Early Life
Not much is known about George Washington's childhood, but there are some details that we do know.
George Washington was born on his fathers plantation in Westmorland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He was one out of six children to his mother Mary Ball, and one out of ten children to his father Augustine Washington.
In 1735, George's father moved the family to Little Hunting Creek Plantation.
When George was eleven, his father died, and he spent the next few years living among different households throughout Virginia. He lived with his mother near Freddricksburg, his relatives in Westmoreland, and his half brother in Mount Vernon.
At age fourteen, George planned to join the British navy, but reluctantly stayed home due to his mothers wishes.
By age sixteen, he had obtained a basic education in mathematics, surveying (measuring and plotting land), reading, and the usual subjects of his time. In 1749, George was appointed county surveyor, and his experience on
the frontier led to his appointment as a major in the Virginia Militia in 1752.
George Washington was born on his fathers plantation in Westmorland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He was one out of six children to his mother Mary Ball, and one out of ten children to his father Augustine Washington.
In 1735, George's father moved the family to Little Hunting Creek Plantation.
When George was eleven, his father died, and he spent the next few years living among different households throughout Virginia. He lived with his mother near Freddricksburg, his relatives in Westmoreland, and his half brother in Mount Vernon.
At age fourteen, George planned to join the British navy, but reluctantly stayed home due to his mothers wishes.
By age sixteen, he had obtained a basic education in mathematics, surveying (measuring and plotting land), reading, and the usual subjects of his time. In 1749, George was appointed county surveyor, and his experience on
the frontier led to his appointment as a major in the Virginia Militia in 1752.
War Life, Marriage, and Life as a Farmer
London blamed the colonials for the fiasco. The colonials, refusing to be England's scapegoat, reacted by elevating Washington as a hero. To convey their approval of his leadership and abilities, the colonials gave him command of all Virginian forces and charged him mainly with defending the colony's western frontier from Native American attacks. Washington was only 22 years old. This sudden turn of events provided him with a superb apprenticeship for the supreme command that would come two decades later: Washington learned how to raise a force, train it, lead it into battle, and keep it from deserting. But
the young commander was always short of recruits and money, and appeals to the English military authorities did little good. Washington became increasingly annoyed with their condescension and their rebuffs of his attempts to win a regular army commission. After commanding a regiment that finally captured Fort Duquesne in 1758, he resigned from the military and went home to Mount Vernon, the farm he had inherited from Lawrence. A year later, Washington married a rich young widow named Martha Custis. He won a seat in the lower Virginia legislature and settled into the life of a Virginia farmer.
His early married years were happy ones. Washington worked hard and learned everything he could about farming, but his new job gave him another reason to resent the important country. He found that he was largely at the mercy of a trade system that heavily favored British merchants buying tobacco, his major crop. Consequently, after a few years, he owed a significant debt. By 1766, he abandoned tobacco farming and diversified Mount Vernon into crops that could be sold more easily in America. He also stayed in light industry such as weaving and fishing. All of these ventures were aimed at making his plantation more self-sufficient, thus minimizing his business ties to England.
Several hundred slaves worked at Mount Vernon. As Washington turned to crops that were less labor intensive than tobacco, he had more help than he needed. However, although he could pursue greater profits by minimizing labor expenses,
he almost never sold or moved a slave to another property unless the slave wanted to leave. As he approached middle age, Washington expressed increasing qualms about the practice of slavery.
By the mid-1760s, colonial resentment of British rule was widespread. To replenish its coffers that were drained for the war with the French, London imposed taxes on the colonies. Moreover, to force compliance, England established punitive laws against the colonials. Americans, who had no say in British parliamentary decisions, voiced their disdain for these tariffs that had suddenly raised the prices on necessities such as tea. As the controversy grew hotter, more British troops poured into the colonies, which only compounded the problem.
Any military expert would have given the Continentals little chance. After all, King George's army was the best-trained, best-equipped fighting force in the Western world. The matchless Royal Navy could deliver an army to any shore and strangle enemy nations by blockade. England's forces were commanded by career soldiers who were veterans of wars all over the globe. In sharp contrast, the colonial force staring them down was less of an army than a large gang. Its soldiers came and went almost at will. The officers leading them had little command, let alone fighting experience. Furthermore, in the colonies, support for the rebellion was far from firm.
Washington's first duty was to turn this unruly crowd into a real army by instituting disciplinary regulations. To facilitate his efforts, he urged the Continental Congress to provide enough money to pay for longer enlistments for his soldiers. But when New Year's Day dawned in 1776, much of his army had gone home because their enlistments had ended.
Washington first commanded American forces arrayed around Boston. Using cannon captured by Henry Knox from Fort Ticonderoga and heroically transported miles to Boston, Washington fortified a high point overlooking the city. Unnerved by the colonials' sudden tactical advantage, the British withdrew from Boston by sea. Washington, however, had no illusions that his enemy was finished. The question was where they would strike next.
By spring, it was plain that the British plan was to seize New York. It offered several advantages including a large port, the propaganda value of holding one of the rebels' biggest cities, and a route by which troops could be delivered to the American interior via the Hudson River. Washington moved to stop them. In July—a few days after the Declaration of Independence was signed—the British landed a huge force on Staten Island. By August, 30,000 troops marched on Washington's force. On their first engagement late that month, much of the Continental army either surrendered or turned and fled in terror. On
September 15, the British landed on Manhattan, and again Washington's troops ran away. Enraged, he shouted at them, "Are these the men with whom I am to defend America?" A day later, his troops were resolute in their defiance and won a small engagement in Harlem Heights. But by November, the British had captured two forts that the Continentals had hoped would secure the Hudson River. Washington was forced to withdraw into New Jersey and then Pennsylvania. The British thought this signaled the end of the conflict and dug in for the winter, not bothering to chase the Americans.
Washington now realized that by trying to fight open-field, firing-line battles with the British, he was playing to their strengths. He turned to tactics he had seen Native Americans use to great effect in the French and Indian War. On Christmas Day, he led his army through a ferocious blizzard, crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey, and surprised an enemy force at Trenton. A few days later, he took a British garrison at nearby Princeton. These actions were less large-scale battles than they were guerrilla raids. Nonetheless, these minor victories gave his army confidence, brightened the spirits of the American people, and told the British that they were in for a long and bitter struggle.
A Turning of the Tide: 1777
The Revolution's third year was its turning point. Another Continental force, commanded by Major General Horatio Gates, won the first significant American victory at Saratoga, New York. This victory convinced the French that the Revolution was winnable for the Americans. They began to consider an alliance with the colonial rebels—partly to get back at an old enemy, England, and partly share in prizes from raids on British ships. At the same time, the English embarked on an unfortunate military strategy that included an invasion of the southern colonies, which subjected them to guerrilla warfare.
For Washington, however, 1777 was a profoundly trying year. He lost two major battles with the British and failed to keep them from taking Philadelphia, home to the new nation's government, which was forced into hiding. In response to
such a loss, an attempt was made by some in Congress and the army to oust Washington as commander. The winter of 1777-1778 saw his army camped in freezing, wretched huts at Valley Forge. One of the army's doctors summed up the conditions in his diary: "Poor food—hard lodging—cold weather—fatigue—nasty clothes—nasty cookery—vomit half my time—smoked out of my senses—the devil's in it—I can't endure it."
Valley Forge to Yorktown
By springtime, things began to improve as the army drilled hard and marched out of Valley Forge a more disciplined fighting force. In May 1778, the French agreed to an alliance with the Americans, sending troops, munitions, and money.
By mid-1779, 6,000 French troops were fighting alongside the Americans.
George Washington was not a great general but a brilliant revolutionary. Although he lost most of his battles with the British, year after year he held his ragtag, hungry army together. This was his most significant accomplishment as commander of the American forces. One French officer wrote: "I cannot insist too strongly how I was surprised by the American Army. It is truly incredible that troops almost naked, poorly paid, and composed of old men and children and
Negroes should behave so well on the march and under fire." Knowing that one great victory by his army would undermine support in England for their endless foreign war, Washington patiently waited year after year for the right circumstances. The British relentlessly dared Continental forces to fight a line-to-line battle in the open. But Washington stayed with his own hit-and-run tactics, forcing the frustrated British to play the game by his rules. He kept their main army bottled up in New York much of the time, wary of fighting him.
The British altered their strategy in 1778 and invaded the South. The new plan was to secure the southern colonies and then march a large army northward, forcing the rebellion out of upper America. It was a mistake. While they captured Savannah, Georgia, in 1778 and Charleston, South Carolina, in 1779, the British found themselves fighting a guerrilla war, facing shadowy bands of expert snipers. An American soldier, fighting in and for his homeland, could work on his own while a Redcoat could not. Colonial troops could move twice as fast as their equipment-heavy enemies, and every English soldier killed or captured meant a new one had to be sent from England—a journey of several weeks that weakened British presence elsewhere in their empire. By 1781, the war was deeply unpopular in England.
During the summer, Washington got the news for which he had been waiting. The British southern force was camped near the shores. Washington secretly hurried his army southward from New York. He deceived British spies with counterintelligence ruses that hid from them the mission's true objective. As usual, there was no money, and Washington had to talk many of his men out of quitting. A large French fleet, meanwhile, had left the West Indies, setting sail for the Virginia coast. On the way there, Washington stopped for a day at his Mount Vernon home—for the first time in six years.
the young commander was always short of recruits and money, and appeals to the English military authorities did little good. Washington became increasingly annoyed with their condescension and their rebuffs of his attempts to win a regular army commission. After commanding a regiment that finally captured Fort Duquesne in 1758, he resigned from the military and went home to Mount Vernon, the farm he had inherited from Lawrence. A year later, Washington married a rich young widow named Martha Custis. He won a seat in the lower Virginia legislature and settled into the life of a Virginia farmer.
His early married years were happy ones. Washington worked hard and learned everything he could about farming, but his new job gave him another reason to resent the important country. He found that he was largely at the mercy of a trade system that heavily favored British merchants buying tobacco, his major crop. Consequently, after a few years, he owed a significant debt. By 1766, he abandoned tobacco farming and diversified Mount Vernon into crops that could be sold more easily in America. He also stayed in light industry such as weaving and fishing. All of these ventures were aimed at making his plantation more self-sufficient, thus minimizing his business ties to England.
Several hundred slaves worked at Mount Vernon. As Washington turned to crops that were less labor intensive than tobacco, he had more help than he needed. However, although he could pursue greater profits by minimizing labor expenses,
he almost never sold or moved a slave to another property unless the slave wanted to leave. As he approached middle age, Washington expressed increasing qualms about the practice of slavery.
By the mid-1760s, colonial resentment of British rule was widespread. To replenish its coffers that were drained for the war with the French, London imposed taxes on the colonies. Moreover, to force compliance, England established punitive laws against the colonials. Americans, who had no say in British parliamentary decisions, voiced their disdain for these tariffs that had suddenly raised the prices on necessities such as tea. As the controversy grew hotter, more British troops poured into the colonies, which only compounded the problem.
Any military expert would have given the Continentals little chance. After all, King George's army was the best-trained, best-equipped fighting force in the Western world. The matchless Royal Navy could deliver an army to any shore and strangle enemy nations by blockade. England's forces were commanded by career soldiers who were veterans of wars all over the globe. In sharp contrast, the colonial force staring them down was less of an army than a large gang. Its soldiers came and went almost at will. The officers leading them had little command, let alone fighting experience. Furthermore, in the colonies, support for the rebellion was far from firm.
Washington's first duty was to turn this unruly crowd into a real army by instituting disciplinary regulations. To facilitate his efforts, he urged the Continental Congress to provide enough money to pay for longer enlistments for his soldiers. But when New Year's Day dawned in 1776, much of his army had gone home because their enlistments had ended.
Washington first commanded American forces arrayed around Boston. Using cannon captured by Henry Knox from Fort Ticonderoga and heroically transported miles to Boston, Washington fortified a high point overlooking the city. Unnerved by the colonials' sudden tactical advantage, the British withdrew from Boston by sea. Washington, however, had no illusions that his enemy was finished. The question was where they would strike next.
By spring, it was plain that the British plan was to seize New York. It offered several advantages including a large port, the propaganda value of holding one of the rebels' biggest cities, and a route by which troops could be delivered to the American interior via the Hudson River. Washington moved to stop them. In July—a few days after the Declaration of Independence was signed—the British landed a huge force on Staten Island. By August, 30,000 troops marched on Washington's force. On their first engagement late that month, much of the Continental army either surrendered or turned and fled in terror. On
September 15, the British landed on Manhattan, and again Washington's troops ran away. Enraged, he shouted at them, "Are these the men with whom I am to defend America?" A day later, his troops were resolute in their defiance and won a small engagement in Harlem Heights. But by November, the British had captured two forts that the Continentals had hoped would secure the Hudson River. Washington was forced to withdraw into New Jersey and then Pennsylvania. The British thought this signaled the end of the conflict and dug in for the winter, not bothering to chase the Americans.
Washington now realized that by trying to fight open-field, firing-line battles with the British, he was playing to their strengths. He turned to tactics he had seen Native Americans use to great effect in the French and Indian War. On Christmas Day, he led his army through a ferocious blizzard, crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey, and surprised an enemy force at Trenton. A few days later, he took a British garrison at nearby Princeton. These actions were less large-scale battles than they were guerrilla raids. Nonetheless, these minor victories gave his army confidence, brightened the spirits of the American people, and told the British that they were in for a long and bitter struggle.
A Turning of the Tide: 1777
The Revolution's third year was its turning point. Another Continental force, commanded by Major General Horatio Gates, won the first significant American victory at Saratoga, New York. This victory convinced the French that the Revolution was winnable for the Americans. They began to consider an alliance with the colonial rebels—partly to get back at an old enemy, England, and partly share in prizes from raids on British ships. At the same time, the English embarked on an unfortunate military strategy that included an invasion of the southern colonies, which subjected them to guerrilla warfare.
For Washington, however, 1777 was a profoundly trying year. He lost two major battles with the British and failed to keep them from taking Philadelphia, home to the new nation's government, which was forced into hiding. In response to
such a loss, an attempt was made by some in Congress and the army to oust Washington as commander. The winter of 1777-1778 saw his army camped in freezing, wretched huts at Valley Forge. One of the army's doctors summed up the conditions in his diary: "Poor food—hard lodging—cold weather—fatigue—nasty clothes—nasty cookery—vomit half my time—smoked out of my senses—the devil's in it—I can't endure it."
Valley Forge to Yorktown
By springtime, things began to improve as the army drilled hard and marched out of Valley Forge a more disciplined fighting force. In May 1778, the French agreed to an alliance with the Americans, sending troops, munitions, and money.
By mid-1779, 6,000 French troops were fighting alongside the Americans.
George Washington was not a great general but a brilliant revolutionary. Although he lost most of his battles with the British, year after year he held his ragtag, hungry army together. This was his most significant accomplishment as commander of the American forces. One French officer wrote: "I cannot insist too strongly how I was surprised by the American Army. It is truly incredible that troops almost naked, poorly paid, and composed of old men and children and
Negroes should behave so well on the march and under fire." Knowing that one great victory by his army would undermine support in England for their endless foreign war, Washington patiently waited year after year for the right circumstances. The British relentlessly dared Continental forces to fight a line-to-line battle in the open. But Washington stayed with his own hit-and-run tactics, forcing the frustrated British to play the game by his rules. He kept their main army bottled up in New York much of the time, wary of fighting him.
The British altered their strategy in 1778 and invaded the South. The new plan was to secure the southern colonies and then march a large army northward, forcing the rebellion out of upper America. It was a mistake. While they captured Savannah, Georgia, in 1778 and Charleston, South Carolina, in 1779, the British found themselves fighting a guerrilla war, facing shadowy bands of expert snipers. An American soldier, fighting in and for his homeland, could work on his own while a Redcoat could not. Colonial troops could move twice as fast as their equipment-heavy enemies, and every English soldier killed or captured meant a new one had to be sent from England—a journey of several weeks that weakened British presence elsewhere in their empire. By 1781, the war was deeply unpopular in England.
During the summer, Washington got the news for which he had been waiting. The British southern force was camped near the shores. Washington secretly hurried his army southward from New York. He deceived British spies with counterintelligence ruses that hid from them the mission's true objective. As usual, there was no money, and Washington had to talk many of his men out of quitting. A large French fleet, meanwhile, had left the West Indies, setting sail for the Virginia coast. On the way there, Washington stopped for a day at his Mount Vernon home—for the first time in six years.
Washington's Presidency
George Washington was elected according to the procedure indicated in the newly ratified Constitution. As a successful military figure he was a natural choice as a national leader for the new United States. George Washington held the Colonial army of farmers together and was favored for his political ideals.
George Washington was incredibly popular with the American people after leading the American revolutionary army to victory to create a country. The popular story is that he was asked to be the "king" of the new nation, but he favored a constitutional republic, help draw up the constitution and pushed the states to ratify it.
By the end of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington was a very popular and influential person. Washington had been commander-in-chief of the American armed forces, and with the end of the war he resigned his military commission an retired to Mount Vernon. Shortly thereafter, he was convinced to attend the Constitutional Convention and was elected unanimously as the president of the convention. The office of the presidency was created at this convention, and in 1789 the electoral college unanimously elected him as president. Washington reluctantly accepted the position; it was not one he sought. He was reelected in 1792, but he refused to run for a third term (at the time there was not a limit for how many terms you could run for; therefore he could have easily run an unlimited number of times and been a "president for life").
In 1797, Washington relinquished power and stepped down from the presidency. This was revolutionary itself - for people were used to kings who ruled for life, Washington set an example of a powerful leader who stood aside to make way for democratic succession.
George Washington was incredibly popular with the American people after leading the American revolutionary army to victory to create a country. The popular story is that he was asked to be the "king" of the new nation, but he favored a constitutional republic, help draw up the constitution and pushed the states to ratify it.
By the end of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington was a very popular and influential person. Washington had been commander-in-chief of the American armed forces, and with the end of the war he resigned his military commission an retired to Mount Vernon. Shortly thereafter, he was convinced to attend the Constitutional Convention and was elected unanimously as the president of the convention. The office of the presidency was created at this convention, and in 1789 the electoral college unanimously elected him as president. Washington reluctantly accepted the position; it was not one he sought. He was reelected in 1792, but he refused to run for a third term (at the time there was not a limit for how many terms you could run for; therefore he could have easily run an unlimited number of times and been a "president for life").
In 1797, Washington relinquished power and stepped down from the presidency. This was revolutionary itself - for people were used to kings who ruled for life, Washington set an example of a powerful leader who stood aside to make way for democratic succession.
George Washington died of heart cancer and a head illness that cause a lot of pain to him. As the night went on it became worst, and they gave him drastic remedies, it just made his head worst. George Washington was pronounce dead on The fourteenth of December 1779. In 1885, a monument was built in his honor.