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George Washington was born February 22, 1732 (o.s. February 11, 1721) to Augustine Washington and Mary Bell Washington near present-day Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
By the age of 20, Washington was appointed district adjutant general in the Virginia militia, making him Major Washington. The following year Washington was ordered by Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia to carry a British ultimatum to the French on the Ohio frontier. The message called for the French to abandon their development in Ohio country. This set in motion two colonial power towards conflict.
In 1754, Dinwiddie commissioned Washington a lieutenant colonel and ordered him to lead an expedition to Fort Duquesne to drive out the French. With his American Indian allies, led by Tanacharison, they ambushed a French scouting party. At Fort Necessity, the men were overwhelmed and forced to surrender. The terms of surrender included a statement that Washington assassinated the scouts and leaders at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. Rather than accepting demotion, Washington resigned.
In 1755, Washington was an aide to British General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Monongahela expedition, a major effort to retake the Ohio country. After Braddock was killed, the expedition ended in disaster, but led Washington to distinguish himself as the Hero of the Monongahela by rallying the troops to a successful retreat. Washington was awarded by being promoted to colonel and named commander of all Virginia forces.
Washington participated as a brigadier general in the Forbes expedition in 1758 that prompted French evacuation of Fort Duquesne, and British establishment of Pittsburgh. Later that year, Washington resigned from active military service and spent the next sixteen years as a Virginia planter and politician.
Revolutionary War
After fighting broke out in April 1775, Washington appeared at the Second Continental Congress in military uniform prepared for war. Although he didn't seek the office of commander, he had no serious competition. Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775 and the next day, John Adams nominated Washington as Major General. Washington was then elected by Congress to be Commander-in-chief.
Washington assumed command in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts in July 1775 during the siege of Boston. With a shortage of gunpowder, Washington asked for new sources. British arsenals were raided, manufacturing was attempted, and more imported from France. Washington reorganized the army and forced the British to withdraw from Boston by placing artillery on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city. Washington then moved his army to New York City.
In August 1776, British General William Howe launched a massive naval attack on New York. The battle, the first after declaring Independence, was the largest battle of the entire war. This and several other victories by the British forced Washington out of New York and across New Jersey. On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington counterattacked, leading the American forces across the Delaware River to capture 1,000 Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey.
On September 11, 1777 Washington was defeated at the Battle of Brandywine. On September 26, Howe's army outmaneuvered Washington and took Philadelphia unopposed, prompting some members of Congress to discuss Washington's removal. Washington's army attacked the British garrison at Germantown in early October, but was defeated. Burgoyne, out of the reach of Howe, was trapped and forced to surrender his entire army at Saratoga, New York. As a result, the French entered the war as an open ally to the Americans, turning the Revolution into a world-wide war.
In the summer of 1779, General John Sullivan, at Washington's direction, retaliated for Iroquois and Tory attacks against American settlements earlier in the war by carrying out a scorched earth campaign that destroyed at least forty Iroquois villages throughout what is now upstate New York.
In 1781, Washington delivered the final blow after a French naval victory allowed American and French forces to trap a British army in Virginia. The surrender at Yorktown on October 17, 1781 marked the end of fighting.
The Electoral College elected Washington unanimously in 1789 and in 1792 to serve as president. Washington took the oath of office as the first President under the Constitution for the United States of America on April 30, 1789 at Federal hall in New York City.
Presidency
In 1791, Congress imposed an excise on distilled spirits. This resulted in protests in frontier districts, which later led to full-scale riots known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington invoked the Militia Act of 1792 to summon the militias of Pennsylvania, Virginia and several other states. The governors sent the troops and Washington took command, marching into the rebellious districts. There was no fighting, but Washington proved the new government could protect itself. This was one of only two times that a sitting President would personally command the military in the field.
Retirement
Washington returned to Mount Vernon after leavign office in March 1997. He devoted much of his free time to farming and construction of a 2,250 square foot distillery, one of the largest in the new republic.
On July 13, 1798, Washington was appointed by President John Adams to be Lieutenant General and Commander-in-chief of all armies raised or to be raised for service in a prospective war with France. He served as the senior officer of the United States Army between July 13, 1798 and December 14, 1799.
On December 12, 1799, after spending several hours inspecting his farms on horseback, in snow, hail, and freezing rain, Washington sat down to dine without changing his wet clothes. The next morning he awoke with a bad cold, fever, and throat infection called quinsy that turned into acute laryngitis and pneumonia. Washington died on the evening of December 14, 1799 at his home while attended by Dr. James Craike, close friend, and Tobias Lear V, Washington's personal secretary. Lear recorded the account in his journal, writing Washington's last words as "Tis well."
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