• General Notes

  Height: 6’2”
  Ancestry: English
  Religion: Episcopalian
  
  Important dates in his life
  
  
  1732 (Feb. 22) Born at Wakefield on Pope’s Creek Farm in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Was actually born on 2/11/1732, but when the American colonies switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calender, Washington's birthday was switched to February 22 (all dates were switched 11 days to make up for a failure to mesh with the calender and the actual rotation of the Earth around the sun).
  
  
  1747 Became a surveyor after leaving school at fourteen or fifteen
  
  
  1753 Took oath as major in Virginia militia
  
  
  1753-54 Carried message to French in western Pennsylvania warning them to leave Ohio valley
  
  
  1754 (July 4) Forced to surrender Fort Necessity to French forces
  
  
  1754-58 Fought in French and Indian War, rising to rank of colonel in command of Virginia militia
  
  
  1759 (January 6) Married Martha Dandridge Custis
  
  
  1759-1774 Member of Virginia House of Burgesses
  
  
  1770 Justice of the Peace of Fairfax County, Virginia
  
  
  1774-75 Member of Virginia’s delegation to First and Second Continental Congresses
  
  
  1775-83 Commander of Continental Army throughout Revolutionary War
  
  
  1787 President of Constitutional Convention that drew up Constitution of the US
  
  
  1789-97 First President of the United States of America
  
  
  1798 (July 4) Commissioned lieutenant general and commander in chief of the US Army when war threatened France
  1799 (December 14) Died at Mount Vernon, Virginia
  
  Important date of his administration
  
  1789 -Congress created the Departments of State, Treasury, and War and created the offices of Attorney General and Postmaster General
  -(June 1) Signed the first act concerning the administration of oaths
  
  
  -(Sept. 24) the Judiciary Act was passed creating the Supreme Court, John Jay was appointed first Chief Justice
  
  
  -(Nov. 21) North Carolina became the 12th State admitted to the Union
  
  1790 Feb. 1, the Supreme Court held its first session
  
  
  -(Mar 1) the first national census was conducted to determine taxation and congressional representation of the states
  -(May 29) Rhode Island becomes the 13th state admitted to the Union
  -A site along the Potomac River was approved by Congress as the permanent Capital, later named Washington, DC 1791 -The President’s cabinet held its first meeting
  -Alexander Hamilton, Sec. of the Treasury, proposed a nation economic plan which led to the creation of the first national bank to handle government finances
  -(Mar. 4) Vermont became the 14th state admitted to the Union
  -(Dec. 15) Congress passed the Bill of Rights
  
  1792 -Political parties began to develop in the US-Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
  -Congress established a national mint
  -(Jun 1) Kentucky became the 15th state admitted to the Union
  -Elected to a second term 1793 -Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
  -Begins second term
  -(Apr 22) issued the Proclamation of Neutrality, keeping the US out of the Nepolionic Wars
  -Edmont Genet, a French Minister, was relieved of his duty for violating the Proclamation of Neutrality
  -(Sept. 18) Washington laid the cornerstone of the US Capitol in Washington, DC 1794 -Major General Anthony Wayne defeated a band of 2,000 Indians at Fallen Timbers Indians then surrender Ohio Valley
  -Whiskey Rebellion, US troops show the strength of the Central Government
  -(Nov. 19) Jay’s Treaty signed
  -Congress authorized the formation of the US Navy
  
  1795 -John Rutledge was appointed as the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
  -First stone road created
  -(Feb. 7) the 11th Amendment was ratified
  -(Oct. 27) Pinckney’s Treaty was signed, establishing commercial relations with Spain and fixed the southern boundary at the 31st parallel 1796 (Jun. 1) Tennessee became the 16th state admitted to the Union.
   
   
  George Washington was born Feb. 22(Feb. 11 by the Old Style Calendar) 1732. He was the eldest child and when he was two, his family moved from his birthplace, Wakefield on Pope’s Creek Farm in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to a new farm about fifty miles north along the Potomac River to a new plantation which later would become part of Mount Vernon.
  When he was six, his father, Augustine, decided to move again, to be nearer to the ironworks which he had a part interest. This time the move brought the family to the east bank of the Rappahannock River. This is the place where George grew up enjoying hunting, fishing, and horseback riding.
  
  Augustine died when George was 11, leaving an estate of around 10,000 acres and fifty slaves. Most of the inheritance went to George’s older half-brother Lawrence Washington. George would receive Ferry Farm as his share when he turned twenty-one. Mary Ball Washington, George’s mother, was left to raise George and his five younger siblings.
  It is not exactly known how much formal education George Washington had as a child. It is unsure as to whether he was tutored by an indentured servant or if he went to a school in Fredericksburg, across the Rappanhannock. Although he was never a scholar, George had respect for books, once saying, “I conceive a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built.” He did, however, write extensively in diaries and letters, which provided a great source of information about his life and beliefs.
  
  George worshipped his older brother Lawrence. He spent much of his time at Mount Vernon, which Lawrence had built and named for an Admiral he served under in a brief war with Spain in the 1740s. Lawrence wanted George to join the British navy, but Mary would not give her consent. At age fifteen, George saw a need for additional family income. Under the management of his mother, Ferry Farm was gaining more debt than income. As a result, George dusted off a set of surveyors tools his father had owned, and became an assistant surveyor. When he was 16 he helped survey the huge landholdings of Lord Fairfax, a relative of Lawrence’s wife, in the wilderness of Western Virginia. In 1749, he was appointed official surveyor of Culpeper County. With this new income, George started a practice he would continue throughout his life, the purchasing of land. Through this practice, George would become one of the largest landholders in the country.
  
  When George was nineteen, he accompanied Lawrence to Barbados, a trip which Lawrence took to help his health. While there, George was seriously attacked by smallpox. This would be the last time George would leave the shores of America.
  After returning from Barbados, George fell in love with a 16 year old named Betsy Fauntleroy. But to George’s dismay, she repeatedly rejected his proposals. An extremely sad day in George’s life came in 1752 when Lawrence Washington succumbed to the fatal effects of tuberculosis. Lawrence made clear in his will, that Mount Vernon should go to George if his only daughter, Sarah, was to die without any children--an event that occurred two years later.
   
  In an effort to emulate his beloved Lawrence, George applied to the governor of Virginia for an appointment as adjutant in the militia, a post which Lawrence had held. The governor appointed George as adjutant to the southern part of the colony. On Feb. 1, 1753, he was sworn in as a major in the Virginia militia, at 20 years old he had more ambition and less military knowledge than most of the men he was to command.
  That same fall George learned from a friend that Governor Robert Dinwiddle was planning to send a warning message to the French, who had invaded the Ohio River Valley. George realized this as a chance of a lifetime to see the Western Frontier and so he hurried to the capital to volunteer his services as messenger and was gladly accepted.
  He set out on Oct. 31, 1753, collecting supplies, horses, and a party of six frontiersmen along the way. He made the 1,000 mile round trip to the French Fort Le Boeuf on Lake Erie in the face of extreme cold, snow, and unfriendly Indians. Once he had to swim for his life in a flooded river among chunks of ice; he was shot at by an Indian; and he was forced to walk hundreds of miles when his horses became too tired.
  The message Washington returned with rejected the commands of the British, and the governor immediately began rounding up money and troops.
  Four months after returning from his journey, the twenty-two year old Washington commanded a British force in the first engagement of the French and Indian War. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and lead a small body of Virginia troops when he ran into a French scouting Party in southern Pennsylvania on May 27, 1754. He and his men captured 20 and killed 10 in the skirmish, losing only one man.
  
  The next month he was promoted to colonel in command of all Virginia troops in the field. He knew the French would attack in retaliation so he prepared for this by building Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania. He was correct about an attack when the French with several hundred Indians surrounded the Fort on July 4. He and his men were allowed to return to Virginia with arms and ammunition. Shortly after his return, the British government ordered all militia officers reduced in rank so that none would outrank captains commissioned by the British King. Washington resigned as colonel in October 1754 and returned to Mount Vernon. The following spring, he volunteered to serve as aide-de-camp to British Major General Edward Braddock, who was planning to attack the French at Fort Duqeusne. Although Washington warned Braddock of Indian ambush tactics in frontier fighting, the British Army marched toward the Fort as though on parade before the King. On July 9, 1755, the French and Indians fell on British troops with murderous war whoops, and the terrified redcoats broke and ran. Almost a thousand British soldiers were massacred and Braddock was fatally wounded. Washington had four bullet holes through his jacket and two horses shot out from under him but amazingly escaped injury-free. With the fear of a French attack on Virginia, Governor Dinwiddle appealed to Washington to resume command of the Virginia militia with the rank of colonel. At first Washington rejected the offer, but after persistent urging he agreed. His command continued till the end of the war.
   
  Meanwhile, George had proposed to and was accepted in marriage by Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis. At the same time he was apparently involved with his neighbor’s wife, Mrs. Sally Fairfax. The authenticity of the affair remains a mystery but he married Martha Custis on January 6, 1759 and remained cordial with the Fairfax’s. Martha brought to the marriage a fortune in land and money as well as two children by her first marriage. They never had children of their own.
  Meantime, he had been elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. After a short honeymoon, Martha and George went to Williamsburg for the session. He was regularly re-elected, gaining a fine schooling in representative government. During this time, Washington continued to acquire more land traveling deep into the Ohio Valley looking for more sites to purchase for future development. He rented thousands of acres to tenant farmers, but devoted most of his attention to Mount Vernon. He enjoyed experimenting in agriculture, trying new crops, and breeding better livestock, and took pleasure in the social life and recreation of the plantation-the dances, games, fox hunts, and sports.
   
  Because he was a military man, it was natural that he looked to force when the British government interfered with the rights of colonists. When the governor disbanded the House of Burgesses in 1769 because its members protested the British Stamp Act, Washington wrote to a friend, saying that America must keep its liberty, even if force was necessary.
  As a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774, he impressed his colleagues from the other colonies with his assurance and wisdom. When questioned as to who the greatest member of the Congress was, Patrick Henry said “...if you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on that floor.” When the Second Continental Congress met in May 1775, Washington wore his colonel’s uniform to dramatize his belief that military force was necessary. On June 15, he was unanimously elected as commander in chief of the armed forces. He accepted, with modesty, but refused any payment, other than to repay personal expense.
  By July 2, he had taken command of the troops in Massachusetts. He organized the siege of British forces in Boston, despite a serious shortage of ammunition, and succeeded in forcing the British to sail away from Boston in March 1776, leaving the city in the hands of American forces.
  Washington guessed the British would attack New York City in order to drive wedge in between the northern and southern colonies. He was met by them, as expected, in July. Lack of supplies, undisciplined troops, and inexperienced officers brought defeat, forcing Washington to retreat into New Jersey by November. Desertions and the refusal of “sunshine patriots” to re-enlist, weakened Washington’s army to about 5,000 by December. Many feared the war was lost. Hope revived with Washington’s brilliant surprise attack on Hessian troops at Trenton the day after Christmas, 1776. He followed this victory with another at Princeton the first week of January 1777. He spent that summer waiting for a British land attack on Philadelphia, but the Brits used their naval power to bypass the American Army and land troops south of Philadelphia. Washington hurried south, but was defeated at Brandywine Creek in September, losing Philadelphia. The turning point of the war came when Horatio Gates captured British General John Burgoyne and 5,000 of his troops at Saratoga, New York.
  
  Washington spent the next winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania starving and freezing with his troops. He admired their patience and courage.
  In the spring of 1778 news came that the French had decided to form an open alliance with America. The British abandoned Philadelphia and headed for New York. Washington planned to attack from Monmouth on June 28, but the incompetency of his second in command, Major General Charles Lee, lost him his opportunity. Lee was found guilty of disobedience by a court-martial and was discharged from the army. From that summer to the summer of 1781, Washington kept the main part of the British army sealed in New York City. During this time Washington’s army was faced with constant desertions due to inactivity, while Congress had to be prodded to supply the needed money and supplies. His patience paid off when word was sent that the French were sending the main part of their fleet, thousands of troops, and a loan to the Americans. He then decided to take an offensive. Washington and French Commander Rochambeau led their armies to Virginia in an effort to cut off Lord Cornwallis’s army. They joined with the forces of the young Marquis de Lafayette and the French Fleet, which sealed off Chesapeake Bay. From the end of September to the middle of October, Washington continually laid siege on Cornwallis at Yorktown. Washington experienced his greatest joy in the military when Cornwallis surrendered his army of 7,000 men. This loss convinced the British that the war was not worth fighting anymore. The war was over.
   
  Washington happily resumed his life as a planter at the conclusion of the war, confidant his days of public service were through. He did, however, grow increasingly concerned with the problems of the US under the Articles of Confederation. News of Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts increased his fears that the independence he had struggled for might be destroyed unless the Government was strengthened. In 1787 the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia. He reluctantly accepted election as a delegate from Virginia. On May 25, he was unanimously elected President of the Convention. He never expressed his own views from the chair; but his continued presence and privately stated determination that all obstacles must be overcome, became dominant factors in its success. On the final day of the Convention, September 17, 1787, Washington made his only request, that an amendment be written to provide broader representation in Congress. The amendment was quickly written and approved. Washington and most of the other delegates then signed the Constitution. In the following months Washington wait anxiously at Mount Vernon as states debated whether or not to ratify the Constitution. He did not enter public debate and issued no statements. Within nine months New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, putting the new government into operation.
   
  It was assumed throughout the land that Washington would be the first President of the United States of America. The people were sure he would not abuse the powers of office. When the electoral college met on February 4, 1789, Washington was unanimously elected President. He accepted with great reluctance. Washington began setting precedents and traditions from the day he took office, April 30, 1789. He took the oath from Robert Livingston on a balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, then the Capital. The first precedent set was the words “so help me god” added to the end of the Presidential oath. He then set a second, delivering a inaugural address. In his address he stated the need for a Bill of Rights and declared he would not accept payment beyond his own expenses.
  He faced four major problems upon entering office: 1. organizing the new government and making the many necessary appointments; 2. straightening out the tangled financial affairs of the nation; 3. obtaining better relations with Great Britain; and 4. negotiating treaties of friendship with the Indian tribes of the frontier. He succeeded at solving all of these during his administration. Congress took four months to pass the legislation necessary to create the main departments of the federal government. He placed great reliance in his department heads. Not until his second term were they know as the Cabinet. Alexander Hamilton was chosen as Treasury Secretary. He worked on a plan to take care of the debts the US obtained during the war. Hamilton, leader of the Federalists party, was the most liked by Washington. He treated Hamilton like the son he never had, this is way many historians classify Washington as a Federalist. Under leadership from Virginia Representative James Madison, Congress approved the Bill of Rights and North Carolina and Rhode Island then became the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the constitution. Vermont in 1791, Kentucky in 1792, and Tennessee in 1796, were admitted to the Union during Washington’s administration.
  Washington established the Presidential veto when he turned down legislation passed by Congress. Congress failed to override the re-apportionment Bill and several months later, a fairer bill was passed and signed by Washington. He believed the President should be a strong leader, but that the government should be as separate as possible. He did not get personally involved with the legislation process, instead he left that to his department heads, mainly Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and Hamilton. Because they each represented opposite parts of the country, Jefferson and Hamilton’s ideology were opposites. These two were also the heads of the two political parties.
   
  Thomas Jefferson told Washington, “North and South will hang together if they have you to hang on”, this was one of the many demands that kept Washington from retiring after his first term. Washington was again unanimously elected. His second term was not as smooth as the first. After Jefferson resigned in 1793 and Hamilton in 1795, Washington felt betrayed. He found the positions of those who retired hard to fill and was deeply wounded by the insults of Democratic-Republican newspapers.
  Washington had a difficult task in the area of Foreign affairs. With the general war in Europe Washington declared the US neutral. He was strictly criticized by the Democratic-Republicans, and this criticism reached a peak when Jay’s Treaty, a trade agreement that had been negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay, was signed by Washington. Secretary of State Edmund Randolph resigned after rumor that he was bribed by the French to speak against the Treaty. Washington had been wanting to show the might of the central government for some time. He finally got the opportunity when a rebellion over whiskey taxes broke out in western Pennsylvania. He sent 15,000 troops to put down the rebellion, which quickly disbanded. The final years of his administration were rather uneventful. The economy improved due to the trade stimulated by Jay’s Treaty and attacks by the Dem-Reps diminished. Talk of a third term were underway, but he refuted them when he published his Farewell Address on September 19, 1796 establishing the important two-term precendent.
   
  After handing over the Presidency to his Vice-president John Adams, Washington retired to Mount Vernon with Martha. His hope for a peaceful retirement was ruined when war threatened France in 1798. Adams asked Washington to accept a new commission as lieutenant general and take control of the new United States Army to be raised. After several months of choosing officers, the French crisis subsided and Washington returned to Mount Vernon. On the snowy morning of December 14, 1799 he awoke with a sore throat and could hardly speak. The soar was due to pneumonia, and when the doctors came, the applied the traditional remedy of bleeding. He continually grew weaker and at about 10pm the Father of the US was dead. He was buried at the family vault four days later. Memorials were held in many towns and cities throughout the country, the most elaborate in Philadelphia. Here “Light Horse Harry” Lee said of Washington, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none....”
  
  In 1978, 178 years after his death, George Washington was promoted by the Army to General of the Armies of the United States so that he would be the senior general officer on army roll calls. This promotion put him above the previous two highest ranking officers, both presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  
  http://www.geocities.com/arj_president/GEORGEWASHINGTON.htm
  
    

Details of General George Eskridge's family with Martha Dandridge Custis