Like many Virginia planters, GW grew tobacco on his lands on the Potomac and on his dower holdings (the Custis estate) on the York River, and was heavily involved in the British tobacco trade. Tobacco was a crucial part of Virginia's economy, and GW expected a profitbale return from this crop when shipping it to consigment merchants in Great Britain. By the latter 1760s, however, GW was disappointed with the prices he was getting for his crop, and he was already growing other crops, such as wheat, and was deriving income from his fishery and mill. Moreover, political tensions with Britain underscored the importance of economic independence for Virginia, and of diminishing his indebtedness to overseas merchants. By the mid-1760s GW discontinued cultivation of tobacco for consignment on the Potomac, and he focused on cultivating other grains, which he sold in domestic and foreign markets. GW nevertheless continued cultivation of tobacco on the York River, which he exported in return for various other goods. The proceeds from tobacco shipments from the Custis estates in King William County were used to pay for goods for Mount Vernon. On 5 May 1768, GW wrote the following to the firm Capel & Osgood Hanbury: "Having discontinued the growth of Tobo myself, except at a Plantation or two upon York River, I make no more of that Article than barely serves to furnish me with Goods this is the Reason therefore why I send it undivided to Messrs Cary & Co. as it is from that House I always get the necessaries wanted for my Family’s use" [Rotunda | Founders Online | Print (Colonial Series, Volume 8, pages 84-85)]. In the years immediately preceding the Revolutionary War, nonimportation agreements and other political factors led GW to discontinue trade with British tobacco merchants. In the years following the war, GW raised numeorus other crops, including barley, rye, oats, and peas, and continued to diminish the importance of tobacco. On 27 July 1784, GW informed Wakelin Welch that he had "not an ounce of Tobacco growing" that year, and that his continued cultivation of that crop would depend on the prices he could get. [Rotunda | Founders Online | Print (Confederation Series, Volume 2, pages 12-13)]. In June 1785, GW informed George William Fairfax that he still declined "the growth of Tobacco" [Rotunda | Founders Online | Print (Confederation Series, Volume 3, pages 87-92)]. For more on GW and the tobacco trade, see Bruce A. Ragsdale, George Washington, the British Tobacco Trade, and Economic Opportunity in Prerevolutionary Virginia," Va. Mag. 97 (1989): 132-62.
A look at GW's financial papers shows the way in which he kept a record of tobacco he was receiving (e.g., for payment of rent), and of tobacco sales and shipments. The decrease in the number of tobacco accounts over the years illustrate the diminishing importance of that crop, as explained above. GW's tobacco accounts appear on several folio pages of Ledgers A and B, and as with accounts with individuals, they include a debit and credit side. The debit side typically indicates the amount of tobacco that GW received from his tenants for payment of rent, as well as the amount of tobacco grown on the Mount Vernon farms and on the Custis plantations. In addition, the warehouse where the tobacco was inspected is also often noted (see for example, Ledger A, 149). There were four public tobacco warehouses in Fairfax County: at the Falls of Potomac, Hunting Creek, Pohick, and Colchester. The credit side of tobacco accounts, by contrast, shows the amount of tobacco that GW disposed of, either through sales of hogsheads to individuals, or through shipments to merchants abroad. When shipments are mentioned, the number of hogsheads shipped and the agents to whom the tobacco was consigned are often listed. GW's records of tobacco shipments that appear on the credit side of these accounts often include the total amount of tobacco shipped, a list of the plantations from whence that tobacco came, and the number of hogsheads provided by each plantation. The tobacco accounts further include initials, or marks, signifying the owner of each hogshead, or the plantation where the tobacco was raised. These initials corresponded to the marks that were cut into the wood of each hogshead to identify its owner. For instance, GW used the old Custis symbols, JC and DPC (John Parke Custis and Daniel Parke Custis), to mark the hogsheads of tobacco that he shipped from his dower plantations on the York River that had been part of the estate of Daniel Parke Custis, and that were rented to John Parke Custis. On the other hand, other tobacco, including GW's York River tobacco as well as that raised on the Mount Vernon farms, were marked "GW". In addition to initials, the numbers of each hoghead, and whether the tobacco was leaf or stemmed, are also indicated in tobacco accounts, and these were additional means GW used to clarify the owner of the hogsheads on bills of lading when shipping tobacco to overseas merchants. In a letter of 14 July 1761 to Robert Cary & Company, the London firm receiving regular consignments of tobacco from Custis plantations, GW explained this system. He informed the London firm that Joseph Valentine, the manager of the Custis plantations, had shipped GW's York River tobacco aboard the Argo, amounting to 70 hogsheads, 30 of which belonged to GW, while the rest belonged to John Parke Custis. In an effort to avoid confusion as to the ownership of the hogsheads, GW explained the marks he added: "I have not sufferd any alterations as yet to be made in the Marks of my York River Tobacco; but so soon as you think it can be done with safety please to advise me thereof, that the proper distinctions may be made to avoid confusion hereafter. The present Crop in Boyce, will I conceive, be readily enough distinguishd by the Marks and Numbers in the Bills of Lading (if my directions are attended to) because it is to be observd, that none of my DPC, nor JC Tobacco, have the same Numbers or Letters as my Wards [John Parke Custis]. My DPC Leaf beginning with the No. 15 and ending with 27, and the Stemd with the Letter H—ending with M. The JC Leaf begins with 12, and ends with 19, and the Stemd with I ending in M. This particularity I have been causd to run into here, least the Captn, thinking it unnecessary to give seperate Bills of Lading contrary to my directions to Mr [Joseph] Valentine, shoud Include the whole Tobacco in one Sett, and by that means render it impossible to distinguish one from the other." [Rotunda | Founders Online | Print (Colonial Series), Volume 7, pages 53-54)]. See also Ledger A, 120.
An additional example of how tobacco accounts appeared can be seen in Ledger A, 206. The debit side shows that in 1765 GW received quantities of tobacco from his various tenants. For instance, he received 1,005 pounds of tobacco from Henry Taylor, one of GW's tenants at Mount Vernon, in payment of his rent. Also appearing on that folio page is the quantity of tobacco raised in 1764 on the dower lands Ship Landing and Bridge Quarter in York County, Virginia. The tobacco crop raised on the Mount Vernon farms, including Muddy Hole Farm, is also indicated. The credit side of folio page 206, shows that four hogsheads, amounting to 4,246 pounds of tobacco, were shipped aboard the snow Virginian and consigned to the Liverpool firm of Crosbies & Trafford. GW's tobacco account on Ledger A, 206, credit side, further indicates that he shipped 48 hogsheads of tobacco aboard the William and Mary, and consigned them to Robert Cary and Company. The majority of the hogsheads are marked "JC" and "DPC," indicating that they are from dower lands.