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The Life and 
 Character 
 
 OP 
 
 George Washington 
 
 —BY- 
 HENRY M. HALL 
 
 Published in the 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUTH 
 February 23, 19 10 
 
 And reproduced through the courtesy of 
 
 Rev. George Summey, one of the Editors 
 
 of that paper. 
 
 4 > 
 
 Andree & Elliott, Printers, New Orleans. 
 
IN EXCHANGE 
 
 PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED 
 
 FOR THE USK OF THE 
 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 ON WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 BY- 
 
 MR. W. O. HART 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 AS THE years roll on, carrying our 
 republic farther and farther away from 
 its birth and infancy; we might be 
 led to forget the brave men, who over a cen- 
 tury ago, through toil and blood, founded it; 
 were it not that George Washington's Birth- 
 day Anniversary comes around regularly upon 
 the 22nd day of February, to remind us of the 
 price paid for the liberty we have so long en- 
 joyed; and the independence and prosperity, 
 Inaugurated by our fathers, led on by the im- 
 mortal Washington so truly well termed "The 
 Father of our Country." 
 
 At such a period as this, from year to year ; 
 it may be well for. us and our children to 
 refresh our memories and recall some of the 
 deeds and the influence of Georo;e Washino-- 
 ton, m the American Revolution, and his sub- 
 sequent power in greatly aiding in the con- 
 struction of our Constitution and founding our 
 republic upon the solid rock of constitutional 
 liberty and justice. 
 
 The life and career of our first president, 
 presents many characteristics and grand 
 achievements worthy of review. 
 
 When in 1775 the American Colonies re- 
 
volted from the Mother Country, in armed 
 revolution, they plunged into a very dangerous 
 struggle, w^ith but small prospect of defeating 
 one of the most powerful nations of the v^orld. 
 They were but just emerging from the infancy 
 of settlement, with but few resources with 
 which to carry on a great war with the well 
 equipped and wealthy mother country. From 
 a commonsense estimate, they had small 
 chance of success. 
 
 First. Because they were all comparatively 
 small and weak colonies, with separate and 
 not altogether congenial governments that 
 England might conquer in detail, and subju- 
 gate to her tyrannical purposes; which was 
 then her plan. 
 
 To look dispassionately at this problem of 
 the thirteen colonies being able to achieve 
 independence; with a population of only two 
 and a half million people, scattered along 
 fifteen hundred miles of narrow coast line; 
 the chance of triumph over England would 
 seem to be decidedly against them. They 
 doubtless would have been easily beaten had 
 it not been at least for five important circum- 
 stances; namely: 
 
 First. The gradual education of the 
 people of all the colonies to a sense of their 
 wrongs and rights, by the fifteen years of 
 protest and discussion, from 1760 to 1775. 
 
 — 2 — 
 
Second. The Indian wars, that taught 
 every man to handle a gun ; and the French 
 and Indian war of 1750-56 that taught many 
 of the young men the art of European war- 
 
 tare 
 
 Third. The distance of ocean space be- 
 tween England and America. 
 
 Fourth. The secret aid and finally the open 
 aid of France. 
 
 Fifth. The rare abihties of the New' Eng- 
 land patriotic leaders of the Revolution and 
 their great wisdom in selecting George Wash- 
 ington, of Virginia, for the chief command 
 of the Continental Armies. Without Wash- 
 ington, the signing of the Declaration of 
 Independence upon the Fourth of July. 1776, 
 by the liberty-devoted members of the Conti- 
 nental Congress, would have resulted only in 
 their death as traitors. The words that Frank- 
 h'n uttered at the time: "If we do not all hang 
 together, we shall hang separately," would 
 have come true, had not George Washington 
 been the wonderful man who made all tliose 
 colonies hang together, instead of becoming 
 a mere ropo of sand. 
 
 Such being the perilous state of the colonies 
 on the Fourth of July, 1776, we at once per- 
 ceive why Washington was the "right man 
 in the right place," to become the saviour of 
 
 -3- 
 
his country. Oliver Wendell Holmes, em- 
 phasizes the value of heredity by saying, "To 
 be a good and great man, one must be born 
 250 years previous to his entry into the world," 
 i. e., must have had good ancestry. As we now 
 are able clearly to trace Washington's pedi- 
 o-ree back to the time of Charles the First, in 
 England, and subsequently to his great-great- 
 grandfather in Virginia; we find them all of 
 noble blood, superior intelligence and charac- 
 ter. One great-grandfather was a famous 
 Indian fighter who gave his name to Wash- 
 ington county, Virginia, in the early settlement 
 of that State. 
 
 Upon the early death of Wjashington's grand- 
 father, the v/idow, Mildred Warner, the 
 grandmother of George, took her two young 
 sons to England and gave them a thorough 
 English education. One son was Augustine 
 Washington, the father of George. He mar- 
 ried Mary Ball, daughter of Colonel Ball, a 
 prominent Virginian ; and thus her son, George 
 Washington, had both a talented, and educated 
 mother and father. Thus it came to pass that 
 young George, at the age of twelve, was an 
 excellent mathematician and fine penman, be- 
 sides being well drilled as a youth in farm 
 work, hunting and athletic sports. He in- 
 herited a splendid constitution, a clear brain 
 
 —4— 
 
ancf magnrrrcent physique. Early in youth he 
 became accustomed to the best Virginia society 
 of that time ; and besides was well known to 
 eminent political men. He was so well appre- 
 ciated, that at the early age of fourteen he 
 received the appointment from England of a 
 midshipman's berth in his Majesty, King 
 George's navy. He was all ready to embark 
 at the water side, when yielding to his mother's 
 entreaties he threw up his commission, even 
 <it the boat that was to carry him to the ship. 
 That noble action proved two things; his 
 mother's power and influence, and his own 
 high sense of filial duty ; an eminent mark of 
 fine character — love to a mother. After re- 
 turning to the charge of the home plantation 
 during two years ; his father and brother be- 
 ing deceased ; at the age of sixteen he was 
 appointed to the post of land surveyor, a very 
 , important one at the time. At the age of 
 nineteen he was chosen by Governor Dinwid- 
 die, of Virginia, to go as a commissioner six 
 hundred miles to the French commandant at 
 Presque Isle; now the city of Erie, on Lake 
 •I Erie. The route was then a pathless wilder- 
 I ness. This task he successfully achieved, 
 
 '; gonig as far as what it now Waterford, be- 
 n tween Franklin, Pa., and Erie, as the French 
 would permit him to go no further. He was 
 most of the time alone, amid countless dan- 
 
 — s— 
 
gers from wild 'Jeasts and wild Indians, and 
 the hardships of winter travel on foot; taking 
 three months time — a marvelous achievement. 
 
 At this period he was about six feet and two 
 inches tall, finely proportioned and weighed 
 upwards of two hundred pounds. As a young 
 man he excelled in all athletic sports, and was 
 the acknowledged champion at that time in all 
 deeds of strength and endurance. The French 
 and Indian war beginning the next year after 
 his embassy, at the age of twenty he was 
 appointed and led four hundred Virginian 
 riflemen in a march to Fort Duquesne, at the 
 head waters of the Ohio, where Pittsburgh 
 now stands. Being met by a thousand French 
 and Indians he fought them nobly at Fort 
 Necessity, which he built ; and then made an 
 honorable retreat back to Williamsburg, Va. 
 Washington was aid-de-camp to General Brad- 
 dock in his march with an army of two thou- 
 sand men to the Ohio river. Braddock would j 
 not bcive been defeated, if he had followed 
 Washington's advice. His army was saved 
 from utter rout by the bravery and skill of 
 Washington and the colonial troops. 
 
 Subsequently, Washington fought gallantly 
 through the six years of the "French and In- 
 dian War" and was made Colonel of his regi- 
 ment before the age of twenty-five. Wher\ 
 entering after this, as member of the Vir- 
 
 —6— 
 
ginia House of Burgesses, he was greeted by 
 the unanimous resolution of the House, com- 
 mending his miHtary career in that war. Upon 
 rising to acknowledge the compHment, he was 
 at a loss for suitable words, being taken by 
 surprise; when the speaker said, "Sit down 
 Colonel Washington, your modesty is only 
 exceeded by your bravery." 
 
 For twenty years during this period Wash- 
 ingto was engaged in civil pursuits, plantation 
 cultivation and public business ; thus adding 
 statesmanship and business methods to mili- 
 tary arts. At the age of forty-five he was 
 chosen by the Continental Congress, under the 
 influence of the Adams' patriots, to take the 
 supreme command of the Continental Army at 
 Boston. This was a very wise choice on many 
 accounts. First. Because of his high charac- 
 ter, both in the North and the South, as an 
 eminent military commander. Second. Be- 
 cause it tended to more firmly bind the State 
 of Virginia and other Southern Colonies to 
 New York, Pennsylvania and New England, 
 1 in one great compact for liberty. Third. Be- 
 cause of his great common sense and superior 
 education, and his influence as a man of 
 wealth. 
 
 No sooner had he taken command of the 
 "embattled farmers" at Boston, than he com- 
 
meiicecl Ciiligently to mould this mob of mi- 
 disciplined men into trained and drilled 
 soldiers. Owing to want of supplies and want 
 of men trained to meet the veterans of 
 Europe in battle, he had to *'win, like Scipio, 
 by delay." Not only did Washington win by 
 knowing how to fight but also by knowing 
 how safely to retreat, as proved at the 
 battle of Long Island. He early gained also, 
 the love and devotion of the army and the 
 people. 
 
 Not only did Washington shine as a military 
 leader all through a seven years' war, but he 
 led and directed at the same time, the Conti- 
 nental Congress, by appeals, advice and influ- 
 ence. But for Washington as the General in 
 the field, and the man who alone could (like 
 Napoleon later) hold an army together, Con- 
 gress itself would have dissolved and melted 
 away. The weak-kneed in the colonies, like 
 some, would have given up the struggle as 
 hopeless. Not only was Washington a power 
 in Congress, but he was a profound diplomat, 
 so that by the aid of Franklin and others, he 
 was able to get the financial assistance of 
 France as well ^s from the moneyed men of 
 
 Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Money 
 constitutes the great sinews of war. No war 
 
 could be successful in gunpowder times with- 
 out money. Hence Washington not only ad- 
 
 —8— 
 
vanced funds every year during the war, but 
 persuaded others to lend their financial aid. 
 He, by his supreme firmness and force of 
 character greatly aided to keep up the courage 
 of the struggling nation. All through the exi- 
 gencies of war, the horror of Valley Forge, 
 the detection of Arnold, the folly of Gates, 
 and other traitors to the cause, it was the 
 ability and solid character of Washington that 
 kept the colonies up to the great task of 
 winning liberty and independence. Under 
 the tyranny of George the Third and the cor- 
 rupt English aristocracy, was at last won by 
 the capture of Cornwallis. 
 
 The colonies, held more or less together by 
 the dangers and exigencies of the Revolution- 
 ary war, after that had ended, had a very 
 loose confederation and were likely to lose all 
 the benefits of the long drawn war, in anarchy 
 and dissolution. By the efforts of the wiser 
 men of the colonies, among whom Washing- 
 ton, Franklin and Hamilton were foremost, a 
 constitutional convention was formed with 
 Washington as president. 
 
 This convention which met in 1878 enacted 
 our present admirable Constitution, one of 
 the foremost and best in the history of na- 
 tions. But for the grand character of Wash- 
 ington, this convention of more or less discord- 
 
ant elements would not have been held to- 
 gether, or brought to mutual compromise and 
 agreement. 
 
 It was the high character and abilities of 
 George Washington that led to the acceptance 
 of the new constitution by the people. When 
 elected, during eight years as the first presi- 
 dent of the new republic, his great mind and 
 heart shone out with renewed brilliancy, de- 
 spite all detractors, to the end of his presiden- 
 tial career. 
 
 In estimating the character of this remark- 
 able man, "the Father of our Country, 'First 
 in war, first in peace and first in the hearts 
 of his countrymen' " our analysis must grant 
 at least two principal things, viz : Wisdom and 
 Goodness. His life shows the value, first, of 
 good parents, good environments and good 
 education. Washington also like Cromwell 
 cind William of Orange, two centuries before 
 him, and Abraham Lincoln of nearly a cen- 
 tury after him ; was not only a strictly moral 
 man, but religious, without being partisan. 
 He was not afraid to pray to God and trust in 
 His providence. Washington, like Cincinna- 
 tus, and unlike some would-be great men, was 
 not ambitious to "rule or ruin." His char- 
 acter was so pure, his mind so well trained, 
 and his body so splendidly developed; that 
 
 — 10 — 
 
upon this, the i68th anniversary of his birth, 
 all patriotic Americans can join with milHons 
 of other good people in claiming Washington 
 as one of the noblest of men. 
 Pittsburg, Pa. 
 
 THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 {From the New Orleans Times-Democrat, 
 
 February 3, 191 1.) 
 
 The mother in her ©ffice holds the key 
 
 Of the soul ; and she it is who stamps the coin 
 
 Of character, and makes the being who would 
 
 be a savage, 
 But for her gentle cares, a Christian man. 
 
 —Old Play. 
 Just as Washington is inevitably to be known 
 as the "Father of His Country," so the mother 
 of Washington may be appropriately named the 
 "mother of our nation." And that she is 
 worthy of the title, as much as her son is to 
 his, was shown in all the noble deeds of this 
 great American woman. Mary Washington's 
 life was one unbroken series of praiseworthy 
 actions. In the Revolutionary drama, in 
 which she figured in many of its earlier scenes, 
 by her noble and inspiring womanhood, her 
 example went far toward making and molding 
 ' the first chief of our nation. 
 
 — II — .> 
 
Mary Washington's whole hfe was so strik- 
 i"giy grand, she was uniformly so gentle, so 
 amiable and so dignified, that it would be diffi- 
 cult to fix the eye on any one act more strik- 
 ing than the rest. The illustrious son, natur- 
 ally, so overshadowed the modest and unas- 
 suming mother, that we are very prone to for- 
 get to give credit to the woman to which he 
 owed much of his greatness. Always absorbed 
 in the domestic duties she discharged so faith- 
 fully, she made her great gift to men, and 
 then passed from the stage as quietly and as 
 modestly she had lived and labored. 
 
 But Washington never forgot the real source 
 of his greatness. He was always remindful of 
 the woman whose virtues had warmed his own 
 and had fitted him to become the man of un- 
 l)ending integrity and heroic courage. Wash- 
 ington's father having died when George was 
 a young man, it fell to the lot of the mother 
 to rear hej five children with that untiring 
 hand which guided so many widows through 
 this perilous season. And as the richest re- 
 ward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had 
 the happiness of seeing all of her children come 
 forward with a fair promise into life, and lived 
 to witness the noble career of her eldest son, 
 till, by his own rare merits, he was raised to 
 the head of a nation, and applauded and re- 
 vered by the whole wof^d. 
 
 — 12 — 
 
Had Washington failed, the cause of Hberty 
 would have failed also. But, thanks to the 
 great mother's teaching, he looked within when 
 all was dark, took courage and fought on until 
 the clouds had disappeared and he stood fourth 
 in the bright sunlight looking over a trium- 
 phant infant nation, which was to become 
 one of the greatest on the globe. 
 
 How thoroughly typical of the mother was 
 her reception of the news of the son's suc- 
 cessful passage of the Delaware in the bleak 
 December of 1776. When she came to those 
 portions of the dispatches which were panegy- 
 rical of her son, she modestly and coolly ob- 
 served to the bearers of the good tidings, that 
 "George appeared to have deserved well of 
 his country for each signal service. But, my 
 good sirs," she added, "here is too much flat- 
 tery ! Still George will not forget the lessons 
 j I have taught him — he will not forget himself, 
 ' though he is the subject of so much praise." 
 , Another splendid example of the type of 
 ' woman as was the mother of George Wash- 
 ington, is expressed in the final visit of Gen. 
 Lafayette to pay his respects to her just be- 
 I fore starting for his home in France, in 1784. 
 1 Conducted by one of her grandsons, he ap- 
 proached the house, when the young gentle- 
 man observed : 
 
 13 
 
"There, sir, is my grandmother !" Lafayette 
 beheld — working in the garden, clad in do- 
 mestic-made clothes, and her gray head covered 
 with a plain straw hat — the mother of his 
 hero, his friend and a country's preserver ! The 
 lady saluted him kindly, observing: "Ah, Mar- 
 quis ! you see an old woman ; but come, I can 
 make you welcome to my poor dwelling with- 
 out the parade of changing my dress." 
 
 During the interview, Lafayette, referring to 
 her son, could not withhold his encomiums, 
 which drew from the mother this beautifully 
 simple remark : "I am not surprised at what 
 George has done, for he was always a good 
 boy." 
 
 On the 7th of May, 1833, ^^^ corner-stone 
 of a fine monument was erected over her grave 
 in the cemetery at Fredericksburg, and Gen. 
 Jackson, then President of the United States, 
 closed his address with the following tribute: 
 '"Fellow-citizens, at your request, and in your 
 name, I now deposit this plate in the spot des- 
 tined for it ; and when the American pilgrim 
 shall, in after ages, come up to this high and 
 holy place, and lay his hand upon this sacred 
 column, may he recall the virtues of her who 
 sleeps beneath and depart with his affections 
 purified, and his piety strengthened, while he 
 invokes blessings upon the Mother of Wash- 
 
 —14— 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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