When her husband died, Martha Washington destroyed almost all the letters the couple had exchanged during decades of married life, an era that included the Revolutionary War, the formation of the country and his presidency. Only a few are known to remain, including two, both tender and fraught, that George Washington wrote just before he left for war. Now researchers are launching a major new initiative to track down, transcribe, research and publish all of the Washington family’s papers. The joint effort by the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia and the Fred W. Sm...