George Washington: History in an Hour

Leaving in November 1753, Washington and his small party faced a brutal winter, hundreds of miles of road-less forest, and hostile Indians. Despite these obstacles, they reached Fort LeBoeuf (Waterford, Pennsylvania) on 11 December.

Washington was warmly greeted by the resident French commander, Le Gardeur de Saint Pierre, and delivered the letter. Saint Pierre’s response was cool: ‘I do not think myself obliged to obey it.’ Upon Washington’s return to Williamsburg in January 1754, Dinwiddie had him write up a full report. This was then presented to the House of Burgesses (an assembly of elected representatives from the Virginia area), printed and sent to London, thereby establishing Washington’s international reputation.

In March 1754, Washington was sent back to the Ohio Valley to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio River. While carrying out this mission, he ambushed a French scouting party. One of the individuals killed was Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, who was carrying out a diplomatic assignment. Convinced a larger French force would descend upon them, Washington ordered the construction of a makeshift stockade, Fort Necessity. When over 900 French and Indians attacked, Washington was outnumbered and agreed to surrender the fort and troops, on condition that he and his men retire with the honours of war. What Washington did not realize – because he could not read French – was that the surrender document stated that he, personally, had assassinated de Jumonville.

Regardless of the fact that the French and British were already on a collision course in the Ohio Valley due to the perceived threat by British expansion towards French territories, Washington was blamed for starting the French and Indian War. When news of Washington’s actions reached London, the politician and writer Horace Walpole wrote, ‘The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire’.

Upon his return to Virginia, Washington learned that his regiment was to be disbanded and replaced with independent companies commanded by captains. Accepting command of one of these companies would mean losing his rank of colonel. Refusing such a humiliation, he resigned and returned to Mount Vernon. However, soldiering remained foremost in his heart. He yearned for a royal commission from London, but this now seemed out of reach. But in 1755, Major General Edward Braddock arrived from England, with two regiments of British regulars. Braddock had orders to settle the French and Indian issue by marching west, with overwhelming numbers to expel the French from Ohio County. As soon as Washington heard of this he wrote to Braddock to volunteer as an aide.

Despite his best efforts to convince Braddock that the ‘Canadian’ French and Indians would not fight according to conventional European tactics, Braddock rejected Washington’s advice and marched straight into a devastating pour of musket fire that lead to a large loss of life. When Braddock was fatally wounded, Washington took control by riding back and forth across the battlefield, rallying troops, and bringing order to the chaos. Despite having two horses shot from under him, and four bullets shot through his coat, Washington led the demoralized survivors to safety.

Impressed with the way Washington salvaged Braddock’s disastrous campaign, Governor Dinwiddie gave him command of all Virginia forces in 1758. For three years, Washington successfully defended Virginia against French and Indian attacks. He found the task maddening: the Virginian legislature did not fund him properly; recruits were poor quality; and despite his numerous petitions to London for a commission in the Royal British Army, it was never granted.

Though only twenty-six years old, Washington was the most experienced colonial military officer in all the Americas. He had learned to organize, train, drill and discipline men; he understood British, French and Indian battle tactics. He also knew that in war, being able to hold an army together was perhaps more important than winning every battle.

Marriage and Gentleman Farmer (#ulink_4cbfae26-b164-577b-9c90-9f0b86b7ec6e)

On 6 January 1759, George Washington married Martha Dandridge, the widow of Daniel Parke Custis. Martha was the mother of two children and possessed one of the largest fortunes in Virginia. The marriage was harmonious and one of happiness, but not one of romantic love. While not highly educated, Martha was an intelligent, dignified hostess and experienced in managing a plantation. It is difficult to form a more detailed picture of their relationship, because Martha burned all their letters soon after his death. As a stepfather, Washington lavished great affection and care upon Martha’s children. Together, they produced no children. Again, some speculate that this may have been due to Washington’s former bout of smallpox that may have left him sterile.

Martha, John (Jack), George and Martha (Patsy)

The marriage raised Washington from a moderately wealthy planter to the top of Virginia’s planter class. Turning his attention away from a military life, he now devoted his energies to perfecting the elegant lifestyle of a Virginian aristocrat. With his new status, he became a member of the House of Burgesses and for several years served as Justice of the Peace for Fairfax County. He also played a prominent role in the social life of Tidewater (the eastern area of Virginia). He enjoyed plays, fox hunting, dancing, and entertaining guests at Mount Vernon.

Unwilling to grant his appointed managers complete control of his farms, Washington made a point of riding to each farm every day. He took the art of farming seriously and experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotation, tools and livestock breeding. By the 1760s, well before his fellow planters, he concluded that tobacco was less than profitable, in part because tobacco was harsh on regional soils, but also because English merchants insisted on paying planters a fraction of tobacco’s true market value.

Boston Tea Party

The arrangement of buying and selling in the South was relatively simple. Wealthy planters ordered clothing, furniture, dishes, wines, spices, and carriages from London merchants, and these merchants purchased tobacco. But due to reduced prices paid for tobacco and the increasing cost of British goods, Washington’s fellow planters found themselves in debt. Refusing to play this losing game, he switched from growing tobacco as a primary cash crop to growing wheat and corn. He would further diversify his operations by adding flour milling, commercial fishing and weaving. These products were then sold throughout the American colonies. He still purchased London-made products, but now bought them from colonial importers with whom he could negotiate reasonable prices. Forced into such drastic changes only exacerbated the resentment he already felt toward the ‘Mother Country’.

Growing Colonial Resentment (#ulink_3e73af3c-9ee1-5dee-8dd6-1f2dd2be01f5)

Following the French and Indian War, the British Ministry, now under the rule of King George III (who had succeeded his grandfather George II in 1760), faced a huge post-war debt. Adding to this debt was the continued military costs of housing troops in North America. Armed forces were needed to make sure the French did not try to regain lost territory, and to protect settlers from Native American attacks.

Parliament, believing that colonists had profited most from the various Crown expenditures, felt that they should help pay their fair share of the debt. To implement this, it was decided that the colonists should be subject to taxes passed by Parliament in London. Colonists quickly responded by declaring that since they had no elected representatives in Parliament, the taxes were a violation of British law dating back to the Magna Carta of 1215.

Parliament ignored this, and in 1765 passed the Stamp Act which required every newspaper, pamphlet and legal document to carry a stamp or British seal. The stamp, of course, cost money. Washington was upset by this; saw it as ill-judged and unconstitutional, and harmful to lawyers, ship owners and publishers. In response, he deemed the economic pressures of refusal to buy the stamps to be more effective than petitions and protests.

Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767, demanding taxes on paint, glass, paper, and tea. Washington didn’t attend the 1768 session of the Virginia House of Burgesses where the duties were debated, and it was not until 1769 that he took a public position against British policies. When he did so, his convictions were met with overwhelming support. While speaking to House members on 18 May, he proposed that Virginians join other Americans in boycotting taxed products. With that speech, everything changed for Washington, he now became the acknowledged leader of Virginia’s resistance movement. Yet in Washington’s mind, a severance with England at this point was not inevitable.

The Colonies-wide boycott had the desired effect. In 1770, the Townshend duties were repealed, and an element of peace returned. 1773 however saw the passage of the Tea Act. This act was passed in reaction to the fact the East India Company, one of Britain’s most powerful companies, was in dire financial straits. To help support this key business, Parliament granted the East India Company a monopoly in exporting tea to the American colonies. What was particularly galling about the Tea Act, was that it allowed the Company to hand-pick which colonial merchants could handle its products – putting tea middlemen out of work. The price of tea dropped, but the consequent unemployment and suppression of the market became a symbol of colonial opposition.

In December 1773 a group disguised as Indians and calling themselves The Sons of Liberty boarded three ships loaded with tea docked in Boston and dumped hundreds of crates of tea overboard, in an act of defiance that became known as the Boston Tea Party. By this time, King George III and Parliament’s patience had fully dwindled. Swiftly, a series of laws were passed as part of an intense crackdown. The Coercive Acts, or ‘Intolerable Acts’ to the colonists, demanded payment for the destroyed tea, imposed martial law, and closed the port of Boston. This left Boston isolated, surrounded by water and with only one road to the mainland.

On the day the port was to be closed, Washington and the House members called for a congress of delegates from all the colonies to discuss the matters concerning the united interests of British North America. On 18 July 1774, at a gathering in Alexandria, Virginia, Washington chaired the body that adopted the Fairfax Resolution which called for a comprehensive boycott of British imports. It was also at this meeting that he stated, ‘I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston.’ Unsurprisingly, Washington was then elected as one of Virginia’s seven delegates to the First Continental Congress.

After two months, the Congress demanded that Parliament agree to a full repeal all of the Intolerable Acts. They also resolved that, henceforth, only colonies had the right to tax and govern; that colonies should form and begin training militias; and in solidarity with Virginia, they called for a colonies-wide boycott of all British goods. The members also agreed to convene again in May 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, if its demands were not met. Significantly, this Congress of the colonies proved that they could deliberate and act collectively, and became the de facto government in America.

Having enjoyed life on his Mount Vernon plantation for seventeen years, Washington was now dispirited, remaining unconvinced by the idea of independence. Upon his return to Virginia, Washington found that his Fairfax County neighbours had already formed a militia and elected him as their commander. By that winter, five Virginia counties had organized militias, also selecting Washington as their senior officer. In the interim between the First and Second Continental Congresses, Washington split his time between drilling militia companies, and the renovation and expansion of Mount Vernon.

Washington taking command of the Continental army

What hope Washington had for reconciliation with Parliament and King George III was shattered when British regulars used force in their attempt to confiscate a Massachusetts militia’s stash of weapons and gunpowder at Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 – just weeks before the planned gathering of the Second Continental Congress.

Consequently, when the Second Continental Congress convened, delegates found themselves in a delicate position. The citizens of the American colonies were divided: one third, Patriots, favoured independence from the increasing aggression of King George; another third, Loyalists, were still loyal to Britain and the King; the remaining third had no agenda. After much debate, Congress agreed to a compromise. To please Loyalists, a petition was sent to King George III declaring American loyalty and making an appeal to settle disputes peacefully. To please Patriots, authority was granted for the creation of a Continental army whereby all colonial militias would be under the control of Congress.