George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After serving as President of the United States (1789 to 1797), he briefly was in charge of a new army in 1798. Washington played a major role for the British Empire during the French and Indian War, which was the North American Theater of Operations of the European the Seven Years' War, fought from 1754 to 1763. His success increased the colonial territory of Great Britain on American soil. Disputes over frontier policy and paying for the war led to colonial discontent and to the American Revolution.
On June 15, 1775, delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia unanimously appointed Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, which it created the day before. Washington commanded the American forces in the American Revolutionary War. The first battles of the war were the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Congress appointed Washington as the first commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army on June 14, 1775. The task he took on was enormous, balancing regional demands, competition among his subordinates, morale among the rank and file, attempts by Congress to manage the army's affairs too closely, requests by state governors for support, and an endless need for resources with which to feed, clothe, equip, arm, and move the troops. He was not usually in command of the many state militia units.
In the early years of the war, Washington was often in the middle of the action, first directing the year-long siege of Boston to its successful conclusion, but then losing New York City and almost losing New Jersey before winning surprising and decisive victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of the 1776 campaign season. At the end of the year in both 1775 and 1776, he had to deal with expiring enlistments, since the Congress had only authorized the army's existence for a year at a time. With the 1777 establishment of a more permanent army structure and the introduction of three-year enlistments, Washington built a reliable cohort of experienced troops, although hard currency and supplies of all types were difficult to come by. In 1777 Washington was again defeated in the defense of Philadelphia, but sent critical support to Horatio Gates that made the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga possible. Following a difficult winter at Valley Forge and the entry of France into the war in 1778, Washington followed the British army as it withdrew from Philadelphia back to New York, and fought an ultimately inconclusive battle at Monmouth Court House in New Jersey.
Washington's activities from late 1778 to 1780 were more diplomatic and organizational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Major General Sir Henry Clinton's army that occupied the city. Washington strategized with the French on how best to cooperate in actions against the British, leading to ultimately unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the British from Newport, Rhode Island, and Savannah, Georgia. His attention was also drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York. When Major General Clinton sent the turncoat Brigadier General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, Washington began to detach elements of his army to face the growing threat there. The arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. Washington's army and the French army moved south to face Cornwallis, and a cooperative French navy under Admiral de Grasse successfully disrupted British attempts to control of the Chesapeake Bay, completing the entrapment of Cornwallis, who surrendered after the siege of Yorktown in October 1781. Although Yorktown marked the end of significant hostilities in North America, the British still occupied New York and other cities, so Washington had to maintain the army in the face of a bankrupt Congress and troops that were at times mutinous over conditions and pay. The army was formally disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23, 1783.
Military experience
George Washington was born into a well-to-do family near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in what was then British America on , Washington was schooled locally until the age of 15. The early death of his father when he was 11 eliminated the possibility of schooling in England, and his mother rejected attempts to place him in the Royal Navy.Freeman, pp. 1:1–199 Thanks to the connection by marriage of his half-brother Lawrence to the wealthy Fairfax family, Washington was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County in 1749; he was just 17 years old. Washington's brother had purchased an interest in the Ohio Company, a land acquisition and settlement company whose objective was the settlement of Virginia's frontier areas, including the Ohio Country, territory north and west of the Ohio River.Chernow, ch. 1 Its investors also included Virginia's Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington a major in the provincial militia in February 1753.Anderson, p. 30Freeman, p. 1:268
Washington played a key role in the outbreak of the French and Indian War, and then led the defense of Virginia between 1755 and 1758 as colonel of the Virginia Regiment. Although Washington never received a commission in the British Army, he gained valuable military, political, and leadership skills,Chernow, ch. 8; Freeman and Harwell, pp. 135–139; Flexner (1974), pp. 32–36; Higginbotham (1985), ch. 1 and received significant public exposure in the colonies and abroad.Joseph Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (2004), p. 14O'Meara, p. 45 He closely observed British military tactics, gaining a keen insight into their strengths and weaknesses that proved invaluable during the Revolution. He demonstrated his toughness and courage in the most difficult situations, including disasters and retreats. He developed a command presence—given his size, strength, stamina, and bravery in battle, he appeared to soldiers to be a natural leader and they followed him without question.Ellis, pp. 38,69Fischer, p. 13 Washington learned to organize, train, and drill, and discipline his companies and regiments. From his observations, readings and conversations with professional officers, he learned the basics of battlefield tactics, as well as a good understanding of problems of organization and logistics.Higginbotham (1985), pp. 14–15
He gained an understanding of overall strategy, especially in locating strategic geographical points.Lengel, p. 80 He developed a very negative idea of the value of militia, who seemed too unreliable, too undisciplined, and too short-term compared to regulars.Higginbotham (2004), pp. 22–25 On the other hand, his experience was limited to command of at most 1,000 men, and came only in remote frontier conditions that were far removed from the urban situations he faced during the Revolution at Boston, New York, Trenton and Philadelphia.Freeman and Harwell, pp. 136–137
Political resistance
In December 1758, Washington resigned his military commission, and spent the next 16 years as a wealthy Virginia plantation proprietor, owning land and slaves; as an estate owner he also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the elected assembly. He expressed opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the colonies, but he did not take a leading role in the growing colonial resistance until protests of the Townshend Acts (enacted in 1767) became widespread. In May 1769, Washington introduced a proposal, drafted by his friend George Mason, calling for Virginia to boycott British goods until the Acts were repealed.Freeman and Harwell, pp. 174–176 Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770, and, for Washington at least, the crisis had passed. However, Washington regarded the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 as "an Invasion of our Rights and Privileges".Randall (1998), p. 262 In July 1774, he chaired the meeting at which the "Fairfax Resolves" were adopted, which called for, among other things, the convening of a Continental Congress. In August, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.Ferling (1998), p. 99 As tensions rose in 1774, he assisted in the training of county militias in Virginia and organized enforcement of the boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.Lengel, p. 84Ferling (1998), p. 108
Major roles General Washington, the Commander in Chief, assumed five main roles during the war.R. Don Higginbotham, George Washington and the American Military Tradition (1985) ch 3Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington (1952) 5:478-501.Marcus Cunliffe "George Washington's Generalship" in Billias, ed., George Washington's Generals pp 3-21.
First, he designed the overall strategy of the war, in cooperation with Congress. The goal was always independence. When France entered the war, he worked closely with the soldiers it sent—they were decisive in the great victory at Yorktown in 1781.Robert Selig, March to victory: Washington, Rochambeau, and the Yorktown Campaign of 1781 (2005) online . Second, he provided leadership of troops against the main British forces in 1775–1777 and again in 1781. He lost many of his battles, but he never surrendered his army during the war, and he continued to fight the British relentlessly until the war's end. Washington worked hard to develop a successful espionage system to detect British locations and plans. In 1778, he formed the Culper Ring to spy on enemy movements in New York City. In 1780 it discovered Benedict Arnold was a traitor.Alexander Rose, Washington's Spies (2006). pp 258–61. The British intelligence system was completely fooled in 1781, unaware that Washington and the French armies were moving from the Northeast to Yorktown, Virginia.Edward G. Lengel, General George Washington: A Military Life (2005) p 336. Third, he was charged selecting and guiding the generals. In June 1776, Congress made its first attempt at running the war effort with the committee known as "Board of War and Ordnance", succeeded by the Board of War in July 1777, a committee which eventually included members of the military.Douglas S. Freeman, and Richard Harwell, Washington (1968) p 42. The command structure of the armed forces was a hodgepodge of Congressional appointees (and Congress sometimes made those appointments without Washington's input) with state-appointments filling the lower ranks. The results of his general staff were mixed, as some of his favorites never mastered the art of command, such as John Sullivan. Eventually, he found capable officers such as Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, Henry Knox (chief of artillery), and Alexander Hamilton (chief of staff). The American officers never equaled their opponents in tactics and maneuver, and they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes at Boston (1776), Saratoga (1777), and Yorktown (1781) came from trapping the British far from base with much larger numbers of troops.Higginbotham, George Washington and the American Military Tradition (1985) ch 3