White Grey "Phlea" bitten horse
George Washington had bought a horse from George Mercer in 1755. George Washington then sold the horse, recording his profit 10 Feb 1759. A grey flea bitten horse isn't really flea bitten. The descriptive term for the horse arose from maybe looking as if they were flea bitten. Horses are a big part of this time. They have a huge role, kind of like the elephant in the room being ignored by historians. The reenactor Ryan Williams often is seen on a horse in his travels to many important historical sites.
"Flea-bitten grey horses often look like white mares or geldings with “freckles.” For flea-bitten grey horses, the greying process can alter their coats such that tiny groups of hair remain fully pigmented on an otherwise fully grey or white coat. These flecks are distinct from Appaloosa markings because the marking is not visible in the pigmentation of the skin – only on the horse’s fur."
Click on picture to see source of quote.
Grey horses symbolize wisdom, patience, and clarity. Dreaming of a grey horse is typically a sign of caution. It's a warning to take your next step carefully. If you intend to make a big decision, be patient and contemplative. See source.
We also track this because George Mercer had a long close work relationship with George Washington.
See some of George Mercer's story in this link.
After Fort Duqense fell, and Colonel George Washington resigning from service, there is not much to track in the year of 1759 we are covering in 2023, so we still cover 1759 but with stories from other years as well. In 2022 we tracked the busy year of 1758 and in 2021 we tracked 1757 and in 2020 we tracked 1756.
That's it.
There's always more.
See more detail on this horse sale and on the story of George Mercer.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 26 Feb 2023
Sources:
George Mercer's story
About a grey flea bitten horse
Cash Accounts, February 1759
Feby 10—To Ditto [cash] of Colo. Mercer for a horse sold him1 £21.10.0
George Mercer wrote GW, 16 Sept. 1759, about a “grey Horse” that Mercer had sold to GW, but the only entry in GW’s account with Mercer is recorded in November 1755, for £16.2.6 (General Ledger A, folio 40).
My observation:
It looks like GW made a profit on this sale.
He brought the horse from Mercer for £16.2 in 1755 and then GW sold the horse in Feb 1759 for £21.10.0
To George Washington from George Mercer, 16 September 1759
Winchester Septr 16th 175
While I was on the So. Branch a Man brought in your grey Horse, and upon my Return here Yesterday, waited on Me & offered to swear he was mine, nay even reminded of the Place & Time I bought him, and that I had paid so many Pieces of Money which I took out of my left Pocket with my right Hand for him; indeed I coud scarce persuade him I had Transferred my Right & Title of him to you—I wanted him to take him down, but he woud not, so I tipped the Fellow a Crown, & shall send him down to your Quarter to Day by a soldier.12
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12. Mercer wrote Bouquet from Fort Pleasant on the South Branch of the Potomac in Virginia on 13 Sept., saying that he had “been to every little Fort, and Plantation for 10 or 15 Miles round” in the past three days and was now returning to Winchester (Stevens, Bouquet Papers, 4:91–93). This may have been the “White Grey Phlea bitten [horse that GW] bought at Publick Vendue of Captn Geo: Mercer” (Papers, Colonial Series,description beginsW. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series. 10 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1983–95.description ends 4:405).
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