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George Washington was the most celebrated person in American history. George was commander in chief of the Continental army during the American Revolution and first president of the United States of America (1789-1797). He was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on February 22, 1732, George Washington was the oldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, who were Prosperous Virginia gentry of English descent. George spent his early years on the family estate along the Potomac River. His early education included the study of such subject’s as mathematics, surveying, the class classics, and “rules of activity.” His father died in 1743, and soon thereafter George went to live with his half brother Lawrence, who became something of a substitute father for his brother, had married into the Fairfax family, prominent and influential Virginians who helped launch George’s career. An early ambition to go to sea had been effectively discouraged by Georges’s mother; instead he turned to surveying, securing, (1748) and an appointment to survey Lord Fairfax’s lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven (now Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County. George accompanied his brother Lawrence to Barbados in an effort to cure Lawrence of tuberculosis, but Lawrence died in 1752. soon after the brothers returned. George ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate. By the 1753 the growing rivalry between the British and French over control of the Ohio Valley, soon to erupt into the French and Indian War (1754-1763), created new opportunities for the ambitious young Washington. He first gained public notice when, as adjutant of one of Virginia’s four military districts, he was dispatched (October 1753) by Governor Robert Dinwiddie on a fruitless mission to warn the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf against further encroachment on territory claimed by Britain. Washington’s dairy account of the dangers and difficulties of his journey, Published at Williamburg’s on his return, may have helped win him his ensuing promotion to lieutenant colonel. Although only 22 years of age and lacking experience, he learned quickly, meeting the problems of recruitment, supply, and desertions with a combination of branches and Native ability that earned him the respect of this superiors. In April 1754, on his way to establish a post at the Forks of the Ohio (the current site of Pittsburgh), Washington learned that the French had already erected a fort there. Warned that the French were advancing, he quickly threw up fortifications at Great Meadows, Pa., aptly naming the entrenchment Fort Necessity, and marched to intercept advancing French troops. In the resulting skirmish the French commander the Sieur De Jumnoville was killed and most of his men were captured. George Washington pulled his small force back into Fort Necessity where he was overwhelmed (July 3) by the French in an all day battle fought in drenching rain. Surrounded by enemy troops, with his food supply almost exhausted and his dampened ammunition useless, Washington capitulated. Under the terms of the surrender signed that day, he was permitted to march his troops back to Williamsburg. Discouraged by his defeat and angered by discrimination between British and colonial officers in rank and pay, he resigned his commission near the end of 1754. The next year however, he volunteered to joined British general Edward Braddock’s expedition against the French.
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