R Neyer ~ That Man Laugh.Tq ~ His Teeth": Relatiqnships Between Whites Alli! Blacks at Geqrgewashingtqn's Mqunt Vernqn

... , .::r Neyer ~ That Man Laugh.tQ ~ His Teeth": RelatiQnships between Whites alli! Blacks at GeQrge WashingtQn's MQunt vernQn NOT TO BE REPRODUCED OR QUOTED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR AND THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES' ASSOCIATION At the conclusion of his lengthy and sometimes lyrical description oi George Washington's beloved Mount Vernon, visitor Jedidiah Morse closed with the words: "Such are the philosophic shades to which the late Commmander in Chief of the American Armies has retired from the tumultuous scenes Qf a busy world" (from "The American Geography"). Despite its beautiful and impressive setting, however, life at George Washington's beloved horne was far from idyllic. By 1799, Mount Vernon was an estate of approximately 8,000 acres, which were horne tQ slightly more than 300 individuals, living in rather dense little clusters, on five separate farms. The inevitable tensions Qf living in close proximity to the same people with whom one had to work for ten to sixteen hours a day were exacerbated by the subtle and not-so-subtle strains associated with the institution of slavery. For all the residents of Mount Vernon, relationships were both defined and complicated by issues of race and social status. I.M WashingtQns as Master and Mistress For many 20th century Americans, George WashingtQn is the quintessential 1 ·" leader, the charismatic head of a rebel army, who was able, through the sheer force of his personality and his embodiment of an ideal, to keep together a poorly equipped and ill-prepared army, until its eventual triumph over the greatest military power of the day. Because of the nature of their relationship, the slaves who labored for him at his home, however, saw at once the same and a very different man. While it is only in rare instances that the voices of these slaves can actually tell what they thought of the man they served, their message is powerful. According to one member of Congress, George Washington organized his plantation much the way he had his army during the Revolution (see Figure ---->. Senator William Maclay cattily noted in his diary a bit of gossip passed on by an acquaintance who had visited Mount Vernon: "[Mount Vernonl..is under different overseers, who may be styled generals, under whom are grades of subordinate appointments descending down through whites, mulattoes, negroes, horses, cows, sheep, hogs, etc.; it was hinted all were named. The crops to be put into the different fields, etc., and the hands, horned-eattle, etc. to be used in tillage, pasturing, etc., are arranged in a roster calculated for ten years. The Friday of every week is appointed for the overseers, or we will say the brigadier-generals to make up their returns. Not a day's work but is noted; what. by whom, and where done; not a cow calves or a ewe drops a lamb but it is registered; death, etc., whether accidental or by the hands of the butcher, all minuted. Thus the etiquette and arangement of an army are preserved on his farm ......(Early Descriptions Notebook, Journal Qf William Maclay, 1789-1791). 2 I}~~--------- ,., Organization Char1 Qf 1M Mount Vernon Plantation George Washington I Martha Washington I . Secretaries & Estate Supenntendant Housekeeper Tutors (hired whites) and/or Stewards (hired whites) (hired whites and/or slaves) Farm Overseers Artisans Gardener's Carpenters, bricklayers, Wife (hired whites and slaves) blacksmiths, gardeners, (wife of millers, weavers, etc. hired (hired whites) white) 1, Grain Cradlers & Artisans House Servants, Spinners, Carpenters, bricklayers, Knitters, Seine Makers (hired Cooks, Dairy whites) & cool?ers, shoemakers, Maids, Seamstresses drivers, postillions, (slaves) Field Workers Washwomen (slaves) ditchers, gardeners, (slaves) millers, etc. (slaves) " Maclay was not the only one of Washington's contemporaries to make a connection between his organization and management of Mount Vernon and his military experience. A former neighbor, Englishman Richard Parkinson, believed that keeping order on a plantation required the same "severe discipline" as an army and credited Washington's success at managing slaves not only to his industrious, methodical nature, but also to his "being brought up in the army" (Parkinson, Tour in America, p.436). Washington was very much a "hands-on" manager, who kept close watch on all aspects of the plantation, from how well various crops were doing to whether the clothes being made for the slaves were of the correct type. Thoughts of his plantation were never far from his mind. During a visit with the family of one of Mrs. Washington's granddaughters in the new Federal City, for instance, he SUddenly set out for Mount Vernon "between seven and eight o'clock in the morning in a great hurry to see the effect the last rains had had on his fields", leaving his wife and a foreign guest to get back at a more decorous pace (Niemcewicz, Vine & fig ~, 5/1798). One of the best illustrations of just how personally involved Washington could get comes from the reminiscences of an assistant to sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, who visited Mount Vernon in the fall of 1785. Known as Beglair, the Frenchman was watching the harvest of a crop, when one of the slaves reported that he was unable to work because his arm. which had been injured, was in a sling. According to Beglair, Washington put one hand in his pocket and raked with the other, admonishing the slave to watch him: .....Since you still have one hand free. you can guide a rake. See how I do it: I have one hand in my pocket and with the other I work. If you can use your hand to eat, why can't you use it to work?" (translation by Jean M. Marrengale, from Les carnets de David d'Angers, publies pour la premiere fois avec une introduction par Andre Bruer. Paris, 1958, pp. 133-134, quoted 3 in a letter from Mrs. Jean M. Marrengale to Mr. Charles C. Wall, the Resident Director of Mount Vernon, 3/27/1976). Washington's "hands-on management style" may have formed during his years with the army in the French and Indian War, but it was perfected on the plantation prior to the Revolution, and reached its highest development after that war. An early letter to a military subordinate, written when Washington was only twenty-six. hinted at the mature style to come: "...you will take care therefore to keep up Discipline at the same time [sic] use lenity, to prevent discontent and Desertion. Be vigilent, and keep your Men Sober observe Order and Regularity in the Garrison; which keep clean and wholesome; and as your numbers will be few, keep a regular and strict watch ..." (GW to Lieutenant Charles Smith, 6/24/1758). These instructions, so appropriate for the small and struggling army on the frontier, would have applied equally well to Washington's plantation thirty years later, where the white population was outnumbered by slaves by a factor of about ten to one. Twenty years after the just-quoted letter, as commanding general of the Continental Army during the Revolution, Washington continued to keep a "regular and strict watch" on those he led. He frequently observed details which concerned him and consequently ordered changes in routine practices, which might seem unworthy of notice to a modern commanding officer. By way of comparison, Washington was in roughly the same position as General Dwight Eisenhower in the Second World War, with charge over the military forces, including not only the army, but the navy and marines, as well, of more than one country. Granted there had been changes in military organization over the years and "Ike" was dealing with 4 a considerably larger force, but try to imagine him taking the time to write the following: "The General in riding thro' the Incampment, observing that many huts were covered with tents whilst Chimneys were building to others, again repeats his Orders to have the Tents delivered up the moment the Huts are, or can be completed, .." (OW, General Orders, 1/6/1778). Very early in the war, Washington had ordered that "Necessarys lsicl...be filled up once a Week, and new ones dug; the Streets of the encampments and Lines to be swept daily, and all Offal and Carrion, near the camp, to be immediately burned: The Officers commanding in Barracks, or Quarters, to be answerable that they are swept every morning, and all Filth and Dirt removed from about the houses ..." (GW, General Orders, 7/14/1775). Several years later, at another location, he directed that "Vaults for Necessaries...be immediately sunk, the Offal at the slaughtering pens...be buried and the dead horses removed or buried" (7/3/1778). When some of the men balked at the idea of carrying their cooking kettles, rather than simply tossing them into a wagon, Washington suggested that they "have recourse to the expedient 0,£ converting the old tents unfit for use, into bags large enough to contain the kettles, that with proper belts or slings of the tent cloth itself or of leather...they might be carried at the mens [sic] backs. As these bags will have to bear little weight they are not liable to the same objection as the forage bags" (GW to Colonel Timothy Pickering, 2/10/1781). No matter was too small to escape the Commander's attention, including the personal habits of his troops. During the sojourn at Morristown, the army was greeted one day with the news that "The General orders that no Soldier shall bath [sic] in the heat of the day, nor stay long in the water at a time" (OW, General Orders, 7/5/1777).

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