George Washington to Burwell Bassett from George Washington, 9 August 1759
To Burwell Bassett
Mount Vernon 9th Augt 1759
Dear Sir,
I wrote you a running Letter of Yesterday, and take the oppertunity of a conveyance to Fredericksburg today, to acknowledge the Receipt of your favour of the 8th Ulto—Miles who carries these Letter’s to Fredericksburg has Order’s to return by Mr Churchhills and bring home the Mare you bought.1
We have nothing worth communicating, Mrs Washington is mustering up all the occurrances She can get to transmit Mrs Bassett, & to her Letter I refer2—I informd you in my last that I expected to be at Mr Mercers about the first of next Month to get his assistance in sorting my Papers;3 I mention it now again, least if you shoud arrive here about that time we shoud be disappointed for a few days of seeing you; for I believe it will be necessary that Mrs Washington shoud accompany me in order to clear up any doubtful matters.
If this Letter shoud reach you in time be pleasd to get from James Danforth and bring up wi<th> <you> a Horse brand of this figure viz. F-X for Colo. Fairfax and make it in the neatest manner he is capable4—please to pay him and I will repay you Mrs Washington also begs the favour of you to bring her some Canary Seed for her Birds.5 I beg you will present my best Compliments to Mrs Bassett, & be assurd that I am Dr Sir, Yr Most Obedt Hble Servt
Go: Washington
P.S. Your care of the Inclosd Letters is desird by M. W.6
ALS, offered for sale by Doyle Auction, New York, 7 November 2017, sale 17BP02.
Burwell Bassett (1734-1793) married Martha Washington’s sister, Anna Maria Dandridge, in 1757. The couple lived at Eltham, a plantation on the Pamunkey River in New Kent County, Virginia. The Washingtons often stayed at Eltham when GW attended the legislature in Williamsburg or conducted other business in that city. Bassett served in several offices, including as member of both the Virginia legislature (1762 to 1775), and of the New Kent County committee of safety (1775 and 1776).
1. Neither GW’s letter to Bassett of 8 Aug., nor Bassett’s letter to GW of 8 July have been found. Bassett’s letter evidently requested GW to secure a “Chesnut horse” that Bassett recently had purchased on GW’s behalf from Henry Churchill of Fauquier County, Virginia. GW’s account with Bassett shows that GW owed him £38.10.0 in July 1759 for a “Mare purchas’d” of Churchill “for my use” (GW to Henry Churchill, this date; , 71). “Miles” probably refers to Miles Richardson, GW’s batman during the Forbes Campaign in 1758 and later a servant to GW.
2. Martha Washington’s letter to Anna Maria Dandridge Bassett has not been identified.
3. GW’s previous letter to Bassett has not been found.
John Mercer of Stafford County, Va., was currently acting as GW’s attorney in the settlement of the Custis estate and in the Dunbar case (see Queries to John Mercer, 20 April 1759, and the notes to that document). GW’s anticipated September trip to Mercer’s home was likely related to his dealings with the Custis estate, as GW’s cash accounts show that in September 1759 he spent £25 “By Mr Mercer for Settling Adminn Acct Colo. Custis’s Est[at]e” (, 58).
4. The “Horse brand” that GW wanted blacksmith James Danforth to make for George William Fairfax was a branding iron or brand used for the branding of livestock.
5. Later in the year, GW made another effort to procure canary seed. During his stay in Williamsburg in November 1759, he purchased the seed, which may again have been for Martha (see , 62). Canary seed is “the seed of Phalaris canariensis, used as food for canaries.” It may also refer to the plant itself ().
6. The enclosed letters have not been identified.