First In Death But News Travels Slow

President Washington occupies a unique position among U.S. presidents for many reasons. Aside from the one obvious reason that he was the first president there is another unique though less envious reason: he was the first president to die. In the present era, when a president dies, the news is released shortly after death to the entire nation and the world. By week's end, myriad news organizations have published articles on the president's early history, rise to office, administration, and post-administration. To live in the modern era of news, information, and the speed of dissemination makes knowing a president's death nearly instantaneous. But in December 1799, the speed at which news moved across the infant country was painfully slow, like molasses being poured out of a bottle on a frigid winter morning. News of Washington's death took several days to reach Philadelphia, then the seat of the federal government (prior to Philadelphia, the seat of federal power was New York City from 1785 to 1790 where it remained in Philadelphia until 1800, when the federal government moved to Washington, D.C.). Four days after Washington's death-December 14-news of his demise reached Philadelphia on the day of the funeral (he died at the night of the 14th). Consider the facts: the distance between Mt. Vernon and Philadelphia is roughly 153 miles. The courier is carrying news of not just an average citizen's death but of the illustrious father of our the country, the ornament of his age-Washington! And it took five days for the news to arrive and for President Adams to receive word of his predecessor's death. Given this occurred during winter time its possible the trip was hampered by snow, muddy trails, and limited daylight. As for the rest of the country, news of Washington's death arrived in motion like ripples in a pond, radiating out from the center, taking several weeks to arrive to the farthest reaches of the fruited plain. Poetic eulogies announcing his death appeared in newspapers after the first of the year, some as late as the second week of January. For many of the country's rural citizens, hearing about Washington's death came months after the fact, especially for those who lived in the far reaches of the interior, isolated from the big city press. For those individuals who made the journey to their local town nestled in the woodsy dens of the mountain ranges that separated the east from the unexplored, feral western interior, they'd take the news back with them and share it through conversation with friends and family.

The attached picture is an expense report for the funeral. The elegant handwriting is difficult to make out.