important government documents (including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence) were stored in a vacant farmhouse in Loudoun County renamed Rokeby in the 1880s. Following the conflict, following his younger brother John Graham's precedent (President Jefferson having sent him to the newly acquired Louisiana Territory as secretary and President Madison having made him chief clerk to the Secretary of State, James Monroe, who also headed the War Department), the widower George Graham accepted a position with the War Department, and rose to become its Chief Clerk following the resignation of General Armstrong. On October 22, 1816, President Madison designated Graham Acting Secretary following William H. Crawford's promotion to the Department of the Treasury until Crawford's successor John C. Calhoun arrived and took over as Secretary on October 8, 1817. Outside of his Cabinet service, Graham may be best known for a mission to Galveston Island, Texas to persuade the small Bonapartist colony of Champ d'Asile (headed by General Charles Lallemand) to accept American jurisdiction. There he both met and corresponded with privateer Jean Laffite. This voyage is considered the first Anglo-American account of a sea voyage to Texas. Graham fell ill with acute dysentery on his return trip from Champ d'Asile, but was healed by Atakapa natives. Following his federal service, Graham became president of the Washington branch of the troubled Bank of the United States (1819–1823), and closed the "Indian factorage" matter, which saved the government considerable money ($113,000 being transferred into the Treasury). During this period, his brother John died, but George remarried, to the daughter of a career naval officer as mentioned above. Graham returned to federal service following the promotion of future Supreme Court justice John McLean to Postmaster General, this time as commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office. He served through the administrations of Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson until his death. In the 1830 federal census, George Graham owned an enslaved boy and two enslaved women, and his household included an additional three free Blacks. Death Graham died at the home of Robert Young Brent (only son of his distant cousin Robert Brent, the former mayor of Washington, D.C.) in Maryland just outside Washington, D.C. on August 8, 1830. His wife survived him by several years, and would be buried with him at Oak Hill Cemetery, although both were later reburied at Arlington National Cemetery. References Further reading 1772 births 1830