9. Rid to Captn. Posey’s—from thence to the Mill & then home.
John Posey had recently gone to Maryland, where he married Elizabeth Adair of Chestertown. He had not yet brought his bride home to Rover’s Delight, but GW today saw the sad state of affairs that would greet the newly married couple there. Almost everything not mortgaged to GW had been attached by the Fairfax County sheriff to be sold for payment of various debts, and, according to Posey’s son Hanson, the slaves would be without bread in a few days and the horses had nothing to eat at all. Furthermore, several merchants had brought suit against Posey and GW in the county court to force a sale of the mortgaged property. No action had been taken on the suit to date, but clearly matters had, as GW wrote to Posey two days later, “come to a Crisis.” He must either find money to pay all his debts before the end of the year or sell his lands and slaves (11 June 1769, DLC:GW).