea captain who sailed frequently from Virginia to the West Indies and the British Isles. He married Mrs. Anne Knight at Norfolk in 1769 (LOWER NORFOLK description begins Edward W. James, ed. The Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary. Vols. 1–5. 1895–1906. description ends , 4:61).

William Crawford had surveyed the lands between the Great and Little Kanawha rivers for the Virginia Regiment, and he was now bringing in his rough field notes from which finished drafts were to be made with GW’s help (Crawford to GW, 2 Aug. 1771, DLC:GW). When the two men completed that task several days later, there were 10 surveys covering 61,796 acres, less than a third of the 200,000 acres that, according to the order of the council, had to be included in 20 surveys (VA. EXEC. JLS. description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. 6 vols. Richmond, 1925–66. description ends , 6:438–39). But Crawford reported that few of the tracts could be much “enlarged with rich Land” because the countryside was “generally so Craggy, Steep, and Rocky” that fertile farming areas could be found only in isolated narrow strips along the rivers and creeks (Crawford’s surveys, nos. 2–10, dated June 1771, are in DLC:GW; a copy of his first survey, dated June 1771, is at the University of Pittsburgh). Besides the surveys for the Virginia Regiment, Crawford apparently brought GW a personal survey for a 515–acre tract on the Ohio near Captina Creek (survey, 20 June 1771, DLC:GW) and one for some land about 16 miles from Fort Pitt (Crawford to GW, 2 Aug. 1771, DLC:GW).

Harrison Manley apparently came to Mount Vernon today to ask GW to handle some personal business for him in Williamsburg, where GW was soon to go. GW agreed, undertaking to obtain copies of some legal documents that Manley wanted and to take a sum of money for him to the treasurer of the colony (GW to Manley, 13 Nov. 1771, DLC:GW).

James Adam brought GW £41 6d. cash, part payment from Robert Adam & Co. for the flour that GW had sold the firm earlier in the year (General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 345).

Hector Ross brought another £100 from Robert Adam & Co. in payment for flour (General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 345).

Before William Crawford left Mount Vernon, GW paid him £41 14s. 4d. on account of the officers and soldiers of the Virginia Regiment and, on his own account, “5 half Joes,” gold Portuguese coins worth a total of £11 10s. Virginia currency (General Ledger A description begins General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. description ends , folio 345).

John Smith of Cabin Point was returning to Frederick County to obtain permission from the magistrates there to inoculate Samuel Washington and his family, but he died before he could do so. GW later wrote Samuel it was fortunate that Smith had not begun inoculating, “for I was morally sure he could not live to carry you through it. . . . What a madman must he have been to quite his house and friends in pursuit of so vain a shadow? To persist in it to the last argues something of insanity” (6 Dec. 1771, except, Parke-Bernet Galleries Catalogue, 11 June 1941, Item 578).

GW was going to Williamsburg to give the council a list of 81 members of the Virginia Regiment who had presented him with claims under the Proclamation of 1754 and to petition the councillors to devise a system for distributing the 200,000 acres among the claimants (VA. EXEC. JLS. description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. 6 vols. Richmond, 1925–66. description ends , 6:438–39).

About four weeks before GW arrived in town, Christiana Campbell had moved again, this time to Waller Street behind the Capitol, and in a newspaper advertisement she had announced that “I shall reserve Rooms for the Gentlemen who formerly lodged with me” (Va. Gaz., P&D, 3 Oct. 1771). But for the first time in ten years, GW did not stay with her. He chose, instead, to lodge with John Carter, a well-established merchant who ran a general store next door to the Raleigh Tavern and who at this time lived in a house directly across the street from the Raleigh (Va. Gaz., P&D, 6 Feb. 1772). Carter had not advertised rooms for rent, but he, like several merchants and craftsmen in town, was apparently supplementing his income by lodging visitors in his house during public times (GIBBS description begins Patricia Ann Gibbs. “Taverns in Tidewater Virginia, 1700–1774.” Master’s thesis, College of William and Mary, 1968. description ends , 133).

The play was performed by the American Company of Comedians, which had again returned to Williamsburg from Annapolis (RANKIN description begins Hugh F. Rankin. The Theater in Colonial America. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960. description ends , 164).

John Murray, earl of Dunmore (1732–1809), successor to Lord Botetourt as governor of Virginia, had taken his oath of office before the council 25 Sept. 1771 (VA. EXEC. JLS. description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. 6 vols. Richmond, 1925–66. description ends , 6:430–31). A Scottish peer, he had sat in Parliament for several years and for 11 months before coming to Virginia had been governor of New York.