Being George Washington

by Glenn Beck

  Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757–1804)—West Indian-born aide-de-camp to Washington. Coauthor, with James Madison and John Jay, of the Federalist papers. America’s first secretary of the Treasury. Rival of Jefferson. Founder of the Federalist Party. Assists with the Farewell Address. Killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

  John Honeyman (1729–1822)—Scottish weaver turned New Jersey farmer. An American spy, key to victory at Trenton.

  Admiral Richard Howe (1726–1799)—Brother of General William Howe. He accompanies his brother William on Britain’s successful 1776 and 1777 campaigns to capture New York and Philadelphia. Sympathetic to the colonists, he left his command in September 1778. Replaced by Henry Clinton.

  Major General Robert Howe (1732–1786)—North Carolina–born Continental Army general. Lost Savannah to the British. Replaced by Benedict Arnold as commandant of West Point. Helped crush January 1781’s troop mutiny in New Jersey.

  General William Howe (1729–1814)—Second commander of British forces during the Revolutionary War. Howe evacuates Boston after Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights but defeats him at Long Island and Brandywine. Howe’s occupation of New Jersey proves disastrous and helps lead to Rall’s defeat at Trenton and Cornwallis’s defeat at Princeton. In 1777, Howe captures Philadelphia but refuses to move against Washington at Valley Forge. Disgusted with the war, he resigns his command and returns to England in 1778.

  John Jay (1745–1829)—New York attorney. President of the Continental Congress (1778–79). Coauthor of the Federalist papers. First chief justice of the United States. Negotiator of the controversial Jay Treaty with Britain.

  Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)—Virginia planter. Author of the Declaration of Independence. Governor of Virginia. Minister to France. Washington’s first secretary of state. Rival of Alexander Hamilton. Third president of the United States.

  Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (1723–1790)—Maryland planter. Attended the Mount Vernon conference of 1785. Among the oldest of delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

  General Henry “the Ox” Knox (1750–1806)—The 280-pound Boston bookseller who became the Continental Army’s chief of artillery. He served at Bunker Hill, during the New York campaign, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. Knox’s transporting of fifty-nine cannons and mortars from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point to Cambridge triggered the British evacuation of Boston. In overall command of December 1776’s Delaware crossing.

  Marquis de Lafayette (Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier) (1757–1834)—Scion of one of the wealthiest families of aristocratic France. Passionate believer in liberty. Volunteer in the Continental Army. Almost a son to the childless Washington. Key to trapping Cornwallis at Yorktown.

  Henry Laurens (1724–1792)—South Carolina rice planter and slave merchant. President of the Continental Congress (1777–78). A firm Washington ally. Captured by the British, he will be the only American prisoner in the Tower of London. Exchanged for General Cornwallis. Ultimately opposes slavery.

  John Laurens (1754–1782)—Son of Henry Laurens. Aide to Washington. Assisted von Steuben in authoring the army instruction manual. Attempted to raise a black regiment in South Carolina. Helped negotiate Cornwallis’s surrender.

  General Charles Lee (1732–1782)—British-born Revolutionary War general. Slovenly and strangely ill-mannered for his highborn background. Served alongside Washington during the French and Indian War and later in armies on the European continent. Resentful of Washington. Collaborates with the British after his December 1776 capture by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Disgraced at the Battle of Monmouth.

  General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee III (1756–1812)—Revolutionary War general. Governor of Virginia. Commander of American forces during the Whiskey Rebellion. Eulogizes Washington as “First in War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of his Countrymen.” Killed by a Democratic-Republic mob in Baltimore.

  Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794)—Virginia patriot. Author of the Continental Congress resolution first calling for independence from Britain. Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

  William “Billy” or “Will” Lee (ca. 1750–1728)—Washington’s slave and personal assistant. He serves with Washington throughout the Revolutionary War. An invalid by the late 1780s. Freed by Washington in his will.

  Elizabeth “Betsy” Lloyd Loring (ca. 1752–1831)—Wife of Joshua Loring Jr. Mistress of General William Howe. Howe’s tarrying with Betsy Loring may have saved Washington at Valley Forge.

  Joshua Loring Jr. (1744–1789)—Loyalist deputy commissary of prisoners. Under his command thousands of American prisoners of war will perish from starvation and disease.

  James “Jemmy” Madison (1751–1836)—Virginia-born planter. “Father of the Constitution.” Contributor to the Federalist papers. Author of the Bill of Rights. Virginia congressman. Drafts the 1792 version of Washington’s Farewell Address. Fourth president of the United States.

  General Francis “the Swamp Fox” Marion (1732–1795)—South Carolina–born Continental Army officer. Master of guerrilla warfare in the southern campaigns. Given his nickname by Banastre Tarleton.

  Luther Martin (1748–1826)—Maryland attorney. Delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He will, however, refuse to sign the Constitution. Aaron Burr’s defense lawyer in the shooting of Alexander Hamilton.

  George Mason (1725–1792)—Virginia planter. Author of that state’s Declaration of Rights. Delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Refuses to sign the new constitution and argues for a Bill of Rights.

  James Monroe (1758–1831)—Virginia planter. A member of the advance party at Trenton, where he is seriously wounded in the left shoulder. Secretary of state and of war under James Madison. Fifth president of the United States.

  General Daniel Morgan (1736–1802)—Commander of Virginia’s “Morgan’s Riflemen.” Poorly educated. Virulently anti-British. Among Washington’s able generals and firmest supporters. Defeated Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens in January 1781.

  Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816)—Peg-legged New York lawyer and merchant. Influential Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. His hand may have literally “written” most of the Constitution. Ambassador to France.

  Robert Morris (1734–1806)—Philadelphia banker. “Financier of the American Revolution.” Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hosts Washington during the Constitutional Convention. Sent to debtors prison in 1798.

  Colonel Lewis Nicola (1717–ca. 1807)—Dublin-born Continental officer. Writes to Washington in May 1782 suggesting Washington assume “the title of king.”

  Thomas Paine (1737–1809)—English-born American pamphleteer. Volunteer in the Philadelphia Associators militia unit. Aide-de-camp to Nathanael Greene. Author of Common Sense and The Crisis (“These are the times that try men’s souls….”). A supporter of the French Revolution, Paine would write The Rights of Man before being imprisoned by French revolutionaries.

  Colonel Johann Gottlieb “the Hessian Lion” Rall (c. 1726–1776)—Hessian commander at Trenton. Buffeted by attacks from New Jersey patriots, he nonetheless refuses to fortify the town. Killed there by a musket ball as he turns to aid a wounded fellow officer.

  Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746–1813)—Philadelphia physician. Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Member of the Continental Congress. Surgeon general of the Middle Department of the Continental Army (1776–77). Persistent harsh critic of Washington. Supporter of the Conway Cabal.

  Judge Edward Shippen IV (1729–1806)—Suspected Loyalist. His third daughter is Margaret “Peggy” Shippen, Benedict Arnold’s second wife.

  Joseph Stansbury (ca. 1742–1809)—London-born Loyalist and Philadelphia china merchant. Commissioner of the city watch during General Howe’s occupation. Go-between in the Arnold-André conspiracy.

  Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828)—Rhode Island-born portrait painter. His 1796 portrait of Washington is f
ound on the one-dollar bill.

  Benjamin Tallmadge (1754–1835)—Washington’s New York–born chief intelligence officer. Yale classmate of Nathan Hale. A key to unmasking the Arnold-André conspiracy.

  Lieutenant Colonel Banastre “Bloody Ban” Tarleton (1754–1833)—British cavalryman. Infamous for his massacre of surrendered American troops at the Battle of Waxhaw Creek. Captured General Charles Lee at Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Defeated by General Daniel Morgan at Cowpens. Surrendered with Cornwallis at Yorktown.

  Count Carl Emilius von Donop (1732–1777)—The Hessian colonel who tarried with a beautiful young widow at Mount Holly, New Jersey, and failed to reinforce Colonel Johann Rall at Trenton. Was that widow Betsy Ross? Killed at the Battle of Red Bank.

  Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794)—Prussian-born volunteer with the Continental Army—sent to Congress and Washington by Benjamin Franklin in Paris. Despite speaking little if any English at the time, he successfully trains the rebel forces at Valley Forge. Later inspector general of the Continental Army and Washington’s chief of staff. A division commander at Yorktown.

  George Washington (1732–1799)—Father of his country. Virginia planter. Youthful hero of the French and Indian War. Delegate to the first and second Continental Congresses. First commander of the Continental Army (1775–83). President of 1787’s Constitutional Convention. First president of the United States (1789–97).

  Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731–1802)—Widow of Virginia planter Daniel Parke Custis. Among the wealthiest women in the colonies. She marries George Washington in January 1759.

  Timeline

  1732

  February 22 [new calendar; February 11 old calendar]—George Washington born at Westmoreland County, Virginia Colony.

  1746

  September 8—Lawrence Washington writes to Mary Ball Washington requesting permission for George to enter the Royal Navy as a midshipman.

  1747

  May 19—Joseph Ball writes to his sister Mary Ball Washington advising against George entering the Royal Navy.

  Plans to go to sea abandoned upon his mother’s plea.

  Copies Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.

  Moves to Mount Vernon to live with Lawrence.

  1751

  September 28—Travels to Barbados with his half brother Lawrence Washington.

  November 17—Shows first signs of smallpox.

  December 12—Released from doctor’s care for smallpox.

  December 22—Departs for return to Virginia.

  1752

  January 28—Lands at Yorktown.

  Spring—Suffers from “a violent pleurisy.”

  May 20—Writes to William Fauntleroy, requesting to marry his daughter Betsy.

  July 26—Death of Lawrence Washington of consumption.

  September 1—Joins the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge.

  November 6—Commissioned as a major in the Virginia militia.

  1754

  May 27—With the Seneca leader Half King defeats the French under Joseph Jumonville; incident starts the French and Indian War.

  July 3—Surrenders Fort Necessity to the French under Jumonville’s brother Louis.

  1755

  July 9—French defeat British at the Battle of the Monongahela; Braddock is killed.

  August 14—Appointed a colonel and head of Virginia’s colonial militia.

  1759

  January 6—Marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

  1773

  May 10—Parliament passes the Tea Act.

  December 16—Patriots conduct the “Boston Tea Party” at Boston Harbor.

  1775

  March 5—The Battle of Bunker Hill.

  April 19—The battles of Lexington and Concord.

  May 10—Fort Ticonderoga captured by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold.

  May 10—Crown Point captured by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold.

  June 15—Washington appointed head of the Continental Army.

  November 12—Signs order banning recruitment of blacks from the Continental Army.

  December 5—Henry Knox commences mission to retrieve artillery from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

  1776

  January—Washington lifts ban on black recruitment.

  January 10—Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.

  January 24—Knox reaches Cambridge with artillery.

  June—Allegedly works with Betsy Ross on creation of the American flag.

  July 4—American independence proclaimed in Philadelphia.

  July 9—Washington celebrates independence in New York City.

  September 15—Defeated at the Battle of Kips Bay in Manhattan.

  September 15—American spy Nathan Hale is captured and executed.

  September 16—Washington defeats Major General Alexander Leslie at the Battle of Harlem Heights.

  October 28—Washington defeated at the Battle of White Plains.

  November 16—U.S. ship Andrew Doria (carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence) arrives at Sint Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies and is tendered an eleven-gun salute, thus receiving America’s first recognition by a foreign power.

  November 30—Enlistments of more than two thousand Maryland and New Jersey militiamen expire; they go home.

  December 8—British occupy Newport, Rhode Island.

  December 13—General Charles Lee captured at Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

  December 19—Thomas Paine publishes the first installment of The Crisis in the Pennsylvania Journal and has additional copies shipped back to him for Washington’s army.

  December 25—Washington has Paine’s The Crisis read to his troops.

  December 25–26—Crosses Delaware River, defeats Colonel Rall’s Hessians at Trenton.

  December 30—At Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville), New Jersey, pleads with troops to extend their enlistments.

  December 30—Writes to Congress that “free Negroes who have served in the Army, are very much dissatisfied at being discarded.”

  1777

  January 2—Defeats General Charles Cornwallis at the Second Battle of Trenton (also known as the Battle of Assunpink Creek).

  January 3—Dr. Rush writes to Patrick Henry criticizing Washington.

  January 13—Dr. Rush writes to John Adams criticizing Washington.

  January 25—Washington issues proclamation ordering those who had sworn loyalty to the Crown to swear allegiance to the Congress within thirty days.

  January 30—Dr. Rush resigns as surgeon general.

  February 19—Congress appoints five new major generals—Stirling, Mifflin, St. Clair, Stephen, and Lincoln—bypassing Benedict Arnold.

  May 3—Congress promotes Benedict Arnold to major general.

  July 11—Arnold submits his resignation to Congress.

  July 31—In Philadelphia, Washington first meets the Marquis de Lafayette.

  September 3—Washington defeated at the Battle of Brandywine; Lafayette is wounded in the leg.

  September 19—The Battle of Freeman’s Farm (First Battle of Saratoga); Horatio Gates strips Arnold of his command.

  September 21—The Battle of Paoli (“Paoli Massacre”).

  October 4—Washington defeated at the Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania.

  October 6—British capture Fort Montgomery in New York State.

  October 7—Battle of Bemis Heights (Second Battle of Saratoga); Benedict Arnold wounded in the leg.

  October 17—General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga.

  November 3—General Lord Stirling informs Washington of the Conway Cabal.

  November 3—Thomas Mifflin resigns as quartermaster general.

  December 19—Washington arrives at Valley Forge.

  December 29—General Thomas Conway arrives at Valley Forge; rebuffed by Washington.

  1778

  January 19—Conway Cabal collapses; Congress supports Washington.

  February 4�
�General Henry Clinton appointed British commander in chief for North America.

  February 6—French-American alliance signed in Paris.

  February 23—Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge.

  February 24—Great Britain declares war on France.

  March 2—Nathanael Greene appointed quartermaster general.

  May 5—Washington receives word of the American-French alliance.

  May 6—At Valley Forge, celebration (feu de joie or “fire of joy”) of French alliance.