DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE WASHINGTON RELICS 

 IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



By Theodore T. Belote, 



Assistant Curator, Division of History, United States National Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The collection of objects in tlie United States National Museum 

 relating to George Wasliington consists of a variety of material 

 gathered from numerous sources. While composed largely of 

 articles of domestic and artistic interest, which were owned by 

 Washington at Mount Vernon, the collection includes also mementos 

 of liis life in the field during the War of the Revolution, and a number 

 of other miscellaneous reUcs of greater or less importance. 



Mount Vernon house/ liistorically the most interesting of American 

 mansions, and closely associated with nearly all the objects herein 

 described, was erected in 1743 for Lawrence Washington, the haK- 

 brother of George, and so named in honor of Admiral Edward Vernon, 

 R. N., under whose command Lawrence Washington had served 

 during the British expedition against Cartagena in 1741. The prop- 

 erty 2 passed into the hands of George after the death of Lawrence 

 in 1752, and the house was later improved and enlarged. When 

 MJrs. Washington died in 1802 Mount Vernon became, in accordance 

 with Washington's will, the property of his nephew Bushrod Wash- 

 ington, who in turn bequeathed it to his nephew John Augustine 



1 Benson J. Lossing, in his work Mount Vernon and Its Associations, Hartford, 1870, has given an inter- 

 esting popular account of the history of Mount Vernon and of the objects which the mansion contained 

 during the lifetime of Washington. While the historical accuracy of some of Mr. Lossing's statements 

 has been questioned, the work gives much information of value not elsewhere available. 



2 The original tract of land consisted of five thousand acres above Dogue Run which, in 1674, was granted 

 by Governor Berkeley jointly to John Washington, great-grandfather of George and Lawrence Washington, 

 and to Nicholas Spencer, of Bedford, England. John Washington's half lay between Dogue Run and 

 Little Hunting Creek. By his will, dated September 11, 1675, he bequeathed this Hunting Creek property 

 to his son Lawrence Washington, grandfather of George, who in turn bequeathed it in 1697, to his daughter 

 Mildred, from whom it was inlierited in 1730 by Augustine Washington, father of George. In 1740 Augus- 

 tine Wak,hington conveyed the tract to his son Lawrence, and in 1743 confirmed the gift by will, providing, 

 however, that should Lawrence die without issue the property should go to Lawrence's half-brother George. 

 Lawrence died in 1752, leaving a widow and daughter. The daughter dying soon after, the estate passed 

 to George Washington, but the widow of Lawrence retained a life interest in it, which interest she released 

 to George Washington in 1754 in consideration of fifteen thousand pounds of tobacco to be given her annually 

 during her natural life. She died in 1761. See George Washington and Mount Vernon, by Moncure Daniel 

 Conway. Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. 4, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1889. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 49— No. 2092. 

 81022°— ProG.N.M.vol.49— 15 1 1 



