Chatham Manor the Custis slaves as executor after his in-laws' deaths. The plantation included an orchard, mill, and a race track where Fitzhugh's horses vied with those of other planters for prize money. Fizhugh named the mansion after the British parliamentarian William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, who championed many of the opinions held by American colonists prior to the Revolutionary War. Flanking the main house were dozens of supporting structures: slave quarters, a dairy, ice house, barns, stables. Down on the river were fish traps. Fitzhugh sold the Chatham plantation to Major Churchill Jones, who had served under Col. William Washington
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham an amphibious assault aimed at destroying the French fleet and fortifications around Antwerp and the island of Walcheren. Chatham commanded the largest expeditionary force Britain had yet fielded in the war. Despite early success in taking the town of Flushing, the campaign was an unmitigated disaster. The army made slow headway and the French immediately withdrew their fleet to Antwerp, a tactic that should have been foreseen by the politicians, admirals and generals planning the campaign from the start. While Chatham quarrelled with the naval commander, Sir Richard Strachan, as many as 8000 British troops succumbed to malaria. Chatham was