148 Facts About George Washington

George Washington is commonly known as the Father of His Country for his role in bringing about American independence.

George Washington was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, and opposed the perceived oppression of the American colonists by the British Crown.

George Washington directed a poorly organized and equipped force against disciplined British troops.

George Washington crossed the Delaware River and won the battles of Trenton in late 1776 and Princeton in early 1777, then lost the battles of Brandywine and Germantown later that year.

George Washington faced criticism of his command, low troop morale, and a lack of provisions for his forces as the war continued.

Ultimately George Washington led a combined French and American force to a decisive victory over the British at Yorktown in 1781.

George Washington then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted the current Constitution of the United States.

George Washington was elected president unanimously by the Electoral College in 1788 and 1792.

George Washington set enduring precedents for the office of president, including republicanism, a peaceful transfer of power, the use of the title "Mr President", and the two-term tradition.

George Washington began opposing slavery near the end of his life, and provided in his will for the manumission of his slaves.

George Washington's image is an icon of American culture and he has been extensively memorialized; his namesakes include the national capital and the State of George Washington.

George Washington's father was a justice of the peace and a prominent public figure who had four additional children from his first marriage to Jane Butler.

George Washington was not close to his father and rarely mentioned him in later years; he had a fractious relationship with his mother.

George Washington learned mathematics and land surveying, and became a talented draftsman and mapmaker.

George Washington often visited Belvoir, the plantation of William Fairfax, Lawrence's father-in-law, and Mount Vernon.

In 1748, George Washington spent a month with a team surveying Fairfax's Shenandoah Valley property.

In 1751, George Washington left mainland North America for the first and only time, when he accompanied Lawrence to Barbados, hoping the climate would cure his brother's tuberculosis.

George Washington contracted smallpox during the trip, which left his face slightly scarred.

Lawrence died in 1752, and George Washington leased Mount Vernon from his widow, Anne; he inherited it outright after her death in 1761.

Lawrence Washington's service as adjutant general of the Virginia militia inspired George to seek a militia commission.

George Washington was directed to make peace with the Iroquois Confederacy and to gather intelligence about the French forces.

George Washington said that at this meeting Tanacharison named him Conotocaurius.

The party was escorted to Fort Le Boeuf, where George Washington was received in a friendly manner.

George Washington delivered the British demand to vacate to the French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, but the French refused to leave.

George Washington completed the precarious mission in difficult winter conditions, achieving a measure of distinction when his report was published in Virginia and London.

The French later found their countrymen dead and scalped, blaming George Washington, who had retreated to Fort Necessity.

The rest of the Virginia Regiment joined George Washington the following month with news that he had been promoted to the rank of colonel and given command of the full regiment.

George Washington did not speak French, but signed a surrender document in which he unwittingly took responsibility for "assassinating" Jumonville, later blaming the translator for not properly translating it.

The Virginia Regiment was divided and George Washington was offered a captaincy in one of the newly formed regiments.

In 1755, George Washington volunteered as an aide to General Edward Braddock, who led a British expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne and the Ohio Country.

George Washington was suffering from severe dysentery so did not initially travel with the expedition forces.

Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage, George Washington rallied the survivors and formed a rear guard, allowing the remnants of the force to retreat.

George Washington's conduct redeemed his reputation among critics of his command in the Battle of Fort Necessity, but he was not included by the succeeding commander in planning subsequent operations.

George Washington clashed over seniority almost immediately, this time with Captain John Dagworthy, who commanded a detachment of Marylanders at the regiment's headquarters in Fort Cumberland.

Loudoun humiliated George Washington, refused him a royal commission, and agreed only to relieve him of the responsibility of manning Fort Cumberland.

The French had abandoned the fort and the valley before the assault and George Washington only saw a friendly fire incident which left 14 dead and 26 injured.

George Washington increased the professionalism of the regiment as it grew from 300 to 1,000 men.

The destructive competition George Washington witnessed among colonial politicians fostered his later support of a strong central government.

At George Washington's urging, Governor Lord Botetourt fulfilled Dinwiddie's 1754 promise to grant land bounties to those who served with volunteer militias during the French and Indian War.

In late 1770, George Washington inspected the lands in the Ohio and Great Kanawha regions, and he engaged surveyor William Crawford to subdivide it.

Crawford allotted 23,200 acres to George Washington, who told the veterans that their land was unsuitable for farming and agreed to purchase 20,147 acres, leaving some feeling that they had been duped.

George Washington doubled the size of Mount Vernon to 6,500 acres and, by 1775, had more than doubled its slave population to over one hundred.

Early in his legislative career, George Washington rarely spoke at or even attended legislative sessions, but was more politically active starting in the 1760s, becoming a prominent critic of Britain's taxation and mercantilist policies towards the American colonies.

George Washington imported luxury goods from England, paying for them by exporting tobacco.

George Washington was opposed to the taxes which the British Parliament imposed on the Colonies without proper representation.

George Washington believed the Stamp Act 1765 was oppressive and celebrated its repeal the following year.

Parliament sought to punish Massachusetts colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party in 1774 by passing the Coercive Acts, which George Washington saw as "an invasion of our rights and privileges".

George Washington was unanimously elected by Congress the next day.

Similarly, George Washington was impressed by Alexander Hamilton's intelligence and bravery; he would later promote Hamilton to colonel and appoint him his aide-de-camp.

George Washington initially banned the enlistment of Black soldiers, both free and enslaved.

George Washington promoted some of the soldiers who had performed well at Bunker Hill to officer rank, and removed officers who he saw as incompetent.

George Washington entered the city with 500 men, giving them explicit orders not to plunder.

George Washington refrained from exerting military authority in Boston, leaving civilian matters in the hands of local authorities.

George Washington ordered his forces to treat civilians and their property with respect, to avoid the abuses Bostonians suffered at the hands of British troops.

Howe's troop strength totaled 32,000 regulars and Hessian auxiliaries; George Washington had 23,000 men, mostly untrained recruits and militia.

Howe pursued and George Washington retreated across the Hudson River to Fort Lee.

Loyalists in New York City considered Howe a liberator and spread a rumor that George Washington had set fire to the city.

Now reduced to 5,400 troops, George Washington's army retreated through New Jersey.

George Washington crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, where General John Sullivan joined him with 2,000 more troops.

Concerned about Burgoyne's movements southward, George Washington sent reinforcements north with Generals Benedict Arnold and Benjamin Lincoln.

George Washington made repeated petitions to Congress for provisions and expressed the urgency of the situation to a congressional delegation.

Congress agreed to strengthen the army's supply lines and reorganize the quartermaster and commissary departments, while George Washington launched the Grand Forage of 1778 to collect food from the surrounding region.

George Washington chose to order a limited strike on the retreating British.

George Washington relieved Lee and achieved a draw after an expansive battle.

George Washington, meanwhile, ordered an expedition against the Iroquois, the Indigenous allies of the British, destroying their villages.

George Washington became America's first spymaster by designing an espionage system against the British.

Intelligence from the Culper Ring saved French forces from a surprise British attack, which was itself based on intelligence from George Washington's general turned British spy Benedict Arnold.

George Washington had disregarded incidents of disloyalty by Arnold, who had distinguished himself in many campaigns, including the invasion of Quebec.

On being told about Arnold's treason, George Washington recalled the commanders positioned under Arnold at key points around the fort to prevent any complicity.

George Washington assumed personal command at West Point and reorganized its defenses.

George Washington initially hoped to bring the fight to New York, drawing the British forces away from Virginia and ending the war there, but Rochambeau advised him that Cornwallis in Virginia was the better target.

George Washington was in command of an army of 7,800 Frenchmen, 3,100 militia, and 8,000 Continental troops.

George Washington submitted an account of $450,000 in expenses which he had advanced to the army.

George Washington oversaw the evacuation of British forces in New York and was greeted by parades and celebrations.

George Washington arrived on Christmas Eve; Professor John E Ferling wrote that he was delighted to be "free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life".

George Washington received a constant stream of visitors paying their respects at Mount Vernon.

George Washington reactivated his interests in the Great Dismal Swamp and Potomac Canal projects, begun before the war, though neither paid him any dividends.

George Washington undertook a 34-day, 680-mile trip in 1784 to check on his land holdings in the Ohio Country.

George Washington's estate recorded its eleventh year running at a deficit in 1787.

George Washington began breeding mules after being gifted a stud by King Charles III of Spain in 1785; he believed that they would revolutionize agriculture.

George Washington believed the nation was on the verge of "anarchy and confusion", was vulnerable to foreign intervention, and that a national constitution would unify the states under a strong central government.

George Washington was chosen to lead the Virginia delegation, but he declined.

George Washington had concerns about the legality of the convention and consulted James Madison, Henry Knox, and others.

Benjamin Franklin nominated George Washington to preside over the meeting, and he was unanimously elected.

George Washington continued to serve through his presidency until his death.

George Washington selected the first justices for the Supreme Court.

George Washington was an able administrator and judge of talent and character.

George Washington appointed Edmund Randolph as Attorney General, Samuel Osgood as Postmaster General, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Henry Knox as Secretary of War, and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury.

George Washington's cabinet became a consulting and advisory body, not mandated by the Constitution.

George Washington restricted cabinet discussions to topics of his choosing and expected department heads to agreeably carry out his decisions.

George Washington opposed political factionalism and remained non-partisan throughout his presidency.

George Washington was sympathetic to a Federalist form of government.

George Washington initially planned to retire after his first term, weary of office and in poor health.

George Washington was resolved to pursue "a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent Powers" while warning Americans not to intervene in the conflict.

George Washington procured four American ships as privateers to strike at Spanish forces in Florida while organizing militias to strike at other British possessions.

George Washington mobilized a militia and personally commanded an expedition against the rebels which suppressed the insurgency.

George Washington supported the treaty because it avoided war, although he was disappointed that its provisions favored Britain.

George Washington mobilized public opinion and secured ratification but faced frequent public criticism and political controversy.

George Washington came to regard the press as a disuniting force.

George Washington did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement set a significant precedent.

George Washington warned against the dangers of political parties and entangling foreign alliances with domestic affairs.

George Washington counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but advised against involvement in European wars.

George Washington stressed the importance of religion, asserting that "religion and morality are indispensable supports" in a republic.

George Washington vocally supported the Alien and Sedition Acts and convinced Federalist John Marshall to run for Congress to weaken the Jeffersonian hold on Virginia.

George Washington wrote to Secretary of War James McHenry offering to organize President Adams' army.

George Washington participated in planning but delegated the active leadership of the army to Hamilton.

George Washington was known to be rich because of what Chernow calls the "glorified facade of wealth and grandeur" at Mount Vernon.

George Washington bought land parcels to spur development around the new Federal City, and he sold individual lots to middle-income investors rather than multiple lots to large investors, believing the former would be more likely to commit to making improvements.

George Washington then dined with guests without putting on dry clothes.

George Washington had a sore throat the next day but was well enough to mark trees for cutting.

George Washington ordered his estate overseer, George Rawlins, to remove nearly a pint of his blood.

George Washington's family summoned doctors James Craik, Gustavus Richard Brown, and Elisha C Dick.

On his deathbed, afraid of being entombed alive, George Washington instructed his private secretary Tobias Lear to wait three days before his burial.

Martha burned her correspondence with George Washington to protect its privacy, though five letters between the couple are known to have survived.

Southern opposition was intense, antagonized by an ever-growing rift between North and South; many were concerned that George Washington's remains could end up, in the words of Representative Wiley Thompson, on "a shore foreign to his native soil" if the country became divided, and George Washington's remains stayed in Mount Vernon.

On October 7,1837, George Washington's remains, still in the original lead coffin, were placed within a marble sarcophagus designed by William Strickland and constructed by John Struthers.

George Washington inherited some, gained control of 84 dower slaves upon his marriage to Martha, and purchased at least 71 slaves between 1752 and 1773.

George Washington's growing disillusionment with the institution was spurred by the principles of the Revolution and revolutionary friends such as Lafayette and Hamilton.

George Washington gave moral support to a plan proposed by Lafayette to purchase land and free slaves to work on it, but chose not to participate in the experiment.

George Washington privately expressed support for emancipation to prominent Methodists Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury in 1785 but declined to sign their petition.

George Washington emancipated 123 or 124 slaves, which was highly unusual among the large slave-holding Virginians during the Revolutionary era.

George Washington served for more than 20 years as a vestryman and churchwarden at the Fairfax and Truro parishes in Virginia.

George Washington privately prayed and read the Bible daily, and publicly encouraged prayer.

George Washington referred to God in American Enlightenment terms, including Providence, the Almighty, and the Divine Author.

George Washington believed in a divine power who watched over battlefields, influenced the outcome of war, protected his life, and was involved in American politics and specifically in the creation of the United States.

Chernow has argued that George Washington avoided evangelistic Christianity, hellfire-and-brimstone speech, and anything inclined to "flaunt his religiosity", saying that he "never used his religion as a device for partisan purposes or in official undertakings".

George Washington adopted the ideas, values, and modes of thinking of the Enlightenment, but he harbored no contempt for organized Christianity and its clergy.

George Washington was somewhat reserved in personality, although he was known for having a strong presence.

George Washington made speeches and announcements when required, but he was not a noted orator nor debater.

George Washington drank alcohol in moderation but was morally opposed to excessive drinking, smoking tobacco, gambling, and profanity.

George Washington did not wear a powdered wig; instead he wore his hair curled, powdered, and tied in a queue in the fashion of the day.

George Washington had several sets of false teeth during his presidency.

George Washington experienced a painful growth in his thigh early in his first presidential term, followed by a life-threatening bout of pneumonia in 1790 from which he never fully recovered.

George Washington collected thoroughbreds at Mount Vernon; his two favorite horses were Blueskin and Nelson.

George Washington is one of the most influential figures in American history.

George Washington became an international symbol for liberation and nationalism as the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire.

On March 13,1978, George Washington was officially promoted by the Army.

Chernow maintains that Weems attempted to humanize George Washington, inspire "patriotism and morality", and foster "enduring myths", such as that of George Washington's refusal to lie about damaging his father's cherry tree.

The historian John Ferling maintains that George Washington remains the only founder and president ever to be referred to as "godlike", and points out that his character has been the most scrutinized by historians.

George Washington maintains that Washington never advocated outright confiscation of tribal land or the forcible removal of tribes.

George Washington hoped the process could be bloodless and that Indian people would give up their lands for a "fair" price and move away.

George Washington's presidential library is housed at Mount Vernon, which is a National Historic Landmark.

George Washington's papers are held by the Library of Congress.

On February 21,1885, the George Washington Monument was dedicated, a 555-foot marble obelisk on the National Mall in George Washington, DC.

George Washington appears as one of four presidents on the Shrine of Democracy, a colossal sculpture by Gutzon Borglum on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

The George Washington Bridge, opened in 1931, connects New York City to New Jersey.

George Washington appears on contemporary United States currency, including the one-dollar bill, the Presidential one-dollar coin and the quarter-dollar coin.

George Washington was pictured on the nation's first postage stamp in 1847, and has since appeared on more United States postage stamps than anyone else.