VA, USA
Mount Vernon Transitions from Tobacco to Wheat Production
January 1, 1766
In the decade before the Revolution, Washington made the decision to shift Mount Vernon's primary crop from tobacco to wheat, transforming the estate's labor needs, market relationships, and economic structure. This transition shaped the plantation's wartime operations and its relationship to the Chesapeake trade networks.
People Involved
Virginia planter and Continental Army commander-in-chief who owned and managed Mount Vernon's enslaved workforce. Absent from his estate for most of the war, he directed Lund Washington's management by correspondence and returned to find the plantation's human community shaped by eight years of wartime disruption.
Virginia widow who married Washington in 1759, bringing the Custis dower estate and its enslaved people into the household. Spent several winters at Continental Army camps supporting her husband and managing the social expectations of a commander's wife. Legal owner of the Custis dower slaves who could not be freed by Washington's will.
Distant Washington cousin who managed Mount Vernon as the estate's agent during the eight years of the Revolutionary War. Kept detailed accounts of the plantation's operations, managed the enslaved workforce in Washington's absence, and infamously provisioned a British warship in 1781, drawing Washington's sharp rebuke.