to tell you,
that you are abused, grossly abused.... Give me leave to
add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not
the wish or interest of that government, or any other upon
this continent, separately or collectively, to set up for
independence; but this you may at the same time rely on,
that none of them will ever submit to the loss of those
valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the
happiness of every free State, and without which, life,
liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure."

It was with such a belief as this that Washington went back to Mount
Vernon, and while he was occupied with his engrossing private affairs,
busied himself also with organizing and drilling soldiers. Independent
companies were formed all over Virginia, and one after another placed
themselves under his command. Although, by the custom of those
companies, each was independent of the others, yet by choosing the same
commander they virtually made Washington Commander-in-Chief of the
Virginia volunteers. He was the first military man in the colony, and
every one turned to him for advice and instruction. So through the
winter and spring, he was constantly on the move, going to one place
after another to review the companies which had been formed.

I think that winter and spring of 1775 must have been a somewhat
sorrowful one to George Washington, and that he must have felt as if a
great change were coming in his life. His wife's daughter had died, and
he missed her sadly. Young John Custis had married and gone away to
live. The sound of war was heard on all sides, and among the visitors to
Mount Vernon were some who afterward were to be generals in the American
army. He still rode occasionally after the hounds, but the old days of
fun were gone. George William Fairfax had gone back to England, and the
jolly company at Belvoir was scattered. The house itself there had
caught fire, and burned to the ground.

But the time for action was at hand. Washington turned from his home and
his fox-hunting to go to Richmond as a delegate to a second Virginia
convention. It was called to hear the reports of the delegates to
Philadelphia and to see what further was to be done. It was clear to
some, and to Washington among them, that the people must be ready for
the worst. They had shown themselves in earnest by all the drill and
training they had been going through as indepe