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SLl}t Uiottmt lliterature Series; 
 
 RULES OF CONDUCT 
 
 DIARY OF ADVENTURE, LETTERS, AND 
 FAREWELL ADDRESSES 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES 
 
 gl^^B^Spi 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 

 Copyright, 1387, 
 Bt HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 
 
 Ml rights reservea. 
 
GEOKGE WASHINGTON 
 
 1732-1799 
 
 The story of the life of George Washington is the proud 
 possession of every American boy. All the outward events 
 w)f that wonderful career the young hero-worshipper can 
 recount, from the breaking-in of the pet colt somewhere 
 about 1738 on the lawn of the Virginian plantation to the 
 taking of the oath of office as President in New York in 
 1789. He knows by heart the exciting adventures of the 
 young Washington during his three years' survey of the 
 Virginian wilderness ; he admires the Major Washington 
 who so gallantly bore the commission of Governor Din- 
 widdle to warn the French off the Ohio lands and afterward 
 saved the army of the obstinate Braddock from total defeat 
 in the fight for Fort Duquesne. He knows how his hero re- 
 sented the Stamp Act, and stood unflinchingly for justice 
 in the Continental Congress ; how he was elected Comman- 
 der-in-Chief of the army and came to Cambridge to receive 
 its leadership under the elm which still bears his name. He 
 sees Washington, and little else, in every event of the war 
 which followed : his strategy in compelling the British to 
 evacuate Boston ; his dignity in that enforced retreat across 
 New Jersey ; his genius in the Christmas victory at Trenton ; 
 his control in holding together his unpaid, half-fed soldiers ; 
 his patience in enduring criticism of his " Fabian " policy ; 
 his fortitude in braving the winter at Valley Forge ; his joy 
 in the loyalty of Lafayette ; his grief at the faithlessness of 
 Arnold; his righteous indignation at the general who lost 
 for him the battle of Monmouth, — all these reaching a 
 glorious climax in his magnificent dash across country in 
 October of 1781 to wedge in Cornwallis at Yorktown and 
 
2 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 force him to surrender. Through the quieter years that 
 followed Washington is still the boy's hero, — as he presides 
 over the convention of 1787 and helps draw up the consti- 
 tution ; as he enters upon the presidency ; and as, about to 
 assume again reluctant command of the army should war 
 with France break out, he dies suddenly at his home at 
 Mount Vernon in 1799. 
 
 But this military and civil career, thrilling as it is to the 
 American boy, shows by no means the whole of the great- , 
 ness of Washington. It is the man who thought and wrote I i 
 who is of particular interest when the more mature student 
 approaches one of his addresses as a piece of literature. Like 
 most heroes of action, Washington was a man of few words ; 
 nor did he write much in his Hfe outside the methodical > 
 keeping of diaries and accounts, the penning of ceremonious I 
 letters, and the composition of such speeches as his part in 
 public ajffairs demanded of him. The style of these is uni- 
 formly concise, dignified, formal ; and to read them is to I 
 enjoy a prose whose beauty lies in clearness, precision, and 
 earnestness, rather than in rhetorical ornament or imagery. 
 
 The first literary production of the boy Washington comes 
 down to us in a letter to his playmate, Richard Henry Lee : 
 
 " G. W.'s compliments to R. H. L. 
 And likes his book full well. 
 Henceforth will count him his friend, 
 And hopes many happy days he may spend." 
 
 There may be little there to herald a coming writer, but 
 the four lines are eloquent of painstaking effort. No doubt 
 the verse, according to the boy's habits, was carefully cor- 
 rected and copied before it was sent. The exercise books 
 of his early school days, full of business forms of all kinds 
 copied in a bold, firm hand bear witness to great exactness 
 and orderliness. One of these contains his famous list of a 
 hundred and ten Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in 
 Company and Conversation, They are stiff little maxims 
 such as, " Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust," 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 3 
 
 and " Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark 
 of celestial fire called conscience ; " but a deal of serious 
 thought lies behind their meagre expression. 
 
 The next piece of writing from Washington's pen is the 
 journal kept during his expedition to the Ohio, — an orderly? 
 circumstantial report written for the sake of rendering a 
 faithful account of his stewardship. Without color or gloss, 
 it fascinates by its very directness. Of one of the most ex-= 
 citing incidents of the enterprise he writes simply : " There 
 was no way for getting over [the river~\ but on a raft, which 
 we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and finished just 
 after sun-setting. This was a whole day's work ; we next got 
 it launched, then went on board of it, and set off ; but before 
 we were half-way over we were jammed in the ice, in such 
 a manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink, 
 and ourselves to perish. I put out my steering-pole to try to 
 stop the raft, that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of 
 the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole 
 that it jerked me out into ten feet water ; but I fortunately 
 saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft-logs. Not- 
 withstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, 
 but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft 
 and make to it." There is no personal comment in the whole 
 narrative more than that implied in the words poor and for- 
 tunately ; and yet it appeals to us as does the simplicity and 
 directness of Robinson Crusoe. Terse almost to the laugh- 
 ing point is his journal's record of a visit to the Indian queen, 
 Aliquippa : " I made her a present of a watch-coat and a bot- 
 tle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present 
 of the two." What material for a romancer like our old his- 
 torian John Smith ! The journal ends : *' On the 11th. I got 
 to Belvoir where I stopped one day to get the necessary 
 rest ; and then set out and arrived in Williamsburg the 
 16th., where I waited upon his Honor the Governor witl 
 the letter I had brought from the French commandant, and 
 to give an account of the success of my proceedings. This 
 
4 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 I beg leave to do by offering the foregoing narrative, as it 
 contains the most remarkable occurrences which happened 
 in my journey. I hope what has been said will be sufficient 
 to make your Honor satisfied with my conduct." Sufficient 
 it surely ought to have been, for the man who wrote so 
 straightforward an account must have marched straight 
 forward to the accomplishment of his work. 
 
 A little more self-conscious and ceremonious, but nonci 
 the less frank, is the style of his letter in answer to General' 
 Braddock's invitation to join him as aid-de-camp. The 
 letter is addressed to Braddock's secretary, and begins as 
 follows : 
 
 "Sir: 
 
 I was not favored with your polite letter of the 
 2nd. instant until yesterday ; acquainting me with the notice 
 his Excellency, General Braddock, is pleased to honor me 
 with, by kindly inviting me to become one of his family the 
 ensuing campaign. It is true, sir, I have, ever since I de- 
 clined my late command, expressed an inclination to serve 
 in this campaign as a volunteer; and this inclination is not 
 a little increased, since it is likely to be conducted by a gen- 
 tleman of the general's experience. But, besides this, and 
 the laudable desire I may have to serve with my best abili- 
 ties my king and my country, I must be ingenuous enough 
 to confess that I am not a little biased by selfish considera- 
 tions. To explain, sir, I wish earnestly to attain some 
 knowledge in the military profession, and believing a more 
 favorable opportunity cannot offer than to serve under a 
 gentleman of General Braddock's abilities and experience, 
 it does, you may reasonably suppose, not a little contribute 
 to influence my choice." 
 
 Washington's only comment later on Braddock's insistence 
 upon using British military tactics in an American wilder- 
 ness full of Indians — a subject worthy of a philippic ! — 
 was this : " There has been vile management in regard to 
 the horses." The same restraint characterizes the letter 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 5 
 
 which he wrote to his mother on the subject of their defeat ; 
 and yet his two pages are infinitely more graphic than any 
 ten-page account in the histories, eloquent as those are upon 
 one topic on which he maintains silence, — the good judg- 
 ment of Washington. 
 
 Washington's power in argument first shows itself in his 
 letter to Mr. Fairfax concerning the Stamp Act. The whole 
 composition reads as convincingly as the most brilliant pas- 
 sages in Burke, and yet there is nothing more adorned than 
 this : " I think the Parliament of Great Britain have no 
 more right to put their hands into my pockets, without my 
 consent, than I have to put my hands into yours ; and this 
 being already urged to them in a firm but decent manner, 
 by all the colonies, what reason is there to expect anything 
 from their justice ? " Fact and experience were eloquent to 
 Washington without the aid of rhetoric. His acceptance of 
 his appointment to the head of the army is full of the 
 modesty and loyalty that marked all that he wrote. " Mr. 
 President : Though I am truly sensible of the high honor done 
 me, in this appointment, yet I feel great distress from a con- 
 ciousness that my abilities and military experience may not 
 be equal to the extensive and important trust. However, as 
 the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, 
 and exert every power I possess in their service, and for the 
 support of the glorious cause. . . But I beg it may be re- 
 membered by every gentleman in this room that I, this day, 
 declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal 
 to the command I am honored with." 
 
 As soon as Washington had taken command of the army 
 he began a series of letters to Congress which continued 
 throughout the war. These state all his plans and move- 
 ments with rigid exactness. If anything was needed he 
 asked for it simply : " We labor under great disadvantages 
 for want of tents," or " I find myself already much embar- 
 rassed for want of a military chest." But there are no long 
 petitions or complaints : his business was to act for the inter- 
 
6 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 ests of the country and to report bis movements to Congress 
 without superfluous personal comment or criticism, much as 
 the conditions would have justified him in making them. It 
 took a Valley Forge to strike a spark of fire into Washing- 
 ton's rhetoric. His indignation on behalf of his men made 
 him eloquently ironical for the first time. " We find gentle- 
 men, without knowing whether the army was really going 
 into winter quarters or not, reprobating the measure as 
 much as if they thought the soldiers were made of stocks 
 and stones, and equally insensible of frost and sorrow ; and 
 moreover as if they conceived it easily practicable for an in- 
 ferior army, under the disadvantages I have described ours 
 to be, which are by no means exaggerated, to confuse a 
 superior one, in all respects well appointed and provided for 
 a winter's campaign, within the city of Philadelphia. . . . 
 I can assure these gentlemen, that it is a much easier and 
 less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable 
 room by a good fireside than to occupy a cold bleak hill, 
 and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets. 
 However, although they seem to have little feeling for the 
 naked and distressed soldiers, I feel superabundantly for 
 them, and from my soul I pity those miseries, which it is 
 neither in my power to relieve or prevent." In 1783 Wash- 
 ington made his famous farewell address to the army, a 
 speech so full of sincere emotion that it could not but be 
 eloquent, although he who spoke it, falteringly, was no 
 practiced orator. A note of impassioned exhortation creeps 
 in here for the first time, a device which an ambitious young 
 orator might assume, but which Washington could come by 
 only honestly through experience and suffering with his 
 men. 
 
 Even so brief a survey as this gives us the impression that 
 never was the saying that "the style is the man" more 
 true of any one than of Washington. The power of ex- 
 pression he would never have cultivated for artistic ends; 
 it developed in him, step by step, only as his experience 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 7 
 
 demanded it for practical use. Where a record of an expedi- 
 tion was necessary, he wrote with plain accuracy ; where 
 national events became more complex and demanded careful 
 thought and reasoning, his letters to Congress became more 
 philosophical ; where an appeal must be made for his soldiers, 
 he could be impassioned ; and when the time came for him 
 to disband his army he had so found himself through years 
 of experience that he spoke with a genuine eloquence. The 
 record reads like that of a man made an orator almost in spite 
 of himself. 
 
 In the Farewell Address of 1796 we have the full cul- 
 mination of all these powers. It was an occasion that de- 
 manded much of Washington, and perhaps the speech bears 
 more than his usual consciousness of composition. But it 
 does not lose in a single sentence the ingenuousness of that 
 boyish journal of 1753 ; time has only added to it the trained 
 intellect, the practiced logic, the experienced judgment, the 
 mellowed sympathy, and the temperate emotion that must lie 
 at the foundation of all good and great eloquence. These; 
 combined with Washington's inborn sense of elegance anO 
 dignity in form and expression, make the Farewell Ad> 
 dress a piece of rare, unpretentious oratory that deserves 
 to be known by heart by every student of American liter- 
 ature. 
 
 Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, in his Life of Washington 
 (American Statesmen Series), writes: " In September, 1796, 
 Washington published his farewell address, and no man ever 
 left a nobler political testament. Through much tribulation 
 he had done his great part in establishing the government 
 of the Union, which might have come to naught without his 
 commanding influence. . . . Now from the heights of great 
 achievement he turned to say farewell to the people whom 
 he so much loved, and whom he had so greatly served. 
 Every word was instinct with the purest and wisest patriot- 
 ism. . . . His admonitions were received by the people at 
 large with profound respect, and sank deep into the public 
 
8 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 mind. As the generations have come and gone, the fare- 
 well address has grown dearer to the hearts of the people, 
 and the children and the children's children of those to 
 whom it was addressed have turned to it in all times and 
 known that there was no room for error in following its 
 counsel" 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 T. Washington's Rules ....... 7 
 
 II. A Dangerous Errand ...... 13 
 
 III. With General Braddock 23 
 
 IV. A Virginia Planter 35 
 
 V. Commander-in-Chief 43 
 
 VI. In Camp at Cambridge 49 
 
 VII. Mr. Washington or General Washington . . 65 
 
 VIII. At Valley Forge 69 
 
 IX. Farewell to the Army 77 
 
 X. Farewell Address to the People of the United 
 
 States 83 
 
 Events m the Life of George Washington • • • 105 
 
WASHINGTON'S KULES. 
 
 The copy-books and exercise-books of most boys are early 
 destroyed, but it chances that those of George Washington have 
 been kept, and they are very interesting. The handwriting in 
 them is the first thing to be noticed, — round, fair, and bold, the 
 letters large like the hand that formed them, and the lines run- 
 ning straight and even. In the arithmetic and book-keeping 
 manuals which we study at school, there are printed forms of 
 receipts, bills, and other ordinary business papers ; but in Wash- 
 ington's school-days, the teacher showed the boys how to draw 
 these up, and gave them also copies of longer papers, like leases, 
 deeds, and wills. There were few lawyers in Virginia, and every 
 gentleman was supposed to know many forms of documents 
 which now are left to our lawyers or stationers. 
 
 Washington's exercise-books have many pages of these forms, 
 written out carefully by the boy. Sometimes he made orna- 
 mental letters such as clerks were wont to use. This was not 
 merely exercise in penmanship ; it was practice work in all that 
 careful keeping of accounts and those business methods which 
 were sure to be needed by one who had to manage a large planta- 
 tion. George Washington was to manage something greater, 
 though no one then knew it ; and the habits which he formed at 
 this time were of inestimable value to him in his manhood. 
 
 The manuscript book which contains these exercises has also a. 
 list of a hundred and ten Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior iit 
 Company and Conversation. They were probably not made up bj 
 the boy, but copied from some book, or taken down from the lipl 
 of his mother or teacher. Fifty-seven of them are printed bj 
 Mr. Sparks in his Writings of Washington. They sound rathe, 
 stiff to us, but it was a common thing in those clays to set such 
 rules before children, and George Washington, with his liking 
 for regular, orderly ways — evident in his very writing — prob* 
 
V 
 
 8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ably used the rules and perhaps committed them to memory, to 
 secure an even temper and self-control. They touch on thmgs 
 great and small. The difficulty with most boys would be to fol- 
 low a hundred and ten of such rules. They serve, however, to 
 show what was the standard of good manners and morals among 
 those who had the training of George Washington. The best of 
 rules would have done little with poor stuff ; it was because this 
 boy had a manly and honorable spirit that he could be trained in 
 manly and honorable ways. 
 
 1. Every action in company ought to be with some 
 sign of respect to those present. 
 
 2. In the presence of others sing not to yourseK 
 with a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers 
 or feet. 
 
 3. Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others 
 stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, 
 walk not when others stop. 
 
 4. Turn not your back to others, especially in speak- 
 ing ; jog not the table or desk on which another reads 
 or writes ; lean not on any one. 
 
 5. Be no flatterer ; neither play with any one that 
 delights not to be played with. 
 
 6. Read no letters, books, or papers in company ; 
 but when there is a necessity for doing it, you must 
 ask leave. Come not near the books or writings of 
 any one so as to read them, unless desired, nor give 
 your opinion of them unasked ; also, look not nigh 
 when another is writing a letter. 
 
 7. Let your countenance be pleasant, but in serious 
 matters somewhat grave. 
 
 8. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of an- 
 other, though he were your enemy. 
 
 9. When you meet with one of greater quality than 
 yourself, stop and retire, especially if it be at a door 
 or any strait place, to give way for him to pass. 
 
WASHINGTON'S RULES. 9 
 
 10. They that are in dignity, or in office, have in all 
 places precedency ; but whilst they are young they 
 ought to respect those that are their equals in birth 
 or other qualities, though they have no public charge. 
 
 11. It is good manners to prefer them to whom we 
 speak before ourselves, especially if they be above us, 
 with whom in no sort we ought to begin. 
 
 12. Let your discourse with men of business be 
 short and comprehensive. 
 
 13. In visiting the sick, do not presently play the 
 physician if you be not knowing therein. 
 
 14. In writing, or speaking, give to every person his 
 due title, according to his degree and the custom of the 
 place. 
 
 15. Strive not with your superiors in argument, but 
 always submit your judgment to others with modesty. 
 
 16. Undertake not to teach your equal in the art 
 himself professes : it savors of arrogancy. 
 
 17. When a man does all he can, though it succeeds 
 not well, blame not him that did it. 
 
 18. Being to advise, or reprehend any one, consider 
 whether it ought to be in public or in private, presently 
 or at some other time, and in what terms to do it ; and 
 in reproving show no signs of choler, but do it with 
 sweetness and mildness. 
 
 19. Take all admonitions thankfully, in what time 
 or place soever given ; but afterwards, not being cul- 
 pable, take a time and place convenient to let him 
 know it that gave them. 
 
 20. Mock not, nor jest at anything of importance ; 
 break no jests that are sharp-biting, and if you deliver 
 anything witty and pleasant, abstain from laughing 
 thereat yourself. 
 
 21. Vi^herein you reprove another be unblamable 
 
 \y 
 
10 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 yourself ; for example is more prevalent than pre. 
 cepts. 
 
 22. Use no reproacMul language against any one, 
 neither curse nor revile. 
 
 , 23. Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the dis- 
 paragement of any. 
 
 24. In your apparel be modest, and endeavor to ac 
 commodate nature, rather than to procure admiration ; 
 
 V keep to the fashion of your equals, such as are civil 
 and orderly with respect to times and places. 
 
 25. Play not the peacock, looking everywhere about 
 you to see if you be well decked, if your shoes fit well, 
 if your stockings sit neatly, and clothes handsomely. 
 
 26. Associate yourself with men of good quality, if 
 J you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be 
 
 alone than in bad company. 
 
 27. Let your conversation be without malice or 
 envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable 
 nature ; and in all causes of passion, admit reason to 
 govern. 
 
 28. Be not immodest in urging your friend to dis- 
 cover a secret. 
 
 29. Utter not base and frivolous things amongst 
 grave and learned men ; nor very difficult questions 
 or subjects among the ignorant ; nor things hard to be 
 believed. 
 
 30. Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, 
 nor at the table ; speak not of melancholy things, as 
 death, and wounds, and if others mention them, change, 
 if you can, the discourse. Tell not your dreams, but to 
 your intimate friend. 
 
 31. Break not a jest where none takes pleasure in 
 mirth ; laugh not aloud, nor at all without occasion. 
 Deride no man's misfortune, though there seem to be 
 some cause. 
 
WASHINGTON'S RULES. 11 
 
 32. Speak not injurious words, neither in jest nor 
 earnest ; scoff at none although they give occasion. 
 
 33. Be not forward, but friendly and courteous ; the 
 first to salute, hear, and answer ; and be not pensive 
 v/hen it is a time to converse. 
 
 34. Detract not from others, neither be excessive in 
 commending. 
 
 35. Go not thither where you know not whether 
 J you shall be welcome or not. Give not advice without 
 
 being asked, and when desired, do it briefly. 
 
 36. If two contend together, take not the part of 
 either unconstrained, and be not obstinate in your own 
 opinion ; in things indifferent be of the major side. 
 
 37. Reprehend not the imperfections of others, for 
 that belongs to parents, masters, and superiors. 
 
 38. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of others, 
 and ask not how they came. What you may speak 
 in secret to your friend, deliver not before others. 
 
 39. Speak not in an unknown tongue in company, but 
 in your own language, and that as those of quality do 
 and not as the vulgar ; sublime matters treat seriouslyo 
 
 40. Think before you speak ; pronounce not imper° 
 fectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but 
 orderly and distinctly. 
 
 41. When another speaks be attentive yourself, and 
 disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, 
 help him not, nor prompt him without being desired ; 
 interrupt him not, nor answer him, till his speech 
 be ended. 
 
 42. Treat with men at fit times about business : and 
 whisper not in the company of others. 
 
 43. Make no comparisons, and if any of the com- 
 pany be commended for any brave act of virtue, com- 
 mend not another for the same. 
 
12 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 44. Be not apt to relate news if you know not the 
 truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have 
 heard, name not your author always. A secret dis- 
 cover not. 
 
 45. Be not curious to know the affairs of others, 
 neither approach to those that speak in private. 
 
 46. Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be 
 careful to keep your promise. 
 
 47. When you deliver a matter, do it without pas- 
 sion and with discretion, however mean the person be 
 you do it to. 
 
 48. When your superiors talk to anybody, hearken 
 not, neither speak, nor laugh. 
 
 49. In disputes be not so desirous to overcome as 
 not to give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion, 
 and submit to the judgment of the major part, espe- 
 cially if they are judges of the dispute. 
 
 50. Be not tedious in discourse ; make not many 
 digressions, nor repeat often the same manner of dis° 
 course. 
 
 51. Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust. 
 
 52. Make no show of taking great delight in your 
 victuals ; feed not with greediness ; cut your bread 
 with a knife ; lean not on the table ; neither find fault 
 with what you eat. 
 
 53. Be not angry at table, whatever happens, and 
 if you have reason to be so, show it not ; put on a 
 cheerful countenance, especially if there be strangers, 
 for good humor makes one dish of meat a feast. 
 
 54. Set not yourself at the upper end of the table; 
 but if it be your due, or that the master of the house 
 will have it so, contend not, lest you should trouble 
 the company. 
 
 55. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it 
 
A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 13 
 
 be seriously in reverence. Honor and obey your natu- 
 ral parents, although they be poor. 
 
 56. Let your recreations be manful, not sinful. 
 v/ 57. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little 
 spark of celestial fire, called conscience. 
 
 n. 
 
 A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 
 
 In 1753 the French and the English were both trying to get 
 possession of the Valley of the Ohio, and news came to Vir- 
 ginia that the French governor of Canada had sent troops and 
 supplies into the country, was making friends with the Indians, 
 and had even seized certain English traders and sent them 
 prisoners to France. The English people most directly inter- 
 ested in the matter were the members of the Ohio Company, a 
 land company formed for the purpose of occupying and settling 
 what was vaguely known as the Ohio country, that is, the land 
 watered by the Ohio River and its tributaries. The governor of 
 Virginia was a stockholder in the company, and he determined 
 at once to send a commissioner to the officer in command of the 
 French forces, and ask by what right Frenchmen were building 
 forts in the king's dominions, and what they were intending 
 to do ; why they had made prisoners of peaceable English- 
 men ; and as the two nations were not at war, why French 
 soldiers were invading English territory. Moreover, the com- 
 missioner was to see the Indian chiefs and make sure that they 
 did not form an alliance with the French. 
 
 It was no slight matter for any one to undertake such an 
 errand. He must know something of the country ; he must be 
 used to the Indians ; he must be a person whom the French 
 would respect ; above all, he must be strong of body, coura- 
 geous, prudent, wise, and on the alert ; for the journey would 
 be a severe one, and the messenger would need to have what is 
 called a " level head." Of course no one expected that the 
 French commandant would kindly sit down and tell the Vir^ 
 
14 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ginian commissioner what he meant to do ; the commissioner 
 must find that out by his own sagacity. 
 
 Now, one of the principal members of the Ohio Company was 
 Lawrence Washington, who had recently died and left his affairs 
 in the hands of his younger brother George. George Washing- 
 ton knew perfectly what interests were at stake. Besides, he 
 was a backwoodsman ; it was no novelty for him to follow trails 
 through the forest ; he could deal with Indians ; and above all, 
 he had shown himself a clear-headed, far-sighted young man, 
 whom every one instinctively trusted. He was one of His 
 Majesty's officers, for he was Adjutant-General of the Northern 
 District, and so, though Major George Washington was but 
 twenty-one years old, Governor Dinwiddie and his council se- 
 lected him for this delicate and weighty mission. 
 
 It was no summer jaunt on which he set out. He waited upon 
 the governor at Williamsburg, and was armed with papers duly 
 signed and sealed with the great seal of Virginia, giving him 
 authority as commissioner. On October 30, 1753, he left W^il- 
 liamsburg with a journey of more than a thousand miles before 
 him. He stopped at Fredericksburg to say good-by to his 
 mother, and to engage his old fencing-master, Van Braam, as an 
 interpreter. Washington knew no French, and never learned it. 
 Van Braam pretended to know it well, but really had only an 
 ignorant smattering of the language. From Fredericksburg 
 Washington went to Alexandria, where he laid in supplies, and 
 to Winchester, which was the most important frontier settle- 
 ment, where he provided himself with horses, tents, and other 
 camp equipments. 
 
 The real start of the expedition was to be made from Wills 
 Creek, now Cumberland, in Maryland, which was the outpost of 
 civilization. Here Washington arrived November 14, and made 
 up his little company. It consisted of Christopher Gist, who 
 was in the employ of the Ohio Company and was an experienced 
 frontiersman ; Jacob Van Braam, the interpreter ; Davidson, an 
 Indian interpreter ; and four frontiersmen. The party was now 
 complete, and the next day plunged into the wilderness. 
 
 Washington kept a journal of this expedition, in which he set 
 down his adventures. He had great difficulty in getting at the 
 French commandant, but finally reached him at Fort Le Boeuf. 
 The passages in the Journal which follow detail the experiences 
 of Washington from this time till he returned to Williamsburg 
 and made his report to the governor. 
 
A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 15 
 
 December 12. — I prepared early to wait upon the 
 commander, and was received and conducted to him 
 by the second officer in command. I acquainted him 
 with my business, and offered my commission and 
 letter ; both of which he desired me to keep until the 
 arrival of Monsieur Reparti, captain at the next fort, 
 who was sent for and expected every hour. 
 
 This commander is a knight of the military order o£ 
 St. Louis, and named Legardeur de St. Pierre. He 
 is an elderly gentleman, and has much the air of a 
 soldier. He was sent over to take the command im- 
 mediately upon the death of the late general, and ar- 
 rived here about seven days before me. 
 
 At two o'clock, the gentleman who was sent for ar- 
 rived, when I offered the letter, etc. again, which they 
 received, and adjourned into a private apartment foi- 
 the captain to translate, who understood a little Eng- 
 lish. After he had done it, the commander desired I 
 would walk in and bring my interpreter to peruse and 
 correct it ; which I did. 
 
 December 13. — The chief officers retired to hold 
 a council of war, which gave me an opportunity of 
 taking the dimensions of the fort, and making what 
 observations I could. 
 
 It is situated on th^ south or west fork of French 
 Creek, near the water ; and is almost surrounded by 
 the creek, and a small branch of it, which form a kind 
 of island. Four houses compose the sides. The bas- 
 tions are made of piles driven into the ground, stand- 
 ing more than twelve feet above it, and sharp at top, 
 with port-holes cut for cannon, and loop-holes for the 
 small arms to fire through. There are eight six- 
 pounds pieces mounted in each bastion, and one piece 
 of four pounds before the gate. In the bastions are 
 
16 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging, and the com- 
 mander's private store ; round which are laid plat- 
 forms for the cannon and men to stand on. There 
 are several barracks without the fort, for the soldiers' 
 dwellings, covered, some with bark, and some with 
 boards, made chiefly of logs. There are also several 
 other houses, such as stables, smith's shop, etc. 
 
 I could get no certain account of the number of 
 men here ; but, according to the best judgment I 
 could form, there are a hundred, exclusive of officers, 
 of whom there are many. I also gave orders to the 
 people who were with me, to take an exact account of 
 the canoes, which were hauled up to convey their 
 forces down in the spring. This they did, and told 
 fifty of the birch bark, and a hundred and seventy of 
 pine ; besides many others, which were blocked out, 
 in readiness for being made. 
 
 December 14. — As the snow increased very fast, 
 wAd our horses daily became weaker, I sent them off 
 unloaded, under the care of Barnaby Currin and two 
 others, to make all convenient dispatch to Venango,^ 
 and there to wait our arrival, if there was a prospect 
 of the river's freezing ; if not, then to continue down 
 to Shannopin's Town, at the Fork of the Ohio, and 
 there to wait until we came to cross the Allegany ; 
 intending myself to go down by water, as I had the 
 offer of a canoe or two. 
 
 As I found many plots concerted to retard the In» 
 dians' business, and prevent their returning with me, 
 1 endeavored all that lay in my power to frustrate 
 their schemes, and hurried them on to execute their in- 
 tended design. They accordingly pressed for admit- 
 tance this evening, which at length was granted themj 
 
 1 Now Franklin, in Venango County, Pennsylvania. 
 
A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 17 
 
 privately, to the commander and one or two other 
 officers. The Half -King ^ told me, that he offered the 
 wampum to the commander, who evaded taking it, and 
 made many fair promises of love and friendship ; said 
 he wanted to live in peace and trade amicably with 
 them, as a proof of which he would send some goods 
 immediately down to the Logstown ^ for them. But I 
 rather think the design of that is to bring away all our 
 straggling traders they meet with, as I privately un- 
 derstood they intended to carry an officer with them. 
 And what rather confirms this opinion, I was inquir- 
 ing of the commander by what authority he had made 
 prisoners of several of our English subjects. He told 
 me that the country belonged to them ; that no Eng- 
 lishman had a right to trade upon those waters ; and 
 that he had orders to make every person prisoner, 
 who attempted it on the Ohio, or the waters of it. 
 
 I inquired of Captain Reparti about the boy that 
 was carried by this place, as it was done while the 
 command devolved on him, between the death of the 
 late general and the arrival of the present. He ac- 
 knowledged that a boy had been carried past, and that 
 the Indians had two or three white men's scalps (I was 
 told by some of the Indians at Yenango, eight), but 
 pretended to have forgotten the name of the place 
 where the boy came from, and all the particular facts, 
 though he had questioned him for some hours, as they 
 were carrjdng him past. I likewise inquired what they 
 had done with John Trotter and James McClocklan, 
 two Pennsylvania traders, whom they had taken with 
 all their goods. They told me, that they had been sent 
 to Canada, but were now returned home. 
 
 ^ The Half -King- was an Indian chief, who with other Indians had 
 joined Washington after he had entered the woods. 
 
 '^ On the Ohio River, aboixt seventeen miles from Pittsburg. 
 
18 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 This evening I received an answer to liis Honor the 
 Governor's letter from the commandant. 
 
 December 15. — The commandant ordered a plenti- 
 ful store of liquor and provision to be put on board 
 our canoes, and appeared to be extremely complai- 
 sant, though he was exerting every artifice which he 
 could invent to set our Indians at variance with us, 
 to prevent their going until after our departure ; 
 presents, rewards, and everything, which could be sug- 
 gested by him or his officers. I cannot say that ever 
 in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I did in 
 this affair. I saw that every stratagem which the 
 most fruitful brain could invent was practised to win 
 the Half-King to their interest, and that leaving him 
 there was giving them the opportunity they aimed at. 
 I went to the Half -King and pressed him in the 
 strongest terms to go ; he told me that the comman' 
 dant would not discharge him until the morning. I 
 then went to the commandant and desired him to do 
 their business, and complained of ill treatment ; for 
 keeping them, as they were part of my company, was 
 detaining me. This he promised not to do, but to f or- 
 ward my journey as much as he could. He protested 
 he did not keep them, but was ignorant of the cause 
 of their stay ; though I soon found it out. He had 
 promised them a present of guns, if they would wait 
 until the morning. As I was very much pressed b} 
 the Indians to wait this day for them, I consented, on 
 a promise that nothing should hinder them in the 
 morning. 
 
 December 16. — The French were not slack in 
 their inventions to keep the Indians this day also. 
 But as they were obliged, according to promise, to 
 give the present, they then endeavored to try the 
 
A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 19 
 
 power of liquor, which I doubt not would have pre- 
 vailed at any other time than this ; but I urged and 
 insisted with the King so closely upon his word, that 
 he refrained, and set off with us as he had engaged. 
 
 "We had a tedious and very fatiguing passage down 
 the creek. Several times we had like to have been 
 staved against rocks ; and many times were obliged 
 all hands to get out and remain in the water half an 
 hour or more, getting over the shoals. At one place, 
 the ice had lodged, and made it impassable by water ; 
 we were, therefore, obliged to carry our canoe across 
 the neck of land, a quarter of a mile over. We did 
 not reach Venango until the 22d, where we met with 
 our horses. 
 
 This creek is extremely crooked. I dare say the 
 distance between the fort and Venango cannot be less 
 than one hundred and thirty miles, to follow the 
 meanders. 
 
 December 23. — Yv^hen I got things ready to set off, 
 I sent for the Half -King, to know whether he intended 
 to go with us or by water. He told me that White 
 Thunder had hurt himself much, and was sick and 
 unable to walk ; therefore he was obliged to carry him 
 down in a canoe. As I found he intended to stay 
 here a day or two, and knew that Monsieur Joncaire 
 would employ every scheme to set him against the^ 
 English, as he had before done, I told him, I hoped 
 he would guard against his flattery, and let no fine 
 speeches influence him in their favor. He desired 1 
 might not be concerned, for he knew the French too 
 well for any thing to engage him in their favor ; and 
 that though he could not go down with us, he yet 
 would endeavor to meet at the Fork with Joseph 
 Campbell, to deliver a speech for me to carry to his 
 
20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Honor the Governor. He told me he would order the 
 Young Hunter to attend us, and get provisions, etc. 
 if wanted. 
 
 Our horses were now so weak and feeble, and the 
 baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all 
 the necessaries which the journey would require)^ 
 that we doubted much their performing it. Therefore, 
 myself and others, except the drivers, who were 
 obliged to ride, gave up our horses for packs, to assist 
 along with the baggage. I put myself in an Indian 
 walking-dross, and continued with them three* days, 
 until I found there was no probability of their getting 
 home in any reasonable time. The horses became 
 less able to travel every day ; the cold increased very 
 fast ; and the roads were becoming much worse by a 
 deep snow, continually freezing ; therefore, as I was 
 uneasy to get back, to make report of my proceedings 
 to his Honor the Governor, I determined to prosecute 
 my journey, the nearest way through the woods, on 
 foot. 
 
 Accordingly, I left Mr. Van Braam in charge of our 
 baggage, with money and directions to provide neces- 
 saries from place to place for themselves and horses, 
 and to make the most convenient dispatch in travel- 
 ling. 
 
 I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes, 
 and tied myself up in a watch-coat. Then, with gun 
 in hand, and pack on my back, in which were my 
 papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist, fitted 
 in the same manner, on Wednesday the 26th. Th( 
 day following, just after we had passed a place called 
 Murdering Town (where we intended to quit the path 
 and steer across the country for Shannopin's Town), 
 we fell in with a party of French Indians, who had 
 
A DANGEROUS ERRAND. 21 
 
 lain in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or 
 me, not fifteen steps oft, but fortunately missedo We 
 took this fellow into custody, and kept him until about 
 nine o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked all 
 the remaining part of the night without making any 
 stop, that we might get the start so far as to be o\x\ 
 of the reach of their pursuit the next day, since we 
 were well assured they would follow our track as sooe 
 as it was light. The next day we continued travelling 
 until quite dark, and got to the river about two miles 
 above Shannopin's. We expected to have found the 
 river frozen, but it was not, only about fifty yards 
 from each shore. The ice, I suppose, had broken up 
 above, for it was driving in vast quantities. 
 
 There was no way for getting over but on a raft, 
 which we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and 
 finished just after sun-setting. This was a whole day's 
 work ; we next got it launched, then went on board 
 of it, and set off ; but before we were half-way over 
 we were jammed in the ice, in such a manner that 
 we expected every moment our raft to sink, and our- 
 selves to perish. I put out my setting-pole to try to 
 stop the raft, that the ice might pass by, when the 
 rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence 
 against the pole that it jerked me out into ten feet 
 water; but I fortunately saved myself by catching 
 hold of one of the raft-logs. Notwithstanding all 
 our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but were 
 obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft 
 and make to it. 
 
 The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist 
 had all his fingers and some of his toes frozen, and 
 the water was shut up so hard, that we found no dif- 
 ficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the morn- 
 
22 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ing, aDcl went to Mr. Frazier's. We met here with 
 twenty warriors, who were going to the southward to 
 war ; but coming to a place on the head of the Great 
 Kenhawa, where they found seven people killed and 
 scalped (all but one woman with very light hair), 
 they turned about and ran back, for fear the inhabit 
 tants should rise and take them as the authors of the 
 murder. They report that the bodies were lying 
 about the house, and some of them much torn and 
 eaten by the hogs. By the marks which were left, 
 they say they were French Indians of the Ottawa 
 nation, who did it. 
 
 As we intended to take horses here, and it required 
 some time to find them, I went up about three miles 
 to the mouth of Youghiogany, to visit Queen Ali- 
 quippa, who had expressed great concern that we 
 passed her in going to the fort. I made her a pres- 
 ent of a watch-coat and a bottle of rum, which latter 
 was thought much the better present of the two. 
 
 Tuesday, the 1st of January, we left Mr. Frazier's 
 house, and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela, 
 the 2d, where I bought a horse and saddle. The 6th, 
 we met seventeen horses loaded with materials and 
 stores for a fort at the Fork of the Ohio, and the day 
 after, some families going out to settle. This day, 
 we arrived at Wills Creek, after as fatiguing a jour^ 
 ney as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by exces 
 sive bad weather. From the 1st day of December to 
 the 1 5th there was but one day on which it did not 
 rain or snow incessantly ; and throughout the whole 
 journey we met with nothing but one continued se- 
 ries of cold, wet weather, which occasioned very un- 
 comfortable lodgings, especially after we had quitted 
 our tent, which was some screen from the inclemency 
 of it. 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 23 
 
 On the 11th, 1 got to Belvoir,i where I stopped one 
 day to take necessary rest ; and then set out and ar- 
 rived in Williamsburg the 16th, where I waited upon 
 his Honor the Governor, with the letter I had brought 
 from the French commandant, and to give an account 
 of the success of my proceedings. This I beg leave 
 to do by offering the foregoing narrative, as it contains 
 the most remarkable occurrences which happened in 
 my journey. 
 
 I hope what has been said wiU be sufficient to make 
 your Honor satisfied with my conduct ; for that was 
 my aim in undertaking the journey, and chief study 
 throughout the prosecution of it. 
 
 III. 
 
 WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 
 
 Washington had been an officer in command of Virginia 
 troops in the war between England and France, when, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1755, General Braddock arrived in Virginia with two 
 regiments of regular troops from England. Everybody ex- 
 pected that the French would at once be driven out of the Ohic 
 valley, and General Braddock was one of the most confident. 
 There was a bustle in every quarter, and Alexandria was made 
 the headquarters from which troops, military stores, and pro- 
 visions were to be sent forward, for they could be brought up 
 to that point in men-of-war and transports. 
 
 As soon as Braddock had arrived in the country, Washingtof 
 had addressed him a letter of welcome, and now he was keenly 
 intent on the general's movements. From Mount Vernon h' 
 could see the ships in the Potomac and hear the din of prepara' 
 tion. He could not ride into town or to Belvoir without being" 
 
 ^ A plantation belonging to the Fairfax family, not far from Mt, 
 Vernon. 
 
24 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 in the midst of the excitement. This was something very dif- 
 ferent from the poor, niggardly conduct of war which he had 
 known in the colony. It was on a great scale ; it was war car- 
 ried on by His Majesty's troops, well clad, splendidl}^ equipped 
 and drilled, under the lead of a veteran general. He longed to 
 join them. Here would be a chance such as he had never had, 
 to learn something of the art of war ; but he held no commis- 
 sion, and he had not even a company to offer. Nor was he 
 willing to be a militia captain and subject to the orders of some 
 lieutenant in the regular army. 
 
 He was considering how he might volunteer, when he received 
 exactly the kind of invitation which he desired. He was a 
 marked man now, and it did not take long for word to reach 
 General Braddock that a young Virginian colonel, who had 
 shown great spirit and ability in a recent expedition, and was 
 thoroughly familiar with the route they were to take, desired to 
 serve under him, but not as a subordinate captain. There was a 
 way out of the difficulty, and the General at once invited Wrsh- 
 ington to join his military family as aid-de-camp. Washington 
 joyfully accepted, and the following brief letters give a glimpse 
 of his connection with the disastrous Braddock's Expedition, 
 which set out with flags flying to capture Fort Duquesne, where 
 Pittsburgh now stands, and was instead terribly defeated on the 
 way. Robert Orme, to whom the first letter was written, was 
 the aid-de-camp of Braddock who had informed Washington of 
 his appointment. 
 
 I. TO EGBERT ORME. 
 
 Mount Vernok, 15 March, 1755. 
 
 Sir: 
 
 I was not favored with your polite letter, of the 2cl 
 instant, until yesterday ; acquainting me with the no- 
 tice his Excellency, General Braddock, is pleased to 
 honor me with, by kindly inviting me to become one 
 of his family the ensuing campaign. It is true, sir, 
 I have, ever since I declined my late command, ex- 
 pressed an inclination to serve in this campaign as a 
 volunteer ; and this inclination is not a little increased, 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 25 
 
 since it is likely to be conducted by a gentleman of 
 the general's experience. 
 
 But, besides this, and the laudable desire I may 
 have to serve with my best abilities my king and 
 country, I must be ingenuous enough to confess, that 
 I am not a little biased by selfish considerations. Tc 
 explain, sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowl- 
 edge in the military profession, and, believing a more 
 favorable opportunity cannot offer than to serve un- 
 der a gentleman of General Braddock's abilities and 
 experience, it does, you may reasonably suppose, not a 
 little contribute to influence my choice. But, sir, as 
 I have taken the liberty to express my sentiments so 
 freely, I must beg your indulgence while I add, that 
 the only bar which can check me in the pursuit of 
 this object, is the inconveniences that must necessarily 
 result from some proceedings, which happened a little 
 before the general's arrival, and which, in some meas- 
 ure, had abated the ardor of my desires, and deter- 
 mined me to lead a life of retirement, into which I 
 was just entering, at no small expense, when your 
 favor was presented to me. 
 
 But, as I shall do myself the honor of waiting upon 
 his Excellency as soon as I hear of his arrival at 
 Alexandria, (I would do it sooner, were I certain 
 where to find him,) I shall decline saying anything 
 further on this head till then , begging you will be 
 pleased to assure him, that I shall always retain a 
 grateful sense of the favor with which he is pleased 
 to honor me, and that I should have embraced this 
 opportunity of writing to him, had I not recently ad- 
 dressed a congratulatory letter to him on his safe 
 arrival in this country. 
 
 I flatter myself you will favor me in making a com- 
 munication of these sentiments. 
 
26 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 You do me a singular favor in proposing an ac- 
 quaintance. It cannot but be attended with the most 
 flattering prospects on my part, as you may ahead} 
 perceive by the famiharity and freedom with which 1 
 now enter upon this correspondence ; a freedom which, 
 even if it is disagreeable, you must excuse, and lay 
 the blame of it at your own door, for encouraging me 
 to throw off that restraint which otherwise might 
 have been more obvious in my deportment on such an 
 occasion. 
 
 The hope of shortly seeing you will be an excuse 
 for my not adding more than that I shall endeavor to 
 approve myself worthy of your friendship, and that I 
 beg to be esteemed your most obedient servant. 
 
 II. TO JOHN ROBINSON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF 
 DELEGATES, VIRGINIA. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 20 April, 1755. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I little expected, when I wrote you last, that I 
 should so soon engage in another campaign ; but, in 
 doing it, I may be allowed to claim some merit, if it is 
 considered that the sole motive which invites me to 
 the field is the laudable desire of serving my country, 
 not the gratification of any ambitious or lucrative 
 plans. This, I flatter myself, will manifestly appear 
 by my going as a volunteer, without expectation of re- 
 ward, or prospect of obtaining a command, as I am 
 confidently assured it is not in General Braddock's 
 power to give me a commission that I would accept. 
 Perhaps by many others the above declaration might 
 be construed into self-applause, which, unwilling to 
 lose, I proclaim myself. But by you, sir, I expect ir 
 will be viewed in a different light, because you havo 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 27 
 
 ijnnpatliized in my disappointments, and lent your 
 friendly aid to reinstate me in a suitable command ; 
 the recollection of which can never be lost upon a 
 mind that is not insensible of obligations, but always 
 ready to acknowledge them. 
 
 This is the reason why I am so much more unre- 
 served, in the expression of my sentiments to you, 
 than I should be to the world, whose censures and 
 criticisms often place good designs in a bad light. 
 But, to be ingenuous, I must confess I have other in- 
 tentions in writing you this letter ; for, if there is any 
 merit in my case, I am unwilling to hazard it among 
 my friends without this exposition of facts, as they 
 might conceive that some advantageous offers had en- 
 gaged my services, when, in reality, it is otherwise, for 
 I expect to be a considerable loser in my private af- 
 fairs by going. It is true I have been importuned to 
 make this campaign by General Braddock as a mem- 
 ber of his family, he conceiving, I suppose, that the 
 small knowledge I have had an opportunity of acquir- 
 ing of the country, Indians, etc., is worthy of his no- 
 tice, and may be useful to him in the progress of the 
 expedition. 
 
 I heartily wish a happy issue to all your resolves, 
 and am, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 III. TO WILLIAM FAIRFAX. 
 
 Winchester, 5 May, 1755. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 I overtook the general at Frederic Town, in Mary- 
 land. Thence we proceeded to this place, where we 
 shall remain till the arrival of the second division of 
 the train, which we hear left Alexandria on Tuesda;f 
 
28 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 last- After that, we shall continue our march to 
 Wills Creek ; from whence, it is imagined, we shall 
 not stir till the latter end of this month, for want of 
 wagons and other conveniences of transport over thdi 
 mountains. 
 
 You will naturally conclude, that to pass through 
 Maryland, when no object required it, was an uncom- 
 mon and an extraordinary route for the general and 
 for Colonel Dunbar's regiment to this place. The 
 reason, however, was obvious. Those who promoted 
 it had rather the communication should be opened 
 that way than through Virginia ; but I believe the 
 eyes of the general are now opened, and the imposi- 
 tion detected ; consequently, the like will not happen 
 again. I am, etc. 
 
 IV. TO JOHN A. WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fort Cumberland, 14 May^ 1755. 
 
 Dear Brother : 
 
 As wearing boots is quite the mode, and mine are 
 in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to 
 procure me a pair that are good and neat, and send 
 them to Major Carlyle, who, I hope, wUl contrive to 
 forward them as quickly as my necessity requires. 
 
 I see no prospect of moving from this place soon, as 
 we have neither horses nor wagons enough, and no 
 forage, except what is expected from Philadelphia ; 
 therefore, I am well convinced that the trouble and 
 difficulty we must encounter in passing the mountains, 
 for the want of proper conveniences, will equal all the 
 difficulties of the campaign ; for I conceive the march 
 of such a train of artillery, in these roads, to be a tre- 
 mendous undertaking. As to any danger from the 
 enemy, I look ujion it as trifling, for I believe the. 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 29 
 
 French will be obliged to exert their utmost force to 
 repel the attacks to the northward, where Governor 
 Shirley and others, with a body of eight thousand 
 men, will annoy their settlements, and attempt their 
 forts. 
 
 The general has appointed me one of his aids-de^ 
 camp, in which character I shall serve this campaigr 
 agreeably enough, as I am thereby freed from all com 
 mands but his, and give his orders, which must be 
 implicitly obeyed. 
 
 I have now a good opportunity, and shall not neg- 
 lect it, of forming an acquaintance, which may be ser- 
 viceable hereafter, if I find it worth while to push my 
 fortune in the military line. 
 
 I have written to my two female correspondents by 
 this opportunity, one of whose letters I have enclosed 
 to you, and beg your deliverance of it. I shall expect 
 a particular account of all that has happened since my 
 departure. 
 
 I am, dear Jack, Your most affectionate brother. 
 
 V. TO JOHN A. WASHINGTON. 
 
 YouGHiOGANY, 28 June, 1755. 
 
 Dear Brother : 
 
 Immediately upon our leaving the camp at George s 
 Creek, on the 14th instant, from whence I wrote to 
 you, I was seized with a violent fever and pain of the 
 head, which continued without intermission until the 
 23d, when I was relieved, by the general's absolutely 
 ordering the physician to give me Dr. James's pow- 
 ders, one of the most excellent medicines in the world. 
 It gave me immediate ease, and removed my fever and 
 other complaints in four days' time. My illness was 
 too violent to suffer me to ride ; therefore I was in- 
 
Ba GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 debted to a covered wagon for some part of my trans- 
 portation ; but even in this I could not continue far. 
 The jolting was so great, that I was left upon the 
 road, with a guard and some necessaries, to wait the 
 arrival of Colonel Dunbar's detachment, which was 
 two days' march behind us, the general giving me his 
 word of honor that I should be brought up before he 
 reached the French fort. This promise, and the doc- 
 tor's declaration, that if I persevered in my attempts 
 to go on, in the condition I then was, my life would 
 be endangered, determined me to halt for the above 
 mentioned detachment. 
 
 As the communication between this and Wills Creek 
 must soon be too dangerous for single persons to pass, 
 it will render the intercourse of letters slow and preca- 
 rious ; therefore I shall attempt (and will go through 
 it if I have strength) to give you an account of our 
 proceedings, our situation, and prospects at present ; 
 which I desire you will communicate to Colonel Fair- 
 fax, and others, my correspondents, for I am too weak 
 to write more than this letter. 
 
 In the letter which I wrote to you from George's 
 Creek, I acquainted you ' that, unless the number of 
 wagons was retrenched and the carriage-horses in- 
 creased, we should never be able to see Fort Duquesne. 
 This, in two days afterwards (which was about the 
 time they got to the Little Meadows, with some of 
 their foremost wagons and strongest teams), they 
 themselves were convinced of ; for they found that, 
 besides the extreme difficulty of getting the wagons 
 along at all, they had often a line of three or four 
 miles in length ; and the soldiers guarding them were 
 so dispersed, that, if we had been attacked either in 
 front, centre, or rear, the part so attacked must have 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 31 
 
 been cut off or totally routed, before they could be 
 sustained by any other corps. 
 
 At the Little Meadows a second council was called 
 (for there had been one before), wherein the urgency 
 for horses was again represented to the oiSicers of the 
 different corps, and how laudable a farther retrench" 
 ment of their baggage would be, that the spare oneg 
 might be turned over for the public service. In or<^ 
 der to encourage this, I gave up my best horse, which 
 I have never heard of since, and took no more bag- 
 gage than half my portmanteau would easily contain. 
 It is said, however, that the number reduced by this 
 second attempt was only from two hundred and ten 
 or twelve, to two hundred, which had no perceivable 
 effect. 
 
 The general, before they met in council, asked my 
 private opinion concerning the expedition. I urged 
 him, in the warmest terms I was able, to push for- 
 ward, if he even did it with a small but chosen band, 
 with such artillery and light stores as were necessary ; 
 leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, and the like with 
 the rear division of the army, to follow by slow and 
 easy marches, which they might do safely while ws 
 were advanced in front. As one reason to support 
 this opinion, I urged that, if we could credit our in^ 
 telligence, the French were weak at the Fork at pres- 
 ent, but hourly expected reinforcements, which, to mj 
 certain knowledge, could not arrive with provisions, oi 
 any supplies, during the continuance of the drought, 
 as the Buffalo Kiver (Riviere aux Boeufs), down which 
 was their only communication to Venango, must be as 
 dry as we now found the Great Crossing of the You- 
 ghiogany, which may be passed dry-shod. 
 
 This advice prevailed, and it was determined tha-t 
 
82 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the general, with one thousand two hundred chosen 
 men, and officers from all the different corps, under 
 the following field officers, viz., Sir Peter Halket, 
 who acts as brigadier, Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Burton, and Major Sparks, with such 
 a number of wagons as the train would absolutely re^ 
 quire, should march as soon as things could be got in 
 readiness. This was completed, and we were on om 
 march by the 19th, leaving Colonel Dunbar and Major 
 Chapman behind, with the residue of the two regi- 
 ments, some independent companies, most of the wo- 
 men, and, in short, everything not absolutely essen* 
 tial, carrying our provisions and other necessaries upon 
 horses. 
 
 We set out with less than thirty carriages, includ- 
 ing those that transported the ammunition for the 
 howitzers, twelve-pounders, and six-pounders, and all 
 of them strongly horsed ; which was a prospect that 
 conveyed infinite delight to my mind, though I was 
 excessively ill at the time. But this prospect was soon 
 clouded, and my hopes brought very low indeed, when 
 I found that, instead of pushing on with vigor, with- 
 out regarding a little rough road, they were halting to 
 level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over every 
 brook, by which means we were four days in getting 
 twelve miles. 
 
 At this camp I was left by the doctor's advice and 
 the general's positive orders, as I have already men- 
 tioned, without which I should not have been prevailed 
 upon to remain behind ; as 1 then imagined, and now 
 believe, I shall find it no easy matter to join my own 
 corps again, which is twenty-five miles in advance. 
 Notwithstanding, I had the general's word of honor, 
 pledged in the most solemn manner, that I should be 
 
WITH GENERAL BRADDOCK. 33 
 
 brought up before he arrived at Fort Duquesne. They 
 have had frequent alarms, and several men have been 
 scalped ; but this is done with no other design than to 
 retard tlie march, and to harass the men, who, if they 
 are to be turned out every time a small party attacks 
 the guards at night (for I am certain they have not 
 sufficient force to make a serious assault), the enemy's 
 aim will be accomplished by the gaining of time. 
 
 I have been now six days with Colonel Dunbar's 
 corps, who are in a miserable condition for want of 
 horses, not having enough for their wagons ; so that 
 the only method he has of proceeding is to march 
 with as many wagons as these will draw, and then 
 halt till the remainder are brought vip with the same 
 horses, which requires two days more ; and shortly, I 
 believe, he will not be able to stir at all. There has 
 been vile management in regard to horses. 
 
 My strength will not admit of my saying more, 
 though I have not said half that I intended concerning 
 affairs here. Business I shall not think of, but depend 
 solely upon your management of all my affairs, not 
 doubting that they will be well conducted. I am, etc. 
 
 VI, TO MRS. MARY WASHINGTON, NEAR FREDERICKS- 
 BURG. 
 
 Fort Cumberland, 18 July, 1755. 
 
 Honored Madam : 
 
 As I doubt not but you have heard of our defeat, 
 and, perhaps, had it represented in a worse light, if 
 possible, than it deserves, I have taken this earliest 
 opportunity to give you some account of the engage- 
 ment as it happened, within ten miles of the French 
 fort, on Wednesday the 9th instant. 
 
84 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 We inarched to that place without any considerable 
 loss, having only now and then a straggler picked up 
 by the French and scouting Indians. When we came 
 there we were attacked by a party of French and In- 
 dians, whose number, I am persuaded, did not exceed 
 three hundred men ; while ours consisted of about one 
 ; thousand three hundred well-armed troops, chiefly 
 regular soldiers, who were struck with such a panic 
 that they behaved with more cowardice than it is pos- 
 sible to conceive. The officers behaved gallantly in 
 order to encourage their men, for which they suffered 
 greatly, there being near sixty killed and wounded ; a 
 large proportion of the number we had. 
 
 The Virginia troops showed a good deal of bravery, 
 and were nearly all killed ; for I believe, out of three 
 companies that were there, scarcely thirty men are 
 left alive. Captain Peyrouny, and aU his officers 
 down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Poison had 
 nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his was left. In 
 short, the dastardly behavior of those they call regu- 
 lars exposed all others, that were inclined to do their 
 duty, to almost certain death ; and at last, despite of 
 all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they ran, 
 as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to 
 rally them. 
 
 The general was wounded, of which he died three 
 days after. Sir Peter Halket was killed in the field^ 
 where died many other brave officers. I luckily es< 
 caped without a wound, though I had four bullets 
 through my coat, and two horses shot under me. Cap- 
 tains Orme and Morris, two of the aids-de-camp, were 
 wounded early in the engagement, which rendered the 
 duty harder upon me, as I was the only person then 
 left to distribute the general's orders, which I waa 
 
A VIRGINIA PLANTER. 35 
 
 scarcely able to do, as I was not half recovered from 
 a violent illness that liad confined me to my bed and 
 a wagon for above ten days. I am still in a weak and 
 feeble condition, which induces me to halt here two or 
 three days in the hope of recovering a little strength, 
 to enable me to proceed homewards ; from whence, I 
 fear, I shall not be able to stir till towards Septem- 
 ber ; so that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing 
 you till then, unless it be in Fairfax. Please to give 
 my love to Mr. Lewis and my sister ; and compliments 
 to Mr. Jackson, and all other friends that inquire after 
 me. I am, honored madam, your most dutiful son. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A VIRGINIA PLANTER. 
 
 The period between the final victory of England over France 
 and the war for the independence of the colonies was one of 
 perplexity and discussion. It is difficult for us to-day to put 
 ourselves in the place of Washington and other men of his 
 time. Washington was a Virginian, and was one of the legisla- 
 ture. He was used to making laws and providing for the needs 
 of the people of Virginia, but he was accustomed to look beyond 
 Virginia to England. There the king was, and he was one of the 
 subjects of the king. Though he and others might never have 
 seen England, it was the centre of the world to them. He 
 thought of the other colonies not so much as all parts of one 
 great country on this side of the Atlantic, as each separately a 
 part of the British empire. 
 
 After all, however, and most of all, he was a Virginian. In 
 Virginia he owned land. There was his home, and there his 
 occupation. He was a farmer, a planter of tobacco and wheat ; 
 and it was his business to sell his products. As for the French, 
 fcliey were the enemies of Great Britain, but they were also very 
 wear enemies of Virginia. They were getting possession of land 
 
36 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 in Virginia itself, — land which Washington owned in part ; and 
 when he was busily engaged in driving them out, he did not have 
 to stop to think of France ; he needed only to think of Fort Du- 
 quesne, a few days' march to the westward. 
 
 When, therefore, he found the British government making laws 
 which required him to pay roundly for sending his tobacco to 
 market, and taxing him as if there were no Virginia legislature 
 to say what taxes the people could and should pay, he began to 
 be dissatisfied. England was a great way off ; Virginia was 
 close at hand. He was loyal to the king and had fought under 
 the king's officers, but if the king cared nothing for his loyalty, 
 and only wanted his pence, his loyalty was likely to cool. 
 
 Washington had grown up with an intense love of law, arxd 
 in this he was like other American Englishmen. In England 
 there were very few persons who made the laws. The vast ma- 
 jority had nothing to do but to obey the laws. Yet it is among 
 the makers of laws that the love of law prevails ; and since in 
 America a great many more Englishmen had to do with govern- 
 ment in colony and in town than in England, there were more 
 who passionately insisted upon the law being observed. An un- 
 lawful act was to them an outrage. When they said that Eng- 
 land was oppressing them and making them slaves, they did 
 not mean that they wanted liberty to do what they pleased, but 
 that they wanted to be governed by just laws, made by the men 
 who had the right to make laws. That right belonged to the 
 legislatures, to which they sent representatives. 
 
 So it was out of his love of law and justice that Washington 
 and others protested against the Stamp Act ; and when the act 
 was repealed, they threw up their hats and hurrahed, not because 
 they should not have to buy and use stamps, but because by re- 
 pealing the act, Parliament had as much as said that it was an 
 unlawful act. The two letters which follow, written to Bryan 
 Fairfax, who was a Virginian Englishman disposed to side with 
 Parliament, show how Washington felt and reasoned. 
 
 Mount Vehnon, 20 July, 1774. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Your letter of the 17th was not presented to me till 
 after the resolutions, which were judged advisable for 
 
A VIRGINIA PLANTER. 37 
 
 this countty to adopt, had been revised, altered, and 
 corrected in the committee ; nor till we had gone into 
 a general meeting in the court-house, and my atten- 
 tion was necessarily called every moment to the busi- 
 ness before us. I did, however, upon the receipt of 
 it, in that hurry and bustle, hastily run it over, and I 
 handed it round to the gentlemen on the bench, of 
 whom there were many; but, as no person present 
 seemed in the least disposed to adopt your sentiments, 
 as there appeared a perfect satisfaction and acquies* 
 cence in the measures proposed (except from Mr. 
 Williamson, who was for adopting your advice liter- 
 ally, without obtaining a second voice on his side)v 
 and as a gentleman, to whom the letter was shown, 
 advised me not to have it read, as it was not likely 
 to make a convert, and was repugnant, some of them 
 thought, to every principle we were contending for, I 
 forbore to offer it otherwise than in the manner above 
 mentioned ; which I shall be sorry for, if it gives you 
 any dissatisfaction that your sentiments were not read 
 to the county at large, instead of being communicated 
 to the first people in it, by offering them the letter in 
 the manner I did. 
 
 That I differ very widely from you, in respect to 
 the mode of obtaining a repeal of the acts so much 
 and so justly complained of, I shall not hesitate to 
 acknowledge ; and that this difference in opinion prob 
 ably proceeds from the different constructions we put 
 upon the conduct and intention of the ministry may 
 also be true ; but as I see nothing, on the one hand 
 to induce a belief that the Parliament would embrace 
 a favorable opportunity of repealing acts which thej 
 go on with great rapidity to pass in order to enforce 
 their tyrannical system ; and, on the other, I observe. 
 
38 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 or think I observe, that government is pursuing a 
 regular plan at the expense of law and justice to over- 
 throw our constitutional rights and liberties, how can 
 I expect any redress from a measure which has been 
 ineffectually tried already ? For, sir, what is it we 
 are contending against ? Is it against paying the duty 
 of three pence per pound on tea because burdensome? 
 No ; it is the right only, that we have all long disputed ; 
 and to this end we have already petitioned his Ma- 
 jesty in as humble and dutiful a manner as subjects 
 could do. Nay, more, we applied to the House of 
 Lords and House of Commons in their different leg- 
 islative capacities, setting forth, that, as Englishmen, 
 we could not be deprived of this essential and valu- 
 able part of our constitution. If, then, as the fact 
 really is, it is against the right of taxation that we 
 now do, and, as I before said, all along have con- 
 tended, why should they suppose an exertion of this 
 power would be less obnoxious now than formerly ? 
 And what reason have we to believe that they would 
 make a second attempt, whilst the same sentiments fill 
 the breast of every American, if they did not intend 
 to enforce it if possible ? 
 
 The conduct of the Boston people could not justify 
 the rigor of their measures, unless there had been a 
 requisition of payment and refusal of it ; nor did that 
 conduct require an act to deprive the government of 
 Massachusetts Bay of their charter, or to exempt ot 
 fenders from trial in the places where offences were 
 committed, as there was not, nor could there be, a 
 single instance produced to manifest the necessity of 
 it. Are not all these things evident proofs of a fixed 
 and uniform plan to tax us ? If we want further 
 proofs, do not all the debates in the House of Com 
 
A VIRGINIA PLANTER 39 
 
 mons serve to confirm this? And has not General 
 Gage's conduct since his arrival, in stopping the ad- 
 dress of his council and publishing a proclamation 
 more becoming a Turkish bashaw than an English 
 governor, declaring it treason to associate in any man- 
 ner by which the commerce of Great Britain is to be 
 affected, — has not this exhibited an unexampled testi- 
 mony of the most despotic system of tyranny that ever 
 was practised in a free government ? In short, what 
 further proofs are wanting to satisfy any one of the 
 designs of the ministry than their own acts, which 
 are uniform and plainly tending to the same point, 
 nay, if I mistake not, avowedly to fix the right of 
 taxation ? What hope have we then from petitioning, 
 when they tell us that now or never is the time to 
 fix the matter? Shall we, after this, whine and cry 
 for relief, when we have already tried it in vain ? Or 
 shall we supinely sit and see one province after an- 
 other fall a sacrifice to despotism ? 
 
 If I were in any doubt as to the right which the 
 Parliament of Great Britain had to tax us without 
 our consent, I should most heartily coincide with you 
 in opinion, that to petition, and petition only, is the 
 proper method to apply for relief ; because we should 
 then be asking a favor, and not claiming a right, 
 which, by the law of nature and by our constitution, 
 we are, in my opinion, indubitably entitled to. I 
 should even think it criminal to go further than this, 
 under such an idea ; but I have none such. I think 
 the Parliament of Great Britain have no more right 
 to put their hands into my pocket, without my con- 
 sent, than I have to put my hands into yours ; and 
 this being already urged to them in a firm but decent 
 manner, by all the colonies, what reason is there to 
 expect anything from their justice ? 
 
40 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 As to the resolution for addressing the throne, I 
 own to you, sir, I think the whole might as well have 
 been expunged. I expect nothing from the measure, 
 nor should my voice have sanctioned it, if the non-im- 
 portation scheme was intended to be retarded by it ,• 
 for I am convinced, as much as I am of my existence, 
 that there is no relief for us but in their distress ; and 
 I think, at least I hope, that there is public virtue 
 enough left among us to deny ourselves everything 
 but the bare necessaries of life to accomplish this end. 
 This we have a right to do, and no power upon earth 
 can compel us to do otherwise, till it has first reduced 
 us to the most abject state of slavery. The stopping 
 of our exports would, no doubt, be a shorter method 
 than the other to effect this purpose ; but if we owe 
 money to Great Britain, nothing but the last necessity 
 can justify the non-payment of it ; and, therefore, 1 
 have great doubts upon this head, and wish to see the 
 other method first tried, which is legal and will facili- 
 tate these payments. 
 
 I cannot conclude without expressing some concern 
 that I should differ so widely in sentiments from you 
 on a matter of such great moment and general im- 
 port ; and I should much distrust my own judgment 
 upon the occasion, if my nature did not recoil at the 
 thought of submitting to measures which I think sub- 
 versive of everything that I ought to hold dear and 
 valuable, and did I not find, at the same time, that 
 the voice of mankind is with me. I must apologize 
 for sending you so rough a sketch of my thoughts 
 upon your letter. When I look back and see the 
 length of my own, I cannot, as I am a good deal hur- 
 ried at this time, think of takiug off a fair copy. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
A VIRGINIA PLANTER, 41 
 
 II. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 24 August, 1774. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 Your letter of the 5th instant came to this place, 
 forwarded by Mr. Ramsay, a few days after my re- 
 turn from Williamsburg, and I delayed acknowledg- 
 ing it sooner, in the hope that I should find time, be- 
 fore I began my journey to Philadelphia, to answer 
 it fully, if not satisfactorily ; but, as much of my time 
 has been engrossed since I came home by company, 
 by your brother's sale and the business consequent 
 thereupon, in writing letters to England, and now in 
 attending to my own domestic affairs previous to my 
 departure, I find it impossible to bestow as much at- 
 tention on the subject of your letter as I could wish, 
 and, therefore, I must rely upon your good nature and 
 candor in excuse for not attempting it. In truth, per- 
 suaded as I am that you have read all the political 
 pieces which compose a large share of the gazettes at 
 this time, I should think it, but for your request, a 
 piece of inexcusable arrogance in me to make the 
 least essay towards a change in your political opin- 
 ions ; for I am sure I have no new light to throw upon 
 the subject, nor any other arguments to offer in sup- 
 port of my own doctrine, than what you have seen ; 
 and I could only in general add, that an innate spirit 
 of freedom first told me that the measures which the 
 administrations have for some time been and now are 
 most violently pursuing, are opposed to every princi- 
 ple of natural justice ; whilst much abler heads than 
 my own have fully convinced me, that they are not 
 only repugnant to natural right, but subversive of the 
 laws and constitution of Great Britain itself, in the 
 
42 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 establishment of which some of the best blood in the 
 kingdom has been spilt. 
 
 Satisfied, then, that the acts of the British Parlia- 
 ment are no longer governed by the principles of jus- 
 tice, that they are trampling upon the valuable rights 
 of Americans, confirmed to them by charter and by 
 the constitution they themselves boast of, and con- 
 vinced beyond the smallest doubt that these measures 
 are the result of deliberation, and attempted to be 
 carried into execution by the hand of power, is it a 
 time to trifle, or risk our cause upon petitions, which 
 with difficulty obtain access, and afterwards are thrown 
 by with the utmost contempt ? Or should we, because 
 heretofore unsuspicious of design, and then unwilling 
 to enter into disputes with the mother country, go on 
 to bear more, and forbear to enumerate our just causes 
 of complaint ? For my own part, I shall not under- 
 take to say where the line between Great Britain and 
 the colonies should be drawn ; but I am clearly of 
 opinion that one ought to be drawn, and our rights 
 clearly ascertained. I could wish, I own, that the 
 dispute had been left to posterity to determine, but 
 the crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights, or 
 submit to every imposition, that can be heaped upon 
 us, till custom and use shall make us tame and abject 
 slaves. 
 
 I intended to write no more than an apology for not 
 writing ; but I find I am insensibly running into a 
 length I did not expect, and therefore shall conclude 
 with remarking, that, if you disavow the right of Par- 
 liament to tax us, unrepresented as we are, we only 
 differ in respect to the mode of opposition, and this 
 difference principally arises from your belief, that 
 they (the Parliaaient, I mean,) want a decent oppor« 
 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 43 
 
 fcunity to repeal the acts ; whilst I am fully convinced 
 that there has been a regular, systematic plan formed 
 to enforce them, and that nothing but unanimity and 
 firmness in the colonies, which they did not expect, 
 can prevent it. By the best advices from Boston it 
 seems that General Gage is exceedingly disconcerted 
 at the quiet and steady conduct of the people of the 
 Massachusetts Bay, and at the measures pursuing by 
 the other governments. I dare say he expected to 
 force those oppressed people into compliance, or irri- 
 tate them to acts of violence before this, for a more 
 colorable pretence of ruling that and the other colo- 
 nies with a high hand. 
 
 I shall set off on Wednesday next for Philadelphia, 
 where, if you have any commands, I shall be glad to 
 oblige you in them ; being, dear sir, with real regard* 
 Your most obedient servant. 
 
 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 When the second Continental Congress met in May, 1775, 
 Washington was a delegate from Virginia, Every one felt the 
 gravity and delicacy of the situation. An army had been raised, 
 but it was a New England army, for it had been started into life 
 by the fight at Lexington and Concord. If the coming struggle 
 was to be at Boston, as seemed likely, it was natural that the 
 troops should come mainly from that neighborhood. The colo- 
 nies were widely separated ; they had not acted much together, 
 would it not be better, would it not save ill-feeling, if a New 
 England man were to command this New England army ? 
 
 There were some who thought thus ; and besides, there was 
 still a good deal of difference of opinion as to the course to be pur- 
 
44 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 sued. Some were ready for independence ; others, and per- 
 haps the most, hoped to bring the British to terms. Parties 
 were rising in Congress ; petty jealousies were showing them- 
 selves, when suddenly John Adams of Massachusetts, seeing into 
 what perplexities they were drifting, came forward with a dis- 
 tinct proposition that Congress should adopt the army before 
 Boston and appoint a commander. He did not name Washing- 
 ton, but described him as a certain gentleman from Virginia who 
 could unite the cordial exertions of all the colonies better than 
 any other person. No one doubted who was meant, and Washing- 
 ton, confused and agitated, left the room at once. 
 
 Nothing else was talked of. The delegates discussed the 
 matter in groups and small circles, and a few days afterward a 
 Maryland delegate formally nominated George Washington to be 
 commander-in-chief of the American Army. He was unani- 
 mously elected, but the honor of bringing him distinctly before 
 the Congress belongs to John Adams. It seems now a very 
 natural thing to do, but really it was something which required 
 wisdom and coui-age. When one sums up all Washington's mili- 
 tary experience at this time, it was not great, or such as to point 
 'Sva. out as unmistakably the leader of the American army. 
 There was a general then in command at Cambridge, who had 
 seen more of war than Washington had. But Washington was 
 the leading military man in Virginia, and it was for this reason 
 that John Adams as a New England man urged his election. 
 The Congress had done something to bring the colonies together ; 
 the war was to do more, but probably no single act had a more 
 far-reaching significance in making the Union, than the act of 
 naming for the chief place the Virginia Washington by the New 
 England Adams. 
 
 It was on the 15th day of June, 1775, that George Washington 
 was chosen commander - in - chief. The next day he made his 
 answer to Congress, in which he declared that he accepted the 
 office, but that he would take no pay ; he would keep an exact 
 account of his expenses, but he would give his services to his 
 country. There was no time to be lost. He could not go home 
 to bid his wife good-by, and he did not know when he should see 
 her again, so he wrote her from Philadelphia. He had left a 
 relation, Mr. Lund Washington, in charge of the Mount Vernon 
 estate, and later in the year he wrote to him a letter of instruo- 
 tions about the care of his place. The three letters follow. 
 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 45 
 
 I. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. President : Though I am truly sensible of 
 the high honor done me, in this appointment, yet I feel 
 great distress, from a consciousness that my abilities and 
 military experience may not be equal to the extensive 
 and important trust. However, as the Congress desire 
 it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert 
 every power I possess in their service, and for the sup- 
 port of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept my 
 most cordial thanks for this distinguished testimony of 
 their approbation. 
 
 But, lest some unlucky event should happen, un- 
 favorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remem- 
 bered by every gentleman in the room, that I, this day, 
 declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think my- 
 self equal to the command I am honored with. 
 
 As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, 
 that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted 
 me to accept this arduous employment at the expense 
 of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to 
 make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account 
 of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will dis- 
 charge ; and that is all I desire. 
 
 II. TO MRS. MARTHA WASHINGTON. 
 
 My Dearest: I am now set down to write to 
 you on a subject which fills me with inexpressible 
 concern, and this concern is greatly aggravated and 
 increased when 1 reflect upon the uneasiness I know 
 it will give you. It has been determined in Congress, 
 that the whole army raised for the defence of the 
 American cause shall be put under my care, and tha- 
 it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston 
 to take upon me the command of it. 
 
46 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 You may believe me, my clear Patsy, when I assure 
 you in the most solemn manner, that, so far from seek- 
 ing this appointment, I have used every endeavor in 
 my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness 
 to part with you and the family, but from a conscious* 
 ness of its being a trust too great for my capacity, and 
 that I should enjoy more real happiness in one month 
 with you at home, than I have the most distant pros- 
 pect of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven 
 times seven years. But as it has been a kind of des- 
 tiny that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope 
 that my undertaking it is designed to answer some good 
 purpose. You might, and I suppose did perceive, from 
 the tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive I could 
 not avoid this appointment, as I did not pretend to in- 
 timate when I should return. That was the case. It 
 "was utterly out of my power to refuse this appoint- 
 ment without exposing my character to such censures 
 as would have reflected dishonor upon myself, and 
 given pain to my friends. This, I am sure, could not, 
 and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and must have 
 lessened me considerably in my own esteem. I shall 
 rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence which 
 has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, 
 not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the 
 fall. I shall feel no pain from the toil or the danger 
 of the campaign ; my unhappiness will flow from the 
 uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone. 
 I therefore beg that you will summon your whole for- 
 titude, and pass your time as agreeably as possible. 
 Nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as 
 to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen. My 
 earnest and ardent desire is, that you would pursue any 
 plan that is most likely to produce content and a toL 
 
FAMILIAR LETTERS. 47 
 
 erable degree of tranquillity ; as it must add greatly 
 to my uneasy feelings to hear that you are dissatisfied 
 or complaining at what I really could not avoid. 
 
 As life is always uncertain, and common prudence 
 dictates to every man the necessity of settling his tem- 
 poral concerns while it is in his power, and while the 
 mind is calm and undisturbed, I have, since I came to 
 this place (for I had not time to do it before I left 
 home), got Colonel Pendleton to draft a will for me, 
 by the directions I gave him, which I will now enclose. 
 The provision made for you in case of my death, will, 
 I hope, be agreeable. 
 
 I shall add nothing more, as I have several letters 
 to write, but to desire that you will remember me to 
 your friends, and to assure you that I am, with the 
 most unfeigned regard, my dear Patsy, your affection- 
 ate, (&C. 
 
 III. TO LUND WASHINGTON. 
 
 I well know where the difficulty of accomplishing 
 these things will lie. Overseers are already engaged, 
 upon shares, to look after my business. Remote ad- 
 vantages to me, however manifest and beneficial, are 
 nothing to them ; and to engage standing wages, when 
 I do not know that anything that I have or can raise 
 will command cash, is attended with hazard ; for which 
 reason I hardly know what more to say than to dis- 
 cover to you my wishes. The same reason, althougt 
 it may in appearance have the same tendency in re- 
 spect to you, shall not be the same in its operation : 
 for I will engage for the year coming, and the year 
 following, if these troubles and my absence continue, 
 that your wages shall be standing and certain, at the 
 highest amount, that any one year's crop has produced 
 
48 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 to you yet. I do not offer this as any temptation to 
 induce you to go on more cheerfully in prosecuting 
 these schemes of mine. I should do injustice to you, 
 were I not to acknowledge that your conduct has ever 
 appeared to me above everything sordid ; but I offer it 
 in consideration of the great charge you have upon 
 your hands, and my entire dependence upon your 
 fidelity and industry. 
 
 It is the greatest, indeed it is the only comfortable 
 reflection I enjoy on this score, that my business is in 
 the hands of a person concerning whose integrity I 
 have not a doubt, and on whose care 1 can rely. Were 
 it not for this, I should feel very unhappy on account 
 of the situation of my affairs ; but I am persuaded 
 you will do for me as you would for yourself, and more 
 than this I cannot expect. 
 
 Let the hospitality of the house with respect to the 
 poor be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If 
 any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, 
 supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage 
 them in idleness ; and I have no objection to your 
 giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty or 
 fifty pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. 
 What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my 
 desire that it should be done. You are to consider, 
 that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do 
 these good offices. In all other respects I recommend 
 it to you, and have no doubt of your observing the 
 greatest economy and frugality ; as I suppose you 
 know that I do not get a farthing for my services here, 
 more than my expenses. It becomes necessary, there- 
 fore, for me to be saving at home. 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 49 
 
 VI. 
 
 IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 On the 2d day of July, 1775, Washington arrived at Cam= 
 bridge where the little army which he was to command was 
 gathered. The next day, with Lee and other officers he rode to'^ 
 the Common, and there, under an elm-tree still standing, took 
 command of the American army. The men were in companies 
 of various sizes, under captains and other officers who had very 
 little authority over the privates, who usually elected their own 
 commander. A visitor to the camp relates a dialogue which he 
 heard between a captain and one of the privates under him. 
 
 " Bill,'' said the captain, " go and bring a pail of water for the 
 men." 
 
 " I shan't," said Bill. " It 's your turn now, captain ; I got 
 it last time." 
 
 But the men, though under very little discipline, were good 
 stuff out of which to make soldiers. Most of them were in dead 
 earnest, and they brought, besides courage, great skill in the 
 use of the ordinary musket. A story is told of a company of 
 riflemen raised in one of the frontier counties of Pennsylvania. 
 So many volunteers applied as to embarrass the leader who 
 was enlisting the company, and he drew on a board with chalk 
 the figure of a nose of the common size, placed the board at a 
 distance of a hundred and fifty yards, and then declared he 
 would take only those who could hit the mark. Over sixty suc- 
 ceeded. " General Gage, take care of your nose," says the news- 
 paper that tells the story. General Gage was at that time the 
 commander of the British forces in Boston. 
 
 As soon as he could look about him and see what he had to 
 depend upon, and what he needed, Washington wrote to the 
 President of Congress, and began that series of letters which 
 continued throughout the war. His first letter was written a 
 week after he took command. He wrote also to his familiar 
 friends and family, and a second letter is here given to his 
 brother John. A third letter, written in the winter following to 
 Joseph Reed, shows what difficulty Washington found in carry- 
 ing on the siege. 
 
50 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 I. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Camp at Cambridge, 10 July, 1775. 
 Sir : I arrived safe at this place on the 3d instant, 
 after a journey attended with a good deal of fatigue, 
 and retarded by necessary attentions to the successive 
 civilities, which accompanied me in my whole route. 
 
 Upon my arrival, I immediately visited the several 
 posts occupied by our troops ; and, as soon as the 
 weather permitted, reconnoitred those of the enemy. 
 I found the latter strongly intrenching on Bunker's 
 Hill, about a mile from Charlestown, and advanced 
 about a mile from the place of the late action, with 
 their sentries extended about one hundred and fifty 
 yards on this side of the narrowest part of the neck 
 leading from this place to Charlestown. Three float- 
 ing batteries lie in Mystic River near their camp, and 
 one twenty-gun ship below the ferry- place between 
 Boston and Charlestown. They have also a battery on 
 Cops Hill, on the Boston side, which much annoyed 
 our troops in the late attack. Upon Roxbury Neck, 
 they are also deeply intrenched and strongly fortified. 
 Their advanced guards, till last Saturday, occupied 
 Brown's houses, about a mile from Roxbury meeting- 
 i house, and twenty rods from their lines; but at that 
 ;time a party from General Thomas's camp surprised 
 the guard, drove them in, and burned the houses. 
 The bulk of their army, commanded by General Howe, 
 lies on Bunker's Hill, and the remainder on Roxbury 
 Neck, except the light-horse and a few men in the 
 town of Boston. 
 
 On our side, we have thrown up intrenchments on 
 Winter and Prospect Hills, the enemy's camp in full 
 view, at the distance of little more than a mile. Such 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 51 
 
 intermediate points as would admit a landing, I have 
 since my arrival taken care to strengthen, down to 
 Sewall's farm, where a strong intrenchment has been 
 thrown up. At Roxbury, General Thomas has thrown 
 up a strong work on the hill, about two hundred 
 yards above the meeting-house ; which, with the bro- 
 kenness of the ground, and a great number of rocks, 
 has made that pass very secure. The troops raised in 
 New Hampshire, with a regiment from Rhode Island, 
 occupy Winter Hill ; a part of those from Connecti- 
 cut, under General Putnam, are on Prospect Hill. 
 The troops in this town are entirely of the Massachu- 
 setts ; the remainder of the Rhode Island men are at 
 Sewall's farm. Two regiments of Connecticut, and 
 nine of the Massachusetts, are at Roxbury. The resi- 
 due of the army, to the number of about seven hun- 
 dred, are posted in several small towns along the 
 coast, to prevent the depredations of the enemy. 
 
 Upon the whole, I think myself authorized to say, 
 that, considering the great extent of line and the na- 
 ture of the ground, we are as well secured as could be 
 expected in so short a time, and with the disadvan- 
 tages we labor under. These consist in a want of en- 
 gineers to construct proper works and direct the men, 
 a want of tools, and a sufficient number of men to 
 man the works in case of an attack. You will observe, 
 by the proceedings of the council of war, v^hich I 
 have the honor to enclose, that it is our unanimous 
 opinion to hold and defend these works as long as 
 possible. The discouragement it would give the men, 
 and its contrary effects on the ministerial troops, thus 
 to abandon our encampment in their face, formed with 
 so much labor and expense, added to the certain de- 
 struction of a considerable and valuable extent of 
 
52 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 country, and our uncertainty of finding a place in all 
 respects so capable of making a stand, are leading 
 reasons for this determination. At the same time we 
 are very sensible of the difficulties which attend the 
 defence of lines of so great extent, and the dangers 
 which may ensue from such a division of the army. 
 
 My earnest wish to comply with the instructions o£ 
 the Congress, in making an early and complete return 
 of the state of the army, has led to an involuntary de- 
 lay of addressing you ; which has given me much 
 concern. Having given orders for that purpose im- 
 mediately on my arrival, and not then so well apprised 
 of the imperfect obedience which had been paid to 
 those of the like nature from General Ward, I was 
 led from day to day to expect they would come in, and 
 therefore detained the messenger. They are not now 
 so complete as I could wish ; but much allowance is 
 to be made for inexperience in forms, and a liberty 
 which had been taken (not given) on the subject. 
 These reasons, I flatter myself, will no longer exist ; 
 and, of consequence, more regularity and exactness 
 will in future prevail. This, with a necessary atten- 
 tion to the lines, the movements of the ministerial 
 troops, and our immediate security, must be my apol- 
 ogy, which I beg you to lay before Congress with the 
 utmost duty and respect. 
 
 We labor under great disadvantages for want of 
 tents ; for, though they have been helped out by a col- 
 lection of sails from the seaport towns, the number is 
 far short of our necessities. The colleges and houses 
 of this town are necessarily occupied by the troops ; 
 which affords another reason for keeping our present 
 station. But I most sincerely wish the whole army 
 was properly provided to take the field, as I am well 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 63 
 
 assured, that, besides greater expedition and activity 
 in case of alarm, it would highly conduce to health 
 and discipline. As materials are not to be had here, 
 I would beg leave to recommend the procuring of a 
 farther supply from Philadelphia as soon as possible. 
 
 I should be extremely deficient in gratitude, as well 
 as justice, if I did not take the first opportunity to 
 acknowledge the readiness and attention, which the 
 Provincial Congress^ and different committees have 
 shown, to make everything as convenient and agree- 
 able as possible. But there is a vital and inherent 
 principle of delay incompatible with military service, 
 in transacting business through such numerous and 
 different channels. I esteem it, therefore, my duty to 
 represent the inconvenience which must unavoidably 
 ensue from a dependence on a number of persons for 
 supplies ; and submit it to the consideration of Con^ 
 gress, whether the public service will not be best pro- 
 moted by appointing a commissary-general for these 
 purposes. We have a striking instance of the prefer- 
 ence of such a mode, in the establishment of Connect- 
 icut, as their troops are extremely well provided 
 under the direction of Mr. Trumbull, and he has at 
 different times assisted others with various articles. 
 Should my sentiments happily coincide with those of 
 your Honors on this subject, I beg leave to propose 
 Mr. Trumbull as a very proper person for this depart- 
 ment. In the arrangement of troops collected under 
 such circumstances, and upon the spur of immediate 
 necessity, several appofntments have been omitted, 
 which appear to be indispensably necessary for the 
 good government of the army, particularly a quarter- 
 
 ^ That is, the congress formed by the patriots in Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
64 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 master-general, a commissary of musters, and a com- 
 missary of artillery. These I must particularly recom- 
 mend to the notice and provision of the Congress. 
 
 I find myself already much embarrassed for want 
 of a military chest. These embarrassments will in- 
 crease every day. I must therefore most earnestly 
 request that money may be forwarded as soon as pos- 
 sible. The want of this most necessary article will, I 
 fear, produce great inconveniences, if not prevented 
 by an early attention. I find the army in general, 
 and the troops raised in Massachusetts in particular, 
 very deficient in necessary clothing. Upon inquiry, 
 there appears no probability of obtaining any supplies 
 in this quarter ; and, on the best consideration of this 
 matter I am able to form, I am of opinion that a num- 
 ber of hunting-shirts, not less than ten thousand, 
 would in a great degree remove this difficulty, in the 
 cheapest and quickest manner. I know nothing, in 
 a speculative view, more trivial, yet which, if put in 
 practice, would have a happier tendency to unite the 
 men, and abolish those provincial distinctions that 
 lead to jealousy and dissatisfaction. 
 
 In a former part of this letter I mentioned the 
 •want of engineers. I can hardly express the disap- 
 pointment I have experienced on this subject, the skill 
 of those we have being very imperfect, and confined to 
 the mere manual exercise of cannon ; whereas the war 
 in which we are engaged requires a knowledge, com- 
 prehending the duties of the field, and fortification. 
 If any persons thus qualified are to be found in the 
 southern colonies, it would be of great public service 
 to forward them with all expedition. 
 
 Upon the article of ammunition I must reecho the 
 former complaints on this subject. We are so exceed- 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 65 
 
 ingly destitute, that our artillery will be of little use, 
 without a supply both large and seasonable. What 
 we have must be reserved for the small arms, and that 
 managed with the utmost frugality. 
 
 I am very sorry to observe that the appointment of 
 general officers, in the provinces of Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut, has not corresponded with the wishes and 
 judgment of either the civil or military. The great 
 dissatisfaction expressed on this subject, and the ap- 
 parent danger of throwing the whole army into the ut- 
 most disorder, together with the strong representations 
 made by the Provincial Congress, have induced me to 
 retain the commissions in my hands until the pleasure 
 of the Continental Congress should be further known, 
 except General Putnam's, which was given the day I 
 came to the camp, and before I was apprised of these 
 disgusts. In such a step, I must beg the Congress 
 will do me the justice to believe that I have been 
 actuated solely by a regard to the public good. 
 
 I have not, nor could I have, any private attach- 
 ments ; every gentleman in appointment was a stranger 
 to me, but from character; I must, therefore, rely 
 upon the candor and indulgence of Congress for their 
 most favorable construction of my conduct in this 
 particular. General Spencer's disgust was so great at 
 General Putnam's promotion, that he left the army 
 without visiting me, or making known his intention in 
 any respect. ^ 
 
 General Pomroy had also retired before my arrival, 
 occasioned, as it is said, by some disappointment from 
 the Provincial Congress. General Thomas is much 
 esteemed, and most earnestly desired to continue in 
 the service ; and, as far as my opportunities have en- 
 abled me to judge, I must join in the general opinion. 
 
56 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 that he is an able, good officer ; and his resignation 
 would be a public loss. The postponing of him to 
 Pomroy and Heath, whom he has commanded, would 
 make his continuance very difficult, and probably oper- 
 ate on his mind, as the like circumstances did on that 
 of Spencer. 
 
 The state of the army you will find ascertained with 
 tolerable precision in the returns which accompany 
 this letter. Upon finding the number of men to fall so 
 far short of the establishment, and below all expecta- 
 tion, I immediately called a council of the general 
 officers, whose opinion as to the mode of filling up the 
 regiments, and providing for the present exigency, I 
 have the honor of enclosing, together with the best 
 judgment we are able to form of the ministerial troops. 
 From the number of boys, deserters, and negroes, that 
 have been enlisted in the troops of this province, I 
 entertain some doubts whether the number required 
 can be raised here ; and all the general officers agree 
 that no dependence can be put on the militia for a 
 continuance in camp, or regularity and discipline dur- 
 ing the short time they may stay. This unhappy and 
 devoted province has been so long in a state of an^ 
 archy, and the yoke of ministerial ojDpression has been 
 laid so heavily on it, that great allowances are to 
 be made for troops raised under such circumstances. 
 The deficiency of numbers, discipline, and stores, can 
 only lead to this conclusion, that their spirit has ex- 
 ceeded their strength. But, at the same time, I would 
 humbly submit to the consideration of Congress the 
 propriety of making some further provision of men 
 from the other colonies. If these regiments should be 
 completed to their establishment, the dismission of 
 those unfit for duty, on account of their age and char- 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 67 
 
 acter, would occasion a considerable reduction ; and, at 
 all events, they have been enlisted upon such terms 
 that they may be disbanded when other troops arrive. 
 But should my apprehensions be realized, and the regi- 
 ments here not be filled up, the public cause would 
 suffer by an absolute dependence upon so doubtful an 
 event, unless some provision is made against such a 
 disappointment. 
 
 It requires no military skill to judge of the difficulty 
 of introducing proper discipline and subordination 
 into an army, while we have the enemy in view, and 
 are in daily expectation of an attack ; but it is of so 
 much importance that every effort v.'ill be made to 
 this end which time and circumstances will admit. In 
 the mean time, I have a sincere pleasure in observing, 
 that there are materials for a good army, a great num- 
 ber of able-bodied men, active, zealous in the cause, 
 and of unquestionable courage. 
 
 I am now, sir, to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 favor of the 28th of June, enclosing the resolutions of 
 Congress of the 27th, and a copy of a letter from the 
 Committee of Albany ; to all which I shall pay due 
 attention. 
 
 Generals Gates and Sullivan have both arrived in 
 good health. 
 
 f My best abilities are at all times devoted to the ser- 
 ' vice of my country ; but I feel the weight, importance, 
 and variety of my present duties too sensibly, not to 
 wish a more immediate and frequent communication 
 with the Congress. I fear it may often happen, in the 
 course of our present operations, that I shall need 
 that assistance and direction from them, which time 
 and distance will not allow me to receive. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have also to acknowledge 
 
68 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 your favor of the 4th instant by Fessenden, and the 
 receipt of the commissions and articles of war. Among 
 the other returns, I have also sent one of our killed, 
 wounded, and missing, in the late action ; but have 
 been able to procure no certain account of the loss of 
 the ministerial troops. My best intelligence fixes it 
 at about five hundr3d killed and six or seven hundred 
 wounded ; but it is no more than conjecture, the utmost 
 pains being taken on their side to conceal their loss. 
 
 Having ordered the commanding officer to give me 
 the earliest intelligence of every motion of the enemy 
 by land or water, discernible from the heights of his 
 camp, I this instant, as I was closing my letter, re- 
 ceived the enclosed from the brigade-major. The de- 
 sign of this manoeuvre I know not ; perhaps it may 
 be to make a descent somewhere along the coast ; it 
 may be for New York ; or it may be practised as a 
 deception on us. I thought it not improper, however, 
 to mention the matter to you ; I have done the same 
 to the commanding officer at New York ; and I shall 
 let it be known to the Committee of Safety here, so 
 that intelligence may be communicated, as they shall 
 think best, along the sea-coast of this government. 
 I have the honor to be, etc. 
 
 II. TO JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Camp at CAMBRroGE, 27 July, 1775. 
 
 Dear Brother: On the 2d instant I arrived at 
 this place, after passing through a great deal of de- 
 lightful country, covered with grass (although the 
 season has been dry), in a manner very different from 
 our lands in Virginia. 
 
 I found a mixed multitude of people here, under 
 very little discipline, order, or government ; the enemy 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 59 
 
 in possession of a place called Bunker's Hill on 
 Charlestown Neck, strongly intrenched, and fortifying 
 themselves ; part of our own army on two hills, called 
 Winter and Prospect Hills, about a mile and a quar 
 ter from the enemy on Bunker's Hill, in a very inse- 
 cure state ; another part at this village ; and a third 
 part at Eoxbury, guarding the entrance in and out of 
 Boston. My whole time, since I came here, has been 
 employed in throwing up lines of defence at these three 
 several places, to secure, in the first instance, our own 
 troops from any attempts of the enemy ; and, in the 
 next place, to cut oif all communication between their 
 troops and the country. To do this, and to prevent 
 them from penetrating into the country with fire and 
 sword, and to harass them if they do, is all that is ex- 
 pected of me. If effected, it must totally overthrow 
 the designs of administration, as the whole force of 
 Great Britain in the town and harbor of Boston can 
 answer no other end than to sink her under the dis- 
 grace and weight of the expense. The enemy's 
 strength, including marine forces, is computed, from the 
 best accounts I can get, at about twelve thousand men ; 
 ours, including sick and absent, at about sixteen thou- 
 sand ; but then we have to guard a semicircle of eight 
 or nine miles, to every part of which we are obliged 
 to be equally attentive ; whilst they, situated as it were 
 in the centre of the semicircle, and having the entire 
 command of the water, can bend their w^hole force 
 against any one part of it with equal facility. This 
 renders our situation not very agreeable, though neces- 
 sary. However, by incessant labor, Sundays not ex- 
 cepted, we are in a much better posture of defence 
 now than when I first came. The enclosed, though 
 rough, will give you some small idea of Boston and 
 
60 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 the Bay on this side, as also of the post they have 
 taken on Charlestown Neck at Bunker's Hill, and of 
 our posts. 
 
 The enemy are sickly and in want of fresh pro- 
 visions. Beef, which is chiefly got by slaughtering 
 their milch cows in Boston, sells from one shilling to 
 eighteen pence sterling per pound ; and that it may not 
 become cheaper or more plenty, I have driven all the 
 stock within a considerable distance of this place 
 back into the country, out of the way of the men- 
 of-war's boats. In short, I have done, and shall 
 continue to do, everything in my power to distress 
 them. The transports have all arrived, and their 
 whole reinforcement is landed, so that I can see no 
 reason why they should not, if they ever attempt it, 
 come boldly out, and put the matter to issue at once. 
 If they think themselves not strong enough to do this, 
 they surely will carry their arms (having ships of war 
 and transports ready) to some other part of the conti- 
 nent, or relinquish the dispute ; the last of which the 
 ministry, unless compelled, will never agree to do. 
 Our works and those of the enemy are so near, and 
 the space between is so open, that each sees everything 
 the other is doing. 
 
 I recollect nothing more worth mentioning. I shall 
 therefore conclude, with my best wishes and love to 
 my sister and the family, and compliments to any in- 
 quiring friends. 
 
 Your most affectionate brother. 
 
 III. TO JOSEPH REED. 
 
 Cambridge, 14 January^ 1776. 
 Dear Sir The bearer presents an opportunity 
 to me of acknowledging the receipt of your favor of 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE 61 
 
 the 30th ultimo, which never came to my hands till 
 last night, and, if I have not done it before, of your 
 other letter of the 23d precediDg. 
 
 The hints you have communicated from time to 
 time not only deserve, but do most sincerely and cor- 
 dially meet with my thanks. You cannot render a 
 more acceptable service, nor in my estimation give me 
 a more convincing proof of your friendship, than by a 
 free, open, and undisguised account of every matter 
 relative to myself or conduct. I can bear to hear of 
 imputed or real errors. The man who wishes to stand 
 well in the opinion of others, must do this ; because 
 he is thereby enabled to correct his faults or remove 
 the prejudices wliich are imbibed against him. For 
 this reason, I shall thank you for giving me the opin- 
 ions of the world upon such points as you know me to 
 be interested in ; for, as I have but one capital object 
 in view, I could wish to make my conduct coincide 
 with the wishes of mankind, as far as I can consist- 
 ently ; I mean, without departing from that great line 
 of duty which, though hid under ^ cloud for some 
 time, from a peculiarity of circumstances, may never- 
 theless bear a scrutiny. 
 
 My constant attention to the great and perplexing 
 objects, which continually rise to my view, absorbs all 
 lesser considerations, and indeed scarcely allows me to 
 reflect that there is such a body in existence as the 
 General Court of this colony, but when I am reminded 
 of it by a committee ; nor can I, upon recollection, dis- 
 cover in what instances (I wish they would be more 
 explicit) I have been inattentive to, or slighted them. 
 They could not, surely, conceive that there was a pro- 
 priety in unbosoming the secrets of an army to them r 
 that it was necessary to ask their opinion of throwing 
 
62 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 up an intrenchment, or forming a battalion. It must 
 therefore, be what I before hinted to you ; and how t^ 
 remedy it I hardly know, as I am acquainted with few 
 of the members, never go out of my own lines, nor see 
 any of them in them. 
 
 I am exceedingly sorry to hear that your little fieef 
 has been shut in by the frost. I hope it has sailed ere 
 this, and given you some proof of the utility of it. 
 and enabled the Congress to bestow a little more at- 
 tention to the affairs of this army, which suffers ex- 
 ceedingly by their overmuch business, or too little 
 attention to it. We are now without any money in. 
 our treasury, powder in our magazines, or arms in our 
 stores. We are without a brigadier (the want of 
 whom has been twenty times urged), engineers, ex- 
 presses (though a committee has been appointed these 
 two months to establish them), and by and by, when 
 we shall be called upon to take the field, shall not have 
 a tent to lie in. Apropos, what is doing with mine ? 
 
 These are evils, but small in comparison of those 
 which disturb my present repose. Our enlistments 
 are at a stand ; the fears I ever entertained are real- 
 ized ; that is, the discontented officers (for I do not 
 know how else to account for it) have thrown such 
 difficulties or stumbling-blocks in the way of recruit- 
 ing, that I no longer entertain a hope of completing the 
 army by voluntary enlistments, and I see no move or 
 likelihood to do it by other means. In the two last 
 weeks we have enlisted but about a thousand men ; 
 whereas I was confidently led to believe, by all the 
 officers I conversed with, that we should by this time 
 have had the regiments nearly completed. Our total 
 number upon paper amounts to about ten thousand 
 five hundred ; but as a large portion of these are re 
 
IN CAMP AT CAMBRIDGE. 63 
 
 turned not joined, I never expect to receive tliem, as 
 an ineffectual order has once issued to call them in„ 
 Another is now gone forth, peremptorily requiring all 
 officers, under pain of being cashiered, and recruits of 
 being treated as deserters, to join their respective reg- 
 iments by the 1st day of next month, that I may know 
 my real strength ; but if my fears are not imaginary, 
 I shall have a dreadful account of the advanced 
 month's pay. In consequence of the assurances given, 
 and my expectation of having at least men enough 
 enlisted to defend our lines, to which may be added 
 my unwillingness to burden the cause with unneces- 
 sary expense, no relief of militia has been ordered in 
 to supply the places of those who are released from 
 their engagements to-morrow, and as to whom, though 
 many have promised to continue out the month, there 
 is no security for their stay. 
 
 Thus am I situated with respect to men. With re- 
 gard to arms I am yet worse off. Before the dissolu- 
 tion of the old army, I issued an order directing three 
 judicious men of each brigade to attend, review, and 
 appraise the good arms of every regiment ; and find- 
 ing a very great unwillingness in the men to part with 
 their arms, at the same time not having it in my power 
 to pay them for the months of November and Decem- 
 ber, I threatened severely, that every soldier, who 
 should carry away his firelock without leave, should 
 never receive pay for those months ; yet so many have 
 been carried off, partly by stealth, but chiefly as con- 
 demned, that we have not at this time one hundred 
 guns in the stores, of all that have been taken in the 
 prize-ship and from the soldiery, notwithstanding our 
 regiments are not half complete. At the same time 
 I am told, and believe it, that to restrain the enlist- 
 
64 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 ment to men with arms, you will get but few of the 
 former, and still fewer of the latter which would be 
 good for anything. 
 
 How to get furnished I know not. I have applied 
 to this and the neighboring colonies, but with what 
 success time only can tell. The reflection on my situ- 
 ation, and that of this army, produces many an un = 
 happy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep* 
 Few people know the predicament we are in, on a 
 thousand accounts ; fewer still will believe, if any dis- 
 aster happens to these lines, from what cause it flowsv 
 I have often thought how much happier I should have 
 been, if, instead of accepting the command under such 
 circumstances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder 
 and entered the ranks, or, if I could have justified 
 the measure to posterity and my own conscience, had 
 retired to the back country, and lived in a wigwam. 
 If I shall be able to rise superior to these and many 
 other difficulties which might be enumerated, I shall 
 most religiously believe that the finger of Providence 
 is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies ; for surely 
 if we get well through this month, it must be for want 
 of their knowing the disadvantages we labor under. 
 
 Could I have foreseen the difficulties which have 
 come upon us ; could I have known that such a back- 
 wardness would have been discovered among the old 
 soldiers to the service, all the generals upon earth 
 should not have convinced me of the propriety of de- 
 laying an attack upon Boston till this time. When it 
 can now be attempted, I will not undertake to say ; 
 but thus much I will answer for, that no opportunity 
 can present itself earlier than my wishes. But as this 
 letter discloses some interesting truths, I shall be 
 somewhat uneasy until I hear it gets to your hands, 
 although the conveyance is thought safe. 
 
MR. OR GENERAL WASHINGTON. ^5 
 
 VII. 
 
 MR. WASHINGTON OR GENERAL WASHINGTON. 
 
 Not long after the declaration of independence an English 
 flset arrived in New York Bay, bringing a large body of troops, 
 under the command of Lo?d Howe, who with his brother. Ad- 
 miral Howe, had been appointed commissioners to treat with the 
 Americans. In reality, they only brought a promise of pardon 
 to rebels. It was very clear to Washington that the British 
 government had not the slightest intention of listening to the 
 grievances of the colonies with a desire to redress them ; but that 
 they meant by these proposals to distract the colonies if possible 
 and build up a party among them that would oppose the action of 
 Congress. There was a little incident attending the arrival of 
 the commissioners that showed the feeling which prevailed. The 
 letter which follows, written by Washington to the President of 
 Congress, describes the affair. Possibly it sounds like very small 
 business. In reality it meant a great deal. Were Washington and 
 other officers rebels against the king, or were they the officers of a 
 government which had declared itself independent of the king ? 
 Lord Howe gave up trying to force Washington into the trap, and 
 wrote to his government that it would be necessary in future to 
 give the American commander his title. Little things like this 
 went a great way toward making the people stand erect anc' 
 look the world in the face. 
 
 TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 New York, 14 July, 1776. 
 Sir : General Sullivan, in a letter of the 2d instant^ 
 informs me of his arrival with the army at Crown 
 Point, where he is fortifying and throwing up works. 
 He adds, that he has secured all the stores except 
 three cannon left at Chamblee, which in part is made 
 up by taking a fine twelve-pounder out of the lake. 
 The army is sickly, many with the small-pox ; and he 
 is apprehensive the militia, ordered to Join them, will 
 
66 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 not escape the infection. An officer, whom he had 
 sent to reconnoitre, had reported that he saw at St. 
 John's about a 'hundred and fifty tents, twenty at St. 
 Koy's, and fifteen at Chamblee ; and works at the 
 first were busily carrying on. 
 
 About three o'clock this afternoon I was informed^ 
 that a flag from Lord Howe .was coming up, and 
 waited with two of our whale-boats until directions 
 should be given. I immediately convened such of the 
 general officers as were not upon other duty, who 
 agreed in opinion that I ought not to receive any letter 
 directed to me as a private gentleman ; but if other- 
 wise, and the officer desired to come up to deliver the 
 letter himself, as was suggested, he should come under 
 a safe-conduct. Upon this, I directed Colonel Reed 
 to go down and manage the affair under the above 
 general instruction. On his return he informed me, 
 that, after the common civilities, the officer acquainted 
 him that he had a letter from Lord Howe to Mr. 
 Washington, which he showed under a superscription, 
 "To George Washington, Esq." Colonel Reed re- 
 plied that there was no such person in the army, and 
 that a letter intended for the General could not be re- 
 ceived under such a direction. The officer expressed 
 great concern, said it was a letter rather of a civil 
 than military nature, that Lord Howe regretted he 
 had not arrived sooner, that he (Lord Howe) had 
 great powers. The anxiety to have the letter received 
 was very evident, though the officer disclaimed all 
 knowledge of its contents. However, Colonel Reed's 
 instructions being positive, they parted. After they 
 had got some distance, the officer with the flag again 
 put about, and asked under what direction Mr. Wash- 
 ington chose to be addressed , to which Colonel Reed 
 
MR. OR GENERAL WASHINGTON. 67 
 
 answered that his station was well known, and that 
 certainly they could be at no loss how to direct to hinio 
 The officer said they knew and lamented it ; and again 
 repeated his wish, that the letter could be received. 
 Colonel Reed told him a proper direction would ob- 
 via.te all difficulties, and that this was no new matter, 
 this subject having been fully discussed in the course 
 of the last year, of which Lord Howe could not be 
 ignorant ; upon which they parted. 
 
 I would not upon any occasion sacrifice essentials ^^* 
 punctilio ; but in this instance, the opinion of others 
 concurring with my own, I deemed it a duty to my 
 country and my appointment to insist upon that re- 
 spect which, in any other than a public view, I would 
 willingly have waived. Nor do I doubt but, from the 
 supposed nature of the message, and the anxiety ex- 
 pressed, they will either repeat their flag, or fall upon 
 some mode to communicate the import and conse- 
 quence of it. 
 
 The passage of the ships of war and tenders up the 
 river is a matter of great importance, and has excited 
 much conjecture and speculation. To me two things 
 have occurred as leading them to this proceeding: 
 first, a design to seize on the narrow passes on both 
 sides of the river, giving almost the only land com- 
 munication with Albany, and of consequence with our 
 northern army, for which purpose they might have 
 troops concealed on board, which they deemed compe- 
 tent of themselves, as the defiles are narrow ; or that 
 they would be joined by many disaffected persons in 
 that quarter. Others have added a probability of 
 their having a large quantity of arms on board, to be 
 in readiness to put into the hands of the Tories im- 
 mediately on the arrival of the fleet, or rather at the 
 
68 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 time they intend to make the/i- attack. The second is, 
 to cut off entirely all intercourse between this place 
 and Albany by water, and the upper countr\^, and 
 to prevent supplies of every kind from going and 
 coming. 
 
 These matters are truly alarming, and of such im- 
 portance, that I have written to the Provincial Con- 
 gress of New York, and recommended to their serious 
 consideration the adoption of every possible expedient 
 to guard against the two first ; and have suggested 
 the propriety of their employing the militia, or some 
 part of them, in the counties in which these defiles 
 are, to keep the enemy from possessing them, till fur- 
 ther provision can be made ; and to write to the sev- 
 eral leading persons on our side in that quarter to be 
 attentive to all the movements of the ships and the 
 disaffected, in order to discover and frustrate what- 
 ever pernicious schemes they have in view. 
 
 In respect to the second conjecture of my own, and 
 which seems to be generally adopted, I have the pleas- 
 ure to inform Congress, that, if their design is to 
 keep the armies from provision, the commissary has 
 told me upon inquiry, that he has forwarded supplies 
 to Albany (now^ there and above it) sufficient for 
 ten thousand men for four months; that he has a 
 sufficiency here for twenty thousand men for three 
 months, and an abundant quantity secured in different 
 parts of the Jerseys for the Flying Camp, besides 
 having about four thousand barrels of flour in some 
 neighboring part of Connecticut. Upon this head, 
 there is but little occasion for aT?y apprehensions, at 
 least for a considerable time. 
 
AT VALLEY FORGE, 69 
 
 VIII. 
 AT VALLEY FORGE, 
 
 Th£ American army was defeated at the battle of Brandy- 
 >viLt, September 10, 1777. Afterward, at Germantown, it had 
 btttei- fortune, but the British were in possession of Philadelphia, 
 and Washington led his army into winter - quarters at Valley 
 Forge. The place was equally distant with Philadelphia from 
 tho Brandy wine and from the ferry across the Delaware into 
 Ntw Jersey. It was too far from Philadelphia to be in peril from 
 attack, and yet it was so near that the American army could, if 
 op^3ortunity offered, descend quickly upon the city. Then it 
 was so protected by hills and streams that the addition of a few 
 lines of fortification made it very secure. 
 
 But there was no town at Valley Forge, and it became neces- 
 sary to provide some shelter for the soldiers other than the can- 
 vas tents which served in the field in summer. It was the middle 
 of December when the army began preparations for the winter, 
 and Washington gave directions for the building of the little 
 village. Each hut was to hold twelve persons, and was to be 
 fourteen feet by sixteen, the sides, ends, and roof to be made of 
 logs, and the sides made tight with clay. There was to be a fire- 
 place in the rear of each hut, built of wood, but lined with clay 
 eighteen inches thick. The walls were to be six and a half feet 
 high. Huts were also to be provided for the officers, and to be 
 placed in the rear of those occupied by the troops. All these were 
 to be regularly arranged in streets. A visitor to the camp when 
 the huts were being built wrote of the army : " They appear to 
 me like a family of beavers, every one busy ; some carrying logs, 
 others mud, and the rest plastering them together." It was 
 bitter cold, and for a month the men were hard at work. 
 
 But in what sort of condition were the men themselves when 
 they began this work ? Here is a picture of one of these men 
 on his way to Valley Forge. " His bare feet peep through his 
 worn-out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the tattered remains 
 of an only pair of stockings, his breeches not enough to cover 
 his nakedness, his shirt hanging in strings, his hair disheveled, his 
 face wan and thin, his look hungry his whole appearance that of 
 
7G GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 a man forsaken and neglected." And the snow was falling! 
 This was one of the privates. The officers were scarcel}/ 
 better off. One was wrajjped " in a sort of dressing-gown made 
 from an old blanket or woolen bed-cover." The uniforms were 
 torn and ragged ; the guns were rusty ; a few only had bayo 
 nets ; the soldiers carried their powder in tin boxes and cow 
 horns. 
 
 To explain why this army was so poor and forlorn, would bk. 
 to tell a long story. It may be summed up briefly in these 
 words : the army was not taken care of because there was no 
 country to take care of it. There were thirteen States, and each 
 of these States sent troops into the field, but all of the States 
 were jealous of each other. There was a Congress, which under- 
 took to direct the war, but the members of Congress, coming 
 from the several States, were jealous of one another. The first 
 fervor with which they had talked about a common country had 
 died away ; there were some very selfish men in Congress, who 
 could not be patriotic enough to think of the whole country. 
 
 The truth is, it takes a long time for the people of a country to 
 come to feel that they have a country. Up to the time of the war 
 for independence the people in America did not care much for 
 one another or for America. They had really been preparing to 
 be a nation, but they did not know it. They were angry with 
 Great Britain, and they knew they had been wronged. They were 
 therefore ready to fight ; but it does not require so much courage 
 to fight as to endure suffering and to be patient. So it was 
 that the people of America who were most conscious that they 
 were Americans were the men who were in the army, and their 
 wives and mothers and sisters at home. All these were making 
 sacrifices for their country and so learning to love it. The men 
 in the army came from different States, and there was a great deal 
 of State feeling among them ; but, after all, they belonged to one 
 army, the continental army, and they had much more in common 
 than they had separately. Especially they had a great leader 
 who made no distinction between Virginians and New England 
 men. Washington felt keenly all the lack of confidence which 
 Congress showed. He saw that the spirit in Congress was one 
 which kept the people divided, while the spirit at Valley Forge 
 kept the people united. It was during this terrible winter that 
 he wrote the following letter. 
 
AT VALLEY FORGE. 71 
 
 TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Valley Forge, 23 December^ 1117. 
 
 Sir : Full as I was in my representation of the 
 matters in the commissary's department yesterday, 
 fresh and more powerful reasons oblige me to add, that 
 I am now convinced beyond a doubt, that, unless some 
 great and capital change suddenly takes place in that 
 line, this army must inevitably be reduced to one or 
 other of these three things : starve, dissolve, or disperse 
 in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they 
 can. Rest assured, sir, this is not an exaggerated 
 picture, and that I have abundant reason to suppose 
 what I say. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon, receiving information that the 
 enemy in force had left the city, and were advancing 
 towards Derby with the apparent design to forage and 
 draw subsistence from that part of the country, I 
 ordered the troops to be in readiness, that I might 
 give every opposition in my power ; when behold, to 
 my great mortification, I was not only informed but 
 convinced, that the men were unable to stir on account 
 of provision, and that a dangerous mutiny, begun 
 the night before, and which with difficulty was sup- 
 pressed by the spirited exertions of some officers, was 
 still much to be apprehended for want of this article. 
 This brought forth the only commissary in the pur- 
 chasing line in this camp ; and, with him, this melan- 
 choly and alarming truth, that he had not a single 
 hoof of any kind to slaughter, and not more than 
 twenty-five barrels of flour! From hence form an 
 opinion of our situation when 1 add that he could not 
 tell when to expect any. 
 
 All I could do, under these circumstances, was to 
 
72 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 send out a few light parties to watch and harass the 
 enemy, whilst other parties were instantly detached 
 different ways to collect, if possible, as much provis- 
 ion as would satisfy the present pressing wants of the 
 soldiery. But will this answer ? No, sir ; three or 
 four days of bad weather would prove our destructiono 
 What, then, is to become of the army this winter? 
 And if we are so often without provisions now, what is 
 to become of us in the spring, when our force will be 
 collected, with the aid perhaps of militia to take ad- 
 vantage of an early campaign, before the enemy can 
 be reinforced? These are considerations of great 
 magnitude, meriting the closest attention ; and they 
 will, when my own reputation is so intimately con-, 
 nected with the event as to be affected by it, justify 
 my saying, that the present commissaries are by no 
 means equal to the execution of the office, or that the 
 disaffection of the people is past all belief. The mis- 
 fortune, however, does in my opinion proceed from both 
 causes ; and though I have been tender heretofore of 
 giving my opinion, or lodging complaints, as the 
 change in that department took place contrary to my 
 judgment, and the consequences thereof were pre- 
 dicted ; yet, finding that the inactivity of the army, 
 whether for want of provisions, clothes, or other es- 
 sentials, is charged to my account, not only by the 
 common vulgar but by those in power, it is time to 
 speak plain in exculpation of myself. With truth,, 
 then, I can declare, that no man in my opinion ever 
 had his measures more impeded than I have, by every 
 department of the army. 
 
 Since the month of July we have had no assistance 
 from the quartermaster-general, and to want of assist- 
 ance from this department the commissary -genera] 
 
AT VALLEY FORGE. 73 
 
 charges great part of his deficiency. To this I am to 
 add, that, notwithstanding it is a standing order, and 
 often repeated, that the troops shall always have two 
 days' provisions by them, that they might be ready at 
 any sudden call ; yet an opportunity has scarcely ever 
 offered, of taking advantage of the enemy, that has 
 not been either totally obstructed, or greatly impeded 
 on this account. And this, the great and crying evil, is 
 not all. The soap, vinegar, and other articles allowed 
 by Congress, we see none of, nor have we seen them, 
 I believe, since the Battle of Brandy wine. The first, 
 indeed, we have now little occasion for ; few men 
 having more than one shirt, many only the moiety of 
 one, and some none at all. In addition to which, as a 
 proof of the little benefit received from a clothier- 
 general, and as a further proof of the inability of an 
 army, under the circumstances of this, to perform the 
 common duties of soldiers, (besides a number of men 
 confined to hospitals for want of shoes, and others in 
 farmers' houses on the same account,) we have, by & 
 field return this day made, no less than two thousand 
 eight hundred and ninety-eight men now in camp unfit 
 for duty, because they are barefoot and otherwise 
 naked. By the same return it appears that our whole 
 strength in Continental troops, including the eastern 
 brigades, which have joined us since the surrender of 
 General Burgoyne, exclusive of the Maryland troops 
 sent to Wilmington, amounts to no more than eight 
 thousand two hundred in camp fit for duty; notwith= 
 standing which, and that since the 4th instant, our 
 numbers fit for duty, from the hardships and ex- 
 posures they have undergone, particularly on account 
 of blankets (numbers having been obliged, and still 
 are, to sit up all night by fires, instead of taking 
 
74 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 comfortable rest in a natural and common way), have 
 decreased near two thousand men. 
 
 We find gentlemen, without knowing whether the 
 army was really going into winter-quarters or not (for 
 I am sure no resolution of mine would warrant the 
 remonstrance), reprobating the measure as much as 
 if they thought the soldiers were made of stocks or 
 stones, and equally insensible of frost and snow ; and 
 inoreover, as if they conceived it easily practicable for 
 an inferior army, under the disadvantages I have 
 described ours to be, which are by no means exagger« 
 ated, to confine a superior one, in all respects well ap- 
 pointed and provided for a winter's campaign, within 
 the city of Philadelphia, and to cover from depreda- 
 tion and waste the States of Pennsylvania and Jersey. 
 But what makes this matter still more extraordinary 
 in my eye is that these very gentlemen — who were 
 well apprised of the nakedness of the troops from 
 ocular demonstration, who thought their own soldiers 
 worse clad than others, and who advised me near a 
 month ago to postpone the execution of a plan I was 
 about to adopt, in consequence of a resolve of Con- 
 gress for seizing clothes, under strong assurances that 
 an ample supply would be collected in ten days agree- 
 ably to a decree of the State (not one article of which, 
 by the by, is yet come to hand) — should think a^ 
 winter's campaign, and the covering of these States]' 
 from the invasion of an enemy, so easy and practicable^ 
 a business. I can assure those gentlemen, that it is 
 a much easier and less distressing thing to draw re- 
 monstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, 
 than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under frost 
 and snow, without clothes or blankets. However, al- 
 though they seem to have little feeling for the naked 
 
AT VALLEY FORGE. 75 
 
 and distressed soldiers, I feel superabundantly for 
 them, and from my soul I pity those miseries, which 
 it is neither in my power to relieve nor prevent. 
 
 It is for these reasons, therefore, that I have dwelt 
 upon the subject ; and it adds not a little to my other 
 difficulties and distress to find that much more is ex- 
 pected of me than is possible to be performed, and that 
 upon the ground of safety and policy I am obliged 
 to conceal the true state of the army from public view, 
 and thereby expose myself to detraction and calumny. 
 The honorable committee of Congress went from camp 
 fully possessed of my sentiments respecting the estab- 
 lishment of this army, the necessity of auditors of 
 accounts, the appointment of officers, and new arrange- 
 ments. I have no need, therefore, to be prolix upon 
 these subjects, but I refer to the committee. I shall 
 add a word or two to show, first the necessity of some 
 better provision for binding the officers by the tie of in- 
 terest to the service, as no day nor scarce an hour passes 
 without the offer of a resigned commission ; (other- 
 wise I much doubt the practicability of holding the 
 army together much longer, and in this I shall proba- 
 bly be thought the more sincere, when I freely declare 
 that I do not myself expect to derive the smallest bene- 
 fit from any establishment that Congress may adopt, 
 otherwise than as a member of the community at large 
 in the good, which I am persuaded will result from the 
 measure, by making better officers and better troops ;) 
 and, secondly, to point out the necessity of making the 
 appointments and arrangements without loss of time. 
 We have not more than three months in which to pre- 
 pare a great deal of business. If we let these slip or 
 waste, we shall be laboring under the same difficulties 
 all next campaign, as we have been this, to rectify 
 mistakes and bring things to order. 
 
76 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Military arrangement, and movements in conse- 
 quence, like the mechanism of a clock, will be imperfect 
 and disordered by the want of a part. In a very sen- 
 sible degree have I experienced this, in the course of 
 the last summer, several brioades havins: no brio-adiers 
 appointed to them till late, and some not at all ; by 
 which means it follows that an additional weight is 
 thrown upon the shoulders of the commander-in-chief, 
 to withdraw his attention from the great line of his 
 duty. The gentlemen of the committee, when they 
 were at camp, talked of an expedient for adjusting 
 these matters, which I highly approved and wish to see 
 adopted : namely, that two or three members of the 
 Board of War, or a committee of Congress, should 
 repair immediately to camp, where the best aid can be 
 had, and with the commanding officer, or a committee 
 of his appointment, prepare and digest the most per- 
 fect plan that can be devised for correcting all abuses 
 and making new arrangements ; considering what is to 
 be done with the weak and debilitated regiments, if the 
 States to which they belong will not draft men to fill 
 them, for as to enlisting soldiers it seems to me to be 
 totally out of the question ; together with many other 
 things that would occur in the course of such a con- 
 ference ; and, after digesting matters in the best 
 manner they can, to submit the whole to the ultimate 
 determination of Congress. 
 
 If this measure is approved, I would earnestly ad 
 vise the immediate execution of it, and that the com- 
 missary-general of purchases, whom I rarely see, may 
 be directed to form magazines without a moment's 
 delay in the neighborhood of this camp, in order to 
 secure provision for us in case of bad weather. The 
 quartermaster-general ought also to be busy in his 
 
FAREWELL TO THE ARMY. 77 
 
 department. In short, there is as much to be done in 
 preparing for a campaign as in the active part o£ it. 
 Everything depends upon the preparation that is made 
 in the several departments, and the success or mis- 
 fortunes of the next campaign will more than proba- 
 bly originate with our activity or supineness duiing 
 this winter. 
 
 IX. 
 
 FAREWELL TO THE ARMY. 
 
 The terrible winter at Valley Forge was the lowest point of 
 /Repression reached during the war for independence. The army 
 during that winter was splendidly drilled by Baron Steuben, and 
 in the spring news came that a treaty had been made with 
 France. Cornwallis surrendered October 19, 1781, and after 
 two mor<^ years, a treaty of peace was signed with Great Britain, 
 and Washington, November 2, 1783, issued from Princeton, New 
 Jersey, where Congress was in session, the following farewell 
 address. 
 
 The United States in Congress assembled, after 
 giving the most honorable testimony to the merits of 
 the federal armies, and presenting them with the 
 thanks of their country for their long, eminent, and 
 faithful services, having thought proper, by their proc- 
 lamation bearing date the 18th day of October last, 
 to discharge such part of the troops as were engaged 
 for the war, and to permit the officers on furloughs to 
 retire from service, from and after to-morrow ; which 
 proclamation having been communicated in the public 
 papers for the information and government of all con- 
 cerned, it only remains for the commander-in-chief 
 t9 address himself once more, and that for the last 
 
78 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 time, to the armies of the United States (however 
 widely dispersed the individuals who composed them 
 may be), and to bid them an affectionate, a long fare- 
 well. 
 
 But before the commander-in-chief takes his final 
 leave of those he holds most dear, he wishes to indulge 
 himself a few moments in calling to mind a slight 
 review of the past. He will then take the liberty of 
 exploring with his military friends their future pros- 
 pects, of advising the general line of conduct which, 
 in his opinion, ought to be pursued ; and he will con- 
 clude the address by expressing the obligations he 
 feels himself under for the spirited and able assistance 
 he has experienced from them, in the performance of 
 an arduous office. 
 
 A contemplation of the complete attainment (at a 
 period earlier than could have been expected) of the 
 object for which we contended against so formidable 
 a power, cannot but inspire us with astonishment 
 and o^ratitude. The disadvantageous circumstances 
 on our part, under which the war was undertaken, 
 can never be forgotten. The singular interpositions 
 of Providence in our feeble condition were such as 
 could scarcely escape the attention of the most unob- 
 serving ; while the unparalleled perseverance of the 
 armies of the United States, through almost every 
 possible suffering and discouragement for the space of 
 eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle. 
 
 It is not the meaning nor within the compass of 
 this address to detail the hardships peculiarly inci- 
 dent to our service, or to describe the distresses which 
 in several instances have resulted from the extremes 
 of hunger and nakedness, combined with the rigors of 
 an inclement season ; nor is it necessary to dwell on 
 
FAREWELL TO THE ARMY. 79 
 
 the dark side of our past affairs. Every American 
 officer and soldier must now console liimseK for any- 
 unpleasant circumstances which may have occurred, 
 by a recollection of the uncommon scenes of which he 
 has been called to act no inglorious part, and the 
 astonishing events of which he has been a witness ; 
 events which have seldom, if ever before, taken place 
 on the stage of human action nor can they probably 
 ever happen again. For who has before seen a disci- 
 plined army formed at once from such raw materials ? 
 Who, that was not a witness, could imagine, that the 
 most violent local prejudices would cease so soon ; and 
 that men, who came from the different parts of the 
 continent, strongly disposed by the habits of education 
 to despise and quarrel with each other, would instantly 
 become but one patriotic band of brothers ? Or who, 
 tliat was not on the spot, can trace the steps by which 
 such a wonderful revolution has been effected, and such 
 a glorious period put to all our warlike toils ? 
 
 It is universally acknowledged that the enlarged 
 prospects of happiness, opened by the confirmation of 
 our independence and sovereignty, almost exceed the 
 power of description. And shall not the brave men, 
 who have contributed so essentially to these inestima- 
 ble acquisitions, retiring victorious from the field of 
 war to the field of agriculture, participate in all the 
 blessings which have been obtained? In such a re= 
 public, who will exclude them from the rights of citi- 
 zens, and the fruits of their labor ? In such a coun- 
 try, so happily circumstanced, the pursuits of commerce 
 and the cultivation of the soil will unfold to industry 
 the certain road to competence. To those hardy sol- 
 diers, who are actuated by the spirit of adventure, the 
 fisheries will afford ample and profitable employment; 
 
80 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 and the extensive and fertile regions of the West will 
 yield a most happy asylum to those who, fond of 
 domestic enjoyment, are seeking for personal indepen- 
 dence. Nor is it possible to conceive that any one of 
 the United States will prefer a national bankruptcy, 
 and a dissolution of the Union, to a compliance with 
 the requisitions of Congress, and the payment of its 
 just debts ; so that the officers and soldiers may expect 
 considerable assistance, in recommencing their civil oc- 
 cupations, from the sums due to them from the public, 
 which must and will most inevitably be paid. 
 
 In order to effect this desirable purpose, and to re- 
 move the prejudices which may have taken possessiop 
 of the minds of any of the good people of the States^ 
 it is earnestly recommended to all the troops that, with 
 strong attachments to the Union, they should carry 
 with them into civil society the most conciliating dis- 
 positions, and that they should prove themselves not 
 less virtuous and useful as citizens than they have 
 been persevering and victorious as soldiers. What 
 though there should be some envious individuals, who 
 are unwilling to pay the debt the public has con- 
 tracted, or to yield the tribute due to merit ; yet let 
 such unworthy treatment produce no invectives, nor 
 any instance of intemperate conduct. Let it be re- 
 membered that the unbiased voice of the free citizens 
 of the United States has promised the just reward and 
 given the merited applause. Let it be known and 
 remembered that the reputation of the federal armies 
 is established beyond the reach of malevolence ; and 
 let a consciousness of their achieveinents and fame 
 still incite the men who composed them to honorable 
 actions ; under the persuasion that the private virtues 
 of economy, prudence and industry will not be less 
 
FAREWELL TO THE ARMY, 81 
 
 amiable in civil life than the more splendid qualities 
 of valor, perseverance and enterprise were in the field.- 
 Every one may rest assured that much, very much of 
 the future happiness of the officers and men will 
 depend upon the wise and manly conduct which shall 
 be adopted by them when they are mingled with the 
 great body of the community. And although the 
 general has so frequently given it as his opinion ii? 
 the most public and explicit manner that, unless the 
 principles of the federal government were properly 
 supported, and the powers of the Union increased, 
 the honor, dignity and justice of the nation woidd be 
 lost forever ; yet he cannot help repeating on this oc- 
 casion so interesting a sentiment, and leaving it as 
 his last injunction to every officer and every soldier, 
 who may view the subject in the same serious point 
 of light, to add his best endeavors to those of his 
 w^orthy fellow - citizens toward effecting these great 
 and valuable purposes, on which our very existence 
 as a nation so materially depends. 
 
 The commander - in - chief conceives little is now 
 wanting to enable the soldiers to change the military- 
 character into that of the citizen, but that steady and 
 decent tenor of behavior which has generally distin- 
 guished, not only the army under his immediate com-, 
 mand, but the different detachments and separate 
 armies through the course of the war. From their 
 good sense and prudence he anticipates the happiest 
 consequences, and while he congratulates them on the 
 glorious occasion which renders their services in the 
 field no longer necessary, he wishes to express the 
 strong obligations he feels himself under for the assist- 
 ance he has received from every class and in every 
 instance. He presents his thanks in the most serious 
 
82 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 and affectionate manner to tlie general officers, as well 
 for their counsel on manj^ interesting occasions, as for 
 their ardor in promoting the success of the plans he 
 had adopted ; to the commandants of regiments and 
 corps, and to the other officers, for their great zeal 
 and attention in carrying his orders promptly into 
 execution ; to the staff, for their alacrity and exact- 
 ness in performing the duties of their several depart- 
 ments ; and to the non-commissioned officers and pri 
 vate soldiers, for their extraordinary jDatience and 
 suffering, as well as their invincible fortitude in ac- 
 tion. To the various branches of the army the Gen- 
 eral takes this last and solemn opportunity of pro- 
 fessing his inviolable attachment and friendship. He 
 wishes more than bare professions were in his power ; 
 that he were really able to be useful to them all in 
 future life. He flatters himself, however, they will 
 do him the justice to believe, that whatever could with 
 propriety be attempted by him has been done. 
 
 And being now to conclude these his last public 
 orders, to take his ultimate leave in a short time of 
 the military character, and to bid a final adieu to the 
 armies he has so long had the honor to command, he 
 can only again offer in their behalf his recommenda- 
 tions to their grateful country, and his prayers to the 
 God of armies. May ample justice be done them 
 here, and may the choicest of Heaven's favors, both 
 here and hereafter, attend those who, under the Di- 
 vine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for 
 others. With these wishes and his benediction, the 
 commander-in-chief is about to retire from service. 
 The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the 
 military scene to him will be closed forever. 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 83 
 
 X. 
 
 FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED 
 STATES. 
 
 Washington was chosen first President of the United States, 
 and at the end of his term he was again chosen. When his 
 second term drew near its close, he refused to be a candidate 
 for reelection, and. six months before he was to leave the Presi=> 
 dent's chair he issued the following farewell address, September 
 17, 1796. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-Citizens : The period for 
 a new election of a citizen, to administer the execu- 
 tive government of the United States, being not far 
 distant, and the time actually arrived when your 
 thoughts must be employed in designating the person 
 who is to be clothed with that important trust, it ap- 
 pears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a 
 more distinct expression of the public voice, that I 
 should now apprise you of the resolution I have 
 formed, to decline being considered among the num- 
 ber of those out of whom a choice is to be made. 
 
 I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to 
 be assured, that this resolution has not been taken 
 without a strict regard to all the considerations apper- 
 taining to the relation which binds u dutiful citizen tc 
 Lis country ; and that, in withdrawing the tender of 
 service, which silence in my situation might imply, I 
 am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your fu 
 ture interest ; no deficiency of grateful respect for 
 your past kindness ; but am supported hj a full con- 
 viction that the step is compatible with both. 
 
 The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the 
 office to which your suffrages have twice called me, 
 
84 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 iiave been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to ^he 
 opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared 
 to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would 
 have been much earlier in my power, consistently with 
 motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to re- 
 turn to that retirement from which I had been reluc- 
 tantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to dc 
 this, previous to the last election, had even led to the 
 preparation of an address to declare it to you ; but 
 mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical 
 posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the 
 unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, 
 impelled me to abandon the idea. 
 
 I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as 
 well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of incli- 
 nation incompatible with the sentiment of duty or 
 propriety ; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may 
 be retained for my services, that, in the present cir- 
 cumstances of our country, you will not disapprove 
 my determination to retire. 
 
 The impressions with which I first undertook the 
 arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. 
 In the discharge of this trust I will only say that I 
 have with good intentions contributed toward the or- 
 ganization and administration of the government the 
 best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was 
 capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferi= 
 ority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes 
 perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strength- 
 ened the motives to diffidence of myself ; and every 
 day the increasing weight of years admonishes me 
 more and more that the shade of retirement is as 
 necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that, 
 if aiiy circumstances have given peculiar value to my 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 85 
 
 services, they were temporary, I have the consolation 
 to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to 
 quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 
 
 In looking forward to the moment which is in- 
 tended to terminate the career of my public life, my 
 feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep ac- 
 knowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe 
 to my beloved country for the many honors it has con- 
 ferred upon me ; still more for the steadfast confi- 
 dence with which it has supported me ; and for the 
 opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting 
 my inviolable attachment by services faithful and per- 
 severing, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If 
 benefits have resulted to our country from these ser 
 vices, let it always be remembered to your praise, and 
 as an instructive example in our annals, that under 
 circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every 
 direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances 
 sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often dis- 
 couraging, in situations in which not unfrequently 
 want of success has countenanced the spirit of criti- 
 cism, the constancy of your support was the essential 
 prop of the efforts, and a guaranty of the plans by 
 which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with 
 this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a 
 strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may 
 continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence , 
 that your union and brotherly affection may be per- 
 petual ; that the free constitution, which is the work 
 of your hands, may be sacredly maintained ; that its 
 administration in every department may be stamped 
 with wisdom and virtue ; that, in fine, the happiness 
 of the people of these States, under the auspices of 
 liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preser* 
 
80 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 vation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will 
 acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the 
 applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation 
 which is yet a stranger to it. 
 
 Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude 
 for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life^ 
 and the apprehension of danger natural to that solid 
 tude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, tc 
 offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend 
 to your frequent review, some sentiments, which are 
 the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable ob- 
 servation, and which appear to me all-important to 
 the permanency of your felicity as a people. These 
 will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you 
 can only see in them the disinterested warnings of 
 a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal 
 motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an 
 encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my 
 sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. 
 
 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga- 
 ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is 
 necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 
 
 The unity of government, which constitutes you one 
 people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it 
 is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, 
 the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace 
 abroad ; of your safety ; of your prosperity ; of that 
 very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is 
 easy to foresee that from different causes and from 
 different quarters much pains will be taken, many 
 artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the convic- 
 tion of this truth ; as this is the point in your political 
 fortress against which the batteries of internal and 
 e^tternal enemies will be most constantly and actively 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 87 
 
 (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is 
 of infinite moment that you should properly estimate 
 the immense value of your national union to your col- 
 lective and individual happiness ; that you should 
 cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment 
 to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it 
 as of the palladium of your political safety and pros- 
 perity ; watching for its preservation with jealous 
 anxiety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even 
 a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; 
 and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of 
 every attempt to alienate any portion of our country 
 from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now 
 link together the various parts. 
 
 For this you have every inducement of sympathy 
 and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a com- 
 mon country, that country has a right to concentrate 
 your affections. The name of America, which belongs 
 to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt 
 the jast pride of patriotism, more than any appella- 
 tion derived from local discriminations. With slight 
 shades of difference, you have the same religion, man- 
 ners, habits, and political principles. You have in a 
 common cause fought and triumphed together ; the 
 independence and liberty you possess are the work of 
 joint counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, 
 sufferings and successes. 
 
 But these considerations, however powerfully they 
 address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out- 
 weighed by those which apply more immediately to 
 your interest. Here every portion of our country finds 
 the most commanding motives for carefully guarding 
 and preserving the union of the whole. 
 
 The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
 
88 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 South, protected by the equal laws of a common gov- 
 ernment, finds in the productions of the latter great 
 additional resources of maritime and commercial en- 
 terprise and precious materials of manufacturing in- 
 dustry. The South in the same intercourse, benefiting 
 by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow 
 and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its 
 own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its 
 particular navigation invigorated ; and, while it con- 
 tributes in different ways to nourish and increase the 
 general mass of the national navigation, it looks for- 
 ward to the protection of a maritime strength, to 
 which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a 
 like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in 
 the progressive improvement of interior comniunica>. 
 tions by land and water will more and more find, a 
 valuable vent for the commodities which it brings 
 from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West 
 derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth 
 and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater con- 
 sequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoy- 
 ment of indispensable outlets for its own productions 
 to the weight, influence, and the future maritime 
 strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed 
 by an indissoluble community of interest as one na- 
 tion. Any other tenure by which the West can hold 
 this essential advantage, whether derived from its own 
 separate strength or from an apostate and unnaturaJ 
 connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsi- 
 cally precarious. 
 
 While, then, every part of our country thus feels 
 an immediate and particular interest in union, all the 
 parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass 
 of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource. 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 89 
 
 proportionably greater security from external danger, 
 a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign 
 nations, and, what is of inestimable value, they must 
 derive from union an exemption from those broils and 
 wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict 
 neighboring countries not tied together by the same 
 governments, which their own rivalships alone would 
 be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign 
 alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate 
 and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the 
 necessity of those overgrown military establishments 
 which, under any form of government, are inau- 
 spicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as 
 particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this 
 sense it is that your union ought to be considered as 
 a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the 
 one ought to endear to you the preservation of the 
 other. 
 
 These considerations speak a persuasive language to 
 every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the 
 continuance of the Union as a primary object of patri- 
 otic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common 
 government can embrace so large a sphere ? Let ex- 
 perience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in 
 such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope 
 that a proper organization of the whole, with the aux- 
 iliary agency of governments for the respective subdi- 
 visions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. 
 It is well worth a fair and full experiment. Witt 
 such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting 
 all parts of our country, while experience shall not 
 have demonstrated its impracticability, there will al- 
 ways be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who 
 in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
90 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 In contemplating the causes which may disturb our 
 Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that 
 any ground should have been furnished for charac* 
 terizing parties by geographical discriminations Nor- 
 thern and Southern, Atlantic and Western ; whence 
 designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that 
 there is a real difference of local interests and views. 
 One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, 
 within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opin- 
 ions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield 
 yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart- 
 burnings which spring from these misrepresentations ; 
 they tend to render alien to each other those who 
 ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. 
 The inhabitants of our western country have lately 
 had a useful lesson on this head ; they have seen, in 
 the negotiation by the executive, and in the unanimous 
 ratification by the senate, of the treaty with Spain, 
 and in the universal satisfaction at that event through- 
 out the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded 
 were the suspicions propagated among them of a pol- 
 icy in the general government and in the Atlantic 
 States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the 
 Mississippi ; they have been witnesses to the forma- 
 tion of two treaties, that with Great Britain and that 
 with Spain, which secure to them everything they 
 could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, 
 towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be 
 their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these ad- 
 vantages on the Union by which they were procured '^ 
 Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers 
 if such there are, who would sever them from theii 
 brethren and connect them with aliens? 
 
 To the efficacy and permanency of your union, a 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 91 
 
 government for the whole is indispensable. No al- 
 liances, however strict, between the parts can be an 
 adequate substitute ; they must inevitably experience 
 the infractions and interruptions which all alliances 
 in all times have experienced. Sensible of this mo- 
 mentous truth, 3^ou have improved upon your first 
 essay, by the adoption of a constitution of govern* 
 ment better calculated than your former for an inti- 
 mate union, and for the efficacious management of 
 your common concerns. This government, the off- 
 spring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, 
 adopted upon full investigation and mature delibera- 
 tion, completely free in its principles, in the distribu- 
 tion of its powers, uniting security with energy, and 
 containing within itself a provision for its own amend- 
 ment, has a just claim to your confidence and your 
 support. Respect for its authority, compliance with 
 its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties en- 
 joined by the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. 
 The basis of our political systems is the right of the 
 people to make and to alter their constitutions of gov- 
 ernment. But the constitution which at any time 
 exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act 
 of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. 
 The very idea of the power and the right of the peo- 
 ple to establish government presupposes the duty o£ 
 every individual to obey the established government. 
 
 All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
 combinations and associations, under whatever plausi- 
 ble character, with the real design to direct, control, 
 counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and ac- 
 tion of the constituted authorities, are destructive of 
 this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. 
 They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial 
 
92 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 and extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the 
 delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often 
 a small but artful and enterprising minority of the 
 community ; and, according to the alternate triumphs 
 of different parties, to make the public administration 
 the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous pro 
 jects of fashion, rather than the organs of consistent 
 and wholesome plans digested by common councils, 
 and modified by mutual interests. 
 
 However combinations or associations of the above 
 description may now and then answer popular ends, 
 they are likely, in the course of time and things, to be- 
 come potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and 
 unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power 
 of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
 government ; destroying afterwards the very engines 
 which have lifted them to unjust dominion. 
 
 Towards the preservation of your government, and 
 the permanency of your present happy state, it is 
 requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance 
 irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, 
 but also that you resist with care the spirit of innova- 
 tion upon its principles, however specious the pre- 
 texts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the 
 forms of the constitution, alterations, which will 
 impair the energy of the system, and thus to under- 
 mine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the 
 changes to which you may be invited, remember that 
 time and hfibit are at least as necessary to fix the true 
 character of governments as of other human institu- 
 tions ; that experience is the surest standard by which 
 to test the real tendency of the existing constitution 
 of a country ; that facility in changes, upon the credit 
 of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 93 
 
 change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
 opinion ; and remember, especially, that, for the effi- 
 cient management of your common interests, in a coun- 
 try so extensive as ours, a government of as much 
 -(/igOY as is consistent with the perfect security of lib- 
 erty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such 
 a government, with powers properly distributed and 
 adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else 
 than a name, where the government is too feeble to 
 w^ithstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each 
 member of the society within the limits prescribed by 
 the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tran- 
 quil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 
 
 I have already intimated to you the danger of par- 
 ties in the State, with particular reference to the 
 founding of them on geographical discrimination. 
 Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and 
 warn you in the most solemn manner against the bane- 
 ful ejffects of the spirit of party, generally. 
 
 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 
 nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the 
 human mind. It exists under different shapes in all 
 governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or re- 
 T)ressed ; but in those of the popular form it is seen 
 i its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst 
 jnemy. 
 
 The alternate domination of one faction over an- 
 other, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to 
 party dissension, which in different ages and countries 
 has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a 
 frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a 
 more formal and permanent despotism. The disor- 
 ders and miseries which result, gradually incline the 
 minds of men to seek security and repose in the abso- 
 
'94 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 lute power of an individual ; and sooner or later the 
 chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more 
 fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition 
 to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of 
 public liberty. 
 
 Without looking forward to an extremity of this 
 ikind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely 
 out of sight), the common and continued mischiefs of 
 the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the in- 
 terest and duty of a wise people to discourage and re» 
 strain it. 
 
 It serves always to distract the public councils, 
 and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates 
 the community with ill-founded jealousies and false 
 alarms ; kindles the animosity of one part against an- 
 other, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It 
 opens the doors to foreign influence and corruption, 
 which find a facilitated access to the government itself 
 through the channels of party passions. Tlius the 
 policy and the will of one country are subjected to the 
 policy and will of another. 
 
 There is an opinion, that parties in free countries 
 are useful checks upon the administration of the gov- 
 ernment, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. 
 This within certain limits is probably true, and in 
 governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may 
 look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit 
 of party. But in those of the popular character, in 
 governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be 
 encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is cer- 
 tain there will always be enough of that spirit foi 
 every salutary purpose. And there being constant 
 danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of 
 public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 95 
 
 to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to pre- 
 vent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warm- 
 ing, it should consume. 
 
 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking 
 in a free country should inspire caution, in those in- 
 trusted with its administration, to confine themselves 
 within their respective constitutional spheres, avoid- 
 ing in the exercise of the powers of one department to 
 encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment 
 tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments 
 in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of gov- 
 ernment, a real despotism. A just estimate of that 
 love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which pre- 
 dominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy 
 us of the truth of this position. The necessity of 
 reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by 
 dividing and distributing it into different depositories, 
 and constituting each the guardian of the public weal 
 against invasions by the others, has been evinced by 
 experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our 
 country and under our own eyes. To preserve them 
 must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the 
 opinion of the people, the distribution or modification 
 of the constitutional powers be in any particular 
 wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way 
 which the Constitution designates. But let there be 
 no change by usurpation ; for, though this, in one in- 
 stance, may be the instrument of good, it is the cus 
 tomary weapon by which free governments are de- 
 stroyed. The precedent must always greatly over- 
 balance in permanent evil any partial or transient 
 benefit which the use can at any time yield. 
 
 Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to 
 political prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
 
96 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 pen sable supports. In vain would that man claim the 
 tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert 
 these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest 
 props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere 
 politician equally with the pious man ought to respect 
 and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all 
 their connections with private and public felicity. Let 
 it simply be asked. Where is the security for property, 
 for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obliga- 
 tion desert the oaths, which are the instruments of in- 
 vestigation in courts of justice? And let us with 
 caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be 
 maintained without religion. Whatever may be con- 
 ceded to the influence of refined education on minds 
 of peculiar structure, reason and experience both for- 
 bid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in 
 exclusion of religious principle. 
 
 It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a 
 necessary spring of popular government. The rule, 
 indeed, extends with more or less force to every species 
 of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to 
 it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake 
 the foundation of the fabric ? 
 
 Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, 
 institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. 
 In proportion as the structure of a government gives 
 force to public opinion, it is essential that publio 
 opinion should be enlightened. 
 
 As a very important source of strength and secu- 
 rity, cherish public credit. One method of preserving 
 it is, to use it as sparingly as possible ; avoiding occa- 
 sions of expense by cultivating peace, but remember- 
 ing also that timely disbursements to prepare for 
 danger frequently prevent much greater disburse* 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 97 
 
 ments to repel it ; avoiding likewise the accumulation 
 of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, 
 but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge 
 the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occa- 
 sioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the 
 burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The exe- 
 cution of these maxims belongs to your representa» 
 tives, but it is necessary that public opinion should 
 co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance o£ 
 their duty it is essential that you should practically 
 bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there 
 must be revenue ; that to have revenue there must be 
 taxes ; that no taxes can be devised which are not 
 more or less inconvenient and unpleasant ; that the 
 intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selec- 
 tion of the proper objects (which is always a choice of 
 difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a can- 
 did construction of the conduct of the government in 
 making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the 
 measures for obtaining revenue which the public exi- 
 gencies may at any time dictate. 
 
 Observe good faith and justice towards all nations ; 
 cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and 
 morality enjoin this conduct ; and can it be, that good 
 policy does not equally enjoin it ? It will be worthy 
 of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period a 
 great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous 
 and too novel example of a people always guided by 
 an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt 
 that in the course of time and things, the fruits of 
 such a plan would richly repay any temporary advan- 
 tages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to 
 it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the 
 permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The 
 
98 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 experiment, at least, is recommended by every senti- 
 ment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! is it ren- 
 dered impossible by its vices ? 
 
 In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more 
 essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies 
 against particular nations, and passionate attachments 
 for others, should be excluded ; and that, in place of 
 them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be 
 cultivated. The nation which indulges towards an- 
 other an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is 
 in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity 
 or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead 
 it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in 
 one nation against another disposes each more readily 
 to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of 
 umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when ac- 
 cidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, 
 frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody 
 contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resent- 
 ment, sometimes impels to war the government, con- 
 trary to the best calculations of policy. The govern, 
 ment sometimes participates in the national propen- 
 sity, and adopts through passion what reason would 
 reject ; at other times, it makes the animosity of the 
 nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated 
 by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious 
 motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the lib- 
 erty, of nations has been the victim. ; 
 
 So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation 
 for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy 
 for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an 
 imaginary common interest in cases where no real 
 common interest exists, and infusing into one the en- 
 mities of the other, betrays the former into a parties 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 99 
 
 pation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without 
 adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to 
 concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied 
 to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation 
 making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with 
 what ought to have been retained, and by exciting 
 jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the 
 parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. 
 And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citi- 
 zens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), 
 facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own 
 country, without odium, sometimes even with popular- 
 ity ; gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense 
 of obligation, a commendable deference for public 
 opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base 
 or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or in- 
 fatuation. 
 
 As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable 
 ways such attachments are particularly alarming to 
 the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How 
 many opportunities do they afford to tamper with 
 domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to 
 mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public 
 councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, 
 towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the for- 
 mer to be the satellite of the latter. 
 
 Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I 
 conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jeal- 
 ousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, 
 since history and experience prove that foreign influ- 
 ence is one of the most baneful foes of republican 
 government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be 
 impartial ; else it becomes the instrument of the very 
 influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. 
 
100 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and exces- 
 sive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate 
 to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and 
 even second the arts of influence on the other. Real 
 patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, 
 are liable to become suspected and odious ; while its 
 tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of. 
 the people, to surrender their interests. 
 
 The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to for- 
 eign nations, is, in extending our commercial rela= 
 tions, to have with them as little political connection 
 as possible. So far as we have already formed en- 
 gagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good 
 faith. Here let us stop. 
 
 Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us 
 have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she 
 must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes 
 of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. 
 Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate 
 ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes 
 of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collis- 
 ions of her friendships or enmities. 
 
 Our detached and distant situation invites and en- 
 ables us to pursue a different course. If we remain 
 one people, under an efficient government, the period 
 is not far off when we may defy material injury from, 
 external annoyance ; when we may take such an atti= 
 tude as will cause the neutrality, we may at any time 
 resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected ; when bei° 
 ligerent nations, under the impossibility of making 
 acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving 
 Us provocation ; when we may choose peace or war, as 
 our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. 
 
 Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situa. 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 101 
 
 tioii? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign 
 ground ? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that 
 of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and pros- 
 perity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, 
 interest, humor, or caprice ? 
 
 It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent al- 
 liances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far, 
 I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me 
 not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity 
 to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less 
 applicable to public than to private affairs, that hon- 
 esty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, 
 let those engagements be observed in their genuine 
 sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and 
 would be unwise to extend them. 
 
 Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
 establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we 
 may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordi- 
 nary emergencies. 
 
 Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are 
 recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But 
 even our commercial policy should hold an equal and 
 impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclu- 
 sive favors or preferences; consulting the natural 
 course of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle 
 means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing ; 
 establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give 
 trade a stable course, to define the rights of our mer- 
 chants, and to enable the government to support them, 
 conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present 
 circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but 
 temporary, and liable to be from time to time aban- 
 doned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall 
 'Rotate ; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in 
 
102 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 one nation to look for disinterested favors from an 
 other ; that it must pay with a portion of its indepen- 
 dence for whatever it may accept under that charac- 
 ter ; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in 
 the condition of having given equivalents for nominal 
 favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude 
 for not giving more. There can be no greater error 
 than to expect or calculate upon real favors from 
 nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience 
 must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 
 
 In ojffering to you, my countrymen, these counsels 
 of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they 
 will make the strong and lasting impression I could 
 wish; that they will control the usual current of the 
 passions, or prevent our nation from running the 
 course which has hitherto marked the destiny of na- 
 tions. But, if I may even flatter myself that the}'- 
 may be productive of some partial benefit, some occa- 
 sional good ; that they may now and then recur to 
 moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the 
 mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the 
 impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be 
 a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, 
 by which they have been dictated. 
 
 How far in the discharge of my official duties I 
 have been guided by the principles which have been 
 delineated, the public records and other evidences of 
 my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To 
 myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I 
 have at least believed myself to be guided by them. 
 
 In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, 
 my proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the in- 
 dex of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, 
 and by that of your Representatives in both Houses 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE. 103 
 
 of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continu- 
 ally governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to 
 deter or divert me from it. 
 
 After deliberate examination, with the aid of the 
 best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that 
 our country, under all the circumstances of the case, 
 had a right to take, and was bound in duty and inter- 
 est to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I 
 determined, as far as should depend upon me, to main= 
 tain it, with moderation, perseverance and firmness. 
 
 The considerations which respect the right to hold 
 this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to 
 detail. I will only observe, that, according to my 
 understanding of the matter, that right, so far from 
 being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has 
 been virtually admitted by all. 
 
 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be in- 
 ferred, without anything more, from the obligation 
 which justice and humanity impose on every nation, 
 in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain invio- 
 late the relations of peace and amity towards other 
 nations. 
 
 The inducements of interest for observing that con- 
 duct will best be referred to your own reflections and 
 experience. With me a predominant motive has been 
 to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and 
 mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress 
 without interruption to that degree of strength and 
 consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly 
 speaking, the command of its own fortunes. 
 
 Though, in reviewing the incidents of my adminis- 
 tration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am 
 nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think 
 it probable that I may have committed many errors. 
 
104 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Al- 
 mighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they 
 may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that 
 my country will never cease to view them with indul- 
 gence ; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedi- 
 cated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of 
 incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as 
 myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 
 
 Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, 
 and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which 
 is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil 
 of himself and his progenitors for several generations. 
 I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in 
 which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the 
 sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fel- 
 low-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a 
 free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, 
 and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, 
 labors, and dangers. 
 
 Geop'^^e WaSHINGTONo 
 
EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 Born February 22, 1732. 
 
 Father dies April 12, 1743. 
 
 Leaves school Autumn, 1747. 
 
 Goes on his first surveying expedition . March, 1748. 
 
 Commissioned adjutant-general, with rank 
 
 of major 1751. 
 
 Sails for the West Indies with his brother 
 
 Lawrence September, 1751. 
 
 Lawrence dies, leaving George executor of 
 his will . . ' 1752. 
 
 Is sent on a mission to the Ohio Country . November 31, 1753. 
 
 Commissioned lieutenant-colonel . . 1754. 
 
 Fights at Great Meadows .... July 3, 1754. 
 
 Is appointed aid-de-camp to General Brad- 
 d ^ . 1755. 
 
 Braddock's defeat July 9, 1755. 
 
 Is elected representative to the House of 
 Burgesses 1758. 
 
 Marries Mrs, Martha Custis . . . January 6, 1759. 
 
 Is a member of the first Continental Con- 
 gress 1774. 
 
 Is n member of the second Continental Con- 
 gress 1775. 
 
 Appointed Commander - in - Chief of the 
 
 American armies June 15, 1775. 
 
 Takes command at Cambridge . . July 3, 1775. 
 
 Siege of Boston raised .... March, 1776. 
 
 Declaration of Independence . . July 4, 1776. 
 
 Battle of Long Island .... August 22, 1776. 
 
 Battle of White Flams .... October 28, 1776. 
 
 Fort Washington abandoned . . . November 16, 1776. 
 
 Battle of Trenton November 16, 1776. 
 
106 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Battle of Princeton January 3, 1777. 
 
 Flag of stars and stripes adopted by Con- 
 
 gpgss June 14, 1777. 
 
 Battle of the Brandywine . . • September 10, 17' 
 
 Battle of Germantown 
 
 Ratification of Treaty with France 
 
 Battle of Monmouth Court House 
 
 Arrival of French fleet . 
 
 Arnold's treason 
 
 Execution of Andr^ 
 
 October 4, 1777. 
 May 2, 1778. 
 June 28, 1778. 
 July, 1778. 
 September, 178C 
 October 2, 1780. 
 
 \ 
 
 Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown . . October 19, 1781. 
 Takes leave of the army . . • November 2, 1781 
 
 Resigns his commission . . . • December 23, 17 
 Presides at the Constitutional Convention, 1787. 
 Is chosen first President of the United 
 
 States l'^89. 
 
 Inaugurated April 30, 1789. 
 
 His mother dies August, 1789. 
 
 Makes a tour through the Northern States, 1789. 
 
 Makes a tour through the Southern States, 1790. 
 
 Chosen for second term . . • • 1793. 
 
 Issues proclamation of neutrality . . April 22, 1793 . 
 
 Nominates John Jay as envoy extraordinary | 
 
 to Great Britain April 16, 1794 .jj] 
 
 Signs the Jay Treaty .... August 18, 17 ^ 
 
 Issues a Farewell Address to the people of -i 
 
 the United States September Ic 
 
 Retires from the Presidency . . • March 4, 179. 
 Is nominated Commander-in-Chief of the 
 
 armies of the United States . . • July 2, 1798. 
 j)^gg December 18, 
 
 S9 
 

 

 
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