Tobias Lear (September 19, 1762 – October 11, 1816) was the personal secretary to PresidentGeorge Washington. Lear served Washington from 1784 until the former-President's death in 1799. Lear's journal details Washington's final moments and his last words: 'Tis well.
Tobias Lear also served third president Thomas Jefferson, as envoy to Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), and as peace envoy in the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa during the First Barbary War (1801–1805) and the Second Barbary War (1815). He was responsible for negotiating a peace treaty with the Bey of Tripoli that ended the first Barbary War.
Lear was born on Hunking Street[1][2] in the seaport town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 19, 1762,[2] a fifth-generation American and the fifth generation of his family named Tobias.[3] His parents were Tobias Lear (born August 1, 1737)[2] (cousin of John Langdon) and Mary Stillson Lear (born May 25, 1739).[1][2] His parents were married on December 29, 1757.[2] The family home on Hunking Street, which still stands today, had been built in 1742 by the Stillson family.[2] Lear had an older sister named Mary (Polly).[2]
Before going to college, Lear attended Dummer Charity School (now known as The Governor's Academy)[1] where Samuel Moody helped prepare Lear for college.[2] Instead of joining the Continental Army, as many of his contemporaries did, Lear attended Harvard College, beginning in 1779,[2] during the American Revolutionary War. He graduated with thirty classmates in 1783.[3]
Career
He began his career by being an apprentice until a family friend, Benjamin Lincoln, recommended him for the job of tutoring Martha Washington's grandchildren and to the post of George Washington's personal secretary, both to which he was hired in 1786.[4] He was integrated into Washington's house and his post quickly evolved beyond clerk to being Washington's right-hand man, doing whatever Washington needed, such as tutoring, filling out expense reports, and writing letters. He performed all his duties well.
Lear moved with Washington to New York City in 1789, when Washington became president, and they often dined alone together during his presidency. Lear was responsible for filling out Washington's expense reports as president, which Washington had wisely chosen instead of a $25,000 salary, as they turned out to be much more.[3]
In 1793, at the start of Washington's second term, Lear decided to leave Washington and start out on his own (albeit with help from Washington). He started a company, T. Lear & Company, which focused on two things: working with Washington's Potomac Company to promote river traffic to the soon-to-be nation's capitol and participating in land speculation there. Lear traveled to Europe to sell parcels of land in Washington, DC, but was unsuccessful. His engineering work related to the Potomac Company also failed to enable navigation around two waterfalls on the Potomac River. He lost money in this failed venture despite his wealthy partners.[3]
Lear married Mary (Polly) Long, his childhood sweetheart,[1] in 1790. Together they had a son, Benjamin Lincoln Lear (b. 1791), but Polly died in the President's House in Philadelphia during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that claimed around 5,000 people.[1] In 1795, he married Frances Bassett Washington, the recent widow of the President's nephew, George Augustine Washington, but Fanny died in 1796 of tuberculosis.[1][3] Tobias married again, this time to the young Frances Dandridge Henley. His new wife was also nicknamed Fanny and was the niece of Martha Washington.[5]
Controversy
In the late 1790s, Lear's finances became more distraught. During this period, he continued to run unpaid errands for Washington. On one of these errands, Lear collected rent from one of Washington's tenants, but pocketed the funds. Washington found out when he questioned his tenant as to why they had not paid. Washington was furious for at least two days but Lear apologized and was quickly forgiven.[3]
The next year,[when?] Lear was given the rank of colonel as chief aide to Washington, who had been reappointed by Congress to command the troops during a period when a French attack was feared. He preferred to be addressed as Colonel Lear for the rest of his life despite the fact that the French never attacked by land and he never faced active duty.[3]
Lear collected funds for the sale of a business partner's real estate and kept the funds. He feigned illness for several months before meeting the man and apologizing, confessing and agreeing to reimburse him.[3]
Washington's death
In 1799, Washington unexpectedly died while Lear was visiting him at Mount Vernon, leading to Lear's famous diary entry:
About ten o'clk, Saturday December 14, 1799, Washington made several attempts to speak to me before he could effect it, at length he said,—"I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than two days after I am dead." I bowed assent. He then looked at me again and said, "Do you understand me?" I replied "Yes." "'Tis well" said he.[3]
Lear oversaw the funeral arrangements, even to the detail of measuring the corpse at 6 feet 3.5inches long and 1 foot 9inches from shoulder to shoulder. Lear inherited a lifetime interest in Walnut Tree Farm.[3]
Missing Washington papers
Lear's only biographer, Ray Brighton, was convinced that Lear destroyed many of Washington's letters and diary entries, which he had possession of for about a year after Washington's death. Lear was to work on a Washington biography with Bushrod Washington, a Washington nephew, who had contacted Lear about collecting Washington's papers and collaborating on a Washington biography. Swaths of Washington's diary (especially sections during the presidency and the American Revolutionary War) and a few key letters were discovered missing about a year after their transfer to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, who had instead volunteered to write the biography. Lear denied destroying any papers in a long letter to Marshall; however, Lear's own correspondence casts this into doubt. Lear wrote Alexander Hamilton offering to suppress Washington documents: "There are as you well know among the several letters and papers many which every public and private consideration should withhold from further inspection." Lear explicitly asked Hamilton in that letter if he desired any military papers removed. Suspiciously, almost all the presidential diary entries are gone except for those that covered Washington's 1789 visit to Lear's family home in Portsmouth. Six key Washington letters are also missing.[3]
Jefferson as ally
Many biographers believe that Thomas Jefferson and Washington had a big falling out over a letter Jefferson sent to Philip Mazzei in Italy, which called Washington's administration Anglican, monarchical and aristocratic, and claimed that Washington had appointed as military officers "all timid men that prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty." The letter was eventually published overseas and then re-translated back into English by Noah Webster and published in America.[6] Its publication is thought to have sparked a nasty correspondence of three rounds of letters between Jefferson and Washington. In conversation with friends over wine, Lear admitted the existence of the letters but subsequently denied having said such. Albin Rollins, a Mount Vernon overseer, stated to a nephew of Washington that he had seen the letters and that the second round was so strong that it made the hair on his head rise and that a duel must surely follow. The missing letters' loss brought great benefit to Thomas Jefferson, as they would have been fuel for Jefferson's political enemies. Brighton believes (without direct evidence) that Jefferson requested Lear to destroy the letters and that Jefferson rewarded Lear for their destruction for the rest of his life.[3]
Appointments
"Wellington," Malcolm Matheson house, Fox Hunt Road, Alexandria, Virginia, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1931. Built in the 18th century for Colonel Tobias Lear; from his death in 1818, owned by descendants of George Washington
Jefferson appointed the financially struggling Lear to the potentially lucrative assignment of American commercial agent in Saint-Domingue at the start of his term of president. During this job, Lear appointed Rollins to oversee Walnut Tree Farm. Unfortunately, Lear arrived right before Napoleon Bonaparte was about to clamp down on the slave rebellion there. In a January 17, 1802, in a long letter of gratitude to Jefferson, Lear predicted the long anticipated French response was still six months out. One week later, a French armada arrived at Cap-Français and captured the main port there from Toussaint L'Ouverture. Lear attempted to help the Americans during the ensuing French embargo. However, with the Louisiana Purchase looming large for Jefferson, Lear was asked not to irritate the French commanders, and after a suggestion from James Madison, retreated back to Virginia.[3]
A year after returning to the U.S., in 1803, Jefferson appointed Lear, now 41, to be Consul General to the North African coast with the privilege of simultaneously conducting private business. Before preparing to depart on the Philadelphia to Algeria, Lear was married for the third time (to Frances Dandridge Henley). In a last-minute change, the Lears were reassigned to the USS Constitution, and the Philadelphia ended up being captured in the Mediterranean. Lear became the primary negotiator for the crew's release in 1805 with the Treaty of Tripoli that ended the First Barbary War in which he was alleged to have mishandled the resolution. The Lears stayed on in Algiers until 1812 when Lear fell out of favor with the Dey.[1]
Upon their return, the U.S. was in the throes of the War of 1812. Consequently, they had to follow a circuitous route back to Portsmouth from their entry in Virginia. Under James Madison, he was then appointed as a secretary to the War Department and moved to a location a few blocks from the White House. While serving in this post, the British attacked and burned the city.[1]
On October 11, 1816, Lear apparently committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. Although it was known that he suffered severe headaches and stints of depression, as well as being vilified by the media, the specific reasons for his suicide are unknown. It is curious that this "scrupulous record keeper" left behind neither suicide note nor will.[1] He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
George Washington was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States and established the American federal government. Washington has been called the "Father of his Country" for his manifold leadership in the nation's founding.
William Bainbridge was a Commodore in the United States Navy. During his long career in the young American Navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea. He commanded several famous naval ships, including USS Constitution, and saw service in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. Bainbridge was also in command of USS Philadelphia when she grounded off the shores of Tripoli, Libya in North Africa, resulting in his capture and imprisonment for many months. In the latter part of his career he became the U.S. Naval Commissioner.
USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. James Hackett built her in Portsmouth New Hampshire and she was launched on 15 August 1799. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized. The name "Congress" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed.Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Congress and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than the standard frigates of the period.
The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Tripolitan War and the Barbary Coast War, was a conflict during the Barbary Wars, in which the United States and Sweden fought against Tripolitania. Tripolitania had declared war against Sweden and the United States over disputes regarding tributary payments made by both states in exchange for a cessation of Tripolitatian commerce raiding at sea. United States President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay this tribute. Sweden had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800.
The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states and Morocco of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800 and was joined by the newly independent US. The First Barbary War extended from 10 May 1801 to 10 June 1805, with the Second Barbary War lasting only three days, ending on 19 June 1815.
USS Philadelphia, a 1240-ton, 36-gun sailing frigate, was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Philadelphia. Originally named City of Philadelphia, she was built in 1798–1799 for the United States government by residents of that city. Funding for her construction was raised by a drive that collected $100,000 in one week, in June 1798. She was designed by Josiah Fox and built by Samuel Humphreys, Nathaniel Hutton and John Delavue. Her carved work was done by William Rush of Philadelphia. She was laid down about November 14, 1798, launched on November 28, 1799, and commissioned on April 5, 1800, with Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. in command. She was captured by Barbary pirates in Tripoli with William Bainbridge in command. Stephen Decatur led a raid that burned her down, preventing her use by the pirates.
The Treaty of Tripoli was signed in 1796. It was the first treaty between the United States and Tripoli to secure commercial shipping rights and protect American ships in the Mediterranean Sea from local Barbary pirates.
William Eaton was a United States Army officer and the diplomatic officer Consul General to Tunis (1797–1803). He played an important diplomatic and military role in the First Barbary War between the United States and Tripoli (1801–1805). He led the first foreign United States military victory at the Battle of Derne by capturing the Tripoli subject city of Derne in support of the restoration of the pasha, Hamet Caramelli. He also gave testimony at the treason trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr. Eaton served one term in the General Court of Massachusetts, which served as the state legislature during the colonia era. Eaton died on June 1, 1811, at the age of 47.
Richard Dale was an American naval officer who fought in the Continental Navy under John Barry and was first lieutenant for John Paul Jones during the naval battle off of Flamborough Head, England against HMS Serapis in the celebrated engagement of September 23, 1779. He became one of the six original commodores of the permanent United States Navy, and commanded a blockade of Tripoli in 1801 during the First Barbary War of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.
Edward Preble was a United States naval officer who served with great distinction during the 1st Barbary War, leading American attacks on the city of Tripoli and forming the officer corps that would later lead the U.S. Navy in the War of 1812.
John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s. He served under six presidents for nearly four decades. His service took him through many military operations in the Quasi-War with France, both Barbary Wars in North Africa, and the War of 1812 with Britain.
The Battle of Derna at Derna, Cyrenaica, was the decisive victory in April–May 1805 of a mercenary army recruited and led by United States Marines under the command of U.S. Army Lieutenant William Eaton, diplomatic Consul to Tripoli, and U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Presley Neville O'Bannon. The battle involved a forced 521-mile (839-km) march through the North African desert from Alexandria, Egypt, to the eastern port city of Derna, Libya, which was defended by a much larger force.
Yusuf Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli, (1766–1838) was the longest-reigning Pasha of the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania. He is noted for his role in the Barbary Wars against the United States.
The religious views of George Washington have long been debated. While some of the other Founding Fathers of the United States, such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Patrick Henry, were noted for writing about religion, Washington rarely discussed his religious and philosophical views.
This bibliography of George Washington is a selected list of written and published works about George Washington (1732–1799). A recent count has estimated the number of books about George Washington at some nine hundred; add scholarly articles with Washington's name in the title and the count climbs to six thousand.
The WashingtonPapers, also known as The Papers of George Washington, is a project dedicated to the publication of comprehensive letterpress and digital editions of George and Martha Washington’s papers. Founded at the University of Virginia in 1968 as the Papers of George Washington, the Washington Papers is an expansive project that includes the papers and documents of George Washington as well as of individuals close to him. The Washington Papers aims to place Washington in a larger context and to bring individuals, such as Martha Washington and Washington family members, into sharper focus. The project is currently headed by editor in chief and director Jennifer E. Steenshorne, and is the largest collection of its type. The project is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the Packard Humanities Institute, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, the University of Virginia, the Florence Gould Foundation, and other private donors.
Barbary Pirate is a 1949 American adventure film directed by Lew Landers and starring Donald Woods and Trudy Marshall.
The post-presidency of George Washington began on March 4, 1797. The first U.S. president under the U.S. Constitution, Washington had served two consecutive terms in office. He returned to his beloved home, Mount Vernon, on March 15. Immediately, he began months of repair because of neglect and mismanagement. In time, he was able to restore the Mount Vernon mansion house. The salvaging of his farms proved to be problematic. Throughout his retirement, Washington entertained local friends, former official associates, and strangers who wished to converse and see the first president, the Revolutionary War hero, and founder of the nation.
The 1805 Treaty of Tripoli was signed on June 4, 1805, ending the First Barbary War. It was negotiated by Tobias Lear, an ardent Jeffersonian republican, and took effect April 12, 1806 with the signature of President Thomas Jefferson.
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