Today, the George Washington Commemorative Gold Five-Dollar Coin remembers when the governor of Virginia requested the remains of the General to be moved to a monument near Richmond 201 years ago.
From the January 1898 New Peterson Magazine:
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Proposals to remove the mortal remains of George Washington from Mt. Vernon are not new. The legislature of Virginia in 1816 by unanimous resolution directed the Executive, Gov. Nicholas, to request Judge Bushrod Washington, then proprietor of Mt. Vernon, and an executor of the will of the General, to allow the State of Virginia to remove the remains of the General and Mrs. Washington to Richmond, and inter them there, near the Capitol, under fitting monuments to be erected at the expense of the state.
The following letters, never heretofore published, show the patriotic impulses of Virginia in desiring to possess the body of her distinguished son, and the courteous but decided reply of Judge Washington setting forth the circumstances which made it impossible for him to comply with the request.
Letter From Gov. Nicholas To Judge Washington. Richmond, February 21st., 1816.
Sir : I perform with infinite satisfaction the duty assigned to me by the enclosed resolutions of the General Assembly.
To the unanimous expression of the desire of the Legislature, I beg leave to add the earnest wishes of the Executive that you will permit the remains of her beloved son George Washington and those of his excellent and amiable wife, to be removed to Richmond, to be interred near the Capitol, beneath a monument to be erected at the expense of the people of Virginia.
This application is made by the native State of Washington, not in the vain hope of adding lustre to his reputation, (his fame cannot be increased by any human structure,) but as a memorial of a nation’s gratitude and affection and in the expectation that it will excite a spirit of emulation which will give her for ages to come citizens whose lives will be marked by disinterested devotion to the public good, such as upon all occasion distinguished her illustrious Washington.
All who have any agency in making this request have foreseen the sacrifice of feeling which you will make in parting with the remains of relations so revered, but it is hoped you will yield them to the ardent wishes of Virginia.
I have the honor to be with very great respect, Sir,
Your humble servant, W. C. Nicholas. To the Honorable Bushrod WASHINGTON.
Judge Washington’s Reply To Gov. Nicholas. Mt. Vernon, March 18th, 1816.
Sir: It is not in my power to express, in terms which would do justice to my feelings, the sensibility with which I received the resolution of the Legislature of Virginia authorizing the Governor to open correspondence with me, in behalf and in the name of the Commonwealth, to permit the remains of her beloved son, the late General George Washington, to be removed from the family vault at Mt. Vernon, and interred near the Capitol of Virginia, beneath a monument to be erected at the public expense, and to serve as a memorial to future ages of the love of a grateful people.
The nature of the application, the unanimity with which it was made, and the terms in which it was expressed, unite to impress me with feelings of gratitude which can never be obliterated.
So many and so powerful are the motives which urge me to comply with the wishes of the Legislature, so sincere and so earnest is my solicitude to promote them, that could I oppose to them only my personal feelings, and my individual repugnance to parting with the remains of General Washington and Mrs. Washington, those feelings would have been subdued, that repugnance would have been overcome, and I should have yielded their bodies to be disposed of at the will of Virginia, painful as the sacrifice must have been.
But obligations more sacred than anything which concerns myself, obligations with which I cannot dispense, compel me to retain the mortal remains of my venerated uncle in the family vault where they are deposited.
It is his own will, and that will is to me a law which I dare not disobey.
He has himself directed that his body should be placed there, and I cannot separate it from those of his relations.
I pray you, sir, to accompany my profound acknowledgement to the Legislature of Virginia, with the most respectful assurances that no considerations merely personal could have induced me to oppose my will to theirs, and that it is not without the most deep-felt regret, that even under the high sense of a most sacred duty, I decline to comply with the request contained in their resolutions.
Permit me, sir, to add that the manner in which the request of the Legislature has been communicated by the Executive, has in no small degree increased the pain I inflict on myself in not yielding to that request, and to assure you that I am, with very great respect, Sir, Your most obedient servant,
Bushrod Washington. To HIs Excellency W. C. Nicholas, Gov. of VA.
The claims of the ancient Commonwealth, who gave to the country its most illustrious citizen, and whose soil was the scene of his early development, to be the custodian of his mortal remains was hardly second to the claim of the General Government.
But no claim, in the estimation of Judge Washington could supersede the General’s own will.
That will, he said, with him was law, a law he dare not disobey. Surely his countrymen will say “amen” to that sentiment, and had Mt. Vernon no other hold upon those honored relics, they would certainly allow them that sacredness of sepulchre observed by all peoples from immemorial ages—the wish of the departed respecting his place of burial.
The wish referred to is expressed in the following: – Extract. From Washington’s Will.
“The family vault at Mt. Vernon requiring repairs, and being improperly situated besides, I desire that a new one of brick, and upon a larger scale, may be built at the foot of what is commonly called the “Vineyard Enclosure,” on the ground which is marked out, in which my remains, with those of my deceased relations (now in the old vault), and such others of my family as may choose to be entombed there, may be deposited. And it is my express desire that my corpse may be interred in a private manner, without parade or funeral oration.”
This provision in his will, so far as it related to interment in the old vault, the building of the new one, and the transfer of his remains to it, was carried out in 1837, by John Augustus Washington, nephew of Judge Washington, next proprietor of Mt. Vernon, and by Maj. Lewis, surviving executor of Washington’s will.
It is the testimony of those who witnessed the removal of the remains from the old to the new tomb, that the body of the General appeared to be in a fair state of preservation, as well as could be ascertained without removing the lead-foil covering, which appeared to rest on a full face and frame.
It was placed in a sarcophagus made from a solid block of Pennsylvania marble, presented by a citizen of Philadelphia. And so it rests at this time.
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The George Washington Commemorative Gold Five-Dollar Coin shows with an image of the tomb at Mount Vernon, circa 1845.
