To George Washington from Peregrine Fitzhugh
July 10 1786
Historic Background for this Letter
The Revolutionary War has been over for nearly 3 years. It will be three more years before George Washington will be inaugurated as the first president of the newly formed United States of America. George Washington is inquiring, from his former aid-de-camp (Fitzhugh), if he can purchase a large number of ewe lambs from Fitzhugh’s father’s estate located in Annapolis, Maryland which is across the Chesapeake Bay from Washington’s estate at Mt. Vernon . Peregrine is having difficulty obtaining the quantity of lambs Washington has asked for because of recent sales of lambs his father has made. If the request had come a fortnight (2 weeks) earlier he could have offered 100 lambs for 10 shillings each. As it is, he is offering 20 – 30 lambs for 12 shillings, 6 pence each and hopes to soon obtain more. Please note that we may be an independent nation now but, at this time, we still heavily use many English terms and the English currency. Also note that Fitzhugh is somewhat less flowery and circumspect when writing about a business transaction.
Click here to read this letter:
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-04-02-0146
