This double-sided locket was presented to Martha "Markie" Custis Williams by her uncle George Washington Parke Custis and his wife, Mary Custis Lee, with whom she enjoyed a close relationship. It harbors a small lock of George Washington's hair and a silk fragment with a history of having come from a Hessian flag seized at the Battle of Trenton. This token of affection no doubt served to remind Markie of her family's connection to the success of the Revolution and the making of the American nation.