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COMMANDER-IN-SHEEP
The History of Sheep at the White House
By Joanne Seiff
United States Presidents have had a long and complicated relationship - with sheep. George Washington never lived in the White House, but he did keep a flock of sheep at Mount Vernon , his "mansion house farm" seventeen miles to the south along the Potomac. Today, one can still see rare breed Hog Island sheep grazing, descendents of a similar strain the First Farmer kept. Over time he doubled the annual wool yield per sheep which was used to clothe retainers and slaves.
The country's third president, Thomas Jefferson, became fascinated with sheep in the summer of 1793 upon resigning as Washington's Secretary of State. According to Monticello historian Cinder Stanton in "Sheep for the President," Jefferson originally began his flock with "good and cheap" sheep from Augusta County, Virginia. These sheep, driven over the Blue Ridge Mountains, were part of his strategy to increase the productivity of his Virginia farm, Monticello - which needed improving after growing tobacco and corn for decades. What he really wanted was a Merino ram, but the Spanish had forbidden the export of their precious Merinos.
In 1795, Robert Morris, a financier of the American Revolution, gave Jefferson a ram smuggled out of Spain by the captain of one of Morris' ships. Jefferson assumed this ram was one of the fabled Spanish Merino and thus he bred it with his "good and cheap" flock. By 1810, Jefferson proclaimed that his improved flock was "as pure as the original" Merino ram. At that time he sent samples of his "merino" fleece off to experts in Delaware and Philadelphia only to be disappointed. He was told that his sheep were likely descendents of the hardy, but inferior Churros, the Spanish version of his original "good and cheap" flock. Hardly the improved, high-quality Merino of which he had boasted.
According to Stanton, it was only when Jefferson became president in 1801 that he became aware of the diversity of sheep breeds. During his second term in office, he attempted to keep the United States out of the Napoleonic wars through the use of an unpopular shipping embargo. Defying his own embargo on imported goods, Jefferson managed to import sheep. Although he scrupulously turned down gifts of value, such as sculpture and wine, sheep became the accepted gift of choice for our third president.
After all, according to Jefferson, introducing a diversity of sheep breeds to the new country would be a great boon for the American populace. British rule in the colonies had previously kept Americans from manufacturing cloth, since Britain wanted its colonies only to produce raw materials, and not compete with them in making value-added products. With the nation's recent independence, there was a new interest in all things manufactured in the United States, especially if it could negatively impact the British wool trade. Sheep flocks grew rapidly, as did the production of homespun.
See wool, the boast of Britain's proudest hour
Is still the basis of her wealth and power.
Shall we, who dared assert the rights of man
Become the vassals of her wiser plan?
Then, roused from lethargies, up,
Men increase in every vale and every hill,
The fleece, and see the fold with thousands teeming,
Fills with flocks of bleating vales and echoing hills.
David Humphries: revolutionary war soldier, diplomat, poet and sheep farmer
Naval captains, diplomats, civil servants and even booksellers offered sheep to Jefferson --- which he graciously accepted. He once mentioned an interest in sheep from the African Barbary Coast to his Secretary of the Navy; soon thereafter a Navy commodore just happened to return from Tripoli with Barbary Broadtail sheep in his hold. We now know this breed as Tunis. These Tunis sheep were delivered to Jefferson at the White House during the summer of 1806, and he soon built up a flock at Monticello. Jefferson called the lamb from these Barbary Broadtail sheep the most delicious he ever tasted.
During the summer of 1807, Jefferson received a Shetland ram from James D. Barry, a well-known Washingtonian, and began breeding Shetlands on the grounds of the White House. By spring of the following year there were nearly forty presidential sheep grazing on what is now known as the South Lawn of the White House. Eight were sired by the strapping Shetland; unfortunately the four-horned ram was both a blessing and a bane. A citizen wrote Jefferson: "in passing through the President's Square I was attacked and severely wounded and bruised by your Excellency's ram - of which I lay ill for five or six weeks." Jefferson's friend Anna Maria Thornton noted in her diary that a young boy was another of the ram's victims, and he died of his wounds. (Imagine the lawsuits, court cases, and headlines in the National Enquirer today if a president kept a ram on the grounds of the White House that wounded one man and killed a boy!)
In the fall of 1808, Jefferson sent off the Shetland ram's fleece to be evaluated by his friend in Philadelphia. He'd hoped it would be the kind of wool from which "the famous Shetland stockings are made." Alas, Jefferson was again disappointed. His friend consulted two weavers, a hatter and even the steward of the local almshouse. It was universally concluded that the wool was suitable only for blankets. Jefferson directed his Monticello overseer to take the presidential flock back home. Slave wagoner David Hern and the overseer, Edmund Bacon, drove the herd over one hundred miles to Monticello, only to have more trouble. The Shetland ram broke down the Monticello fences to reach the Tunis ewes, killed two Tunis rams and then the Shetland ram killed its own male offspring. Jefferson wrote to William Thornton in August of 1809 that "This abominable animal was so dangerous generally that I was obliged to have him destroyed."
Before he left the White House, Jefferson had hoped to wear a purebred Merino wool coat made in America for his final state event on New Year's Day in 1809. He had to settle for superfine black cloth made from the wool of Merino cross sheep rather than a purebred Merino. The fourth President, James Madison, wore on his Inauguration Day a jacket that was spun and woven from wool raised on his farm, Montpelier. Some sources indicate that Madison had a pet sheep, but others report he simply used sheep on the White House lawn as a form of landscaping.
Jefferson's plan to populate the countryside with better breeds of sheep (preferably Merinos) wasn't a success. When Jefferson and Madison finally received their first genuine Merinos in 1810, they were disappointed. By then, Jefferson was back at Monticello and Madison was at the White House. Despite the Merinos' good reputation and expensive price, the animals were small and unfortunately infected all the sheep at Monticello with scab. Even though the fine wool was prized, by 1813, the Merino fever was over. In the end, Jefferson's original flocks of Tunis and the Churro-Shenandoah crossbreeds provided his best meat and wool and gave him a modest profit.
One hundred years later, President Woodrow Wilson decided Jefferson and Madison had the right idea. To show support for the war effort, Wilson conserved the country's money and manpower by populating the White House lawns and gardens with grazing sheep liberating the gardeners to join the war effort. At the height of its success, Wilson's herd numbered eighteen. The White House flock's fleece, auctioned off to raise money for the Red Cross, earned $52,823 ! Wilson's ram, named "Old Ike," apparently enjoyed chewing tobacco, but unlike Jefferson's Shetland ram, was a pacifist.
These days, both fiscal conservatives and liberal environmentalists might support the re-introduction of sheep to the grounds of the White House. If managed responsibly, the sheep could cut down the White House landscaping budget, enabling the government to employ fewer groundskeepers. An aggressive ram or two might also help reduce intruders and terrorists, which would save the Secret Service money and time! Finally, environmentalists would embrace sheep as the lawnmowers that don't produce noxious gasoline fumes in Washington's already humid and ozone-rich summer air. A reduction in lawnmower and leaf blower use could cut down on all those Code Red Ozone Alert days in the Nation's Capitol.
For Christmas 2002, Mrs. Bush's theme was "All Creatures Great and Small." There were small sheep on the southeast mantel inside the White House, commemorating Woodrow Wilson's flock of sheep. Perhaps for summer 2005, there'll be real sheep on the lawn again, saving our air and our money for the future. What about it, Mr. President?
For more articles by Joanne Seiff go to http://joanneseiff.com
copyright Wild Fibers Magazine, 2004. May not be reprinted without permission.
Contact: Linda Cortright, Editor - Wild Fibers Magazine
P.O. Box 1752, Rockland, ME 04841 207-594-9455
The History of Sheep at the White House
By Joanne Seiff
United States Presidents have had a long and complicated relationship - with sheep. George Washington never lived in the White House, but he did keep a flock of sheep at Mount Vernon , his "mansion house farm" seventeen miles to the south along the Potomac. Today, one can still see rare breed Hog Island sheep grazing, descendents of a similar strain the First Farmer kept. Over time he doubled the annual wool yield per sheep which was used to clothe retainers and slaves.
The country's third president, Thomas Jefferson, became fascinated with sheep in the summer of 1793 upon resigning as Washington's Secretary of State. According to Monticello historian Cinder Stanton in "Sheep for the President," Jefferson originally began his flock with "good and cheap" sheep from Augusta County, Virginia. These sheep, driven over the Blue Ridge Mountains, were part of his strategy to increase the productivity of his Virginia farm, Monticello - which needed improving after growing tobacco and corn for decades. What he really wanted was a Merino ram, but the Spanish had forbidden the export of their precious Merinos.
In 1795, Robert Morris, a financier of the American Revolution, gave Jefferson a ram smuggled out of Spain by the captain of one of Morris' ships. Jefferson assumed this ram was one of the fabled Spanish Merino and thus he bred it with his "good and cheap" flock. By 1810, Jefferson proclaimed that his improved flock was "as pure as the original" Merino ram. At that time he sent samples of his "merino" fleece off to experts in Delaware and Philadelphia only to be disappointed. He was told that his sheep were likely descendents of the hardy, but inferior Churros, the Spanish version of his original "good and cheap" flock. Hardly the improved, high-quality Merino of which he had boasted.
According to Stanton, it was only when Jefferson became president in 1801 that he became aware of the diversity of sheep breeds. During his second term in office, he attempted to keep the United States out of the Napoleonic wars through the use of an unpopular shipping embargo. Defying his own embargo on imported goods, Jefferson managed to import sheep. Although he scrupulously turned down gifts of value, such as sculpture and wine, sheep became the accepted gift of choice for our third president.
After all, according to Jefferson, introducing a diversity of sheep breeds to the new country would be a great boon for the American populace. British rule in the colonies had previously kept Americans from manufacturing cloth, since Britain wanted its colonies only to produce raw materials, and not compete with them in making value-added products. With the nation's recent independence, there was a new interest in all things manufactured in the United States, especially if it could negatively impact the British wool trade. Sheep flocks grew rapidly, as did the production of homespun.
See wool, the boast of Britain's proudest hour
Is still the basis of her wealth and power.
Shall we, who dared assert the rights of man
Become the vassals of her wiser plan?
Then, roused from lethargies, up,
Men increase in every vale and every hill,
The fleece, and see the fold with thousands teeming,
Fills with flocks of bleating vales and echoing hills.
David Humphries: revolutionary war soldier, diplomat, poet and sheep farmer
Naval captains, diplomats, civil servants and even booksellers offered sheep to Jefferson --- which he graciously accepted. He once mentioned an interest in sheep from the African Barbary Coast to his Secretary of the Navy; soon thereafter a Navy commodore just happened to return from Tripoli with Barbary Broadtail sheep in his hold. We now know this breed as Tunis. These Tunis sheep were delivered to Jefferson at the White House during the summer of 1806, and he soon built up a flock at Monticello. Jefferson called the lamb from these Barbary Broadtail sheep the most delicious he ever tasted.
During the summer of 1807, Jefferson received a Shetland ram from James D. Barry, a well-known Washingtonian, and began breeding Shetlands on the grounds of the White House. By spring of the following year there were nearly forty presidential sheep grazing on what is now known as the South Lawn of the White House. Eight were sired by the strapping Shetland; unfortunately the four-horned ram was both a blessing and a bane. A citizen wrote Jefferson: "in passing through the President's Square I was attacked and severely wounded and bruised by your Excellency's ram - of which I lay ill for five or six weeks." Jefferson's friend Anna Maria Thornton noted in her diary that a young boy was another of the ram's victims, and he died of his wounds. (Imagine the lawsuits, court cases, and headlines in the National Enquirer today if a president kept a ram on the grounds of the White House that wounded one man and killed a boy!)
In the fall of 1808, Jefferson sent off the Shetland ram's fleece to be evaluated by his friend in Philadelphia. He'd hoped it would be the kind of wool from which "the famous Shetland stockings are made." Alas, Jefferson was again disappointed. His friend consulted two weavers, a hatter and even the steward of the local almshouse. It was universally concluded that the wool was suitable only for blankets. Jefferson directed his Monticello overseer to take the presidential flock back home. Slave wagoner David Hern and the overseer, Edmund Bacon, drove the herd over one hundred miles to Monticello, only to have more trouble. The Shetland ram broke down the Monticello fences to reach the Tunis ewes, killed two Tunis rams and then the Shetland ram killed its own male offspring. Jefferson wrote to William Thornton in August of 1809 that "This abominable animal was so dangerous generally that I was obliged to have him destroyed."
Before he left the White House, Jefferson had hoped to wear a purebred Merino wool coat made in America for his final state event on New Year's Day in 1809. He had to settle for superfine black cloth made from the wool of Merino cross sheep rather than a purebred Merino. The fourth President, James Madison, wore on his Inauguration Day a jacket that was spun and woven from wool raised on his farm, Montpelier. Some sources indicate that Madison had a pet sheep, but others report he simply used sheep on the White House lawn as a form of landscaping.
Jefferson's plan to populate the countryside with better breeds of sheep (preferably Merinos) wasn't a success. When Jefferson and Madison finally received their first genuine Merinos in 1810, they were disappointed. By then, Jefferson was back at Monticello and Madison was at the White House. Despite the Merinos' good reputation and expensive price, the animals were small and unfortunately infected all the sheep at Monticello with scab. Even though the fine wool was prized, by 1813, the Merino fever was over. In the end, Jefferson's original flocks of Tunis and the Churro-Shenandoah crossbreeds provided his best meat and wool and gave him a modest profit.
One hundred years later, President Woodrow Wilson decided Jefferson and Madison had the right idea. To show support for the war effort, Wilson conserved the country's money and manpower by populating the White House lawns and gardens with grazing sheep liberating the gardeners to join the war effort. At the height of its success, Wilson's herd numbered eighteen. The White House flock's fleece, auctioned off to raise money for the Red Cross, earned $52,823 ! Wilson's ram, named "Old Ike," apparently enjoyed chewing tobacco, but unlike Jefferson's Shetland ram, was a pacifist.
These days, both fiscal conservatives and liberal environmentalists might support the re-introduction of sheep to the grounds of the White House. If managed responsibly, the sheep could cut down the White House landscaping budget, enabling the government to employ fewer groundskeepers. An aggressive ram or two might also help reduce intruders and terrorists, which would save the Secret Service money and time! Finally, environmentalists would embrace sheep as the lawnmowers that don't produce noxious gasoline fumes in Washington's already humid and ozone-rich summer air. A reduction in lawnmower and leaf blower use could cut down on all those Code Red Ozone Alert days in the Nation's Capitol.
For Christmas 2002, Mrs. Bush's theme was "All Creatures Great and Small." There were small sheep on the southeast mantel inside the White House, commemorating Woodrow Wilson's flock of sheep. Perhaps for summer 2005, there'll be real sheep on the lawn again, saving our air and our money for the future. What about it, Mr. President?
For more articles by Joanne Seiff go to http://joanneseiff.com
copyright Wild Fibers Magazine, 2004. May not be reprinted without permission.
Contact: Linda Cortright, Editor - Wild Fibers Magazine
P.O. Box 1752, Rockland, ME 04841 207-594-9455