George Washington – Capital Square, Richmond, VA
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George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799), surveyor, plantation owner, General, and First President (1789-1797) of the United States.
Waymark Code: WM27WT
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 09/19/2007
Views: 126
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman. When he was 16 he helped survey
Shenandoah lands for
Thomas, Lord Fairfax. In the early 1750s, Washington was sent as an ambassador to the French traders and Indians as far north as present day
Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1754 he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and he fought in the first skirmishes of what grew into the
French and Indian War.
Due to his military experience, charisma, leadership of the
patriot cause in Virginia, and political base in the largest colony, the
Second Continental Congress chose him, in 1775, as the
commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces. In 1776, he forced the
British out of Boston, but, later that same year, was defeated, and nearly captured, when he
lost New York City. However, he revived the patriot cause by crossing the
Delaware River in New Jersey and
defeating the surprised enemy units at at the
Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. As a result of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies, first at
Saratoga in 1777 and then at
Yorktown in 1781. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and
French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile, nascent nation amid threats of disintegration and failure. Following the end of the war in 1783, Washington retired to his plantation on
Mount Vernon. (from Wikipedia)
In 1789, Washington became
President of the United States and established many of the customs and usages of the new government's executive department. He sought to create a great nation capable of surviving in a world torn asunder by war between Britain and France.
After his second term as president he retired to his home at Mount Vernon. He enjoyed less than three years of retirement; he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.
Sources and more information:
Biography of George Washington
Wikipedia-George Washington
George Washington Birthplace National Monument
Mount Vernon