1591From George Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 6 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
By the Ship Nancy from London, just arrived at Alexandria, I have received four copies of the Prints of the Deaths of Montgomery & Warren (the number of setts I presume I subscribed for)—sent me by your Brother. It is my wish to make him a remittance agreeably to the terms of the Subscription; but having taken no copy of it, and not being able to recollect what is to pay, must be my apology...
1592From George Washington to James McAlpin, 10 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Having requested in a former letter, that you would make me a uniform suit of Cloaths by such directions as the Secretary of War would give; of such kinds of Cloth as I mentioned to you in that letter; and moreover, that they might be with me by the 22d of the present month; I hope my desire in all these particulars will be complied with. If Mr Washington, one of the Judges, has not left...
1593From George Washington to James McHenry, 10 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 1st instant is received. Whatever appearance, or shape, the Uniform intended for me, may take, by your direction, will be entirely agreeable to my taste. It being the commencement of a distinguishing dress for the Commander in Chief of the armies of the United States (whomsoever he maybe) and probably will be a permanent one—my wish (although as it respects myself personally...
1594From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your letters of the 24th of the last, and 2d of the present Month, have been duly received; for which, & their enclosures, I thank you. I am not surprised that some Members of the Ho. of Representatives should dis-relish your Report. It contains remarks, and speaks truths which they are desirous should be unknown to the People. I wish the parts which were left out, had been retained. The...
1595From George Washington to James Lloyd, 11 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 28th Ulto enclosing Mr Gerry’s correspondence with M. Talleyrand, came safe; but not so soon after its date as might have been expected; or an earlier acknowledgment thereof would have been returned. For your kind, and polite attention to me in sending me this curious interchange, with the Secretary of State’s Report thereon, I pray you to accept my best thanks. It is not...
1596From George Washington to John Tayloe, 12 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
By your Servant, I have this moment (on my return from Alexandria) been favoured with your two letters of the 10th instant. For the compliment you have been pleased to pay me, in asking my opinion of the eligibility of accepting your late appointment in the Army of the United States, I pray you to accept my thanks. However desirous I might have been of seeing you engaged in that line, candour...
1597From George Washington to William Augustine Washington, 14 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Mr H: Washington affords me a very good opportunity to inform you, that if your Crop enables you to supply me with a hundred Barrels of Corn over and above the quantity Contracted for, I shall be willing to take it on the terms I do the Five hundred Barrels; and that I shall be willing to receive a part of the whole at any time you may find it convenient to forward it, as the danger of Frost,...
1598From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 15 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your favour of the 8th instt conveys very pleasing information, and I feel obliged by the communication. Although you did not give your letter the stamp of privacy, I did not think myself at liberty to mention the purport of it to some good Federal characters who were dining with me at the time I received it, and who would have thought it the best Desert I could have offered. Hence forward, I...
1599From George Washington to William Thornton, 15 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 12th instant, with Mr Blagdens estimate of the Glass required for my Houses in the Federal City, and shall take measures for providing it in time. Presuming that Mr Blagdin is apprised of there being a check on the Bank of Alexandria, subject to his call, the neglect is his, if he does not do it. He shall not want the means necessary to push on my buildings...
1600From George Washington to James Welch, 15 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
The first of January is past, and February half gone, without my receiving any money from you; seeing you; or even hearing any thing from you, on this subject. I am in real want of it, and depended upon your repeated assurances of punctual payment at the time the first Rent became due. I hope I shall not have occasion to remind you of this matter again. I am—Sir Your Very Hble Servant ALS...
1601From George Washington to James McHenry, 16 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed letter from Major Lawrence Lewis requires explanation, and it is the purpose of this letter to give it. He had, it seems, been making Overtures of Marriage to Miss Custis some time previous to the formation of the Augmented Corps in November last, at Philadelphia; without any apparent impression, until she found he was arranged as a Captain in the Regiment of Light Dragoons, and...
1602From George Washington to James Anderson, 17 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
I am not certain that I perfectly understood (when I was speaking to you on the subject the other day) what parts of the Banks in Union Farm Meadow, were sowed with Clover; and therefore make the enquiry now; first, because I am strongly impressed with an idea that that part which is in Wheat, on the North Side of the Branch from the Barn lane downwards (especially as far as the rough plowed...
1603From George Washington to Thomas Law, 17 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Knowing that Nelly Custis had announced her intended Marriage to her Sisters; informed them of the day on which it was to be celebrated; and invited their presence at the Ceremony; I have given no particular invitations. But lest Mrs Law and yourself should require something more formal than an Invitation from the Bride Elect, I inform you that Friday next is to make her and Lewis one flesh &...
1604From George Washington to Clement Biddle, 18 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your letter and a/c current, with the Bills enclosed, have been duly received; and under cover of this letter I send you One hundred Dollars to be placed to my Credit. Ellwood has not yet called upon me, nor is he arrived at Alexandria that I have heard of. I thank you for the information respecting the price of Flour; and shall be obliged by your mentioning of it occasionally; especially if...
1605From George Washington to George Deneale, 19 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
You will please to grant a license for the Marriage of Eleanor Parke Custis with Lawrence Lewis, and this shall be your authority for so doing from—Sir Your Very Hble Servt ALS , NNPM ; ADf , DLC:GW ; LB , in hand of Albin Rawlins, owned (1976) by Miss Penissa Wills and Mr. L. J. Wills, Halesowen, England. GW had Thomas Peter and George Washington Parke Custis witness his application to the...
1606From George Washington to Jane Dennison Fairfax, 23 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
General and Mrs Washington present their Compliments to Mrs Fairfax and family and request the favour of their Company at dinner with the newly married couple on Wednesday next. An answer is requested. AL , ViHi . According to GW’s diary two couples dined at Mount Vernon on Wednesday, 27 Feb., but not Mrs. Fairfax, whose husband, Bryan Fairfax, was in England ( Diaries Donald Jackson and...
1607From George Washington to Andrew, Catherine, and William Ramsay, 23 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
General & Mrs Washington present their Compliments to Mr Andw Ramsay, Mrs Ramsay and Mr Willm Ramsay and request the favour of their Company to dine on Tuesday next, with the couple Newly Married. An answer is requested. AL (photocopy), DLC:GW . William and Andrew Ramsay were merchants in Alexandria. They were the twin sons of Patrick and Elizabeth Ramsay. Andrew was the husband of Catherine...
1608From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 25 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly favoured with your letter of the 15th instant. When the disposition was contemplated for assigning to Major General Pinckney and to yourself your respective districts of superintendence, I was of Opinion (as you will see by the enclosed copy of a letter which I wrote to the Secretary of War on my way from Philadelphia to this place) that the whole of General Wilkinson’s...
1609From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 25 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
Private My dear Sir Mount Vernon 25th Feby 1799. Your private letter of the 16th instant came duly to hand, & safe: and I wish you at all times, and upon all occasions, to communicate interesting occurences with your opinions thereon (in the manner you have designated) with the utmost unreservedness, to me. If the augmented force was not intended as an interroram measure, the delay in...
1610From George Washington to James Ewing, 26 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
The Columbian Alphabet which you were so polite as to send me, came safe, and for which I pray you to accept my thanks. It is curious, and if it could be introduced, might be useful for the purposes proposed; but it will be a work of time, it is to be feared, before it shall be adopted, generally. I am Sir Your most Obedt Hble Servant ALS (letterpress copy), NN : Washington Papers; LB , in...
1611From George Washington to Jedediah Morse, 28 February 1799 (Washington Papers)
The letter with which you were pleased to favour me, dated the first instant, accompanying your thanksgiving Sermon came duly to hand. For the latter I pray you to accept my thanks. I have read it, and the Appendix with pleasure, and wish the latter at least, could meet a more general circulation than it probably will have, for it contains important information, as little known out of a small...
1612From George Washington to John Adams, 3 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly honoured with your favour of the 19th Ulto, mentioning the nomination of Mr Murray to be Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republic. With the writer of the letter, which I did myself the honour to enclose in my last to you, I truly observed that I had never held any correspondence; and I only knew him in his public mission from this Country to the Barbary States, the...
1613From George Washington to William Booker, 3 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
Mr Anderson has shewn me your letter of the 23d Ultimo, to him, with an estimate of the expence of building horse Mills, differently constructed. For the trouble you have taken in this business, I feel myself very much obliged. A Mill grinding from 15 to 20 bushls a day, with two horses, would nearly, if not entirely, answer all my purposes; with the occasional aid of the Water Mill, which in...
1614From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 3 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
Confidential Dear Sir, Mount Vernon 3d March 1799 The unexpectedness of the event, communicated in your letter of the 21st Ulto, did, as you may suppose, surprise me not a little. But far, very far indeed was this surprise short of what I experienced the next day, when by a very intelligent Gentmn (immediately from Philadelphia) I was informed that there had been no direct overture from the...
1615From George Washington to Alexander Addison, 4 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your favour of the 31st ofjany, enclosing your second charge to the Grand Juries of the County Courts of the fifth Circuit of the State of Pennsylvania, at the last Decr Sessions, has been duly received, and for the Enclosure I thank you. I wish, sincerely, that your good example, in endeavouring to bring the People of these United States more acquainted with the Laws & principles of their...
1616From George Washington to James McHenry, 4 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly favoured with your letter of the 12th ultimo—and am much obliged by your kind attention to the business which I desired McAlpin to execute for me. Enclosed is a letter from Mr Alexr A. Peters requesting to be appointed Surgeon or Lieutt in the Army—also one addressed to yourself which came to my hands by the last Mail. I am dear Sir, with due respect & esteem, Your mo. ob. st...
1617From George Washington to John Moody, 4 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 23d Ulto enclosing one addressed to the Secretary of War, which has been forwarded to that officer according to your desire. The usual course of applications for Military appointments is to the Secretary of War, who lays the same before the President of the United States, and your application, through that channel, will undoubtedly meet the attention which it...
1618From George Washington to William B. Harrison, 5 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 21st Feby ⟨ha⟩s ⟨bee⟩n received. I do not know what quantity of Land you hold adjoining me. I have heard it called three, and sometimes 400 acres. But suppose a medium between the two, that is 350 acres, the interest of twelve dollars an acre would make a Rent of more than £75 pr Annum. If there is any person, or persons, who can afford to give this, from any thing the land...
1619List of Houses at Mount Vernon, 13 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
List of Houses at Mount Vernon as taken by Mr Dulan (one of the Assessors) the 9th instant on the Premises. No. of Windows No. of Paynes in each Total 6 18 108 6 12 72 3 12 36 8 15 120 1 62 62 2
1620From George Washington to William Thornton, 14 March 1799 (Washington Papers)
As the season for transplanting Trees is passing away, and this business cannot be much longer delayed with propriety, or safety to the Plants, I embrace the going up of Colo. Lear to the City, to send you the scaley bark hiccory trees promised you sometime since. They are from the large Nut grown in Gloucester County, of this State. I put such of the Spanish Chesnut as I could save last...