Health and Medical History of President

George Washington

Later, as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the 1770s, Washington took an unprecedented step by insisting that no recruit could join the army until vaccinated against smallpox 4b 6a MORE.

It has been proposed that tuberculosis of the vas deferens caused Washington's sterility (below) and that tuberculosis of the gut caused his multiple episodes of bloody diarrhea (below) 7.

He may be described as being straight as an Indian, measuring 6 feet 2 inches in his stockings, and weighing 175 lbs when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame is padded with well developed muscles, indicating great strength. His bones and joints are large as are his hands and feet. He is wide shouldered but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well shaped, though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than a prominent nose; blue-grey penetrating eyes which are widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has a clear tho rather colorless pale skin which burns with the sun. A pleasing and benevolent tho a commanding countenance, dark brown hair which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and placid with all the muscles of his face under perfect control, tho flexible and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotions. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential and engaging. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid horseman.

After his death, Washington's frozen corpse was measured as 6 feet 3.5 inches in length 3a. The body was 1 foot 9 inches across at the shoulders and at the elbows. Another reference cites Washington as 6 feet 2 inches tall 9a. Comment: A post-mortem frozen height would be greater for at least two reasons: (1) If the corpse really was frozen, a frozen Washington would be taller because our bodies are 70% water and because water expands as it freezes -- the only liquid with this property. (2) A laid-out corpse would be relieved of gravity pressing on the spine. As astronauts know, people "grow" a few inches when weight on the spine is removed.

On July 9, "the most catastrophic [day] in all Anglo-American history," Washington was so ill that he had to tie pillows to his saddle in order to ride his horse. As the army rode through a 12-foot-wide road cleared through the thick woods, the French and their Indian allies engaged the English, firing unseen from the surrounding trees. The English regulars, accustomed to fighting on open ground in formation, panicked, and the carnage began. "Braddock indignantly denied Washington's request to lead troops into the woods and `engage the enemy in their own way'" 4c.

The officers, perfect targets atop their horses, went down in succession. Washington had two horses shot out from under him. Braddock crumpled. Washington's hat was shot off. Bullets tore his coat. Washington was left as the only person able to distribute the wounded general's orders, and led the retreat. Somehow Washington was then able to ride 40 miles through darkness to summon reinforcements, though he occasionally had to crawl on his hands and knees to find the road. He later admitted that the ride left him "in a manner wholly unfit for the execution of the duty" 4c.

Braddock died, and Washington staggered home to Mount Vernon on July 25, "weak and feeble" 4c. He continued to have attacks of fever and dysentery the rest of the year. In 1757 he had a severe recurrence of dysentery, accompanied by fever and pleurisy. He became "acutely and dangerously" ill from dysentery (and malaria) in 1761 2e. Less severe attacks continued 2c.

Tuberculosis of the gut has been blamed for these episodes of "dysentery" 7.

it could well be concluded that the difficulty was not in her but in her husband. However, [Washington,] the magnificent athlete, who possessed in abundance every other physical prowess, could not altogether admit to himself that he was sterile. He believed, even when approaching old age, that if Martha died and he became remarried to a "girl," he might father an heir. In the meanwhile, his lack was a grievous one. 4d

Washington's height, sterility, large hands, pockmarks, plus certain personality features and even his dental problems have led to the suggestion he had a syndrome associated with an XYY chromosome karyotype 9c. A geneticist concludes, however, "although there does seem to be a strong case that George Washington was affected with XYY syndrome, the evidence is just not conclusive" 9b. There are also speculations 12 -- dismissed by some 7 -- that Washington had Klinefelter syndrome, which is associated with an XXY karyotype. At least one historian believes that Martha was the cause of the marriage's childlessness 13, but his reasoning is unsupported and arrogant MORE.

I have, myself, experienced the fruits of his skill, in this art; being cured by him of an irritable spot on my right cheek which had for years been increasing in pricking and disagreeable sensations; and in June last assumed the decided character of a Cancer; of which I was perfectly relieved by Doctr. Tate in about two months by an easy course, under the operation of which I felt no confinement, or other inconvenience at that time, nor any injury to my constitution since. 17

Washington's clumsy, ill-fitting dentures distorted his lips. This contributed to the dour expression Washington has in various portraits 2j. Also, painter Gilbert Stuart disliked Washington and accentuated the distortion in what became the most famous of all Washington portraits 11b. The Peale portrait of 1776 shows a long scar along Washington's left cheek. This resulted from an incision to treat an abscessed tooth 2j.

First suggested in 1838, most authorities today believe Washington's final illness was acute bacterial epiglottitis 3 -- an infection of the small tissue flap that plugs the entrance to the lungs during swallowing. Since the invention of antibiotics, this infection has become rare, but even now its occurrence is exceedingly serious. When the epiglottis swells (as it will do in response to an infection) it can block airflow into the lungs -- an obviously fatal outcome.

The bleedings inflicted by Washington's doctors hastened his end. Some 80 ounces of blood were removed in 12 hours 3 (this is .63 gallons, or about 35% of all the blood in his body).

A British physician of the era, John Reid, estimated that up to 90 ounces had been removed, and sarcastically remarked that the "current of blood" drained from Washington reflected the mighty currents of American rivers. 20! Reid also criticized the heavy dosing of calomel plus the administration of emetics, vinegar vapors, and blistering to a man in his late 60s.

One of the three doctors atteding Washington, Elisha Cullen Dick, objected to continued bleeding, arguing instead for tracheotomy. Tracheotomy is a surgical procedure recognized today as potentially life-saving in epiglottitis, but was then almost unworkable. Dick was overruled by the senior physician, James Craik. "Undoubtedly, the specter of failure with a grisly, painful (in the absence of anesthesia), and untried surgical experiment on the former president weighed heavily in Craik's decision to veto this radical suggestion" 3.  (It should also be remembered that "former president" does not begin to describe Washington's stature. He was the most famous man in the world, for 20 years the pre-eminent man in American life, and was held in almost religious esteem by his countrymen.)

A detailed description of Washington's agonizing final hours survives MORE.

Thornton "proposed that the body be thawed gradually, first in cool water and then with warm blankets and rubbing of the skin, with the subsequent performance of a tracheotomy, artificial respiration at the tracheotomy site, and transfusion of lamb's blood" 3.

Martha Washington vetoed the plan. Interestingly, Washington had once revived a slave thought to be dead 3.