Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/414

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384
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON


her entire correspondence with Gen. Washington. " Thus," says her grandson and biographer, George Washington Parke Custis, " proving her love for him, for she would not permit that the confidence they had shared together should be made public." See " Memoirs of the Mother and Wife of Wash- ington," by Margaret C. Conkling (Auburn, N. Y., 1851), and " Mary and Martha," by Benson J. Loss- ing (New York, 1887). — George Washington's kins- man, William, soldier, b. in Stafford county, Va., 28 Feb., 1752 ; d. near Charleston, S. C, 6 March, 1810, was the son of Bailey Washington. But lit- tle is known of his life before the opening of the Revolution. He waseducatedfor the church, but, espousing the patriot cause, received a com- mission early in the war as cap- tain of infantry in the 3d regi- ment of the Vir- ginia line, and in this post ac- quitted himself with great cred- it in the opera- tions about New York, being se- verely wounded in the battle of Long Island. At the engagement

at Trenton, 26

Dec, 177G, he led a charge upon one of the enemy's batteries, capturing the guns. On this occasion he was again wounded. In 1778 he was transferred to the dragoons and assigned to the regiment of Lieut.- Col. George Baylor. In 1779 he joined the army of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln in the south. After being promoted to the command of the regiment, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, on 23 March, 1780, he en- countered and defeated Lieut.-Col. Banastre Tarle- ton at Rantowles. Col. White and Col. Washing- ton were surprised by Tarleton at Monk's Corner and Lenude's Ferry a few weeks afterward. In December, 1780, Washington, then attached to the command of Gen. Daniel Morgan, by means of the stratagem of a painted log or " Quaker gun," re- duced the post at Rudgely's, receiving the sur- render of Col. Rudgely and one hundred men with- out resistance. In the battle of the Cowpens, Wash- ington made a successful charge upon the enemy at a critical moment, and congress voted medals to him and to Gen. Morgan and Lieut.-Col. How- ard. In this battle he had a personal encounter with Col. Tarleton, in which both were wounded. The wound that Tarleton received from Washing- ton was the subject of the sallies of wit of several American ladies. A Mrs. Ashe, daughter of Col. Joseph Montford, of North Carolina, heard Tarle- ton say, with a sarcastic sneer : " I would be happy to see this Col. Washington," whereupon she in- stantly replied : " If you had looked behind you, Col. Tarleton, at the battle of Cowpens, you would have had that pleasure." Almost immediately after this battle Morgan effected a junction with Gen. Greene, who, requiring a light corps to act as a cov- ering party during his retreat and to harass the enemy, selected for this purpose the troops of Lieut.- Cols. Howard, Washington, and Lee. Washington also took an active part in the operations about Guilford Court-House, N. C, and in the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, on 25 April, he charged the enemy with great vigor, secured many prisoners, and saved the artillery from capture. At the close of the engagement he succeeded in drawing Maj. Coffin, the commander of the British cavalry, into am- bush and dispersing or capturing his squadron. At Eutaw Springs, S. C, 8 Sept., 1781, after the most heroic efforts, he was unhorsed, and while attempting to disengage himself received a bayo- net wound and was taken prisoner. In 1782 Col. Washington married Miss Elliot, of Charleston, S. C, to a place near which city he soon afterward removed. He was subsequently elected a mem- ber of the legislature of that state, and solicited to become a candidate for governor, but declined " be- cause he could not make a speech." In 1798, when the United States was threatened with war by France, Gen. Washington recommended the ap- pointment of his kinsman as brigadier-general, which was done 19 July, 1798, and in a letter to the secretary of war suggested that he be given the direction of affairs in South Carolina and Georgia. His wife, a son, and a daughter survived him. On the occasion of his death the American Revolu- tion society of South Carolina adopted resolutions, in which he was spoken of as : " Modest without timidity, generous without extravagance, brave without rashness, and disinterested without aus- terity ; which imparted firmness to his conduct and mildness to his manners; solidity to his judgment and boldness to his achievements ; which armed him with an equanimity unalterable by the frowns of adversity or the smiles of fortune, and steadiness of soul not to be subdued by the disasters of defeat or elated by the triumphs of victory." — George Washington's nephew, Bushrod, jurist, b. in West- moreland county, Va., 5 June, 1762 ; d. in Philadel- phia, Pa., 26 Nov., 1829, was the son of John Augus- tine, a younger brother of the general. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1778, studied law with James Wilson, of Philadelphia, and began practice in his native county. His professional du- ties were interrupted by his entrance into the pa- triot army, and he served as a private in the Revo- lution. He was a member of the Virginia house of delegates in 1787, and the next year of that to ratify the constitution of the United States. He sub- sequently removed to Alexandria, and thence to Richmond, Va. He was appointed an associate justice of the U. S. supreme court in 1798, which office he held until his death. Judge Washing- ton was the first president of the Colonization society, and a learned jurist. He was the favor- ite nephew of Gen. Washington. At the death of Mrs. Washington he inherited the mansion and 400 acres of the Mount Vernon estate. He died without issue. Judge Washington's publica- tions include " Reports of Cases argued and deter- mined in the Court of Appeals of Virginia " (2 vols., Richmond, Va., 1798-'9), and "Reports of Cases determined in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the 3d Circuit, from 1803 till 1827," edited by Richard Peters (4 vols., 1826-'9). Of these Horace Binney says in his " Life of Bush- rod Washington " (printed privately, Philadelphia, 1858) : " I have never thought that his reports of his own decisions did him entire justice, while they in no inadequate manner at all fully represent his judicial powers, nor the ready command he held of his learning in the law." See also a sketch of Judge Washington in Mr. Justice Story's "Mis- cellaneous Writings" (Philadelphia, 1852). — A grand-nephew of George, George Corbin, con- gressman, b. in Westmoreland countv, Va., 20 Aug., 1789 ; d. in Georgetown, D. C, 17 July, 1854, was