Details
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, President. Last page of an autograph letter signed ("G:Washington") to William [B.] Harrison, n.p., n.d. [Mount Vernon, 1799]. 1 full page, 4to, 230 x 190mm. (9 x 7 1/2 in.), scattered spotting, losses at folds (affecting approximately three words). [With:] Autograph free frank ("Free G:Washington") on integral address leaf addressed in Washington's hand to "Maj[or] Will[ia]m Harrison in Loudon County," rectangular section of blank margin missing.
THE EX-PRESIDENT NEGOTIATES FOR A MOUNT VERNON NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY
During 1799, the last year of George Washington's life, Washington corresponded with Harrison in an attempt to buy or lease Harrison's lands adjacent to Mount Vernon, as Washington believed the tenants living on his neighbor's land were stealing timber and livestock from Mount Vernon. The present letter concludes: "...truly, what, and what only, would be my inducement to buy -- namely, the injuries I sustain by some of the tenants who lived on it, & who I wished were at a greater distance from me in the first place; and in the next place, because it was not my desire to push him if I could any way do without the money he loaned me. I mention these circumstances because you may have heard something of the matter before; and because, if you are disposed to part with your land at the price I told General [Charles] Lee I would allow for it, and will receive...payment..., I am still willing to become the purchaser on those terms. The money, I presume will be perfectly safe in General Lee's hands, and if he could not pay it immediately, it would run on interest with you, as it now does with me; and if I am not greatly mistaken indeed, would yield you much more annually than any rent you will ever get for the Land. If you think this proposition, or the other respecting the renting of it, worth consideration, you will please...communicate the result of it..." Not in Writings, ed. J.C. Fitzpatrick.
THE EX-PRESIDENT NEGOTIATES FOR A MOUNT VERNON NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY
During 1799, the last year of George Washington's life, Washington corresponded with Harrison in an attempt to buy or lease Harrison's lands adjacent to Mount Vernon, as Washington believed the tenants living on his neighbor's land were stealing timber and livestock from Mount Vernon. The present letter concludes: "...truly, what, and what only, would be my inducement to buy -- namely, the injuries I sustain by some of the tenants who lived on it, & who I wished were at a greater distance from me in the first place; and in the next place, because it was not my desire to push him if I could any way do without the money he loaned me. I mention these circumstances because you may have heard something of the matter before; and because, if you are disposed to part with your land at the price I told General [Charles] Lee I would allow for it, and will receive...payment..., I am still willing to become the purchaser on those terms. The money, I presume will be perfectly safe in General Lee's hands, and if he could not pay it immediately, it would run on interest with you, as it now does with me; and if I am not greatly mistaken indeed, would yield you much more annually than any rent you will ever get for the Land. If you think this proposition, or the other respecting the renting of it, worth consideration, you will please...communicate the result of it..." Not in Writings, ed. J.C. Fitzpatrick.