1. When and by whom these articles were ordered for GW is not certain. GW’s letter to Richard Washington of 15 April 1757 makes it clear that GW himself had placed no such order before this date and his letter to Richard Washington of 10 Sept. 1757 gives no indications that he did so thereafter. It seems likely that it was GW’s friend John Carlyle in Alexandria who placed the order: (1) both he and Fielding Lewis were authorized to deal with Richard Washington for GW (see GW to Richard Washington, 15 April 1757); (2) Carlyle had already placed one such order, in the fall of 1756 (see GW to Richard Washington, 10 Sept. 1757); (3) upon receiving GW’s (missing) letter of 30 Nov. 1756 Carlyle promised him that his “directions Abt Your orders for London finery” would be promptly attended to; and (4) the invoice itself consigns the goods to John Carlyle or GW. yet, GW wrote to Richard Washington on 15 April a week after visiting Alexandria that he did not know whether Carlyle had placed any order with the London merchant. It may well be that Carlyle did not place this large order until April or May 1757.

GW received this invoice after 8 Jan. 1758 enclosed in a letter from Richard Washington dated 9 Sept. 1757, which is missing; and the goods did not get to Mount Vernon until shortly before 18 Mar. 1758. See GW to Richard Washington, 8 Jan., 18 Mar. 1758.

2. Most of the planes in this cask were designed for making wooden molding or furniture. Those listed here include the cornice plane, spring plane, astragal plane, beed plane, ogee plane, quarter round plane, fillister plane, snipe’s bill plane, sash plane, hollow plane, and round plane. The plow plane was for making a groove along the end of a board, and the rabbit (rabbet) for cutting into the sides of boards so that they could overlap.

3. Each of the handsaws in this cask—tenor saw, sash saw, dovetail saw, and turning saw—had its specific use for carpenters in fine benchwork.

4. Carpenters used the long planes, jointer planes, fore planes, and smoothing planes primarily to make the surface of rough wood smooth, often in preparation for finer work.

5. A firmer was a sturdy chisel.

6. This was perhaps a mortise chisel used in making dovetail joints.

7. A joiner pricker had a knob and claw end used for pulling nails.

8. For most of the planes listed here below, see note 2. A slit deal plane is for cutting matching tongues and grooves on the side of boards; a table plane is a molding plane that works out a profile of a quarter circle on the flap of a folding table or desk.

9. Dogs of this sort are used to support logs in a fireplace.

10. Tammy was a dress fabric with a high finish.

11. An elbow chair was an upholstered wingback chair with arms.

12. Tick was ticking, a fabric used to cover mattresses and pillows.

13. This was a worsted warp-faced carpet woven on hand-operated looms at Wilton in England.

14. A searce was a sieve, and lawn cloth was a cotton fabric woven in Laon, France.

15. This blue-and-white porcelain made in the Bow factory in London was especially popular during the French and Indian War.

16. Huckaback is a loosely woven, soft cotton or linen towelling.

17. A half sheet of post writing paper when folded formed the ordinary quarto letter paper.

18. A surchingle is the belt that holds the saddle or a pack in place on a horse.

19. This was a box covered with shagreen, or untanned, leather and designed to hold silverware.

20. FF gunpowder is a double-fine grade which indicates grain size rather than quality.