By L. R. McCabe
Edited by Jeanette Whittaker
Much of George Washington’s strength of character was due to his splendid family, as the following little anecdote will testify:
While in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on a mission to survey the state of the armies during the Revolutionary War, one of George Washington’s officers chanced upon a fine team of horses driven before a plow by a burly man. Finer animals he had never seen.
When his eyes had feasted on their beauty, he cried to the driver, “Hello good fellow! I must have those horses. They are just such animals as I have been looking for.”
The man grinned, rolled up the whites of his eyes, put the lash to the horses’ flanks and turned up another furrow in the rich soil. The officer waited until he had finished the row; then, throwing back his cavalier cloak, the ensign of rank dazzled the planter’s eyes.
“Better see the missis,” he cried, waving his hands to the south, where above the cedar growth rose the towers of a pleasant Virginia home. (its history)
The officer turned up the carriage road and soon was rapping the great brass knocker of the front door. Quickly the door swung on its ponderous hinges, and a grave, majestic-looking woman confronted the visitor with an air of inquiry.
“Madam,” said the officer, doffing his cap, and overcome by her dignity, “I have come to claim your horses in the name of the government.”
“My horses?” said she, bending upon him a pair of eyes born to command. “Sir, you cannot have them. My crops are out and I need my horses in the field.”
“I am sorry,” said the officer, “but I must have them, madam. Such are the orders of my chief.”
“Your chief? Who is your chief, pray” she demanded with restrained warmth.
“The commander of the American army – General George Washington,” replied the other, squaring his shoulders and swelling with pride.
A smile of triumph softened the sternness of the woman’s handsome features.
“Tell George Washington,” said she, “that his mother says he cannot have her horses.”
With a humble apology, the officer turned away, convinced that he had found the source of his chief’s decision and self-command.
And did Washington order his officer to return and make his mother give up her horses? No; he listened to the report in silence, then, with one of his rare smiles, he bowed his head.