ill after the peace of 1783, except in a single instance. In
December, she proceeded to Cambridge, and joined her husband. Here she
remained till spring, having witnessed the siege and evacuation of
Boston. She then returned to Virginia.

During the war, it was the custom for the general to despatch an
aid-de-camp to Mount Vernon, at the close of each campaign, to escort
his wife to head-quarters. The arrival of Lady Washington, as she was
now called, at the camp, was an event always anticipated with
pleasure, and was the signal for the ladies of the general officers to
join their husbands. The appearance of the aid-de-camp, escorting the
plain family chariot, with the neat postilions in their scarlet and
white liveries, was deemed an epoch in the army, and served to diffuse
a cheering influence even amid the gloom which hung over our
destinies, at Valley Forge, Morristown, and West Point. She always
remained at head-quarters till the opening of the campaign, and she
often remarked, in after life, that it had been her fortune to hear
the first cannon at the opening, and the last at the closing, of the
several campaigns of the war.

During the whole period of the revolutionary struggle, she preserved
her equanimity, together with a degree of cheerfulness which
inspired all around her with the brightest hopes of final success.
The glorious results of the campaign of 1781 were, however,
associated with an event most afflictive to her. John Custis, now her
only child, had accompanied Washington to the siege of Boston, and had
witnessed the most important events of the contest. At Yorktown, he
was one of the aids of Washington, and lived to see the surrender of
the British army on the 19th of October; but he died soon after of
camp fever, which was then raging to a frightful extent within the
enemy's intrenchments.

The war being closed, Washington returned to Mount Vernon. His time
was now occupied in the peaceful pursuits of private life. He
cultivated his lands, and improved his residence at Mount Vernon by
additional buildings, and the laying out of his gardens and grounds.
He occasionally diversified his employments by the pleasures of the
chase. Much of his time, however, was occupied in discharging the
grateful duties of hospitality. His fame was spread far and wide, and
his home was crowded with guests, among whom were often seen
illustrious strangers from foreign lands. During this happy period,
Mrs. Washington