George Washington, the Boy Surveyor and Young Soldier
[1732-1799]
[Illustration: George Washington.]
As a pioneer in leading the way along the Ohio and the Mississippi, La
Salle did much for France. He hoped to do far more. His cherished dream
was to build up in this vast and fertile territory an empire for France.
But the French King foolishly feared that planting colonies in America
would take too many of his subjects out of France, and refused to do
that which might have made his new possessions secure. The opportunity
thus neglected was seized fifty years later by the hardy English
settlers who pushed westward across the Alleghany Mountains. This
movement brought on a struggle between the two nations, a few events of
which are important to mention.
You will remember that two years after the coming of John Smith to
Jamestown, Champlain sailed up the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec for
the French. You will also recall that the French explorers, priests,
and traders had been gradually making their way into the heart of the
continent, by way of the Great Lakes, until at last La Salle glided down
to the mouth of the Mississippi, and took possession of the land in the
name of the French King. This was in 1681, the year the Quakers were
settling Pennsylvania and fifty-two years before the settlement of
Georgia, the youngest of the thirteen original colonies.
Just one year before this last settlement there was born in Westmoreland
County, Va., a boy who was to play a large part in the history not only
of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, but of the whole country. This boy
was George Washington. He was born on February 22, 1732, in an
old-fashioned Virginia farm-house, near the Potomac River, on what was
known as Bridge's Creek Plantation. The house had four rooms on the
ground floor, with an attic of long sloping roofs and an enormous brick
chimney at each end.
[Illustration: Washington's Birthplace.]
George's father was a wealthy planter, owning land in four counties,
more than 5,000 acres in all. Some of his lands were on the banks of the
Rappahannock River, near which he had money invested in iron-mines. To
this plantation the family removed when George was seven years old, the
new home being nearly opposite Fredericksburg, then a small village.
Here he was sent to a small school and taught by a man named Hobby, a
sexton of the church and tenant of George's father. It was a simple sort
of training the boy received from such a school-master. He learned a
little reading, a little writing, and a little ciphering, but that was
about all. Later in life he became a fairly good penman, writing a neat
round hand; but he never became a good speller.
When George was eleven years old his father died, leaving to him the
home where they lived on the Rappahannock, and to his brother Lawrence
the great plantation on the Potomac afterward called Mount Vernon.
Lawrence went to live at Mount Vernon, while George remained with his
mother at the house opposite Fredericksburg.
Now left without a father, George received his home training from his
mother. Fortunate, indeed, was he to have such a mother to teach him;
for she was kind, firm, and had a strong practical sense. She loved her
son, and he deeply appreciated her fond care of him. Some of George's
youthful letters to his mother are full of interest. After the manner of
the time he addressed her formally as "Honored Madam," and signed
himself "Your dutiful son."
[Illustration: WASHINGTON CROSSING THE ALLEGHANY RIVER]
Nor was his mother the only strong and wholesome influence over his home
life. His eldest brother, Lawrence, played an important part in shaping
his character. According to the custom of those days, Lawrence, as the
eldest son of a Virginia planter, would inherit the bulk of his father's
estate. He was therefore sent to an excellent school in England, to
receive the training which would fit him to be a gentleman and a leader
in social life. For learning was not held in such high esteem as ability
to look after the business of a large plantation and take a leading part
in the public life of the county and the colony.
With such a training Lawrence returned from England, a young man of
culture and fine manners and well fitted to be a man of affairs. From
this time on George, now only seven or eight years old, looked up to his
brother, fourteen years his senior, with cordial admiration. Lawrence
became George's model of manhood, and returned his younger brother's
devotion with a tender love.
Soon after the death of his father, the boy went to live with his
brother Augustine on the Bridge's Creek Plantation, in order to have the
advantages of a good school there. Many of his copy-books and books of
exercises, containing such legal forms as receipts, bills and deeds, as
well as pictures of birds and faces, have been preserved. In these books
there are, also, his rules of conduct, maxims which he kept before him
as aids to good behavior. The following are a few of them:
"Every action in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those
present.
"When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not well, blame not him
that did it.
"Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your
promise.
"Speak not evil of the absent: for it is unjust.
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire
called conscience."
[Illustration: The English Colonies and the French Claims in 1754.]
In George's school-days he heard many stories about wars with the
Indians and about troubles between the English and the French colonies.
Moreover, his brother Lawrence had been a soldier in the West Indies in
a war between England and Spain, from which he had returned full of
enthusiasm about what he had felt and seen. It was at this time that
Lawrence changed the name of his plantation on the Potomac to Mount
Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whose command he had fought.
Catching his brother's military spirit, George organized his boy friends
into little military companies, and, as their commander, drilled them,
paraded them, and led them in their sham battles in the school-yard.
Naturally the boys looked to him as leader, for he was strong in mind
and body, and fond of athletic sports. It is said that no boy of his age
was his match in running, leaping, wrestling, and pitching quoits. His
athletic skill expressed itself also in his fearless horsemanship. The
story is told that he once mounted a colt that had successfully resisted
all attempts to remain on his back. But George held on until the
spirited animal, in a frenzy of effort to throw off the persistent young
rider, reared, broke a blood-vessel, and fell dead. His keen enjoyment
of a spirited horse, and of hunting in the freedom of woods and fields
for such game as foxes, deer, and wild-cats, lasted to a late period of
his life.
George's good qualities were not confined to out-door sports requiring
skill and physical strength alone. He was a manly boy, stout-hearted and
truthful. All the boys trusted him because they knew he was fair-minded,
and often called upon him to settle their disputes.
But we must not think of him as a perfect boy, finding it easy always to
do the right thing. George Washington had his faults, as some of the
rest of us have. For instance, he had a quick temper which he found it
hard to control. In fact, he found this a harder thing to do than many
brave deeds for which he became famous in his manhood.
The humdrum quiet of a Virginia plantation did not satisfy this alert
boy longing for a life of action. He had heard from Lawrence about life
on a war-vessel, and had also seen, year after year, the annual return
to the plantation wharf of the vessel that carried a cargo of tobacco to
England and brought back in exchange such goods as the planter needed.
[Illustration: The French in the Ohio Valley.]
Eager for a change of surroundings, he made all his plans to go to sea.
The chest containing his clothing had been packed and sent down to the
wharf, but at the last moment he yielded to his mother's persuasion, and
gave up his cherished plan of becoming a sailor-boy. He was then
fourteen years old.
Returning to school, George continued to be careful and exact in all his
work, his motto being "Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing
well." He was also methodical, and herein lay one of the secrets of his
ability to accomplish so much when he came to manhood.
His love of out-door sport gave him a natural bent for surveying, to
the study of which he applied himself diligently. He soon became
proficient enough to command confidence in his ability as a trustworthy
surveyor.
In the autumn of his sixteenth year he went to live with his brother
Lawrence on the Mount Vernon plantation, where he spent much of his time
in surveying. Here he met a man who exerted a large influence on his
later life. This man was Lord Fairfax, a tall, courtly, white-haired
English gentleman of about sixty years of age, who was living at
Belvoir, a large plantation a few miles from Mount Vernon.
At this time George was a shy, awkward youth, somewhat overgrown for his
age, with long arms, and a tall, large frame. But in his serious face
there was a sign of quiet self-control and firm purpose.
The provincial youth of fifteen and the cultured English lord of sixty,
though so far apart in age and experience, soon became close friends.
They were much together. Sometimes they would spend the morning in
surveying, and start out in the afternoon on their horses for a gay time
in fox-hunting. They doubtless talked freely to each other, and as Lord
Fairfax had seen much of the best English life and had read some of the
best English books, he was an interesting companion to his earnest and
thoughtful young friend.
This warm friendship soon had a practical turn. Lord Fairfax owned an
immense tract of country in the Shenandoah Valley--by some said to be as
much as one-fifth of the present State of Virginia. Wishing to learn
more about it and observing George to be exceedingly careful and
accurate in his surveying, he decided to send him over the Blue Ridge
into the wild region to find out and report to him something about the
lands there.
He was to have only one companion, George William Fairfax, who was the
eldest son of Lord Fairfax's cousin, and was then about twenty-two years
old. About the middle of March, 1748, when George Washington was barely
sixteen years old, these two young fellows started out together on
horseback, to travel through the forest a distance of 100 miles before
they reached the Shenandoah Valley. They carried guns in their hands,
for until their return about a month later they would have to depend
mainly upon hunting for their supply of food. The account which George
himself has left enables us to picture them riding alone through the
forest with no road except perhaps, at times, a path made by Indians or
wild animals.
After reaching the wild country they had to live in the most primitive
fashion. For instance, Washington tells of a night in a woodman's cabin
when he had nothing but a mat of straw for his bed, with but a single
blanket for cover, and that alive with vermin. He wrote in his diary: "I
made a promise to sleep so no more, choosing rather to sleep in the open
air before the fire."
Again, in a letter to a friend, he says: "I have not slept above three
or four nights in a bed, but, after walking a good deal all day, I have
lain down before the fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder, or a
bear-skin, with man, wife and children, like dogs and cats; and happy is
he who gets the berth nearest the fire."
Sometimes they tried life in a tent. Once in a storm the tent was blown
over, and at another time the smoke from the fire drove the occupants
out of doors. One night, according to the same diary, "we camped in the
woods, and after we had pitched our tent, and made a large fire, we
pulled out our knapsacks to recruit ourselves. Every one was his own
cook. Our spits were forked sticks; our plates were large chips." As for
bread, most of the time, if not all, they had none, and they drank only
pure water from running streams.
On another occasion they fell in with a war-party of painted warriors
whom Washington and his friend Fairfax fearlessly joined, all gathering
about a huge fire built under the trees. As the great logs blazed in the
midst of the dark forest, the Indians joined in one of their wild, weird
dances. They leaped to and fro, whooped and shrieked like mad beings,
while one of their companions thumped upon a drum made by drawing a
deer-skin across a pot filled with water, and another rattled a gourd
containing shot and decorated with a horse's tail, "to make it look
fine."
It was a strange experience which these two youths had that month. But
Washington was well paid, earning from $7 to $21 a day. On the return of
the young surveyor to Mount Vernon his employer, Lord Fairfax, was so
much pleased with the report that he secured his appointment as public
surveyor. For the next three years George lived the life of a surveyor,
spending much of his time with Lord Fairfax at his wilderness home,
Greenway Court, not far from Winchester.
During this time George was gaining valuable knowledge of the forest,
and becoming so intimate with Indian life that, as people said, he came
to walk like an Indian. His life in the woods developed fearlessness,
patience, and self-reliance, qualities which, joined to his ability and
character, inspired men's confidence and established his leadership.
Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, appointed him an officer in the State
militia, with the rank of major. And as an officer, his influence
continued to increase.
Some two years afterward his brother Lawrence died and left the Mount
Vernon estate to his daughter, with George Washington as guardian. On
her death, a little later, Washington became owner of the immense
plantation at Mount Vernon, and hence a wealthy man.
Fortune had favored him, and he might have chosen to enter upon a life
of ease, but events soon occurred which called into action all his
heroic qualities. The strife between the English and the French for
control in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys was advancing rapidly toward
war.
The French had long considered this territory their own. We recall that
La Salle had explored it, and attempted to plant colonies here. For
many years, French explorers, priests, and traders had toiled on,
patiently pushing their way through the forests, and planting stronghold
after stronghold. At length, pressing closer on the English border, they
began to build forts between Lake Erie and the head of the Ohio. For the
English also had their eyes on the fertile valley of the Ohio, and were
beginning to occupy it.
At once a company composed largely of Virginia planters was organized
for the purpose of making settlements in the Ohio Valley. Before they
could do much, however, the French had boldly advanced far into
territory claimed by England.
The people of Virginia in alarm, said, "This advance must stop. What can
be the plans of the French? How many are already in the forts lying
between Lake Erie and the Ohio River?" Governor Dinwiddie and other
Virginia gentlemen grew excited as they asked such questions. They
decided, therefore, to send out to the French commander in the fort near
Lake Erie, a trusty messenger who should ask by what right the French
were invading a country belonging to England. This messenger was also to
find out what he could about the forces of the French in that vicinity,
and about their plans. Moreover, he was to make a strong effort to win
over to the English the Indians, whose friendship the French were trying
to gain. As a suitable man for this dangerous enterprise, all eyes
turned to George Washington, still only twenty-one years of age.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF BRADDOCK.]
The journey of 1,000 miles through trackless forests, in the bitter cold
of Winter, did not offer a cheerful outlook. But on October 30, 1753,
with seven companions, including an Indian and a French interpreter,
George Washington started from Williamsburg. Stopping at Fredericksburg
to bid good-by to his mother, he went on by way of Alexandria to
Winchester, the familiar spot where he had spent many happy days with
Lord Fairfax. Here he got horses and various supplies needed for his
journey.
From Winchester the little band of men moved forward to Will's Creek
(now Cumberland, Md.), and then plunged boldly into the forest. From
that time on, the difficulties of the journey were wellnigh
overwhelming; but by perseverance in climbing lofty mountains and in
swimming rivers swollen by heavy rains, the end of their journey was at
last reached.
On receiving an answer from the French commander, who promised nothing,
Washington started back home. The horses soon proved too weak to make
much headway through the dense forests and deep snow, and it seemed best
to push on without them. He also left behind him all of his party except
a trusty woodsman. Then putting on an Indian costume with a heavy cloak
drawn over it, he strapped upon his back the pack containing his papers
and, gun in hand, started off. A little later they were joined by an
Indian guide, who soon gave evidence of his treachery by suddenly
turning and discharging his gun at Washington.
Washington had another narrow escape from death. He had expected on
reaching the Alleghany River to cross on the ice, but to his dismay he
found the ice broken up and the stream filled with whirling blocks.
There was no way of getting over except on a raft which he and his
companion had to make with a single hatchet. Having at last finished it,
they pushed off, and then began a desperate struggle with the current
and, great blocks of floating ice. Washington, in trying to guide the
raft with a pole, was thrown violently into the water. By catching hold
of one of the raft logs he recovered himself, and by heroic effort
succeeded in reaching an island nearby. Here the travellers suffered
through a night of intense cold, not daring to kindle a fire for fear of
the Indians.
On January 16th they reached Williamsburg, where Washington delivered to
Governor Dinwiddie the unsatisfactory letter he had brought from the
French commander. Although the result of the expedition was not what the
Virginians had hoped for, Washington had so well succeeded in carrying
out his perilous mission that he was highly praised for his effort.
The defiant answer of the French commander made it seem probable to the
people of Virginia that war would follow. Therefore a company of men was
sent out to build a fort at the place where the Alleghany and
Monongahela rivers unite to form the Ohio. Washington's quick eye had
noted the importance of this site, afterward known as the "Gateway of
the West."
In the meantime Washington was drilling men for service, and in April he
set out with the rank of lieutenant-colonel with two companies for the
frontier. He had not gone very far when he learned that the French had
driven off with a large force the men who had been sent to the head of
the Ohio to build a fort; but he continued his march. When a little
later the approach of a small body of French was reported, the
Virginians surprised them, killing, wounding, or capturing all but one.
Colonel Washington was in the thickest of the fight, and wrote in a
letter, "I heard the bullets whistle and, believe me, there is something
charming in the sound."
After this fight, which began the war, Washington returned to Great
Meadows, and, learning that a large body of French were marching against
him, hastily threw up rough earthworks, which he called Fort Necessity.
When attacked soon after by two or three times his own number, the brave
young colonel did not shrink. For nine hours, in a heavy downpour of
rain, he and his sturdy followers stood up to their knees in mud and
water in the trenches. Being so greatly outnumbered, his troops were of
course defeated, but the House of Burgesses gave their commander a vote
of thanks in recognition of his bravery.
The war now began in bitter earnest, and England promptly sent over
troops, with General Braddock in command. When on reaching Virginia he
heard of Colonel Washington, Braddock appointed him a member of his
staff. Colonel Washington soon discovered that General Braddock was not
the man to handle an army in woodland warfare. He would gladly have
advised him, but the haughty British general would hear no suggestions
from a colonial officer.
With 2,000 soldiers, General Braddock marched against the French,
stationed at Fort Duquesne at the head of the Ohio. On the morning of
July 9th, when the army was only eight miles from the fort, it was
suddenly attacked by the French and Indians, who lay in ambush in the
thick forest. The English soldiers, standing in solid masses, were shot
down by squads, but the Virginians fought from behind trees in true
Indian fashion.
Braddock, who has been rightly called a gallant bull-dog, rode madly to
and fro, giving orders to his men, but in vain. He shortly fell from his
horse, with a mortal wound. The manly figure of Colonel Washington was a
conspicuous mark for the enemy's guns. Two horses fell under him; four
bullets tore through his clothing; but he escaped injury.
The result was a sore defeat for the English army. It lost 700 men out
of 2,000, and three-fourths of its officers. Nothing but retreat could
be thought of. The brave but narrow-minded Braddock had made an enormous
and expensive blunder.
After Braddock's defeat Washington was given command of the Virginia
troops. Later in the war he led an expedition against Fort Duquesne, as
Braddock had done. But on hearing of his approach the French fled. The
war having subsided in the Ohio Valley, Washington resigned his
commission, returned to Mount Vernon, and soon afterward married Mrs.
Martha Custis, a rich young widow.
We have seen him first as a robust lad, then as a fearless woodsman, and
later as a brave soldier. We will leave him for a while at Mount Vernon,
where in the refined society of old Virginia he came to be equally well
known as a high-bred gentleman.
REVIEW OUTLINE
LA SALLE'S DREAM.
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH COLONIES.
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S EARLY HOME.
HIS SCHOOL-TRAINING.
GEORGE AND HIS MOTHER.
INFLUENCE UPON GEORGE OF HIS BROTHER LAWRENCE.
GEORGE'S RULES OF CONDUCT.
THE BOY SOLDIER.
THE YOUNG ATHLETE.
THE FAIR-MINDED, TRUTHFUL BOY.
GEORGE'S SELF-CONTROL.
HIS LONGING TO BECOME A SAILOR BOY.
EXACTNESS AND METHOD IN WORK.
THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.
THE SHY, AWKWARD YOUTH AND LORD FAIRFAX.
SURVEYING IN THE FORESTS OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
LIFE IN THE WOODS; AN INDIAN DANCE.
WITH LORD FAIRFAX AT GREENWAY COURT.
WASHINGTON, THE YOUNG SOLDIER.
WASHINGTON BECOMES A WEALTHY PLANTER.
THE FRENCH ADVANCE INTO THE OHIO VALLEY.
WASHINGTON'S PERILOUS JOURNEY.
THE RETURN ON FOOT; TWO NARROW ESCAPES.
WASHINGTON IN THE FIGHT THAT BEGINS THE WAR.
HIS DEFEAT AT GREAT MEADOWS.
A MEMBER OF BRADDOCK'S STAFF.
BRADDOCK'S CRUSHING DEFEAT.
WASHINGTON RETIRES TO MOUNT VERNON.
TO THE PUPIL
1. Write on the following topics, using a paragraph for each:
George Washington's early home; his school-training; George and
his mother; the boy soldier; the young athlete; the truthful boy.
2. It would be well for you to commit to memory George's rules of
conduct.
3. Give an account of the young surveyor's life in the woods out
in the Shenandoah Valley. Imagine the two young fellows riding
alone through the forest, and the scene in the woods when the
Indians danced by the huge fire.
4. Trace on your map Washington's perilous journey to the French
forts. What was the purpose of this journey? Travel in
imagination with Washington on his return to Williamsburg, and
tell, in the first person, some of your experiences.
5. What do you think of General Braddock? In what way was he
defeated? This was one of the battles of the Last French War.
What caused this war?
6. Find as many words as you can that describe George Washington.