George Washington goes home for Christmas
On December 23rd, 1783 General George Washington
delivered his farewell address to the Continental Congress and tendered his resignation
as commander-
"Having now finished the work assigned
me, I retire from the great theater of action; and bidding an affectionate farewell
to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission,
and take leave of all the employments of public life."
Washington was being urged
to head the nation as a sort of monarch to which he responded, "I must view this
with abhorrence and reprehend [it] with severity."
He stated with deep sincerity
that the new nation needed a civilian leader, not a military ruler nor a king.
Upon
retiring from public life, got on his horse and road away. All George wanted to do
now was to get home to Mount Vernon for Christmas. For almost nine years, Washington
had put his life on hold. His Virginia plantation had suffered for it. Now he wanted
to get on with the construction of the outbuildings and plant the new fields . .
. the only crown that interested him was the cupola that would finish the roof of
his house.
Of Mount Vernon he had written, "No estate in United America is more pleasantly
situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy Country 300 miles by water
from the Sea, …on one of the finest Rivers in the world … It is situated in a latitude
between the extremes of heat and cold, and is the same distance by land and water,
with good roads and the best navigation [to and] from the Federal City, Alexandria
and George town."
Later he would write, "Agriculture has ever been among the most
favorite amusements of my life."
The winter of 1783 had already been particularly
harsh, but the hand of God seemed to hold back the worst of it for the General to
travel home. The weather held and the Virginia farmer arrived home on Christmas Eve.
The blizzard began on Christmas Day and Washington was at last insolated from his
public responsibilities by deep drifts of impassable, white snow.
Since George Washington
did not keep a journal of life at Mt. Vernon, little remains to shed light on the
household affairs and family life on the plantation. It is thought that Martha Washington
destroyed most of the personal correspondence between herself and her husband because
she was self-
-
To make a great cake
Take
40 eggs and divide the whites from the yolks and beat them to a froth then work 4
lbs. of butter to a cream and put the whites of eggs to it a spoon full at a time
till it is well worked then put in the youlks of eggs and 5 lbs. of flower [sic]
and 5 lbs. of fruit. 2 hours will bake it add to it half an ounce of mace and nutmeg
half a pint of wine and some fresh brandy.
This was wrote by Martha Curtis for her
Grandmama.
