custis plantation and said their vows. a classic case of opposites attracting, the towering groom was a natural athlete, enthusiastic dancer, and attentive guardian to martha's two surviving guardian by daniel custis. the diminutive bride in her yellow brocade gown barely reached to her lover's shoulder. round where he was angular, spiritua he was sporadic in his church attendance, she was a self-described, quote, old-fashioned housekeeper, steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and cheerful as a cricket. as events were to prove, this hardly did justice to martha's wifely support or public patriotism. and yet even among admirers, few would describe the washington marriage in terms of passion, not with the working loveliness of sally fairfax a few miles away to remind the strapping groom of what might have been. to historian paige smith, writing in the unbuttoned 1970s, it wasn't hard to tease out powerful emotions in washington's oft quoted letter written to sally at the time of his betrothal to martha. a self-professed to love, washington confides his feelings in language that is anything but confiding. at the end he speaks of, quote, a destiny, which has contro

martha custis's first husband, daniel, had a mulatto brother, the product of his own father's liaison with a slave woman. their child, jack, died when he was but 12 years old. martha washington herself had a slave half sister, ann dandridge, sired by her father and an unknown woman of mixed blood. ann lived at mt. vernon with the washingtons. only after their passing did she receive her freedom. as a member of the colony's house of burgesses, the future president couldn't fail to note the semi-hysterical reaction when his colleague, richard bland, proposed legislation to allow masters to voluntarily emancipate their slaves. the measure was quickly seconded by lanky idealistic tom jefferson, then in his early 20s, and just as quickly shouted down by angry lawmakers. jefferson's views would undergo considerable change over time. as he grew cautious with age, washington became uncharacteristically radical. but then, virginians like jefferson formed their opinion of the african-american on the plantation. after 1775 in particular, washington had his transformed on the battlefield. some ba