Washington's Fight for Life

George Washington became president 30 April 1789 and took up residence in New York City. (The nation’s permanent capital had not been determined.) A year later, he was fighting for his life more desperately than ever he had during the grueling campaigns of the Revolution.

A flu epidemic ravaged Manhattan, and Washington became one of his victims. What he thought was a cold worsened. The president was bedridden for a week, and his condition grew so grave the household was plunged into virtual mourning. Word spread up and down the coast that his doctors considered Washington near death.

It wasn’t yet his time, however. Late one afternoon, the president broke into a soaking sweat and his fever began to subside. He recovered and finished serving not one but two terms in office. Not until 1799 did he die at his plantation home, Mount Vernon, VA -- of a similar illness that began as a cold.