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 Chatham soon acquired a reputation for disorganisation and laziness. Contemporaries noted 'the inconvenience attending his laying in bed till the day is advanced, as officers &c were kept waiting'. During the first major campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars Chatham's Admiralty was blamed in part for the failure of the 1793 siege of Dunkirk. Due to miscommunication between the Board of Ordnance and the Admiralty, the ships carrying siege weaponry and supplies for the besieging forces arrived two weeks late. Although in this instance Chatham does not seem to have been guilty of any neglect, his reputation was fatally compromised.