George Washington Biography / Pictures

George Washington's birthday is celebrated on February 22 using the Gregorian calendar, but under the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Britain and its colonies at the time of his birth, he was born on February 11.

George was part of the economic and cultural elite of the slave owning planters of Virginia. His parents Augustine George (1693 - April 12, 1743) and Mary Ball (1708 - August 25, 1789) were of English descent. As a youth, he was trained as a surveyor and helped survey the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

George was commissioned in 1754 as an Colonel in the Virginia Militia and built a series of Forts in the western frontier of Virginia. He accompanied the Braddock Expedition of the British Army during the French and Indian War. During the battle of the Wilderness near the Monongahela he had three horses shot out from under him. He showed his coolness under fire in organizing the retreat from the debacle. George then organized the First Virginia Regiment, which saw service through the war; however, George left the Regiment to serve in the House of Burgesses.

Following his military service, in 1757 he married Martha Dandridge Custis, the wealthy widow of Daniel Parke Custis. The newlywed couple moved to his estate Mount Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel farmer. He became a member of the House of Burgesses. He was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on 4 February 1752.

American forces crossing the Delaware

On July 3, 1775 he assumed command of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. After successfully driving the British out of Boston, George lost the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and retreated to Valley Forge, outside of British-held Philadelphia, where the American forces recovered. On December 25, 1776, George led the American forces crossing the Delaware to attack Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey. The successful attack built morale among the pro-independence colonists.

George retained an army in being throughout the Revolution, keeping British forces tied down in the center of the country while Generals Gates and Benedict Arnold won the battle of Saratoga in 1777. This victory led to French recognition of the United States.

In 1781, Washington, commanding both American and French forces, besieged General Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia. The British surrender there was the effective end of British attempts to quell the Revolution. In 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great Britain recognized American independence. As a result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill, New Jersey General George gave his "Farewell Address to the Army". Then at Fraunces Tavern in New York City on December 4, General George formally bid his officers farewell.

George Washington
John Trumbull's painting

After the war, he presided over the American Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was elected President on February 4, 1789 and 1792. George remains the only president unanimously elected by the U.S. Electoral College.

His election as president was a disappointment to his wife, the first First Lady of the United States, who wanted to continue living in quiet retirement at Mount Vernon after the war. Nevertheless, she quickly assumed the role of hostess, opening her parlor and organizing weekly dinner parties for as many dignitaries as could fit around the presidential table.

George held the first Cabinet meeting of any US President on February 25, 1793.

In 1793, the revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Citizen Genet, who attempted to turn popular sentiment towards American involvement in the war against Great Britain. Genet also was authorized to issue letters of marque and reprisal to American ships and gave authority to any French consul to serve as a prize court. Genet's activities forced George to ask the French government for his recall

In 1791, the Federal government imposed an excise tax on whiskey. This tax was highly unpopular on the American frontier, and in July, 1794, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, a Federal marshal was attacked by a mob and a regional inspector's house was burned. On August 7, 1794, George called out the militias of several states and led a force of 13,000 to suppress the unrest. The event has gone down in history as the "Whiskey Rebellion".

Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, is located in what is now a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Admirers of George circulated an apocryphal story about his honesty as a child. In the story, he wanted to try out a new axe and chopped down his father's cherry tree. When questioned by his father, he gave the famous non-quotation "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree." The story first appeared after Washington's death in a naive "inspirational" children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this story.

Because of Washington's involvement in Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of George memorabilia are maintained by Masonic lodges. The museum at Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes specimens of Washington's false teeth.

George Washington was plagued throughout his adult life with bad teeth, losing about 1 tooth a year from the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a number of dentists and had a number of sets of false teeth, (but none of wood). For a more or less definitive chronicle of his struggles see George Washington's Teeth, Madeleine Comora and Deborah Chandra, illustrated by: Brock Cole, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, hardcover, ISBN 0374325340.

At his time of death, George last held the rank of major general, appointed by John Adams in anticipation of a possible war with France. Over the years, many military officers outranked him. In 1976, President Gerald Ford posthumously appointed George Washington as General of the Armies of the United States, and specified that he would always outrank all officers of the Army, past and present.

Modern day doctors now believe that George died from either a streptococcal infection of the throat, or, since he was bled as part of his treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. He was buried in a family graveyard in Mount Vernon.

George Washington was arguably one of the few American Presidents who was not a Christian. He professed a strong belief in God, but did not believe that God intervened in the world through supernatural miracles. His informal religion was Deism, although he was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church.

George was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country "which gives bigotry no sanction...persecution no assistance....May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.

The capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C, is named for him. The District of Columbia was created by an Act of Congress in 1790, and George was deeply involved in its creation, including the siting of the White House. At this time, the future site of the capital was a swamp, and George remained largely marshland well into the 19th century. The capital was placed in the South, rather than in the major towns of the North, as a compromise during the writing of the United States Constitution in order to get Southern votes for important compromises.

George also selected West Point, New York, as the site for the United States Military Academy.

Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. is also named for him, the only state named for a president.

Numerous ships of United States Navy have been named USS George Washington in honor of the man, or USS Washington in honor of the state named in honor of the man.

His image is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin.

• George County, Alabama
• George County, Florida
• George County, Indiana
• George County, Maryland
• George County, New York
• George County, Oregon
• George County, Utah
• Washington state
• Washington, D.C