"Sleep"
William Thornton Recalls the Death of Washington
c. 1822-1825
[Note: The following draft account of Washington's death is attached to William Thornton's essay "On Sleep," written during the 1820s and located in the William Thornton Papers at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A printed version can be found in the Papers of William Thornton, edited by C. M. Harris (University Press of Virginia, 1995), vol. 1, p. 528.]
When that great and excellent man died, Thomas Law Esquire (brother to [Edward Law,] Lord Ellenborough) and his lady [Elizabeth ("Eliza") Parke Custis Law], who was the grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington, called on me to visit the Genl. as a friend and physician, for he was dying of the croup. I departed in the fullest confidence of being able to relieve him, by tracheotomy. When we arrived, to my unspeakable grief, we found him laid out a stiffened corpse. My feelings at that moment I cannot express! I was overwhelmed with the loss of the best friend I had on Earth. The weather was very cold, and he remained in a frozen state, for several days. I proposed to attempt his restoration, in the following manner. First to thaw him in cold water, then to lay him in blankets, and by degrees and by friction to give him warmth, and to put into activity the minute blood vessels, at the same time to open a passage to the lungs by the trachæa, and to inflate them with air, to produce an artificial respiration, and to transfuse blood into him from a lamb. If these means had been resorted to and had failed all that could be done would have been done, but I was not seconded in this proposal; for it was deemed unavailing. I reasoned thus. He died by the loss of blood and the want of air. Restore these with the heat that had subsequently been deducted, and as the organization was in every respect perfect, there was no doubt in my mind that his restoration was possible. It was doubted by some whether if it were possible it would be right to attempt to recall to life one who had departed full of honor and renown; free from the frailties of age, in the full enjoyment of every faculty, and prepared for eternity. At my instance the body was enclosed in lead, for when I composed the plan and elevation of the Capitol of the U.S. I designed the dome for his mausoleum, and requested from Mrs. Washington permission to prepare the body for its removal thither finally. She gave this permission provided she might be permitted to lie in the same place. I wrote to Genl. Marshall now Chief Justice of the U.S. but then a member of Congress, and requested him to obtain a secret vote in Congress on this subject. He complied with my wishes, and took a secret vote in Congress, the result of which was favourable, and this will account for that appearance of apathy in that respected body, relative to a monument to this great beloved, revered, and dignified man and Christian.
The End