In a letter dated March 17, 1779, General George Washington, from his encampment at Middlebrook, wrote a return letter to his Virginia friend, George Mason. It began by the General recounting how he had complied with a request, dated March 8, from Mason to offer some personal assistance to Mason's son and a "Mr. Smith." Then he wrote how he always welcomed correspondence from Mason. In passages where his somewhat inanimate public image dropped away, Washington expressed his current feelings on the War, Congress, and various behaviors on the home front. I am particularly desirous of it at this time [the opportunity to exchange opinions with his friend, Mason], because I view things very differently, I fear, from what people in general do who seem to think the contest is at an end; and to make money, and get places, the only things now remaining to do. I have seen without dispondency (even for a moment) the hours which America have stiled her gloomy ones, Eminent dangers but I have...(Read Full Post)