George Washington

The Father of Our Country

Why did 2nd Continental Congress Choose George Washington to

Lead the Army?

• Surveyor – knew the terrain around Virginia

• Command experience during French and Indian War

• Experience, military bearing, enormous charisma, leadership of the Patriot cause of Virginia

• Country’s 1st Spymaster

• Washington was a master of intelligence, counterintelligence, and military deception.

• "Washington did not really outfight the British, he simply outspied us!" Beckwith

Family Life

• Married the widow Martha Dandridge Custis

• Loved to play cricket

• As a child had smallpox and tuberculosis unable to have children

• Raised her two children– John Parke Custis– Martha Parke Custis

Grandchildren

• John Parke Custis was Washington’s aide at Yorktown.

• Contracted camp fever and died

• Washington and Martha raised his children:– Eleanor Parke Custis– George Washington Parke Custis

Expectations

• George Washington expected to fail as leader in the Revolutionary War.

• He said, “From the day I enter upon the command of the American armies, I date my fall, and the ruin of my reputation.”

Military Service

• British Newspapers negatively reported on colonists, but praised Washington’s character.

• He was very attentive to his troops needs

• Valley Forge – encamped for 6 month 2,500 out of 10,000 died from disease and exposure

Valley Forge• On December 19, 1777, Washington's poorly fed, ill-

equipped army, weary from long marches, struggled into Valley Forge

• Snow was six inches deep. • 1,000 huts provided shelter• Soldiers received irregular supplies of meat and bread,

some getting their only nourishment from "firecake," a tasteless mixture of flour and water.

• Hundreds of horses either starved to death or died of exhaustion.

• Long marches had destroyed shoes. Blankets were scarce. Tattered garments were seldom replaced.

• Disease was rampant - undernourished and poorly clothed, living in crowded, damp quarters, – Typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia were among the

killers that felled as many as 2,000 men that winter.

Siege of Yorktown

• Decisive victory

• Combined assault of French and American forces

• Cornwallis surrendered British

• Prompted the negotiation of the end of the war

Cornwallis's Embarrassment

• Cornwallis refused to attend the surrender ceremony

• Said he was ill

• George Washington would not accept the surrender of the 2nd in command

• Called his second in command in from the field so that Britain’s 2nd in command could surrender to him.

Cornwallis’ Surrender at Yorktown

Was he a good leader?

• Only won 3 out of 9 battles

Presidency

• Elected unanimously by the electoral college only person ever to do so

• Refused a third term

Memorials

• On the $1.00• On the quarter• Mt. Rushmore• Washington

Monument• National Memorial

Eulogy

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding…such was the man for whom our country mourns.