Among those patriots who have a claim to our veneration, George
Washington claims a conspicuous place in the first rank. The ancestors
of this extraordinary man were among the first settlers in America;
they had emigrated from England, and settled in Westmoreland county,
Virginia. George Washington, the subject of these memoirs, was born on
the 22d February, 1732.
At the time our hero was born, all the planters throughout this county
were his relations--hence his youthful years glided away in all the
pleasing gayety of social friendship. In the tenth year of his age he
lost an excellent father, who died in 1742, and the patrimonial estate
devolved to an elder brother. This young gentleman had been an officer
in the colonial troops, sent in the expedition against Carthagena.
On his return, he called the family mansion Mount Vernon, in honor
of the British admiral with whom he sailed. George Washington, when
only fifteen years of age, ardent to serve his country, then at war
with France and Spain, solicited the post of midshipman in the British
navy, but the interference of a fond mother suspended, and for ever
diverted him from the navy. His devoted parent lived to see him acquire
higher honors than he ever could have obtained as a naval officer; but
elevated to the first offices, both civil and military, in the gift
of his country. She, from long established habits, would often regret
the side her son had taken in the controversy between her king and her
country. The first proof that he gave of his propensity to arms, was
in the year 1751, when the office of adjutant-general of the Virginia
militia became vacant by the death of his brother, and Mount Vernon,
with other estates, came into his possession. Washington, in his
twentieth year, was made major of one of the militia corps of Virginia.
The population made it expedient to form three divisions. When he was
but just twenty-one, he was employed by the government of his native
colony, in an enterprise which required the prudence of age as well as
the vigor of youth. In the year 1753, the encroachments of the French
upon the western boundaries of the British colonies, excited such
general alarm in Virginia, that Governor Dinwiddie deputed Washington
to ascertain the truth of these rumors; he also was empowered to enter
into a treaty with the Indians, and remonstrate with the French upon
their proceedings.
On his arrival at the back settlements, he found the colonists in a
very unhappy situation, from the depredations of the Indians, who were
incessantly instigated by the French to the commission of continual
aggressions. He found that the French had actually established posts
within the boundaries of Virginia. Washington strongly remonstrated
against such acts of hostility, and in the name of his executive,
warned the French to desist from those incursions. On his return, his
report to the governor was published, and evinced that he had performed
this honorable mission with great prudence.
It was in consequence of the French calling themselves the first
European discoverers of the river Mississippi, that made them claim
all that immense region, whose waters run into that river. They were
proceeding to erect a chain of posts from Canada to the Ohio river,
thereby connecting Canada with Louisiana, and limiting the English
colonies to the east of the Alleghany mountains. The French were too
intent on their favorite project of extending their domain in America,
to be diverted from it by the remonstrances of a colonial governor.
This induced the Assembly of Virginia to raise a regiment of three
hundred men to defend their frontiers and maintain the right claimed by
their king.
Of this regiment, Professor Fry, of William and Mary College, was
appointed colonel, and George Washington lieutenant-colonel. Fry died
soon after the regiment was embodied, and was succeeded by our hero,
who paid unremitting attention to the discipline of his new corps. The
latter advanced with his regiment as far as Great Meadows, where he
received intelligence, by the return of his scouts whom he had sent on
to reconnoiter, that the enemy had built a fort, and stationed a large
garrison at Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. Having now arrived within fifty
miles of the French post, Washington held a council of war with the
other officers, but while they were deliberating, a detachment of the
French came in sight and obliged them to retreat to a savanna called
the Green Meadows. On an eminence in the savanna they began to erect a
small fortification, which he named Fort Necessity.
On this redoubt they raised two field-pieces. On the following
day they were joined by Captain McKay, with a company of regulars,
amounting now to about four hundred men. Scarcely had they finished
their entrenchments when an advanced guard of the French appeared in
sight, at which the Americans sallied forth, attacked and defeated
them; but the main body of the enemy, amounting to fifteen hundred men,
compelled them to retire to their fort.
The camp was now closely invested, and the Americans suffered severely
from the grape shot of the enemy, and the Indian rifles. Washington,
however, defended the works with such skill and bravery, that the
besiegers were unable to force the entrenchments. After a conflict of
ten hours, in which one hundred and fifty of the Americans were killed
and wounded, they were obliged to capitulate. They were permitted to
march out with the honors of war, to retain their arms and baggage,
and to march unmolested into the inhabited parts of Virginia. The
legislature of Virginia, impressed with a high sense of the bravery of
our young officer, voted their thanks to him and the officers under
his command, and three hundred pistoles to be distributed among the
soldiers engaged in this action.
Great Britain now began to think seriously of these controversies, and
accordingly dispatched two regiments of veteran soldiers from Ireland,
commanded by General Braddock. These arrived early in 1755, and
their commander, being informed of the talents and bravery of George
Washington, invited him to serve in the campaign as his aid-de-camp.
The invitation was joyfully accepted by Washington, who joined
General Braddock near Alexandria, and proceeded to Fort Cumberland;
here they were detained, waiting for provisions, horses, wagons, &c.,
until the 12th of June. Washington had recommended the use of pack
horses, instead of wagons, for conveying the baggage of the army.
Braddock soon saw the propriety of it and adopted it. The state of the
country, at this period, often obliged them to halt to level the road,
and to build bridges over inconsiderable brooks. They consumed four
days in traveling over the first nineteen miles. On the 9th of July
they reached the Monongahela, within a few miles of Fort Duquesne,
and pressing forward, without any apprehension of danger, a dreadful
conflict ensued; the army was suddenly attacked in an open road, thick
set with grass.
An invisible enemy, consisting of French and Indians, commenced a heavy
and well directed fire on the uncovered troops. The van fell back on
the main body, and the whole was thrown into disorder. Marksmen leveled
their pieces particularly at the officers and others on horseback.
In a short time, Washington was the only aid-de-camp left alive and
not wounded. On him, therefore, devolved the whole duty of carrying
the general’s orders. He was, of course, obliged to be constantly in
motion, traversing the field of battle on horseback in all directions.
He had two horses shot under him, and four bullets passed through his
coat, but he escaped unhurt, though every other officer on horseback
was either killed or wounded. The battle lasted three hours, in the
course of which General Braddock had three horses shot under him, and
finally received a wound, of which he died soon after the action was
over. On the fall of Braddock, his troops gave way in all directions,
and could not be rallied till they had crossed the Monongahela. The
Indians, allured by plunder, did not pursue. The vanquished regulars
soon fell back to Dunbar’s camp, from which, after destroying such of
the stores as they could spare, retired to Philadelphia.
Washington had cautioned the gallant but unfortunate general in vain;
his ardent desire of conquest made him deaf to the voice of prudence;
he saw his error when too late, and bravely perished in his endeavors
to save the division from destruction. Amid the carnage, the presence
of mind and abilities of Washington were conspicuous; he rallied the
troops, and, at the head of a corps of grenadiers, covered the rear of
the division, and secured their retreat over the ford of Monongahela.
Kind Providence preserved him for great and nobler services. Soon
after this transaction, the regulation of rank, which had justly been
considered as a grievance by the colonial officers, was changed in
consequence of a spirited remonstrance of Washington; and the governor
of Virginia rewarded this brave young officer with the command of all
the troops of that colony. The troops under his command were gradually
inured in that most difficult kind of warfare called bush-fighting,
while the activity of the French and ferocity of the Indians were
overcome by his superior valor.
Washington received the most flattering marks of public approbation;
but his best reward was the consciousness of his own integrity.
In the course of this decisive campaign, which restored the
tranquillity and security of the middle colonies, Washington had
suffered many hardships which impaired his health. He was afflicted
with an inveterate pulmonary complaint, and extremely debilitated,
insomuch that, in the year 1759, he resigned his commission and retired
to Mount Vernon. By a due attention to regimen, in the quiet bowers of
Mount Vernon, he gradually recovered from his indisposition.
During the tedious period of his convalescence, the British troops had
been victorious; his country had no more occasion for the exertion of
his military talents. In 1761, he married the young widow of Colonel
Custis, who had left her sole executrix to his extensive possessions,
and guardian to his two children. The union of Washington with this
accomplished lady was productive of their mutual felicity; and as he
incessantly pursued agricultural improvements, his taste embellished
and enriched the fertile fields around Mount Vernon. But the time was
approaching when Washington was to relinquish the happiness of his home
to act a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world.
For more than ten years had the colonies and their mother country
been at variance from causes of usurpation and tyranny, and the
awful moment was fast approaching when America was to throw off her
fetters and proclaim herself free. In 1775, Washington was elected
commander-in-chief of the whole American army. The American army were,
at the time of this appointment, entrenched on Winter Hill, Prospect
Hill and Roxbury, Massachusetts, communicating with each other by small
posts, over a distance of ten miles; the head-quarters of the American
army was at Cambridge, while the British were entrenched on Bunker’s
Hill, defended by three floating batteries on Mystic river below.
Washington having now arrived at the army, which consisted of fourteen
thousand, he was determined to bring the enemy to an alternative,
either to evacuate Boston, or risk an action. General Howe, the British
commander, preferred the latter, and ordered three thousand men to fall
down the river to the castle, to prepare for the attack, but during
their preparations, they were dispersed by a storm; which so disabled
them for their intended attack, that they at last resolved to evacuate
the town.
Washington, not wishing to embarrass the British troops in their
proposed evacuation, detached part of his army to New York, to
complete the fortifications there; and with the remainder, took
peaceable possession of Boston, amid the hearty congratulations of the
inhabitants, who hailed him as their deliverer.
When the Americans took possession of Boston, they found a multitude
of valuable articles, which were unavoidably left by the British army,
such as artillery, ammunition, many woolens and linens, of which the
American army stood in the most pressing need.
Washington now directed his attention to the fortifications of Boston;
and every effective man in the town volunteered his services to devote
two days in every week till it was completed. By a resolve of Congress
of March 25th, 1776, a vote of thanks was passed to General Washington
and the officers and soldiers under his command, for their wise and
spirited conduct in the siege and acquisition of Boston. Also a gold
medal to General Washington, of which the following is a description:--
OCCASION.--Evacuation of Boston by the British troops.
DEVICE.--The head of General Washington, in profile.
LEGEND.--Georgio Washington, supremo duci exercitum adsertori
libertatis comitia Americana.
REVERSE.--Troops advancing towards a town which is seen at a distance.
Troops marching to the river. Ships in view. General Washington in
front, and mounted, with his staff, whose attention he is directing to
the embarking enemy.
LEGEND.--Hostibus primo Fugatis.
EXERGUE.--Bostonium recuperatum 17 Martii, 1776.