William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

  Chapter 10: The General’s Houses and Plots to Save Dr. T’s Reputation  Plaque in Upper Senate Park A plaque in Upper Senate Park just north of the Capitol credits Dr. William Thornton for designing George Washington’s “two brick dwellings.” Glenn Brown based that claim and that Thornton superintended their construction on "the letters of Washington." Brown didn't quote or cite any letters. A hundred years late, C. M. Harris did. In August 1798, Thornton gave a "plan" to Thomas Peter who, on August 26, then passed it on to the General who sent it back to Peter the next day without comment: "Doctr Thorntons plan is returned with thanks; our love to Patsy." She was the Custis sister who married Peter who was the son of Robert Peter who had owned Peter’s Hill when the General had bought lots there. Harris and the editors of Washington's Papers have deduced that the plan in question was a design the General’s houses. However, the plan in ...

Table of Contents  I am rewriting this chapter   On those Healthy Hills Near Panama Fulton's Steamboat from 1811 patent  Likely between the time Thomas Law's brother became Lord Ellenborough in 1802 and the death of Dr. Lettsom in 1815, Thornton drafted a letter for publication in which he described how he would have restored the General to life in December 1799. In his draft, Thornton noted his friend Thomas's relationship to the Lord which suggests that he wrote for a British audience. His mentor was the likely recipient of his earth shaking medical proposition. Thornton wrote that he came to Mount Vernon expecting to perform a tracheotomy. Missing the chance to do that he offered another remedy. As he later wrote, “the weather was very cold, and [the corpse] remained in a frozen state, for several days. I proposed to attempt his resurrection, in the following manner. First to thaw him in cold water, then to lay him in blankets, and by degrees and by friction to gi...