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From George Washington to Thomas Peter, 3 December 1799

To Thomas Peter

Mount Vernon 3d Decr 1799

Dear Sir,

Have you succeeded, or are you likely to succeed, in procuring the Hemp seed I required?1

The fly has got into my Wheat, very generally this Fall; and I lay my account for great ravages thereon next Spring; which makes me more desirous of laying (to use a Sea term) an anchor to windward for something else.2

I congratulate you and Patcy on the birth of a “Manchild”3—My best wishes attend the Mother & Child—and I am—Dear Sir Your Affecte Hble Servt

Go: Washington

ALS (photocopy), DLC:GW.

1GW spent the night of 9 Nov. at Thomas Peter’s house in Georgetown, at which time he and Mr. Peter may have spoken of hemp seed (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 6:375). No reference to hemp has been found in their correspondence.

2See GW’s elaborate plans for cropping his Mount Vernon farms in 1800, which he gave on 13 Dec., the day before his death, to his farm manager, James Anderson.

3This was probably John Parke Custis Peter, the son of Thomas and Martha Peter, who is known to have been born sometime between 1798 and 1800.

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