10 facts about the extraordinary yet terrifying end of America’s first president, George Washington, reveal a cascade of medical missteps, odd concoctions, and post‑mortem controversies that turned his last night into a macabre tableau. Though celebrated for his leadership, Washington’s final hours were riddled with baffling treatments and unsettling intrigue that still capture the imagination.

10 Facts About Washington’s Fatal Night

10 Diagnosis And Treatment

Since the winter of 1799, scholars have debated whether Washington fell victim to outright medical malpractice. Dr. David Morens, writing for The New England Journal of Medicine, notes that accusations of malpractice “were very much in the air during and immediately after the great man died.” While Morens concedes that today’s definition of malpractice might differ, he emphasizes the unsettling fact that none of the three physicians caring for Washington could agree on a single therapeutic approach.

Morens further suggests the doctors may have been shielding their reputations to dodge potential charges. Even the precise diagnosis remains shrouded in mystery—was it an acute infection, a fatal misstep by his physicians, or a lethal blend of both? The lack of consensus continues to fuel speculation about the true cause of his demise.

9 Vile Concoction

Imagine the agony of a man whose throat has turned into a burning furnace. In the early morning, Washington’s aide‑de‑camp, Col. Thomas Lear, presented a tonic made of molasses, butter, and vinegar in a desperate attempt to quell the swelling. The mixture was as unpalatable as it was ineffective, and the ailing president could barely swallow, let alone drink it.

Washington’s labored breathing turned into choking fits, and each sip sparked convulsions. He was also urged to gargle with vinegar and sage tea, a regimen that only intensified his suffocation and forced him to expectorate copious phlegm. The relentless escalation of his respiratory distress continued until, just ten minutes before his death, his breathing finally eased, allowing him to slip away.

8 Punctuality

After retiring from public service, Washington habitually toiled on his Mount Vernon estate, even when the weather turned brutal—snow, rain, hail, and gale‑force winds could not deter him. He would labor for five straight hours, ensuring each task was completed before returning home.

True to his reputation for punctuality, he remained in damp clothing through dinner, then ventured outdoors again the following day despite a painful sore throat that had emerged overnight. That day would become his final excursion; he retired to his quarters with worsening symptoms, only to awaken in torment around 3 a.m. His relentless dedication ultimately sealed his fate, as three physicians were summoned and his condition deteriorated beyond repair.

7 Infertility

Historians have long speculated about Washington’s infertility, pointing to possible endocrine disorders or sexually transmitted infections. One prominent theory implicates chronic exposure to mercurous chloride, a compound he received in his twenties to treat abdominal pain and persistent bloody diarrhea.

Even on his deathbed, his physicians continued to prescribe this toxic element, combined with potassium tartrate, a mixture known to induce severe nausea and vomiting. In lay terms, the nation’s founding father was being unintentionally poisoned by the very remedies meant to save him. When these treatments failed, Dr. Dick proposed a tracheotomy, a daring suggestion that clashed with Dr. Craik’s refusal, leaving Washington without a potentially life‑saving intervention.

6 Criticism And Irony

In the late 18th century, news traveled at a snail’s pace. By December 1799, it took four full days for word of Washington’s death to reach the United States Congress in Philadelphia. The very session that received the tragic news was still in progress while Washington’s funeral unfolded miles away at Mount Vernon.

As his casket was lowered, the harsh criticism he endured throughout his life resurfaced. Once labeled a British sell‑out, Washington’s legacy was abruptly recast as that of a venerable hero. Ironically, the Union he fought to forge would later face a severe test—69 years after his death—when General Robert E. Lee, the son of a man who famously proclaimed, “First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of His Countrymen,” threatened the very nation Washington had helped create.

5 Spanish Fly

As Washington’s condition worsened, physicians resorted to a baffling treatment: Spanish Fly. This powdered toxin, derived from the dried bodies of the beetle *Cantharis vesicatoria*, was applied directly to his inflamed throat.

Spanish Fly, historically used as a dangerous aphrodisiac, causes blistering and can poison livestock, leading to excitement, diarrhea, and kidney inflammation. Doctors believed the concoction would draw out toxins, yet the blistering pain only further drained Washington’s already weakened immune system, compounding his suffering throughout the day.

4 Burial Dispute

Washington’s will stipulated that he be interred in a newly constructed family mausoleum—a request he never imagined would spark a century‑long controversy. Despite his wishes, both the House and Senate appealed to the Washington family, urging a transfer of his remains from Mount Vernon to the Capitol for a grand marble monument.

Martha Washington, though reluctant, acquiesced to public sentiment, yet disagreements over the monument’s design and financing stalled the project for years. By the centennial in 1832, John A. Washington, then owner of Mount Vernon, outright rejected any further attempts to relocate the patriarch’s body, effectively ending the protracted dispute after 33 tumultuous years.

3 Dehydration

In the final hours of his ordeal, Washington endured a series of invasive procedures: throat swabs coated in salve followed by a forced enema. These interventions not only incapacitated him further but also precipitated a severe loss of bodily fluids, disrupting his mineral balance and straining his kidneys and heart.

The resulting dehydration, combined with electrolyte disturbances, likely triggered additional complications such as dizziness, nausea, and abdominal cramping—symptoms commonly associated with excessive enema use. In Washington’s case, well‑intentioned “treatments” inadvertently siphoned his vitality, hastening his decline.

2 Washington’s Will

Amid the harrowing details of his final night, a brighter note emerges: Washington’s last will, penned five months earlier on July 9, 1799. He instructed Martha to retrieve the document mere hours before his death, entrusting her with two revisions.

In his frail state, Washington asked Martha to burn one copy and safeguard the other. The surviving will revealed his forward‑thinking provisions: emancipation of his enslaved workers, support for the elderly, infirm, and young, and a financial endowment to establish a school for orphaned children. These humanitarian gestures underscore his enduring commitment to the nation’s future, even as he clung to life.

1 Bloodletting

Washington’s physicians theorized that inflammation of his tongue, upper trachea, and larynx was obstructing his airway. Following the guidance of medical professor William Cullen, they embarked on a prolonged bloodletting regimen lasting nine to ten hours, extracting an estimated 3.75 liters of blood.

Six weeks after his death, Dr. James Brickell condemned the practice in a paper that remained unpublished until 1903, arguing that the massive blood loss, given Washington’s advanced age and weakened condition, accelerated his demise. In his final moments, Washington appeared calm, his struggle subsiding—likely a result of profound hypotension leading to shock and eventual death.

When you hear the phrase “10 facts usually associated with the first president of the United States”, you probably picture heroic battles and polished portraits. Yet the real George Washington was a far messier, more human character—full of family drama, questionable business moves, and even a few macabre medical schemes. Below, we peel back the mythic veneer to reveal the quirks and scandals that textbooks often skip.

10 Facts Usually: Uncovering Washington’s Hidden Past

10 His Mother Made His Life Hell

It’s easy to imagine the mother of America’s first commander‑in‑chief as a proud, doting figure, but Mary Ball Washington was anything but a warm‑hearted fan club. She was notoriously strict, offering criticism far more often than praise. One of George’s childhood companions once recalled, “Of the mother, I was ten times more afraid than I ever was of my own parents,” underscoring the chilling atmosphere of his upbringing.

As soon as George moved out, his mother turned into a relentless petitioner, bombarding him with letters begging for financial support—even while he was leading troops against the British. She even appealed directly to the Virginia legislature for a pension, a move that mortified Washington. He responded with a stern protest, writing, “All of us, I am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her.”

When Mary grew older and frail, George urged her to reside with one of his siblings for a more manageable arrangement—just not under his own roof. Even after her death, his estate paperwork contained a terse line that hinted at lingering resentment: “She has had a great deal of money from me at times.”

9 He Bought His First Elected Position With Alcohol

In mid‑18th‑century Virginia, elections were practically a public tavern. Voters expected a generous pour of spirits at the polls; refusing to provide libations was tantamount to political suicide. When Washington first threw his hat into the ring for the House of Burgesses in 1755, he took the high road and declined to supply alcohol. The result? A humiliating defeat—271 votes against him versus a mere 40 in his favor.

Learning from that bitter loss, Washington returned three years later with a vastly different strategy. He arranged for an impressive 545 liters (144 gallons) of assorted booze—beer, rum, and everything in between—to flow freely to the electorate. That equated to roughly two liters (half a gallon) per voter, a staggering amount that left no one thirsty. The gamble paid off handsomely; Washington swept the election with a decisive majority.

8 His False Teeth Were Pulled From Slaves

Forget the myth of wooden teeth—Washington’s dental saga is far more unsettling. A lifetime of poor diet and genetics left him with a painful, toothless grin. Wealth afforded him the luxury of a custom set of dentures, but the materials used were far from ordinary. His dentist crafted a base of hippopotamus ivory, reinforced with gold wire springs and brass screws, then populated it with real human teeth—extracted from enslaved individuals on his plantation.

Records from 1784 reveal Washington paid his slaves a paltry 122 shillings for nine teeth, a sum that was merely one‑third of the market rate for human dentition. The dentist then forced these harvested teeth into Washington’s mouth, creating a macabre composite that likely fueled the later legend of wooden prosthetics.

7 He Made A Fortune Off Whiskey And Slaves

Beyond his political résumé, Washington was a shrewd businessman. While his wife Martha inherited a sprawling 8,000‑acre estate populated by five farms and over 300 enslaved laborers, George leveraged his name to launch the nation’s largest whiskey distillery in 1797. By the time of his death in 1799, the operation was churning out an astonishing 42,000 liters (11,000 gallons) of spirit each year, making him one of the country’s earliest industrial magnates.

6 He Grew Marijuana

Washington’s agricultural pursuits extended into the realm of cannabis. While many associate early American hemp with rope‑making, his farm journals disclose a deliberate effort to cultivate marijuana for its psychoactive properties. He meticulously recorded attempts to separate male from female plants, noting on May 12, 1765, “Sowed hemp at muddy hole by swamp,” and later lamenting, “Began to separate the male from female plants—rather too late.” By the following year, he was “pulling up the male hemp.”

Given the absence of prohibitions, it is highly plausible that Washington smoked his own harvest. Unverified anecdotes suggest he and Thomas Jefferson exchanged personal gifts of homegrown marijuana, further hinting at a shared, clandestine pastime.

5 He Was Paid More Than Any Other President

When appointed commander of the Continental Army, Washington famously refused a salary, insisting only that Congress reimburse his expenses. The reality, however, turned out to be a staggering fiscal extravaganza. He booked actors for theatrical productions, spent $6,000 on liquor, and even indulged in lavish meals that added roughly 14 kilograms (30 lb) to his waist. In total, his expense claim ballooned to $449,261.51—a sum Congress was compelled to honor.

Later, as the nation’s first president, he attempted to secure a comparable arrangement, but lawmakers, wary of past excesses, mandated a modest salary. Still, Washington negotiated the highest presidential pay in U.S. history, amounting to about two percent of the national budget—a figure that outstripped all his successors.

4 He Thought Chinese People Were White

When the fledgling United States opened trade with China in 1785, Washington became an avid collector of Chinese curiosities—tea, silk, porcelain, and the like. Yet, despite his fascination, he was genuinely shocked upon first seeing a Chinese figure depicted on a porcelain pot. Until that moment, Washington had assumed the world’s peoples were uniformly “white,” a misconception he only corrected after confronting the reality of Chinese appearance.

3 He Illegally Transported Slaves

Washington’s presidency forced him to reside in Pennsylvania, the first state to enact a Gradual Abolition Act that limited a resident’s ability to hold slaves to six months. After that period, any enslaved person had to be emancipated. Undeterred, Washington exploited legal loopholes, rotating his enslaved workforce every six months to sidestep the law—a practice expressly outlawed by 1788.

Historical accounts suggest the federal government was fully aware of Washington’s maneuvers but chose to look the other way, likely out of deference to the nation’s inaugural leader. Consequently, his administration continued to profit from slave labor despite the state’s abolitionist statutes.

2 He Set The World Record For Library Fines

In 1789, the newly inaugurated president checked out two hefty tomes from the New York Society Library: Law of Nations and Volume 12 of Common Debates. The librarian, delighted to see “The President” in the ledger, set a return date of November 2 and left it at that. Washington never returned the books, and the overdue fines snowballed over the centuries.

The library didn’t discover the lingering debt until 1934, and it wasn’t until 2010 that Mount Vernon finally settled the matter by purchasing copies of the missing volumes and sending them to the institution. By then, Washington’s unpaid fees had amassed to a record‑breaking $300,000‑plus.

1 His Friend Wanted To Reanimate His Corpse

Washington harbored a lifelong dread of premature burial. He even instructed his secretary to delay interment for three days, allowing his body to decompose before the final plunge. When he finally passed in 1799, his remains were placed on ice as a precaution against the dreaded “being buried alive” scenario.

Enter William Thornton, a physician and friend, who fancied himself a pioneer of resurrection. Convinced that the blood of lambs possessed miraculous properties, Thornton proposed an elaborate revival plan: thaw Washington’s corpse by fire, rub it with blankets, inject it with lamb’s blood, perform a tracheotomy, and pump air into his lungs using a bellows. He was certain this procedure would coax the former president back to life.

Despite Thornton’s enthusiasm, Martha Washington declined the macabre experiment, opting instead for a dignified, final rest for her husband.