If this article is true, I am absolutely nauseated at what a corrupt SOB George Washington was!
The Spirit of George Washington, in a Letter Loaned by Distillery Group
By DELIA M. RIOS
c.2001 Newhouse News ServiceWASHINGTON -- George Washington's distillery was no mere backyard hobby.
In 1799, Washington showed a profit of $7,500 for 11,000 gallons of whiskey made from corn and rye -- worth up to $500,000 on today's retail market and making his one of the largest distillery operations in 18th century America.
And just six weeks before he died, he wrote to a nephew that "demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk."
The letter, sent from Mount Vernon, went back to Washington's Virginia home Tuesday, on permanent loan from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which represents most of the country's producers and marketers of distilled spirits. It will be a critical piece of an ongoing effort to better understand Washington through his whiskey-making business.
Earlier this year, the industry pledged $1.2 million to Mount Vernon for the reconstruction of Washington's distillery and educational exhibits on the Dogue Creek site, 2.7 miles from Washington's mansion house. The Smithsonian Institution will loan what is thought to be one of Washington's original copper stills.
The letter -- acquired by the council for $18,000 from Christie's, the New York auction house -- is one of a very few in which Washington discusses his distillery business, and Mount Vernon officials worried that it "might not come our way again," said Executive Director James Rees.
Plans are to display the letter, although officials do not yet know when.
In 1797, when Washington built his distillery, he had just completed a second term as president.
"He was quote `in retirement,"' Rees said.
"In the 18th century," he added, "Washington was not just the most powerful leader in America, but the most fascinating."
It's a point that Mount Vernon officials labor to impress upon the nation today. While Americans may recognize the face, surveys show they too often know little about the man behind it, Rees said.
The restless, curious, meticulous man who led the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention and served the nation as its first president is evident in every line of the letter.
"Washington, in anything he undertook, went about it in the very best and exemplary manner -- it was part of his character," said Phil Chase, editor of The Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia. Editors there are just starting to work on Washington's financial accounts, including his distillery books.
"He knew that people observed what he did and why he did it, and that certainly was true in agriculture and business as well as in the military and politics," Chase said.
Washington was, as Rees said, "a sensational entrepreneur."
The distillery business was but one of several. In a six-week period of a single spring, Washington's workers, primarily slaves, brought in 1.3 million shad and herring which were salted and distributed throughout the country; he owned 70,000 acres of land in what is now seven states; he had a gristmill, and wheat was among his strongest cash crops.
The letter to Washington's nephew, William Augustine Washington, is addressed "My Dear Sir" and signed "Your Affectionate Uncle." It reads, in part:
"Two hundred gallons of Whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better. ... The Rye may be sent when it suits your convenience -- letting me know, in the meantime, the quantity I may rely on, that my purchase of this grain may be regulated thereby."
His interest in whiskey as a money-making venture notwithstanding, Washington was critical of those who drank to excess. That is partly why the distilled spirits council was eager to come to Mount Vernon's aid, said Peter H. Cressy, the group's president and CEO.
"He vocalized the importance of moderation, and as a regulated industry we've always been conscious of that," Cressy said.
In fact, President Washington issued blunt statements on the subject. Of particular note are his evaluations of former Revolutionary War officers under consideration to command the U.S. Army, according to an account in "George Washington: A Biographical Companion," by Frank E. Grizzard, which will be published this fall.
Of one such unfortunate officer, Washington wrote that he was "rather addicted to ease and pleasure; and no enemy it is said to the bottle. ... "
Here's a letter where he claims a Mr. Anderson induced him into the business:
George Washington to Robert Lewis, January 26, 1798Mount Vernon, January 26, 1798.
Dear Sir: The return of your brother Howel, affords me a direct and safe opportunity of enquiring whether any, and if any, what money you have of mine in your hands? What are your prospects of collecting the past years Rents, seasonably, and when I may look for the receipt of them?
I have been induced, by the experience and advice of my Manager, Mr. Anderson, to erect a large Distillery at my Mill; and have supplied it with five Stills, Boilers &ca. which, with the (Stone) House, has cost me a considerable Sum already, but I find these expenditures are but a small part of the advances I must make before I shall receive any return for them, having all my Grain yet to buy to carry on the business. To accomplish this, all my resources are needed, and I beg you to exert yourself in the collection of my Rents, and that you would let me know, upon the best data you can form an opinion, what dependence I may place on you; not only as to the amount of the sum, but also as to the period of its payment, that I may regulate matters accordingly.
As a Rental, according to former Instructions, should be annually exhibited, in order to show, not only what has been received, but the arrearages, if any at the sametime, in one view, that by a referrence thereto I can always see the state and condition of each tenement. I must now add, as a further Instruction, that all casualties, such as the exchanging of Tenants, Increase, or decrease of Rents, etc. etc., may be specifically noted at the foot of the Rental; Which is considered always as a kind of Record of the Collectors proceedings. Columns in which, for the size of the tenements, Sums paid, and the arrearages due, you know are necessary.
Mrs. W. and Nelly Custis unites in best wishes with Your etc.
Also posted here.
Whiskey Rebellion Act bump