Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/65

Rh raised, in the United States." The organization and arrangement of this new army now engrossed his attention. Deeply impressed with the great responsibility that had been thrust upon him, and having selected Alexander Hamilton as his chief of staff, to the serious disappointment of his old friend Gen. Knox, he entered at once into the minutest details of the preparation for war, with all the energy and zeal of his earlier and more vigorous days.

Most happily this war with our late gallant ally was averted. Washington, however, did not live to receive the assurance of a result that he so earnestly desired. Riding over his farms, on December 12, to give directions to the managers of his estate, he was overtaken by showers of rain and sleet, and returned home wet and chilled. The next day he suffered from a hoarse, sore throat, followed by an ague at night. His old physician and surgeon, Dr. Craik, who had been with him in peace and in war, was summoned from Alexandria the next morning, and two other physicians were called into consultation during the day. At four o'clock in the afternoon he requested his wife, who was constantly at his bedside, to bring him two papers from his study, one of which he gave back to her as his will. At six o'clock he said to the three physicians around him: "I feel myself going; I thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to