![WASHINGTON, George. Partial autograph letter signed (“G:o Washington”), to Lund Washington, [30 April 1781]. 1 page, 8vo, final 11-lines of the letter, from “thro’ the fiery trial of this summer…”](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/NYR/2015_NYR_03750_0212_000(washington_george_partial_autograph_letter_signed_to_lund_washington_3100753).jpg?w=1)
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WASHINGTON, George. Partial autograph letter signed (“G:o Washington”), to Lund Washington, [30 April 1781]. 1 page, 8vo, final 11-lines of the letter, from “thro’ the fiery trial of this summer…”
“THE FIERY TRIAL OF THIS SUMMER”
The congenial, concluding portion of Washington’s blistering letter to his cousin, who saved Mount Vernon from destruction during the British invasion of Virginia. The fragment reads: “[…] thro’ the fiery trial of this summer, Mrs. Washington joins me in the best and affectionate regard for you. Mrs Washington & Milly Posey does most sincerely regret your loss. I do not know what Negros they [i.e., the British] may have left you – and as I have observed before I do not know the number they will have left me by the time they are done, but this I am sure of, that you shall never want of assistance while it is in my power to afford it...” In the absent portion of the letter, Washington chastised Lund severely. “I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I am a little sorry to hear of my own, but that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the enemy’s vessels, and furnish them with refreshments. It would have been a less painful circumstance to me to have heard that in consequence with your non-compliance with their request, they had burnt my house, and laid the plantation in ruins.” Lund “ought to have considered yourself as my representative, and should have reflected on the bad example of communicating with…a parcel of plundering scoundrels, and request a favour by asking the surrender of my Negroes the enemy…”
British forces were operating in the Chesapeake to oppose Lafayette’s raid against the traitor, Benedict Arnold. A raiding party from the HMS Savage under command of a Capt. Thomas Graves came ashore and put several neighboring plantations to the torch. When they came to Mount Vernon about 17 slaves opted for the freedom granted them by the British and Graves demanded supplies under threat of burning the plantation. Lund Washington’s initial response was indeed defiant, (according to the Marquis de Chastellux, who recounted this incident in his Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 2:170-171). Lund explained to Capt. Graves that when Gen. Washington entrusted him with care of the state he had anticipated a threat to his property and instructed that no concessions be made to the British in order to preserve it. But when Capt. Graves declared his respect for Washington and said he never intended “taking the smallest measure offensive to so illustrious a character” as General Washington, Lund relented. This embarrassment was overshadowed by the great triumph that came at the end of this “fiery summer” with Washington taking the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown and winning independence for America. Published in Fitzpatrick 22:14-15.
“THE FIERY TRIAL OF THIS SUMMER”
The congenial, concluding portion of Washington’s blistering letter to his cousin, who saved Mount Vernon from destruction during the British invasion of Virginia. The fragment reads: “[…] thro’ the fiery trial of this summer, Mrs. Washington joins me in the best and affectionate regard for you. Mrs Washington & Milly Posey does most sincerely regret your loss. I do not know what Negros they [i.e., the British] may have left you – and as I have observed before I do not know the number they will have left me by the time they are done, but this I am sure of, that you shall never want of assistance while it is in my power to afford it...” In the absent portion of the letter, Washington chastised Lund severely. “I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I am a little sorry to hear of my own, but that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the enemy’s vessels, and furnish them with refreshments. It would have been a less painful circumstance to me to have heard that in consequence with your non-compliance with their request, they had burnt my house, and laid the plantation in ruins.” Lund “ought to have considered yourself as my representative, and should have reflected on the bad example of communicating with…a parcel of plundering scoundrels, and request a favour by asking the surrender of my Negroes the enemy…”
British forces were operating in the Chesapeake to oppose Lafayette’s raid against the traitor, Benedict Arnold. A raiding party from the HMS Savage under command of a Capt. Thomas Graves came ashore and put several neighboring plantations to the torch. When they came to Mount Vernon about 17 slaves opted for the freedom granted them by the British and Graves demanded supplies under threat of burning the plantation. Lund Washington’s initial response was indeed defiant, (according to the Marquis de Chastellux, who recounted this incident in his Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 2:170-171). Lund explained to Capt. Graves that when Gen. Washington entrusted him with care of the state he had anticipated a threat to his property and instructed that no concessions be made to the British in order to preserve it. But when Capt. Graves declared his respect for Washington and said he never intended “taking the smallest measure offensive to so illustrious a character” as General Washington, Lund relented. This embarrassment was overshadowed by the great triumph that came at the end of this “fiery summer” with Washington taking the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown and winning independence for America. Published in Fitzpatrick 22:14-15.