From George Washington to John Rumney, Jr., 5 July 1784
To John Rumney, Jr.
Mount Vernen 5th July [1784]
Sir;
As you pass by, Mr Lund Washington will put a sheep or two on Board your vessel in aid of your Sea Stores—My best wishes for a pleasant voyage & happy meeting with Mr Rumney & your friends attend you.1 I am with esteem Sir yr most Obdt Servt
Go: Washington
L (photocopy), DLC:GW. In October 1911 Goodspeed’s catalog, no. 88, advertised an “autograph letter written and signed by Washington,” with several words torn from the text, addressed to Mr. Rumney at Alexandria and dated 1784 at Mount Vernon. It quotes the first line of the letter: “As you pass by, Mr. Lund. Washington will put a sheep or two on board your vessel in aid of your sea stores.” The letter itself has not been found. The Library of Congress has a photocopy of a would-be facsimile of the letter, mistakenly dated 1797 instead of 1784, which is reported to have appeared in an unidentified magazine in the middle of the nineteenth century. This is the letter printed here.
1. See Rumney’s letter of 8 Sept. 1784 in which he gives thanks to GW and Mrs. Washington “for the genteel Present of Sea Stock.”