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JUST WEEKS AFTER RETURNING TO MOUNT VERNON FROM PHILADELPHIA,
WHERE HE SERVED AS A DELEGATE TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, GEORGE
WASHINGTON BUYS WHEAT THAT HE WILL MANUFACTURE INTO FLOUR FROM A
NEIGHBORGEORGE WASHINGTON. ADS: "George Washington" in text, 1p, 7¼x4¼. [Fairfax County, Virginia, 1774 December 23]. In full: "Then Received from George Washington the Currt Sum of One hundred pounds in part payment for Wheat sold him by" to which the seller has signed: "Thomas Triplett". Penned at top left (unknown hand, possibly Triplett's): "Receivd Decr 23d 1774". THOMAS TRIPLETT was a descendent of French Huguenots who came to America to escape religious persecution. Triplett grew wheat on his plantation in Fairfax County, not far from Washington's Mount Vernon plantation. After his brother Lawrence's widow died in 1761, George Washington became the outright owner of Mount Vernon and began to shift his farms over from the traditional tobacco crop to wheat, for which he built his own gristmill. His mill ground grain into flour. Five months before Washington purchased this wheat, on July 14, 1774, he was selected by Fairfax County to be a delegate to the first Virginia Convention, which met in Williamsburg in August. He then served as a member of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, returning to the Second Continental Congress which convened on May 10, 1775. This document was written between the dates of the First and Second Continental Congresses. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on April 19, 1775, beginning the Revolutionary War. On June 15, 1775, Washington was unanimously chosen as Commander in Chief of "all the forces raised or to be raised" and commanded the Continental armies throughout the war. After Cornwallis' surrender in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 officially ending the war, Washington was once again a farmer. In a 1784 letter to Reuben Harvey of Cork, Ireland, who had sent Washington a gift of "mess-beef and ox tongues" with shipmaster Captain Stickney, Washington explained, in part: "Wheat or flour of the last year's produce, is either exported or consumed; that of the present year, is not yet got to market, what prices they will bear in this Country is not for me to say: but tho' I do not walk in the Mercantile line, except in wheat (which I manufacture into flour), I should nevertheless, thank you for any information respecting the prices of these articles." As Washington signed letters and documents "G. Washington", his name in full as "George Washington" is rarely encountered. Fragile. Upper corners worn and nicked. Tape remnants on verso at upper corners, slight show through. Horizontal fold touches the "T's" in Triplett's name. Horizontal fold with ¼-inch separations at blank margins. Slight show through from docket on verso. Sporadically shaded. Click For Details |
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