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The Workforce

Like other large planters of the period, George Washington relied on slave labor to maintain his vast estate. By 1799, Mount Vernon was home to over 316 enslaved African Americans who tilled the fields, harvested the crops, milled the grain, constructed the buildings, ran the forge, spun the wool, cooked the food and did a hundred other tasks necessary to keep a large plantation running smoothly. Washington was an innovative and progressive businessman and farmer; however, most of the ideas and experiments he created to improve his farming methods were implemented by slaves working on the estate.

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In addition to field hands who planted, cultivated, harvested, and processed the crops grown at his four working farms, Washington owned skilled artisans and craftsmen such as blacksmiths, carpenters, gardeners, seamstresses, weavers, spinners, and cooks, who supplied almost all the goods and services necessary to make his home a relatively self-sufficient community. Slave brick masons and carpenters built the Mansion, outbuildings, and treading barn. Ben, an enslaved miller, worked side by side with Washington’s hired miller to run a profitable gristmill. Three enslaved coopers, Tom, Jacob, and Moses, constructed the containers that Washington used to store and ship goods. In addition, slaves harvested fish from the Potomac to support Washington’s fishing industry and worked in Washington’s distillery.

Because of the variety of jobs and skills necessary to maintain the estate, the experience of working at Mount Vernon would not have been the same for every slave. Labor on the estate was divided into three categories: skilled, domestic, and field. According to Washington’s 1799 census of slaves, there were 316 slaves at Mount Vernon. Of that number, 132 people were either too old or too young to work. Of the remaining 184 people, 52 were considered skilled artisans or domestic workers. Most of the skilled and domestic workers at Mount Vernon were men – only 14 women were listed in the census as skilled laborers.

The majority of the Mount Vernon slaves were fieldworkers; and in 1799, well over half of the field workers were women. Their jobs varied with the seasons. In the spring, they planted and cared for the crops. The slaves worked in “gangs” of eight to ten people. Each gang had a specific task such as hoeing or plowing. Each of the four outlying farms had slaves who lived and worked at the site, under an overseer. Washington had several slave overseers who maintained the work on the farm and reported directly to Washington’s farm manager.