A slave-owning, aristocratic landowner near Harper's Ferry, VA, Washington is a distant descendant of the first President and thus the most fitting of the hostages taken by John Brown during his raid. He is also an aide to the Governor of Virginia and, thus, a potential troublemaker. The rebels seize from Washington Lafayette's pistol and Frederick the Great's sword. Washington takes his arrest and the confiscation of his goods coolly, even as shots ring out and Brown delivers a nonsensical speech. Washington serves as the leader of the hostages. When the captain of militia tries to convince Brown to surrender and is told that his men and the hostages are all in God's hands, Washington calls Brown a blasphemer and pagan, and is ordered behind the engines with the others. Narrator Sir Harry Flashman, working undercover for the U.S. Government in Brown's organization, can find no way to befriend Washington or get him to believe his story. This seems to Flashy his surest means of survival.
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