The Will of George Washington

Slave Lists

Introduction | Original | The Will | Schedule of Property | Slave Lists

The list of Mount Vernon slaves which GW drew up, probably some time in June 1799, included those slaves owned by him outright, those who were controlled by him as part of Martha Washington's dower, and a number who were rented by him in 1786 by contract with Mrs. Penelope French at the time he acquired her life rights to land she owned on Dogue Run.

Image of census courtesy Mount Vernon

The list details the adult and child slaves on each of the Mount Vernon farms, usually giving ages, occupations, and other pertinent information. [Note: the list has been divided into seven parts for on-line distribution.] Washington's list of 317 slaves, printed immediately below, includes the names of 124 who belonged to him outright and were to be freed when Martha Washington died, 153 who were Martha Washington's dower slaves and at her death would go to the Custis heir-at-law, her grandson George Washington Parke Custis, and forty others leased by GW from his neighbor Penelope Manley French. Of the 277 slaves belonging to Washington in his own right or by marriage, 179 were 12 years old or older, eighteen of whom were "Passed labor." The remaining ninety-eight were children under the age of 12. Of those twelve years old and over, ninety-five were females and eighty-four were males. Shortly after Washington's death, Bushrod Washington recommended to Martha Washington that she get "clear of her negroes" at Mount Vernon. According to Eugene Prussing, she "was made unhappy by the talk in the [slave] quarters of the good time coming to the ones to be freed as soon as she died." He reported that "many did not wait for the event" but took off at once. In any case, all the slaves that Washington owned outright were freed after Martha's death, and the accounts of the executors of Washington's will show an expenditure by 1833 of more than $10,000 to the pensioned former slaves who remained at Mount Vernon or lived nearby (Bushrod Washington to Martha Washington, Fields, Papers of Martha Washington, 328-31; Prussing, Estate of George Washington, 158-60).

The slaves Washington owned in his own right came from several sources. He was left eleven slaves by his father's will; a portion of his half-brother Lawrence Washington's slaves, about a dozen in all, were willed to him after the death of Lawrence's infant daughter and his widow; and Washington purchased from time to time slaves for himself, mostly before the Revolution.

Washington also hired for varying periods of time individual slaves, usually skilled artisans, from neighbors and acquaintances. These do not appear on this slave list.

Only one other complete roll of the slaves at Mount Vernon has been found. In February 1786 Washington recorded in his diary all the Mount Vernon slaves, dower and personal, the farms on which they lived, and their jobs. The total at that time came to 216; it did not include Mrs. French's slaves, the use of whom Washington acquired later in the year. [Link to this list from Washington's diaries.]

There are also in the Washington Papers at the Library of Congress Washington's lists of his tithables in Truro and Fairfax parishes (where Mount Vernon lies) for every year from 1760 through 1774. These have been printed in the Papers, Colonial Series. These lists name slaves living at Mount Vernon but do not include children under the age of sixteen and a few elderly slaves who were not tithed. The lists of tithables also include the names of indentured white servants, hired slaves, and other whites living on the farms, including GW's overseers and managers. For further information on GW's slaves, see Charles Lee to GW, 13 Sept. 1786, and especially note 4 to that document, GW to William Triplett, 25 Sept. 1786, and notes 3 and 5 (Papers, Confederation Series, 4:247-49, 268-74), Memorandum: Division of Slaves, [1762] and note to that document (Papers, Colonial Series, 7:172-74), Division of Slaves, 10 Dec. 1754, (ibid., 1:227-31), and Diaries, 4:277-83.

For more interpretive information on Washington and slavery, see Mount Vernon's web site "George Washington and Slavery" and our own on-line report: "That Species of Property": Washington's Role in the Controversy Over Slavery, by Dorothy Twohig, former editor at the Washington Papers project.

References

Mansion House: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 528-31.

Muddy Hole Farm: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 531-32.

River Farm: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 533-34.

Dogue Run Farm: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 535-36.

Union Farm: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 536-37.

Recapitulation: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 538-39.

A List of Negros Hired From Mrs. French: W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 540.

Introduction | Original | The Will | Schedule of Property | Slave Lists