Born Martha Dandridge on June 2, 1731, the future First Lady of the United States married Daniel Parke Custis when she was 18 years old, and was a mother of two surviving children when her first husband died in 1757.  She married George Washington two years later, and for much of the next 40 years, Martha Washington fulfilled her role of a military and political wife with ease and grace.

She and husband George retired from public life at the end of his second term as President, and lived out their lives at Mount Vernon, not far from the capital city that would soon bear their name.

The reverse design of the Martha Washington coin depicts the future First Lady sewing a button onto her husband’s uniform jacket.  During the Revolutionary War, her concern for the colonial soldiers earned her their lasting respect and admiration.  She is known to have organized sick wards and persuaded the society ladies of Morristown to roll bandages from their fine napkins and tablecloths, as well as to repair uniforms and knit shirts for the poorly equipped Continental soldiers.  Her presence in the encampments of the Continental Army was an example to other officer's wives and a significant factor in lifting the morale of her husband's tired, cold and hungry troops.