This great historical biography was Washington Irving's
principal work. It was founded chiefly upon George
Washington's correspondence, which is preserved in manuscript
in the archives of the United States Government. Irving worked
at it intermittently for many years; and it was published in
successive sections during the last years of his life, 1855 to
1859, while he was living in retirement with his nieces at
Sunnyside, on the Hudson River.
The De Wessyngton family, of the county of Durham, in feudal times,
produced many men of mark in the field and in the cloister, and at a
later period the Washingtons were intrepid supporters of the unfortunate
House of Stuart. Compromised by this allegiance, two brothers, John and
Andrew, uncles of Sir Henry Washington, the gallant defender of
Worcester, emigrated to Virginia in 1657, and purchased lands in
Westmoreland County, by the River Potomac. John, who became military
leader of the Virginians against the Indians, was great-grandfather of
the illustrious George Washington.
George, born February 22, 1732, in a homestead on Bridges Creek, was the
eldest son of Mary Ball, second wife of Augustine Washington. Two
half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, survived from the first marriage;
and Mary had three other sons and two daughters. George received his
first education in an "old field school-house," taught by the parish
sexton; but the chief influences of his boyhood were the morality of his
home and the military ardour of the colonists against the Spanish and
the French. Lawrence, his eldest brother, had a captaincy in the
colonial regiment which fought for England in the West Indies, in 1740,
and the boy's whole mind was turned to war.
His father died when he was eleven years old, and George was sent to
live with his married brother Augustine. Here he attended school, was
eager in the acquirement of knowledge, and became expert in all athletic
exercises. He very nearly entered on a naval career, but at his mother's
earnest entreaty renounced the project, and returning to school, studied
land-surveying.
Lawrence, his brother, having married into the Fairfax family, George
came under the notice of Lord Fairfax, owner of immense tracts of
country, who was so pleased with the lad's character and accomplishments
that he entrusted him with the task of surveying his possessions. At the
age of sixteen George Washington set out into the wilderness, and
acquitted himself so well that he was appointed public surveyor. He thus
gained an intimate knowledge, and of the ways of the Indians.
The English and French governments were at this time making conflicting
claims to the Ohio valley, and their agents were treating with the
various Indian tribes. At length the French prepared to enforce their
claim by arms, and Washington received, in 1751, a commission as
adjutant-general over a military district of Virginia. In October, 1753,
he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission to the French commander,
from which he returned in the following January; and his conduct on this
occasion, when he had to traverse great distances of unknown forest at
midwinter, and to cope with the craft of white men and savages alike,
marked him out as a youth fitted for the most important civil and
military trusts.
_Conflicts with the French_
Washington was for the first time under fire in April, 1754, when he had
been sent, as second in command of the colonial forces, to take charge
of a fort on the Ohio. He fell in with a French party of spies, whom his
small force, with Indian assistance, put to flight. His fort, named Fort
Necessity, was defended by three hundred men, but was attacked in July
by a greatly superior force of French and Indians, and Washington had to
capitulate, marching out with the honours of war.
When it was determined, the same autumn, by the Governor and the British
Secretary of State, that the colonial troops should be reduced to
independent companies, so that there should no longer be colonial
officers above the rank of captain, Washington, in accordance with the
dawning republicism of America, resigned his commission, and settling at
Mount Vernon, prepared to devote himself to agriculture. But in 1755,
General Braddock was sent out to undertake energetic operations against
the French, and Washington accepted the General's offer of a position
on his staff.
It was now that the eminent Benjamin Franklin did such great service to
the British arms by organizing transport, and listened with astonishment
to Braddock's anticipations of easy victory. The young aide-de-camp also
warned the English soldier in vain. On July 9 Braddock's force was
utterly routed by the French and Indians, and the general himself was
slain. This reverse did away with all belief, throughout the colonies,
in the power of British arms, and prepared the way for the independence
that was to follow.
On August 14 George Washington was appointed to the supreme command of
the Virginian forces, with his headquarters at Winchester, and was
occupied in the defence of a wide frontier with an insufficient force,
until the expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758, when he planted the
British flag on its smoking ruins, and put an end to the French
domination of the Ohio.
His marriage to Mrs. Martha Custis, a young and wealthy widow, was
celebrated on January 6, 1759; he took his seat in the House of
Burgesses at Williamsburg, and established himself at Mount Vernon to
develop his estates. A large Virginia estate, in those days, was a
little empire.
_The Dawn of Independence_
The definitive treaty of peace between France and England was signed at
Fontainebleau in 1763; but the tranquility of the colonies was again
broken by an Indian insurrection, known as Pontiac's war. Washington had
no part in its suppression, but he was soon to be called again to the
defence of his country.
He was in his place in the House of Burgesses on May 29, 1765, when the
claims of Britain to tax the colony were first repudiated, and it was
declared that the General Assembly of Virginia had the exclusive right
to tax the inhabitants, and that whoever maintained the contrary should
be deemed an enemy to the colony. These resolutions were the signal for
general applause throughout the continent.
The repeal, in 1766, of the objectionable Stamp Act only postponed the
crisis, which became acute when the port of Boston was closed by
Parliament, because of the resistance of that city to the importation of
East Indian tea. A General Congress of deputies from the several
colonies was convened for September 5, 1773, at Philadelphia, in which
Washington took part, and a Federal Union of the colonies was then
established. The English commander, General Gage, struck the first blow
against popular liberties, in the engagement at Lexington, April 18,
1775, and on June 15 Washington was unanimously elected
commander-in-chief of the American forces.
Two days later was fought, outside Boston, the heroic battle of Bunker's
Hill, and on the 21st Washington set out from Philadelphia to the seat
of war, where he laid a strict siege about Boston, with a view to
forcing the British to come out. An English ship having bombarded the
American port of Falmouth, an act was passed by the General Court of
Massachusetts, encouraging the fitting out of armed vessels to defend
the coast of America, and granting letters of marque and reprisal. In
October a conference of delegates was held, under Washington's
presidency, of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, with regard to a
new organisation of the army; and a new force of twenty-two thousand was
formed, every soldier being enlisted for one year only.
Montreal had been captured by an American expedition, and Washington was
now looking forward to equal success in an expedition against Quebec. He
was further encouraged by the capture, by one of his cruisers, of a
brigantine laden with munitions of war, including a huge brass mortar.
His wife joined the camp before Boston, and the eventful year was closed
with festivities.
But the gallant attempt on Quebec, in which Montgomery fell, was
frustrated, and the siege of Boston dragged on uneventfully, until the
Americans, in March, seized Dorchester Heights, and made the town no
longer tenable. On the 17th there were in Boston Harbor seventy-eight
ships and transports casting loose for sea, and twelve thousand
soldiers, sailors and refugees, hurrying to embark. The flag of thirteen
stripes, the standard of the Union, floated above the Boston forts,
after ten tedious months of siege.
The eminent services of Washington throughout this arduous period, his
admirable management by which, in the course of a few months, an
undisciplined band of husbandmen became soldiers, and were able to expel
a brave army of veterans, commanded by the most experienced generals,
won the enthusiastic applause of the nation. A unanimous vote of thanks
was passed to him in Congress.
_Declaration of Independence_
Despatches from Canada continued to be disastrous, and the evacuation of
that country was determined on in June, 1776. The great aim of the
British was now to get possession of New York and the Hudson, and to
make them the basis of military operations. While danger was gathering
round New York, and its inhabitants were in mute suspense and fearful
anticipations, the General Congress at Philadelphia was discussing with
closed doors the greatest question ever debated in America. A resolution
was passed unanimously, on July 2, "that these United Colonies are, of
right ought to be, free and independent States."
The fourth of July is the day of national rejoicing, for on that day the
"Declaration of Independence," that solemn and sublime document, was
adopted. Tradition gives a dramatic effect to its announcement. It was
known to be under discussion, but the closed doors of Congress excluded
the populace. They awaited, in throngs, an appointed signal. In the
steeple of the state-house was a bell, bearing the portentous text from
Scripture, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the
inhabitants thereof." A joyous peal from that bell gave notice that the
bill had been passed. It was the knell of British domination.
Washington hailed the Declaration with joy. It was but a formal
recognition of a state of things which had long existed, but it put an
end to all those temporizing hopes of reconciliation which had clogged
the military action of the country. On July 9, he caused it to be read
at the head of each brigade of the army. "The general hopes," said he,
"that this important event will serve as a fresh incentive to every
officer and soldier, to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing that
now the peace and safety of his country depend, under God, solely on the
success of our arms; and that he is now in the service of a state
possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and advance him to
the highest honours of a free country." and again: "The general hopes
and trusts that every officer and man will endeavour so to live and act
as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and
liberties of his country."
_The Winning of Independence_
But the exultation of the patriots of New York was soon overclouded.
British warships, under Admiral Lord Howe, were in the harbour on July
12, and affairs now approached a crisis. Lord Howe came "as a mediator,
not as a destroyer," and had prepared a declaration inviting communities
as well as individuals to merit and receive pardon by a prompt return to
their duty; it was a matter of sore regret to him that his call to
loyalty had been forestalled by the Declaration of Independence.
The British force in the neighbourhood of New York, under General Howe,
brother of the Admiral, was about thirty thousand men; the Americans
were only about twenty thousand, for the most part raw and
undisciplined, and the sectional jealousies prevalent among them were
more and more a subject of uneasiness to Washington. On August 27 the
American force was defeated with great loss in the battle of Long
Island, and was withdrawn from the island by a masterly night retreat;
this led to the loss of New York and the Hudson River to the British.
Reverse followed reverse; Washington was driven by the British arms from
one point after another; many of the chief American cities were taken;
and on September 26, 1777, General Sir William Howe marched into
Philadelphia and thus occupied the capital of the confederacy. But
Washington still maintained his characteristic equanimity. "I hope," he
said, "that a little time will put our affairs in a more flourishing
condition."
This anticipation was soon to be fulfilled. General Burgoyne had been
advancing from the north with a large force of British and Hessian
troops, but was compelled by General Gates, with a superior American
force, to capitulate on October 17,1777. By this capitulation the
Americans gained a fine train of artillery, seven thousand stand of
arms, and a great quantity of clothing, tents, and military stores of
all kinds; and the surrender of Burgoyne struck dismay into the British
army on the Hudson River.
But the struggle for independence was still to continue for four years
of incessant military operations, and it was not until the surrender of
Yorktown, on October 19, 1781, by Lord Cornwallis, that Britain gave up
hope of reducing her rebel colonies. When the redoubts of Yorktown were
taken, Washington exclaimed, "The work is done, and well done!"
A general treaty of peace was signed in Paris on January 20, 1783; and
in March of that year Sir Guy Carleton informed Washington that he was
ordered to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by sea and land. On April
19, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, thus completing the
eighth year of the war, Washington issued a general order to the army in
these terms--"The generous task for which we first flew to arms being
accomplished, the liberties of our country being fully acknowledged and
firmly secured, and the characters of those who have persevered through
every extremity of hardship, suffering, and danger, being immortalised
by the illustrious appellation of 'the patriot army,' nothing now
remains but for the actors of this mighty scene to preserve a perfect,
unvarying consistency of character through the very last act, to close
the drama with applause, and to retire from the military theatre with
the same approbation of angels and men which has crowned all their
former virtuous actions."
Writing, on June 8, to the Governors of the several States, he
said--"The great object for which I had the honour to hold an
appointment in the service of my country being accomplished, I am now
preparing to return to that domestic retirement which, it is well known,
I left with the greatest reluctance; a retirement for which I have never
ceased to sigh, through a long and painful absence, and in which, remote
from the noise and trouble of the world, I meditate to pass the
remainder of life in a state of undisturbed repose."
_The Years of Peace_
Washington returned to Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve, 1783, and busied
himself with the care of his estates. He had never ceased to be the
agriculturist; through all his campaigns he had kept himself informed of
the course of rural affairs at Mount Vernon. By means of maps on which
every field was laid down and numbered, he was enabled to give
directions for their several cultivation, and to receive accounts of
their several crops. No hurry of affairs prevented a correspondence with
his agent, and he exacted weekly reports. He now read much on
agriculture and gardening, and corresponded with the celebrated Arthur
Young, from whom he obtained seeds of all kinds, improved ploughs, plans
for laying out farmyards, and advice on various parts of rural economy.
His active day at Mount Vernon began some time before dawn. Much of his
correspondence was despatched before breakfast, which took place at
half-past seven. After breakfast he mounted his horse and rode off to
various parts of his estate; dined at half-past two; if there was no
company he would write until dark; and in the evening he read, or amused
himself with a game of whist.
The adoption of the Federal Constitution opened another epoch in the
life of Washington. Before the official forms of an election could be
carried into operation, a unanimous sentiment throughout the Union
pronounced him the nation's choice to fill the presidential chair. The
election took place, and Washington was chosen President for a term of
four years from March 4, 1788. An entry in his diary, on March 16,
says--"I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic
felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful
sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York with the
best disposition to render service to my country in obedience to its
call, but with less hope of answering its expectations."
The weight and influence of his name and character were deemed all
essential to complete his work; to set the new government in motion, and
conduct it through its first perils and trials. He undertook the task,
firm in the resolve in all things to act as his conscience told him was
"right as it respected his God, his country, and himself." For he knew
no divided fidelity, no separate obligation; his most sacred duty to
himself was his highest duty to his country and his God.
His death took place on December 14, 1799, at Mount Vernon.
The character of Washington may want some of the poetical elements which
dazzle and delight the multitude, but it possessed fewer inequalities
and a rarer union of virtues than perhaps ever fell to the lot of one
man. Prudence, firmness, sagacity, moderation, an overruling judgement,
an immovable justice, courage that never faltered, patience that never
wearied, truth that disdained all artifice, magnanimity without alloy.
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