Martha Washington was a gracious and unassuming (modest) woman who enjoyed private life. For the first fifteen years of her marriage to George Washington (1732—1799; see entry in volume 1), the couple lived quietly on his Virginia estate, Mount Vernon, as Washington settled into life as a planter. They often traveled to Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia. She owned a home there, and Washington attended Virginia 's House of Burgesses.

The Washingtons were both in their early forties when their calm lives suddenly changed. George Washington would spend more than seven years commanding American forces in the Revolutionary War (1775—83). After settling back into life in Virginia, the Washingtons spent eight years in New York and Philadelphia when Washington served as president of the United States. Even after he left office at the age of sixty-five, Washington was asked to command American forces in case war...