1773
June 19: Martha Washington's seventeen year old daughter, Patsy dies of an epileptic seizure. A funeral is held the following day and her body is laid to rest in the old family vault on the Mount Vernon estate. George Washington writes to his brother-in-law that Patsy's death has "reduced my poor wife to the lowest ebb of misery."

1774
February 3: Martha Washington's twenty-year-old son, John Parke Custis, marries sixteen-year-old Eleanor ("Nelly") Calvert at the bride's family home, Mount Airy Plantation in Maryland. His stepfather goes to the ceremony, but his mother is still too grief-stricken to attend.

August 31: George Washington leaves Mount Vernon accompanied by Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, to attend the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Edmund Pendleton wrote of Martha Washington: "I was most pleased with Mrs. Washington and her spirit. She seemed ready to make any sacrifice and was cheerful though I knew she felt anxious. She talked like a Spartan mother to her son going to battle. 'I hope you will stand firm - I know George will,' she said. The dear little woman was busy from morning to night in domestic duties, but she gave us much time in conversation and affording us entertainment. When we set off in the morning, she stood in the door and cheered us with the good words, 'God be with you gentlemen.'" George Washington will returned to Mount Vernon on October 30th.

1775
March 15th: George Washington sets out for Richmond to attend the 2nd Virginia Convention and returned home on the 31st of the same month. Mrs. Washington remains at home.

May 4: George Washington leaves Mount Vernon to attend the 2nd Continental Congress in Philadelphia, leaving his wife at Mount Vernon.

June 16: George Washington is told that he has been given command of the American forces; he writes to Martha on the 18th to give her the news. Five days later, he heads north to Massachusetts to meet the army, but pens a note to his wife before he leaves, writing that, "I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change."

August or September: Martha Washington's daughter-in-law, Nelly, gives birth to her first child, a little girl, who dies shortly after her birth.

November: Martha Washington leaves Mount Vernon to be with George Washington at winter headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She traveled with her son Jack, daughter-in-law Nelly, and her husband's nephew, George Lewis. She arrived at his headquarters on December 11th.