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George Washington Report
Family Life--Washington's father was Augustine Washington, who had gone to school in England, had tasted seafaring life, and was then managing his growing Virginia estates. His mother was Mary Ball, whom Augustine, a widower, had married early the previous year. The paternal lineage had some distinction; an early forebear was described as "gentleman," Henry VIII later gave the family lands, and its members held various offices. But family fortunes fell with the Puritan revolution in England, and John Washington, grandfather of Augustine, migrated in 1657 to Virginia. The ancestral home at Sulgrave, Northampton shire, is maintained as a Washington memorial. Little definite information exists on any of the line until Augustine. He was an energetic, ambitious man who acquired much land, built mills, took an interest in opening iron mines, and sent his two oldest sons to England for schooling. By his first wife, Jane Butler, he had four children; by his second, six. Augustine died April 12, 1743. George Washington--American general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775-83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789-97).Childhood Little is known of George Washington's early childhood, spent largely on the Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, Virginia. Mason L. Weems? stories of the hatchet and cherry tree and of young Washington's repugnance to fighting are apocryphal efforts to fill a manifest gap. He attended school irregularly from his seventh to his 15th year, first with the local church sexton and later with a schoolmaster named Williams. Some of his schoolboy papers survive. He was fairly well trained in practical mathematics--gauging, several types of menstruation, and such trigonometry as was useful in surveying. He studied geography, possibly had a little Latin, and certainly read some of The Spectator and other English classics. The copybook in which he transcribed at 14 a set of moral precepts or Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation was carefully preserved. His best training, however, was given him by practical men and outdoor occupations, not by books. He mastered tobacco growing and stock rising, and early in his teens he was sufficiently familiar with surveying to plot the fields about him.At his father's death, the 11-year-old boy became the ward of his eldest half brother, Lawrence, a man of fine character who gave him wise and affectionate care. Lawrence inherited the beautiful estate of Little Hunting Creek, which had been granted to the original settler, John Washington, and which Augustine had done much since 1738 to develop. Lawrence married Anne (Nancy) Fairfax, daughter of Col. William Fairfax, cousin and agent of Lord Fairfax, one of the chief proprietors of the region. Lawrence also built a house and named the 2,500-acre holding Mount Vernon, in honor of the admiral under whom he had served in the siege of Cartagena. Living there chiefly with Lawrence (though he spent some time with his other half brother, Augustine, called Austin, near Fredericksburg), George entered a more spacious and polite world. Anne Fairfax Washington was a woman of charm, grace, and culture; Lawrence had brought from his English school and his naval service much knowledge and experience. A valued neighbor and relative, George William Fairfax, whose large estate, Belvoir, was about four miles distant, and other relatives by marriage, the Carlyles of Alexandria, helped form George's mind and manners.The youth turned first to surveying as a profession. Lord Fairfax, a middle-aged bachelor who owned more than 5,000,000 acres in northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, came to America in 1746 to live with his cousin George William at Belvoir and to look after his properties. Two years later he sent to the Shenandoah Valley a party to survey and plot his lands to make regular tenants of the squatters moving in from Pennsylvania. With the official surveyor of Prince William County in charge, Washington went along as assistant. The 16-year-old lad kept a disjointed diary of the trip, which shows skill in observation. He describes the discomfort of sleeping under "one thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice Fleas & c"; an encounter with an Indian war party bearing a scalp; the Pennsylvania-German emigrants, "as ignorant a set of people as the Indians they would never speak English but when spoken to they speak all Dutch"; and the serving of roast wild turkey on "a Large Chip," for "as for dishes we had none."The following year (1749), aided by Lord Fairfax, Washington received an appointment as official surveyor of Culpeper county, and for more than two years he was kept almost constantly busy. Surveying not only in Culpeper but also in Frederick and Augusta counties, he made journeys far beyond the tidewater region into the western wilderness. The experience taught him resourcefulness and endurance and toughened both body and mind. Coupled with his half brother Lawrence's ventures in land, it also gave him an interest in western development that endured throughout his life. He was always disposed to speculate in western holdings and to view favorably projects for colonizing the West, and he greatly resented the limitations that the crown in time laid on the westward movement. In 1752 Lord Fairfax determined to take up his final residence in the Shenandoah Valley and settled there in a log-hunting lodge, which he called Greenway Court, after a Kentish manor of his family. Their Washington was sometimes entertained and had access to a small library that Fairfax had begun accumulating at Oxford.The years 1751-52 marked a turning point in Washington's life, for they placed him in control of Mount Vernon. His half brother Lawrence, stricken by tuberculosis, went to Barbados in 1751 for his health, taking George along. From this sole journey beyond the present borders of the United States, Washington returned with the light scars of an attack of smallpox. In July of the next year, Lawrence died, making George executor and residuary heir of his estate in the event of the decease of his daughter, Sarah, without issue. As she died within two months, Washington at the age of 20 became head of one of the best Virginia estates. He always thought farming the "most delectable" of pursuits. "It is honorable," he wrote, "it is amusing, and, with superior judgment, it is profitable." And of all the spots for farming, he thought Mount Vernon the best. "No estate in United America," he assured an English correspondent "is more pleasantly situated than this." His greatest pride in later days was to be regarded as the first farmer of the land.He gradually increased the estate until it exceeded 8,000 acres. He enlarged the house in 1760 and made further enlargements and improvements on the house and its landscaping in 1784-86. He tried to keep abreast of the latest scientific advances.For the next 20 years the main background of Washington's life was the work and society of Mount Vernon. He had to manage the 18 slaves that came with the estate and others he bought later; by 1760 he paid tithes on 49 slaves--though he strongly disapproved of the institution and hoped for some mode of abolishing it. He gave assiduous attention to the rotation of crops, fertilization of the soil, and the management of livestock.For diversion he was fond of riding, fox hunting, and dancing; of such theatrical performances as he could reach; and of duck hunting and sturgeon fishing. He liked billiards and cards and not only subscribed to racing associations but ran his own horses in races. In all outdoor pursuits, from wrestling to colt breaking, he excelled. A friend of the 1750s describes him as "straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings"; as very muscular and broad shouldered, but though large boned, weighing only 175 pounds; and as having long arms and legs. Heavy brows overhung his penetrating blue-gray eyes, his nose was large and straight, and his mouth was large and firmly closed. "His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid horseman." He soon became prominent in community affairs, was an active member and later vestryman of the Episcopal Church, and as early as 1755 expressed a desire to stand for the Virginia House of BurgessesMilitary ExperiencesTraditions of John Washington's feats as Indian fighter and Lawrence Washington's talk of service days helped imbue George with military ambition. Just after Lawrence's death, Lieut. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie appointed George adjutant for the southern district of Virginia at �100 a year (November 1752). The next year he became adjutant of the Northern Neck and Eastern Shore. Then in 1753 Dinwiddie found it necessary to warn the French to desist from their encroachments on Ohio Valley lands claimed by the crown; and after sending one messenger who failed to reach the goal, he determined to dispatch Washington. On the day he received his orders, October 31, 1753, Washington set out for the French posts. His party consisted of a Dutchman to serve as interpreter, the expert scout Christopher Gist as guide, and four others; two of them experienced traders with the Indians. Theoretically, Great Britain and France were at peace; but actually war impended, and Dinwiddie's message was an ultimatum: the French must get out or they would be put out.The journey proved rough, perilous, and futile. Washington's party left what is now Cumberland, Maryland, in the middle of November and despite wintry weather and wilderness impediments reached Fort-Le Boeuf, at what is now Waterford, Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Lake Erie, without delay. The French commander was courteous but adamant. As Washington reported, his officers "told me, That it was their absolute Design to take possession of the Ohio, and by God they would do it." Eager to carry this alarming news back, Washington pushed off hurriedly with Gist. He was lucky to get back alive. An Indian fired at them at 15 paces but missed; when they crossed the Allegheny River on a raft, Washington was jerked into the ice-filled stream but saved him by catching one of the timbers. That night he almost froze in his wet clothing. He reached Williamsburg on January 16, 1754, where he hastily penned a record of the journey. Dinwiddie, who was laboring to convince the crown of the seriousness of the French threat, had it printed; and when he sent it to London, it was reprinted in three different forms.The enterprising governor forthwith planned an expedition to hold the Ohio country. He made Joshua Fry colonel of a provincial regiment, appointed Washington lieutenant colonel, and set them to recruiting troops. Two agents of the Ohio Company, which Lawrence Washington and others had formed to develop lands on the upper Potomac and Ohio rivers, had begun building a fort at what later became Pittsburgh. Dinwiddie, ready to launch into his own war, sent Washington with two companies to reinforce this post. In April 1754 the lieutenant colonel set out from Alexandria with about 160 men at his back. He marched to Cumberland only to learn that the French had anticipated the British blow; they had taken possession of the fort of the Ohio Company and had renamed it Fort-Duquesne. Happily, the Indians of the area offered support. Washington therefore struggled cautiously forward to within about 40 miles of the French position and erected his own post at Great Meadows, near what is now Confluence, Pennsylvania. With this as base, he made a surprise attack (May 28, 1754) upon an advance detachment of 30 French, killing the commander, Coulon de Jumonville, and nine others and making the rest prisoners. The last French and Indian War had begun.Washington at once received promotion to a full colonelcy and was reinforced, commanding a considerable body of Virginia and North Carolina troops, with Indian auxiliaries. But his attack soon brought the whole French force down upon him. They drove his 350 men into the Great Meadows fort (Ft. Necessity) on July 3, besieged it with 700 men, and, after an all-day fight, compelled him to surrender. The construction of the fort had been a blunder, for it lay in a waterlogged creek bottom, was commanded on three sides by forested elevations approaching it closely, and was too far from Washington's supports. The French agreed to let the disarmed colonials march back to Virginia with the honors of war, but they compelled Washington to promise that Virginia would not build another fort on the Ohio for a year and to sign a paper acknowledging responsibility for "l'assassinat" of de Jumonville, a word which Washington later explained he did not rightly understand. He returned to Virginia, chagrined but proud, to receive the thanks of the House of Burgesses, and to find that his name had been mentioned in the London gazettes. His remark in a letter to his brother that "I have heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound" was commented on humorously by Horace Walpole and sarcastically by George II.The arrival of Gen. Edward Braddock and his army in Virginia in February 1755, as part of the triple plan of campaign that called for his advance on Fort-Duquesne, Gov. William Shirley's capture of Niagara, and Sir William Johnson's capture of Crown Point, brought Washington new opportunities and responsibilities. He had resigned his commission in October 1754 in resentment of the slighting treatment and underpayment of colonial officers and particularly because of an untactful order of the British war office that provincial officers of whatever rank should be subordinate to any officer holding the king's commission. But he ardently desired a part in the war; "my inclinations," he wrote a friend, "are strongly bent to arms." When Braddock showed appreciation of his merits and invited him to join the expedition as personal aide-de-camp, with the courtesy title of colonel, he therefore accepted. His self-reliance, decision, and masterful traits soon became apparent.At table he had frequent disputes with Braddock, who when contractors failed to deliver their supplies attacked the colonials as supine and dishonest while Washington defended them warmly. His freedom of utterance is proof of Braddock's esteem. Braddock accepted from him the unwise advice that he divide his army, leaving half of it to come up with the slow wagons and cattle train and taking the other half forward against Fort-Duquesne at a rapid pace. Washington was ill with fever during June but joined the advance guard in a covered wagon on July 8, begged to lead the march on Fort-Duquesne with his Virginians and the Indian allies, and was by Braddock's side when on July 9 the army was ambushed and bloodily defeated.In this defeat Washington displayed the combination of coolness and determination, the alliance of unconquerable energy with complete poise, which was the secret of so many of his successes. So ill that he had to use a pillow instead of a saddle and that Braddock ordered his body servant to keep special watch over him, he was everywhere at once. At first he followed Braddock as the general bravely tried to rally his men to push either forward or backward, the wisest course the circumstances permitted. Then he rode back to bring up the Virginians from the rear and rallied them with effect on the flank. To him was largely due the escape of the force. His exposure of his person was as reckless as Braddock's, who was fatally wounded on his fifth horse; Washington had two horses shot under him and his clothes cut by four bullets without being hurt. He was at Braddock's deathbed, helped bring the troops back, and was repaid by being appointed, in August 1755, while still only 23 years old, commander of all the Virginia troops. But no part of his later service was conspicuous. Finding that a Maryland captain who held a royal commission would not obey him, he rode north in February 1756 to Boston to have the question settled by the commander in chief in America, Governor Shirley, and, bearing a letter from Dinwiddie, had no difficulty in carrying his point. On his return he plunged into a multitude of vexations. He had to protect a weak, thinly settled frontier nearly 400 miles in length with only some 700 ill-disciplined colonial troops; to cope with a legislature unwilling to support him; to meet attacks on the drunkenness and inefficiency of the soldiers; and to endure constant wilderness hardships. It is not strange that in 1757 his health failed and in the closing weeks of that year he was so ill of a "bloody flux" that his physician ordered him home to Mount Vernon.In the spring of 1758 he recovered sufficiently to return to duty as colonel in command of all Virginia troops. As part of the grand sweep of several British armies organized by Pitt, Gen. John Forbes led a new advance upon Fort-Duquesne. This time Forbes resolved not to use Braddock's road but to cut a new one west from Raystown, Pennsylvania. Washington disapproved of the route but played an important part in the movement. Late in the autumn the French evacuated and burned Fort-Duquesne, and Forbes reared Ft. Pitt on the site. Washington, who had just been elected to the House Of Burgesses, was able to resign with the honorary rank of brigadier general.But though his officers expressed regret at the "loss of such an excellent Commander, such a sincere Friend, and so affable a Companion," he quit the service with a sense of frustration. He had thought the war excessively slow. The Virginia legislature had been niggardly in voting money; the Virginia recruits had come forward reluctantly and had proved of poor quality--he had hanged a few deserters and flogged others heavily. Virginia gave him less pay than other colonies offered their troops. Desiring a regular commission such as his half brother Lawrence had held, he applied in vain to the British commander in North America, Lord Loudon, to make good a promise that Braddock had given him. Ambitious for both rank and honor, he showed a somewhat strident vigor in asserting his desires and in complaining when they were denied. He returned to Mount Vernon somewhat disillusioned.PresidencyViewing the chaotic political condition of the United States after 1783 with frank pessimism and declaring (May 18, 1786) that "something must be done, or the fabric must fall, for it is certainly tottering," Washington repeatedly wrote his friends urging steps toward "an indissoluble union." At first he believed that the Articles of Confederation might be amended. Later, especially after the shock of Shay?s rebellion, he took the view that a more radical reform was necessary but doubted as late as the end of 1786 that the time was ripe. His progress toward adoption of the idea of a federal convention was, in fact, puzzlingly slow. Though John Jay assured him in March 1786 that breakup of the nation seemed near and opinion for the convention was crystallizing, Washington remained noncommittal. But despite long hesitations, he earnestly supported the proposal for a federal impost, warning the states that their policy must decide "whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered a blessing or a curse." And his numerous letters to the leading men of the country assisted greatly to form a sentiment favorable to a more perfect union. Some understanding being necessary between Virginia and Maryland regarding the navigation of the Potomac, commissioners from the two states met at Mount Vernon in the spring of 1785; from this seed sprang the federal convention. Washington approved in advance the call for a gathering of all the states to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787 to "render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." But he was again hesitant about attending, partly because he felt tired and infirm, partly because of doubts about the outcome. Although he hoped to the last to be excused, he was chosen one of Virginia's five delegates.Washington arrived in Philadelphia on May 13, the day before the opening of the Convention, and as soon as a quorum was obtained he was unanimously chosen its president. For four months he presided over the Constitutional Convention, breaking his silence only once upon a minor question of congressional apportionment. Though he said little in debate, no one did more outside the hall to insist on stern measures. "My wish is," he wrote, "that the convention may adopt no temporizing expedients, but probe the defects of the Constitution to the bottom, and provide a radical cure." His weight of character did more than any other single force to bring the convention to an agreement and obtain ratification of the instrument afterward. He did not believe it perfect, though his precise criticisms of it are unknown. But his support gave it victory in Virginia, where he sent copies to Patrick Henry and other leaders with a hint that the alternative to adoption was anarchy, declaring that "it or dis-union is before us to choose from," told powerfully in Massachusetts. He received and personally circulated copies of The Federalist. Once ratification was obtained, he wrote leaders in the various states urging that men staunchly favorable to it be elected to Congress. For a time he sincerely believed that, the new framework completed, he would be allowed to retire again to privacy. But all eyes immediately turned to him for the first president. He alone commanded the respect of both the parties engendered by the struggle over ratification, and he alone would be able to give prestige to the republic throughout Europe. In no state was any other name considered. The electors chosen in the first days of 1789 cast a unanimous vote for him, and reluctantly--for his love of peace, his distrust of his own abilities, and his fear that his motives in advocating the new government might be misconstrued all made him unwilling--he accepted.On April 16, after receiving congressional notification of the honor, he set out from Mount Vernon, reaching New York in time to be inaugurated on April 30. The ceremony was performed in Wall Street, near the spot now marked by Ward's statue of Washington; and a great crowd broke into cheers as, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, he took the oath administered by Chancellor Robert Livingston and retired indoors to read Congress his inaugural address.
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