Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty [Hardcover]

Helen Bryan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2002

"A contempary anecdote not only confirms that Martha commanded respect in her own right during her lifetime, but also suggests an awkward truth later historians have preferred to ignore-that without Martha and her fortune, George might never have risen to social, military, and political prominence.Toward the end of his life, George Washington, war hero, retired president, and object of universal fame and veneration, was negotiating to purchase a plot of land in the new capital city, to be named in his honor. The seller, an aged veteran of the Revolution, was reluctant to part with the plot, even to so distinguished a purchaser. Washington persisted until the veteran's patience snapped: 'You think people take every grist that comes from you as the pure grain. What would you have been if you hadn't married the Widow Custis!' "
-from the Introduction to
Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty

From the glittering social life of Virginia's wealthiest plantations to the rigors of winter camps during the American Revolution, Martha Washington was a central figure in some of the most important events in American history. Her story is a saga of social conflict, forbidden love affairs, ambiguous wills, mysterious death, heartbreaking loss, and personal and political triumph. Every detail is brought to vivid life in this engaging and astonishing biography of one of the best known, least understood figures in early American life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...tells Martha's story with a seductive mix of relish, insight and scholarship..." (Camden New Journal, 15 August 2002)

"Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was at the center of attention her whole life; mistress of large plantations, married to two of the most influential and wealthy Virginians, and as Lady Washington, the General's wife and First Lady. Unfortunately, with only a few of her actual letters extant, much of what we know about Martha Washington is from inference. Bryan mines the whole spectrum of the social, economic, and political world in which Martha moved, and even analyzes a few skeletons in the closet, not the least being the mysterious death of Martha's brother-in-law, Mulatto Jack, a slave who had been designated to inherit the fortune that went to Martha's first husband. The book is one of the best treatments anywhere of the early Virginia aristocracy; indeed, this comes in for so much emphasis that one half of the book covers the period before 1775. The author touches lightly on Martha's sojourns with her husband during the military campaigns and as First Lady. Nevertheless, this book is a singular accomplishment, beautifully written and most enlightening about both Martha and George. Recommended for general and academic collections. Copyright 2002 American Library Association"

From the Inside Flap

The privileged daughter of an established Tidewater family, a teenage bride to a rich plantation owner more than twice her age, and at twenty-six, a fabulously wealthy widow managing one of the largest land holdings in Virginia, Martha Dandridge Custis could have no inkling that the greatest drama of her life was still decades away.

Prepare to meet one of the best known and least understood figures of the American Revolution as you’ve never seen her before. Traditionally portrayed as an amiable hostess and the loyal companion of America’s greatest hero, Martha Washington emerges in this surprising biography as a complex, intelligent, fiercely capable woman who played a pivotal role in the founding of a nation.

This long overdue reappraisal of America’s first first lady explores how "the Widow Custis" met the challenges of running a huge plantation, examines her whirlwind courtship with the young George Washington, and reveals that the status he gained through their marriage was key to his appointment as commander of the Continental Army. Richly flavored with detailed descriptions of the realities of colonial life, Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty also recounts Martha’s ceaseless efforts to provide clothing and shelter for the army when the Continental Congress failed to do so.

Author Helen Bryan explores many rarely mentioned aspects of Martha’s life, including the mysterious death of her mulatto brother-in-law, her frantic search for an effective treatment for her daughter’s epilepsy, and her profound unhappiness during Washington’s presidency.

Supplemented with numerous letters and other communications, vivid portraits of the lives of slaves on Virginia plantations, and first-hand accounts of the glittering social life enjoyed by the elite, Martha Washington is must reading for anyone interested in the American Revolution, colonial life, and the true story of one of the most important and remarkable women in American history.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471158925
• ISBN-13: 978-0471158929
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #861,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Helen Bryan was born in Virginia, grew up in Tennessee, graduated from Barnard College and since 1971 has lived in London where she qualified as a barrister and is a member of the Inner Temple.She has written a layman's guide to the English planning system "Planning Applications and Appeals" and a biography "Martha Washington First Lady of Liberty" which was awarded a Citation of Merit by the Colonial Dames of America. She has written a novel, a World War II romantic saga " War Brides" inspired by the stories and reminiscences of the wartime generation, especially those of women who joined Churchill's Special Operations Executive, and family holidays in a small East Sussex village where, according to local legend, an old smugglers' tunnel led from beneath a grave in the churchyard to the seacoast, obviously waiting for a story to be built around it.
Her next novel is another romantic saga, set in sixteenth century Spain and Spanish America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Own "War and Peace", April 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty (Hardcover)

Based on exhaustive research and much new information and filled with period detail, this book is a fascinating portrait of Martha Washington, her two husbands, her epileptic daughter and feckless son, her grandchildren, slaves, her part-African half-sister, her plantation homes, the winter camps of the Revolution and the first presidential mansions. At the same time it traces many of the complex social, political, and economic developments of the earliest years of Virginia Colony, from Jamestown until the revolution and beyond, highlighting the issues of slavery, trade with the British mother country and plantation life in the New World and links them with the growing political tensions which arose with the Stamp Acts and, eventually, the American Revolution. It provides superb insights into a turbulent period of American history, when thirteen English colonies in North America severed themselves from control by the English king and parliament and began the laborious process of establishing a new form of republican government with no precedents to guide them.

Bryan wears her scholarship lightly, however, cleverly weaving Martha's personal story through the issues and events of the times, quoting from letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts of the period as well as from the memoirs of Martha's Custis grandchildren, little-known anecdotes, and oral traditions. She examines the partnership of George and Martha Washington, America's first "power couple," making the interesting point that had Washington not married the widowed Martha Custis, he might never have become the leading military and political figure of his age. It highlights Martha's little-known contributions to the war effort which made her enormously popular with the long-suffering, ragged, and hungry soldiers of the Continental army, who cheered her as "Lady Washington" and called her a "gallant trooper".

It also examines Martha's invaluable role as the Nation's first official hostess, and the dilemmas she faced in the early days of George's presidency over how to give the two adored grandchildren she was raising a normal life in the presidential mansion and how the wife of the head of the new republic ought to dress, entertain, or receive visitors in a manner which conveyed the dignity of the fledgling country she represented yet which avoided the appearance of behaving in "queenly fashion".

Martha's unflagging support for her husband and her success in public life reflected well on him, and it is interesting that so important a role as Martha played at Washington's side has received so little public recognition. In keeping with one of the discrete obituaries written when Martha died two and a half years after George, Martha Washington has been forgotten in "the silence of respectful grief." Bryan's book, published to mark the 200th anniversary of Martha's death, finally sets the record straight.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a biography!, August 9, 2003

By 

mamareadssomuch "mamareadssomuch" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty (Hardcover)

This book was a wonderful insight into America's "first" First Lady. Not only did the book delve into Martha's life, it painted a picture of the times in which she lived. I learned more about the period and slavery than I thought I would ~ very well written. My favorite part was learning more about her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. Background is everything and most biographies lack it ~ this book doesn't. Read it and learn.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Tale of a Revolutionary Woman, April 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty (Hardcover)

"First Lady of Liberty" is a well-documented, yet easily readable, account of the life of Martha Washington and the cataclysmic times in which she lived. Martha emerges as a complex character, not just the one dimensional figure about which most Americans learn in school. Privately preferring a life at home with her extended family,she becomes an active participant in George Washington's military and political career, doing much to ensure his success.

Bryan's extensive research reads lightly. There is a wealth of new material about each of her husbands, her little known half-sister who was part-African, part-Cherokee, Martha's views on slave owning, and indiviual stories and dramas involving many of the people to whom she was closest. (Look, for example, for the mystery of Mulatto Jack and the story of the Dunbar suit.)

Readers of biography, American history, Black history, feminist history, and those who enjoy a good read will all come away fulfilled from reading this book.