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HISTORIC AMERICANS 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 George Washington 
 
 First President of the United States jy8g-iyQ7 
 
 By 
 EUGENR PARSONS 
 
 Lecturer on American History 
 
 With Supplementary Essay by 
 
 G. MERCER ADAM 
 
 And an Article by 
 
 PROF. HENRY WADE ROGERS, LL.D. 
 
 Of Vale University 
 
 Together with 
 
 ANECDOTES, CHARACTERISTICS AND CHRONOLOGY 
 
 Copyright, 1898. by The University Association 
 
 Copyrieht. 1903, by H. G. Campbell Publishing Co. 
 
 Copyright, 1913, by Wm. H. Lee 
 
 CHICAGO 
 LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS 
 
TJ " 
 
 CI.A346655 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Biography 5 
 
 Journal of His Journey Over the Mountains 15 
 
 Sketch by G. Mercer Adam 91 
 
 Sketch by Prof. Henry Wade Eogers, Ph. D., of Yale 
 
 University 122 
 
 Anecdotes, Characteristics and Tributes 140 
 
 The Birthday of Washington — The Value of Washing- 
 ton 140 
 
 His Majestic Eminence 142 
 
 Byron 's Tribute 144 
 
 Opinions of Washington 14G 
 
 Girl's Account of Washington's Escape from the 
 
 Indians 148 
 
 The Story of George Washington for School or Club 
 
 Program 151 
 
 Washington 's Birthday 162 
 
 Program for a Washington Afternoon 162 
 
 Program for a Washington Evening 162 
 
 Questions for Eeview 163 
 
 Subjects for Special Study 164 
 
 Chronological Events in the Life of Washington 165 
 
 Bibliography 166 
 
 Extract from Inaugural Address 167 
 
 Extract from Farewell Address 168 
 
 Washington 's Will 170 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Portrait and Autograph Frontispiece 
 
 Washington as a Young Man 7 
 
 Tomb of Washington's Mother, Fredericksburg, Va. ... 10 
 
 Washington's Interview With His Mother 13 
 
 Washington on His Journej'^ to Ohio 2^ 
 
 Washington's First Interview With Mrs. Custis 33 
 
 Martha Washington 35 
 
 Home of Washington, Mount Vernon 38 
 
 Alexander Hamilton .* 46 
 
 General Charles Lee -17 
 
 General Eichard Alontgomery 48 
 
 Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh 53 
 
 Washington Crossing the Delaware 57 
 
 Washington at the Battle of Princeton 59 
 
 General John Burgoyne 01 
 
 Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge G5 
 
 Washington 's Headquarters at Valley Forge G7 
 
 Battle of Camden and Death of DeKalb 73 
 
 General Benedict Arnold 74 
 
 An Incident at the Battle of Cowpens 75 
 
 Washington Bidding Farewell to His Officers 79 
 
 Washington and Family at Mount Vernon SI 
 
 Washington's Eeception at Trenton (bronze panel) .... ^'4 
 
 Washington's First Inauguration (bronze panel) 8G 
 
 Washington 's Tomb at i\Iount Vernon, Va 89 
 
 Greenough's Statue of Washington, Washington, D. C. . 141 
 
 Washington Laying Cornerstone of the Capitol, 1793.. 147 
 
 Benjamin Eush 148 
 
 Statue of Washington, Statuary Hall, Old House of 
 
 Eepresentatives, Washington, D. C 150 
 
 Title Page of Washington's Journal 152 
 
 Church Where Washington was ^larried 155 
 
 Washington 's Camp Chest 15G 
 
 Washington's Eetreat Through New Jersey 158 
 
 Washington 's Sword and Staff 159 
 
 Washington 's Book-Plate 161 
 
THE name and fame of Washington are immortal. 
 When all due allowance is made for hero-worship, 
 his is a superlative worth. To him rightly belongs the 
 place of pre-eminence among colonial leaders. 
 
 The colonies could, indeed, boast of many men of con- 
 spicuous ability and unswerving patriotism, men of af- 
 fairs, men of genius for finance and government, but none 
 of them fulfilled the requirements of a popular hero as did 
 Washington. His is an all-round greatness that none of 
 his contemporaries had. 
 
 There were other patriots of Washington's time who 
 were truly great and noble, whose services to their coun- 
 try are gratefully remembered, but his is an incompara- 
 ble glory. His was a devotion to a sacred cause that 
 counted not the cost, and his was an enthusiasm tem- 
 pered by judgment. His is a character that stands the 
 test of time. His was a moral grandeur, joined with 
 practical wisdom, never surpassed among the most re- 
 nowned figiires in the world's history. 
 
 Washington was idolized in his day, and his memory 
 has been cherished as a priceless possession by succeed- 
 
6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ing generations. And the good of other lands, lovers of 
 liberty and friends of justice in the Old World, have paid 
 spontaneous tribute to his exalted merit. 
 
 By common consent, Washington is regarded as the 
 best type of American that our country has yet produced. 
 No other, unless it be Lincoln, is deemed worthy of a 
 place beside him. He was not only the central figure 
 among the founders of the American republic — he stands 
 as the representative of western ideas as opposed to mon- 
 archical views of government. Such is the verdict of 
 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a verdict that 
 the centuries to come will not reverse. 
 
 It is not every man that has in him the making of a 
 successful farmer, a wise legislator, a superb general, and 
 an admirable president. Washington steadily rose in the 
 world, higher and higher, by dint of his superior fitness. 
 He was ambitious to rise and put forth strenuous, well- 
 directed effort to better his condition. Though aided by 
 favoring circumstances, the way was by no means easy. 
 Success was his, because he won it and deserved it. He 
 was prudent and energetic, painstaking and conscientious. 
 
 In all of his official acts, as well as in the relations of 
 private life, he was characterized by fidelity to duty and 
 loyalty to principle. His were the qualities that com- 
 mand respect and confidence, that lead to fortune and to 
 positions of honor and responsibility. It was by no ac- 
 cident or series of accidents that he reached the highest 
 place in the nation. 
 
 When but a mere stripling, George Washington was 
 known far and wide in the Old Dominion, as Virginia 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 7 
 
 was then called. Here was a youth who had forged to 
 the front by force of will and native endowments. At 
 the age of nineteen he was a person of prominence and 
 influence. Thenceforth he was a public character, an 
 actor in the chief events that make up the history of our 
 
 Washington as a Young Man. 
 
 country for nearly half a century. To write the story of 
 his life is to write the history of his times. It is a thrill- 
 ing and inspiring record, of which his countrymen may 
 well feel proud. 
 
 The Washingtons of Virginia were of English descent. 
 Their ancestors were formerly of the yeomanry of York- 
 
8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 shire, England; not Saxons, but of Danish blood. The 
 founder of the Washington family in England, who lived 
 in the eleventh century, is said to have been a descendant 
 of the celebrated Odin. The two brothers, Laurence 
 and John Washington, of whom not much is known, em- 
 igrated to Virginia in 1659 and settled in Westmoreland 
 County, near Bridges Creek, between the Potomac and 
 Rappahannock rivers. Col. John Washington, a man 
 evidently of some means and enterprise, was the great 
 grandfather of George Washington. 
 
 Augustine Washington (born in 1694) was married 
 (1715) to Jane Butler, who died in 1728, leaving two sons 
 — lyaurence (1728) and Augustine (1720)— and one 
 daughter (who died in 1735). His second marriage took 
 place March 6, 1731. Being a man of more than aver- 
 age attractions, he had the good fortune to win the hand 
 of a very estimable young lady. Miss Mary Ball. 
 They had six children: George, born at Wakefield (as 
 the Washington homestead was then called), Feb. 22, 
 1732; Betty (1733-97), Samuel (1734-81); John (1736-87); 
 Charles (1738-99); and Mildred (1739-40). 
 
 The house where George was born, not far from Pope's 
 Creek, burned down in 1735. Of Washington's birth- 
 place one has written: 
 
 "This house commanded a beautiful view over many 
 miles of the Potomac, and opposite shore of Maryland; it 
 contained four rooms on the ground floor, and others in 
 the attic. Such was the birthplace of our great and loved 
 Washington. Not a vestige more remains of it; only a 
 stone placed there by a wife's grandson, George Wash- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 9 
 
 ington Parke Custis, marks the site of the 'old low-pitched 
 farm house.' " 
 
 The father then moved his family to his plantation 
 near Fredericksburgh, where the childhood and youth of 
 Washington was chiefly spent. 
 
 The Father of his Country was blessed with excellent 
 parents. His father was no ordinary man; his mother 
 was no ordinary woman. 
 
 Though a gentleman, Augustine Washington led the 
 active life of a planter-frontierman. It was an indepen- 
 dent, simple, honest sort of life, by no means easy and 
 luxurious. There was not much leisure for books or 
 sports. He died April 12, 1743. Being a large landed 
 proprietor, he left farms to each of his children. He be- 
 queathed the estate of Mount Vernon to his eldest son 
 Laurence, while George inherited the house and lands 
 on the Rappahannock. 
 
 The elder Washington was not the type of man de- 
 scribed in Weems' "Life of Washington." The hatchet 
 story told in this remarkable book was long ago discred- 
 ited, with some other "curious anecdotes" seriously re- 
 lated by this extravagant but not over-trustworthy biog- 
 rapher. Doubtless, the importance of truthfulness was 
 emphasized by both father and mother. They laid the 
 foundations of George Washington's reputation for verac- 
 ity. The father's impress on his son was enduring, 
 though he died when George was only eleven years old. 
 
 The name of Mary Washington is universally revered 
 and beloved. Upon her devolved the task of looking af- 
 ter the wants of a large household, and she faithfully per- 
 
lo GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 formed the arduous duties of a busy house-wife and mat- 
 ron. She was deeply attached to her children, and con- 
 sulted their welfare with earnest solicitude. She exacted 
 obedience and regard from them, and allowed no famil- 
 iarity. Her will was law, and servants and business 
 agents knew it. There was a strain of Puritan sternness 
 
 Tomb of Washington's Mother, Fredericksburg, Va. 
 
 and strictness in her make-up, that showed itself in the 
 son. "Honored Madam," he addressed her in his letters, 
 even when a man . She was not, however, without ten- 
 derness. She had been a beautiful girl, and as years 
 went by, developed into a dignified woman of striking 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. ii 
 
 appearance, grave and reserved in manner. She died 
 August 25, 1789, at the ripe age of eighty-two. George 
 Washington owed a great debt to his mother. 
 
 During his school days, which were over in his six- 
 teenth year, the youthful George received what was then 
 considered a good common-school education. Tradition 
 has it that he soon acquired all that his first teacher 
 knew, which was no more than the merest rudiments of 
 the three R's. George was his brightest pupil. 
 
 Later he went to an academy near his brother's home 
 at Bridge's Creek. He early showed an aptitude for fig- 
 ures and made marked progress in mathematics. It 
 must be confessed that his knowledge of spelling and 
 of grammar was exceedingly defective, judged by the 
 standards of the present. In these days many a boy of 
 twelve knows more of books and the world than Wash- 
 ington did at sixteen. His reading was limited in boy- 
 hood, as in later life. 
 
 But the country lad who has his eyes open, learns a 
 vast deal not written in books. In the fields and woods 
 George had been observant and gained a fund of infor- 
 mation that was afterward of incalculable value to him 
 as a farmer and soldier. He was familiar with all the 
 routine of a plantation of those times. He knew all 
 about taking care of stock, breaking horses, mending fen- 
 ces, etc. He was a good shot with the rifle, and was fond 
 of hunting. Large and powerful for his age, he excelled 
 in swimming, running, wrestling, and other manly exer- 
 cises, that rounded his muscles and hardened his rugged 
 frame. He tried his hand, too, at playing soldier, drill- 
 
12 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ing a company of youngsters. He insisted on being cap. 
 tain, and displayed the true spirit of a commander. 
 
 The growing boy was an expert horseman, and had a 
 local reputation for mastering fractious steeds. The story 
 of his killing Sorrel, the finest colt on his mother's farm, 
 though told with dramatic detail by Custis, is believed to 
 be of doubtful authenticity. There are other suspicious 
 narratives of his wonderful feats of strength and dexteri- 
 ty in early manhood. They must have had some basis of 
 fact, for he was a youth of mettle and daring, sturdy and 
 agile. 
 
 Occasionally an English merchant-ship sailed up the 
 Potomac, bringing supplies from London to the planters 
 along the river, and bearing away the crop of tobacco to 
 England. Naturally the sight of a trading ship or a 
 man-of-war would impress a healthy boy and fill his 
 mind with longing for a sea-life. At one time, it is re- 
 lated, George Washington seriously thought of becoming 
 a midshipman. He was then about fifteen and eager to 
 enter upon the career of a seaman. When ready to leave 
 home, he was dissuaded from going by his mother — a 
 decision that entirely changed the course, it may be, of 
 his after life. Her opinion was strengthened by a letter 
 of advice from her brother in the old country, who 
 thought his nephew's chances of rising in the King's 
 Navy were very slight. 
 
 After the death of his father, George was often at the 
 home of his half-brother Laurence, whose influence over 
 him was marked for good. The wife of Laurence Wash- 
 ington was Annie Fairfax, the daughter of an English 
 
14 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 gentleman then living at Belvoir, not far away from the 
 Washington homestead. Circumstances had brought 
 hither Lord Fairfax, who owned immense estates in Vir- 
 ginia. It was exceedingly fortunate for the youth to be- 
 come acquainted with this Englishman of talent and cul- 
 ture, who became interested in his education, and had 
 much to do with launchiug Washington on the career 
 of a surveyor. 
 
 Having given up the idea of going to sea, George 
 turned his attention to land-surveying, which promised 
 to be a lucrative calling, one for which he was except- 
 ionally fitted by his mental and physical qualifications. 
 Having thoroughly studied the elements of geometry and 
 trigonometry, he was well equipped for the work of sur- 
 veying the lands of Lord Fairfax in theValley ofthe Vir-. 
 ginia. In company with George Fairfax, a relative of 
 the nobleman, he set out on his first expedition of the 
 kind, in March, 1748. He was then only sixteen, yet he 
 proved to be a capable surveyor and performed his diffi- 
 cult task to the entire satisfaction of his employer. 
 
 The Journal that Washington kept, while engaged in 
 surveying the Shenandoah property of Lord Fairfax, 
 mentions some interesting experiences that he had while 
 roughing it in the wilderness, as much of the country 
 then was. The document is also valuable as an index 
 of his intellectual advancement. He wrote a neat hand 
 and expressed himself fluently and naturally. A few ex- 
 tracts from this diary (the earliest of his literary efforts) 
 are given, copied literally, with the errors of spelling and 
 punctuation. They help us in forming a picture of the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 15 
 
 real George Washington. As Dr. Toner has said: "The 
 time has come when the people want to know intimately 
 and without glamour or false coloring, the father of his 
 country as he actually lived and labored, and to possess 
 his writings, just as he left them, on every subject which 
 engaged his attention." The memorandum of his surveys 
 is entitled: 
 
 "journal of my journey over the mountains. 
 
 While surveying for Lord Thomas Fairfax, Baron of 
 Cameron, in the Northern Neck of Virginia, beyond the 
 Blue Ridge, in 1747-48. 
 
 "Friday March nth 1747-8. Began my Journey in Company 
 with George Fairfax, Esqr.; we travell'd this day 40 Miles to Mr. 
 George Neavels in Prince William County. 
 
 "Tuesday 15th We set out out early with Intent to Run round 
 ye sd Land but being taken in a Rain & it Increasing very fast 
 obliged us to return, it clearing about one o Clock & our time being 
 too Precious to Loose we a second time ventured out & Worked 
 hard till Night & then return'd to Penningtons we got our Suppers 
 & was Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as 
 ye rest of my Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye 
 Bed as they called it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing 
 but a Little Straw — Matted together without Sheets or anything else 
 but only one thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin 
 such as Lice Fleas &c I was glad to get up (as soon as y Light was 
 carried from us) I put on my Cloths and Lays as my Companions. 
 Had we not have been very tired I am sure we should not have 
 slep'd much that night I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that 
 time forward chusing rather to sleep in y. open air before a fire as 
 will appear hereafter. 
 
 "Wednesday 23d Rain'd till about two o Clock & Clear'd when 
 we were agreeably surpris'd at y. sight of thirty odd Indians coming 
 from War with only one Scalp. We had some Licjuor with us of 
 which we gave them Part it elevating there Spirits put them in y. 
 Humour of Dauncing of whom we had a War Daunce there manner 
 of Dauncing is as follows Viz They clear a Large Circle & make a 
 Great Fire in y. middle then seats themselves around it y. Speaker 
 makes a grand Speech telling them in what Manner they are to 
 Daunce after he has finish'd y. best Dauncer Jumps up as one 
 
i6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 awaked out of a Sleep & Runs & Jumps about y- Ring in a most 
 cornicle Manner he is followed by y. Rest then begins there Musi- 
 cians to play ye Musick is a Pot half of Water with a Deerskin 
 streched over it as tight as it can & a goard with some Shott in it to 
 Rattle & a Piece of an horses Tail tied to it to make it look fine y. 
 one keeps Rattling and y. other Drumming all y. while y. others is 
 Dauncing. 
 
 "Saturday 26 Travelld up ye Creek to Solomon Hedges Esqr 
 one of his Majestys Justices of ye Peace for ye County of Frederick 
 where we camped when we came to Supper there was neither a Cloth 
 upon ye Table nor a knife to eat with but as good luck would have it 
 we had Knives of own. 
 
 "Tuesday 29th This Morning went out & Survey'd five Hundred 
 Acres of Land & went down to one Michael Stumps on ye So Fork 
 of ye Branch on our way Shot two Wild Turkies. 
 
 "Monday 4th this morning Mr. Fairfax left us with Intent to go 
 down to ye Mouth of ye Branch we did two Lots & was attended by 
 a great Company of People Men Women & Children that attended 
 us through ye Woods as we went showing there Antick tricks I real- 
 ly think they seem to be as Ignorant a Set of People as the Indians 
 they would never speak English but when spoken to they speak all 
 Dutch this day our Tent was blown down by ye Violentness of ye 
 Wind. 
 
 "Wednesday ye 13th of April 1748 Mr. Fairfax got safe home 
 and I myself safe to my Brothers which concludes my Journal" 
 
 It may be noted in passing, that Washington followed 
 the practice of double dating, between January i, and 
 March 25, as was the custom before the Gregorian calen- 
 dar was adopted in England in 1752. By some, March 
 25 was considered the beginning of the legal or civil 
 year. 
 
 This expedition of Washington's, in the employment 
 of Lord Fairfax, was the beginning of his fortunes. The 
 work was done so well that his services as a surveyor 
 were wanted by others. The boy-surveyor made a name 
 for himself, being unusually careful and accurate, as later 
 surveys have shown. Thus he was engaged the next 
 two and a half years. In the summer of 1 749, he was 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 17 
 
 appointed county-surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. 
 In securing this position he was aided by the influence 
 of his friend, Lord Fairfax, but his experience and per- 
 sonal fitness were his best recommendation. 
 
 An early sketch of Washington says he ' 'first set out 
 in the world as surveyor of Orange Country, an appoint- 
 ment of about half the value of a Virginia Rectory — i. 
 e, perhaps 100 1. a year." 
 
 This was a considerable income for a young man in 
 those days, when money was scarce in the colonies. 
 Washington was thrifty and prudent in his expeditures, 
 and made shrewd investments of his earnings in real es- 
 tate. Land was then more plentiful than money, and 
 was frequently offered for sale at a low price. The work 
 of surveying gave him an excellent opportunity to see 
 the country, and he purchased several choice tracts of 
 land for himself and for his brother Laurence. 
 
 Thus Washington by industry, economy and foresight, 
 laid the foundations for his after career of prosperity as 
 a farmer and public man. But strenuous endeavor and 
 business judgment do not account for the high degree of 
 success that he obtained. He had given attention to 
 character-building as something important as well as get- 
 ting on in the world. 
 
 When a boy in his teens he copied and studied with 
 evident care a list of more than a hundred rules of con- 
 duct. It is said that he found them in a book that fell 
 into his hands, Mather's "Young Man's Companion." It 
 shows how much thought he gave to the matter of de- 
 portment. Here are a few of the precepts in his "rules 
 
i8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 of civility and decent behavior in company and conver- 
 sation." They may well be pondered and followed by 
 young people to-day. 
 
 1. "Every action in company ought to be with some 
 sign of respect to those present. 
 
 2. "In the presence of others sing not to yourself with 
 a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet. 
 
 3. "Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others 
 stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk 
 not when others stop. 
 
 4. "Turn not your back to others, especially in speak- 
 ing; jog not the table or desk on which another reads 
 or writes; lean not on any one. 
 
 5. "Be no flatterer; neither play with any one that de- 
 lights not to be played with. 
 
 6. "Read no letters, books, or papers in company; but 
 when there is a necessity for doing it, you must ask leave. 
 Come not near the books or writings of any one so as to 
 read them, imless desired, nor give your opinion of them 
 unasked; also, look not nigh when another is writing a 
 letter. 
 
 7. "Let your countenance be pleasant, but in serious 
 matters somewhat grave. 
 
 8. "Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of anoth- 
 er, though he were your enemy. 
 
 9. "When you meet with one of greater quality than 
 yourself, stop and retire, especially if it be at a door or 
 any straight place, to give way for him to pass. 
 
 10. "They that are in dignity, or in office, have in all 
 places precedency; but whilst they are young they ouglU 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 19 
 
 to respect those that are their equals in birth, or other 
 qualities, though they have no public charge." 
 
 Says Lodge: "The one thought that runs through all 
 the sayings is to practice self-control, and no man ever 
 displayed that most difficult of virtues to such a degree 
 as George Washington." 
 
 An important factor in the training of George Wash- 
 ington was the influence of his oldest brother Laurence 
 (sometimes spelled Lawrence), who had been educated in 
 England and seen much of the world. He held the rank 
 of captain in an expedition to the West Indies, 1740-2, 
 and was a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 
 in 1748. His excellent character and his business abili- 
 ties made him a popular and influential legislator. For 
 centuries the Washingtons had been addicted to military 
 affairs, and a liking for war ran in the blood. The ex- 
 perience of Laurence as officer, and his leading position 
 in the county, led to his appointment as one of the four 
 Adjutant-Generals of Virginia, with the rank of major. 
 Through his influence George was appointed Adjutant- 
 General, with the rank of major, in 1751. His duties were 
 "to inspect and exercise the militia," in preparation for 
 an expected campaign against the French on the Ohio 
 River. The salary was $750 a year. George at once 
 set about to learn the art of war, and received instruction 
 in tactics and fencing from two old soldiers. The work 
 of surveying had come to an end, and he began his ca- 
 reer as a commander. 
 
 On account of failing health, Laurence Washington 
 was advised to try the climate of the West Indies. As 
 
20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 it was not thought prudent for him to take the trip alone, 
 George accompanied him on the voyage to Barbadoes 
 in the autumn of 1751. They remained on this island 
 several months; and, being members of an old aristocrat- 
 ic family, they were overwhelmed with attentions and 
 courtesies shown by hospitable gentlemen of Barbadoes. 
 George had the misfortune to be sick with the smallpox, 
 and returned to Virginia in March, 1752. A little later 
 Laurence came back to die at Mount Vernon, having 
 found no relief in the West Indies. 
 
 Washington's visit to Barbadoes forms an interesting 
 chapter in his history, because of the journal that he 
 kept. Though only nineteen, he ajipeared to have 
 reached the maturity of a man, and was perfectly at 
 home in the company of those older and more experi- 
 enced. 
 
 Says Dr. Toner in his introduction to Washington's 
 ' 'Barbadoes Journal :' ' 
 
 "Although he made no pretensions to having a fin- 
 ished education, or to being an extensive reader of books, 
 yet he was well informed in all the affairs of life, and his 
 manners and address proclaimed him a gentleman, and 
 clearly indicated that his associations were with men of 
 character and culture. If we had no other means of 
 knowing the fact, this Journal of itself, would show that 
 Washington possessed strong and acute natural powers 
 of observation, and that his mind was, for his years, 
 unusually matured and well stored with practical knowl- 
 edge and historical facts." 
 
 Like Shakespeare, Washington had frequently come 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 21 
 
 into contact with men of fine education, and he had 
 picked up a considerable store of general information in 
 conversation. He had profited by his intercourse with 
 refined people, and was familiar with the usages of good 
 society, although he had been living in the backwoods 
 among hunters and farmers. 
 
 This diary of the young Virginian shows marked im- 
 provement over his earlier Journal, already referred to. 
 In fact, it is a unique production. In its pages he "re- 
 corded a wonderful amount of information about the 
 island, its climate, the character of its soil, its product- 
 ions, population, commerce, resources, government, de- 
 fences, etc." 
 
 Washington's family connections contributed much to 
 his rapid rise in the Old Dominion. Acting the part of 
 a wise counselor and fatherly friend, Laurence Wash- 
 ington had brought his talented younger brother not on- 
 ly to the notice of Lord Fairfax, but to the Governor of 
 Virginia, who recognized the young man's abilities as 
 useful to the colony, and chose him for a post of honor 
 but of extreme difficulty. 
 
 In the middle of the eighteenth century, the French 
 and the English were both claimants of the country be- 
 tween the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. The French 
 claimed it on the strength of the discoveries of La Salle 
 in the seventeenth century, Laurence Washington had 
 been one of the originators of the Ohio Company, orga^ 
 nized about 1747, "to secure a share in the lucrative In- 
 dian trade, and with the prospect of opening to settle- 
 ment the lands on the upper waters of the Ohio." 
 
22 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Says the historian Shea, who edited Washington's 
 "Journal of a tour to the Ohio, in 1753:" 
 
 "Affairs had reached a crisis. France had colonized 
 Canada, Illinois, and Louisiana, and connected them by 
 detached posts, but the possession of the Ohio, so neces- 
 sary to the safety of her wide provincial power, was soon 
 to fall into the hands of her rival by the rapid progress 
 of English colonization. To set a barrier to its westward 
 progress, France determined to run a line of forts from 
 Niagara to the forks of the Ohio, and down that river. 
 The Indians first took the alarm when the tidings reached 
 the Ohio that a French force was on its way to erect this 
 line of forts, and a council of the wandering tribes, Min- 
 goes, Shawnees, and Delawares, meet at Logstown, and in 
 April, 1753, dispatched an envoy to Niagara to protest 
 against the action of the French. The protest was un- 
 heeded." 
 
 At this time Major Washington was a "person of dis- 
 tinction," having charge of the militia in the northern 
 district of Virginia. His frontier experience and ac- 
 quaintance with the Indians, as well as his rare tact and 
 physical endurance, fitted him for the public mission 
 that he was called upon to undertake. 
 
 In October, 1753, he was entrusted with a letter from 
 Governor Dinwiddle to the French Commander, demand- 
 ing the withdrawl of the French from the Ohio. He was 
 instructed to note carefully the movements of the French, 
 and to report. 
 
 Washington set out on his journey the same day that 
 he received his commission, Oct. 30. He engaged Jacob 
 
Washington on his Journey to Ohio. 
 From Lhe Painting by A. Chappell. 
 
24 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Van Braam, his old Dutch fencing- master, as a French 
 interpreter, and Christopher Gist, a noted frontiersman? 
 as a guide. Four others, Indian traders and servants, 
 completed the company. The enterprise was attended 
 by many dangers and hardships. 
 
 Arriving at the junction of the Ohio River and the 
 Monongahela, Washington was at once struck with the 
 idea that "the land in the fork" was "extremely well sit- 
 uated for a fort." It was a much better site than that 
 selected by the Ohio Company for its settlement at 
 McKee's Rocks, "a few miles below Pittsburgh." 
 
 In the latter part of November, he met some French 
 deserters who had been sent from New Orleans, and he 
 inquired about the French forts on the Mississippi be- 
 tween Illinois and New Orleans. 
 
 Later, Washington interviewed the Seneca chief Half- 
 King. He found the Indians exceedingly hard to man- 
 age. They were suspicious of the English as well as of 
 French. They looked on both as intruders, but were in- 
 clined to cast their lot with the English as needed al- 
 lies against the French. 
 
 The French officers received Washington politely, and, 
 when warmed with wine, explained freely the purpose of 
 the French to take possession of the Ohio. A few days 
 afterward, the commander told him that the country be- 
 longed to the French; "that no Englishman had a right 
 to trade upon those waters; and that he had orders to 
 make every person prisoner who attempted it on the 
 Ohio, or the waters of it." 
 
 An extraordinary importance attaches to Washington's 
 
GLORGE WASHINGTON. 25 
 
 diary that lie kept while on this expedition. This is the 
 entry for Dec. 16-22: 
 
 "The French were not slack in their inventions to 
 keep the Indians this day also: but as they were obli- 
 gated, according to promise, to give the present, they 
 then endeavored to try the power of liquor, which I doubt 
 not would have prevailed at any other time than this; 
 but I urged and insisted with the king so closely upon 
 his word, that he refrained, and set off with us as he had 
 engaged. 
 
 "We had a tedious and very fatiguing passage down the 
 creek. Several times we had liked to have been staved 
 against rocks; and many times we obliged all hands to 
 get out and remain in the water half an hour or more 
 getting over the shoals. At one place the ice had lodged 
 and made it impossible by water; therefore we were 
 obliged to carry our canoe across a neck of land, a quar- 
 ter of a mile over. We did not reach Venango, till the 
 2 2d, where we met with our horses. * * * 
 
 "The horses were now so weak and feeble, and the 
 baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the 
 necessaries which the journey w^ould require) that we 
 doubted much their performing it; therefore myself and 
 others (except the drivers, who were obliged to ride) gave 
 up our horses for packs, to assist along with the baggage. 
 I put myself in an Indian walking dress, and continued 
 with them three days, till I found there was no probabil- 
 ity of their getting home in any reasonable time. The 
 horses grew less able to travel every day; the cold in- 
 creased very fast; and the roads were becoming much 
 
26 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 worse by a deep snow, continually freezing: Therefore as 
 I was uneasy to get back to make a report of my pro- 
 ceedings to his honour, the governor, I determined to 
 prosecute my journey the nearest way through the 
 woods on foot. * * * * 
 
 "The day following, [Dec. 27] just after we passed a 
 place called the murdering town (where we intended .o 
 quit the path and steer across the country for Shanna- 
 pins Town) we fell in with a party of French Indians, 
 who had lain in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. 
 Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed. 
 We took this fellow in custody, and kept him till about 
 9 o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked all the 
 remainder part of the night without making any stop, 
 that we might get the start so far, as to be out of the 
 reach of their pursuit the next day, since we were well 
 assured they would follow our track as soon as it was 
 light. The next day we continued travelling till quite 
 dark, and got to the river, about two miles above Shan- 
 napins. We expected to have found the river frozen, 
 but it was not, only about fifty yards from each shore. 
 The ice, I suppose, had broken up above, for it was driv- 
 ing in vast quantities. 
 
 "There was no way for getting over but on a raft, 
 which we set about with but one poor hatchet, and fin- 
 ished just after sunsetting. This was a whole day's work. 
 Then set off; but before we were half way over, we were 
 jammed in the ice in such a manner, that we expected 
 every moment our raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. 
 I put out my setting pole to try to stop the raft, that the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 27 
 
 ice might pass by: when the rapidity of the stream threw 
 it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked 
 me out into ten feet water; but I fortunately saved myself 
 by catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwithstand- 
 ing all our efforts, we could not get the raft to either 
 shore; but were obliged, as we were near an island, to 
 quit our raft and make to it. 
 
 "The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had 
 all his fingers, and some of his toes frozen; but the water 
 was shut up so hard, that we found no difficulty in get- 
 ting off the island on the ice, in the morning. * * 
 
 "On the nth of Jan. 1754, I got to Belvoir, where I 
 stopped one day to take necessary rest; and then set out, 
 and arrived in Williamsburgh the i6th, when I waited 
 upon his honour, the Governor, with the letter I had 
 brought from the French Commandant, and to give an 
 account of the success of my proceedings." 
 
 Washington's Journal was published immediately after 
 his return. It was read widely in the colonies, and made 
 his name known and respected in England. It is a terse, 
 simple narrative, without rhetorical flourishes. He was 
 modest in referring to his own deeds and adventures. 
 He accomplished the purpose for which he had been 
 sent; his success as a diplomat and his prowess as a 
 woodsman called forth general admiration and praise. 
 
 The designs of the French were now known to all, 
 and the leading men of the colonies realized that armed 
 resistance was necessary to repel them. The common 
 people, however, were not stirred with martial enthusi- 
 asm at the prospect of war over the French-English 
 
28 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 claims to the lands of the Ohio. The Virginians were 
 most interested, yet they were reluctant to take the field. 
 To stimulate enlistments, Governor Dinwiddie, promised 
 as a bounty to the officers and soldiers of the expedition, 
 200,000 acres of what is now called West Virginia. Two 
 companies of one hundred men each were raised at once, 
 and one hundred and fifty men later. A company of 
 frontiersmen, under Captain Trent, were to finish the fort 
 (partly built by the Ohio Company)" on the site that 
 Washington had selected for its strategical value, at the 
 junction of the two rivers. 
 
 Washington, in command of another company, was 
 instructed to act on the defensive, and to prevent French 
 encroachments by force, if necessary. War was not yet 
 declared, yet this was really the beginning of a long ser- 
 ies of conflicts between France and England. 
 
 The campaign to the Ohio in the spring of 1754, end- 
 ed in inevitable failure, but not through the fault of 
 Washington, whose management of the expedition was 
 in the main admirable. There was not much fighting. 
 In a skirmish near Great Meadows (May 28), Washing- 
 ton surprised and attacked a detachment of the French, 
 taking twenty-one prisoners. The killing of the French 
 leader, Jumonville, and ten of his men, was an act not 
 altogether justifiable. The French called it assassination, 
 a term that Americans resent. 
 
 Washington retired before a superior force of French 
 and Indians, probably a thousand or more. The coloni- 
 al troops numbered less than four hundred, including a 
 company of Carolinians under Captain MacKaye. Their 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 29 
 
 supplies and ammunition were nearly gone, a heavy rain 
 wet their powder, and matters reached a desperate pass 
 at Fort Necessity. They surrendered (July 3) with hon- 
 ors of war, being allowed to march back with their arms. 
 
 This was the best that Washington could do in the 
 face of adverse circumstances. He returned home as 
 Col. Washington, and received the thanks of the Virgin- 
 ia Legislature for his heroic efforts to save Fort Necessi- 
 ty. He had learned some valuable lessons, concerning 
 border warfare, and his conduct was such as to deserve 
 high praise. He was courageous, even to rashness, and 
 declared that he loved to hear the whistling of the bul- 
 lets. 
 
 Meanwhile, the French built Fort Duquesne, and con- 
 tinued their depredations. The spot that they chose for 
 a stronghold was the very place which the English had 
 been forced to abandon. The city of Pittsburgh now 
 stands on this historic site. 
 
 At last the English Government was roused to action, 
 and sent two regiments of regulars to America. The de- 
 tails of Braddock's expedition, and defeat in 1755, are 
 familiar to every school boy who has dipped into history. 
 There is no need to repeat them here. The French and 
 Indians, under cover of trees, made a sudden attack on 
 the English forces in a narrow way. A terrible slaughter 
 followed, the regulars not being used to such fighting. 
 
 Washington, who was one of Braddock's aids, greatly 
 distinguished himself on that fatal field. With coolness 
 and entire self-command, he fearlessly rode here and there 
 trying in vain to rally his fleeing troops. Braddock and 
 
30 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 most of his officers were killed, but Washington bore a 
 charmed life. Writing of the rout and his extreme per- 
 il to his brother, he says: 
 
 "By the all powerful dispensation of providence, I 
 have been protected beyond all human probability or ex- 
 pectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and 
 two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, though 
 death was levelling my companions on every side of me. 
 We have been most scandalously beaten by a trifling 
 body of men. A feeble state of health obliges me to 
 halt here for two or three days to recover a little strength 
 that I may thereby be enabled to proceed homeward with 
 more ease." 
 
 There may be some truth in the story that Custis tells 
 of the effect of Washington's reckless daring on the Ifi- 
 dians who fought on the side of the French in that bloody 
 battle. It is in the chapter of "Recollections of Wash- 
 ington" on "The Indian Prophecy." When Col. Wash- 
 ington and some woodsmen were locating the lands of 
 Kanawha in 1770, they were visited by a party of Indi- 
 ans. One of them was a grand sachem, who had been 
 present in the battle of Monongahela. He remembered 
 Washington well, and thus addressed him: 
 
 "I am a chief, and the ruler over many tribes. My 
 influence extends to the waters of the great lakes, and to 
 the far blue mountains. I have travelled a long and 
 weary path, that I might see the young warrior of the 
 great battle. It was on the day, when the white man's 
 blood mixed with the streams of our forest, that I first 
 beheld this chief: I called to my young men and said, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 31 
 
 mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red- 
 coat tribe — he hath an Indian's wisdom, and his warri- 
 ors fight as we do — himself is alone exposed. Quick, 
 let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were 
 levelled, rifles which, but for him, knew not how to miss 
 — 'twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shield- 
 ed him from harm. He cannot die in battle. I am old, 
 and soon shall be gathered to the great council-fire of my 
 fathers, in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is a 
 something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy. List- 
 en ! The great spirit protects that man, and guides his 
 destinies — he will become the chief of nations, and a peo- 
 ple yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty 
 empire.'" 
 
 In his report of the battle to the Governor, Washing- 
 ton wrote: 
 
 "We continued our march from Fort Cumberland to 
 Frazer's (which is within seven miles from Duquesne) 
 without meeting any extraordinary event, having only a 
 straggler or two picked up by the French Indians. 
 When we came to this place we were attacked (very un- 
 expectedly) by about three hundred French and Indians. 
 Our numbers consisted of about thirteen hundred well- 
 armed men, chiefly regulars, who were immediately struck 
 with such an inconceivable panic that nothing but con- 
 fusion and disobedience of orders prevailed among them. 
 The officers in general behaved with incomparable brav- 
 ery, for which they greatly suffered, there being nearly 
 sixty killed and wounded, a large proportiou of the num- 
 ber we had. 
 
32 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 "The Virginia Companies behaved like men, and died 
 like soldiers; for, I believe, out of three Companies that 
 were on the ground that day, scarce thirty were left 
 alive." 
 
 Washington returned to Mount Vernon disheartened, 
 and suffering from broken health. He had served his 
 country at a considerable personal sacrifice, and he was 
 averse to accept this proffered command of the Virginia 
 Regiment raised soon afterward. But he practically had 
 no choice in the matter; the people looked to him as a 
 leader and would have no other. Besides he had the 
 soldier spirit in him, and the attractions of a military ca- 
 reer were too great to resist. "My inclinations are strong- 
 ly bent to arms," he wrote in a letter (Nov. 15, 1754.) 
 
 He felt it his duty, too, to form plans to protect the 
 frontier settlements from the robberies and attacks of the 
 French and Indians. So three years passed in active 
 military service. 
 
 In 1758, Washington, as commander-in-chief of the 
 Virginia Volunteers, took part in an expedition against 
 Fort Duquesne, led by General Forbes. The fort was 
 abandoned and burned (Nov. 24), before the English 
 reached the Ohio. On its site they built Fort Pitt, named 
 in honor of the great Prime Minister. 
 
 War, however, did not occupy all of Washington's 
 time and thoughts. He was a cavalier and lover, as well 
 as a soldier. From drafts of letters still extant, written 
 in his seventeenth year, it appears that the young sur- 
 veyor was a susceptible youth. His passion sometimes 
 found expression in rather poor verse. It is said that he 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 33 
 
 was once attached to Sally Gary, who became the wife 
 of his friend, George William Fairfax (brother of Mrs. 
 Laurence Washington). Later, when commander of the 
 Virginia forces, he was favored with the acquaintance of 
 many charming women, and he was involved in more 
 
 Washington's First Interview with Mrs. Custis. 
 From Schroeder's "Life of Washington." 
 
 than one affair of the heart. There is a story to the ef- 
 fect that he greatly admired Miss Mary Philipse of New 
 York, but the wooing of this lady was interrupted; his 
 duty as an officer called him to the front, and another 
 won her. 
 
 In May, 1758, Washington was called to Williams- 
 burgh to confer with the Governor in regard to the con- 
 dition of the Virginia troops. While riding thither on 
 
34 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 horseback with his servant, he stopped for dinner one 
 day at the mansion of a hospitable planter. Here he 
 was introduced to a lovely young widow, whose manners 
 and conversation were so pleasing that he stayed all the 
 afternoon. The next day he rode away, a captive to the 
 fascinations of Mrs. Martha Custis, whom he courted and 
 married (Jan. 6, 1759). She was the widow of Col. Dan- 
 iel Parke Custis, a wealthy gentleman who left forty-five 
 thousand pounds sterling in money and large estates; 
 she had two small children, Martha and John. "The 
 marriage was celebrated in the good old hospitable Vir- 
 ginia style, amid a joyous assemblage of relatives and 
 friends. " 
 
 The union proved to be a very happy one. Washing- 
 ton was fondly attached to his wife, and through life 
 wore on his bosom a miniature portrait of her. Martha 
 Washington was tenderly devoted to her husband, for 
 whom she felt the highest admiration. She adorned his 
 household at Mount Vernon, accompanied him on some 
 of his campaigns in the Revolution, and presided with 
 grace and dignity over his home at the Capital as the 
 first lady of the land. She died May 22, 1802, aged sev- 
 enty. No children were born to them, but Washington 
 exercised the closest care over the Custis children, and 
 adopted Mrs. Washington's grandchildren — Eleanor 
 Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis. 
 
 After his marriage, George Washington was the wealth- 
 iest man in the Old Dominion, if not in the colonies. 
 In those days there were no millionaires in America. It 
 is hard to say what was the value of his possessions be- 
 
 II 
 
Martha Washington. 
 
 <From the Painting by John Woolaston. Courtesy of D. Appleion & Co.) 
 
36 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 fore the War for Independence. The estate of Mount 
 Vernon (consisting of 2500 acres) became his property in 
 1753 by the will of Laurence Washington, who be- 
 queathed it to "his beloved brother George" — after his 
 daughter Sarah, who died whdn an infant. Besides oth- 
 er estates in Virginia, he owned extensive tracts of land 
 (more than 30,000 acres) in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and 
 on the Ohio. At the time of his death, his lands, slaves, 
 stock, etc. were worth more than half a million dollars. 
 
 Washington at thirty and later was a man of imposing 
 appearance. Perhaps the earliest portraiture of the man 
 is that by Captain George Mercer of Virginia, one who 
 knew him intimately: 
 
 "He may be described as being as straight as any In- 
 dian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, and 
 weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House 
 of Burgesses in 1759. His frame is padded with well- 
 developed muscles, indicating great strength. His bones 
 and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is 
 wide shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is 
 neat wristed, but is broad across the hips, and has rather 
 long legs and arms. His head is well shaped though 
 not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A 
 large and straight rather than a prominent nose; blue- 
 gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and 
 overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than 
 broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a 
 good firm chin. He has a clear though rather a color- 
 less skin, which burns with the sun. A pleasing, be- 
 nevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 37 
 
 brown hair, which he wears in a cue. His mouth is 
 large and generally firmly closed, but which from time 
 to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are 
 regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face un- 
 der perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep 
 feeling when moved by emotions. In conversation he 
 looks you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential and 
 engaging. His voice is agreeable rather than strong. 
 His demeanor at all times is composed and dignified. 
 His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk ma- 
 jestic, and he is a splendid horseman." 
 
 After the capture of Quebec by Wolfe, in 1759, French 
 domination was at an end in the disputed territory of the 
 Ohio, and the land was at peace. Washington was pre- 
 eminently a man of peace, and was glad to return to pri- 
 vate life and took his bride to Mount Vernon, a home 
 that he loved. He thus describes it in a letter written 
 about this time: 
 
 "No estate in United America is more pleasantly situ- 
 ated. In a high and healthy country; in a latitude be- 
 tween the extremes of heat and cold; on one of the finest 
 rivers in the world — a river well stocked with various 
 kinds offish at all seasons of the year, and in the spring 
 with shad, herring, bass, carp, sturgeon, &c. , in great 
 abundance. The borders of the estate are washed by 
 more than ten miles tide-water; several valuable fisheries 
 appertain to it; the whole shore, in fact, is one fishery." 
 
 Washington was always a hard worker. He rose ear- 
 ly and got through an amazing amount of business dur- 
 ing the day. He was in his saddle much of the time. 
 
38 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 riding about his farms and directing affairs personally. 
 He was a flourishing farmer. He took a special pride in 
 having everything on his farms first-class. He did much 
 to improve the somewhat rude and primitive methods of 
 agriculture of his day. He was fond of the chase, and 
 
 Home of Washington. Mt. Vernon. 
 
 delighted in riding after hounds with a party of friends. 
 For more than fifteen years (1759-75), Washington 
 was a member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. 
 He was a model legislator, concerned for the public wel- 
 fare. He was not a man of many words, but he was al- 
 ways heard with respect, and the opinions of no other 
 man in the assembly had more weight. He was con- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 39 
 
 stantly serving on committees, in which his sound sense 
 and wide knowledge of affairs were utilized in shaping 
 the important measures of the colony. 
 
 In the first Continental Congress (1774), to which he 
 was a delegate, he gained a reputation for practical wis- 
 dom, not surpassed by any other man in that illustrious 
 body. 
 
 American history cannot be intelligently read without 
 constant reference to English history. The colonists 
 came honestly by their love of freedom. They had in- 
 herited from their Saxon ancestors the disposition to re- 
 volt against unjust and oppressive authority. The strug- 
 gle for constitutional liberty in England in the seven- 
 teenth century had its bearing on the struggle for inde- 
 pendence in America in the eighteenth century. George 
 the Third's governmental policy or theory of monarchy 
 was substantially that of Charles I. The principles of 
 Magna Charta were violated by the Stamp Act and the 
 Tea Tax. Injustice was done the colonists by the Nav- 
 igation Laws, and other measures were passed by Parlia- 
 ment that were calculated to irritate and lead to conflict. 
 The stupidity and obstinacy of George III made concili- 
 ation- out of the question. 
 
 Washington's attitude toward the mother country was 
 one of affectionate regard. He shrank from the thought 
 of separation from England. The ties that bound the 
 colonies to the Old World were not to be lightly broken. 
 He appreciated the service that the British Government 
 had rendered the provincials in the French and Indian 
 Wars. He advised patience, until patience ceased to be 
 
40 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 a virtue. There was a limit to forbearance, and he 
 thought it was reached in 1774. Further submission 
 seemed like folly. The colonists had to fight for their 
 rights, or basely yield and lose their self-respect. The 
 final plunge was taken and a new nation was born, a na- 
 tion founded on the idea of democratic equality. 
 
 In the exciting events leading up to the Revolution, 
 Washington took no insignificant part. It was not so 
 much the part of the orator as of a counselor. He was 
 no noisy agitator or impractical dreamer. He made few 
 speeches in the Virginia Assembly, and in the Continen- 
 tal Congress, but what he said was to the point and care- 
 fully weighed. He was slow to make up his mind; he 
 long hoped for peaceful adjustment of this quarrel be- 
 tween America and Britain. Once having determined 
 on the right course to take, he never thought of giving 
 up. 
 
 The years 1775-80, were years of testing, and some of 
 the revolutionists were tried and found wanting. Wash- 
 ington was made of different stuff. He had the qualities 
 of a great leader, but his inspiring example, as well as 
 his leadership, carried the day. There were moments of 
 fearful anxiety, and dark hours when failure stared them 
 in the face. Though many despaired, Washington nev- 
 er lost courage. He never wavered in his confidence of 
 the ultimate success of the colonists' cause. If the worst 
 came and they should be driven from their homes on the 
 sea-coast, he knew that they could retire to the interior 
 of the continent and found an empire in the west, where 
 they would be safe from British interference. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 41 
 
 July 4, 1776, must always be regarded as one of the 
 principal dates in the world's history. It was the begin- 
 ning of a new era in the annals of mankind. Americans 
 do well to celebrate the day when the Declaration of In- 
 dependence was signed. 
 
 National independence was not won in a single day, 
 nor was it the work of one man. The country then stood 
 in need of all its patriots, heroes, and sages. The con- 
 summation of their hopes required the talents and exer- 
 tions of an untold number: Franklin's shrewdness, 
 Henry's eloquence, Jefferson's learning, and the impas- 
 sioned logic of Samuel Adams were needed, as well as 
 the sagacity and generalship of Washington. 
 
 The gifts of all were needed and utilized. To extol 
 the part of Washington in the long and hard-fought 
 struggle for independence is not to depreciate the share 
 of the other colonial generals and statesmen. Nor should 
 the deeds of valor and the patient sacrifices of the rank 
 and file be forgotten; and praise is due to the loyal work- 
 ers at home, who supplied the sinews of war, and helped 
 achieve the victories of the armies in the field. The co- 
 operation of foreign nations, too, must be remembered, 
 for they contributed much to the success of American 
 arms. Yet, when all this is borne in mind, it is not too 
 much to say that Washington was the presiding spirit 
 without whom all might have failed. 
 
 In May, 1775, the second Continental Congress met 
 at Philadelphia. The time for petitions had passed. 
 Preparations for war were to be made, for blood had al- 
 ready been shed at Lexington, where the New England 
 
42 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 militia met the fire of British Regulars. On June 15, 
 Col. George Washington, one of the delegates from Vir- 
 ginia, was unanimously elected commander of the colon- 
 ial army. This was Washington's reply to the President 
 of Congress, who announced his appointment as "Gener- 
 al in chief of all the American forces:' ' 
 
 "Though I am truly sensible of the high honor done me in this ap- 
 pointment, yet, I feel great disfress from a consciousness, that my 
 abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive 
 and important trust. However, as the congress desire it, I will enter 
 upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their 
 service and for support of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept 
 my most cordial thanks for this distinguished testimony of their ap- 
 probation. 
 
 "Bat, lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my 
 reputation, 1 beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the 
 room, that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think 
 myself equal to the command I am honored with. 
 
 "As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the congress, that as no pe- 
 cuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous 
 employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do 
 not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of 
 my expenses. Those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all 
 I desire." 
 
 In keeping with this modest and characteristic state- 
 ment of a truly disinterested man is the earnest remark 
 in a letter to his wife, written about this time: "As it 
 has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this 
 service, I shall hope that my undertaking of it is designed 
 to answer some good purpose." 
 
 It may be well to quote here the testimony of one of 
 Washington's contemporaries, John Bell, of Maryland, 
 writing in 1779: 
 
 "With one common voice he was called forth to the 
 defense of his country; and it is, perhaps, his peculiar 
 glory, that there was not a single inhabitant of these 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 43 
 
 itates, except himself, who did not approve the choice 
 and place the firmest confidence in his integrity and 
 ability." 
 
 There were not many battles fought in the American 
 Revolution. The opportunity in war does not often 
 come for a "decisive stroke." Perhaps there were only 
 three important engagements — at Brooklyn, Saratoga, 
 and Yorktown. Washington failed in military opera- 
 tions around New York in the summer of 1776; the de- 
 feat of the Anglo-German army at Saratoga in 1777 was 
 the result of his planning, though he was not present; 
 with the help of the French army and fleet, he caused 
 the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. 
 
 Washington's successes may be quickly enumerated — 
 at Boston (March 17,1776), Trenton (December 26, 1776), 
 Princeton (January 3, 1777), and Yorktown (October 19, 
 1 781). The indecisive engagement at Monmouth (June 
 28, 1778) might also be included. The battles that 
 Washington lost were fought at Brooklyn (August 27, 
 1776), White Plains (October 28, 1776), Brandywine 
 (September II, 1777), and Germantown (Oct. 4, 1777). 
 
 This seems at first sight a rather poor showing. But, 
 when the circumstances are taken into account, the won- 
 der is that Washington accomplished so much with the 
 means at his disposal. With so many emergencies to 
 meet, it was a herculean undertaking to keep things mov- 
 ing. There were other obstacles to overcome besides 
 hostile armies. 
 
 He had few men, and they were poorly fed and clothed. 
 The colonial troops were undisciplined, and the task of 
 
44 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 drilling and organizing them into an effective array was 
 no light one. The colonies lacked the money requisite 
 to hire and keep a standing army. The terms of enlist- 
 ment were short, and after a campaign or two they re- 
 turned home to the plow and the anvil. Then a fresh 
 lot of raw recruits had to be drilled and transformed into 
 seasoned warriors. Writing to his brother (February 24, 
 1777), Washington refers in his characteristic manner to 
 the militia, "whose ways, like the ways of Providence, 
 are almost inscrutable, who are here to-day and gone to- 
 morrow." 
 
 A depreciated currency was partly responsible for this 
 deplorable state of affairs. At the beginning of the strug- 
 gle, coin was scarce — besides four or five million dollars 
 in specie in the treasury, there was perhaps fifteen mill- 
 ion in specie in circulation (less than $5 per capita). As 
 the volume of paper money increased, its value declined. 
 In September, 1778, $1 in specie would exchange for $4 
 in continental currency; in September, 1779, for $18; in 
 March, 1780, for $40, and later for hundreds. 
 
 Again, the equipment of the colonial army was pain- 
 fully inadequate. There was little powder in the coun- 
 try, and a scarcity of guns and artillery. Supplies were 
 slow in coming. In a word, the colonies were not ready 
 for war on a large scale. Without the moral support 
 and financial assistance of the Dutch (who loaned the 
 new nation four million dollars) and the help of 
 France and Spain, they would have been reduced to a 
 desperate extremity, and the outcome might have been 
 different. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 45 
 
 The people too, were not a unit on tlie subject of re- 
 sistance. There were many Royalist Americans — Tories 
 they were called — who sympathized with the English 
 and aided them in a thousand ways. Some of them were 
 high officials and persons of wealth. This crippled the 
 fighting resources of the country. 
 
 In the army itself there was too often friction and lack 
 of harmony, instead of the sinking of personal prefer- 
 ences for the common good. There were rivalries and 
 dissensions among the officers — to say nothing about 
 treason — which greatly annoyed and embarrassed the 
 chief. Sectional quarrels and disturbances were frequent 
 in the ranks. 
 
 During the first three or four years of the war, Wash- 
 ington had a world of trouble with congress; he was 
 hampered in carrying out his plans by meddlesome pol- 
 iticians. Finally congress gained enough confidence in 
 the head of the army to let him use his own judgment. 
 
 Place-hunters were then as importunate as now. The 
 commander was beset by a horde of "hungry adventur- 
 ers" from Europe, eager for commissions in the colonial 
 army. These could not be accommodated when there 
 was better fighting material among the Provincials. 
 While it is true that Lafayette, Steuben, Pulaski, Kosci- 
 usko, and other foreigners rendered valuable service in 
 the Revolution, they were the exception. Most of the 
 would-be officers from abroad were of no account as sol- 
 diers. 
 
 In no one thing was Washington's judgment more 
 manifest than in the selection of his assistants, who were 
 
46 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the main faithful and efficient public servants. Among 
 the scores of Major-Generals and Brigadiers who served 
 under him were several able commanders — Greene, Ward, 
 Schuyler, Arnold, Knox, Marion, Hamilton, and others. 
 Of these, perhaps Greene made the best military record. 
 The intrigues of the Conway cabal form the details of 
 
 a disgraceful chapter 
 of Revolutionary his- 
 tory. General Wash- 
 ington, however, was 
 too firmly entrenched 
 in the affections and 
 the regard of the peo- 
 ple to be thrown aside 
 for one less worthy. 
 He was easily first, 
 and there was no sec- 
 ond. Faction spent 
 itself in vain, trying 
 to deprive him of his rightful supremacy. The tribute of 
 Lodge is not exaggerated: "The soldiers and the people, 
 high and low, rich and poor, gave him an unstinted 
 loyalty." 
 
 The army of which General Washington assumed com- 
 mand at Cambridge, Mass. (July 3, 1775), consisted of 
 about 14,500 troops from New England. These were 
 stationed to good advantage about Boston — Major-Gen- 
 eral Artemas Ward, commanding the right wing on the 
 heights of Roxbury, Major-General Charles Lee, the left 
 wing on Winter and Prospect Hills, and Major-General 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, Washington's Secretary 
 during the early period of the Revolution. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 47 
 
 Israel Putnam, the center at Cambridge. During the 
 summer, several companies of riflemen were raised in 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and marched to 
 Cambridge. At first "confusion and discord reigned," to 
 use Washington's own words, but gradually he brought 
 order out of chaos. 
 
 Early in August the 
 alarming discovery was 
 made that there was less 
 than ten thousand pounds 
 of powder in camp, Wash- 
 ington was thunderstruck 
 with astonishment. Had 
 Gage, the British General 
 in command at Boston, 
 attacked them then, he 
 could have inflicted ter- 
 rible punishment. The 
 danger was concealed, and disaster averted by piling up 
 barrels of sand labelled powder. After innumerable de- 
 lays, supplies of ammunition and ordnance were ob- 
 t-^ined. 
 
 In September an expedition was got ready to march 
 through Maine into Canada, and thence to Quebec and 
 Montreal. One detachment of eleven hundred men was 
 led by Col. Benedict Arnold; the other by General Rich- 
 ard Montgomery. The campaign was well planned and 
 almost succeeded. The soldiers suffered intensely from 
 cold and hunger. Montreal was taken, but the assault 
 on Quebec (Dec. 31) failed. 
 
 ^. ,,_. if >.^ 
 
 Gen. Charles Lee. 
 Bom 1731. Died 1782. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 In the autumn several cruisers were fitted out to prey 
 on British commerce, and to intercept supplies on the 
 way for the British army at Boston. They succeeded in 
 doing considerable damage to English shipping and cap- 
 tured some valuable store-ships. 
 
 In the winter the American troops were actively en- 
 gaged on the fortifications near 
 Boston, and preparations were 
 begun for the defense of Rhode 
 Island, New York, and other 
 exposed points. 
 
 In December Mrs. Washing- 
 ton arrived at Cambridge and 
 her presence brightened camp- 
 life for the General. The so- 
 ber New Englanders being im- 
 used to showy equipages, her 
 coming in the family coach 
 drawn by four horses, attended by colored servants in 
 livery, made a sensation in the sleepy town. 
 
 Meanwhile a new army was raised, the first Continen- 
 tal army enlisted for 1776. On January i, "the Union 
 Flag, composed of thirteen alternate red and white 
 stripes," was first displayed. 
 
 A few weeks later Col. Henry Knox reached the camp 
 with a train of artillery, cannons and mortars, captured 
 from the enemy at Ticonderoga. The new soldiers were 
 ill-supplied with arms. "There are near 2000 men now 
 in camp without firelocks, " writes Washington (Febru- 
 ary 9). Unprepared as they were, he was in favor of an 
 
 Gen. Richard Montgomery. 
 Born 1736. Died 1775. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 49 
 
 attack on the British lines in Boston, but was overruled 
 by a council of war. 
 
 At last, supplied with powder and cannon, Washing- 
 ton improved the long-looked-for opportunity to strike. 
 During the night of March 4, a furious cannonade was 
 kept up. Under cover of darkness the American troops 
 seized Dorchester Heights, which commanded the city, 
 and threw up entrenchments. The men worked with a 
 will and planted cannon the next day, while the Eng- 
 lish waited. The indolent Howe, who had succeeded 
 Gage, was disposed to take things easy. Finding his 
 position in Boston untenable without a conflict, he speed- 
 ily departed (March 1 7), embarking all of his forces and 
 leaving behind a large quantity of arms and baggage. 
 
 This success of Washington's was an occasion of much 
 rejoicing to the Bostonians and greatly encouraged the 
 whole country. As Howe had a well-equipped army of 
 experienced soldiers and a strong fleet, he might have 
 made an effective resistance. His inefficiency called 
 forth the sarcastic remark, that "any other General in 
 the world would have beaten General Washington; and 
 any other General in the world than General Washing- 
 ton would have beaten General Howe." 
 
 This rather grudging praise does not give Washing- 
 ton his full share of credit. The victory was the result 
 of wise foresight and careful planning, of persistent and 
 untiring effort during the months of the preceding 
 autumn and winter. Washington had now a good army, 
 fairly well equipped. "Method and exactness are the 
 fort of his character," writes one of his contemporaries. 
 
50 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 and he carried these qualities into the conduct of the 
 war. The difficulties that he had to contend against 
 were enormous, and he set about industriously to over- 
 come them with business-like sagacity. 
 
 Washington was a strict disciplinarian, yet he had the 
 power of attaching soldiers to him and of securing their 
 hearty co-operation. Says an Ar^erican gentleman liv- 
 ing in London (i'779)* 
 
 "He punishes neglect of duty with great severity, but 
 is ver}' tender and indulgent to recruits until they learn 
 
 the articles of war and their exercise perfectly He 
 
 has made the art of war his particular study; his plans 
 are in general good and well digested; he is particularly 
 careful of securing a retreat, but his chief qualifications 
 are steadiness, perseverance and secrecy; any act of 
 bravery he is sure to reward, and make a short eulogium 
 on the occasion to the person and his fellow soldiers (if 
 it be a soldier in the ranks)." 
 
 One secret of Washington's success as a commander 
 was the force of his personality, which impressed officers 
 and men alike. It was not only his soldierly bearing 
 and his stately figure, his strong will and passionate na- 
 ture made him respected as a leader. Underneath a 
 placid exterior was a fiery temper, usually well con- 
 trolled, whose occasional outbursts of anger they dread- 
 ed. Here was a man not to be trifled with, one who 
 insisted on obedience to orders. Soldiering under Wash- 
 ington was not play. 
 
 As it was expected that New York would be the next 
 objective point of attack by the English army and fleet, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTOx\. 51 
 
 the work of preparing defenses went on expeditiously, 
 and early in April the colonial army marched thither. 
 There was a delay on the part of General Howe, whose 
 fleet remained at Halifax a few months to await re- 
 enforcements from England. 
 
 The movement against New York was made in the 
 summer, and British troops landed on Staten Island 
 (July 3). Later they were re-enforced by others. Wash- 
 ington writes (July 22) that "the enemy's numbers will 
 amount at least to twenty-five thousand men ; ours to 
 about fifteen thousand." He underestimated the strength 
 of the British, whose combined forces were 31,625 (Au- 
 gust i), while less than 11,000 of his own men were on 
 duty. 
 
 A battle was expected, and Washington essayed to 
 nerve his troops with resolution and hope. These man- 
 ly words appear in the Orderly Book for August 23 : 
 
 "The Enemy have now landed on Long Island, and the 
 hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Suc- 
 cess of this Army and the Safety of our Bleeding Coun- 
 try will depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that 
 you are freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty, 
 that Slavery will be your portion, and that of your pos- 
 terity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men." 
 
 General Howe debarked 15,000 troops on Long Island 
 (August 22), and another division was landed (August 
 25). In the battle of Long Island (August 27), the 
 Americans (four or five thousand) were commanded by 
 General John Sullivan, owing to the illness of General 
 Nathaniel Greene, who had prepared the lines of de- 
 
52 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 fense. Not knowing the ground well, he was taken by 
 surprise and his division hemmed in by a superior force 
 (eight or nine thousand), under Sir Henry Clinton. 
 They suffered a heavy loss of men killed and captured. 
 With a long line of posts to guard, Washington was 
 powerless to aid them ; from a hill in Brooklyn he 
 watched the battle and saw with anguish the rout and 
 surrender of Lord Stirling's division of Maryland bat- 
 talions. 
 
 The next day in a council of war it was determined 
 "to give up Long Island, and not, by dividing the force, 
 be unable to resist the enemy in any one point of at- 
 tack." The victor, feeling sure of his prey, failed to 
 follow up his advantage at once, as a great general would 
 have done. A little skirmishing took place on August 
 28, but the assault on the works was postponed. The 
 dilatory tactics of Howe enabled Washington to slip out 
 of his grasp. 
 
 Boats were obtained, and on the following night the 
 American forces (nine thousand) embarked and escaped, 
 unobserved by the British, in the rain and mist. Refer- 
 ring to their passage across East River, Washington 
 wrote: "For forty-eight hours preceding that, I had hard- 
 ly been off my horse, and never closed my eyes." This 
 retreat, as Lodge truly observes, "was a feat of arms as 
 great as most victories." 
 
 There being no prospect of holding New York, Wash- 
 ington marched northward (September 13), leaving the 
 city in possession of the enemy. There were occasional 
 skirmishes, the most notable at Harlem, but not much 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 53 
 
 fighting before the battle near White Plains (about 
 twenty-six miles northeast of New York). On October 
 28 a detachment of fifteen or sixteen hundred troops, un- 
 der General Alexander McDougall, was defeated on Chat- 
 terton Hill by five thousand of the British. Howe was 
 deterred from attacking the main body of Washington's 
 
 Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh. 
 
 army, two miles away, by a very formidable-looking, 
 but rather unsubstantial, embankment of corn-stalks 
 with the roots turned outward. Not availing themselves 
 of the slight advantage gained, the English broke up 
 camp and withdrew southward. 
 
 Washington followed with his army and arrived at 
 
54 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fort Lee (November 13). On November 16, the English 
 took by storm Fort Washington on Manhattan Island, 
 not far from Fort Lee. It was bravely defended by a 
 garrison of nearly three thousand men under Col. Magaw, 
 who was forced to surrender. The place had been held 
 against Washington's advice, and he felt the loss most 
 keenly, because unnecessary. "This," he wrote (Nov. 
 19), "is a most unfortunate affair, and has given me great: 
 mortification; as we have lost not only two thousand men 
 that were there, but a good deal of artillery, and some of 
 the best arms we had. And what adds to my mortifica- 
 tion is, that this post, after the last ships went past it, 
 was held contrary to my wishes and opinion, as I con- 
 ceived it to be a hazardous one." 
 
 Thus ended for a while "the struggle for the Hudson." 
 An Anglo-Hessian army of 6,000 approached Fort Lee 
 (November 20), and the stronghold was abandoned in a 
 hurry. The Continental army of a few thousand retreat- 
 ed to Newark, New Jersey; the enemy following close, 
 "often the music of the pursued and the pursuers would 
 be heard by each other, yet no action occurred." Wash- 
 ington obstructed the advance of the enemy as much as 
 possible by destroying bridges and provisions on the 
 way. At Newark he made a short stand, but avoided 
 fighting, as his army was dwindling away. 
 
 From Newark he retreated to Brunswick (November 
 26). Here two brigades quit the army, their terms of 
 service having expired. "The loss of these troops," 
 writes General Greene, "at this critical time reduced his 
 Excellency to the necessity to order a retreat again. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 55 
 
 When we left Brunswick, we had not 3,000 men." Un- 
 der discouraging circumstances they pressed on to Prince- 
 ton (December 2), and then to Trenton. 
 
 "These are the times that try men's souls," wrote 
 Thomas Paine in the American Crisis (December, 1776). 
 Beneath his heavy load of cares and burdens, Washington 
 bore up with wonderful fortitude. His resources were 
 not yet exhausted. Again it was necessary to give way 
 before the advancing enemy, and the little army crossed 
 the Delaware on the morning of December 8, A few 
 hours later "the British came marching down to the riv- 
 er, expecting to cross, but no boats were within reach, 
 all having been collected and secured on the west bank." 
 Once more the American leader had eluded an over- 
 whelming force. 
 
 As the enemy were moving in the direction of Phila- 
 delphia, steps were now taken to fortify the city. F'rom 
 his headquarters at the Keith farm-house, Washington 
 wrote to his brother John Augustine (December 18): 
 
 "Since I came on this side, I have been joined by 
 about two thousand of the city militia, and I understood 
 that some of the country militia (from the back coun- 
 ties) are on the way. But we are in a very disaffected 
 part of the Province; and, between you and me, I think 
 our affairs are in a very bad situation 
 
 "You can form no idea of the perplexity of my situa- 
 tion. No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of 
 difhculties, and less means to extricate himself from 
 them. However, under a full persuasion of the justice 
 of our cause, I cannot entertain an idea, that it will 
 
56 GEOKGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 finally sink, tliough it may remain for some time under 
 a cloud." 
 
 Two days later his heart was cheered by the arrival at 
 his camp above Trenton Falls of General Gates, Sulli- 
 van, and Cadwalader, with several regiments of regulars 
 and militiamen. These additions increased his fighting 
 force to nearly eleven thousand. 
 
 Now the time had come to act on the aggressive, while 
 the British army' was scattered. Howe having retired to 
 New York, thinking there would be no further hostilities 
 during the winter, Washington planned a bold attack on 
 Christmas night, an hour before dawn. The enterprise 
 succeeded. It was a cold stormy night and the river 
 full of ice, yet he crossed the Delaware with his own di- 
 vision of 2,400 men and marched nine miles to Trenton. 
 Here he surprised the Hessians at daybreak and defeat- 
 ed them, taking nearly a thousand prisoners with their 
 arms and cannon. The engagement lasted less than an 
 hour. This brilliant victory revived the drooping cour- 
 age of the army and alarmed the enemy. 
 
 When the news reached New York, Cornwallis hast- 
 ened forth with 8,000 men to punish him. Meanwhile 
 Washington was not idle. He again crossed the Dela- 
 ware (December 30); the passage was exceedingly diffi- 
 cult and perilous on account of the floating ice. At 
 Trenton he was joined by the divisions under Generals 
 Mifflin and Cadwalader, some 3,800 men. He was not 
 strong enough, however, for a pitched battle with the en- 
 tire Anglo-Hessian army. By good fortune and strategy 
 he saved himself from disaster and dealt the enemy anoth- 
 
58 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 er stunning blow. With the main body of his army, 
 Lord Cornwallis marched from Princeton, (January 
 2, 1777), leaving three regiments under Col. Maw- 
 hood. He reached the neighborhood of Trenton late 
 in the afternoon and had the best of the Americans 
 in the skirmishing that ensued. Here he rested from 
 combat at nightfall. Washington was at his mercy, 
 if he had pressed his advantage at dark. He halted 
 near Washington's camp, and in the morning the 
 Americans were gone. Leaving their fires burning 
 brightly to deceive the enemy, they stole silently away 
 at midnight, and by a round-about march arrived at 
 Princeton about sunrise. Here Washington won a com- 
 plete victory and gained possession of the town with 
 small loss. One hundred of the enemy were killed, be- 
 sides four hundred prisoners and wounded. It is hardly 
 too much to say that these two unlooked-for successes 
 "saved the Revolution." They were a revelation of 
 Washington's military ability. They not only exhila- 
 rated the spirits of the colonists, but extorted praise and 
 admiration from the foe. *'His march through our lines 
 is allowed to have been a prodigy of generalship," wrote 
 Horace Walpole. Washington was now accorded a place 
 among the greatest captains of the time. 
 
 During the winter months of 1777 there was a cessa- 
 tion of hostilities. Washington's feelings of elation over 
 British reverses were mingled with disappointment and 
 alarm as he saw his army suddenly melt away. He 
 wrote to the governors of the New England States and 
 to the members of Congress, dwelling on the imperative 
 
Washington at the Battle of Princeton. 
 
6o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 necessity of establishing a permanent army upon which 
 he could depend at all times. 
 
 He would have been almost helpless, if the enemy had 
 attacked him at this time. In the circular-letter to the 
 Governors, Washington wrote (January 24): 
 
 "Nothing but their ignorance of our numbers protects 
 us at this very time, when, on the contrary, had we six 
 or eight thousand regular troops, or could the militia, 
 who were with me a few days ago, have been prevailed 
 upon to stay, we could have struck such a stroke, as 
 would have inevitably ruined the army of the enemy, in 
 their divided state." 
 
 The winter wore gloomily away. Fortunately Gener- 
 al Howe remained inactive. Washington had only four 
 thousand men, and many of these were sick and starv- 
 ing. The commander put forth renewed efforts to im- 
 prove the character of the soldiers by prohibiting gam- 
 ing, swearing, and other vices. Mindful of the value of 
 religion as a moral force, he arranged later for the chap- 
 lains to hold services on Sunday, wherever practicable, 
 and enjoined attendance on the part of the men. 
 
 In May, Washington fixed his headquarters at Middle- 
 brook, New Jersey, having under his immediate com- 
 mand seven thousand men. Howe had ten thousand or 
 more with him. Each commander was carefully noting 
 the movements of the other, and neither was desirous of 
 bringing on a drawn battle. After some skirmishing, 
 Howe withdrew to Staten Island with his entire army 
 (June 30). 
 
 Anticipating that Howe would proceed into Central 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 6i 
 
 New York to co-operate with Burgoyne, Washington 
 marched northward. He was much chagrined by the in- 
 telligence of the evacuation of Ticonderoga (July 6). 
 An intercepted letter from Howe to Burgoyne fell into 
 his hands, and it convinced 
 him that Philadelphia was 
 Howe's real destination. 
 
 Washington then directed 
 the march of the army to- 
 ward Philadelphia and ar- 
 rived at this city himself in 
 advance of the troops (August 
 2). Here he first met Lafay- 
 ette, who had just been com- 
 missioned a Major - General, 
 having volunteered his ser- 
 vices without pay. It was 
 
 the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two 
 men. A few days afterward the Marquis witnessed a re- 
 view of the army, "about eleven thousand men, ill-armed, 
 and still worse clothed." The gifted young Frenchman 
 was favorably impressed with the troops, notwithstand- 
 ing their motley attire and indifferent tactics. "In spite 
 of these disadvantages, " he says in his Memoirs, 'the 
 soldiers were fine, and the officers zealous; virtue stood 
 in place of science, and each day added both to experi- 
 ence and discipline." 
 
 Later, Washington was gratified to hear of victories in 
 the North, at Oriskany and Bennington. He was still in 
 the dark as to Howe's movements, but supposed that 
 
 Gen. John Burgoyne. 
 Born 1722. Died 1792. 
 
62 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Charleston was the point where the British fleet would 
 strike. News came at length that it was in Chesapeake 
 Bay. The Continental army at once marched southward 
 through Philadelphia (August 24), to a point near Wil- 
 mington. 
 
 The next day the English army of 18,000 men landed 
 at the head of the Bay and proceeded northward. On 
 August 27, Howe issued another "Declaration," promis- 
 ing security to peaceful citizens and pardon to rebels who 
 would surrender and renew allegiance to the king. 
 There was no stampede of colonists flocking to his stand- 
 ard. 
 
 On the morning of September 3, the British troops 
 won in a smart skirmish not far from the village of New- 
 port, Delaware. Leaving Newport (September 9), the 
 Americans crossed Brandywine Creek at Chad's Ford, 
 and not far away the battle of Brandywine was fought 
 (September 11). Cornwallis, an able general, led 7,000 
 British troops, aided by General Knyphausen with 7,000 
 mercenaries. The main body of Washington's army 
 was stationed at Chad's Ford to guard the passage. On 
 the opposite bank the Hessian Commander made a feint 
 of attempting to cross, while Cornwallis moved north- 
 ward and crossed at the upper fords, three miles distant. 
 Washington, misled by false reports concerning the en- 
 emy's movements, was outgeneraled and dislodged from 
 his position. He had fewer men (11,000), yet he had the 
 advantage over Cornwallis, who won a decisive victory. 
 Through an oversight Sullivan had not guarded the fords 
 where the British had crossed. It was a fatal blunder. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 63 
 
 riie American loss was 1,000 killed, wounded, and cap- 
 tured, that of the British nearly 600. Cornwallis did 
 not pursue. 
 
 By rapid and fatiguing marches the Continental army 
 moved northward, hindered by bad weather, sometimes 
 wading through streams waist deep. They arrived at 
 Pottsgrove (September 22), in a pitiable plight. "At 
 least one thousand men are bare-footed, and have per- 
 formed the marches in that condition," wrote Washing- 
 ton to the President of Congress. 
 
 After a short rest he moved his forces toward Phila- 
 delphia (September 26), and the same day Cornwallis 
 with his battalions entered the city unopposed. 
 
 An effort was made to supply the needs of the suffer- 
 ing men. At this time they were cheered by the report 
 of a successful engagement at Stillwater, New York, be- 
 tween the armies of Gates and Burgoyne (September 19). 
 
 Washington's army now consisted of about 8,000 Con- 
 tinentals and 3,000 militiamen. With this force he 
 marched against the enemy at Germantown, October 4, 
 where success in the morning was turned later in the day 
 into defeat, through a series of deplorable mistakes and 
 unfortunate circumstances. The fog and smoke caused 
 confusion and panic. The Americans, not downcast over 
 the result, were eager for another action. Re-enforce- 
 ments came from Virginia, and not long afterward en- 
 couraging messages of the second victory of Gates over 
 Burgoyne (October 7). 
 
 Then the desponding hearts of all were gladdened by 
 a dispatch conveying the welcome information of the sur- 
 
64 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 render of BVirgoyne and his entire army (6,000) at Sara 
 toga (October 14.) The significance of this event can 
 scarcely be over-estimated. Lodge sums up the situation 
 tersely and justly: "The Revolution had been saved at 
 Trenton ; it was established at Saratoga. In the one case 
 it was the direct, in the other the indirect work of Wash- 
 ington. " 
 
 Another cause of congratulation was the repulse of the 
 Hessians at Fort Mercer (October 22). The next day 
 there was a spirited naval encounter on the Delaware, 
 near Fort IVIiffiin, which resulted in the loss of two Brit- 
 ish gun-boats. In the meantime Howe had evacuated 
 Germantown and retired to Philadelphia with an army 
 reduced to ten thousand, while Washington had a body 
 of men estimated at more than eleven thousand. The 
 Americans were now on such a good war footing that an 
 attack on the enemy's camp at Philadelphia w^as consid- 
 ered (November 24), but not undertaken on account of 
 the strong fortifications. 
 
 The season for military operations having closed, the 
 army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge on the 
 west bank of the Schuylkill River. Here Washington 
 was in a favorable position to defend himself and to ob- 
 serve the actions of the British army. 
 
 The surrounding country had been pretty thoroughly 
 foraged by the enemy, and at times the American sol- 
 diers w^ere entirely destitute of bread and meat. There 
 was lack of other necessaries, such as clothes and blank- 
 ets. Log-huts were built for the men, who were many 
 of them ill and half naked. The haidships and priva- 
 
66 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 tions of this severe winter were long remembered by the 
 patriotic troops and their loyal commander, who did all 
 in his power to make them comfortable. There is a pa- 
 thetic description in Lafayette's Memoirs of their terrible 
 distress and their heroic endurance. Baron Steuben, a 
 Prussian officer, visited the camp (February 23, 1778) 
 with his secretary, who thus stated his impression of 
 the Commander-in-chief: 
 
 "I could not keep my eyes from that imposing coun- 
 tenance — ^grave, yet not severe; affable, without familit 
 arity. Its predominant expression was calm dignity, 
 through which you could trace the strong feelings of the 
 patriot, and discern the father as well as the commander 
 of his soldiers." 
 
 The winter of 1778 was one that Washington had oc- 
 casion to remember for another reason. It was then 
 that a base plot was laid to displace him and make Gen- 
 eral Gates commander. The conspiracy was headed by 
 General Conway, whose name is handed down in history 
 as the chief ringleader of the "Conway Cabal." Other 
 officers were implicated in the affair. Never did Wash- 
 ington's character appear to better advantage than when 
 he was passing through this, the severest ordeal of his 
 life. With dignity and self-restraint he bore up under 
 this grievous trial, although sorely disturbed by the com- 
 plaints and criticisms of his opponents. In addition to 
 his other burdens, he found it a heavy load to carry. 
 The scheme failed and reacted upon its authors, while 
 Washington found himself growing in public esteem and 
 confidence. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 67 
 
 When the spring finally came, death and desertion had 
 thinned the ranks of the Continentals at Valley Forge. 
 It seemed the part of wisdom to strengthen and disci- 
 pline the army, and be ready to strike the enemy as op- 
 portunity might occur. 
 
 In April copies of Lord North's "Conciliatory Bills" 
 
 Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge. 
 
 reached headquarters, and soon afterward peace commis- 
 sioners from England arrived at Philadelphia. "Noth- 
 ing short of independence," wrote Washington at this 
 time. "A peace on other terms would, if I may be al- 
 lowed the expression, be a peace of war." His views 
 were echoed and applauded by patriots throughout the 
 colonies, and the commissioners returned home, their 
 mission a failure. Their promises were distrusted and 
 their bribes spurned. Rejecting their tempting offers, 
 Joseph Reed said: ''I am not worth purchasing, but, such 
 
68 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to 
 do it." 
 
 Henceforth every officer in the American army was re- 
 quired to take the oath affirming "the United States of 
 America to be free, independent and sovereign states," 
 and renouncing allegiance to the King of Great Britain. 
 
 Meanwhile treaties of commerce and alliance with 
 France had been negotiated and signed. By foreign na- 
 tions the American Government was looked upon as per- 
 manently established. In this view George III did not 
 concur, and the thought of the separation of the colonies 
 from the old country was still opposed by the English 
 people. So the war went on. Says an English his- 
 torian: 
 
 "The honor of England seemed at stake; even those 
 who had been against the war before, now thought that 
 it must be carried on boldly. Thus Chatham, in the 
 House of Lords, declared he would never consent to 'an 
 ignominious surrender of the rights of the Empire.' 
 'Shall we now,' he said, 'fall prostrate before the House 
 of Bourbon?' And his death in May, 1778, put an end 
 to the last hope of reconciliation with America." 
 
 In June General Clinton's army of 12,000 evacuated 
 Philadelphia and marched toward Trenton, Washington, 
 hearing of it, moved his army to the Delaware and crossed 
 into New Jersey (June 22). He determined to attack at 
 once, his force being then slightly superior to Clinton's. 
 Lee, the senior Major-General had command of the ad- 
 vanced divisions in the battle of Monmouth (June 28); 
 he had opposed the attack (being secretly attached to the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 6g 
 
 English cause), and ordered a retreat at the beginning of 
 the engagement. Washington, hurrying to the spot, in- 
 stantly stopped the retreating column and furiously de- 
 nounced Lee for his unsoldierly conduct. Having ral- 
 lied the demoralized troops, by a gallant and determined 
 charge he forced the English army from the field. In 
 the night they hastily departed. Washington with his 
 ragged Continentals had saved the day, though with the 
 loss of more than two hundred men killed and wounded. 
 The British loss was over four hundred, besides numer- 
 ous deserters on the retreat. 
 
 The coming of Count d'Estaing with the French fleet 
 in July meant a strong addition to the American side, 
 whose navy was weak. One result of his co-operation 
 was the destruction of six British frigates and other ves- 
 sels off Newport, R. I., in August, 
 
 The enemy was now obliged to act on the defensive. 
 "With an army so much diminished at New York, noth- 
 ing important can be done," wrote Sir Henry Clinton in 
 October. The autumn passed, and Washington went in- 
 to winter quarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey. No fur- 
 ther military operations were undertaken, except to re- 
 pel the ravages of bands of Indians and Tories on the 
 frontier. Winter campaigning in the North being out of 
 the question, the British invaded Georgia and seized Sa- 
 vannah. 
 
 Although the army was in much better condition than 
 in the previous winter, colonial affairs were anything but 
 flourishing. There were party dissensions and personal 
 quarrels that vexed the soul of the commander, who 
 
70 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 viewed with dismay the absence of spirit and the want 
 of united effort. Habits of extravagance prevailed among 
 the more opulent classes, and speculation was rife. These 
 causes together with the interruption of many lines of 
 business left the country's finances in bad shape. Pub- 
 lic credit was impaired, and a depreciated currency was 
 the result. 
 
 A gentleman who saw General Washington at his 
 headquarters at Middlebrook in February, 1779, thus de- 
 scribes his personal appearance: 
 
 "It is natural to view with keen attention the counte- 
 nance of an illustrious man, with a secret hope of dis- 
 covering in his features some peculiar traces of excel- 
 lence, which distinguish him above his fellow mortals. 
 These expectations are realized in a peculiar manner, in 
 viewing the person of General Washington. His tall 
 and noble stature and just proportions, his fine, cheerful, 
 open countenance, simple and modest deportment, are 
 all calculated to interest every beholder in his favor, and 
 to command veneration and respect. He is feared even 
 when silent, and beloved even while we are unconscious 
 
 of the motive In conversation, his Excellency's 
 
 expressive countenance is peculiarly interesting and 
 pleasing." 
 
 For the most part, only a defensive kind of warfare 
 could be waged against the enemy in the spring and sum- 
 mer of 1779. There were two successful expeditions 
 against the hostile savages of Pennsylvania and Western 
 New York, The British raided some New England 
 towns, burning houses and destroying other property. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 71 
 
 The port of Stony Point was taken by General Wayne 
 (July 16), and abandoned two days later. There were 
 other small successes. For several months (July-Novem- 
 ber) Washington's headquarters were at West Point, 
 where he was compelled to remain in comparative inac- 
 tivity, owing to a lack of funds necessary for a vigorous 
 prosecution of the war. Meanwhile the place was strong- 
 ly fortified. 
 
 The army wintered at INIorristown, New Jersey, and 
 nearly perished from cold and hunger — there being a fre- 
 quent dearth of provisions. An attempt was planned in 
 midwinter to surprise and attack the enemy's post on 
 Staten Island. The British learned of the expedition in 
 time and saved themselves. A quantity of stores and a 
 few prisoners were secured. 
 
 In this dreary winter of 1779-80, when the fortunes of 
 the colonies seemed to be at the lowest ebb, their cause 
 was pleaded effectually at the French court by Lafayette 
 and succor was obtained. Already Spain had formed an 
 alliance with France to fight England and advanced 
 $2,000,000 to the Americans; the close of 1780 found 
 Holland in arms against Britain. 
 
 In the spring a fleet with six thousand men under 
 Count de Rochambeau set sail from France and arrived 
 at Newport (July 10). Never was help more timely, and 
 the United States honors the name of the gifted and gen- 
 erous young Frenchman who befriended the nation in 
 its extremity — Marquis de Lafayette. 
 
 The only sensible course open to Washington this 
 summer was to harass the enemy and thwart intended 
 
72 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 attacks. To be slow and sure and watchful for oppor- 
 tunities to strike — this seems to have been the Fabian 
 policy that he had adopted. His maneuvers had the 
 desired result. Not much was accomplished by the Brit- 
 ish after the capture of Charleston (May 24) until the dis- 
 astrous defeat of General Gates by Lord Cornwallis at 
 Camden, S. C. (August 16), which ended that General's 
 military career in disgrace. 
 
 "We are now drawing an inactive campaign to a close," 
 wrote Washington (October 5), disappointed at the little 
 progress that they had made. The war had been pro- 
 longed beyond his expectations, and yet the end seemed 
 far oif. He had hoped much from the co-operation of 
 their French allies, but the second fleet was blocked up 
 in Brest by English ships. In the meantime he stood 
 in great need of the powder and arms expected from 
 France. Thus his plans for the campaign had to be 
 changed. ' 'A foreign loan is indispensably necessary to 
 the continuance of the war," he wrote to General Sulli- 
 van (November 20). 
 
 Washington's "Fabian policy," though necessary, was 
 unpopular with many, who wished to annihilate the en- 
 emy in short order. Given the requisite munitions of 
 war, and his course would have been different. Without 
 these, the record of splendid achievements could not be 
 written. 
 
 A dramatic episode of the war this year was the at- 
 tempted betrayal of the fortress of West Point to the 
 British by the traitor, Benedict Arnold. By the taking 
 of Major Andre, the spy, with Arnold's letter in his pos- 
 

 
 ^XS^;:^ 
 
 n 
 
 a 
 
H 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 session, the plan was frustrated. Arnold fled in time to 
 save his life (September 25), and as an officer in the Brit- 
 ish army, he engaged in a sort of predatory warfare in 
 Virginia and Connecticut (1780-81). He received a large 
 reward (about ;!^6,30o) for his treachery, but was univer- 
 sally detested thereafter. Andre, 
 the British officer who arranged 
 the affair with Arnold, was hanged 
 as a spy. 
 
 Washington's winter quarters 
 were at New Windsor, New York; 
 part of the army were stationed 
 at West Point, and one brigade 
 near Albany. So distressing was 
 the condition of Pennsylvania 
 troops at ]\Iorristown, New Jersey, 
 that they mutinied early in Janu- 
 ary, 1781. Some of the New Jersey troops also revolted. 
 A crisis was narrowly averted. Extraordinary <!xertions 
 had to be made to provide for them. The ladies of 
 Philadelphia collected a considerable fund (more than 
 three hundred thousand dollars), for the relief of the sol- 
 diers. The noble Lafayette contributed one hundred 
 guineas. 
 
 Meanwhile, the war in the South was progressing sat- 
 isfactorily under the command of General Greene, who 
 succeeded Gates. The encouraging report came of Gen- 
 eral Daniel Morgan's victory at Cowpens, S. C. (Jan. 17). 
 For the first time Washington's birthday was publicly 
 celebrated in February, 1781, the French officers and 
 
 Gen. Benedict Arnold. 
 Born 1741. Died 1801. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 75 
 
 troops at Newport beginning the custom of observing it 
 as a holiday. Already the epithet had been applied to 
 him of "Father of the Country." From this time to his 
 death he was the recipient of many flattering attentions 
 and highly prized honors. Notwithstanding his some- 
 
 An Incident at the Battle of Cowpens. 
 
 what cold, imperious manner, he was the most popular 
 man in the country. 
 
 In March, 1781, Maryland ratified the "Articles of Con- 
 federation," adopted by Congress, November 15, 1777, all 
 the other States having previously done so. A better or- 
 ganization of the government was now possible. To fa- 
 cilitate the transaction of public business, different de- 
 partments were established. There being no executive, 
 
> GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the duties of administration fell largely on these officials: 
 Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance; General Alf 
 exander Mc Dougall, Secretary of Marine; Robert R. 
 Livingston, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; and General 
 Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary of War. This was the be- 
 ginning of the Cabinet of later times. 
 
 In the spring news came of the battle of Guilford 
 Court-House, N. C. (March 15). It was a defeat for the 
 Americans under Greene, but not without disadvantages 
 to the winning side. Boasting of his victory, Cornwallis 
 prepared for his fatal march into Virginia. 
 
 Washington was depressed, though not discouraged at 
 the prospect of an indefinite duration of the war, because 
 of the lack of funds to equip and maintain a first-class 
 army. The people were poverty stricken and slow 
 to respond to his appeals. 
 
 In May he heard that Count de Grasse was on the way 
 with a squadron and supplies. Prospects brightened. 
 The commander set out for Weathersfield, Conn. , for a 
 conference with Count de Rochambeau "to settle a defi- 
 nitive plan of the campaign." A few days later he re- 
 ceived a letter from the U. S. Minister at the Court of 
 Versailles, informing him of the donation of $1,200,000 
 from France to this country,to buy arms, clothes, etc., for 
 the American army. The beginning of the end was al- 
 most in sight. 
 
 By the junction of the French and American troops in 
 New York (July, 1781), it became necessary for the ene- 
 my to strengthen their lines in the North, and to recall 
 the army from the South. Washington's purpose having 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. -j-j 
 
 been accomplislied, the proposed attack on New York 
 was abandoned. Late in August, with high hopes, he 
 set out on the expedition against Lord Cornwallis, then 
 in Virginia. 
 
 Early in September, Washington writes: "Received 
 the agreeable news of the safe arrival of the Count de 
 Grasse in the Bay of Chesapeake with 28 sail of the line 
 and four frigates, with 3000 land troops which were to 
 be immediately debarked at Jamestown and form a junct- 
 ion with the American army under the command of the 
 Marquis de la Fayette." 
 
 Once more Washington was in his native State, and 
 able to spend a few days at Mount Vernon, the first visit 
 in six years. Soon he was with the army on the mem- 
 orable march to Yorktown, which was invested on all 
 sides by the allied forces, numbering some sixteen thous- 
 and (September 30). 
 
 Here took place the culminating event of six years of 
 fighting — the surrender of the British army under Corn- 
 wallis (October 19). The number of prisoners was 7, 247. 
 This telling blow was the result of clever planning, and 
 the skillful combination of both land and naval forces. 
 To overcome the difficulties in the way, and achieve a 
 masterly triumph was the work of a great general. 
 
 Although the conflict seemed to be terminated by this 
 crushing defeat, the war was not ended for two years 
 more. British armies in the North and the South did 
 little more than act on the defensive. But so long as they 
 remained in the country and occupied some of the chief 
 cities, there was need for sleepless vigilance and for 
 
78 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 instant readiness to fight. The Revohitionists now felt 
 the temptation to relax their efforts, success being assured. 
 Washington saw danger in such a course and sought to 
 impress on the tired colonists the urgency of further pre- 
 parations to repel the enemy. It was hard for them to 
 realize the peril of inaction. 
 
 At last the British king saw the folly of continuing 
 the struggle, and with reluctance permitted negotiations 
 looking toward peace, granting the colonies complete in- 
 dependence. The menacing attitude of European na- 
 tions influenced him to take this step. The war had al- 
 ready cost the British Government ^100,000,000, and it 
 seemed like a foolish waste of treasure to go on. The 
 final treaty of peace was signed (September 3, 1783) and 
 the troops were recalled home; New York was evacuated 
 in November. 
 
 Washington had entered the conflict with the deter- 
 mination to fight it out to a successful conclusion. In- 
 dependence having been won, he was ready to lay aside 
 the sword, and become a man of peace. Meeting the offi- 
 cers of the Continental army, for the last time in Fraunce's 
 tavern. New York, he took a final and affectionate leave 
 of his comrades (December 4). He resigned his com- 
 mission at Annapolis (December 23), having seen eight 
 and a half years of service as commander-in-chief. 
 
 When Washington retired to private life, passed fifty, 
 his boyish dream had come true — he had "achieved the 
 reputation of the first soldier of his time." The best judg- 
 es in Europe admitted this. Even England recognized 
 his superiority to her own generals. Greene's noble tri- 
 
8o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 bute to tlie greatness of Washington's character, and his 
 military genius is well known, and need not be repeated 
 here. The estimate of another English historian may be 
 quoted: 
 
 "Washington had commanded the Virginia militia 
 with great success in the wars against the French, and 
 had attained to the rank of Colonel. The success of the 
 American Revolution was mainly due to his appoint- 
 ment to the chief command. Only a man of his skill, 
 firmness, patience and judgment, could overcome the 
 jealousies of the various States, the want of discipline of 
 the soldiers, the lack of money and stores, all of which, 
 on several occasions, threatened the collapse of the revolt. 
 He was always hopeful in the greatest difficulties, and 
 cautious in every undertaking. He was known, besides, 
 as a man of the highest integrity, whose truth and honor 
 were never called in question." 
 
 There is no need to dwell on the details of Washing- 
 ton's life during the years of retirement after the Revo- 
 lution. It was the life of a country gentleman. Being 
 a man of large business interests, he was fully occupied 
 with the care of his property. On horseback, he made 
 the rounds of his plantations, superintending the work of 
 tree-planting, gardening, harvesting, and other employ- 
 ments connected with crops. He embarked in enter- 
 prises for the public good, such as the improvement of 
 navigation in the James and Potomac rivers. Occasion- 
 ally he rode with hounds, fox-hunting. 
 
 There was a constant stream of visitors to Mount Ver- 
 non, and he was solicitous for their comfort and happi- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 8i 
 
 ness. It was rare for him to dine alone with Mrs. Wash- 
 ington. Dinner was never kept more than five minutes 
 for expected guests; that delay he allowed because of 
 difference in timepieces. He was plain and abstemi- 
 ous in his habits of eating, and drinking. Though usu- 
 
 WuBliingtoh aiid Family at Mt. Vernon. 
 
 ally grave in the presence of strangers, he could unbend, 
 and be genial in the company of intimate friends. 
 
 Those who met him in these years say he was more 
 cheerful than he was during the war. Washington was 
 easy, affable, and dignified in conversation. He w^as a 
 busy man when at home, having a voluminous correspon- 
 dence, yet he was indulgent in granting sittings to por- 
 trait-painters, and sculptors. 
 
82 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 As was the custom in those times on the plantations 
 of Virginia, George Washington kept slaves. There 
 were two or three hundred negroes living on his various 
 estates, and he looked carefully after their wants and 
 health. He was not indifferent to their condition, being 
 an tmusally kind master. As years went by he became 
 more and more convinced of the wrong of slavery, and 
 resolved never to obtain another bondsman by purchase- 
 "it being among my first wishes," he wrote in 1786, "to 
 see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country 
 may be abolished by law." In his will he provided for 
 the release of all his slaves. 
 
 Washington, it may be said, w^as a genuinely religious 
 man during all his public life. He regularly obserx'ed 
 Lord's Day by attendance on divine services at Pohick 
 Church, of which he was a vestryman for a number of 
 years. He was a valued member of this church, which 
 was situated five miles from Mount Vernon; his pew is 
 still pointed out to sight-seers. 
 
 Washington was a friend, too, of education, and left a 
 bequest for the founding of a National University in th-e 
 District of Columbia. His wish was never carried out 
 according to the terms of his will. One of the weighti- 
 est utterances of his Farewell Address lays stress on the 
 value of "institutions for the general diffusion of knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 The years following the Revolution to the establish- 
 ment of the Union in 1789 have been called "the critical 
 period of American history," because there was then no 
 general government with sovereign powers in this coun- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 83 
 
 try, but a confederacy of thirteen republics. Some sort 
 of working system of government was provided for by 
 the Articles of Confederation, but it proved to be defect- 
 ive and unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, plans for a national 
 constitution were discussed, and a convention of dele- 
 gates from the different States met in Philadelphia to 
 frame one. 
 
 Washington, as one of the delegates from Virginia, 
 attended the first meeting of the Federal Convention 
 in May, 1787; and the first act of this assembly of 
 fifty-five men, the ablest and foremost citizens of the 
 land, was to choose him as President of the Convention. 
 Their deliberations were secret and lasted several months. 
 The instrument that they produced, while not perfect, 
 was a masterpiece of statesmanship. It was at once sub- 
 mitted to Congress, which referred it to the State Legis- 
 latures to be ratified or rejected. Nearly a year passed 
 before its acceptance by a majority of the States. 
 
 After much opposition the new National Constitution 
 went into effect as the basis of our Government. The 
 authors of the "Federalist," Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, 
 did much to make the contents of the Constitution 
 known and acceptable to the people. Washington, with 
 his pen and voice, urged its adoption, for he saw in it a 
 remedy for the ills from which the colonies suffered dur- 
 ing the Revolution. He had learned from experience 
 the weakness of the Continental Congress, which could 
 only advise. He appreciated, as few others did then, 
 the advantage of having a strong central government. 
 He held that ' 'an indissoluble union of all the States un- 
 
84 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 der one federal head' ' was essential for their stability and 
 well-being. His influence was far-reaching and decisive. 
 
 He spoke little, but 
 
 f * *j . .- . r *. •:! ' u\Jl^l^S« ^y^(^ ^j^g effect of his 
 
 letters on public opin- 
 ion can scarcely be 
 over-estimated. Oth- 
 er prominent men of 
 the States held the 
 same views and con- 
 tributed to the re- 
 sult. 
 
 At the first Presi- 
 dential Election (Jan- 
 uary 7, 1789), George 
 Wa shington was 
 unanimously elected 
 President of theUnit- 
 ed States. Years be- 
 fore he had indig- 
 nantly rejected the 
 idea of being King 
 of the western mon- 
 archy, suggested to 
 
 Washington's Reception at Trenton when on the ^^ ^^ ^7°^, DUt Ue 
 way to his Inauguration as First President, 1789. '^n(=^^r\f^r\ fr> f1ip> mani 
 One of the Panels of the Bronze Door of the yiciucu LU lijc iiidiii- 
 Senate, Capitol. Washington. f^^^ ^.|i ^f ^j^^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 to become the chief executive of a republic. His jour- 
 ney to New York in April was a triumphal progress. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 85 
 
 Here the ceremonies of the first inauguration took place 
 (April 30); John Adams, the second choice of the Elec- 
 toral College for president, became vice-president. 
 
 In a sense it may be said that Washington's first Ad- 
 ministration marks a turning point of our political his- 
 tory, the beginning of our national life. First the colon- 
 ies had become states; then the states became parts of a 
 confederacy; now they were welded together in one unit- 
 ed whole. The new government was to be administered 
 according to the provisions laid down in the constitution 
 recently framed and adopted. It was an experiment, and 
 many were in doubt as to its chances of success. Time has 
 demonstrated the wisdom of the founders of our nation. 
 The citizen of to-day owes a debt of gratitude not only 
 to the patriots who won independence, but to the states- 
 men who elaborated a successful working plan for the 
 operations of the new republican government. 
 
 Washington entered upon the duties of his high office 
 with diffidence, but with the determination faithfully to 
 meet the obligations resting upon him. To one of his 
 friends he wrote: "A combination of circumstances and 
 events seems to have rendered my embarking again on 
 the ocean of public affairs inevitable. How opposite this 
 is to my own desires and inclinations, I need not say." 
 
 In his Inaugural Address he disclaimed having any de- 
 sire for pecuniary emoluments, and asked that he should 
 receive no compensation beyond "actual expenditures as 
 the public good may be thought to require." Four years 
 later congress fixed the payment of twenty-five thousand 
 dollars per annum as the salary of the president for his 
 
86 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 second term of office. Mo change was made in the 
 running of the executive departments of the govern- 
 ment until Sep- 
 tember, 1789. 
 Then Thomas 
 Jefferson was 
 appointed Sec- 
 retary of State. 
 General Henry 
 Knox contin- 
 ued to act as 
 Secretaryof 
 War. Alexan- 
 der Hamilton 
 became Secreta- 
 ry of the Treas- 
 ury. Edmund 
 Randolph was 
 appointed At- 
 torney-General; 
 and Samuel Os- 
 good, Postmas- 
 ter-General. 
 
 At this time 
 there was only 
 one political 
 party in the 
 United States, the Federalist party. There were, how- 
 ever, two rival political camps. One set of theorists stood 
 for a strong centralized government, and the other for 
 
 First Inauguration of Washington, 1789. 
 One of the Panels of the Bronze Door to the Senate 
 Capitol, Washington, D. C. ' 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 87 
 
 individual and State rights. In the Federalist party the 
 dominant idea was that the Nation is paramount, the 
 State subordinate. The logical outcome of Federalist 
 doctrine is a paternal government. It means a larger 
 measure of power in the hands of the executive, exercised 
 for the common good, and at times the sacrifice of indi- 
 vidual and local interests for the sake of society and the 
 maintenance of the body politic. The leaders of the Fed- 
 eralist party were Washington and Hamilton. 
 
 As years went by the old Republican party came into 
 being. It represented the opposite position or tendency: 
 the liberty and importance of the individual and the sov- 
 ereign rights of the States; the province of the general 
 government is to carry out the people's will. Its position 
 was substantially that of the Democratic party of later 
 times and its leaders were Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton was the one great statesman of 
 this period, and had more to do than any other man in 
 organizing the new government. He tried to obviate the 
 evils resulting from the lack of federal authority and ad- 
 vocated a strong national government. As the first Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury he put the finances of the country 
 on a sound footing, restoring confidence at home and 
 abroad. He has been justly called "the founder of the 
 U. S. Bank and restorer of public credit." He so adjusted 
 the scale of duties on imported articles that a sufficient 
 revenue was secured for the expenses of the government. 
 He found the condition of the United States truly deplor- 
 able — chaos, internal strife, business prostration, and pov- 
 erty on every hand. He recommended a protective tar- 
 
88 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 iff that relieved financial distress, stimulated industry, and 
 promoted prosperity. He believed in fostering home 
 manufactures. Withal he was eminently practical. It 
 is, perhaps, not too much to say that no other statesman, 
 not even Clay or Webster, ever did so much for our coun- 
 
 try. 
 
 In striking contrast with the views of Hamilton was 
 the political policy of Jefferson, who favored popular sov- 
 ereignty, universal suffrage, democratic simplicity, and 
 the education of the common people. While he was a 
 member of Washington's Cabinet, he was constantly pit- 
 ted against Hamilton. The two men could not agree, 
 and the president had a hard time of it to keep the peace 
 between them. As their ideas could not be harmonized, 
 Jefferson finally resigned the position of Secretary of 
 State (December 31, 1793). 
 
 During these years two more States were admitted in- 
 to the Union — Vermont and Kentucky. The second 
 Presidential Election resulted in the unanimous choice 
 of Washington for President. There was no other Amer- 
 ican who stood so high in popular estimation. Under 
 his administration our country had grown in wealth and 
 in the esteem of foreign powers. He had met the re- 
 quirements of his exalted station with unfailing good 
 sense and with dignity. He had shown profound judg- 
 ment in avoiding entanglements with the affairs of Euro- 
 pean nations. It seemed to him the part of wisdom to 
 hold aloof and not intermeddle during the French Revo- 
 lution. This neutral course he maintained in his second 
 term of office, and in his Farewell Address (September, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 89 
 
 T796), he re-stated his policy of non-interference, an in- 
 vakiable legacy of advice that Americans may yet pon- 
 der well and safely follow. Washington's non-imperial- 
 istic ideas have not become antiquated. His observa- 
 tions on our foreign relations have more than a tempor- 
 ary application. 
 
 Refusing a third election, Washington relinquished 
 
 Tomb of Washington at Mt. Vcriion, Va. 
 
 his position as the Executive of the Republic, and re- 
 turned to Mount Vernon to spend his remaining days in 
 peace and retirement, amid the plaudits and affectionate 
 demonstrations of an admiring people. Again he dis- 
 pensed liberal hospitality at his home and occupied him- 
 
90 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 self with rural pursuits, not neglecting matters of public 
 welfare. 
 
 He was once more called upon to accept office. When 
 our nation bristled up with martial spirit at the insult to 
 our honor from France, he was again appointed Com- 
 mander of the armies to defend the United States. The 
 war-cloud happily blew over, and his short term of mili- 
 tary service ended. His was the type of Americanism 
 that he was ready to defend with the sword. 
 
 Again Washington w^as free to devote himself to the 
 management of his farms, and lived the active, out-of- 
 door life of a farmer to the last. On December 12, 
 1799, he was in his saddle and made his accustomed 
 rounds in falling snow, hail and rain. A severe cold 
 resulted from this exposure. He neglected to apply rem- 
 edies at first, saying it could go as it came. Later it de- 
 veloped into an attack of quinsy, from which he died in 
 the evening of December 14. He passed away in peace, 
 at the age of sixty seven, leaving to his countrymen the 
 precious memory of his deeds and words — an indestruct- 
 ible heritage.^ He was biiried at Mount Vernon, to "the 
 mourning of a mighty nation." "His tomb is the Mecca 
 of America." 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 By G. Merceh Adam.* 
 
 IN the closing year but one of the eighteenth century there 
 passed to his reward in the other world the hero com- 
 mander-in-chief of the armies of the Revolution and the 
 illustrious Founder of his Country. In the march of events 
 on this continent, thronged with many memories, it is grati- 
 fying to note that the Republic which Washington did so 
 much enduringly to found, turns every now and then, with 
 the fervor of gratitude and patriotism, to the nation's first 
 great ideal, with the view of paying further and higher 
 honor to an immortal memory. Despite contemporary ob- 
 loquy in some rancorous quarters, and occasional efforts 
 at detraction in the years since his era, Washington con- 
 tinues deservedly to fill the illustrious niche in the temple 
 of Fame which his admiring countrymen have erected in 
 his own and the young nation's honor. Since his day, it is 
 true, we have added largely to the national pantheon of men 
 of high name whom we do well to preserve record of for 
 the country's emulation and as a reminder of their noble, 
 patriotic services. But though this is the case, we have not 
 suffered ourselves to forget, or in aught to diminish the 
 importance of the national indebtedness to the early fathers 
 
 •Historian, Biographer, and EsBaylet, Author of a "Precis of English His- 
 tory," a "Continuation of Grecian History," etc., and for many years Editor 
 of Self-Culture Magazine. — The Publishers. 
 
92 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the Republic for all they toiled for and achieved, amid 
 so many hardships and tribulations, or the reverence that 
 is due them for their staunch devotion to duty and their 
 loyalty to and faith in the high cause of Liberty and Free- 
 dom. Not, certainly, in Washington's case, have we for- 
 gotten that debt and obligation which his revered name 
 recalls, more especially since public veneration of his mem- 
 ory and vivid remembrance of him who was at once the soul 
 and stay of one of the most notable revolutions in history, 
 are, as it has been said, "the precious fruit of the most se- 
 vere examination of his conduct." Distinguished alike for 
 lofty patriotism, for high courage on the battlefield, for 
 unfaltering fidelity to duty, as well as for firmness and for- 
 titude in trial, and for humble dependence on Divine wisdom 
 and guidance, Washington appeals to all as a providential 
 man raised up for his era, equal to its great emergency, and 
 highly furnished with those qualities and characterictics 
 which admirably fitted him for his eminent duties. He, 
 moreover, was richly endowed with those moral qualities 
 which justify implicit confidence, coupled with integrity, 
 and a single and fixed purpose to adhere to the true and the 
 right ; while possessed of a character singularly pure and ele- 
 vated, disinterested and patriotic, and personally noted for 
 his commanding dignity and genuine unafifected simplicity. 
 Gifted with a majestic, inspiring presence, of imposing 
 stature, and with phenomenal powers of physical endurance, 
 Washington had also the invaluable characteristics of a 
 great commander — resource in planning and directing the 
 tactics of the battlefield, courage as well as placidity in the 
 hour of danger, and the ability to bear reverses with equa- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 93 
 
 nimity when overpowered by superior forces arrayed against 
 him, or when the weakness and occasional pusillanimity of 
 his own troops brought discomfiture and failure. Though 
 grave in manner, and strict in the exaction of duty in those 
 — officers as well as men — under him, and with a habitual 
 reserve, at times mistaken for coldness and inappreciation, 
 he was, however, ever urbane and even engaging in personal 
 intercourse, though never relaxing to the point of familiarity 
 or permitting that freedom of approach towards him of 
 excessive good-fellowship which might compromise his own 
 native dignity. His countenance always bore the trace of 
 thoughtfulness, manifestly induced by reflection on the grave 
 aspects and occasional untoward events of his time, as well 
 as, later in life, by the cares and responsibilities of high 
 office, and by the distractions of the country ere it settled 
 down to some measure of peace and unity, with the be- 
 ginnings of progressive national development. This is the 
 type of man who became the nation's first chief magistrate, 
 and who, despite occasional manifestations of temper, due 
 to his extreme sensibility and earnestness shown both as 
 soldier and president, was the while a man of exemplary 
 and exalted character — free at once from the vices and 
 frivolities of his age — and possessed of the rare gift of 
 uniting in himself the superior talents called for in the 
 founder of a new-born and prospectively mighty State. His 
 also was a lofty, ideal of patriotism, while he had the per- 
 sonal refinements of a man of high station, was imbued, in 
 a remarkable degree, with the spirit of justice, possessed a 
 fine sense of honor and had a genial habit of kindness 
 toward and consideration for the people. As a contem- 
 
94 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 porary (John Bell, of Maryland) has set down, Washington 
 was, moreover, "an afifectionate husband, a faithful friend, 
 a father to the deserving soldier; gentle in his manners, 
 in temper rather reserved ; a total stranger to religious pre- 
 judices; in his morals irreproachable; and he was never 
 known to exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance." 
 In a word, his friends and acquaintances universally allow 
 that rarely has a man united in his own person a more 
 perfect alliance of the virtues of a philosopher with the 
 talents of a general and the sagacity of a statesman. 
 \ "Candor, sincerity, affability and simplicity seemed to be the 
 striking features of his character, till an occasion offers of 
 displaying the most determined bravery and independence 
 of spirit." 
 
 W Another and pleasing testimony to the fine social quali- 
 ties of the first President is that furnished by Elkanah 
 Watson, after a visit to Mr. Washington in the historic 
 home at Mount Vernon in the year 1785. In that gentleman's 
 "Memoirs," published not until 1856, the visitor observes 
 that he found the President at table with Mrs. Washington 
 and his private family, "and was received in the native dig- 
 nity and with that urbanity so peculiarly combined in the 
 character of a soldier and eminent private gentleman. He 
 (Mr. Washington) soon put me at ease by unbending in a 
 free and afifable conversation, 
 
 "The cautious reserve which, wisdom and policy dictated, 
 whilst engaged in rearing the glorious fabric of our inde- 
 pendence, was evidently the result of consummate prudence, 
 and not characteristic of his nature. I observed a peculiarity 
 in his smile which seemed to illuminate his eye; his whole 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 95 
 
 countenance beamed with intelligence, while it commanded 
 confidence and respect. 
 
 ''I remained alone in the society of Washington for two 
 of the richest days in my life. To have communed with 
 such a man in the bosom of his family, I shall always regard 
 as one of the highest privileges and most cherished inci- 
 dents of my life. I found him kind and benignant in the 
 domestic circle, revered and beloved by all around him ; 
 agreeably social, without ostentation ; delighting in anecdote 
 and adventures, without assumption. His domestic arrange- 
 ments were at once harmonious and systematic ; while smil- 
 ing content animated and beamed on every countenance in 
 his presence." 
 
 But it is time to see the great man as events in the outer 
 world made him, and to note, in brief, the chief circumstan- 
 ces that brought him into prominence at an early and criti- 
 cal stage in the national annals. The notable facts in his 
 personal history have already and clearly been dealt with 
 by Mr. Eugene Parsons, in the earlier pages of the present 
 volume, and need not therefore be further dwelt upon. It 
 may be well here, however, to epitomize the leading facts 
 in Washington's life in early manhood as far as the era 
 of the Revolution, when he comes actively and prominently 
 on the scene in connection with the events that resulted in 
 the severance of British connection and the formation of 
 the American Union. With the successive facts freshly be- 
 fore us in his career up to the age of forty-two, when he had 
 become a member of the Continental Congress and was ap- 
 pointed commander-in-chief of its forces, we shall be better 
 able to follow the incidents in his after-life history and trace 
 
96 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 in it the gifts and qualities that distinguished him in the 
 years of earlier labor and toil and disclose in the man the 
 robust vigor and steel-like fibre of his character. 
 
 The father of the future president having died when his 
 subsequently famed son was but twelve years of age, the 
 latter had a scant, unambitious education, though physically 
 he trained himself in the healthful, invigorating sports of the 
 era. When he had reached his fifteenth year a commission 
 was offered him as a midshipman in the Royal navy, through 
 the instrumentality of Admiral \"ernon, of Porto Bello fame ; 
 but his acceptance of this was opposed by the lad's mother, 
 and he turned to surveying as a profession, in which he spent 
 three years of arduous toil in active field-work. While 
 yet a youth, though one of resource, combined with con- 
 siderable experience as a woodsman and a leader of men, 
 he was given the post of adjutant-general, with the rank of 
 major, in a body of Virginia troops ; and in 1753, though 
 he had barely attained his majority, he was appointed by 
 Lt. -Governor Dinwiddle commander of the northern mili- 
 tary district of his own colony. Before this he had made 
 a voyage to Barbadoes with his invalid brother, Lawrence, 
 who had been ordered to proceed to a v/arm climate in the 
 hope of invigorating his weak constitution. This hope, how- 
 ever, proved delusive, for Lawrence ere long returned to 
 Virginia and died, leaving to his favorite brother George 
 the care of his extensive estates, with the reversion of the 
 family home of Mount Vernon on the death of Lawrence's 
 young daughter, which presently came about. 
 
 The winter months of 1753-4 Washington spent in the 
 Ohio wilderness country, whither he had been sent on a 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 97 
 
 commission by the English colonial authorities of Virginia 
 politely to warn the French to take themselves out of the 
 Ohio valley, of which they had aggressively taken possession, 
 and, enlisting the Indians of the region, had been commit- 
 ting sundry depredations. The region had begun to be 
 settled by the Ohio Company under grant from \'irginia, 
 in which Lawrence Washington had been largely interested, 
 and the commission to his brother George had a delicate 
 task to perform in remonstrating with the French authori- 
 ties in Ohio against their intrusion and incidentally seeking 
 to know their designs in relation to the future of the terri- 
 tory. The tact displayed by the young commander and 
 the report made on his return to Governor Dinwiddle, 
 brought young Washington into notice, and, with his later 
 management of a hostile military expedition into the same 
 region, laid the foundation of his subsequent fame. The 
 military expedition, it is true, was not altogether a success, 
 in spite of the affair at the Great Meadows, clouded by the 
 after-discomfiture and surrender at Fort Necessity, on the 
 same site. Washington, now a colonel, received, however, 
 for his services in Ohio the thanks of the Virginia House 
 of Burgesses ; and presently we find him taking part as aide- 
 de-camp to General Braddock in operations in the West, 
 and sharing with that unfortunate British ofl^icer defeat at 
 the battle (July 9, 1755) near Pittsburg, on the banks of 
 the Monongahela. Despite the death of Braddock and other 
 loss of life in this engagement with the French and Indians, 
 Washington, nevertheless, succeeding in bearing off to their 
 homes the remainder of the Virginia contingent. 
 
 In these varied expeditions, and in that of 1758, in v/hich 
 
9° GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fort Duquesne was captured and rechristened by Washing- 
 ton Fort Pitt, the future general gained not a Httle experi- 
 ence, not only of actual fighting, but of the character and 
 needs of the Colonial troops whom he led and shared vicis- 
 situdes with, as well as of the hampering conditions of wood- 
 land and Indian warfare. He had also some experience 
 of the fighting qualities of English troops, against which 
 he was later on to be pitted in the deadly, eventful struggle, 
 now not far distant, with the Mother Country. He saw also 
 something of the racial and international complications be- 
 tween the French and the English, in the struggle then 
 going on to decide the question which race should be su- 
 preme on the American continent. Interest was given to the 
 conflict by affairs then transpiring in Europe, where the 
 motherland had drifted into the Seven Years' War, and by 
 the issues now soon to be decided on this continent between 
 France and England by the conquest of Quebec, and in the 
 supplanting throughout Canada and the New World of the 
 emblem of France by the red-cross banner of Britain. 
 
 In the development of Washington's great career, we now 
 come to the era of Revolution, in which he took so prominent 
 and heroic a part, and to its momentous consequences to 
 the New World as well as to the motherland. To a writer 
 who looks dispassionately upon that era, of transcendent in- 
 terest to the people of the United States, especially to-day 
 when the two kindred nations, in their now friendly and 
 most cordial relations, have forgotten the bitterness of early 
 coercion and separation which long rankled in the breasts of 
 both mother and child, a brief review of the events of the 
 time in connection with Washington's imperishable services 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 99 
 
 must be of the highest interest and importance ; while, famil- 
 iar though it is, it must also be so to the unprejudiced Am- 
 erican reader. To deal with the period fairly, one, of 
 course, should see facts in their true light, and not fail, es- 
 pecially, to do justice to those great Englishmen of the time 
 who not only had a genuine sympathy for the revolution- 
 ary side, but held and fearlessly expressed an honest con- 
 viction that George III and his truculent Tory ministers 
 were wrong in their attitude toward and particularly harsh 
 in their treatment of the Colonies. In looking thus fairly 
 and dispassionately upon the crisis of the time, there is, of 
 course, no call to glorify unduly rebellion per se, or to make 
 the mistake of deeming all the virtues on the side of our 
 own actors in the drama of the Revolution that brought 
 about the great schism of the race. There are to-day few, 
 even of English writers, who reject the idea that separation 
 in the colonial days was sure to come, though such doubt- 
 less regret, as we do, that it came about as it did. Time, 
 we know, brought a change of view to not a few British 
 politicians before the arbitrament of arms was resorted to on 
 this side. Concession, indeed, had already been wrung 
 from the king and the ministers, and there is little reason 
 to doubt that after a while there would have been many 
 modifications of the imposts against which the Colonies 
 protested and a cancelling of the more serious grievances. 
 But precipitation on this side meantime did its work, and 
 while minds were inflamed by angry appeals to prejudice; 
 while the attitude of many royalists in the Colonies were 
 often so overbearing that independence and the spirit of 
 
lOO GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 liberty which the New World fostered took increasing ex- 
 ception to the continued sovereignty of the motherland. 
 
 How determinedly Fox and other liberty-lovers in Eng- 
 land opposed the King and "the King's friends" in their 
 oppression of the North American colonies the political 
 history of the time has of course long since told us. But 
 we need a special insight into Fox's career, and a clear un- 
 derstanding of his attitude and that of liberal statesmen 
 of his day, to enable us to realize how vigorous and per- 
 sistent were his and their resistance to the policy of the 
 King and his government, and to note with what trench- 
 ant force he and his colleagues denounced the irritating 
 schemes of colonial taxation. Like Chatham, Fox was a 
 staunch supporter of the Colonial cause and a vehement 
 opponent of Lord North's government, whose arbitrary 
 measures he eloquently denounced in Parliament. But such 
 was the obstinacy of the King that Fox's scathing denuncia- 
 tions only made him more bitter and provoked the stubborn- 
 ness that led finally and inevitably to estrangement. Nor 
 under George the Third's system of personal government 
 could any ameliorating influence be looked for from his 
 ministers. By the more independent of them, so long as 
 they were suffered to hold place, the King was repeatedly 
 warned that a coercive policy toward the Colonies would 
 end disastrously. Where conciliation had been attempted, 
 the King intrigued to defeat it, and, as historians relate, 
 shamefully thwarted every effort to placate the Colonies, 
 and treated such attempts on the part of his ministers as 
 "inexpiable disloyalty to the Crown." Pacification was thus 
 out of the question, and England's administration of the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. lOI 
 
 Colonies, in consequence, fell to the nadir of tyranny, of im- 
 policy, and, so far as the government rather than the English 
 people were concerned, of dishonor. 
 
 On the other hand, despite what was averred in the Col- 
 onies, that up to the year 1774 there was no thought of in- 
 dependence, the blame of the rupture does not lie wholly 
 on the English side. There were agitators in New Eng- 
 land and the Virginias who fomented the quarrel, and trad- 
 ers whose selfishness saw personal advantage in separation. 
 Nor has our American oratory nothing to charge itself with 
 in widening the breach, as we see in the extravagant speeches 
 of leaders like Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry. Hard 
 as some modern English historians are on the obdurate 
 King, and on English statesmen such as Lord North, Gren- 
 ville, and Townshend, one of them (Sir George O. Treve- 
 lyan) has little else than smooth words for the influential 
 men in the Colonies, who, instead of instilling resentment, 
 might, by urging patience and reasonable submission, have 
 averted the rupture by violence. When Trevelyan indulges 
 in censure of the Colonists, it is of a mild type, in sharp con- 
 trast to the severe strictures he passes on the corrupt Eng- 
 lish ministers and the venal parliamentary majority which 
 harassed and distressed the Colonies. This is what he has 
 to say of the m.oral effect of the Revolution upon America : 
 
 "The Revolutionary War, like all civil wars, changed many things, 
 and troubled many waters. It must be accounted a misfortune 
 .that American society and the American character were not allowed 
 to develop themselves in a natural and unbroken growth from the 
 point which they had reached at the close of the first century and a 
 half of their history," 
 
I02 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 And again, looking to the effect of the same disturbing 
 influence on the South, the author observes : 
 
 "The mutual hatred felt and the barbarities inflicted and suf- 
 fered by partisans of either side in Georgia and the Carolinas be- 
 twen 1776 and 1782 left behind them in those regions habits of 
 violence and lawlessness, evil traces of which lasted into our life- 
 time. As for the Northern States, it was a pity that the wholesome 
 and happy conditions of existence prevailing there before the strug- 
 gle for independence were ever disturbed, for no change was likely 
 to improve them." 
 
 The passages recall similar indications of evil consequen- 
 ces flowing from revolution and dismemberment which Prof. 
 Goldwin Smith thoughtfully traces in his "Political History 
 of the United States," in dealing with the era of Independ- 
 ence. Says the distinguished Professor: 
 
 "The Colonists by their emancipation won commercial as well 
 as fiscal freedom, and the still more precious freedom of develop- 
 ment, political, social, and spiritual. They were fairly launched on 
 the course of their own destiny, which diverged widely from that of 
 a monarchical and aristocratic realm of the Old World. But their 
 liberty was baptized in civil blood, it was cradled in confiscation and 
 massacre, its natal hour was the hour of exile for thousands of 
 worthy citizens whose conservatism, though its ascendency was not 
 desirable, might, as all true liberals will allow, have usefully leav- 
 ened the republican mass. A fallacious ideal of political character 
 was set up. Patriotism was identified with rebellion, and the young 
 republic received a revolutionary bias, of the opposite of which it 
 stood in need. The sequel of the Boston Tea Party was the firing 
 on Fort Sumter." 
 
 Sir George Trevelyan's work, it may be added for those 
 readers likely to be interested in his instructive and enter- 
 taining history, chronicles the appointment of Washington 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I03 
 
 to the chief command of the Colonial levies, and gives, in 
 an earlier chapter, an admirable pen-picture of the com- 
 mander-in-chief.* 
 
 The latter in 1759 had happily married Martha, the rich 
 widow of Daniel Parke Custis, a lady of estimable charac- 
 ter, and with her he settled at Mount Vernon, the property 
 he had inherited after the death of his half-brother, Law- 
 rence, and the latter's daughter, also now deceased. Here 
 for a number of years, Washington lived the life of a hard- 
 working Virginia planter, usefully employed in the oversight 
 of his own large estates, draining lands and laying out roads, 
 and taking the while a lively interest in the troubled rela- 
 tions of the Colonies with the Mother Country. Like others 
 of the dominant caste in Virginia, he was meanwhile repeat- 
 edly elected to the State Legislature, but he is not known 
 to have made any set speeches in that body. He took, how- 
 ever, a leading, if a silent, part in the contentions of the 
 House of Burgesses with Lord Dunmore, the last royal gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, whose royalist proclivities had led him 
 into some ruthless partisan proceedings. 
 
 By this time American resistance to 'taxation without 
 representation,' manifested in opposition to the Stamp 
 Act (1765), had taken place, and, though the meas- 
 ure was repealed, its levy had led Pitt, in the English Parlia- 
 ment, to question the Mother Country's right to lay direct 
 internal taxes on the Colonies, and to rejoice that America 
 had resisted their enforcement. At this period, Franklin, 
 
 * "The American Revolution." Part I. 1766-1776. By the Right 
 Hon. Sir George Otto Trevelyan, Baronet. London and New 
 York: Longmans, Green & Go., 1899. 
 
I04 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the London agent for some of the Colonies, by answering 
 the summons of ParHament to be interrogated as to the Am- 
 erican crisis, had been instrumental in influencing English 
 Parliamentary and official opinion, which led to the repeal 
 of the obnoxious Stamp Act and the partial repeal of the 
 Townshcnd duties. Though this relief had been gained, 
 the situation on this side of the Atlantic had become graver, 
 partly in consequence of the Boston massacre (1770) and 
 the attitude of the people of the New England capital in 
 seeking the removal of the English soldiery, and especially 
 in the throwing overboard of a cargo of tea, which was sub- 
 ject to the Townshend Colonial duty, from a ship in the har- 
 bor. Shortly after this, in 1774, the first Continental Con- 
 gress met at Philadelphia and adopted the famous Declara- 
 tion of Rights. To this body Washington had been ap- 
 pointed a delegate by the Virginia convention, and its chief 
 concern was naturally to care for the menaced liberties of 
 the country and the founding of an association, the object of 
 which was to further the policy of non-importation and 
 non-consumption of English taxed articles until the griev- 
 ances of the Colonies should be redressed. 
 
 Meanwhile, Massachusetts had drifted into a critical, per- 
 turbed state, provoked by the British General Gage, and by 
 the defensive attitude of a local Committee of Safety, which 
 was forced by the officious acts of the English commander- 
 in-chief to assume administrative functions and prepare for 
 the coming strife. At Lexington and Concord armed bodies 
 of Colonial militia came into collision with Gage's troops 
 sent to sci^e concealed arms and stores at Concord and drove 
 the liliiKlish Iroops back to Charlestown, to the protection 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I05 
 
 ihere afforded them by the English men-of-war in the har- 
 bor. Soon after this occurred the scigc or hemming-in of 
 the Enghsh army at Boston and the action at Bunker Hill, 
 with its disastrous loss of life on both sides — in numbers 
 close, it is said, to 2,000 men. The battle, though it went 
 against the American army, roused the entire country against 
 England, led to the replacing of Gage by General Howe 
 in the supreme command of the English troops, and to the 
 appointment by the Second Continental Congress of Colonel 
 George Washington, of Virginia, to the chief command of 
 the American forces in the war now actively begun. 
 
 Though deprecating the resort to arms and seeking, if 
 possible, reconciliation with England, Washington, at the 
 call of his country, nevertheless rallied to the defense of the 
 young nation's liberties in jeopardy. With becoming mod- 
 esty, the commander-in-chief owned to a doubt in his own 
 mind as to his ability and experience in taking upon himself 
 the duties of his great trust, but pledged such capacity and 
 intelligence as he possessed, under Providence, to do effect- 
 ively what was required of him, while patriotically declining 
 all pay for his services. 
 
 At the age of forty-three Washington began his career 
 as general of the American forces in the war of the Revo- 
 lution, arriving at Cambridge, Mass., on the 2d of July, 
 1775, about a fortnight after the affair at Bunker Hill. So 
 far, the opening of the drama had not been propitious to 
 American arms; while the task before Washington was no 
 light one, apart from the discouragment of the recent de- 
 feat of the untried and undisciplined militia under Prescott, 
 Putnam, and Stark. He, however, vigorously set himself 
 
Io6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the task of bringing order out of confusion, and saw to 
 the supply of arms, uniforms, and other necessaries for the 
 troops under him, besides arranging for a permanent com- 
 misary department. The lack of ammunition was at this 
 juncture a perplexing one; while the brief terms of enlist- 
 ment of the men, their want of confidence in themselves and 
 their cause, their lack of discipline, as well as of food and 
 clothing, the insubordination of the rank and file to their 
 officers, and dissensions among the latter, were among the 
 other important matters claiming instant attention. Luck- 
 ily, the resort to privateers at sea secured the much-needed 
 supplies ; while Knox, as colonel of artillery, had been able 
 to bring to the slender force the invaluable aid of some 
 heavy cannon, together with ammunition. 
 
 Washington's headquarters were at Cambridge, with the' 
 troops of the centre under Putnam and Heath ; stationed on 
 the right, at Roxbury, were the men under General Artemas 
 Ward ; while those on the left were under Brigadier-General 
 Charles Lee, who afterwards came near wrecking the Ameri- 
 can cause, and the men under Brigadiers Sullivan and 
 Greene. Opposed to Washington's combined force were the 
 British troops, some 15,000 strong, under Sir William 
 Howe, whose situation at Boston was becoming embarrass- 
 ing, in consequence of the investment on the land side by 
 Washington, while the coming of his supply ships was un- 
 certain, with American privateers prowling in the vicinity 
 at sea. At length, after some eight months' preparation, 
 Washington felt strong enough to attack Howe and he 
 seized the heights at Boston commanding the British posi- 
 tion ; but the latter divining the movement put in execu- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I07 
 
 tion the project he had for some time entertained — of evacu- 
 ating Boston — which he did March 17, 1776, taking to his 
 ships with the whole British force, with the design of reach- 
 ing Halifax, there to meet his brother. Admiral Howe, with 
 reinforcements for New York. 
 
 With New England now and finally freed from English 
 troops, Washington received the thanks of Congress, and 
 turned with his command toward New York for its protec- 
 tion, only, however, to find there additional discouragements 
 — in the confusion that reigned there, with raw, undisciplin- 
 ed troops, a population, partly Tory, riven by racial and sec- 
 tional jealousies, and even conspiring to capture him or 
 shorten his life. Despite these adverse circumstances, Wash- 
 ington entrenched his troops on Manhattan Island, and took 
 up and fortified a position on Long Island ; for by this time 
 (June, 1776) Sir William Howe had arrived in New York 
 harbor and landed a large force on Staten Island ; while his 
 brother the Admiral soon followed with the British fleet 
 and took possession of the Lower Bay. With the two 
 Howes had come a total, approximately, of 35,000 veteran 
 English troops, including about half that number of Hes- 
 sian and other German mercenaries, which England had 
 hired to aid her in the struggle. Washington, on the other 
 hand, had all told only a little over half the English and 
 foreign strength in the way of serviceable American troops, 
 rcekoning among them about 5,000 raw militia. 
 
 This then was the position of affairs, in the month of July, 
 1776, which confronted Washington at the era of the im- 
 mortal Declaration of American Independence, the adoption 
 and passage of which, by the Continental Congress at Phil- 
 
lo8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 adelphia, was eagerly proclaimed by him to his troops, amid 
 the plaudits and rejoicings of the men and the now free na- 
 tion. MeanwhilCj however, clouds began to lower over 
 Washington, for the British general. Sir Henry Clinton, 
 who had taken part in the affair of Bunker Hill, and had 
 just been driven from Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, 
 had now arrived and joined Howe in the neighborhood, 
 while Washington's force on the western extremity of 
 Long Island, under Sullivan, Stirling, and Putnam, had been 
 overpowered by Howe in a battle, fought August 27, and 
 the continued occupation of New York was thereby deemed 
 so untenable as to compel the American withdrawal from 
 it. When the latter was seen clearly, especially after Howe 
 had sent some English ships, passed the batteries of New 
 York up the Hudson, with adroit rapidity Washington, who 
 had withdrawn his force from Long Island, seized the op- 
 portunity of escape from New York and made his way 
 up to Harlem Heights, where he temporarily entrenched 
 himself at King's Bridge. 
 
 The English were now in possession of New York, and 
 Fort Washington having fallen to them, Fort Lee on the 
 New Jersey side had to be evacuated, while the affair at 
 White Plains, N. Y., was adverse. Washington, now hard 
 pressed by Howe, made a masterly retreat into New Jersey, 
 and there began the winter campaign in that region. Gen- 
 eral Charles Lee, meanwhile acting contrary to Washing- 
 ton's instructions as to the disposition of the force under 
 him, had been captured by the enemy, the situation thus grew 
 grave for the cause of Liberty and the young nation, particu- 
 larly as the American forces in the field were now reduced 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I09 
 
 to about 6,000 men. With much pluck and his accustomed 
 energy, the American commander-in-chief nevertheless de- 
 termined still to assume the offensive, and, crossing the 
 frozen Delaware, sought to strike a blow at Trenton. The 
 result of this movement, which was successful, revived the 
 heart of the hero, and Washington recrossed the river with 
 about a thousand prisoners. By way of retaliation, General 
 Cornwallis was sent from New York to Princeton, where 
 Washington, by an early morning attack, led in person, won 
 a substantial victory, inflicting a loss on the English of 
 over 500 men in killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The 
 English thereafter withdrew to New York, and Washing- 
 ton's winter operations did much to revive and incite to new 
 successes in the approaching spring of 1777. 
 
 Washington, by this time entrenched at Morristown, N. J., 
 and keeping his eye on the entire field of that province, 
 scanned the future, seeking light on the situation of affairs, 
 and wondering what would come in the way of success in the 
 new campaign now about to open. The English King and 
 government, with characteristic obduracy, persisted in con- 
 tinuing the war; and with that design ordered General 
 Burgoyne to invade New York province by way of Canada 
 and Lake Champlain, and, descending the Hudson, to join 
 forces with Howe in New York City, and thus cut off New 
 England from the remainder of the country. To checkmate 
 this, Congress sought to increase the army and give to 
 Washington its full control and direction. The first move- 
 ment was to dispatch Benedict Arnold, aided by Generals 
 Schuyler and Gates, to the region, with the further design 
 of protecting West Point, in jeopardy on the Hudson. 
 
no GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington himself, meantime, hastened to the protection 
 of Philadelphia and the seat of Congress, now threatened 
 by Howe — a diversion and ruse on the part of that general 
 for a while embarrassing to Washington, and subsequently 
 fatal to the success of Burgoyne's project in the North. 
 
 At this period, Washington and the young Republic, 
 though still anxious about the ultimate issues of the war, 
 were nevertheless encouraged by many favorable circum- 
 stances. The assertion by the Nation of Independence had 
 had its effect in Europe, particularly after the visit of Lafay- 
 ette, which took place about this time, as it induced France 
 to come to the aid of America ; while the mistake made by 
 Howe, in his diversion in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, 
 proved fatally adverse to Burgoyne's operations in the North, 
 following his success in taking Ticonderoga, on Lake Cham- 
 plain, and his later defeat at Stillwater. On the other hand, 
 Howe, after landing his forces below Philadelphia, brought 
 on the battles near the Brandywinc and at Germantown, 
 both of which he won (Sept. and Oct., 1777) and then oc- 
 cupied Philadelphia. These English successes were, how- 
 ever, more than compensated by the operations in the North, 
 where Burgoyne, harassed by the Vermont and New Hamp- 
 shire militia and by Morgan and his Virginia riflemen sent 
 forward by Washington, as well as by the forces under 
 General Gates, was surrounded and compelled to surrender 
 with his army of nearly six thousand men, October 17, 1777. 
 The moral effect of this English surrender was to the Ameri- 
 can cause no less important than its military success : it 
 brought, as we know, French intervention, and made it pos- 
 sible for Congress to raise money, which at this juncture was 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I I I 
 
 pressingly needed for clothing, as well as food and other 
 necessaries, for the troops. 
 
 To Washington, especially, the discomfiture of Bur- 
 goyne and his surrender with his army at Saratoga were 
 naturally most cheering, for besides his own defeat at the 
 hand of Howe, and the sufferings of the force under him, 
 now in dire straits in their winter quarters at Valley Forge, 
 he had to endure the jealousy and despicable intrigues of 
 General Gates, who sought to supplant him as commander- 
 in-Chief. Even this was brightened, however, by his own 
 hopefulness of ultimate success for his loved country and its 
 acknowledged independence by the world ; while the visits of 
 the chivalrous Lafayette and the Prussian officer. Baron 
 Steuben, who afterwards became inspector-general of the 
 American army, relieved the stress of the situation at this, 
 perhaps the most trying, period of his career as patriot and 
 general. 
 
 At the opening of the year 1778, France intervened prac- 
 tically in the affairs of America and made treaties of alli- 
 ance and commerce with her, besides tacitly acknowledging 
 her independence. Even England made concilatory over- 
 tures and sent a commission to offer them to the Continen- 
 tal Congress ; but the day for halfway measures was past 
 and nothing came of the proposals. French aid, for the 
 present, came in the way of a squadron, sent out under the 
 Count d' Estaing, though beyond exciting British apprehen- 
 sion for the safety of the English fleet in American waters 
 and a diversion at Newport, which led to the withdrawal of 
 the English troops from Rhode Island to New York, no 
 practical assistance was given, while its presence doubtless 
 
112 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 influenced Howe's, or rather his successor Sir Henry CHn- 
 ton's evacuation of the Quaker City, in June, 1778, and the 
 withdrawal of the Enghsh to New York. On the march 
 thither, CHnton was pursued by Washington, his advance 
 force being under General Charles Lee, who overtook the 
 English at Monmouth, N. J. (June 28), and gave battle to 
 them. In the engagement, this officer (Lee), suspected of 
 treachery to the Colonial cause he had embraced, affected to 
 lose control of his men and caused a retreat to be sounded. 
 Washington, coming up at this juncture, rallied the retreat- 
 ing men and saved the day, Clinton meanwhile hurrying 
 from the field on his march New Yorkwards. Lee was 
 hotly denounced by Washington for his conduct, and after- 
 wards was tried by court-martial for his treachery and dis- 
 missed from the army. The only other incidents of note 
 during the year 1778 were the resumption of the sessions 
 of Congress at Philadelphia, the repression of Indian dis- 
 affection and Tory instigations to tribal marauding, and, 
 late in the year, the English intrusion into Georgia and cap- 
 ture of Savannah. Meanwhile, Washington wintered m 
 camp at Middlebrook, N. J. 
 
 After the battle of Monmouth, little of active fightir^g 
 occurred during the next two years that connects itself 
 either with the career of Washington or with the war- 
 history of the period. Beyond predatory raids and some 
 miscellaneous skirmishing, virtual inaction on both sides 
 was the rule, if we except the English movements in Georgia 
 and the Carolinas, and the spiritecl re-capture (July 16, 
 1779) of Stony Point, on the west bank of the Hudson, by 
 an American force under General Anthony Wayne. At sea, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I I 3 
 
 occurred also the surrender in the North Sea (Sept. 2^) of 
 the English warship Serapis to the naval adventurer, John 
 Paul Jones, in command of the Bonhomme Richard, and the 
 subsequent sinking of the latter ship. The latter was one of 
 a small fleet which the French Government had fitted out, 
 on Franklin's advice, to prey on British commerce, and Paul 
 Jones had been put in command. The year 1780 was mark- 
 ed by the notable defection of an able and distinguished 
 American general, Benedict ArnOild, of later unsavory mem- 
 ory, in seeking by secret correspondence with the English 
 general, Clinton, at New York, to dehver the American 
 stronghold of West Point on the Hudson into the enemy's 
 hands. The story, so well-known, need not detain us fur- 
 ther than to record the failure of the dastardly project, 
 through the capture of the English officer. Major Andre, 
 with implicating correspondence on his person, which led 
 to the exposure of Arnold's treachery and the saving of the 
 stronghold, though, unfortunately, at the cost of Andre's 
 life, who was speedily tried by court-martial and hanged as 
 a spy. Arnold escaped punishment by taking to flight, and 
 afterwards bemeaned himself by accepting from the Eng- 
 lish the reward of his baseness, and actually turned traitor 
 enough to fight against his country. The compassion of 
 England for the unfortunate Andre, on the other hand, sub- 
 sequently led to the erection, in the famed Westminster 
 Abbey, of a monument to his memory. 
 
 With the lassitude and inactivity which now marked the 
 conduct of the war by the mother country, England should 
 at this juncture have ended the strife, and, extending to 
 America the olive branch of peace, ought to have recognized 
 
114 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the well-earned independence of the country. But such, 
 unhappily, was not the case — due to the continued infatua- 
 tion and obstinacy of the English king and his ministers. 
 For another year the conflict went on, during which a French 
 army under Rochambeau came to American aid^ together 
 with a French fleet from the West Indies under De Grasse. 
 With the help of both, Washington longed and hoped for an 
 attack on New York and the wresting of that important 
 point from the enemy. But in this he was disappointed, in 
 consequence of the French fleet fearing to cross the bar in 
 New York harbor. Instead, it reached the Chesapeake, 
 where it came into collision with the English fleet and com- 
 pelled it to return to New York. In the summer of 1780, 
 Charleston, S. C, was withdrawn from, and Gates met de- 
 feat at Camden, through incompetence, and was relieved, 
 his command falling to Nathanael Greene, who superseded 
 him. In January, 1781, a happy victory by Morgan fell to 
 American prowess at Cowpens, S. C, to the grave em- 
 barrassment of Cornwallis, and forced him and his army 
 northward into Virginia, where the Continental troops un- 
 der the noble Lafayette did good service and enabled Gen- 
 eral Greene, despite the latter's defeat at Guilford Court 
 House, N. C, in March, and at Eutaw Springs, S. C, in 
 September, 1781, to expel the enemy from the South. 
 
 But the English did not escape misfortune, even in the 
 South, for their commander failing to receive hoped-for re- 
 inforcements from Clinton at New York, and the American 
 troops being now aided by the personal presence and co- 
 operation of Washington, with his Northern command 
 brought down the Chesapeake in transports, Cornwallis was 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. II5 
 
 forced to tarry in \'irginia, and was there hemmed in the 
 Yorktown peninsula by the combined French and Ameri- 
 can armies. Soon now came the final and supreme strug- 
 gle, which virtually was to bring the Revolutionary War to 
 a close. By the end of September (1781), Yorktown was 
 invested, and though, on October 16, Comwallis attempted 
 a sortie, it was unsuccessful, and two days later the hope- 
 lessness of his situation became manifest, and he surren- 
 dered (Oct. 19) with his entire army, in numbers close upon 
 8,000 men ! The capitulation and surrender of this large 
 English force was a crowning disaster, for in two years it 
 brought final peace, by the treaty of Versailles (Sept. 3, 
 1783), and the recognition by Britain of the Independence of 
 the United States of America. 
 
 The surrender at Yorktown. like that four years earlier 
 at Saratoga, was a crowning disaster to the English, though 
 there was this difference between them, that Cornwallis's 
 capitulation practically ended the war, of which the English 
 people, though not the Crown, had now grown utterly weary. 
 In England, moreover, it brought about the fall of Lord 
 North's ministry and put a check upon the autocratic per- 
 sonal rule of George III. On this side, though peace did 
 not officially come for two years yet, until the definitive 
 treaty with the motherland was signed, Sept. 3, 1783, the ces- 
 sation of strife was hailed with an immense rehef. Peace 
 found the country not so prostrate or desolated as might 
 have been expected, though at first there was no little con- 
 fusion and a noisy but natural grumbling among the troops 
 at the neglect or rather the inability of Congress to grant 
 them their arrears of pay. This was a mortification to 
 
Il6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington, considering his interest and affection for the 
 men of his various commands, as well as his anxious con- 
 cern for the welfare and good name of the nation. Succes- 
 ful, finally, in getting justice done to the army in this re- 
 spect, now disbanding after the preliminary Peace Treaty, 
 he bade farewell (Dec. '83) to his assembled officers, and, 
 resigning his commission to Congress, returned to domes- 
 tic life and its placidities at Mount Vernon. 
 
 Just before this, the English evacuated New York, and 
 the American authorities took possession, while the red- 
 coats afterwards retired from the occupation of Long Is- 
 land. The United States, at the same time, assumed entire 
 jurisdiction over the national domain, now extended by the 
 cession to the young nation of the territory between the 
 Alleghanies and the Mississippi.. At the outset, there was 
 much dispute and difficulty in adjusting the territorial claims 
 of the several old colonies, arising from the independent 
 government, with unsettled areas, of each before the Revo- 
 lution, and only partially settled by the Ordinance of 1787, 
 as well as by the provisional character of the Articles of Con- 
 federation, up to the era when inter-state conflicts were 
 practically adjusted under the Constitution. In these varied 
 matters, Washington took a lively interest, and in a letter 
 addressed by him, in June, 1783, to the governors of the 
 several States, he showed the extent and depth of that inter ^ 
 est and his concern for the essential, collective well-being 
 of all, by urging the creation of "an indivisible union of the 
 States under one Federal head.'' The importance of this 
 wise counsel was presently seen, in the critical period fol- 
 lowing the war and the settling of the country into a nation 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. II7 
 
 when the old confederation, on its existing basis, was found 
 impossible of maintenance, unless otherwise altered and 
 broadened, and likely to provoke civil strife. Fortunately, 
 what was wanted to give solidity, union, and permanence 
 to the nation, it soon now obtained, in a National Consti- 
 tution and an executive Federal head. When the Federal 
 Convention met at Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Con- 
 stitution, Washington was present as a delegate from Vir- 
 ginia, and an unanimous vote made him its presiding officer. 
 Beyond a few suggestive hints, he took, it appears, little 
 part in the debates, but he approved the Constitution which 
 was ultimately devised, believing it, as he said, to be the best 
 obtainable at the period. All his influence was exerted to 
 secure its ratification, and it obviously proved decisive. 
 When the scheme of government provided by the Constitu- 
 tion went into operation, he was unanimously chosen, as 
 all know, first United States President — an honor conferred 
 alike upon the country and upon its revered and worthy 
 head. 
 
 In assuming, at the bidding of his country, the duties of 
 his eminent and responsible post, Washington brought to the 
 young nation those qualities which further commended 
 and endeared him to the people, and enabled him, with high 
 credit to himself, to steer wisely the new ship of State. In 
 this task, he was assisted by some of the foremost men of 
 the time, viz., by Thomas Jefiferson, late minister to France, 
 who was given the Secretaryship of State ; by Alexander 
 Hamilton, once the commander-in-chief's aide-de-camp, now 
 made Secretary of the Treasury ; by Henry Knox, late artil- 
 lery-general in the war, now appointed Secretary of War; 
 
Il8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 and by Edmund Randolph, late governor of Virginia, now 
 installed as Attorney-General. The orator-defender of na- 
 tional rights, the eloquent John Adams, filled the office of 
 Vice-President ; the chief-justiceship fell to John Jay ; while 
 James Madison became administration leader in the House 
 of Representatives. By this time, the first inauguration 
 had taken place, a simple but impressive ceremony, made 
 notable by the delivery at New York (April 30, 1789) of 
 the President's first Inaugural, an address characteristically 
 thoughtful and eminently appropriate to the occasion. In 
 this respect, it finds worthy place in the national literature 
 alongside the second Inaugural, delivered four years later 
 on the occasion of Washington's re-election to the presi- 
 dency, and alongside his 'amed 'Farewell Address," issued 
 Sept. 19, 1796, on his wi^h-iawal from the Nation's cares 
 and duties, and in which "the idol of the people'^ exhorts 
 them to continued union and harmony. This latter docu- 
 ment, it has been well said, "is filled with noble sentiments 
 for the meditation of all future generations." 
 
 In bringing our narrative to a close, we may add that 
 Washington continued patriotically to the last to take in- 
 telligent, yet conservative, interest in the affairs of the 
 new Nation ; and at this era both he and his administration 
 had much to engross their minds, and not a little also to 
 contend with, in settling or giving peaceful form and direc- 
 tion to the perplexities of the time. Of these, shortly after 
 Peace came to the country, there was the problem, already 
 hinted at, of the quiet disbanding of the discontented army, 
 and what to do for the Loyalists or partisans of the British 
 cause during the Revolution ; then came the organization 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I I9 
 
 of parties, the early anti-slavery agitation, the Indian 
 troubles in the West, the vast and irksome matter of the 
 State debts and the condition of the national finances, with 
 the founding of the United States Bank and the selection of 
 the capital-seat of the Republic. Outside of the country, 
 there were also perplexities to be faced later on in the loom- 
 ing up of trouble with France, especially in maintaining 
 neutrality, when that nation had become involved in war 
 with England and her Continental allies. To the consider- 
 ation of these and other questions of the hour, it need hardly 
 be added that Washington brought the lucidity of a calm, 
 clear mind, the sanity of a prudent course and an unbiassed 
 judgment — in short, all the qualities that throughout a long 
 and faithful career eminently distinguished him, and that 
 gave him undying place in the affectionate remembrance 
 and veneration of his country. Retiring from the Presi- 
 dency in 1797, he resumed the planter's life he loved, 
 though in the following year he was appointed commander- 
 in-chief of the provisional army raised in anticipation of a 
 war with France. In the midst of military preparations, 
 Washington was calamitously seized with a sudden and 
 fatal illness, and, on Dec. 14, 1799, he died on his estate 
 at Mount Vernon. Two days later, amid the mourning 
 of the nation, he was quietly and unostentatiously buried u 
 the family vault at his loved home. 
 
 Of this noble and patriotic man, whom the nation still 
 reveres, Lord Brougham, the English lord-chancellor, 
 wrote a fitting and admiring eulogy. As it is cornparatively 
 little known, we venture with it to close our own modest 
 narrative and appraisement of Washington's character and 
 
I20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 career. "If profound sagacity" — says Brougham — "steadi- 
 ness of purpose, the entire subjugation of all the passions 
 which carry havoc through ordinary minds, and oftentimes 
 lay waste the fairest prospect of greatness — nay, the disci- 
 pline of those feelings which are wont to lull or seduce 
 genius, and to mar and cloud over the aspect of virtue it- 
 self — joined with, or rather leading to, the most absolute 
 self-denial ; the most habitual and exclusive devotion to 
 principle — if these things can constitute a great character, 
 without either quickness of apprehension, or resources of 
 information, or inventive power, or any brilliant quali.^y 
 that might dazzle the vulgar — then surely Washington was 
 the greatest man that ever lived in the world, uninspired 
 by Divine wisdom, and unsustained by supernatural virtue. 
 "His courage, whether in battle or in council, was as 
 perfect as might be expected from his pure and steady tem- 
 per of soul. A perfectly just man, with a thoroughly firm 
 resolution never to be misled by others any more than to 
 be by others overawed ; never to be seduced or betrayed, 
 or hurried away by his own weakness or self-delusion any 
 more than by other men's arts ; nor ever to be disheartened 
 by the most complicated difificulties any more than to be 
 spoilt in the giddy heights of fortune — such was this great 
 man, great, pre-eminently great, whether we regard him as 
 sustaining alone the whole weight of campaigns, all but des- 
 perate, or gloriously terminating a just warfare by his 
 resources and his courage — presiding over the jarring ele- 
 ments of his political council, alike deaf to the storm of all 
 extremes, or directing the formation of a new government 
 for a great people, the first time that so vast an experiment 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 121 
 
 had ever been tried by man — or finally retiring from the su- 
 preme power to which his virtues had raised him over the 
 nation he had created, and whose destinies he had guided 
 as long as his aid was required — retiring with the venera- 
 tion of all parties, of all nations, of all mankind, in order 
 that the rights of men might be conserved, and that his ex- 
 ample might never be appealed to by vulgar tyrants. This 
 is the consummate glory of Washington — a triumphant war- 
 rior where the most sanguine had a right to despair ; a suc- 
 cessful ruler in all the difficulties of a course wholly un- 
 tried, but a warrior whose sword only left its sheath when 
 the first law of our nature commanded it to be drawn, and 
 a ruler, who, having tasted of supreme power, quietly and 
 unostentatiously desired that the cup might pass from him, 
 nor would suffer more to wet his lips than the most solemn 
 and most sacred duty to his country and his God required.'' 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON.* 
 
 By Prof. Hbnry Wade Rogers, Ph. D. 
 Yale University. 
 
 On the twenty-second day of February, in the year 1732, 
 George Washington was born. One hundred years ago, 
 in December, the fourteenth day, he died, declaring "I die 
 hard, but I am not afraid to go." At Mount Vernon in 
 December of this year,t the centenary of his death is to be 
 observed, historical addresses are to be delivered, and it is 
 proposed that a naval vessel stationed in the Potomac shall 
 fire salutes, as on the day of his funeral minute-guns were 
 fired from a vessel in the river. Never in our history have 
 we celebrated the centenary of an American's death. Of all 
 our great men, this man's name is venerated as that of the 
 most illustrious. He served his country long and well; 
 led the colonists to victory in the War for Independence ; 
 helped to frame the Constitution of the United States and 
 to secure its adoption by the people ; and then, as the first 
 President, set the machinery of the new government in mo- 
 tion, and so directed its operations as to insure the safety of 
 the infant nation. Then, when he died, the good mourned 
 because a great man, one of the greatest of men, was gone. 
 In England great honor was paid to his memory, for, when 
 the news came that he was dead, the ships of the British 
 fleet lowered the flags half-mast ; and in France, Bonaparte 
 directed black crape to be suspended from all the standards 
 
 •By ParmisBion, from "Self Culture Magazine" lor February, 1899. 
 tWritten in Jannary , 1899. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 23 
 
 throughout the army and from the flags throughout the ser- 
 vice. From the day of his death, and before, this man has 
 been, in the pubHc estimation, "first in war, first in peace, 
 and first in the hearts of his countrymen." His place in 
 history is unique. Talleyrand, in his official report as Min- 
 ister of Foreign Afl:airs for France, alluding to his death, 
 declared it "an event which deprives the world of one of its 
 brightest ornaments, and removes to the realm of history 
 one of the noblest lives that ever honored the human race." 
 He goes on to say, that France should depart from estab- 
 lished usages and do honor to one "whose fame is beyond 
 comparison with that of others." Even China has asked : 
 "Can any man of ancient or modern times fail to pronounce 
 Washington peerless ?" 
 
 For a long time the popular conception of the man was 
 based upon the story of his life as portrayed by Weems, 
 whose book passed through some fifty editions. To that 
 writer we owe the myth about the cherry tree, and numer- 
 ous others, equally without foundation. Weems claimed 
 to have been the rector of Mount Vernon parish, and to 
 have lived on terms of intimacy with Washington. But 
 his pretentions were wholly void of truth. Lodge describes 
 him as "a preacher by profession and an adventurer by 
 nature," and he adds that he wrote "popular" books, ped- 
 dling them himself as he travelled about the country. His 
 mendacity is now quite well understood, and the unrelia- 
 bility of his book is thoroughly recognized. One writer 
 remarks that "possibly Washington could not tell a lie, but 
 Weems was not thus handicapped." A wrong impression 
 was also created by Jared Sparks, who, in 1825, began 
 
124 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the work of collecting and editing the writings of Washing- 
 ton. The first volume appeared in 1837, and contained the 
 "Life." That Sparks was a hero-worshipper, and gave a 
 "distorted" idea of the man whose life he was depicting, 
 is now quite generally known. Mr. Ford, the editor of the 
 Putnam edition of the "Writings of Washington," which ap- 
 peared in 1889, states that Mr. Sparks not only omitted 
 "sentences, words, proper names, and even paragraphs, 
 without notice to the reader, but he materially altered the 
 sense and application of important portions of the letters." 
 It was certainly a mistaken judgment that led Sparks to 
 adopt the policy he pursued. The later publication, which 
 omitted nothing from the record, has not detracted from 
 the greatness of W^ashington, and has enabled us the better 
 to understand what manner oi man he really was. Since 
 the publication of Mr. Ford's work, there appeared, in 1896, 
 a "Life of Washington" by Henry Cabot Lodge, in two 
 volumes, and in the same year "The True George Washing- 
 ton," by Paul Leicester Ford, a brother of the editor of the 
 "Writings"; and, in 1897, another "Life" by Woodrow Wil- 
 son. These books have very much enlarged our knowledge 
 of the man, and served to bring us into closer touch with 
 him. A few years ago. Prof. McMaster, the writer of a 
 "History of the United States," said: "General Washing- 
 ton is known to us, and President Washington, but George 
 Washington is an unknown man." That this was largely 
 the case at the time it was written is quite true. It is true 
 no longer, and, as a recent writer remarks, "we know 
 W^ashington as well as it is possible to know any man." He 
 stands revealed to us as he really was. In the glare of all 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 25 
 
 the light that has been flashed upon him, he appears to have 
 been human, like other men, but the greatness of the man 
 stands forth as conspicuous as before. 
 
 Washington was certainly intended for great things. 
 Nature began by giving him, as he declared, "one of the 
 best of constitutions." He was a man of fine figure, stood 
 six feet and three inches tall, weighed two hundred and ten 
 pounds, and is described as having about him "a, remark- 
 able air of dignity." We are told that his eyes were blue, 
 his hair brown, and his face bore some of the marks of the 
 smallpox with which he had been stricken in the Bahamas, 
 whither he went in 175 1, to look after his brother Lawrence, 
 who had gone there in the vain hope that in a milder cli- 
 mate he might escape dying from consumption. It seems 
 to be agreed that Washington was a man of high temper, 
 which he usually was able to keep under good control. John 
 Marshall tells us that "there was a quickness in his sensi- 
 bility to anything apparently offensive, which experience 
 had taught him to watch and to correct." There was a cer- 
 tain reserve about him that made familiarity with him im- 
 possible, even on the part of those who were on terms of 
 intimacy with him. He had remarkable personal courage, 
 and, in the opinion of Jefferson, was a man incapable of 
 fear. The men who foug'ht under him in battle complained 
 because his fearlessness of danger led him to take little care 
 of himself in action. He was distinguished more for the 
 solidity of his judgment and his practical good sense than 
 for the brilliancy of his genius. It is generally agreed that 
 Washington's strong traits of character were derived from 
 his mother, who is nevertheless described to us as one who 
 
126 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 scolded and grumbled to the day of her death, and who 
 sought solace by smoking a pipe. 
 
 Mr. Weems informs us that the last teacher Washington 
 studied under was famous "at reading, spelling, English 
 grammar, arithmetic, surveying, bookkeeping, and geogra- 
 phy." Then he adds : ''And in these useful arts, 'tis said 
 he often boasted that he had made George Washington as 
 great a scholar as himself." Poor Weems! No one who 
 knows anything about the matter, except the mendacious 
 Weems, has ever pretended that Washington was a scholar. 
 His school-days ended when he was fourteen. To the last 
 he was an atrocious speller and a worse grammarian. The 
 following examples of his spelling must suffice : "immag- 
 ine." "glew," "oppertunity," "extravagence," and '"winder." 
 He greatly lamented his deficiencies in this -respect, and al- 
 lusions to the subject are found in his letters. We are in- 
 formed that he regarded education with "an almost pathetic 
 reverence;" and that when, late in life, he was made Chan- 
 cellor of the College of William and Mary, he was more 
 deeply pleased than by any other honor ever conferred upon 
 him. 
 
 Washington never had the benefit of Carlyle's disquisi- 
 tion on the Philosophy of Clothes, yet it is quite evident that 
 if he had read Professor Teufelsdrockh's assertion that "So- 
 ciety is founded upon Cloth." there was a time when he 
 would not seriously have called it in question. He was always 
 particular about his dress, and in his earlier years was re- 
 garded as considerable of a dandy. The following descrip- 
 tion is given of his dress at his public receptions while he 
 was President : he was "clad in black velvet ; his hair in ful' 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 27 
 
 dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag; 
 yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a 
 cockade in it, and the edges adorned with a black feather 
 about an inch deep. He wore knee and shoe buckles, and 
 a long sword, with a finely wrought and polished steel hilt, 
 which appeared at the left hip, the coat worn over the sword, 
 so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were in 
 view. The scabbard was white polished leather." 
 
 In 1783, however, we find him writing to his favorite 
 nephew, Bushrod Washington, afterwards an associate jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and saying: 
 "Do not conceive that fine clothes make fine men any more 
 than fine feathers make fine birds. A plain genteel dress 
 is more admired, and obtains more credit than lace and em- 
 broidery, in the eyes of the judicious and sensible." He 
 advises him to be very choice in his companions, telling 
 him that it is easy to make acquaintances, but very difficult 
 to shake them off, however irksome and unprofitable they 
 are found. "The last thing which I shall mention," he adds, 
 "is first in importance, and that is, to avoid gaming. This 
 is a vice which is productive of every possible evil ; equally 
 injurious to the morals and health of its votaries." On his 
 social side, Washington was very like the men of his day 
 and generation. He was fond of cards, and, notwithstand- 
 ing the excellent advice contained in the letter referred to, 
 seems to have played for stakes, though not for large ones. 
 He appears also to have had a fondness for billiards, as well 
 as for theatres, and even attended cockfights and the circus. 
 Outdoor sports strongly attracted him. His fondness for 
 horsemanship amounted to a passion, and Jefferson de- 
 
128 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 clared him to be the best horseman of his age, and the most 
 graceful figure that could be seen on horseback. He was 
 a bold horseman, rode to the hounds, leaping the highest 
 fences with great dexterity. He regarded dancing as an 
 agreeable and innocent amusement, and frequently indulged 
 in it. Social life had very strong attractions for him, and 
 he always dispensed a lavish hospitality. In the presence of 
 strangers, he was very reserved, and was inclined to be taci- 
 turn in general society. According to Madison he was not 
 fluent or ready in conversation. But Jefferson states that 
 among his friends he took "a free share in conversation." 
 Indeed, one who had the opportunity of knowing said that 
 among his intimate friends he laughed and talked a good 
 deal. In this respect there was a strong resemblance be- 
 tween Washington and Grant. He had no patience with 
 the duel, and although the men of his time felt bound to 
 satisfy their '"honor" in that way, it was well understood 
 ^hat he would neither send nor accept a challenge. "From 
 his earliest manhood," so wrote one of his friends, "I have 
 heard him express his contempt of the man who sends and 
 the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such acts 
 as no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors 
 as the relic of old barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound 
 morality and Christian enlightenment." 
 
 Chief-Justice Marshall opens his "Life of Washington" 
 with the statement that, as "his patrimonial estate was by 
 no means considerable, his youth was employed in useful 
 industry." Washington's father was a man of large posses- 
 sions, and when he died, in 1743, left his children well pro- 
 vided for. But they were rich in land. They had littu 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 29 
 
 ready income, and were .obliged, therefore, to cultivate the 
 virtues of industry and frugality. In the end, George Wash- 
 ington became a rich man, the property he received from his 
 father having been much augmented by what he received on 
 the death of his brother Lawrence, which occurred in 1752. 
 Washington's marriage with Mrs. Custis was also of ma- 
 terial benefit to him, Mr. Custis having left an estate of 
 more than one hundred thousand dollars. Washington 
 became one of the richest men in Virginia, and therefore one 
 of the wealthiest men in America. If some Li Hung Chang 
 had propounded the inquiry, "How much are you worth?" 
 the question need not have occasioned the slightest em.- 
 barrassment. That Washington was a very sagacious man 
 of business, giving attention to every detail and exceedingly 
 shrewd at a bargain, is well known. He was a close 
 student of agriculture, and ever ready to take advantage of 
 improvements in farming implements and the manner of 
 working his land. He wished to be thought the first farmer 
 in America. 
 
 At the time of his death he was supposed to be the largest 
 landholder in the country, being possessed of fifty-one thou- 
 sand three hundred and ninety-five acres, exclusive of the 
 Mount Vernon estate, his town properties, and the real estate 
 of his wife. The value of his property at his death, again 
 excluding the Mount Vernon estate and the property of his 
 wife, was estimated at five hundred and thirty thousand 
 dollars. The estate at Mount Vernon included eight thou- 
 sand acres. In Ford's "Washington" an account is given of 
 the stock on the Mount Vernon property. It appears that 
 in 1793 Washington had fifty-four draught horses on the 
 
i^O GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 estate, three hundred and seventeen head of cattle, six hun- 
 dred and thirty-four sheep, and "many'' hogs. The Hve 
 stock was vahied at his death at thirty-five thousand dollars. 
 In addition to the draught horses already mentioned, he 
 had in 1799 "'two covering jacks and three young ones, ten 
 she asses, forty-two working mules, and fifteen younger 
 ones." Mount Vernon was a community in itself, including 
 some three hundred persons. Washington had his own 
 blacksmith shop, his own brickmaker and masons, his car- 
 penters, shoemaker, and weavers. We can readily under- 
 stand how it was that while he was President he was con- 
 tinually thinking of Mount Vernon. 
 
 The manner in which farming was carried on in Vir- 
 ginia was very unsatisfactory to Washington, and he did 
 what he could to improve it. In one of his letters, written 
 in 1787, he says: "I must observe that there is, perhaps, 
 scarcely any part of America where farming has been less 
 attended to than in this State (Virginia). The cultivation of 
 tobacco has been almost the sole object with men of landed 
 property, and consequently a regular course of crops have 
 never been in view." He goes on to say that there are sev- 
 eral farmers, himself among the number, who are adopting 
 the English system of rotation of crops. In 1785, he was 
 writing Lord Fairfax to make inquiry in England "whether 
 a thorough-bred, practical English farmer, from a part of 
 England where husbandry seems to be best understood, 
 and is most advantageously practiced, could not be obtained, 
 and upon what terms ?" He adds that he has no doubt that 
 such a man might be had for very Iiigh wages, "as money 
 we know will fetch anything and command the service of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I3I 
 
 any man," and he is very careful to say "but with the former 
 I do not abound." Tliat was a time when he was feeling 
 land poor, as he did not infrequently, being sometimes 
 compelled to borrow, and at others to sell, some of his land- 
 holdings. He also appears to have experienced difificulty 
 at times in getting proper returns, and many a farmer to- 
 day will sympathize with Washington when he wrote to one 
 of his farm managers, in 1799, as follows : "It is hoped and 
 will be expected that more effectual measures will be pur- 
 sued to make butter another year ; for it is almost beyond 
 belief that, from one hundred and one cows actually reported 
 on a late enumeration of the cattle, I am obliged to buy 
 butter for the use of my family." This reads very much 
 like some of the results achieved by Henry Ward Beecher 
 and Horace Greeley in their attempts at farming. Wash- 
 ington cultivated his farms, however, with much foresight, 
 and the instructions which he issued to his managers would 
 constitute even now a valuable farm manual. These in- 
 structions show his great familiarity with all the processes 
 of farming and stock-raising. 
 
 Washington is preeminent, among the public men this 
 country has produced, for his sense of civic duty. After 
 his retirement from the presidency, he served as a member 
 of a grand jury, and on several occasions as a petit juror. 
 He was particular in the discharge of all the duties of citi- 
 zenship, invariably voting at the elections, although this nec- 
 essitated his riding a distance of ten miles from Mount Ver- 
 non to the polling-place. We are accustomed at the present 
 day to see public men bring all possible influence to bear 
 to reach public station. In the case of Washington the ©f' 
 
132 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 fice sought the man, and was by him rehictantly accepted. 
 His tastes inclined him to the Hfe of a private citizen, and 
 he had no longing for the duties and honors of public life, 
 but much preferred the retirement of a country gentleman. 
 He loved retirement, and when Virginia insisted on sending 
 him to the convention that was to frame the Constitution 
 of the United States, he hesitated long before consenting 
 to accept the place. He pleaded age and ill-health, and 
 as late as the February preceding the assembling of the con- 
 vention, which occurred in May, he wrote that his private 
 intention was not to attend. Again, as late as the last of 
 March, he wrote the governor to have some one appointed 
 in his place. At last, he ccnsented to attend, fearing that 
 his non-attendance would be regarded as "a dereliction of 
 republicanism." After the Constitution was adopted and 
 the people demanded that he should accept the presidency, 
 we find him reluctant as before: again he pleaded old age, 
 and declared that his acceptance would be attended with 
 more diffidence and reluctance than he ever experienced 
 before in his life. He doubted his capacity for civil affairs. 
 As he was about leaving Mount Vernon to assume the of- 
 fice, he wrote to Knox : "In confidence I tell you that my 
 movements to the chair of government will be accompanied 
 by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the 
 place of execution.*' These were the feelings, and this the 
 distrust, of the man who had been unanimously elected 
 to the office of President of the United States. As his 
 first term was coming to an end, he announced to his friends 
 his desire to retire from of^ce. Madison was taken into his 
 confidence, and informed by Washington that the fatigues 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 33 
 
 and clisagreeableness of the office were scarcely tolerable to 
 him, that his inclinations lead him to his farm, and that he 
 preferred to take his spade in hand and work for his 
 bread than remain in his then situation. He spoke in the 
 same strain to Jefferson, telling him that tranquillity and re- 
 tirement had become an irresistible passion. 
 
 It was only after a long and painful conflict in his own 
 breast, to use his own words, that he finally made up his 
 mind to give up what had been his "fixed determination" 
 to retire, and consented to accept the office for a second term. 
 That he could have been elected for a third time is conceded, 
 but he would not listen to such a suggestion. He longed 
 for privacy and rest above all things, and gladly laid down 
 his great office. To make use of his own expression, he 
 "panted" for retirement. But earnestly as he wished to end 
 his days in quiet, he was ready to respond when once con- 
 vinced that his duty to his country demanded his service. 
 So it happened that, two years after his retirement, and one 
 year before his death, when President Adams appointed him 
 Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief of all the 
 armies, and war with France seemed probable, we find him 
 consenting to take the place. He writes to John Adams: 
 "Feeling how incumbent it is upon every person of every de- 
 scription to contribute at all times to his country's welfare, 
 and especially in a moment like the present, when everything 
 we hold dear is so seriously *^hreatened, I have finally deter- 
 mined to accept the commis; ion of Commander-in-Chief of 
 the armies of the United States." And in the last year of 
 his life he writes to Lord Fairfax : "I hold myself in readi- 
 ness to gird on the sword, if the emergency shall require it." 
 
134 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Ill his inaugural address as President, announcement was 
 made by Washington of his purpose to receive no compensa- 
 tion for his services. "When I was first honored with a call 
 into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous 
 struggle for its liberties," he declared, "the light in which I 
 contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every 
 pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no 
 instance departed. And being still under the impressions 
 which produced it, I must decline, as inapplicable to my- 
 self, any share in the personal emoluments which may be in- 
 dispensably included in a permanent provision for the execu- 
 tive department." He thus made it a matter of principle to 
 accept no salary from the Government, and would never 
 consent to more than a reimbursement for actual expendi- 
 tures. At the same time, he recognized that sound public 
 policy required suitable compensation to be provided for 
 the officials of the Government. In his last annual message 
 to Congress he advised a legislative revision of official sal- 
 aries, and added : "The consequences of a defective pro- 
 vision are of serious import to the Government. If private 
 wealth is to supply the defect of public contribution, it will 
 greatly contract the sphere within which the selection of 
 character for office is to be made, and will proportionally 
 diminish the probability of a choice of men able as well as 
 upright. Besides that, it would be repugnant to the vital 
 principles of our Government virtually to exclude from pub- 
 lic trust, talents and virtues uiless accompanied by wealth." 
 There is a wisdom in this upon which it would be well for 
 the country to-day to reflect. The fact is well known that 
 many of the leading officials of the Government of the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 35 
 
 United States are so inadequately compensated that a poor 
 man is practically disqualified from taking office. The Secre- 
 tary of State is obliged, for example, to entertain more than 
 the President, and yet the salary attached to the office is only 
 sufficient to pay the rent of a house suitable for one in his 
 position to occupy. An ambassador of the United States 
 at Paris has been known to expend his entire salary in a 
 similar manner. These are simple examples of what is true 
 of other officials, and it is altogether wrong that such a con- 
 dition should exist. 
 
 On becoming President it became necessary for Wash- 
 ington to make known the rules by which official intercourse 
 was to be carried on. He determined to return no visits, 
 appointed certain days on which visits would be received, 
 and decided that his entertaining should be confined to pub- 
 lic officials. All this was made the subject of not a little 
 animadversion, and was said to be an imitation of the prac- 
 tices of crowned heads. A great deal of the President's 
 time is necessarily occupied in determining upon appoint- 
 ments to office, and this Washington found the most irk- 
 some part of the executive trust. His correspondence shows 
 him again and again referring to the subject, and declaring 
 that he found it to be the most delicate and difficult task he 
 had to perform. It annoyed him greatly, as it has each of 
 his successors in the office, that applicants for appointments 
 persisted in coming to the seat of government, and in spend- 
 ing considerable time there, in an effort to influence the ac- 
 tion of the executive. As early as May, 1789, we find him 
 writing: "I only wish, so far as my agency in this busi- 
 ness is concerned, that candidates for offices would save 
 
136 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 themselves the trouble and consequent expense of personal 
 attendance. AH that I require is the name and such testi- 
 monials, with respect to abilities, integrity, and fitness, as it 
 may be in the power of the several applicants to produce." 
 While he held the office he made it an invariable rule never 
 to promise an appointment in advance, but to remain to the 
 last moment free and unengaged. 
 
 In making appointments Washington was governed by 
 three considerations: i. The fitness of the person to fill 
 the office. 2. The comparative merits and "sufferings in 
 service" of the respective candidates. 3. A regard for the 
 geographical distribution of offices, to the end that there 
 might be a distribution of appointments in as equal a pro- 
 portion as might be to persons belonging in the different 
 States. In 1795, he stated in a letter to Timothy Pickering: 
 'T shall not, whilst I have the honor to administer the gov- 
 ernment, bring a man into any office of consequence know- 
 ingly whose political tenets are adverse to the measures 
 which the general government are pursuing, for this, in my 
 opinion, would be a sort of political suicide." At the same 
 time no man has ever regarded political parties as more 
 perilous to the country, and his warning, in the Farewell Ad- 
 dress, against the spirit of party, would do credit to the most 
 pronounced Mugwump of modern times. In 1796 he writes : 
 'T have never made an appointment from a desire to serve 
 a friend or relation." Again, in the same year, he declares : 
 "I can defy malignancy itself to ascribe partiality, or inter- 
 ested motives, to any of my nominations." So determined 
 was he that no act of his should give occasion for calling in 
 question the disinterestedness of his motives, that he laid it 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I 37 
 
 down as a rule of conduct never to give an appointment to 
 a relative. His successor, John Adams, protested against 
 what he styled Washington's "hyper-superlative public vir- 
 tue" in this matter. In the opinion of Mr. Adams, a Presi- 
 dent should not be influenced for or against a candidate by 
 any consideration of his relationship. Jefferson adopted the 
 principle laid down by Washington, and wrote: "Mr. 
 Adams degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this 
 subject, as General Washington had done himself the great- 
 est honor." Alost of our Presidents, it can be said to their 
 credit, have followed the illustrious example set by Wash- 
 ington. The conduct of General Grant in this particular 
 occasioned a vast amount of criticism, which was by no 
 means confined to the party of the opposition. 
 
 Gift-taking on the part of public men Washington could 
 not countenance. At a time when he was in private life, two 
 years after laying down his commission as commander of the 
 army, and four years before he entered upon the presidency, 
 the State of \'irginia, by the unanimous vote of its Assembly, 
 proposed to present him with certain valuable shares of 
 stock. It was a time when he found it necessary to prac- 
 tice economy, as his finances had suffered by neglect during 
 the war. But he never for a moment, as he wrote Jeffer- 
 son, entertained an idea of accepting it. In alluding to the 
 matter in a letter to a friend, he writes: "How would this 
 matter be viewed by the eye of the world, and what would 
 be the opinion of it, when it comes to be related that George 
 Washington has received twenty thousand dollars and five 
 thousand pounds sterling of the public money as an interest ? 
 . . . Under whatever pretense, and however customar- 
 
138 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ily these gratuitous gifts are made in other countries, should 
 I not thenceforward be considered as a dependent ?" When 
 he became President he would receive no favors of any 
 kind. A large house was provided for him in Philadelphia, 
 when the seat of government was in that city, on grounds 
 now occupied by the University of Pennsylvania, which he 
 declined to accept. Unfortunately, some of those who have 
 succeeded to his office have not inherited the same conscien- 
 tious; scruples by which he was distinguished. 
 
 Posterity has been so much impressed by his purity of 
 motive and lofty character, as well as by the eminent ser- 
 vices he rendered, that it is very difficult for us to realize 
 that Washington was about the most abused man of his 
 time. No strong man can fill public office, and conscien- 
 tiously discharge its duties, without making enemies. And 
 it is quite the case that a man is to be as much judged by 
 the enemies, as by the friends, he makes. The country has 
 not forgotten how, in a convention that nominated Mr. 
 Cleveland for the presidency, that body was electrified by the 
 remark: "We love him for the enemies he has made." 
 During the Revolution Washington was continually subject- 
 ed to annoying criticism, and there were not a few who 
 sought to displace him as commander of the forces. Some 
 of those who professed friendship were guilty of treachery, 
 and entered into a conspiracy against him. One of his gen- 
 erals called him "most damnably deficient" and a blunderer. 
 He was called "the American Fabius," and all sorts of dis- 
 asters were predicted if he continued in command of the 
 army. One of these criticisms ran as follows : "Such fee- 
 bleness and want of authority, such confusion and want of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I39 
 
 discipline, such waste, such destruction, would exhaust the 
 wealth of both the Indies and annihilate the armies of all 
 Europe and Asia." The worst of it was that this kind of 
 criticism was not confined to men of base purposes and sel- 
 fish motives, but was indulged in by men of high character, 
 who were not actuated by improper considerations. When 
 he became President he was charged with "want of merit," 
 "insignificance," "ostentatious professions of piety," "ineffi- 
 ciency," "falsehood," and "pusillanimity." Thomas Paine 
 published a pamphlet against him, in which he concluded as 
 follows: "and, as to you, sir, treacherous in private friend- 
 ship, and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled 
 to decide whether you are apostate or an impostor ; whether 
 you have abandoned good principles, or whether yoii ever 
 had any." Every public man must expect to be abused, 
 maligned, and misrepresented. The people in the end come 
 to understand the animus by which all such attacks are in- 
 spired, and the man who does his duty knows that sooner or 
 later justice will be done him. Washington had the good 
 sense to ignore all this abuse, and no reply to it ever came 
 from him. His name is, and forever will remain, the price- 
 less heritage of all Americans. He was the Father of his 
 Country, and had that loftiness of character, that purity of 
 purpose, that solidity of judgment, which command the ad- 
 miration of the world. But one other name, that of Lincoln, 
 is linked with his in the affections of his countrymen. 
 
140 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ANECDOTES, CHARACTERISTICS AND TRIBUTES TO 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The birthday of the "Father of his Country"! May it 
 ever be freshly remembered by American hearts! May 
 it ever reawaken in them a filial veneration for his mem- 
 ory; ever rekindle the fires oi patriotic regard to the coun- 
 try which he loved so well; to which he gave his youth- 
 ful vigor, and his youthful energy during the perilous 
 period of the early Indian warfare; to which he devoted 
 his life, in the maturity of his powers, in the field; to 
 which again he offered the counsels of his wisdom and 
 his experience as president of the convention; which he 
 guided and directed while in the chair of state, and for 
 which the last prayer of his earthly supplication was 
 offered up when it came the moment for him so well, and 
 so grandly, and so calmly to die! He was the first man 
 of the time in which he grew. His memory is first and 
 most sacred in our love; and ever hereafter, till the last 
 drop of blood shall freeze in the last American heart, his 
 name shall be a spell of power and might. — Riifus Choate. 
 
 THE VALUE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The value of Washington to his country transcends 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 141 
 
 that of any other man to any land. Take him from the 
 Revolution, and all the fervor of the Sons of Liberty 
 would seem to have been a wasted flame. Take him 
 from the constitutional epoch, and the essential condition 
 
 Greenough's Statue of Washington, Washington. D. C. 
 
 The Inscriptions are from Henry Lee's Oration on the death of Washington, 
 
 delivered before both Houses of Congress, Dec. 16, 1799. 
 
 of union, personal confidence in a leader, would have 
 been wanting. 
 
 Franklin, when the work of the constitutional con- 
 vention was completed, said that until then he had 
 not been sure whether the sun depicted above the 
 president's chair was a rising or a setting sun, but 
 now his doubt was solved. Yet it was not the symbolic 
 figure above the chair, it was the man within it, which 
 
142 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 should have forecast the great result to that sagacious 
 mind. 
 
 From the moment that independence was secured, no 
 man in America saw more clearly the necessity of na- 
 tional union, or defined more wisely and distinctly the 
 reasons for it. He is the chief illustration in a popular 
 government of a great leader who was not also a great 
 orator. 
 
 Perhaps that fact gave a solid force to his influence 
 by depriving all his expressions of a rhetorical char- 
 acter, and preserving in them throughout a simplicity 
 and moderation which deepened the impression of his 
 comprehensive sagacity. He was felt as both an inspir- 
 ing and a sustaining power in the preliminary movement 
 for union, and by natural selection he was both president 
 of the convention and the head of the government which 
 it instituted. —^ Geor£-e IVtlliam Curtis. 
 
 THE MAJESTIC EMINENCE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 "Westward the course of empire takes its way; 
 
 The first four acts already past, 
 A fifth shall close the drama with the day, 
 
 Time's noblest offspring is the last," 
 
 As the human race has moved along down the centur- 
 ies the vigorous and ambitious, the dissenters from blind 
 obedience and the original thinkers, the colonists and 
 state-builders have broken camp with the morning and 
 followed the sun until the close of day. They have tar- 
 ried for ages in fertile valleys and beside great streams; 
 they have been retarded by barriers of mountains and 
 seas beyond their present resources to overcome; but as 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 143 
 
 the family grew into the tribe, the tribe into the nation, 
 and equal authority into the despotism of courts and 
 creeds those who possessed the indomitable and uncon- 
 querable spirit of freedom have seen the promise flashed 
 from the clouds in the glorious rays of the sinking orb of 
 day, and first with despair and courage, and then with 
 courage and hope, and lastly with faith and prayer, they 
 have marched westward. 
 
 In the purification and trials of wandering and settle- 
 ment they have left behind narrow and degrading laws, 
 traditions, customs, and castes, and now, as the Occident 
 faces the orient across the Pacific, and the globe is cir- 
 cled, at the last stop and in their permanent home, the 
 individual is the basis of government and all men are 
 equal before th? law. The glorious example of the tri- 
 umphant success of the people governing themselves fans 
 the feeble spirit of the effete and exhausted Asiatic with 
 the possibilities of the replanting of the garden of Eden 
 and of the restoration of the historic grandeur of the 
 birthplace of mankind. It is putting behind ever}' bay. 
 onet which is carried at the order of Bismarck or the czar, 
 men who, in doing their own thinking, will one day de- 
 cide for themselves the problems of peace and war. It 
 will penetrate the breeding-places of anarchy and social- 
 ism, and cleanse and purify them. 
 
 The scenes of the fifth act of the grand drama are 
 changing, with the world as its stage and all races and 
 tongues the audience. And yet, as it culminates in pow- 
 er and grandeur and absorbing interest, the attention re- 
 mains riveted upon one majestic character. He stands 
 
144 ' GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 the noblest leader who was ever intrusted with his coun- 
 try's life. His patience under provocation, his calmness 
 in danger and lofty courage when all others despaired, 
 his prudent delays when the Continental Congress was 
 imperative and the staff almost insubordinate, and his 
 quick and resistless blows when action was possible, his 
 magnanimity to his defamers and generosity to his foes, 
 his ambition for his country and unselfishness for him- 
 self, his sole desire the freedom and independence for 
 America, and his only wish to return after victory to pri- 
 vate life and the peaceful pursuits and pleasures of home, 
 have all combined to make him, by the unanimous judg- 
 ment of the world, the foremost figure in history. Not 
 so abnormally developed in any direction as to be called 
 a genius, yet he was the strongest because the best bal- 
 anced, the fullest rounded, the most even and most self- 
 masterful of men — the incarnation of common sense and 
 m.oral purity, of action and repose. 
 
 The republic will live so long as it reveres the memo- 
 ry and emulates the virtues of George Washington. — 
 Chauncey M. Depew. 
 
 BYRON'S TRIBUTES TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone was not the only great Englishman who 
 had given Washington the first place in history for purity 
 of character and elevation of aim in war and statesman- 
 ship. Byron pays homage to Washington repeatedly in 
 his poems, and wrote of him in his diary that "To be the 
 first man {not the Dictator), not the Scylla, but the 
 Washington, or Aristides, the leader in talent and truth, 
 
 I! 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 145 
 
 is to be next to the Divinity." The last stanza in his 
 "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte" is the following well 
 known tribute: 
 
 "Where may the wearied eye repose 
 
 When gazing on the Great, 
 Where neither guilty glory glows, 
 
 Nor despicable state? 
 Yes, one — the first — the last — the best— 
 The Cincinnatus of the West, 
 
 Whom envy dare not hate. 
 Bequeath the name of Washington, 
 To make man blush there was but one!" 
 
 In the fourth canto of "Childe Harold" occurs the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 "Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be. 
 And Freedom find no champion and no child, 
 
 Such as Columbia saw arise when she 
 Sprung forth a Pallas, armed and undefiled? 
 Or must such minds be nourished in the wild, 
 Deep in the unpruned forest, 'midst the roar 
 
 Of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled 
 On infant Washington? Has earth no more 
 Such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such store?" 
 
 In "The Age of Bronze" is the following couplet: 
 
 "While Washington's a watchward such as ne'er 
 Shall sink while there's an echo left to air." 
 
 Byron calls all wars murder, except those for freedom, 
 and contrasts the ambitious conquerer with the patriot in 
 "Don Juan," Canto VIII, 5: 
 
 "Not so Leonidas and Washington, 
 Whose every battle-field is holy ground. 
 
 Which breathes of Nations saved, not world's undone, 
 How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound! 
 
 While the mere victor's may appal or stun 
 The servile and the vain, such names will be 
 A watchword till the future shall be free." 
 
1+6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 In Canto IX of "Don Juan" is another allusion; 
 
 "George Washington had thanks, and naught beside, 
 Except the all-cloudless glory (which few men's is) 
 To free his country." 
 
 OPINIONS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 "This great man fought against tyranny; he established 
 the liberty of his country. His memory will always be 
 dear to the French people, as it will be to all freemen of 
 the two worlds." — Napoleon Bonaparte^ February g^iSoo. 
 
 "He did the two greatest things which, in politics, man 
 can have the privilege of attempting. He maintained, by 
 peace, that independence of his country which he had ac- 
 quired by war. He founded a free government in the 
 name of the principles of order, and by reestablishing 
 their sway." — M. Giiizot. 
 
 "I have often been told by Col. Ben Temple, of King 
 Williams county, Virginia, who was one of his aids in the 
 French and Indian w^ars .... that, on sudden 
 and unexpected visits into his marquee, he has more than 
 once found Washington on his knees at his devotions." 
 — Rev. C. L. IVeenis, 1808. 
 
 "The commander-in-chief of the American armies was 
 observed (at Valley Forge) constantly to retire for the 
 purpose of secret devotion. The Father of his Country 
 went alone, and sought strength and guidance from the 
 God of armies, and of light. The independence of our 
 country was laid, not only in valor, patriotism and wis- 
 dom, but in prayer." — Albert Barnes.^ D. D. 
 
 "On Sundays, unless the weather was uncommonly 
 severe, the President and Mrs. W^ashington attended di- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 147 
 
 vine service at Christ Cliurcli (Philadelphia), and in the 
 evenings the president read to Mrs. Washington in her 
 chamber a sermon, or some portion from the sacred writ- 
 ings. No vis- 
 itors, with 
 the exception 
 of ]\Ir. Speak- 
 er Trumbull, 
 were admit- 
 ted on Sun- 
 days." — Geo. 
 W. P. Custis. 
 Said Wash- 
 ington's mo- 
 ther of her 
 son: "I am 
 not surprised 
 at what 
 George has 
 done, for he 
 was always a 
 good boy." 
 
 W^ashing- 
 ton served us 
 
 Washington Laying the Corner Stone of the Capitol, Sept.18, ^^l^^^Y ^y niS 
 1793. One of the Panels on the Bronze Door of the cnVili-mo *nrvt- 
 
 Senate, Washington. SUDUme mor- 
 
 al qualities. 
 To him belonged the proud distinction of being 
 the leader in a revolution, without awakening one doubt 
 or solicitude, as to the spotless purity of his purpose. 
 
148 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 His was the glory of being the brightest manifestation 
 of the spirit which reigned in this country, and in this 
 way he became a source of energy, a bond of 
 union, the center of an enlightened people's confidence. 
 
 By an instinct which is unerring, we call Washington, 
 with grateful reverence, the Fath- 
 er of his Country, but not its Sa- 
 vior. A people which wants a 
 savior, which does not possess an 
 earnest, and pledge of freedom in 
 its own heart, is not yet ready to 
 be free. — William E. Channing. 
 
 An Indian's testimony: 
 
 "The Pale Faces came, and 
 they said, *you fought with us, you 
 
 ° ' ^ Benjamin Rush, a Signer of the 
 
 have forfeited your right to this Declaration of independence. 
 
 land and must go away,' but General Washington said, 
 'Come back, and remain in your land, and make your 
 homes with us.' Then the prophet said, 'The white 
 men are bad, and cannot dwell in the region of the Great 
 Spirit, except General Washington.' " — Peter Wilson^ a 
 native Iroqiwis^ before the New York Historical Socie- 
 ty, 1847. 
 
 gist's account of WASHINGTON'S ESCAPE FROM THE 
 
 INDIANS. 
 
 "We rose early in the morning, and set out about two 
 o'clock, and got to the Murdering Town on the southeast 
 fork of Beaver Creek. Here we met with an Indian, 
 whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire's, at Venango, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 149 
 
 when on our journey up to the French fort. This fellow- 
 called me by my Indian name, and pretended to be glad 
 to see me. He asked us several questions, as, how we 
 came to travel on foot, when we left Venango, where we 
 parted with our horses, and when they would be there. 
 Major Washington insisted on travelling by the nearest 
 way to the Forks of the Alleghany. 
 
 "We asked the Indian if he could go with us, and show 
 us the nearest way. The Indian seemed very glad, and 
 ready to go with us; upon which we set out, and the In- 
 dian took the Major's pack. We travelled very brisk 
 for eight or ten miles, when the Major's feet grew very 
 sore, and he very weary, and the Indian steered too 
 much northeastwardly. 
 
 "The Major desired to encamp; upon which the Indian 
 asked to carry his gun, but he refused; and then the In- 
 dian grew churlish, and pressed us to keep on, telling us 
 there were Ottawa Indians in those woods, and they 
 would scalp us, if we lay out; but go to his cabin, and 
 we should be safe. 
 
 "I thought very ill of the fellow, but did not care to 
 let the Major know I mistrusted him. But he soon mis- 
 trusted him as much as I did. The Indian said he could 
 hear a gun from his cabin, and steered us more north- 
 wardly. We grew uneasy, and then he said two whoops 
 might be heard from his cabin. We went two miles 
 further. Then the Major said he would stay at the next 
 water; but, before we came to water, we came to a 
 clear meadow. It was very light, and snow was on the 
 grouTid. 
 
•5° 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 The Indian made a stop, and turned about. The Major 
 saw him point his gun towards us, and he fired. Said 
 the Major, 'Are you shot?' 
 
 " 'No,' said I; upon which the Indian ran forward 
 to a big stand- 
 ing white oak, 
 and began load- 
 ing his gun, but 
 we were soon 
 with him. I 
 would have 
 killed him, but 
 the Major would 
 not suffer me. 
 We let h i m 
 charge his gun. 
 We found he 
 put in a ball; 
 then we took 
 care of h i m. 
 Either the Ma- 
 jor or I always 
 stood by the 
 guns. We made 
 him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended 
 to sleep there. 
 
 "I said to the Major,'As you will not have him killed, we 
 must get him away, and then we must travel all night;' 
 upon which I said to the Indian, 'I suppose you were 
 lost, and fired your gun.' He said he knew the way to 
 
 Statue of Washington (first at right), Statuary Hall, 
 Old House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 151 
 
 his cabin, and it was but a little way. 'Well,' said I. 
 'do you go home; and, as we are tired, we will follow 
 your track in the morning, and here is a cake of bread 
 for you, and you must give us meat in the morning.' 
 
 "He was glad to get away. I followed him, and list- 
 ened, until he was fairly out of the way; and then we 
 went about half a mile, when we made a fire, set our 
 compass, fixed our course, and travelled all night. In the 
 morning we were on the head of Piny Creek." 
 
 THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 FOR A SCHOOL OR CLUB PROGRAMME. 
 
 Each numbered paragraph is to be given to a pupil or 
 member to read, or to recite, in a clear, distinct tone. 
 
 If the school or club is small, each person may take 
 three or four paragraphs, but should not be required to 
 recite them in succession. 
 
 1. George Washington was born at Pope's Creek, near Bridge's 
 Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, February 22, 1732. 
 
 2. His family was of ancient English descent, William De Hert- 
 burn, a Norman Knight, was the ancestor of the Washingtons. 
 
 3" His name was changed with a change of estate to that of De- 
 Wessyngton. Later members of the family bore the names of Wesh- 
 ington and Weschington, which in course of time was <-ransformed into 
 Washington. 
 
 4. At the head of one of the branches of the family was John 
 Washington of Warton, in Lancashire, whose son, Lawrence Wash- 
 ington was for some years Mayor of Northampton. 
 
 5. One of the descendants of Lawrence Washington was Sir Wil- 
 liam Washington who fought loyally for King Charles the First.in the 
 Civil War. 
 
THE 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 F 
 
 Major George Wajbtngton^ 
 
 SENT BY THE 
 
 Hon. ROBERT DlNWlDDtE, Efq* 
 Hi» Majciiy s Lieutenant-Governor, anci 
 Commander in Chief of ^ I RG ^ N lA^ 
 
 TO THE 
 
 COMMANDANT 
 
 O P T H 1 
 
 FRENCH FORCES 
 
 O N 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 To WHICH *Rt ADDW, TffI 
 
 GOVERNOR'S LETTER, 
 
 Aiu> ATRANSLATIONoF tm» 
 
 Frikcm OFFICER'S ANSWER 
 
 W IL L I A MS BV RGi 
 PHfltedby WILLIAM HUNTER. 175* 
 
 Reduced Fac-Similc of the Title Page of Washington s Journal. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 153 
 
 6. His son, Sir Henry Washington, fought with great gallantry 
 under Prince Rupert, and held the city of Worcester against the Par- 
 liamentary Army until ordered by the king whom he was serving, to 
 surrender. 
 
 7. Many of the royalists were afterwards compelled to flee to 
 America from the wrath of Cromwell. They found congenial homes 
 in "the loyal colony" of Virginia, 
 
 8. Among these were John and Andrew Washington, uncles of 
 the gallant Sir Henry, and great grandsons of Lawrence Washington. 
 
 q. They reached Virginia in 1637, and "purchased land 'in the 
 northern neck,' between the Potomac and the Rappahannock rivers." 
 
 10. John Washington became an extensive planter in Westmore- 
 land County, and marrying Miss Anne Pope, built him a residence at 
 Pope's Creek. He became in due course of time a County Magistrate, 
 and a member of the House of Burgesses. 
 
 11. He distinguished himself also, as a colonel of the Virginia 
 forces in driving off a band of Seneca Indians who were ravaging the 
 neighboring settlements. In honor of his public and private charac- 
 ter, the parish in which he resided was called W^ashington." 
 
 12. In 1694 Augustine Washington, the grandson of Colonel John 
 Washington was born. He was a man of uncommon height and no- 
 ble appearance. He was possessed of wonderful muscular powers, 
 and of a strong, earnest character. 
 
 13. Augustine Washington was twice married. By his first wife 
 he had four children. Two of them died young, but two sons, Lau- 
 rence and Augustine, survived their mother who died in 1728. 
 
 14. He married for his second wife on March 6, 1730, Mary Ball, 
 the daughter of Colonel Ball, a young and beautiful girl, known as "the 
 belie of Northern Neck." 
 
 15. George Washington was her first child. Few sons ever had 
 a more lovely and devoted mother, and no mother a more dutiful and 
 affectionate son." 
 
 16. The direct influence of this gifted Christian mother upon the 
 life of George cannot be overestimated. To her we owe the precepts 
 and example that governed his whole career. We cannot wonder that 
 with such an ancestry behind him, and with such a mother to guide 
 
 him, Washington became one of the foremost men of the world. 
 
 17. When George was seven years of age, his father removed 
 to an estate in Stafford County, opposite the town of Fredericksburg. 
 
 18. Augustine Washington was not able to give all of his sons 
 the advantages of education, enjoyed by Laurence the oldest. He 
 being sent to England at the age of fifteen to complete his studies, and 
 returned at the age twenty-three to take his place as the head of the 
 family. 
 
154 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 19. George was educated at a country school by Hobby, the 
 sexton of the parish, who was his teacher. His education was of the 
 simplest character. He was taught reading, writing and arithmetic, 
 with a little geometry and surveying. 
 
 20. The letters of his brother Laurence fired his soul with stir- 
 ring descriptions of the martial scenes, he was witnessing. These let- 
 ters awoke the military spirit in the boy, who made soldiers of his 
 schoolmates, and as their commander-in-chief conducted their mimic 
 parades, reviews and sham fights. 
 
 21. The father of George died on April 12, 1743, when the boy 
 was but eleven years of age. Soon after his father's death he was 
 sent to reside with his elder half-brother Augustine, to whom the 
 Westmoreland estate had been left. Here George attended an acad- 
 emy kept by a Mr. Williams, who gave him a plain and practical 
 education to fit him for the ordinary business of life. 
 
 22. All his school-boy manuscripts bear witness of industry and 
 order. He took extreme care in cultivating a neat, clear and elegant 
 handwriting. 
 
 23. He was noted for his truthfulness, his courage and his gen- 
 erosity, and for his proficiency in athletic exercises. Running, leap- 
 ing and wrestling were among his favorite pastimes. He was a fear- 
 less rider and a good hunter. 
 
 24. At the age of fourteen his brother Laurence obtained for 
 George a midshipman's warrant. But when he was just about to en- 
 ter the English naval service, the earnest remonstrance of his mother 
 prevailed, and he reluctantly abandoned the project. 
 
 25. A month after he was sixteen, he became a surveyor of lands 
 belonging to Lord Fairfax. In the discharge of his duties he en- 
 countered m.any hardships and personal dangers, which he met with 
 fortitude and cheerfulness. 
 
 26. "At the age of nineteen he was appointed Adjutant General, 
 with the rank of Major, to inspect and exercise the militia in one of 
 the districts in which Virginia was divided." 'He proved himself 
 thoroughly efficient in this post of duty. 
 
 27. In 1753 he was sent on a delicate and dangerous mission by 
 Governor Dinwiddle. He was to travel on a journey of nearly 600 
 miles — "a great part of it over lofty and rugged mountains, and 
 through the heart of a wilderness." 
 
 28. He was to ascertain from the officer commanding the French 
 forces on the banks of the Ohio, by what authority he was invading 
 the King's dominions. 
 
 2g. A volume could be written of the great perils and the mar- 
 velous and providential escapes from treachery, assassination, vio- 
 lence of savages, cold and drowning, which marked this eventful ex- 
 pedition. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 155 
 
 30. The varied talents and striking characteristics Washington 
 displayed, made him on his return, as Irving says, "the rising hope of 
 Virginia." 
 
 31. Soon after his return, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel 
 of a regiment of which Joshua Fry was Colonel. Upon the sudden 
 death of Colonel Fry the expedition designed against the French de- 
 volved upon the young Lieutenant-Colonel. Although the expedi- 
 tion was unsuccessful, Washington received the thanks of the Gener- 
 al Assembly of Virginia. 
 
 St. Peters Church, where Washington was Married. 
 
 32. He accompanied General Braddock on his ill-fated cam- 
 paign, behaving "with the greatest courage and resolution." 
 
 33. The Rev. Samuel Davis in a sermon to one of the military 
 companies, afterwards organized, used these prophetic words: "I may 
 point out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom 
 I cannot but hope, providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a 
 manner, for some important service to his country." 
 
 34. Having been appointed in 1756 to the chief command of a 
 force of 2,000 men, he was engaged in the arduous work of protecting 
 the Virginia frontier. 
 
156 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 35. On November 25, 1758, he planted the British flag on the 
 smoking ruins of Fort Duquesne, which was to be known henceforth 
 as Fort Pitt. 
 
 36. On Jan 6, 1759, he married a charming young widow, Martha 
 Custis, daughter of Mr. John Dandridge. She is known in history as 
 Martha Washington. 
 
 37. He now resigned his commission as a colonial officer, and at- 
 tended the Virginia House of Burgesses, to which he had been elect- 
 ed while absent on his iast campaign. 
 
 38. As soon as he made 
 his appearance, the speaker 
 in accordance with a previ- 
 ous vote of the Assembly, 
 presented thiir thanks in 
 the name of the colony, for 
 his distinguished military ser- 
 vices. He also gave expres- 
 sion to words of compliment 
 and praise. 
 
 39. Washington was so 
 embarrassed that he could 
 not utter a single sentence 
 in reply. The speaker with 
 great address said, "Sit down, 
 Mr. Washington, your mod- 
 esty equals your valor, and 
 that surpasses the power of 
 any language I possess." 
 
 40. He spent nearly fifteen years in the quiet of his peaceful and 
 happy home, engaged in agricultural pursuits and performing many 
 acts of kindness for his friends. 
 
 41. Then at the age of forty three years, he was called to begin 
 his career of honor and glory, and render those inestimable services 
 to his country, and to mankind, which have made his name immortal. 
 
 42. He was elected delegate to the first Continental Congress 
 which met at Philadelphia, in 1774, and took an important part in its 
 memorable discussions. 
 
 43. "When Patrick Henry returned home from the meeting and 
 was asked whom he considered the greatest man in that Congress, he 
 replied, 
 
 44. "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, 
 is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid information, and 
 sound judgment, Col. Washington is unquestionably the greatest man 
 on that floor." 
 
 45. He was a delegate to the second Continental Congress May 10, 
 
 Wiishiiiffton s c imj) Chest oow in the 
 Ndt oiidl Museum VVatilnnglon 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 157 
 
 1775, and through the efforts of Samuel and John Adams, and others, 
 he was unanimously elected Commander-in-chief of all the Conti- 
 nental forces. 
 
 46 On July 2, 1775, he established his headquarters in the build- 
 ing at Cambridge, Mass., since known as the residence of the poet 
 Longfellow. 
 
 47. On the next day he took formal command of the army draw- 
 ing his sword under an ancient tree known as Washington's elm 
 
 48. He drove the British from Boston on March 17. 1775, for 
 which signal service. Congress voted him a splendid gold medal now 
 preserved in the Boston Public Library. 
 
 49. Then followed the disastrous battle of Long Island and 
 Washington's rrasterly retreat through New Jersey. 
 
 50. Then with heroic fortitude, with unwavering confidence and 
 unsparing self-devotion, he continued to lead the American cause in 
 the face of almost insurmountable obstacles. 
 
 51. Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown and Valley Forge tell 
 the thrilling and fascinating story of his glorious deeds, which were con- 
 summated in the supreme triumph at Yorktown on the nineteerth 
 day of October, 1781. 
 
 52. Two years afterwards the Treaty of Peace was signed and 
 the war with England was ended, a war which Washington so much 
 deplored at first, and which he strove so earnestly to avert. 
 
 53. With the ending of the war came the question of the pay- 
 ment of the soldiers which had been delayed by Congress. 
 
 54. Quite a number of the officers "began to distrust the effi- 
 ciency of the government and of all republican institutions. One of 
 them, a Colonel of the army, of a highly respected character, and 
 somewhat advanced in life," sharing these sentiments, presented them 
 to Washington and suggested for him the title of King. 
 
 55. Washington made a reply from Newburgh on May 22, 1782. 
 In it he expressed his "abhorrence" of such a suggestion and reproved 
 the writer with great severity for daring to make it." 
 
 56. When the representatives of the army met afterwards at 
 Newburgh to rouse the soldiers to resentment against the inaction of 
 Congress, Washington appeared at the gathering. 
 
 57. After apologizing for his coming, and begging the indulgence 
 of those present, he paused to put on his spectacles. In doing so he 
 said casually but very touchingly: 
 
 58. "I have grown gray in the service of my country and am 
 now growing blind." 
 
 59. The dignified and yet most forcible addresses which he de- 
 livered, regarding the supreme loyalty that was due from all to the 
 country, so won over those present, that they concurred entirely in the 
 policy he had proposed. 
 
Pi 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 159 
 
 60. On April 19, 1783, the anniversary of the battle of Lexing- 
 ton, Washington announced the proclamation for the cessation of hos 
 tilities which had been issued by Congress. 
 
 61. In his general orders he said, "The chaplains of the several 
 brigades will render thanks to almighty God for all his mercies, par- 
 ticularly for his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and 
 
 causing the rage of war to cease among the na- 
 tions." 
 
 62. He took a final leave of the army Novem- 
 ber 2, 1783, by general orders, and had an affection- 
 ate farewell interview with his principal officers 
 on December 4. On December 23 in that year he 
 resigned his commission to Congress then assem- 
 bled in Annapolis, Maryland. 
 
 6}. He then retired to private life at the 'age 
 of fifty-two, to resume his favorite occupations of 
 farmer and planter at Mount Vernon. 
 
 64. Frederick the Great, some years after 
 this, sent him a portrait of himself accompanied 
 witli the remarkable words, "from the oldest Gen- 
 eral in Europe to the greatest General in the 
 world." 
 
 65. But Washington was not to be permitted 
 thus to live a secluded life. The country which 
 seemed, in his own words, to be "fast verging to- 
 wards anarchy and confusion," through its inade 
 quate government, needed his services. 
 
 66. He went as the head of the Virginia dele- 
 gates to the convention in Philadelphia on May 
 !4, 1787, and of that famous historical body he was 
 elected President. 
 
 67. On April 6,1789, in the presence of the two 
 Houses, Washington, having received every vote 
 from the ten states that took part in the election, 
 was declared President of the United States. 
 
 68. On April 30, 1789, he was inaugurated 
 President in New York city, the oath of office be- 
 ing administered by Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of the State 
 of New York, on a balcony in front of the Senate Chamber, in the 
 presence of an immense multitude. 
 
 69. After delivering his inaugural address, the whole assemblage 
 headed by the President, proceeded on foot to St. Paul's Church, 
 where appropriate religious services were held by the Rt. Rev. Dr. 
 Prevost, the Episcopal Bishop of New York. 
 
 70. The President and his family always strictly observed the 
 
 Washington's 
 Sword and Staff. 
 
i6o GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 Sabbath. They attended church in the morning and passed the af- 
 ternoon in retirement. 
 
 71. On the 25th of August, 1789, the mother of Washington end- 
 ed her long and useful life. When the sad intelligence was commun- 
 icated to him, although it was not unexpected, he was deeply moved 
 by it. 
 
 72. The Cabinet of Washington was not harmonious, which 
 caused the President great concern and trouble. Jefferson and Ham- 
 ilton differed seriously in their views. Two parties were formed in 
 consequence. Hamilton's party was known as the Federalist, and 
 Jefferson's as the Republican. 
 
 73. Washington was glad when his term as President had expired 
 and looked with pleasure to a retirement again at Mount Vernon. 
 But on the repeated entreaties of his friends, after a long and painful 
 hesitation, he consented to be a candidate for re-election. 
 
 74. He received the unanimous vote of the electors, reflecting 
 the popular vote, and entered upon his second term of office on March 
 4th, 1793. 
 
 75. He saved the country from a new and most disastrous war 
 with Great Britain, which it was its duty as well as its interest to 
 avoid, when a new alliance was urged by many with France which had 
 declared war against England. 
 
 76. Genet, the Minister of the French Republic, succeeded for a 
 while in causing a storm against Washington for his action. The par- 
 tisans of Genet traduced the personal motives of Washington, and 
 misrepresented and shamefully abused him. But better sentiments 
 ultimately prevailed. 
 
 77. By the vigorous action of the President, the famous "whisky 
 insurrection" in Pennsylvania came to an end in 1792. 
 
 78. The treaty with Great Britain obtained by John Jay, the for- 
 mer Chief Justice, gave great offense to the enemies of the adminis- 
 tration. The President and his supporters were fiercely denounced 
 for approving it. But it was the best that could be secured, and it 
 brought peace for many years to the country at a critical period of its 
 history. 
 
 79. On no consideration would Washington yield to the great 
 anxiety that he should serve a third term. He issued a Farewell Ad- 
 dress to the people of the United States full of wise counsels and ad-, 
 monitions. 
 
 80. The partisan hostility which had been marked by unsparing 
 denunciations of his policy, and by bitter,rancorous hostility,now entire- 
 ly ceased. The gratitude of the nation was displayed in an over- 
 whelming manifestation. 
 
 81. "Both Houses of Congress adopted replies to the Farewell 
 Address, expressing their unshaken confidence in the wisdom and in- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 i6i 
 
 tegrity of Washington. During the winter of 1796-97 nearly all the 
 State Legislatures adopted similar resolutions." 
 
 82. But the quiet of his life at Mount Vernon was disturbed by 
 the prospect of a war with the aggressive French Republic. With 
 great reluctance he yielded to the universal desire of the American 
 people as voiced by President Adams, and because the Lieutenant- 
 General and Commander-in-chief of all the armies raised or to be 
 raised for the defense of the country. 
 
 83. His last public act was performed on the morning of the 
 P2th of December, 1799. He wrote to Hamilton who was the senior 
 Major-General under him, cordially approving of the establishment 
 
 of a Military Academy, which Ham- 
 ilton had submitted to the Secre- 
 tary of war. 
 
 84. On the evening of Decem- 
 ber 14, 1799, Washington breathed 
 his last at Mount Vernon in the 
 presence of his wife and some in- 
 timate friends. 
 
 85. He died, as 6^<?«<?rrt/ Wash- 
 ington, for he was still at the time 
 of his demise the Commander-in- 
 chief of the American army, 
 
 86. On the i8th of December 
 he was laid away to rest at Mount 
 Vernon. The news of his death 
 was received with expressions of 
 profoundest sorrow not only from 
 the people of the United States, 
 but from those in other lands. 
 
 87. "Napoleon, then first con- 
 sul of France, announced the death, 
 of Washington to the French army 
 
 in a masterly order or the day and caused the standards of the 
 troops to be shrouded in crape for ten days." 
 
 88. "Lord Bridport, commanding the Channel Fleet of England, 
 on receipt of the news, immediately lowered his flag at half mast, and 
 his example was followed by every ship in the fleet." 
 
 89. The grandest tributes ever paid to mortal man have been ren- 
 dered by England's most illustrious representatives, to the memory of 
 Washington, and have been echoed by the most eminent men in ev- 
 ery other civilized land. 
 
 90. But the proudest tribute of all, is the never-ceasing and ever- 
 increasing love, with which Americans,whether native born or adopt- 
 ed citizens, cherish for the splendid character and immortal deeds of 
 THE P'ATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. 
 
 The Book-Plate of Washington. 
 
i62 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 The spirit of patriotism should be freely cultivated in the hearts^ 
 of our younger citizens, and one of the best methods of doing this^ is 
 by the celebration of the birthdays of American Heroes. The historic 
 events pertaining to the stirring times wherein our nation was born, 
 should be familiar to every child, as well as every man and woman in 
 this broad and beautiful land. Washington's birthday is a national 
 holiday and should be celebrated in every school aud club. 
 
 We give herewith, a few suggestions to the makers of programmes 
 for these occasions. 
 
 PROGRAMME FOR A WASHINGTON AFTERNOON. 
 
 1. Vocal Music — "America." 
 
 2. Essay — "Washington as a Surveyor." (Twenty Minutes.) 
 
 3. General Discussion — "Washington as a General." (Thirty Min- 
 utes.) 
 
 4. Instrumental Music — "Yankee Doodle." 
 
 5. Declamation — "Washington's Inaugural Address." (Twenty 
 Minutes.) 
 
 6. Essay — "Washington's First Cabinet." (Twenty Minutes.) 
 
 7. Anecdotes of Washington — (Thirty Minutes, all participat- 
 
 ing.) 
 
 Vocal Music — "The Star Spangled Banner." 
 
 PROGRAMME FOR A WASHINGTON EVENING. 
 
 1. Vocal Music — "Columbia." 
 
 2. Essay — "Washington as President." (Twenty Minutes.) 
 
 3. Solo — "The Sword of Bunker Hill." 
 
 4. Essay — "Washington's First Cabinet." (Twenty Minutes.) 
 
 5. Instrumental Music — "Washington Post March." 
 
 6. Paper or Recitation — "Valley Forge." 
 
 7. Essay — "Washington's Second Administration."(Twenty Min- 
 utes.) 
 
 8. Declamation — "Washington's Farewell Address" (Portions of 
 it — Twenty Minutes.) 
 
 9. Tributes to Washington — "All participating. (Twenty Min- 
 utes.) 
 
 10. Vocal Music — "Rally Round the Flag." 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 163 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 
 
 What is said of ll'as/iington' s fame, greatness, devotion, etc.? 
 Of his type of character? Of his winning success? Of his early 
 vrominejtce? Of his descent and ancestors? Of his brothers? 
 Of Washington s birthplace, etc.? Of his parents? Of the hatchet 
 story? Of Mary Washington? Of the education of Washington? Of 
 Ids practical knowledge? Of his athletic development? 
 
 Of his desire for the sea? Of his land surveying? Of his 
 experiences as given in his journal? Of the demafid for his services 
 as surveyor? Of his acquisitions of land? What are the rules of con- 
 duct he copied and studied? What does Lodge say ? What is said of 
 Laurence Washingto/t? Of George *Washingto7i s appointment as 
 Major? Of the voyage to Barbadoes? By Dr. Toner? Of the i>n- 
 provetnent manifested by his later journal? Of his new post of honor? 
 By the historian, Shea? 
 
 ]Vhat measures did France adopt to stay the progress of the 
 English? What was the action of the Ljidians? What is said of 
 Washington s qualifications, etc.? Of his instructions? Of his jour- 
 neyings? Of his reception by the Lndians? By the French? 
 
 What is written in his diary? Of the effect of his journal 7ipon 
 the public? Of the action of Dinwiddle? Of the campaign to the 
 Ohio? Of the surrender of Washington? Of the rousing to action by 
 the British governjnejit? Of Braddock's defeat? Of Washington's 
 account of his peril? Of the story told by Curtis? \Miat was Wash- 
 ington s report of the battle? Of his return to Mount Vernon? Of 
 the expeditio7i to Fort Duquesne? Of Washington s love affairs? 
 Of his meeting Mrs. Martha Custis? Of his marriage, etc.? Of 
 Washington s wealth? Ot his personal appearatice? 
 
 IVhat is said of the ar7ny? Of Congress? Of place hvnters? 
 Of Washington s judgment? Of the Conway Cabal ? Of the army, 
 its members and cojnmafiders? Of the want of powder? Of the expe- 
 ditioti to Montreal and Quebec? 
 
 Of the cruisers? Of Mrs. Washingtofi? Of the Union Flag? 
 Of Col. Henry Knox? Of the attack on Boston? Of its success? Of 
 General LLowe? Of the credit due Washi7igto7i? Of lVashi7igto7i's 
 discipline ? Of the secret of Washingto7i's success, etc. ? Of the 77iove- 
 77ie7it against New York? Of the words /;/ the '■'Orderly Book?" 
 
 Of the battle of Long Island? Of Washingto7i's retreat? Of the 
 various ski r/nishes of Fo7-t JVashington? 
 
 What description is giveji of Washingto7i as to height and 
 weight? As to eyes, face, ski/i a7id cou7ite7tance? As to 7na7iners 
 gestures, etc.? 
 
 What descriptio7i does Washingto7i give of MountVer7ion? What 
 is said of Washingt07i as a worker, far7ner, etc. ? As a legislator? As 
 a 7/ie77iber of the Continental Congress? Of E7iglish a7id yit/ierica7i 
 histo/y? Of lVashingto7i's attitude toward Engla7id, etc.? Of his 
 a7ite-revolutionary events ? 
 
 Of Washi7igto7i's fidelity and co7tfide7tcef Offuly4,iyy6? Of 
 
164 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the characteristics of the principal fiatriots? Of Washington's rela- 
 tion to them and others? Of the reply of Washington zvhcn appointed 
 Coin»iander-i)i-Chief? \ Vhat didfohn Bell say ? Of the important iiiili- 
 taty engagements? Of JVashington's successes? Of the difficulties he 
 had to meet in men and means ? Of a depreciated currency? Of the 
 equipment of the army? Of the help of the Dutch, etc. ? Of the want 
 of unity? 
 
 Of the retreat of the Continental Army ? Of the retreat to Bruns- 
 ivick, etc.? What does Washington write to his brother fohn? HVtat 
 is said of the coming of his Generals? Of crossing the Delaware? Of 
 the movements of Cornwallis? Of the battle of Princeton? Of the 
 winter vionths of lyy-/? What did the circular letter of Washitigton 
 say? IVhat is said of the battle of Brandywine? Of the battle at Ger- 
 mantown ? Of the surrender of Burgoyne? Of siccceeding encounters? 
 Of ] 'alley Forge? What were Baron Steuben s i)npressions? What 
 is said of the "Conway Cabal?'' Of North's Conciliato?y Bills? Of 
 foseph Reed? Of Treaties of Co7nmerce and Alliance? Of George 
 J II? IVhat did Chatham say? What is said of Washiiigton and 
 Lee? Of Co7(nt d' Estaing? Of colonial affairs? Of the personal ap- 
 pearance of Washington ? 
 
 What is said of British raids? Of wintering at JMorristown? 
 Of succor by Lafayette? Of Washington s Fabian policy? Of Bene- 
 dict Arnold? Of the condition of the troops? Of Jl 'ashington's birth- 
 day? Of the ratif cation of the Articles of Confederation, etc.? Of 
 Washington' s feelings ? Of brightening prospects ? 
 
 Of the expedition against Lord Cornwallis? Of the surrender of 
 Cornwallis ? Of the period of inaction? Of negotiations for peace? 
 Of Washington and slavery ? 
 
 What is said of Washington s religio7is life? Of his regard for 
 education? Of the years following the Lievolution? Of the Federal 
 Convention? Of the new National Constitution, etc.? Of Washing- 
 ton's relation to it? Of his election as President? Of Ids inauguration ? 
 
 Of Washington' s first administration? Of Washiitgtoti s feelings 
 tepon assuming office? What did he write? What is said of his in- 
 augural address, etc.? JVhen and how did Washingtoji die? 
 
 SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY. 
 
 The Boyhood of M'asJiington. 
 
 The Ohio Company. 
 
 IVashington as an Envoy to the Comma?tder of the French. 
 
 The Story of Fort A'ecessity. 
 
 Braddock' s Campaign and Defeat. 
 
 Martha 1 1 'ashi)igton. 
 
 The Story of Fort Duquesne. 
 
 The First Continental Congress. 
 
 The Second Continental Congress. 
 
 The appointment of IVashington as Commander-in-Chief. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 165 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 1732 Born, Bridge's Creek, Stafford County, Virginia, Feb. 22. 
 
 1748 Appointed surveyor by Lord Fairfax. 
 
 1751 Appointed Major in colonial forces. 
 
 1753 Sent by Governor Dinvviddie as envoy to Commander of French 
 forces on the Ohio, October 30. 
 
 1754. Appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Virginia troops, March, 
 Capitulation of Fort Necessity, July 4. 
 
 1755 Defeat of General Braddock July 9. Appointed Commander- 
 in-chief of the Virginia forces, 
 
 1757 Defended the Virginia frontier 
 
 1758 Occupation of Fort Duquesne, changed to Fort Pitt, Nov. 25. 
 
 1759 Married to Mrs. Martha Custis. January 6. Took his seat as 
 
 member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. 
 1770 Located lands on the Ohio for the Virginia troojis. 
 
 1774 Member of the first Virginia Convention, August i. Took his 
 
 seat as member of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia, 
 September 5. 
 
 1775 Member of the second Virginia Convention, March. Member 
 
 of the second Continental Congress, Philadelphia May 10. 
 Appomted Commander-in-chief of the American army, June 
 13. Took formal command of the army at Cambridge, July 3. 
 r776 Entered Boston at the head of his army, March 17. Declaration 
 of Independendence, July 4. Battle of Brooklyn, Long Island, 
 August 26. Battle of Harlem Plains, New York, September 
 16. Battle of White Plains, New York, October 28. Battle of 
 Trenton, New Jersey, December 26. 
 
 1777 Battle of Princeton, New Jersey, January 3. Battle of Brandy- 
 
 w^ine. Pa., September II. Battle of Germantown, Pa., Octo- 
 ber 4. Valley 1* orge. 
 
 1778 Battle of Monmouth, New jersey, June 28. 
 
 1779 Battle of Stony Point, New York, July 16. 
 
 1780 Execution of Major Andre as a spy, October 2. 
 
 1781 Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, and surrender of Cornwallis. 
 
 1782 Refused to be considered as a King, May. 
 
 1783 Persuaded the officers of the army to be patient with Congress, 
 
 March 15. Cessation of hostilities, April 19. The army dis- 
 banded by order of Congress, November 2. Took leave of 
 his officers, December 4. Resigned his commission to Con- 
 gress, December 23. 
 
 1784 Crossed the Alleghenies and visited the lands beyond, on horse- 
 
 back, 
 
 1786 Shay's Rebellion, December. 
 
 1787 Elected Piesident of the Constitutional Convention, Philadel- 
 
 phia, May 25. 
 ^780 Elected President of the United States, January. Inaugurated 
 President in New York, April 30. 
 
1 66 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 i7gT Removal of the General Government from New York. 
 
 1793 Re-elected for a second term as President, taking oath of office 
 
 March 4. 
 1799 Performed last public act Dec. 12. Died on the evening of 
 
 Dec. 14. Buried at Mt. Vernon Dec. 18. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The older biographies of Washington, by Sparks, Irving, and oth- 
 ers, are no longer satisfactory. The reader is advised to consuh the 
 following works: 
 "George Washington." By H. C. Lodge. 2 vols. Houghton, MifHin 
 
 & Co., Boston, 1889. 
 "George Washington." By Woodward Wilson. Harper & Brothers, 
 
 New York, 1897. 
 "The Life of George Washington Studied Anew." By E. E. Hale. 
 
 G. P. Putnam's Son's, New York, 1888. 
 "History of the Washington Family." By Albert Welles. New York 
 
 Society Library, 1879. 
 "Recollections of Washington." By G. W. Custis. Derby and Jack- 
 son, New York, i860. 
 "Ear'y Sketches of George Washington." Reprinted with notes by 
 
 W. S. Baker. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1894. 
 "Itinerary of General Washington," 1775-1783. By W. S. Baker. J 
 
 B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1892. 
 "Washington after the Revolution," 1784-1799. By W. S. Baker. J 
 
 B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1898. 
 "Washington's Journal," 1747-8. Edited by J, M. Toner, M. D., AI 
 
 bany, N.,Y. Joel Munsell's Sons, 1892. 
 "Washington's Journal," 1751-2. Edited by J. M. Toner, M. D., AI 
 
 bany, N. Y. Joel Munsell's Sons, 1892. 
 "Washington's Journal," 1754. FMited by J. M. Toner, M. D., Albany, 
 
 N. Y. Joel Munsell's Sons, 1893. 
 "The Writings of George Washington." Edited by W. C. Ford. 1\ 
 
 vols, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1889-1893. 
 "Old South Leaflets," Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10. 
 "Narrative and Critical History of America." Edited by Justin Win- 
 
 sor. Vols, v., VI. Houghton, Mifflin & Co , Boston, 1888. 
 "The Critical Period of American History," 1783-1789. By John Fiske 
 
 Houghton, Mififlin & Co., Boston, 1888. 
 "The Story of the Revolution." By H. C. Lodge. 2 vols. Charleii 
 
 Scribners Sons, New York, 1898. 
 "Genera. Washington." By Ik J. Johnson. New York, 1894. 
 **The True George Washington." By P. L. Ford, Philadelphia, 1896 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 167 
 
 EXTRACT FROM WASHINGTON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 "Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives:" 
 
 "Among the viccissitudes incident to life, no event could have 
 filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which the notification 
 was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of this 
 month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose 
 voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat 
 which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering 
 hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining 
 years; a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary and 
 more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of fre- 
 quent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on 
 it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the 
 trust, to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to 
 awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrust- 
 ful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with des- 
 pondency one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and 
 unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought 16 be peculiar- 
 ly conscious of his own deficiencies. 
 
 "In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is, that it has been my 
 faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every cir- 
 cumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is, that, if 
 in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful re- 
 membrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to 
 this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens; and 
 have thence too little consulted my capacity, as well as disinclination 
 for the weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be pallia- 
 ted by the motives which misled me, and its consequences be judged 
 by my country with some share of the partiality in which they origi- 
 nated. 
 
 "Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to 
 the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be pe- 
 culiarly improper to omit, in the first official act, my fervent supplica- 
 tions to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who pre- 
 sides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can sup- 
 ply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the 
 liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a govern- 
 ment instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may 
 enable every instrument employed in its administration.to execute with 
 success the functions allotted to his charge. 
 
 "In tendering this homage to the great Author of every public and 
 private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not 
 less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than 
 either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the In- 
 visible Hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people 
 of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to 
 
i68 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the character of an independent Nation, seems to have been distin- 
 guished by some token of providential agency. 
 
 "And, in the important revolution just accomplished in the system 
 of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary 
 consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has re- 
 sulted, can not be compared with the means by which most govern- 
 ments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude 
 along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the 
 past seems to presage. 
 
 "These reflections, rising out of the present crisis, have forced 
 themselves upon my mind too strongly to be suppressed. You will 
 join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none, under the influ- 
 ence of which,the proceedings of anew and free government can more 
 auspiciously begin." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 "The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is 
 also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edi- 
 fice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at 
 home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that 
 very Liberty, which you so highly prize." * * * * 
 
 "For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. 
 Citizens, by birth and choice, of a common country, that country has 
 a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which 
 belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just 
 pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local dis- 
 criminations. With slight shades of difference; you have the same 
 religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a 
 common cause, fought and triumphed together; the Independence and 
 Liberty you possess are the work of joint co msels, and joint efforts, 
 of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. 
 
 "But these considerations, however powerfully they address them- 
 selves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those, which ap- 
 ply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our 
 country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding 
 and preserving the Union of the whole. 
 
 "The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, pro- 
 tected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the pro- 
 ductions of the latter great additional resources of maratime and com- 
 mercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. 
 
 "The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of 
 the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turn- 
 ing partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its 
 particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in differ- 
 ent ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national 
 navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength: 
 to which itself is unequally adapted. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 169 
 
 "The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and 
 in the progressive improvement of interior communications, by land 
 and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodi- 
 ties which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. 
 
 "The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth 
 and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must 
 of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its 
 own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maratime 
 strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble 
 community of interest as one nation. 
 
 "Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential ad- 
 vantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an 
 apostate and unnatural connexion with any foreign power, must be in- 
 trinsically precarious." * * * * 
 
 "Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political pros- 
 perity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
 would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to 
 subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of 
 the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with 
 the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could 
 not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. 
 
 "Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for 
 reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation <^^j'^r/the oaths, 
 which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And 
 let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be main- 
 tained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence 
 of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and ex- 
 perience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail 
 in exclusion of religious principle. 
 
 "It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary" 
 spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more 
 or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sin- 
 cere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake 
 the foundation of the fabric? 
 
 "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions 
 for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the struct- 
 ure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that 
 public opinion should be enlightened." * * * * 
 
 "Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am 
 unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of any 
 defects not to think it probable that I have committed many errors. 
 Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or 
 mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I also carry in me the 
 hope that my country shall never cease to view them with indulgence; 
 and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with 
 an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned 
 Ni "^blivion. as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest." 
 
17© GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S WILL. 
 
 IN THE NAMZ OF GOD, AMEN. 
 
 I, George Washington, of !Moimt Vernon, a citizen of the United 
 States, and lately President of the same, do make, ordain, and de- 
 clare this instrument, which is written with my own hand, and every 
 page thereof subscribed with my name,* to be my last Will and 
 Testament, revoking all others. 
 
 Imprimis. — All my debts, of which there are but few, and none 
 of magnitude, are to be punctually and speedily paid, and the legac- 
 ies, hereinafter bequeathed, are to be discharged as soon as circum- 
 stances will permit, and in the manner directed. 
 
 Item. — To my dearly beloved wife, Martha Washingto7i, I give and 
 bequeath the use, profit, and benefit, of my whole estate real and 
 personal, for the term of her natural life, except such parts thereof 
 as are specially disposed of hereafter. My improved lot in the town 
 of Alexandria, situated on Pitt and Cameron streets, I give to her 
 and her heirs forever ; as I also do my liousehold and kitchen furni- 
 ture of every sort and kind, with the liquors and groceries which 
 may be on hand at the time of my decease, to be used and disposed 
 of as she may think proper. 
 
 Item. — Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that 
 all the slaves whom I hold in my oun riffht shall receive their free- 
 dom. To emancipate them during her life would, though earnestly 
 wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties, on ac- 
 count of their intermixture by marriage with the dower negroes, 
 as to excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable conse- 
 quences to the latter, wliile both descriptions are in the occupancy 
 of the same proprietor; it not being in my power, under the tenure 
 by which tlie dower negroes are lield to manumit them. And where- 
 as, among those who will receive freedom according this device, there 
 may be some, who. from old age. or bodily infirmities, and others, 
 who, on account of their infancy, will be unable to support them- 
 selves, it is my will and desire, that all. who come under the first 
 and second description, shall be comfortably clothed and fed by ray 
 heirs while they live; and that such of tlie latter description as" have 
 no parents living, or, if living, are unable or unwilling to provide 
 for them, shall be bound by the court until they shall arrive at the 
 age of twenty-five years; and, in cases where no record can be pro- 
 duced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgment of the 
 court, upon its own view of the subject, shall be adequate and final. 
 
 *Tn the original maniisoript, George W.\.shington's name was written 
 at the bottom of every page. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I71 
 
 rhe negroes thus bound, are (by their masters and mistresses) to 
 be taught to read and write, and to be brought up to some useful 
 occupation, agreeably to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
 providing for the support of orphan and other poor children. And 
 I do hereby expressly forbid the sale or transportation out of the 
 said Commonwealth, of any slave I may die possessed of, under any 
 pretense whatsoever. And I do, moreover, most pointedly and most 
 solemnly enjoin it upon my executors hereafter named, or the sur- 
 vivors of them, to see that this clause respecting slaves, and every 
 part thereof, be religiously fulfilled at the epoch at which it is di- 
 rected to take place, without evasion, neglect, or delay, after the 
 crops which may then be on the ground are harvested, particularly 
 as it respects the aged and infirm; seeing that a regular and perma- 
 nent fund be established for tlieir support, as long as there are sub- 
 'jeets requiring it; not trusting to the uncertain provision to be 
 made by individuals. And to my mulatto man, William, calling 
 himself William Lcc, I give immediate freedom, or, if he should pre- 
 fer it, (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and 
 which have rendered him incapable of walking, or of any active 
 employment.) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be 
 optional in him to do so; in cither case, however, I allow him an 
 annuity of thirty dollars, during his natural life, which shall be 
 independent of the victuals and clothes he has been accustomed to 
 receive, if he chooses the last alternative; but in full with his free- 
 dom, if he prefers the first; and this I give him as a testimony of 
 nxy sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Item. — To the trustees (governors, or by whatsoever other name 
 they may be designated) of the Academy in the town of Alexandria, 
 I give and bequeatli. in trust, four thousand dollars, or in other 
 words, twenty of the shares which I hold in the Bank of Alexandria, 
 towards the support of a free school, established at and annexed to, 
 the said Academy, for the ])urpose of educating such orphan children, 
 or the children of such other poor and indigent persons, who are 
 unable to accomplish it witli their own means, and who, in the 
 judgment of the trustees of the said seminary, are best entitled to 
 the benefit of this donation. The aforesaid twenty shares I give and 
 bequeath in perpetuity; the dividends only of which are to be drawn 
 for and applied, by the said trustees for the time being, for the 
 uses above mentioned ; the stock to remain entire and untouched, 
 unless indications of failure of the said bank should be so apparent, 
 or a discontinuance thereof, should render a removal of this fund 
 necessary. In either of these cases, the amount of the stock here 
 devised is to be vested in some other bank or public institution, 
 whereby the interest may with regularity and certainty be drawn 
 and applied as above. And to prevent misconception, my meaning 
 is, and is hereby declared to be. that these twenty shares are in lieu 
 of, and not in "addition to, the thousand pounds given by a missive 
 
172 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 letter some years ago, in consequence wliereof an annuity of fifty 
 pounds lias since been paid towards the support of this institution. 
 
 Item'. — Whereas by law of the Conunonwealth of Virginia, enacted 
 in the year 1785, the legislature thereof was pleased, as an evidence 
 of its approbation of the services 1 had rendered the public during 
 the Revolution, and partly, I believe, in consideration of my having 
 suggested the vast advantages which the community would derive 
 f'lOm the extension of its inland navigation under legislative patron- 
 age, to present me with one hundred shares, of one hundred dollars 
 each, in the incorporated Company, established for the purpose of 
 extending the navigation of James River from the tide water to the 
 mountains; and also with fifty shares, of £100 sterling each, in the 
 corporation of another company, likewise established for the similar 
 purpose of opening the navigation of the River Potomac from the 
 tide water to Fort Cumberland; the acceptance of which, although 
 the offer was highly honorable and grateful to my feelings, was 
 refused, as inconsistent with a principle which I had adopted and 
 had never departed from, viz., not to receive pecuniary compensation 
 for any services I could render my country in its arduous struggle 
 with Great Britain for its rights, and because I had evaded similar 
 propositions from other States in the Union; Adding to this refusal, 
 however, an intimation, that, if it should be the pleasure of the 
 legislature to permit me to appropriate the said shares to public 
 uses, I would receive them on those terms with due sensibility; and 
 this it having consented to, in flattering terms, as will appear by a 
 subsequent law, and sundry resolutions, in the most ample and hon- 
 orable manner; I proceed after this recital, for the more correct un- 
 derstanding of the case, to declare; that, as it has always been 
 a source of serious regret Avith me, to see the youth of these 
 United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose of edu- 
 cation, often before their minds were formed, or they had imbibed 
 any adequate ideas of the happiness of their own; contracting too 
 frequently, not only habits of dissipation and extravagance, but prin- 
 ciples unfriendly to republican government, and to the true and genu- 
 ine liberties of mankind, Avhich thereafter are rarely overcome; for 
 these reasons it has been my ardent wish to see a plan devised on a 
 liberal scale, which would have a tendency to spread systematic ideas 
 through all parts of this rising empire, thereby to do away local 
 attachments and State prejudices, as far as the nature of things 
 would, or indeed ought to admit, from our national councils. Look- 
 ing anxiously forward to the accomplishment of so desirable an ob- 
 ject as this is (in my estimation), my mind has not been able to 
 contemplate any plan more likely to effect the measure, than the 
 establishment of a University in a central part of the United States, 
 to which the youths of fortune and talents from all parts thereof 
 may be sent for the completion of their education, in all the branches 
 of polite litoratui'e, in arts and sciences, in acquiring knowledge in 
 the princijiles of politics and good government, and, as a matter of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. I73 
 
 Infinite importance in my judgment, by associating with each other 
 and forming friendships in juvenile years, be enabled to free them- 
 selves in a proper degree from those local prejudices and habitual 
 jealousies which have just been mentioned, and whicli, when carried 
 to excess, are never-failing sources of disquietude to the public mind, 
 and pregnant of mischevious consequences to this country. Under 
 these impressions, so fully dilated. 
 
 Item. — I give and bequeath, in perpetuity, the fifty shares which 
 I hold in the Potomac company (under the aforesaid acts of the 
 Legislature of Virginia,) towards the endowment of a University, to 
 be established within the limits of the District of Columbia, under 
 the auspices of the general government, if that government should 
 incline to extend a fostering hand towards it; and, until such semi- 
 nary is established, and the funds arising on these shares shall be 
 required for its support, my further will and desire is, that the 
 profit accruing therefrom shall, whenever the dividends are made, 
 be laid out in purchasing stock in the bank of Columbia, or some 
 other bank, at tlie discretion of my executors, or by the Treasurer of 
 the United States for the time being under the direction of Con- 
 gress, provided that honorable body should patronize the meas- 
 ure; and the dividends proceeding from the purchase of such stock 
 are to be vested in more stock, and so on, until a sum adequate to 
 the accomplishment of the object is obtained, of which I have not 
 the smallest doubt, before many years pass away, even if no aid or 
 encouragement is given by the legislative authority, or from any 
 other source. 
 
 Item. — The hundred shares which I hold in the James River Com- 
 pany, I have given and now confirm in perpetuity, to and for the 
 use and benefit of Liberty Hall Academy, in the County of Rock- 
 bridge in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
 
 Item. — I release, exonerate, and discharge the estate of my de- 
 ceased brother, tiamuel Washington, from the payment of the money 
 which is due to me for the land I sold to Philip Pendleton (lying in 
 the county of Berkeley), who assigned the same to him, the said 
 Samuel, who by agreement was to pay me therefor. And whereas, 
 by some contract (the purport of which was never communicated to 
 me) between the said Sumucl and his son, Thornton Washington, the 
 latter became possessed of the aforesaid land, without any conveyance 
 having passed from me, either to the said Pendleton, the said Sam- 
 uel or the said Thornton, and without any consideration having been 
 made, by which neglect neither the legal nor equitable title has been 
 alienated ; it rests therefore with me to declare my intentions con- 
 cerning the premises, and these are, to give and bequeath the said 
 land to whomsoever the said Thornton Washington (who is also 
 dead) devised the same, or to his heirs forever, if he died intestate; 
 exonerating the estate of the said Thornton, equally with that of the 
 said Samuel, from payment of the purchase money, which, with inter- 
 est, agreeably to the original contract with the said Pendleton, 
 
174 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 would amount to more than a thousand pounds. And whereas two 
 other sons of my said deceased brother Soiiiticl, nanudy, (Irorge titep- 
 toe Washington and Lairrcncv An<jii.sti)iv Washington, were, by 
 the decease of tliose to whose care they were committed, brought 
 under my protection, and, in consequence, have occasioned advances 
 on my part for tlieir education at college and other schools, for their 
 board, clothing, and other incidental expenses, to the amount of near 
 five thousand dollars, over and above the sums furnished by their 
 estate, which sum it may be inconvenient for them or their fathers's 
 estate to refund; I do for these reasons acquit them and the said 
 estate from the payment thereof, my intention being that all ac- 
 counts between them and me, and their father's estate and me, shall 
 st.ind balanced. 
 
 Item. — Tlie balance due to me from the estate of Bartholomeio 
 Dandridge, deceased (my wife's brother), and which amounted on the 
 first day of October, 1795, to four hundred and twenty-five pounds 
 (as will appear by the account rendered by his deceased son, John 
 Dandridge, who was the acting executor of his father's will), I re- 
 lease and acquit from the payment thereof. And the negroes, then 
 thirty-three in number, formerly belonging to tlie said estate, who 
 were taken in execution, sold, and purchased in on my account, in 
 the year [blank], and ever since have remained in the possession and 
 to the use of Mary, widow of the said Bartholomew Dandridge, with 
 their increase, it is my will and desire sliall continue and be in her 
 possession, without paying hire, or making compensation for the 
 same for tlie time past, or to come, during her natural life; at 
 the expiration of which, I direct that all of them who are forty 
 years old and upwards shall receive their freedom, and all under that 
 age and above sixteen shall serve seven years and no longer, and 
 all under sixteen years shall serve until they are twenty-five years 
 of age, and then be free. And, to avoid disputes respecting the ages 
 of any of these negroes, they are to be taken into the court of the 
 county in which they reside, and the judgment thereof, in this rela- 
 tion, shall be final and record thereof made, which may be adduced 
 as evidence at any time thereafter if disi)utes should arise concerning 
 the same. And I further direct, that the heirs of the said Bartholo- 
 meio Dandridge sliall equally share the benefits arising from the 
 services of the said negroes according to the tenor of this devise, 
 upon the decease of their mother. 
 
 Itemi. — If Charles Garter, who intermarried with my niece Betty 
 Letris, is not sufficiently secured in the title to the lots he had ot 
 me in the town of Fredericksburg, it is my will and desire that my 
 executors shall make such conveyances of them as the law requires 
 to render it perfect. 
 
 Item. — To my nephew, William Angnstine Washington, and hi? 
 heirs, (if he should conceive them to be objects worth prosecuting), 
 a lot in the town of Manchester, (opposite to Richmond,) No. 265 
 drawn on my sole account, and also the tenth of one or two hun- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1/5 
 
 dred acre lots, and two or three half-acre lots, in the city and vicin- 
 ity of Ricliniond, drawn in partnershij) with nine others, all in the 
 lottery of the deceased William Byrd, are given; as is also a lot 
 which I purchased of John Hood, conveyed by William Willie and 
 Samuel Gordon, trustees of the said Johti Hood, nvimbered 129, in 
 the town of Edinburgh, in the County of Prince George, State of 
 Virginia. 
 
 Item. — To my nephew, Btishrod Washington,* I give and bequeath 
 all the papers in my possession which relate to my civil and military 
 administration of the affairs of this country. 
 
 I leave to him also such of my private papers as are worth pre- 
 serving; and at the decease of my wife, and before, if she is not in- 
 clined to retain them, I give and bequeath my library of books and 
 pamphlets of every kind. 
 
 Item. — Having sold lands which I possessed in the State of Penn- 
 sylvania and part of a tract held in equal right with George Clinton, 
 late governor of New York, in the State of New York, my share 
 of land and interest in the Great Dismal Swamp, and a tract of 
 land which I owned in the county of Gloucester, — withholding the 
 legal titles thereto, until the consideration money should be paid — 
 and having moreover leased and conditionally sold (as will appear 
 by the tenor of the said lease) all my lands upon the Great Kenhawa, 
 and a tract upon Difficult Run, in the County of Loiuloun, it is my 
 will and direction, that whensoever the contracts are fully and re- 
 spectively complied with, according to the spirit, true intent, and 
 meaning thereof, on the part of the purchasers, their heirs or as- 
 signs, that then, and in that case, conveyances are to be made, agree- 
 ably to the terms of the said contracts, and the money arising 
 therefrom, when paid, to be vested in bank stock; the dividends 
 whereof, as of that also which is already vested therein, are to 
 inure to my said wife during her life; but the stock itself is to 
 remain and be subject to the general distribution hereafter directed. 
 
 Item.- — To the Earl of Buchan I recommit the "Box made of the 
 Oak that sheltered the great Sir William W^allace, after the battle 
 of Falkirk," presented to me by his Lordship, in terms too flattering 
 for me to repeat, with a request "to pass it, on the event of my de- 
 cease, to the man in my country, who should appear to merit it best, 
 upon the same conditions that have induced him to send it to me." 
 Whether easy or not to select the man, who might comport with his 
 Lordship's opinion in this respect, is not for me to say; but, con- 
 ceiving that no disposition of this valuable curiosity can be more 
 eligible than the recommitment of it to his own cabinet, agreeably to 
 the original design of the Goldsmiths' Company of Edinburgh, who 
 presented it to him, and, at his request, consented that it should be 
 
 •As General Washington never had any children, he gave the larger 
 part of his propert.v to his nephews and nieces, and the children of Mrs. 
 
 ,TT__, .__^._,^ — ... , — ^..^^ -"-ge. The principal heir t>„„i,„^» 
 
 Augustine Washington. 
 
 part or his propert.v to his nephews anu ^^„, „„„ — ^ ^_ -- 
 
 Washington's son hy her first marriage. The principal heir was Bushrod 
 Washington, son of his brother, John Ai 
 
!76 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 transferred to nie, I do give and bequeatli the same to his Lordship; 
 and, in case of his decease, to his heir, witli my grateful thanks for 
 the distinguished honor of presenting it to me, and more especially 
 for the favorable sentiments with wliicli he accompanied it. 
 
 Item. — To my brother, Charles Washington, I give and bequeath 
 the gold-headed cane left me by Dr. Franklin in his will. I add 
 nothing to it because of the ample provision I have made for his 
 issue. To the acquaintances and friends of my juvenile years, 
 Lawrence Washington and Rohert Washington, of Chotanck, I give 
 my other two gold-headed canes, having my arms engraved on them; 
 and to each, as they will be useful where they live, I leave one of 
 the spyglasses, which constituted part of my equipage during the 
 late war. To my compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend. 
 Dr. Craik, I give my bureau (or, as the cabinet-makers call it, tam- 
 bour secretary) and the circular chair, an appendage of my study. 
 To Dr. David Stewart I give my large shaving and dressing table, 
 and my telescope. To the Kevcrend, now Bryan, Lord Fairfax, 1 
 give a Bible, in three large folio volumes, with notes, presented to 
 me by the Right Reverend Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and 
 U.an. To General de Lafayette I give a pair of finely-wrought steel 
 piitols, taken from the enemy in the Revolutionary War. To my 
 sisters-in-law Hannah Washington, and Mildred Washington, to my 
 friends, Eleanor Htuart, Hannah Washington, of Fairfield, and 
 Elizabeth Washington, of Hayfield, I give each a mourning ring, of 
 the value of one hundred dollars. Tliese bequests are not made 
 for the intrinsic value of them, but as mementoes of my esteem 
 and regard. To Tobias Lear I give the use of the farm, which he 
 now holds in virtue of a lease from me to him and his deceased 
 wife, (for and during their natural lives.) free from rent during 
 liis life; at the expiration of which, it is to be disposed of as is 
 hereinafter directed. To Sally B. Haynie, (a distant relation of 
 mine,) I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. To Sarah Green, 
 daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daugh- 
 ter of John Alton, also deceased, I give each one hundred dollars, in 
 consideration of the attachment of their fathers to me: each of whom 
 having lived nearly forty years in my family. To each of my 
 nephews William Augustine Washinton, George Lewis, George Step- 
 toe Washington, Bushrod Washington, and Samuel Washington, I 
 give one of the swords or couteaux, of which I may die possessed; 
 and they are to choose in the order they are named. These swords 
 are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheath them for the 
 purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defense or in defense 
 of their country and its rights; and in the latter case, to keep them 
 unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the re- 
 linquishment thereof. 
 
 And now, having gone through these specific devises, with ex- 
 pl# nations for the more correct understanding of the meaning and 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 177 
 
 design of thSm, I proceed to the distribution of the more important 
 part of my estate, in manner following: — 
 
 FiKST. — To my nephew, Buslirod Washington, and his heirs, (part- 
 ly in consideration of an intimation to his deceased father, while 
 we were bachelors, and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my 
 estate during my military services in the former war between Great 
 Britain -and France, that, if I should fall therein Mount Vernon, 
 then less extensive in domain than at present, should become his 
 property,) I give and bequeath all that part thereof, which is com- 
 prehended within the following limits, viz. Beginning at the ford of 
 Dogue Run, near my Mill, and extending along the road, and bounded 
 thereby, as it now goes, and ever has gone, since my recollection of 
 it, to the ford of Little Hunting Creek, at the Gum Spring, until it 
 comes to a knoll opposite to an old road, which formerly passed 
 through the lower field of Muddy-Hole Farm; at which, on the north 
 side of the said road, are three red or Spanish oaks, marked as a 
 corner, and a stone placed ; thence by a line of trees, to be marked 
 rectangular, to the back line or outer boundary of the tract between 
 Thompson Mason and myself; thence with that line easterly (now 
 double ditching, with a post-and-rail fence thereon) to the run of 
 Little Hunting Creek; thence with that run, which is the boundary 
 between the lands of the late Humphrey Peake and me, to the tide 
 water of the said creek; thence by that water to Potomac River; 
 thence with the river to the mouth of Dogue Creek; and thence with 
 tlie said Dogue Creek to the place of beginning at the aforesaid 
 ford ; containing upwards of four thousand acres, be the same more 
 or less, together with the mansion-house, and all other buildings and 
 improvements thereon. 
 
 Second. — In consideration of the consanguinity between them and 
 my wife, being as nearly related to her as to myself, as on account 
 of the affection I had for, and the obligation I was under to, their 
 father when living, who from his youth had attached himself to my 
 person, and followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the 
 late Revolution, afterwards devoting his time to the superintend- 
 ence of my private concerns for many years, whilst my public em- 
 ployments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby 
 affording me essential services, and always performing them in a 
 manner the most filial and respectful; for these reasons, I say, I 
 give and bequeath to George Payette Washington and Lawrence 
 Augustine Washington and their heirs, my estate east of Little Hunt- 
 ing Creek, lying on the River Potomac, including the farm of three 
 hundred and sixty acres, leased to Tobias Lear, as noticed before, 
 and containing in the whole, by deed, two thousand and twenty- 
 seven acres, be it more or less; which said estate it is my will and 
 desire should be equitably and advantageously divided between them, 
 according to quantity, quality, and other circumstances, when the 
 youngest shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, by three 
 judicious and disinterested men; one to be chosen by each of the 
 
178 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 brothers, and the third by these two. In the meantime, if the ter- 
 mination of my wife's interest therein should have ceased, the profits 
 arising therefrom are to be apjilied for tlieir joint uses and benefit. 
 
 Third. — And wliereas it has always been my intention, since my 
 expectation of having issue has ceased, to consider the grandchildren 
 of my wife in the same light as I do my own relations, and to act a 
 friendly part by them ; more especially by the two whom we have 
 raised from their earliest infancy, namely, Eleanor Parke Ciistis and 
 George Washington Parke Ciistis; and whereas the former of these 
 hath lately intermarried with Laicre)ice Lewis, a son of my deceased 
 sister, Betty Leicis, by which the inducement to provide for them 
 both has been increased ; wherefore, I give and bequeath to the said 
 Laiorence Lewis, and Eleanor Parke Leicis, his wife, and their 
 heirs, the residue of my Mount Vernon estate, not already devised to 
 my nephew Bushrod Washington, comprehended within the following 
 description, viz. All the land north of tlie road leading from the 
 ford of Dogue Run to the Gum Spring as described in the devise 
 of the other part of the tract to Bushrod Washington, until it comes 
 to the stone and three red or Spanish oaks on the knoll; thence with 
 tae rectangular line to the back line (between Mr. Mason and me) ; 
 thence with tliat line westerly along the new double ditch to Dogue 
 Run, by the tumbling dam of my Mill; thence with the said run 
 to the ford aforementioned. To which I add all the land I possess 
 west of the said Dogue Run and Dogue Creek, bounded easterly and 
 southerly thereby ; together with the mill, distillery, and all other 
 houses and improvements on tlie premises, making together about 
 two thousand acres, be it more or less. 
 
 Fourth. — Actuated by the principle already mentioned, I give 
 and bequeath to George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of 
 my wife, and my ward, and to his heirs, tlie tract I hold on Four 
 Mile Run, in the vicinity of Alexandria, containing one thousand 
 two hundred acres, more or less, and my entire square. No. 21, in 
 the city of Washington. 
 
 Fifth. — All the rest and residue of my estate real and personal, 
 not disposed of in manner aforesaid, in whatsoever consisting, 
 wheresoever lying, and whensoever found, (a schedule of which, as 
 far as is recollected, with a reasonable estimate of its value, is here- 
 unto annexed,) I desire may be sold by my executors at such times, 
 in such manner, and on such credits, (if an equal, valid, and satis- 
 factory distribution of the specific property cannot be made without,) 
 as in their judgment shall be most conducive to the interests of the 
 parties concerned ; and the moneys arising therefrom to be divided 
 into twenty-three equal parts, and applied as follows, viz. To Wil- 
 liam Augustine Washington, Elizabeth Spotswood, Jane Thorhton, 
 and the heirs of A7in Ashtmt, sons and daughters of my deceased 
 brother, Augustine Washington, I give and bequeath four parts; 
 that is, one part to each of them. To Fielding Lewis, George Letvis, 
 Robert Leicis, Hoioell Lewis, and Betty Carter, sons and daughters 
 
eEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 179 
 
 of my decpased sister, Betiy Lewis, T give and bequeath five other 
 parts; one to each of them. To George Steptoc Wa shingi on, Law- 
 rence Augustine Washington, Harriet Parks, and the heirs of Thorn- 
 ton Washington, sons and daughters of my deceased brother, S,amucl 
 Washington, I give and bequeath other four parts one to each of 
 them. To Corhin Washington, and the heirs of Jane Washington, 
 son and daughter of my deceased brother, John Augustine Washing- 
 ton, I give and bequeatli two parts; one to each of them. To Hamuel 
 Washington, Francis Ball, and Mildred Hammond, son and daughters 
 oi my brotlier, Charles Washington, I give and bequeatli three parts; 
 nna to each of them. And to George Fayette Washington, Charles 
 Augustine Washington, and Maria Washington, sons, and daughter 
 of my deceased nephew, George Aiigustine Washington, I give one 
 other part: that is, to each a third of that part. To Elizabeth Parke 
 Laio, Martha Parke Peter, and Eleanor Parke Lewis, I give and 
 bequeath three other parts; that is, a part to eacli of them. And 
 to my nephews, Bushrod Washington, and Lawrence Leicis, and to 
 my ward, tlie grandson of my wife, I give and bequeath one other 
 part; that is, a third thereof to each of them. And, if it should 
 so happen that any of the persons whose names are here enumerated 
 (unknown to me) should now oe dead, or should die before me, that 
 in either of tVse cases, the heir of such deceased person shall, not- 
 withstanding, derive all the benefits of the bequest in the same 
 manner as if he or she was actually living at the time. And, by 
 way of advice. I recommend it to my executors not to be precipitate 
 in disposing of the landed property, (herein directed to be sold,) if 
 from temporary causes the sale thereof should be dull; experience 
 having fully evinced that the price of land, especially above the falls 
 of the river and on the western Avaters, has been progressively ris- 
 ing, and cannot be long checked in its increasing value. And I par- 
 ticularly recommend it to such of the legatees (under this clause of 
 my will), as can make it convenient, to take each a share of my 
 stock in the Potomac Company in preference to the amount of what 
 it might sell for; being thoroughly convinced myself that no uses 
 to which the money can be applied, will be so productive as the 
 tolls arising from this navigation when in full operation, (and thus, 
 from the nature of things, it must be, ere long,) and more especially 
 if that of the Shenandoah is added thereto. 
 
 The family vault at Moiint Vernon requiring repairs, and being 
 improperly situated besides, I desire that a new one of brick, and 
 upon a larger scale, may be built at the foot of what is commonly 
 called the Vineyard Enclosure, on the ground which is marked out; 
 in which my remains, with those of my deceased relations (now in 
 the old vault) and such others of my family as may choose to be 
 entombed there, may be deposited. And it is my express desire, 
 that my corpse may be interred in a private manner, without parade 
 or funeral oration. 
 
l8o GEOKGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Lastly, I constitute and appoint iny dearly beloved wife, Martha 
 Washinyton, my nephews, Willioin Augustine Wasliiiujton, Bushrod 
 Washington, George Sleploc Wusliington, Humiicl Washingtoiv and 
 Laivrence Lewis, and my ward, George Washington I'arke Custis, 
 (when he shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years,) exe- 
 cutrix and executors of this my will and testament; in the con- 
 struction of which it will be readily perceived, that no professional 
 character has been consvilted, or has liad any agency in the draft; 
 and that, although it has occupied many of my leisure hours to di- 
 gest, and to throw it into its present form, it may, notwithstanding, 
 appear cruae and incorrect; but having endeavored to be plain and 
 explicit in all the devises, even at the expense of prolixity, perhaps 
 of tautology, I hope and trust that no disputes will arise concern- 
 ing them. But if, contrary to expectation, the case should be 
 otherwise from the want of legal expressions, or the usual technical 
 terms, or because too much or too little has been said on any of the 
 devises to be consonant with law, my will and direction expressly 
 is, that all disputes (if luihappily any should arise) shall be de- 
 cided by three impartial and intelligent men, known for their probity 
 and good understanding, two to be chosen by the disputants, each 
 having the choice of one, and the third by those two; which three 
 men, thus chosen, shall, unfettered by law or legal constructions, 
 declare their sense of the testator's intention; and such decision is, 
 to all intents and purposes, to be as binding on the parties as if it 
 had been given in tlie Supreme Court of the United States. 
 In witness of all and of each of the things herein contained I have 
 
 set my hand and seal, this ninth day of July, in the year one 
 
 thousand seven hundred and ninety,* and' of the Independence of 
 
 the United States the twenty-fourth. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 *It appears that thf testator omitted the word "nine." 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 BIRTHPLACE OF WASHINGTON 
 AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY.* 
 
 A granite shaft, set] with solemn ceremony by representatives 
 of the government of the United States, now stands where stood 
 the house in which George Washington was born 181 years ago. 
 Around this monument is an iron picket fence and clustering against 
 this fence, both from within and without, are fig bushes, which 
 bear fruit and which are descendants of the fig bushes that grew in 
 the Washington garden. 
 
 Over the surrounding field, now a pasture dotted with grazing 
 cows and imbedded in the turf, and, no doubt, buried under the 
 grassy mat, are broken bricks and rock fragments that were once 
 a part of the foundations and chimneys of the Washington house. 
 The field in which the simple shaft stands, though long a grazing 
 ground for cattle, is billowed with old corn furrows, for these marks 
 of tillage are wonderfully persistent, and sometimes in that coun- 
 try the trace of the plow may be seen in land that has grown to 
 forest since the last crop was gathered. 
 
 Springing up, green and straight in this monument field, are 
 cedar trees, and probably before many more Washington anniver- 
 saries swing round the monument will be inclosed and shaded by 
 a dense copse of this somber evergreen, and making what Ameri- 
 cans may come to regard as a sacred grove. 
 
 To the east, the northeast and the southeast the prospect from 
 the bluff on which the early Washingtons lived sweeps across and 
 up and down the Potomac River, which at this point in Westmore- 
 land county, Virginia, is eight miles wide — so wide that the tree- 
 grown hills of Maryland, even when the sun shines, are never more 
 than blue and purple haze beyond the glittering water. Up and 
 down the river the eye catches no glimpse of land excepting dim 
 snatches of distant shore line. 
 
 At night beams from the lighthouse on Blackstone island, ten 
 miles eastward, and that at Lower Cedar Point, ten miles north- 
 ward, come over the black .stretch of salt water. The flashing of 
 the beacon at Church Point, three miles west by north, tended by 
 Daniel Wirt, a kinsman of George Washington and William Wirt, 
 a great attorney-general of the United States, glows red and ominous. 
 
 Looking southward from the monument is a romantic breadth 
 of quiet water called for nearly 300 years Pope's Creek. It is called 
 so for Col. Nathaniel Pope, from whom John Washington, the immi- 
 grant, bought this farm about 1652, and whose daughter, Anne 
 Pope, he married, thereby adding to his acres. Pope's Creek is not 
 
 *By permission, from the Washington "Star" for February 22, 1913. 
 
182 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 a paltry stream. Near its channel to the Potomac River it forms 
 a bay, shoal, but broader than the busy harbor of many great cities. 
 The part of the stream navigable for small sailing vessels reaches 
 inland between tree shaded banks that are steep and high, and the 
 unnavigable part extends back through wood and pineland to the 
 watershed which guides the course of branches into the Potomac 
 or the Rappahannock. 
 
 Washington's birthhouse was burned in the long ago, but exactly 
 when is a matter of conjecture. By some it is believed that when 
 George Washington's father, Augustine Washington, removed from 
 this place, since called "Wakefield," with his family to the farm in 
 Stafford county, opposite Fredericksburg, in 1735, or when George 
 Washington was 3 years old, it was because the Pope's Creek home- 
 stead had been destroyed. 
 
 By others it is believed that George Washington's brother, Augus- 
 tine Washington, lived in the Pope's Creek house, and that it was 
 destroyed in the lifetime of his son, William A. Washington. There 
 are numerous bits of evidence to support this theory. But, at any 
 rate, the ruined chimneys of the Pope's Creek home are within the 
 memory of man. 
 
 About one mile northwest of the Washington birthplace flows 
 a little stream called Bridges Creek. In some parts of its course 
 it is narrow and in others it turns forests of sweet gum trees into 
 marshland. It is a jungle where the boys of the vicinage resort 
 mainly for coon hunting. At the time of the building of the birth- 
 j)lace monument the government built a long pier far out into 
 the Potomac at the point where Bridges Creek enters that river. 
 The idea was to facilitate pilgrimage to Wakefield. The pier is in 
 decay. No boats ever stop there except the sailing craft that load 
 cordwood, cut from the near-by woods, for Washington, D. C, or 
 Alexandria, Va. The rules formulated by the government for 
 landing there and the river steamboat men could not agree, and few 
 landings were made. It is believed that the house of the first Ameri- 
 can Washington, John, stood near this creek and not on the site of 
 the house in which George Washington was born. 
 
 There is much conjecture about this. There is a strong presump- 
 tion that George Washington was not born in the house in which 
 the immigrant, John, made his home. Washington's birthplace 
 is variously written of as being on Bridges Creek and Pope's Creek. 
 One would incline to think that these were two names for a single 
 stream. Bridges Creek lies a mile and a half to the northwest of 
 Pope's Creek. The Washington burial ground and family vault 
 are on high ground above Bridges Creek. The George Washington 
 birthplace, as has been said, stood near the bank of Pope's Creek. 
 The house marker and the family burial ground are more than a 
 mile apart. Such a situation was very unusual in early colonial 
 times. 
 
 The private burial ground was, as a rule, not far from the family 
 dwelling, and in the vast majority of instances was but a few yards 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 83 
 
 away. Not far from the Washington cemetery and on rising ground 
 overlooking Bridges Creek is a spot on which long ago was human 
 habitation. The richness of the soil and the character of the vege- 
 tation prove this; besides, there have been unearthed by the plow 
 fragments of brick, glass and pottery. It is believed that the first 
 Washington made his home here. It may be that later he built 
 the house overlooking Pope's Creek, or that house may have been 
 built by his son, Capt. Lawrence Washington. But there can be 
 no certainty as to this. 
 
 All the present day accounts of George Washington give his birth- 
 ' place as "Wakefield, Westmoreland county, Va." The origin and 
 significance of the name Wakefield is obscure. George Washing- 
 ton never knew this old home-place as Wakefield. In his time, 
 and in the time of the Washingtons before him, it was known as 
 "Pope's Creek" or "the farm on Pope's Creek" or "the farm at 
 Pope's Creek" or "the home on Pope's Creek." In the writings of 
 Washington he notes a visit to his brother, John A. Washington, at 
 Nomini (about fifteen miles from Pope's Creek), to the widow of his 
 brother Augustine at Pope's Creek and to his brother Samuel at 
 Chotank (near Mathias Point in King George county). 
 
 There is never any mention of "Wakefield." It is believed that 
 the name Wakefield was given the place by William AugustineWash- 
 ington, who was George Washington's nephew, being the son of 
 Washington's brother, Augustine, who inherited the Pope's Creek 
 farm. In the will of this William Augustine Washington he bequeaths 
 "Wakefield to his son George Corbin Washington." This is the 
 first reference of record of "Wakefield." 
 
 The birthplace of George Washington, as well as thousands of 
 acres of old Washington and Pope lands, are to-day owned and 
 tilled by collateral descendants of George Washington, who are 
 numerous in that historic region as well as in King George county, 
 which is the county north of Westmoreland. Vast tracts of these 
 lands have never been out of the possession of the Washingtons, 
 though the birthplace has seen many changes of ownership. 
 
 This farm, from the time of its purchase by the immigrant, ■ 
 remained in the family for a number of generations. First, there 
 was the immigrant John. He left it to his son, Capt. Lawrence 
 Washington. He left it to his son, Augustine Washington, the 
 father of George Washington. Augustine Washington died April 
 12, 1743. To his son Lawrence he left a farm on the Potomac 
 River between Hunting Creek and Dogue Run, which Lawrence 
 later called Mount Vernon. To his son, Augustine Washington, 
 he left the Pope's Creek homestead. To George Washington when 
 he should come of age he bequeathed the farm on the Rappahan- 
 nock, directly across from Fredericksburg. All the other children 
 were well provided for. 
 
 At the death of George's brother, Augustine, the Pope's Creek 
 farm passed to his son, William Augustine Washington, and then 
 to his son, George Corbin Washington. In 1813 George Corbin 
 
184 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington sold the farm to John Gray of Stafford county, 
 Virginia, who gave it to his son, Atchison Gray. It was next sold 
 to Daniel Payne, who did not want the place, but took it in 
 connection with some other property and owed a balance on it of 
 $15,000. He sold the farm, subject to this debt, to Harry T. 
 Garnett, who moved away to Alabama. 
 
 Garnett sold it to Charles C. Jett, who did not lift the mortgage 
 on it. Daniel Payne dying, the place was sold at trustees' sale, 
 the executors of Payne buying it in and making it a part of the Payne 
 estate. Payne's heiress, Betty Payne, became the wife in 1845 of 
 Dr. William Wirt, son of W^ilHam Wirt, who was attorney-general 
 \inder President Jackson. The year after her marriage Wakefield 
 was sold to John F. Wilson of Anne Arundel county, Maryland, and 
 he settled his son, John E. Wilson, on the farm. This John E. 
 Wilson married Betty Washington, granddaughter of W^illiam Augus- 
 tine Washington, and the farm at Pope's Creek came back to the 
 Washington family. 
 
 John E. Wilson lived to a ripe old age, a splendid example of the 
 gentleman, and died two or three years ago. His widow, who was 
 Betty Washington^ lives on the farm to-day. Among the children 
 of Mrs. Betty Washington-Wilson are Latney Wilson, William, 
 Lawrence, Augustine, James, Janet and Bessie. Another daughter, 
 Miss Susan, married an Episcopal clergyman, who had charge of the 
 little church at Oak Grove, Westmoreland county. 
 
 Through all this broad, fertile but isolated country live many 
 Washingtons, Wirts, Paynes, Wilsons and others having in their 
 veins the same blood that was in the father of his country. The 
 nearest steamboat landing to the Washington land is Wirt's Wharf, 
 in Maddox Creek. This wharf has been W'irt property for a cen- 
 tury and is now owned by Daniel Wirt. He has a large tract of 
 land, but tenants work it for him, while he watches over the beacon 
 that has been put on Church Point bar — a bar that runs out a mile 
 across the mouth of Maddox Creek. His home and farm are called 
 Bleak Hall, and it belonged to the Butler family — the family of Jane 
 Butler, first wife of George Washington's father. 
 
 A mile beyond the wharf toward Wakefield was the old home- 
 stead, Laurel Grove, where dwelt until last year Goerge Washing- 
 ton, his wife, Agnes Wirt Washington; their daughters, Elizabeth 
 Wirt Washington and Frances Wirt Washington, and their young 
 son, Lee Swanson Wirt Washington. That was a year ago. To-day 
 George Washington and little Lee sleep in the quiet churchyard at 
 Oak Grove, two miles away, and Laurel Grove is a mound of brick 
 and ashes, having burned down a few months ago. 
 
 Mrs. Washington, with Elizabeth and Frances, are living in a 
 new little bungalow on Church Point, a mile away and on the river, 
 surrounded by many of the old family servants. 
 
 Mrs. Washington is farming part of the thousand acre tract she 
 owns. Her farm is stocked with horses, cattle, hogs and sheep, and 
 Mrs. Washington raises ducks and chickens by the hundred and some 
 turkeys and geese. 
 
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