A Connected Legacy: John Marshall and George Washington

Both the first object acquired by the Virginia Historical Society and arguably one of the best objects in the VMHC collection are tied to a special relationship that existed between John Marshall and George Washington. The first object is a copy of Marshall’s biography of Washington. The other is the diary that President Washington kept in 1790 – 91 during his first term. 

The story of the first object has often been told. In 1831, when concerned Virginians created a “society” to preserve the records of their illustrious predecessors who had helped found the nation, they elected as the institution’s president a Founding Father. In gratitude, John Marshall presented the society a copy of his biography, The Life of George Washington, inscribed by the author “to the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society.”  

The story of how the best object was acquired has largely been forgotten. Institutional records reveal that in 1859 it was given by James K. Marshall. How did he acquire it? James K. Marshall was one of John Marshall’s five sons. Trained as a banker, he served as executor of his father’s complex will. John Marshall had accumulated considerable wealth and property. In settling the estate, James K. Marshall probably came upon Washington’s diary among his father’s possessions. But how did John Marshall come to own it? 

In 1775, Thomas Marshall raised a unit of Virginia state militia that formed a portion of the famed Culpeper Minutemen. At age 19, John Marshall joined his father in that service. The Minutemen were absorbed into George Washington’s Continental Army. John Marshall rose from the rank of lieutenant to captain in the 11th Virginia Regiment (1776 – 1780). He served alongside Washington at Valley Forge, and he participated with Washington in the Revolutionary War battles of Brandywine and Germantown in Pennsylvania, and Monmouth in New Jersey. Influenced by those wartime experiences, John Marshall — like George Washington — recognized the need for a strong central government and they became members of the Federalist party. In 1798, newly retired President Washington, long impressed by his fellow soldier and Federalist friend, convinced John Marshall to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which Marshall won. In 1801, President John Adams nominated his loyal Federalist supporter to become chief justice of the Supreme Court. Fellow justice Bushrod Washington, a nephew of George Washington, became Marshall’s close friend. In 1802, Bushrod inherited his uncle’s home, Mount Vernon, along with his uncle’s voluminous papers. He planned to write a biography of Washington based upon those documents, but soon he gave up so herculean a task. So, he asked John Marshall to assume the responsibility.  

Marshall obliged Thompson’s request. A month later, Everett wrote a note of thanks, adding that “the ‘Diary’ came safely to hand” and that “very soon” he would ship it back to Virginia. In the meantime, John C. Hamilton of New York, another prominent historian and biographer, and the son of Alexander Hamilton, requested and was granted examination of the diary. The book returned to Virginia, and in December of 1859, James K. Marshall donated it to the Virginia Historical Society. According to society records, the gift was transacted “through the courtesy of John C. Hamilton, New York.” The younger Marshall had been prompted to action by this trio of southern and northern historians — Thompson, Everett, and Hamilton — who were inspired by the memory of the first president. Sadly, less than two years later, the nation that George Washington had brought together during his presidencies was torn apart by the Civil War. 

Stories like this one — interesting and important—were featured in the VMHC's exhibition, John Marshall: Hidden Hero of National Union. This show chronicled the long and illustrious career of the Founding Father who fought for independence, served in all three branches of the federal government, and established for the Supreme Court the powers that it retains today. 

 This article was written by Dr. William M. S. Rasmussen while VMHC Senior Curator of Exhibitions for Virginia History & Culture Magazine, Winter/Spring 2019.