tense moment in Ona Judge Staines’s (her married name) life as a free person. Judge Staines's freedom was continually at risk because the Washingtons used agents to find her and try to recover their "property." In 1799, the Washingtons came very close to success as Ona Judge Staines came face-to-face with one of their agents at her home in New Hampshire.

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By 1799 Ona and Jack Staines and their baby, Eliza, appear to have been living as happily as possible in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Always poor and always working, they managed to find a way to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

At the same time, George and Martha Washington had still not gotten over the fact that they had been unable to capture Ona Judge. Now the retired gentleman farmerat Mount Vernon that he had always wanted to be, George Washington-perhaps with a nudge from Martha-rekindled his mission of getting Ona to return to Mount Vernon, where he was certain she belonged.

The person George chose to carry out this job was Martha’s nephew Burwell Bassett Jr. Burwell was thirty-five years old, nine years older than Ona. He had known Ona as a child, from his visits to Mount Vernon. Now he was a member of the Virginia Senate. George thought this would give Burwell an excuse to travel to New Hampshire and tell people he was there "for business."

George instructed Burwell to meet with John Langdon after arriving in New Hampshire. It had not occurred to George that John would no longer be his ally in his