The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers Read Online Free Page A

Mount Vernon.” This is a letter from a woman who knows she has a certain gentleman virtually at her beck and call. 16
    VII
    Washington soon became the colonel of a regiment of Virginia regulars that struggled to defend the 700-mile-long frontier against French and Indian incursions. George William Fairfax wrote him admiring letters, vowing that he would be honored to serve under his leadership. But Fairfax never got around to volunteering, even when his younger brother Bryan joined the seemingly endless and extremely dangerous wilderness war and another brother became an officer in the British regular army.
    Washington’s relationship to Sally Fairfax during these years resembled a roller-coaster ride. He wrote her letters from the frontier, hoping she would honor him with a reply. But when his messages became too emotional, she abruptly ordered him to stop writing to her. At another point, she apparently banished him from Belvoir. He accepted this treatment with remarkable patience. 17
    Late in 1757, Washington suffered a physical collapse and staggered home to Mount Vernon, seriously ill with dysentery, a nameless fever—probably malaria—and a cough that reminded him alarmingly of Lawrence’s fatal malady. He took to his bed in Mount Vernon and asked Sally to obtain various medicines a local doctor had recommended. George William Fairfax had sailed for England to deal with his difficult relatives. His father, William, had recently died, giving his British cousins a chance to bring up the ruinous suspicion that George William was a mulatto. Washington’s younger brother, John Augustine (“Jack”), and his wife, who had been staying at Mount Vernon as caretakers, were away. Sally brought Washington his medicines—special wines, jellies, and other delicacies beyond the ability of Mount Vernon’s kitchen. Was it during these months that some or all of “the thousand tender passages” occurred that Washington struggled to forget in the letter he wrote a year later? 18
    We simply do not know. The other letters Washington and Sally exchanged have all been destroyed, except for one or two fragments and a puzzling note that he wrote to her when he first arrived at Mount Vernon in 1757. It is as laconic and impersonal as one can imagine, asking for help with his medicines. In mid-February Washington received a letter from George William, reporting he had survived the perils of the wintry Atlantic. He forwarded it to Sally, adding: “When you are at leisure to favor us with a visit, we shall endeavor to partake as much as possible of the joy youreceive on this occasion.” This does not breathe deep passion, to say the least; it also suggests that Sally’s visits had been infrequent. 19
    During these months, Washington was a very sick man. He wrote a plaintive letter to the doctor who had treated him on the frontier, James Craik, reporting that he was not getting better. Dr. Craik replied that he was not surprised; his malady had “corrupted the whole mass of blood.” The physician ordered the patient to stay in bed and avoid any and all exertion, saying, “The fate of your friends and country [he meant Virginia] are in a manner dependent on your recovery.” This was flattering stuff, but not the sort of message that inspired a depressed, anxious man to become an impassioned lothario. 20
    VIII
    Something else has to be factored into the situation at this point: Washington’s relationship to the Fairfaxes. William Fairfax had been almost as much a substitute father as Lawrence. After Lawrence’s death, William had regarded George as a member of the family and used his considerable power to push his military career whenever possible. When William Fairfax died, Washington had left his regiment and journeyed over the mountains to his funeral, ignoring the dysentery that was already making his life difficult. In a letter to his brother Jack, he remarked, “To that family I am under many obligations, particularly to