Early Life
He was born on Feb. 22, 1732 (Feb. 11, 1731, O.S.), the first son
of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, on
the family estate (later known as Wakefield) in Westmoreland co., Va.
Of a wealthy family, Washington embarked upon a career as a surveyor
and in 1748 was invited to go with the party that was to survey Baron
Fairfax's lands W of the Blue Ridge. In 1749 he was appointed to his
first public office, surveyor of newly created Culpeper co., and
through his half-brother Lawrence Washington he became interested in
the Ohio Company, which had as its object the exploitation of Western
lands. After Lawrence's death (1752), George inherited part of his
estate and took over some of Lawrence's duties as adjutant of the
colony. As district adjutant, which made (Dec., 1752) him Major
Washington at the age of 20, he was charged with training the militia
in the quarter assigned him.
The French and Indian War
Washington first gained public notice late in 1753 when he
volunteered to carry a message from Gov. Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia
to the French moving into the Ohio country, warning them to quit the
territory, which was claimed by the British. In delivering the message
Washington learned that the French were planning a further advance. He
hastened back to Virginia, where he was commissioned lieutenant
colonel by Dinwiddie and sent with about 400 men to reinforce the post
that Dinwiddie had ordered built at the junction of the Allegheny and
Monongahela rivers.
The French, however, captured the post before he could reach it,
and on hearing that they were approaching in force, Washington retired
to the Great Meadows to build (July) an entrenched camp (Fort
Necessity). Late in May he had won his first military victory (and his
colonelcy) when he surprised (through the intelligence of his Native
American allies) a small body of French troops. The French soon
avenged this defeat, overwhelming him with a superior force at Fort
Necessity on July 3, 1754. He surrendered on easy terms on July 4 and
returned to Virginia with the survivors of his command. These battles
marked the beginning of the last of the French and Indian Wars in
America, in which Washington continued to figure.
As an aide to Edward Braddock he acquitted himself with honor in
that general's disastrous expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1755.
After the debacle he was appointed commander in chief of the Virginia
militia to defend the frontier, and in 1758 he commanded one of the
three brigades in the expedition headed by Gen. John Forbes that took
an abandoned Fort Duquesne. With this episode his pre-Revolutionary
military career ended.
The American Revolution
In 1759, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a rich young
widow, and settled on his estate at Mt. Vernon. He was a member (1759–74)
of the house of burgesses, became a leader in Virginian opposition to
the British colonial policy, and served (1774–75) as a delegate to
the Continental Congress. After the American Revolution broke out at
Concord and Lexington, the Congress organized for defense, and,
largely through the efforts of John Adams, Washington was named (June
15, 1775) commander in chief of the Continental forces.
He took command (July 3, 1775) at Cambridge, Mass., and found not
an army but a force of unorganized, poorly disciplined, short-term
enlisted militia, officered by men who were often insubordinate. He
was faced with the problem of holding the British at Boston with a
force that had to be trained in the field, and he was constantly
hampered by congressional interference. Washington momentarily
overcame these handicaps with the brilliant strategic move of
occupying Dorchester Heights, forcing the British to evacuate Boston
on March 17, 1776.
Against his wishes the Continental Congress compelled him to
attempt to defend New York City with a poorly equipped and untrained
army against a large British land and sea force commanded by Sir
William Howe. He was not yet experienced enough to conduct a
large-scale action, and he committed a military blunder by sending
part of his force to Brooklyn, where it was defeated (see Long Island,
battle of) and surrounded. With the British fleet ready to close the
only escape route, Washington saved his army with a masterly
amphibious retreat across the East River back to Manhattan. Seeing
that his position was completely untenable, he began a retreat
northward into Westchester co., which was marked by delaying actions
at Harlem Heights and White Plains and by the treacherous
insubordination of Charles Lee. The retreat continued across the
Hudson River through New Jersey into Pennsylvania, as Washington
developed military skill through trial and error.
With colonial morale at its lowest ebb, he invaded New Jersey. On
Christmas night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware, surrounded and
defeated the British at Trenton, and pushed on to Princeton (Jan. 3,
1777), where he defeated a second British force. In 1777 he attempted
to defend Philadelphia but was defeated at the battle of Brandywine
(Sept. 11). His carefully planned counterattack at Germantown (Oct. 4,
1777) went awry, and with this second successive defeat certain
discontented army officers and members of Congress tried to have
Washington removed from command. Horatio Gates was advanced as a
likely candidate to succeed him, but Washington's prompt action
frustrated the so-called Conway Cabal.
After Germantown, Washington went into winter quarters at Valley
Forge. Seldom in military history has any general faced such want and
misery as Washington did in the winter of 1777–78. He proved equal
to every problem, and in the spring he emerged with increased powers
from Congress and a well-trained striking force, personally devoted to
him. The attack (June 28, 1778) on the British retreating from
Philadelphia to New York was vitiated by the actions of Charles Lee,
but Washington's arrival on the field prevented a general American
rout (see Monmouth, battle of). The fortunes of war soon shifted in
favor of the colonial cause with the arrival (1780) of French military
and naval forces, and victory finally came when General Cornwallis
surrendered to Washington on Oct. 19, 1781. Washington made the
American Revolution successful not only by his personal military
triumphs but also by his skill in directing other operations.
Presidency
At the war's end he was the most important man in the country. He
retired from the army (at Annapolis, Md., Dec. 23, 1783), returned to
Mt. Vernon, and in 1784 journeyed to the West to inspect his lands
there. Dissatisfied with the weakness of the government (see
Confederation, Articles of), he soon joined the movement intent on
reorganizing it. In 1785 commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met
at Mt. Vernon to settle a dispute concerning navigation on the
Potomac. This meeting led to the Annapolis Convention (1786) and
ultimately to the Constitutional Convention (1787). Washington
presided over this last convention, and his influence in securing the
adoption of the Constitution of the United States is incalculable.
After a new government was organized, Washington was unanimously
chosen the first President and took office (April 30, 1789) in New
York City. He was anxious to establish the new national executive
above partisanship, and he chose men from all factions for the
administrative departments. Thomas Jefferson became Secretary of
State, and Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. His efforts
to remain aloof from partisan struggles were not successful. He
approved of Hamilton's nationalistic financial measures, and although
he was by no means a tool in the hands of the Secretary of the
Treasury, he consistently supported Hamilton's policies. In the
Anglo-French war (1793) he decided against Jefferson, who favored
fulfilling the 1778 military alliance with France, and he took
measures against Edmond Charles Édouard Genęt. Jefferson left the
cabinet, and despite Washington's efforts to preserve a political
truce the Republican party (later the Democratic party) and the
Federalist party emerged.
Washington was unanimously reelected (1793), but his second
administration was Federalist and was bitterly criticized by
Jeffersonians, especially for Jay's Treaty with England. Washington
was denounced by some as an aristocrat and an enemy of true democratic
ideals. The Whiskey Rebellion and trouble with the Native Americans,
British, and Spanish in the West offered serious problems. The
crushing of the rebellion, the defeat of the Native Americans by
Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers, and the treaty Thomas Pinckney
negotiated with Spain settled some of these troubles. Foreign affairs
remained gloomy, however, and Washington, weary with political life,
refused to run for a third term. Washington's Farewell Address
(Sept. 17, 1796), a monument of American oratory, contained the famous
(and much misquoted) passage warning the United States against “permanent
alliances” with foreign powers. Washington returned to Mt. Vernon,
but when war with France seemed imminent (1798) he was offered command
of the army. War, however, was averted. He died on Dec. 14, 1799, and
was buried on his estate.
There are many portraits and statues of Washington, among them the
familiar, idealized portraits by Gilbert Stuart; the statue by Jean
Antoine Houdon, who also executed the famous portrait bust from a life
mask; and paintings by Charles Willson Peale, John Trumbull, and John
Singleton Copley. His figure also has bulked large in drama, poetry,
fiction, and essays in American literature. The national capital is
named for him; one state, several colleges and universities, and
scores of counties, towns, and villages of the United States bear his
name. Wakefield and Mt. Vernon are national shrines.
Writings
The University of Virginia is preparing a new edition of the
complete writings of Washington. Under the editorship of Donald
Jackson, W. W. Abbot, and Dorothy Twohig, 23 volumes have been
published (1978–91). The long-standing edition of Washington's
writings (39 vol., 1931–44) was edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. His
journals—that of his Barbados journey in 1751–52 (1892), that of
his journey to the West (1905), and his diaries (ed. by John C.
Fitzpatrick, 4 vol., 1925)—were also edited separately. An old
standard edition of his writings is that by Worthington C. Ford (14
vol., 1889–93), and Saxe Commins edited a one-volume selection, Basic
Writings (1948). Other standard sources of his works are The
Washington Papers (1955, repr. 1967), edited by Saul K. Padover,
and The George Washington Papers (1964), edited by Frank
Donovan. There have been innumerable editions of his Farewell
Address and many separate editions of others of his works.
Bibliography:
There have been a great many studies of phases and incidents of
Washington's career and a continual stream of biographies; the
definitive biography is by Douglas Southall Freeman (7 vol., 1948–57;
abr. ed. 1968); Volume VII was written after Freeman's death by John
Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth of his staff. The biography
(1940) begun by Nathaniel W. Stephenson and completed by Waldo H. Dunn
is full and eminently useful; so is the four-volume biography by James
T. Flexner (1965–72). The early biography by “Parson” M. L.
Weems is important chiefly because it contained many of the now-famous
Washington legends, such as that of the cherry tree. Biographies of
Washington by eminent men of another day include those by John
Marshall, Jared Sparks, Washington Irving, and Woodrow Wilson. Among
the shorter biographies are those by P. L. Ford (1896, repr. 1971),
Woodrow Wilson (1896, repr. 1969), John Corbin (1930, repr. 1972), L.
M. Sears (1932), J. C. Fitzpatrick (1933, repr. 1970), and North
Callahan (1972).
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