shortly, that I will
ship him off (as I did Waggoner Jack) for the West Indies, where he will
have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present
engaged in."

A few of the negroes occupied positions of some trust and
responsibility. One named Davy was for many years manager of Muddy Hole
Farm, and Washington thought that he carried on his work as well as did
the white overseers and more quietly than some, though rather negligent
of live stock. Each year at killing time he was allowed two or three
hundredweight of pork as well as other privileges not accorded to the
ordinary slave. Still his master did not entirely trust him, for in 1795
we find that Washington suspected Davy of having stolen some lambs that
had been reported as "lost."

The most famous of the Mount Vernon negroes was William Lee, better
known as Billy, whose purchase from Mary Lee has already been noticed.
Billy was Washington's valet and huntsman and served with him throughout
the Revolution as a body servant, rode with him at reviews and was
painted by Savage in the well-known group of the President and his
family. Naturally Billy put on airs and presumed a good deal upon his
position. On one occasion at Monmouth the General and his staff were
reconnoitering the British, and Billy and fellow valets gathered on an
adjoining hill beneath a sycamore tree whence Billy, telescope in hand,
surveyed the enemy with much importance and interest. Washington, with a
smile, called the attention of his aides to the spectacle. About the
same time the British, noticing the group of horsemen and unable to
distinguish the color of the riders, paid their respects to Billy and
his followers in the shape of a solid shot, which went crashing through
the top of the tree, whereupon there was a rapid recession of coat tails
toward the rear.

Billy was a good and faithful servant and his master appreciated the
fact. In 1784 we find Washington writing to his Philadelphia agent: "The
mullatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached
(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the
war, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for some
time, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had ceased;
but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her here, and
tho' I never wished to see her more, I can not refuse his request (if it
can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has ser