December 14, 1799: The Death of George Washington.

You are there: Nearly ten years after completing his terms as the first U.S. President, George Washington dies on his Mt. Vernon estate.

When Washington leaves the capital and arrives back home on March 15, 1797, he finds that the time and devotion he has put into the presidency has left Mt. Vernon in need of fundamental repairs, almost top to bottom. What follows is a daily influx of carpenters and painters and groundskeepers, all working long days to meet the master’s commands. But soon enough, his step-granddaughter, Nelly Custis, reports that:

Grampa is very well and much pleased with being once more Farmer Washington.

In retirement, Washington pursues his art collection, oversees his plantation and begins to worry about mortality and about the fact that he finds himself land rich, but cash poor. To cover his sizable living expenses he begins to aggressively sell off his large land holdings in the west.

He also finds himself being drawn back into the controversy surrounding what the Democratic-Republicans argue was his favoritism for Britain over France. This has long been a cause celebre for men like Jefferson and Monroe, and Washington now encounters various pamphlets and messages he finds dismaying. He is particularly upset once again with Monroe, saying in a letter that he has exhibited a:

Mischievous and dangerous tendency, exposing to the public his private instructions and correspondence with his own government.

Dismay soon converts, however, into a level of open hostility toward the Anti-Federalists and the French that he had eschewed over his many years on the political stage. By December 1797 he is intent on stepping back into the arena to ward off the threat he sees from France.

I cannot remain an unconcerned spectator of the attempt of another power to accomplish (our downfall).

As France increases its hostile actions against the US, Adams decides to send a clear warning their way. Only July 2, 1798, he nominates Washington to return as a Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. military forces. Washington accepts the post two days later and devotes much of his time over the next seventeen months preparing an army to defend against a French invasion. Along the way he also bickers with Adams over strategy and over his staff, especially his wish to name Hamilton, the President’s nemesis, as his top-ranked general.

Washington is still serving his country when he dies suddenly at Mt. Vernon on December 14, 1799.

Two days earlier he records the following in his diary:

Morning cloudy. Winds to northeast and mercury 33. A large circle round the moon last night. At about ten o’clock it began to snow, soon after to hail, and then to a settled cold rain. Mercury 28 at night.

The storm he mentions starts soon after he rides out to inspect the far reaches of his farm. He returns home after five straight hours, soaking wet from the weather. He eats dinner and acknowledges that his throat is sore.

On December 13 he stays close to home and reads the daily newspaper with Martha and his aide before retiring. By 3am he awakens, feeling very ill, breathing heavily, and barely able to speak. He immediately senses that his life is in danger, and physicians are called. Before they arrive he tries, but is unable, to swallow a concoction of molasses, butter and vinegar. He then demands that bleeding should commence immediately, a common practice thought to rid the body of disease.

Three doctors finally arrive on December 14. More blood is drawn directly from Washington’s throat and from his arm. He remains unable to swallow liquids. The diagnosis they settle on is “quinsy,” a virulent form of tonsillitis, which calls for more bleeding and the application of blisters and purges. When nothing works, a trachea is debated to assist easier breathing, but it is rejected as too dangerous. One doctor finally insists that the bleeding stop, given the patient’s age and growing weakness – but the others disagree, and Washington is bled again, for a fourth time.

By afternoon, Washington knows he is about to die, and calls on Martha and his aide to make final arrangements. He burns one of two final wills and finally waives the doctors away when they try to continue the treatment. As night comes on, his mind turns to fear of being buried alive. He says to his aide:

I die hard, but I am not afraid to go….My breath cannot last long…Have me decently buried and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead. Do you understand me?

With those words, the General passes. Elaborate memorials honoring Washington’s death will follow across the nation, but on December 19, a simple ceremony, organized by his local Masonic Lodge, carries him to a final resting place on his farm.

Of all the founding fathers, only Washington is unequivocal in his determination to eventually free all of his slaves. Fearing that a future executor might waver, he issues a military-like command:

I do hereby forbid the sale of any slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatsoever. See that this clause, respecting slaves, and every part thereof, be religiously fulfilled…without evasion, neglect or delay.

One year after Washington’s death in 1799, Martha declares their freedom, and also sets aside a fund to educate the slave children in preparation for their new life.