George Washington, Last Will and Testament (dated July 9, 1799). George Washington died on December 14, 1799.
And to my Mulatto man William (calling himself William Lee) I give immediate freedom; or if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which ha<v>e befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so: In either case however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, whic<h> shall be independent of the victuals and cloaths he has been accustomed to receive, if he chuses the last alternative; but in full, with his freedom, if he prefers the first; & this I give him as a test<im>ony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War.
Portrait of George Washington, Gilbert Stuart
William Lee was purchased by George Washington from a neighbor in October 1767. “Billy” Lee served Washington as personal attendant for decades, including every day of the Revolution. He attended Washington in Philadelphia in 1787 when the Constitution was debated and went to New York in 1789 to serve the first President. Practically crippled after a series of accidents, Lee was forced to return to Mount Vernon where he lived out his days.
“George Washington prepared his will alone, without, as he attested, any ‘professional character’ being ‘consulted’ or having ‘any Agency in the draught.’ He dated the will, the work of many ‘leisure hours,’ the ‘ninth day of July’ in 1799, probably the date that he finished making the final copy….His executors presented the new will for probate within a month, on 10 January 1800, to the Fairfax County Court, in whose custody it remains. A few days thereafter the will was printed in Alexandria. It then circulated throughout the country in pamphlet form.”
William Lee was the only person enslaved by Washington who was emancipated immediately upon Washington’s death, as the will stipulated. He remained at Mount Vernon until his death, the date of which is not known. His remains are presumed to be buried in the African American burial ground at Mount Vernon.
The complete story of William Lee and his relationship with Washington is told in my recent book, In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives.
