The regiment, to be composed of four battalions, was designated Colonel William Gooch's Regiment of Foot.
(London, 1745) and Daniel Defoes A Tour Thro the Whole Island of Great Britain . His younger brother George, an aspiring land surveyor, attended the "Public Vendue" (auction). [3] Because of this service, the 43rd Foot was called "Gooch's Marines. MVLA archives, PS-835, Henriques, Peter R. "Major Lawrence Washington versus the Reverend Charles Green: A Case Study of the Squire and the Parson,". Lawrence's "porthole" portrait is nearly identical to that of his neighbor and friend, George Mason of Gunston Hall. 
Not quite two years later, on 24 October 1742, the American survivors could muster only 17 officers and 130 enlisted men, who returned to North America in November and December, accompanied by 268 sick soldiers. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity, George Washington's Barbados Diary, 175152, http://www.mountvernon.org/digital-encyclopedia/article/lawrence-washington/, Return to the WASHINGTON PAPERS landing page, George Washingtons Barbados Diary, 175152. The company commanders were to be recruited in the colonies and Colonel William Blakeney was sent across the Atlantic with blank commissions, signed by King George II, to be distributed to the various governors. [3], In 1751, they took a ship to the island of Barbados hoping that a stay in the warm tropical climate might help Lawrence, who was now very ill with tuberculosis. Each man is to be paid to the 24th of October and sent home on four transports, viz: one to New York, two to Virginia, and one to North Carolina. In 1729, Augustine took Lawrence and younger son Augustine, Jr., to England and enrolled them in the Appleby Grammar School in Westmoreland.
His father-in-law, William Fairfax, was the first cousin of the colony's leading landholder, Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax. But it was also an opportunity for adventure and social advancement. [14])[15] The officer's cockade in his hat appears to be the same one later worn by George Washington when he had his portrait painted in 1772. Twenty-year-old George lived at, and managed, the Mount Vernon plantation. It clearly reveals more of Lawrence's hand in George's life. 
George had no such benefit and did his studying at home. [5], The four Virginia Companies mustered at Williamsburg in August 1740, but the transport ships did not set sail for Jamaica until early October. List of currently active United States military land vehicles, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Captain Lawrence Washington letter dated 30 May 1741 from Kingston, Jamaica, to his father, Augustine Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Original Papers Relating to the Expedition to Carthagena (London, 1744), 14748., 8. His younger brother George, an aspiring land surveyor, attended the "Public Vendue" (auction). "The American Regiment, 17401746 (The 61st Regiment of Foot, or Gooch's Regiment). He investigated Charles Fort at Needham's Point in Bridgetown, and he commented more generally that the island "ha[d] large Intrenchments cast up where ever its possible for an Enemy to Land and may not (as nature has greatly assis[t]ed) improperly be said to be one entire fortification." The family was then living in Westmoreland County, Virginia, near the Rappahannock River. (University of South Carolina Press: 1991), Watkins, Walter Kendall.
Indeed, as DAR Library Reference Librarian Kiera E. Nolan observes, "It was through his brother's steadily growing influence and powerful connections that George Washington was able to start getting a foothold in a world that otherwise would have been completely unattainable to him. [3] Augustine would return to Virginia months later and discover that his wife had died, leaving daughter Jane in the care of the extended Washington family in Westmoreland County. In Barbados, George Washington contracted smallpox; although he suffered some scarring on his face, his survival meant he was immune to other attacks. (University of North Carolina Press: 1986, Ranft, Brian M., editor. But, the local tobacco planters wanted to site a new town away from the river (and its "played out" tobacco fields) and further upstream on Hunting Creek. This second Augustine Washington family - including George and his siblings - moved into a home on the Little Hunting Creek plantation in 1735. A leading expert on the works of Hesselius (father and son), Professor Roland Fleischer, notes that early works of John Hesselius are characterized by the canvas having been primed with a dark, reddish base paint, and that some of his works were signed, others were not. John Elting and William Foote were the leading authorities on American colonial military history.
65124, Offen, Lee. http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/explore_mv/index.cfm/ss/27/. In 1740 during the War of Jenkin's Ear, a conflict between England and Spain, 22-year-old Capt. Through his marriage to Ann Fairfax in 1743, Lawrence forged an alliance with one of the leading families of Virginia. Copyright 2022 History Today Ltd. Company no. He was the newly appointed captain of a Virginia company destined to serve under Adm. Edward Vernon at Cartagena in March 1741.2 Undoubtedly, his 9-year-old brother back home wondered about Lawrence's adventures at sea.3 In a letter from Jamaica in May 1741 to their father, Lawrence alluded to his next "secret" mission: "some talk of the Havanna others Panama, some Cavera-Cruz but perhaps others more probably St Jago de Cuba. Lawrence Washington to Augustine Washington, May 30, 1741, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union. 1556332. Lawrence, however, appears to have been a good influence. 2,1752 (Library of Congress, George Washington Papers)., 14. 6190. Smallpox would be the cause of the most deaths during the American Revolutionary War, and more people died of disease than of battle wounds.[13].
Although established as "Alexandria", the town was immediately called "Belhaven" - in honor of Scottish patriot John Hamiliton, 2nd Lord Belhaven. In late 1739 the British Parliament decided to raise a "Regiment of Foot" (infantry) in the American colonies, to be used in the West Indies for the war against Spain, known as the War of Jenkins' Ear. In a modest frontier move, Augustine Washington had acquired land near Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock, and in Prince William county, well upstream on the Potomac. "10 Little did he know that his world was about to expand to include West Indian high society. [2] Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems. It was most likely a Fairfax connection that led to the brothers' Barbados voyage. Price (University of Virginia Press), will be available by May 2018. An expert on the works of Hesselius (father and son), Professor Roland Fleischer, notes that early works of John Hesselius are characterized by the canvas having been primed with a dark, reddish base paint, and that some of his works were signed, others were not. In 1747, he joined with his father-in-law and other prominent landowners and businessmen in the Northern Neck to create The Ohio Company of Virginia, with the intention of opening trade to the American interior linked to the Potomac River. Not only does the Barbados voyage underscore George's obligation and devotion to Lawrence, but it also reveals a man on the rise. Warren R. Hofstra (Madison, Wis., 1998), 162. , 6. Each man is to be paid to the 24th of October and sent home on four transports, viz: one to New York, two to Virginia, and one to North Carolina. Lawrence's "porthole" portrait is nearly identical to that of his neighbor and friend, George Mason of Gunston Hall. The four Virginia Companies mustered at Williamsburg in August 1740, but the transport ships did not set sail for Jamaica until early October. 1.W. W. Abbot et al., eds., The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series (Charlottesville, Va., 198395), 1:39; and General Ledger A, 17501772, Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers, folio 4, left., 2. 
Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, People from Westmoreland County, Virginia, "George Washington's Mount Vernon - History of Mount Vernon", http://www.mountvernon.org/learn/explore_mv/index.cfm/ss/27/, http://books.google.com/books?id=RXgg4cbWhsUC&pg=PT6&lpg=PT6&dq=61st+Foot+Gooch+American+Regiment&source=bl&ots=3Jj7059bmX&sig=Ev_WcinDFXjiqogCUgcqWHf3KMA&hl=en&ei=pU9uSvaqBZTWNYDo3OQC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5(, Mario Valdes, "The Fairfaxes and George Washington", "Alexandria Archaeology: Discovering the Decades, 1740s", http://books.google.com/books?id=y_ktAAAAYAAJ&dq=House+of+Burgesses+Virginia+1748&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=5AI_CzxOGB&sig=wFKQnbb1AliPSD5TqKbNRWa2nxY&hl=en&ei=HMJvSq_UJY3-MdbU5ekI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1, Dwight, Allan. The regiment, to be composed of four battalions, was designated Colonel William Gooch's 43rd Regiment of Foot, denoting its precedence within the British Army establishment. Offen, Lee. . In early February commanders decided to assault the Spanish fortress at Cartagena (in present-day Colombia). Lawrence was born into the Washington family, being believed to have been born in 1718, the second child of Augustine Washington and his wife Jane Butler Washington (whose first-born son, Butler, died in infancy in 1716.) [19][20] The officer's cockade in his hat appears to be the same one later worn by George Washington when he had his portrait painted in 1772. She is the co-editorof the complete edition of George Washingtons Barbados Diary, 175152(forthcoming, June 2018),one of the earliest and most mutilated texts among his papers., Copyright 2022. Lawrence visited these frequently to improve his health, as he had contracted tuberculosis. W. W. Abbot et al., eds., The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series (Charlottesville, Va., 198395), 1:51, 53., Alicia K. Andersonis assistant editor of The Washington Papers. (Boston, 183337), 2:41516; Joseph Ball to Mary Ball Washington, May 19, 1747, quoted in Philander D. Chase, A Stake in the West: George Washington as Backcountry Surveyor and Landholder, in George Washington and the Virginia Backcountry, ed. As a founding member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, and a member of the colonial legislature representing Fairfax County, he also founded the town of Alexandria, Virginia on the banks of the Potomac River in 1749. Harding, Richard. A very melancholy reflection that of the five hundred men sent from this Province in five vessels at the first embarkation. In 1751, they took a ship to the island of Barbados hoping that the tropics might help Lawrence, who was now very ill with TB. Washington was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1744 as a representative for Fairfax (both the county and the family.) He was the first of the family to live in the house known as Mount Vernon, which he named after British Admiral Edward Vernon, his commanding officer in the War of Jenkins' Ear. He is again depicted later that episode in a forest scene inspiring General George Washington. Washington was granted permission to "be absent from the Service of the House, for the Recovery of his Health. With Lawrence already in failing health and known to have been contemplating returning to the Caribbean in hopes of recovering his health, the younger painter may have depicted Lawrence in more robust health than was accurate in 1750. He posed wearing the scarlet "undressed" frock coat issued him in 1740-41 when he was commissioned as a Captain in the British Army, and the green regimental vest of the "American Regiment".
Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth Century: The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740-42. It is likely that, after painting the newlywed George and Ann Mason, Hesselius may have obtained a letter of introduction to paint Lawrence and Anne Washington at Mount Vernon in 1750. See George Washington's Barbados diary entry for Dec. 22, 1751 (Library of Congress, George Washington Papers)., 13. George likely considered it a duty to the brother who, in the wake of their father Augustine Washington's death eight years earlier, had been like a parent to him. Vernon estate.
"George Washington's Mount Vernon - History of Mount Vernon". George knew of the work, referred to it in his diary, and may have encountered it in Fairfax's library at the Belvoir estate. Lawrence Washington was the oldest surviving child of Augustine and his first wife, Jane Butler.
A group of American art experts - including James Flexner - were invited to Mt. Vernon, where George Washington is known to have kept it in his private studio/library on the ground floor: it is the only Washington family portrait honored with a place in the Study. 8486. He signed, in his youthful handwriting, copies of Andrew Michael Ramsays The Travels of Cyrus . Washington was the older and beloved half-brother of George Washington, the future United States President. The family was then living in Westmoreland County, Virginia, along the Potomac River. Washington was the older half-brother of George Washington, the future President of the United States. ", Washington survived the expeditions against the seaport of Cartagena, New Granada (see Battle of Cartagena de Indias) and against Cuba and Panama, which suffered a high rate of casualties, mostly from disease. [3], Washington was married in July 1743 to Anne Fairfax (17281761), the eldest daughter of English-born Colonel William Fairfax of neighboring Belvoir, and his late wife Sarah (ne Walker), born to a prominent family in the Bahamas, where Fairfax had been working when they married. [10], Writing a history of British Settlements in North America in 1748, Bostonian Dr. William Douglas said that of 500 men sent from Massachusetts for the expedition, not over 50 returned. The new county of Fairfax was created (from northern Prince William County) in 1742. Lawrence is believed to have been born in 1718, the second child of Augustine Washington and Jane Butler (whose first-born son, Butler, died in infancy.) The Washingtons were extensive land-owners on the lower Potomac, the tidewater region. Watkins, Walter Kendall. Washington also participated in the 1741 British landing at Guantanamo (Cumberland Harbor) Cuba, part of Admiral Vernon's plannever realizedto attack Santiago from the rear (by land) and from the front (by sea). "Americanism and Jenkins' Ear", Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol.37 No. The younger Washington is lamenting that he has many shortcomings militarily compared to his older brother. In May 1749, Governor William Gooch signed an Act to establish the town of Alexandria. See George Washington's Barbados diary entries for Oct. 23 and Dec. 24, 1751 (Library of Congress, George Washington Papers)., 9. "The American Regiment, 1740-1746 (The 61st Regiment of Foot, or Gooch's Regiment)." (Veterans Publishing Systems: 2009). In addition to owning a townhouse and a plantation on the island, he also possessed land in Virginia's Northern Neck, granted by Lord Fairfax. A man of achievement in his own lifetime, Lawrence Washington has suffered from the pre-eminence of his younger brother. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Charles McBarron was the foremost artist depicting the early American military. Lawrence Washington cruised to the Indies. In 1751, the town council held the "Belhaven Lottery" to raise money for a city hall, and George Washington's correspondence throughout the French and Indian War of the late 1750s referred to "Belhaven". Commission of Lawrence Washington, June 9, 1740, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union. 18-19 (Osprey Publishing: 2002), Henriques, Peter R. "Major Lawrence Washington versus the Reverend Charles Green: A Case Study of the Squire and the Parson,". Lawrence and Anne had four children together, but none survived childhood; the first three died in infancy: The only surviving portrait of Lawrence Washington is at Mount Vernon, where George Washington is known to have kept it in his private studio/library on the ground floor: it is the only Washington family portrait honored with a place in the Study. He is pictured in a scene in Barbados while ill from tuberculosis and being visited by a young George Washington. His widow Anne remarried into the Lee family shortly thereafter. George Washington accompanied his half-brother Lawrence to the warm springs at Bath (present-day Berkeley Springs, West Virginia). "4 The very allure of foreign places may have inspired young George to consider a naval career. The young teen who learned to paint in the Annapolis studio of John Hesselius in 1763 was Charles Willson Peale. [9] The marriage of the 15-year old Anne to the newly returned 25-year old army veteran appears to have been prompted by Anne's disclosure to her parents that the family's minister, the Reverend Charles Green of Truro Parish, had taken opportunities with her.
