George
Washington
1732-99, 1st president of the U.S.,
commander in chief of the Continental Army in the AMERICAN REVOLUTION, called
the Father of his Country; b. Feb. 22, 1732 (Feb. 11, 1731, O.S.), Westmoreland
co., Va., into a wealthy family. He became a surveyor as a young man and was
one of the principals of the OHIO COMPANY, whose purpose was the exploitation
of Western lands. An officer in the militia, he fought in the last of the FRENCH
AND INDIAN WARS and was named (1755) commander in chief of the Virginia militia with
the rank of colonel. He resigned in 1759, married, and turned his attention to
his tation, MOUNT VERNON.
He was a delegate (1774-75) to the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, which named him
commander of the Continental forces after the outbreak of hostilities with the
British. He assumed command (July 3, 1775) in Cambridge,
Mass., and succeeded in capturing Boston from the British
(Mar. 17, 1776). Unable to defend New York City
(see LONG ISLAND,
BATTLE OF), he was forced to retreat successively to Westchester co., New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
He developed his military skill by trial and error as he went along. On
Christmas night, 1776, with morale at its lowest ebb, he and his troops crossed
the Delaware R. and defeated the British at Trenton
and Princeton, N.J.
Less successful in his attempts to defend Philadelphia
at BRANDYWINE and Germantown he spent the winter of 1777-78 at VALLEY FORGE in great
misery and deprivation. But he emerged with increased powers from Congress and
a well-trained, totally loyal army. After the battle of MONMOUTH
(June 28, 1778), his fortunes improved and subsequent victories preceded the
surrender of Gen. Cornwallis on Oct. 19, 1781 (see YORKTOWN CAMPAIGN). Washington retired to Mount Vernon, but his dissatisfaction with
the new government (see CONFEDERATION, ARTICLES OF) led him back into public
life. He presided over the second FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (1787),
where his prestige and reputation were incalculable in the adoption of the CONSTITUTION
OF THE UNITED STATES. He was chosen unanimously as the first president and took
office on Apr. 30, 1789. His efforts to remain aloof from partisan politics
were unsuccessful, and the influence of Alexander HAMILTON moved him
increasingly toward conservatism. His second term, openly Federalist, was
bitterly criticized by the Jeffersonians. Sickened by the partisan struggles,
he refused a third term and retired for the last time to Mount Vernon in 1797. He died two years
later, universally regarded as the one without whom the
American Revolution and the new republic could not have succeeded. His
wife, Martha Washington, 1731-l802, was born Martha Dandridge in New Kent co., Va. Her first husband,
by whom she had two children, was Daniel Parke Custis, who died in 1757, leaving
her one of the wealthiest women in Virginia.
She and Washington had no children.
