Washington / Madison - A Family Crisis

George Washington

James Madison

Camp fever and dysentery were thought to be the cause of the death of John Parke Custis, George Washington's stepson. It was later that the opinion changed to typhus. Typhus was a new disease in in the late 1400s. Western Europe was to become infected with the disease by way of the Levant. Typhus reached Spain 1490. It was then taken to Italy by Spanish soldiers. The first mass European outbreak was in 1494. Thereafter, typhus was the most significant disease of armies, of the poor and crowded urban proletariat, of jails. It killed more soldiers between1500 and 1914 than all military action. It was in the wake of the victory at Yorktown that Washington learned of the death of his stepson in November 1780.

George Washington: And how might one ever anticipate such a family tragedy?

James Madison: Life still withholds many secrets that are unwillingly shared. You were a good father to your stepson.

Washington: But was I the father he needed? Not having had any issue of my own, I wanted to see in Jack the things I wanted in life for myself.

Madison: Was that so terrible a desire?

Washington: From the first day that I married his mother, I perceived in her son an independent nature that I feared I would have little influence in helping to develop.

Madison: At the risk of saying the obvious, young Jack Custis had the handicap of being too well provided for. From his very birth, he was a wealthy property owner. His father’s estates were vast and abundant in riches.

Washington: When his father died, he may have believed he needed no one to guide his life. When I married Martha, Jack may have regarded me as an unwanted complication.

Madison: That may be true in a certain respect but having America’s most beloved general and soon afterwards the first president of the United States as a father would make most youngsters swell with pride.

Washington: Where I was at fault was in being barely able to hide my disappointment in him.

I don’t remember his ever looking at me at all when he was addressing his mother and me. It was as if being close to a soldier would infect him with some incurable disease. At maturity he made the most deplorable business decisions by selling off excellent land and buying land that most would consider poor in prospects. He wanted no guidance from me.

Madison: But he did join in at the battle of Yorktown, did he not?

Washington: My stepson at the age of twenty-six was among the more distinguished noncombatants. I made a point to never protest his disinterest in military service, knowing how Martha feared battle for her son. Perhaps to placate me, he joined my staff as our armies completed their march from New York. As fate would have it, he contracted camp fever which brought about his death.

Madison: Many of our soldiers both French and American became victim to camp fever and did not die. Was there something unusual in Jack's illness?

Washington: Children who live near busy roads are rarely run over by carriages. They learn early to be careful. My Jack had little experience with camp life and may not have taken certain precautions that seasoned soldiers do as a matter of routine.

George Washington had become a professional soldier, used to hiding his true feelings in front of others. As he rose in the ranks from colonel to general and then to Commander-in-Chief as President of the United States, he had gained the reputation of being cold in his dealings with subordinates but occasionally the man was perceived under his austere regard. He was beloved by his soldiers as well as the citizens of the new nation in his charge.

After the funeral and few days rest in Mount Vernon, Washington and Martha made their way north through Annapolis to Philadelphia.