INTRODUCTION

I

LIFE OF WASHINGTON THE STATESMAN

IN preparation for a careful study of Washington's great political masterpiece, his Farewell Address to the People of the United States, it will be best to devote most space to a consideration of his work as a statesman in the organization and successful beginning of the American nation; yet to comprehend this phase of his life fully it will be necessary to glance at the principal incidents of his earlier life in Virginia, his exploits in the French and Indian War, and his masterly guidance of the colonial troops through the Revolution.

It is hardly necessary to mention the date of Washington's birth, because February 22, 1732, is a date almost as well known as July 4, 1776. For almost a hundred years before Washington was born, his ancestors had been living in Virginia. The place of his birth was at Wakefield, in the colony of Virginia, near the shore of the Potomac River, in a parish named Washington, after the original settler of that name, John Washington, great-grandfather of George. Washington's boyhood up to the age of sixteen was spent at Wakefield or in its vicinity. He lived from 1735 to 1739 on the plantation that was later called Mount Vernon. Then the family moved to an estate nearly opposite Fredericksburg, where Washington lived till the death of his father in 1743. After this, for the rest of his boyhood, he was under the care of his mother and his half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine. When the father's estates were divided, George went to live at

Augustine's house on the old Wakefield plantation, since that was close to a good school. Returning to his mother's home, he attended a school kept by the Rev. James Marye. The copy books he worked on have been preserved. In them are found copied in a large, round hand over a hundred maxims or rules that no doubt made a strong impression on the highspirited Virginian boy, - rules of which this is a good specimen, "Think before you speak; pronounce not imperfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly." In these early school days Washington learned the rudiments of surveying. In some of his youthful papers there are neat notes of surveys and accurate geometrical figures done with the utmost care. "The end of Washington's school-days left him, if a good 'cipherer,' a bad speller, and a still worse grammarian" (P. L. Ford's The True George Washington).

Though living at his mother's home, Washington often visited at his brother Lawrence's plantation, Mount Vernon, where he mingled with people much older than himself. Big for his age, an expert horseman, he was a good companion for William Fairfax and Lord Fairfax, the largest property owners in Virginia. From his acquaintance with Lord Fairfax came his first real work.

In 1748, just a month after he was sixteen, Washington was chosen by Lord Fairfax to travel beyond the Blue Ridge and find out what he could about the bounds of the Fairfax estates. William Fairfax's son, George William, who was six years older than Washington, was nominally the leader in the expedition, but to Washington was assigned the actual work of surveying. The trip was not child's play, by any means, for the two friends were obliged to travel several hundred miles altogether, going and coming, and to rough it all the time. Washington acquitted himself so well in the expedition that on his return he was appointed a public surveyor by the governor of Virginia. The three years that he spent in this work hardened his frame,

gave him knowledge of how to deal with difficult problems, taught him the ways of the woods, established his reputation as a reliable, absolutely accurate surveyor, and strengthened in him his early trait of silent self-dependence.

The next seven years of his life brought him into wider public notice. Lawrence Washington had been for several years interested in a land company that planned to settle emigrants in the Ohio Valley. As the French were occupying the same region, there was bound to be a clash. In preparation, the colonists of Virginia formed military organizations. Through Lawrence Washington's influence George was appointed adjutant-general, and entrusted with the work of drilling a company made up in the district that included Mount Vernon. He studied military tactics under an old soldier, took lessons in swordsmanship from a fencing-master, and commanded the company admirably. While he was staying in the island of Barbados with Lawrence, he caught the smallpox, which left him pockmarked for life. Upon the death of Lawrence in July, 1752, George became his executor. In case Lawrence's daughter should not live to be of age, George was to inherit the Mount Vernon estate. On that plantation he was now occupied for some time in settling his brother's estate. Then he once more became adjutant-general of a military district, with the rank of major. He was selected by Governor Dinwiddie as commissioner to visit the French commander in the Ohio River region, and find out why the French were building forts in English territory. This long journey began in October, 1753. The commandant was seen, an answer to the English questions was received, and the hazardous return journey accomplished. In the spring of 1754 Washington, now a lieutenant colonel, took part in his first battle, in which his force captured twenty-two prisoners and lost one man killed by the French. Colonel Washington threw up a rough fort, called Fort Necessity, which he was obliged soon to surrender on

account of the appearance of a much superior force of French. He started back to Virginia on July 4, 1754, unsuccessful in his expedition, but he received the thanks of the House of Burgesses for the bravery of his soldiers and their gallant defense of their country. The next year he was with Braddock, as aide-de-camp in that general's disastrous expedition, about which everyone knows. The next three years he was energetically getting ready for another expedition against the French. During this time he made a seven weeks' journey to Boston to consult Governor Shirley and secure if he could a regular commission in the king's army. He failed in this, but in 1758 he was at the head of a Virginia regiment when the English forces occupied Fort Duquesne and gained possession of the Ohio region. These seven years from 1751 to 1758 are especially important in Washington's life because in this period he learned the necessity of meeting an enemy according to the needs of the situation rather than according to mere rules of war and old-world military tactics. Though only twenty-six years old, he had become the best known military man in America.

On January 6, 1759, Washington was married to Mrs. Martha Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis. He and his pretty and intelligent bride made their home at Mount Vernon, which had now become Washington's by the death of his brother Lawrence's daughter. He might have devoted the rest of his life to the busy occupation of looking after his plantations and those of his wife. He did spend the years from 1759 to 1774 in quiet domestic life at Mount Vernon, varied by the service that he gave during all this time in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was wont to count his work as a burgess an important section of his public life, for toward the end of his Farewell Address he must be including his membership in the Virginia assembly when he refers to his service for his country as having lasted forty-five years. As a