Death of George Washington
- When
- 1799
- Where
- Mount Vernon, Virginia; Washington family vault, Mount Vernon
- Episodes
- 2
George Washington, Founding Father and first president of the United States, died at Mount Vernon, Virginia, on December 14, 1799, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., with Martha Washington at the foot of his bed. He was buried in the family vault there four days later.
Episodes
- Death of George Washington at Mount Vernon
Washington died at Mount Vernon, Virginia, on December 14, 1799, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., with Martha at his bedside.
- Funeral and Burial at Mount Vernon
Washington's funeral was held at Mount Vernon on December 18, 1799, and he was buried in the Washington family vault there.
Background and detail
Background. The deceased was George Washington, a Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He had retired to Mount Vernon, the Virginia plantation where he died on December 14, 1799, and where he was buried in the Washington family vault four days later.
Final Days. On December 12, 1799, Washington inspected his farms on horseback in inclement weather for five hours. Two days later, according to his valet Lear, he died between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1799, with Martha seated at the foot of his bed.
Burial and Aftermath. Washington's funeral was held on December 18, 1799, four days after his death, at Mount Vernon, where he was buried in the Washington family vault. In 1832 a joint Congressional committee debated moving his body to a crypt in the United States Capitol, but Southern opposition kept his remains at Mount Vernon.
People involved
- George Washington · deceased; Founding Father and first president of the United States
- Martha Washington · wife, present at his deathbed
- Lear · valet whose account records the time of death
Sources
- George Washington Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.