We come full circle this week. If you have been on this journey looking at Psalm 23 through the lens of George Washington’s life, then you know that Washington lived a life often reflected through David’s words. Did Washington camp alongside green pastures? Indeed. Did he walk beside still waters? Yep; rough waters as well. Did he walk through valleys of distress, troubles, and even death? For sure. Did he know that his strength and peace were found in God? Affirmative. Did he understand that God would be the goodness and mercy in his life? You know he did.
It was the evening of December 13, 1799, and Washington sat at the dinner table. He had spent the day overseeing work on his Mount Vernon estate. It had been raining, snowing, and hailing…are we sure he didn’t live in Nebraska, because we can experience every season in a single day. Well, since he arrived late and was a stickler for being on time, he stayed in his wet clothes and ate the meal. Later that evening he began experiencing a persistent cough and complained of a sore throat. Nevertheless, he went to bed believing it was nothing serious. However, in the early morning hours of December 14, Washington awoke with a shortness of breath. Things were not right. Martha sent for Colonel Tobias Lear, Washington’s aide, and George Rawlins, the estate overseer. A few hours later, Rawlins, who was practiced in blood-letting, drained 14 ounces of blood from the former president. Now, if you don’t know about blood-letting, let me explain. The doctor, or person performing the procedure, would cut into a vein and allow a specific volume of blood to be drawn out of the body, believing that it would remove whatever was causing the illness, as if the illness was simply contained in the immediate area from where the blood was removed…simply baffling to us today. But it was widely practiced in Washington’s day. When that didn’t seem to help Washington, Lear gave him some molasses mixed with vinegar, which nearly killed the patient.
Seven hours after Washington first woke with breathing difficulties, Dr. Craik arrived having been sent for by Lear. Within a few minutes, Craik was applying a blister of cantharides, a medicinal concoction designed to counteract the inflammation of the throat. Following that, Dr. Craik performed another blood-letting procedure, this time removing 18 ounces. A short time later, a third blood-letting removed another 18 ounces. A fourth blood-letting removed 32 ounces…now, a total of 80 ounces (a shocking 50 percent of the body’s blood) had been removed.
Two other doctors arrived and monitored the patient, and around 4 pm, Dr. Gustavus Brown, the last one to arrive, recommended a dose of calomel, also known as mercurous chloride. It was designed to make the patient vomit excessively. Of course, we know today, that mercury, in any form, is toxic to the human body, but in Washington’s day, that was not fully understood. Washington sensed that his time was nearly over, so he thanked the doctors for their care, and at 10 pm, he called over Colonel Lear and asked to have a decent burial, and to not be placed in the vault for three days, a common request of his day, for fears of being buried too soon. Washington wanted a clear understanding from Lear, so he asked him, “Do you understand?” Lear responded that he did, and with that, the man that was affectionately referred to as “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, uttered his final words, “Tis well.”
We celebrate the life of Washington and all that he accomplished for our country. It was a life well lived in many ways. That is not to say that everything in Washington’s life was good. One of the hardest things to reconcile with him (and many others) is the fact that he was a slaveholder. I despise this fact…there is nothing more egregious than the idea of a person owning another person. This will forever be a stain over Washington’s life that can never be reconciled or erased. But we cannot simply throw out the goodness that he accomplished because of this black cloud over his life. In the end, we must be honest with both sides of the man.
There is no doubt that God’s hand of Providence followed George Washington throughout his life. The goodness and mercy of the heavenly Father were very real to the Virginian. And in the end, he breathed his last and dwelled in the house of the Lord forever.
Faith, Leadership, and History 