Newspapers

The news of Washington's death reached citizens through the diligent workings of the press as newspapers recorded the grief and sorrow of the nation.

[Boston] J. Russell's Gazette, 1798–1800, a semiweekly published by John Russell.

Published January 2, 1800, this newspaper is printed with the customary heavy black mourning borders around each page and between the columns of type. The front page presents a portion of Washington's "Farewell Address" in a section entitled "The Political Legacy of the Father of His Country." The inside pages contain the Senate's letter of condolence to President John Adams and his reply, as well as the Congressional resolutions that announced arrangements for a mock funeral procession in the nation's capital of Philadelphia on December 26, 1799, a call for citizens to wear black armbands for the next thirty days, and a proposal for the eventual creation of "a marble monument," in which Washington's remains might be entombed, in the Capitol building currrently under construction in Washington, D.C. The paper also includes an account of Washington's final illness.

His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue. . . .

—President John Adams

[Richmond] Virginia Argus, 1796–1816, a semiweekly published by Samuel Pleasants, Jr.

This fragment from the January 3, 1800, edition reports the Senate's edict for its members to wear black crepe on their left arms and its directive for the Senate chamber to be shrouded in black during the current session. It also announced the House resolutions calling for a mock funeral in Philadelphia, a monument in the Capitol, and a suggestion for all citizens to wear black armbands for the next thirty days.

[Fredericksburg, Virginia] The Virginia Herald, 1787–1820, a semi- weekly published by Timothy Green.

On December 31, 1799, this paper printed the account of Washington's death that was written by Drs. James Craik and Elisha Dick. This was the only public description of Washington's death until Tobias Lear's more detailed recollections were published by later historians:

Some time in the night of Friday the 13th inst. having been exposed to a rain on the preceding day, Gen. Washington was attacked with an inflamatory affection of the upper part of the wind pipe, called in technical language Cynache Trachealis. The disease commenced with a violent ague, accompanied with some pain in the upper and fore part of the throat, a sense of stricture in the same part, a cough, and a difficult rather than a painful deglutition, which were soon succeeded by fever and a quick and laborious respiration. The necessity of blood letting suggested itself to the General, he procured a bleeder in the neighbourhood, who took from his arm in the night 12 or 14 ounces of blood. He could not by any means be prevailed on by the family to send for the attending physician till the following morning, who arrived at Mount Vernon at about eleven o'clock on Saturday. Discovering the case to be highly alarming and foreseeing the fatal tendency of the disease, two consulting physicians were immediately sent for, who arrived, one at half after three, and the other at four o'clock in the afternoon: In the mean time were employed two pretty copious bleedings, a blister was applied to the part affected, two moderate doses of calomel were given, and an injection was administered, which operated on the lower intestines, but all without any perceptible advantage, the respiration becoming still more difficult and distressing. Upon the arrival of the first of the consulting physicians, it was agreed, as there were yet no signs of accumulation in the bronchial vessels of the lungs, to try the result of another bleeding, when thirty two ounces of blood were drawn, without the smallest apparent alleviation of the disease. Vapours of vinegar and water were frequently inhaled, ten grains of calomel were given, succeeded by repeated doses of emetic tartar, amounting in all to five or six grains, with no other effect than a copious discharge from the bowels. The powers of life seemed now manifestly yielding to the force of the disorder; blisters were applied to the extremities, together with a cataplasm of bran and vinegar to the throat. Speaking which was painful from the beginning, now became almost impracticable; respiration grew more and more contracted and imperfect, till at last after eleven on Saturday night, retaining the full possession of his intellect—when he expired without a struggle!

He was fully impressed at the beginning of his complaint, as well as through every succeeding stage of it, that its conclusion would be mortal; submitting to the several exertions made for his recovery, rather as a duty, than from any expectation of their efficacy. He considered the operations of death upon his system as coeval with the disease; and several hours before his death, after repeated efforts to be understood, succeeded in expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die without further interruption.

During the short period of his illness, he oeconomized his time, in the arrangements of such few concerns as required his attention, with the utmost serenity; and anticipated his approaching dissolution with every demonstration of that equanimity for which his whole life has been so uniformly and singularly conspicuous.

James Craik,
Attending Phys'n
Elisha C. Dick,
Consulting Phys'n.

[S]everal hours before his death, after repeated efforts to be understood, [he] succeeded in expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die. . . .

—Drs. Craik and Dick

A Souvenir For Sale

The Ulster County Gazette, a weekly newspaper supporting the Federalist Party, was established May 5, 1798, at Kingston, New York, by Samuel Freer and his son Samuel S. Freer. There are only two known originals of the January 4, 1800, issue that announced the death of Washington. Over sixty different versions, however, were produced later by other printers as memorials and souvenirs. Slight variations in wording and printing distinguish an original from a reproduction. One important difference is that the phrase "command the town; and notwithstanding" is in the first line of the last column on the front page but does not appear in any of the reproductions.

One of the hundreds of thousands of reproductions printed for the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876.