1.
Westmoreland County, Virginia
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Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2010 census, the population was 17,454 and these were part of Westmoreland until 1664, when Stafford County was formed. The county was the place of residence for Colonel Nicholas Spencer, Spencer, who served as President of the Council and acting Governor of the Colony of Virginia, was the cousin of, and agent for, the Barons Colepeper, proprietors of the Northern Neck. Spencer lived at his plantation, Nomini, which his descendants later sold to Robert Carter I, Robert Carters grandson, Robert Carter III, voluntarily freed almost 500 slaves from Nomini Hall beginning in 1791 and settled many on lands he gave them. His manumission is the largest known release of slaves in North America prior to the American Civil War and the largest number ever manumitted by an individual in the U. S. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 253 square miles. The county is located on the Northern Neck and is part of the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace AVA winemaking appellation, charles County, Maryland - north St. The population density was 73/sq mi, there were 9,286 housing units at an average density of 40/sq mi. 3. 46% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,26. 90% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the family size was 2.91. 23. 00% of the population were under the age of 18,6. 30% from 18 to 24,23. 90% from 25 to 44,27. 80% from 45 to 64, the median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 92.30 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.90 males. The median household income was $35,797 and the family income was $41,357. Males had an income of $31,333 and females $22,221. The per capita income was $19,473, about 11. 20% of families and 14. 70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21. 10% of those under age 18 and 12. 50% of those age 65 or over. The countys economy is based on agriculture. The county is also an extended exurb of Washington, D. C, Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Inc. and the weekly Westmoreland News are located in Montross. S
Westmoreland County, Virginia
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Westmoreland County Courthouse in Montross
Westmoreland County, Virginia
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Seal
Westmoreland County, Virginia
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Nomini Hall, Carter family plantation in Westmoreland County. Built in 1730 by Robert Carter II on land purchased from heirs of Nicholas Spencer by
Robert "King" Carter
Westmoreland County, Virginia
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Rural Westmoreland County
2.
Culpeper, Virginia
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Culpeper is the only incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. The population was 16,379 at the 2010 census, up from 9,664 at the 2000 census and it is the county seat of Culpeper County. Culpeper is located at 38°28′19″N 77°59′57″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.8 square miles, of which 6.7 square miles is land and 0.04 square mile is water. After forming Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1748, the Virginia House of Burgesses voted to establish the Town of Fairfax on February 22,1759, the original plan of the town called for ten blocks, which form the core of Culpepers downtown area today. The original town was surveyed by a young George Washington, in 1795, the town received a post office under the name Culpeper Court House, although most maps continued to show the Fairfax name. During the American Revolutionary War, the Culpeper Minutemen, a pro-Independence militia and they organized in what was then known as Claytons Old Field, near todays Yowell Meadow Park. During the Civil War, Culpeper was a crossroads for a number of marching through central Virginia. In the heart of downtown, the home of Confederate General A. P. Hill stands at the corner of Main. One block north on Main St. was the house where The Gallant Major John Pelham died after sustaining a wound at the battle of Kelleys Ford. Culpeper began to grow dramatically in the 1980s, becoming a community of more densely populated Northern Virginia and Washington. A growing number of residents of the town and county of Culpeper once lived, in 2011, East Davis Street in downtown Culpeper was named as a 2011 Americas Great Place by the American Planning Association. Downtown Culpeper was one of the communities most affected by the August 23,2011 Virginia earthquake, several buildings along Main Street and East Davis Street suffered structural damage, and some have been condemned. The earthquake led to the evacuation of the Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation. In 2014 the Museum of Culpeper History moved into the historic train depot. As of the 2010 Census, the makeup of the town was 61. 5% White,21. 9% Black,0. 6% Native American,2. 1% Asian,0. 01% Pacific Islander. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17. 0% of the population. The towns population included 25. 7% under the age of 18,10. 0% from 18 to 24,30. 3% from 25 to 44,19. 0% from 45 to 64, the median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 87.9 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.9 males
Culpeper, Virginia
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Downtown Culpeper
Culpeper, Virginia
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Seal
Culpeper, Virginia
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The downtown Culpeper Theater
Culpeper, Virginia
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Culpeper
Presbyterian Church
3.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
George Washington
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George Washington by
Gilbert Stuart, 1797
George Washington
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Washington's birthplace
George Washington
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Washington's map, accompanying his Journal to the Ohio (1753–1754)
George Washington
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A
mezzotint of
Martha Washington, based on a 1757 portrait by
Wollaston
4.
Augustine Washington
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Augustine Washington Sr. was the father of the first U. S. President George Washington. He belonged to the Colony of Virginias landed gentry and was a planter and slaveholder, Augustine Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on November 12,1694 to Lawrence Washington, a militia captain and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and Mildred Warner. His paternal grandparents were Lt. Col. John Washington and his first wife, Augustine was only four years old when his father died. He inherited about 1,000 acres on Bridges Creek in Westmoreland County, his sister Mildred inherited what was called the Little Hunting Creek property, when Washington came of age in 1715, he married Jane Butler, an orphan who had inherited about 640 acres from her father. The young couple settled on the Bridges Creek property, Washington was active in the Anglican Church and in local politics. He took the oath as justice of the peace for the county court in July 1716, in 1718, Washington purchased land on Popes Creek, abridging his property on Bridges Creek. About 1726, he had a new house built there, in the same year, he purchased the Little Hunting Creek property from his sister Mildred. Washington and his first wife, Jane Butler, had three children, only two of whom lived to adulthood, in 1725, Augustine entered into an agreement with the Principio Company of England to start an iron works on Accokeek Creek in Stafford County. After Janes death in 1730, Washington married Mary Ball in 1731, and in 1735, the moved to the Little Hunting Creek property. In 1738, Augustine Washington purchased the 150-acre Strother property across the Rappahannock River, after Washingtons death in 1743 at the age of 48, his son George inherited the former Strother property and its slaves. As he was only 11 years old, his mother Mary managed the property for him until he came of age and she lived on the property until 1772 when she was 64, George moved her to a house in Fredericksburg. Augustine Jr. inherited the Popes Creek property and slaves, at his death, Augustine Washington Sr. held a total of 64 slaves who were assigned among the various plantations. According to Augustines will, if Lawrence died without children, the Little Hunting Creek property would be given to Augustine Jr. with the stipulation that he must then give Popes Creek to George. If Augustine Jr. did not want the Little Hunting Creek property, at Lawrences death, he indeed had no living children, and Augustine Jr. did not want to give up Popes Creek, therefore, George Washington ultimately inherited the Little Hunting Creek property. Lawrence Washingtons widow Ann had a life interest in the Little Hunting Creek plantation, as she remarried and was not living at Mount Vernon, she leased the property to George beginning in 1754. Upon her death in 1761, George Washington inherited the plantation outright, George Washingtons Heritage, March 26,2005, Fredricksburg. com. Lawrence Washington History, 1659-1698, National Park Service
Augustine Washington
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Posthumous 1867 lithograph by John C. McRae after a painting by G. G. White.
5.
Mary Ball Washington
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Mary Ball was born in 1708 in Lively, Virginia in Lancaster County. She was the child of Col Joseph Ball and his second wife. She was of three quarters English and one quarter Dutch descent, Augustine Washington was sick and Mary Ball nursed him back to health. Augustine returned to Virginia and learned his wife Jane Butler Washington had died during his journey abroad, when the widower Augustine Washington heard that Mary Ball returned to Virginia, he went over to where she lived and proposed. They married on March 6,1731 when she was 22 years old and it was her first marriage and his second. S. Supreme Court, and confirmed by the Senate in 1798, while his Uncle George was living in retirement at Mount Vernon. Charlestown, West Virginia, is named for her son, Charles Washington. The Ancestry of George Washington can also be found on the Mount Vernon website, Augustine died in 1743 when son George was 11 years old. On his deathbed, Gus gave his son George three books on prayer, in some of those books, now in the Lyceum in Boston, Mary Ball Washington, also wrote her name. Unlike most widows in Virginia at the time, Mary Ball Washington never remarried. treat him worse than a slave or a dog, Mary managed the home and 276 acres of Ferry Farm with the help of others until her eldest son came of age and well beyond. She lived to see that son, George Washington, command the Continental Army to independence, there Mrs. Washington informed her son that she was in poor health and expected soon to die. Her son George said that he would need to decline to serve as President, georges mother Mary responded, saying, Go and fulfill the high destiny which Heaven has foreordained you to fill. Go, knowing that you go with a Mothers and Heavens blessings. so help me God and this visit to Mary Ball Washington was recorded by George Washington Parke Custis in his biography, Recollections and Private Memoirs of George Washington. While there is a legend that Mrs, in her will, Mary Washington left George the majority of her lands and appointed him as her executor. Mary Washington frequently visited her daughter Elizabeth Betty and her husband Fielding Lewis at their Kenmore Plantation two blocks from her home in Fredericksburg and she had a favorite prayer rock that was close to the Lewis mansion. Tradition has it that this was her favorite retreat for reading and she asked Betty to bury her there after her death, and her daughter arranged that. So not to some modern listeners of History, the Prayer Rocks where Mary Ball Washington often went to pray have been renamed to the Meditation Rocks. Several monuments have been erected to Mary Ball Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the Mary Washington House in Fredericksburg has been preserved by Preservation Virginia who, in mid-2012, signed an agreement passing ownership to the Washington Heritage Museums beginning by 2015
Mary Ball Washington
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Mary Ball Washington
Mary Ball Washington
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Closeup of the Mary Ball Washington House (1772-1789) in
Fredericksburg,
Virginia
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
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Flag
United States
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The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
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The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
7.
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
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Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, known as Nelly, was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the step-granddaughter of George Washington. Nelly was the daughter of John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert Custis and her father was the only surviving child of Daniel Parke Custis and his widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, who married George Washington in 1759. She was also the granddaughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert, illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore and he was certainly descended from Charles II through the Kings daughter by Barbara Villiers, Charlotte FitzRoy. Following the premature death of John Parke Custis in 1781, Nelly and her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, were adopted by the Washingtons. The talented and beautiful woman often accompanied her grandparents to social events. On February 22,1799, Nelly Custis married George Washingtons nephew, the Washingtons wedding gift was 2,000 acres adjacent to Mount Vernon, on which the Lewises built Woodlawn Plantation. The Lewises had eight children, five of whom did not survive to adulthood, the three who did survive were, Frances Parke Lewis Butler Lorenzo Lewis Mary Eliza Lewis Conrad Upon her marriage, Nelly Lewis inherited about 80 slaves from her fathers estate. Her grandfather, Daniel Parke Custiss estate was liquidated following Martha Washingtons death in 1802, following the death of her mother in 1811, the John Parke Custis estate was liquidated, and she inherited approximately 40 additional slaves. About 1830 the Lewises moved to Audley plantation in Clarke County, beginning in the mid-1830s they began dividing their time between Virginia and their daughters homes in Louisiana. Nelly Custis Lewis continued to live at Audley after her husbands death in 1839, throughout her life, she regarded herself as a preserver of George Washingtons legacy. She shared memories and mementos, entertained and corresponded with those seeking information on the first president, a shaft to the east of the Washingtons tomb at Mount Vernon marks her burial site. Kneebone, John T. et al. eds, ribblett, David L. Nelly Custis, Child of Mount Vernon. Woodlawn Plantation Portraits of Eleanor Custis Lewis and Lawrence Lewis at Kenmore
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
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Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis
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Woodlawn Plantation, Fairfax County, Virginia (1805)
8.
Martha Washington
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Martha Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States, during her lifetime she was often referred to as Lady Washington. Widowed at 25, she had four children with her first husband Daniel Parke Custis, two of her children by Custis survived to young adulthood. She brought great wealth to her marriage to Washington, which enabled him to buy land and she also brought nearly 100 dower slaves for her use during her lifetime, they and their descendants reverted to her first husbands estate at her death and were inherited by his heirs. She and Washington did not have children together but they did rear her two children by Daniel Parke Custis, including son John Jacky Parke Custis, as well as helped both of their extended families. Martha Dandridge was born on June 2,1731 on her parents plantation Chestnut Grove in the British colony, Province of Virginia. She was the oldest daughter of John Dandridge, a Virginia planter and immigrant from England, by his wife Frances Jones, who was of American birth and English, Welsh, and French descent. Martha had three brothers and four sisters, John, William, Bartholomew, Anna Marie Fanny Bassett, Frances Dandridge, Elizabeth Aylet Henley, Marthas father may also have fathered an out-of-wedlock half-brother to Martha named Ralph Dandridge, who was probably white. They had four children together, Daniel, Frances, John, Daniel and Frances died in childhood. The other two children, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis, survived to young adulthood, in all, she was left in custody of some 17,500 acres of land and 300 slaves, apart from other investments and cash. According to her biographist, she ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died. Martha Dandridge Custis, age 27, and George Washington, age nearly 27, married on January 6,1759, as a man who lived and owned property in the area, Washington likely knew both Martha and Daniel Parke Custis for some time before Daniels death. During March 1758 he visited her twice at White House, the time he came away with either an engagement of marriage or at least her promise to think about his proposal. At the time, she was also being courted by the planter Charles Carter, Washingtons suit was of blue and silver cloth with red trimming and gold knee buckles. The bride wore purple silk shoes with spangled buckles, which are displayed at Mount Vernon. The couple honeymooned at White House for several weeks before setting up house at Washingtons Mount Vernon estate and they appeared to have had a solid marriage. Martha and George Washington had no children together, but they raised Marthas two surviving children and her daughter, nicknamed Patsy, died as a teenager during an epileptic seizure, classed as SUDEP. John Parke Jacky Custis returned from college to comfort his mother, Custis later married and had children, he served as an aide to Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War
Martha Washington
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Martha Washington as a young woman
Martha Washington
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Tinted engraving by
John Chester Buttre (1821–1893), after the portrait by
Gilbert Stuart
Martha Washington
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Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757:
mezzotint by John Folwell (1863) after a portrait by John Wollaston
Martha Washington
9.
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Fredericksburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 24,286, the city population was estimated at 28,118 in 2015. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes, located near where the Rappahannock River crosses the Fall Line, Fredericksburg was a prominent port in Virginia during the colonial era. Fredericksburg is home to major commercial centers including Central Park and Spotsylvania Towne Centre. Major employers include the University of Mary Washington, Mary Washington Healthcare, many Fredericksburg-area residents commute to work by car, bus, and rail to Washington and Richmond, as well as Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington counties. At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that became Fredericksburg were a Siouan-speaking tribe called the Manahoac, english colonists recorded the name of the Manahoac village there as Mahaskahod. Located on the Rappahannock River near the head of navigation at the fall line, the land on which the city was founded was part of a tract patented in 1671. The Virginia General Assembly established a fort on the Rappahannock in 1676, in 1714, Lt. Gov. Named for Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II, the colonial towns streets bore the names of members of the royal family. The county court was moved to Fredericksburg in 1732, and the served as county seat until 1780. In 1781, Fredericksburg was incorporated as a town, with its own court, council and it received its charter as a city in 1879, and under Virginia law was separated from Spotsylvania County. The city adopted its present city manager/council form of government in 1911, the city has close associations with George Washington, whose family moved to Ferry Farm in Stafford County just off the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg in 1738. Washingtons mother Mary later moved to the city, and his sister Betty lived at Kenmore, other significant early residents include the Revolutionary War generals Hugh Mercer and George Weedon, naval war hero John Paul Jones, and future U. S. president James Monroe. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in Fredericksburg, during the 19th century, Fredericksburg sought to maintain its sphere of trade, but with limited success. It promoted the development of a canal on the Rappahannock and construction of a turnpike, by 1837, a north-south railroad, which became the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, linked the town to Richmond, the state capital. A much-needed railroad joining the town to the region to the west was not finished until after the Civil War. During the Civil War, Fredericksburg gained strategic importance due to its location midway between Washington and Richmond, the capitals of the Union and the Confederacy. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11–15,1862, the town sustained significant damage from bombardment, a Second Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in and around the town on May 3,1863, in connection with the Chancellorsville campaign. The battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House were fought nearby in May 1864, after the war, Fredericksburg recovered its former position as a center of local trade and slowly grew beyond its prewar boundaries
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Historic downtown Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Fredericksburg, Virginia, March 1863. View from across the
Rappahannock River. To the right is the steeple of the Baptist Church and toward the center is the tower of St. George's Church.
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Fredericksburg City Hall
Fredericksburg, Virginia
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Fredericksburg Museum
10.
Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
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Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis and is the surviving structure from the 1. Betty was the sister of George Washington, the first president of the United States, the house is architecturally notable for the remarkable decorative plaster work on the ceilings of many rooms on the first floor. In 1970 the property was declared a National Historic Landmark, Kenmore is owned and operated as a house museum by The George Washington Foundation, and is open daily for guided tours. The Foundation also owns nearby Ferry Farm, where George Washington lived as a child, the house was completed in 1776 for Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. He was a planter and successful merchant in town and their plantation grew tobacco, wheat, and corn by the labor of slaves. More than 80 slaves worked on the 1300-acre plantation, including a number of domestic slaves, the mansions rear frontage was oriented to the Rapahannock River for easy transportation access. Bettys mother Mary Ball Washington was buried on the grounds, which she had liked to visit, Lewis descendants sold the house and property in 1797 after Betty Washington Lewis death. A memorial was erected in 1894 at the Mary Ball Washington gravesite, the Samuel Gordon family purchased the property in 1819. They named it Kenmore for the home of their ancestors in Scotland, other nineteenth century owners restored the plaster ceilings. During the American Civil War, the house and outbuildings were used as a makeshift Union military hospital after the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. It was also used by troops on their way to Richmond at the close of the war. In 1922 the Kenmore Foundation bought the property and began plans to preserve it, the landscaping was restored in 1924 by Charles F. Gillette. Today the house and reconstructed dependencies stand on three acres of ground at 1201 Washington Avenue and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970. It is included in the Washington Avenue Historic District, vA-305, Kenmore,1201 Washington Avenue, Fredericksburg, Independent City, VA,63 photos,5 color transparencies,19 measured drawings,3 data pages,5 photo caption pages HABS No. VA-305-A, Kenmore, Office,1 photo HABS No, vA-305-B, Kenmore, Kitchen,2 photos African American Historic Sites Database, Virginia African Heritage Program
Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
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Kenmore
Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
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Kenmore Plantation in 2006
11.
Ferry Farm
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Ferry Farm, also known as George Washington Boyhood Home Site or Ferry Farm Site, is the name of the farm and home at which George Washington spent much of his childhood. The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia, along the bank of the Rappahannock River. The farm was named after the Washington family had left the property and its namesake was a free ferry that crossed the Rappahannock River on Washington land—the family did not own or operate it. It is unclear what the farm was called during the Washington occupancy, sometime in the late 19th century the farm became known as Pine Grove, as well as The Ferry Farm. The farm rose to prominence during the Washington Birth Bicentennial of 1932—during the years surrounding this celebration some authors cited both the names Ferry Farm and Pine Grove. Over thousands of years, American Indians periodically inhabited the lands today make up Ferry Farm. Archaeological finds include a point made over 10,000 years ago by a big-game hunter, numerous tools associated with bands of hunter/gatherers. The first European claim on the property was a patent granted to John Catlett in 1666. By 1710, the tract had been subdivided into small farms. In 1727, the property was sold to William Strother, a lawyer, in 1738, George Washington’s father, Augustine, acquired the plantation from the Strother estate. He moved to Ferry Farm in the fall of 1738 with his wife, Mary Ball Washington. George Washingtons biographers could claim three locations significant as his homesteads through his lifetime, popes Creek, Virginia from 1732-1735 was his birthplace. It was built by Augustine Washington, based on excavations at the site in 2008, the structure was approximately 54 feet wide by 28 feet deep. It was the second of five houses at the site, George was six when the family moved to the farm in 1738. He inherited the farm and lived in the house until his early 20s, however, George Washington was not sentimental about the land. Washington saw the land as a crowded, busy, trouble-filled place of limited options, Washington’s father Augustine had left behind a small set of surveying instruments after he died. At the age of 16 Washington used his father’s surveying tools to survey for prominent Virginia grandees, George Washington had found his first true calling. Surveying linked George to his brother Lawrence and the Fairfaxes, at age 18 Washington was granted a 453-acre tract in western Frederick County by Lord Fairfax
Ferry Farm
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George Washington Boyhood Home Site
12.
Subdivision (land)
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Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is known in the United States as a subdivision. If it is used for housing it is known as a housing subdivision or housing development. Subdivisions may also be for the purpose of commercial or industrial development, in the United States, the creation of a subdivision was often the first step toward the creation of a new incorporated township or city. Contemporary notions of subdivisions rely on the Lot and Block survey system and this was followed by publication of the Standard City Planning Enabling Act in 1928. It includes resubdivision and, when appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or territory subdivided, the intention is to cover all subdivision of land where the immediate or ultimate purpose is that of selling the lots or building on them. A subdivision does not need to be sold, in whole or in part, a subdivision plat approved by a local planning commission, once recorded in a registry of deeds, is generally deemed to have created the parcels of land identified on the plat itself. The problem of division of property was identified by the SCPEA in the footnote to the definition of subdivision. In some jurisdictions, a division of property does not constitute a legal subdivision for purposes of separate conveyancing of the subdivided parcels. Interpretations of this vary among American jurisdictions, in the Philippines, subdivisions are areas of land that have been subdivided into individual residential plots. Whereas some subdivisions comprise exclusive gated communities, others are merely demarcations denoting a specific neighborhood, some subdivisions may conduct autonomous security, or provide basic services such as water and refuse management. Most subdivisions are governed by associations made up of members who are residents of the subdivision, in the Philippines, subdivisions are also known as villages. In Alberta, subdivision is the dividing of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, each to be given a separate title. Subdivision is also used for existing lot line adjustments, exceptions may occur with parcels of land that contain more than one quarter section, a river lot, a lake lot, or some settlement lots created prior to July 1,1950
Subdivision (land)
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A subdivision in
Markham, Ontario
Subdivision (land)
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A subdivision in
Picayune, Mississippi
Subdivision (land)
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The entrance to a subdivision in
Sugar Land, Texas
Subdivision (land)
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A subdivision on the
rural-urban fringe of
Sydney
13.
Lawrence Washington (1602-1655)
–
Rev. Lawrence Washington was an English rector, and the great-great-grandfather of George Washington. Bondo de Wassinggetun Walter de Washington Robert de Washington Robert de Washington Sr Robert de Washington Sr. Brother of Sir John Washington and this James Washington was the ancestor of Baron Jakob von Washington. Lawrence Washington had seven brothers, Robert, Sir John, Sir William, Richard, Thomas, Gregory and George and his elder brother, Sir William Washington, married Anne Villiers, half sister of James Is favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Washington was the grandson of John Washington and Margaret Kitson. Washington was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1619 and he graduated in 1623 with a Bachelor of Arts, and within a few days was elected a Fellow of the College. In 1626 he was awarded a Master of Arts, and in 1627 appointed university lector, on August 26,1632 the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud made Washington proctor at Oxford. Laud sought to rid the university of its Puritan clergy, Washingtons services to Laud earned him an appointment to the well-compensated rectory of Purleigh in Essex, a position he assumed in 1632. The appointment enabled Washington to marry Amphilis Twigden, a literate, Oxford dons were forbidden from marrying, and Washington had risked his post at the university by courting her. During the Civil War more than one hundred English ministers were deprived of their livings for alleged treason or immorality by order of the Puritan Parliament. In 1643 Washington was censored on trumped-up charges of being a common frequenter of ale-houses who others in that beastly vice, following his ejection from Purleigh, Washington became rector of the impoverished parish of Little Braxted in Essex. Through the Sandys, Lawrences son John secured an apprenticeship with a London merchant where he learned the tobacco trade. Washington died in poverty, leaving an estate of insufficient value to require the issuance of letters of administration, in 1928 the Washington window, commemorating the Washington family, was given to All Saints Church, Maldon, by the citizens of Malden, Massachusetts. Col. John Washington was born in 1633/4, shortly after his parents marriage and he emigrated to Virginia in 1656. He married firstly, on 1 December 1656, Anne Pope and he married secondly Anne Gerard, widow successively of Walter Broadhurst, and Henry Brett. He married thirdly Frances Gerard, widow successively of Thomas Speak, Valentine Peyton and he left a will dated 21 September 1675, which was proved 11 January 1677. After his death, his widow, Frances, married William Hardwick, Lawrence Washington, who was baptized at Tring on 18 June 1635. He emigrated to Virginia before May 1659, but returned to England, becoming a merchant in Luton and he married firstly Mary Jones, daughter of Edmund Jones, gentleman, of Luton, by whom he had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Mary. He emigrated to Virginia a second shortly before 27 September 1667
Lawrence Washington (1602-1655)
–
Interior of All Saints Church, Maldon, burial place of Lawrence Washington
14.
John Washington
–
John Washington was an English Virginia planter and politician. He was the English ancestor and great-grandfather of George Washington, first president of the United States of America, John Washington was born in 1631 in Tring, Hertfordshire, England, the son of Amphilis and Lawrence Washington. Prior to Lawrence Washingtons marriage, he had been a don at the University of Oxford, when John was eight his father enrolled him in Charterhouse School in London to begin preparing for an academic career. In the wake of the English Civil War, however, the royalist Lawrence Washington was stripped of his clerical don post, during this time, his sons were barred from entering Oxford. John Washington, his mother and siblings were given shelter by his relative Sir Edwin Sandys, John Washington found an apprenticeship with a London merchant through his Sandys relatives, which provided a valuable education in colonial trade. In 1656 Washington invested in a merchant ship engaged in transporting tobacco to European markets, Washington was the ships second officer. In 1657, the ship foundered in the Potomac River, although the vessel was repaired, Washington elected to remain in the colony. James was the ancestor of Baron Jakob von Washington, unlike John, James returned to England from Virginia, before emigrating to Rotterdam. While first in Virginia, Washington stayed at the house of Col. Nathaniel Pope, during this stay, he fell in love with his hosts daughter Anne. He settled at a site on Bridges Creek, after his marriage to Anne Pope and the wedding gift from Annes father of 700 acres on Mattox Creek in Westmoreland County of the Northern Neck, Washington became a successful planter. He depended on the labor of slaves and indentured servants to cultivate tobacco and he was selected for the Virginia House of Burgesses and became a politician in the colony. During the events leading to Bacons Rebellion in 1676, Washington was appointed a colonel in the Virginia militia and he led a company to back a group of Marylanders during a planned parley with the opposition and American Indian leaders. The militia killed six chiefs of tribes, and their peoples retaliated for the massacre in later raids. Governor William Berkeley strongly criticized Washington for the murders of the American Indian chiefs, relations between the Indians and colonists deteriorated. He married Anne Pope in 1658 and they had three children together, Lawrence Washington, John Washington II, Anne Washington, After Anne Popes death, Washington married Anne Gerrard, daughter of Thomas Gerrard. When his second wife died also, John Washington married her sister and this third marriage occurred about May 10,1676 when a joynture was announce between Mrs Frances Appleton and John Washington in Northumberland County, Virginia. Washington and his first wife Anne Pope are buried at what is now called the George Washington Birthplace National Monument, in present-day Colonial Beach and his vault is the largest in the small family burial plot. The name of the parish of the Anglican Church was changed to Washington in his honor
John Washington
–
Survey of 1674, certified by Thomas Lee, for 5,000-acre
land grant to John Washington and
Nicholas Spencer. Acreage later known as
Mount Vernon
15.
Augustine Warner
–
Augustine Warner, Sr. was a Virginia planter and politician. He was born in Norwich, Norfolk, the son of Thomas Warner and his first land acquisition came seven years later, when he patented 250 acres. About 1657, he moved across the York River to Gloucester County, Augustine Warner died in 1674, at sixty-three, and was succeeded at Warner Hall by his only son, Augustine Warner, Jr. After his English education in London and at Cambridge, the younger Warner returned to Virginia, and by 1666 became a member of the House of Burgesses, and then Speaker of the House in 1676. In 1677 he took his seat on the Kings Council, besides a son, Augustine Sr. had at least two daughters as well. One married David Cant, and the other, Sarah, married Lawrence Towneley and it is recorded that Augustine Jr. had three sons, all of whom died unmarried, and three daughters, who inherited the Warner property and left many descendants. Elizabeth and John Lewis were the grandparents of Fielding Lewis, who married first George Washington’s cousin, in addition, Elizabeth and John Lewis were the ancestors of Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Warner Hall is still known by name, and the Lewis descendants became known as the Warner Hall Lewises. A non-profit DNA Project LEWIS Surname DNA Project is actively seeking descendants from this paternal line, in some cases a scholarship may be offered. The Welsh Lineage of John Lewis
Augustine Warner
–
Portrait of Augustine Warner
16.
List of Presidents of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the elected head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is elected to a four-year term by the people through an Electoral College. Since the office was established in 1789,44 people have served as president, the first, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland served two terms in office, and is counted as the nations 22nd and 24th president. Thus the incumbent, Donald Trump, is the nations 45th president, there are currently five living former presidents. The most recent death of a president was on December 26,2006 with the death of Gerald Ford. William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, dying 31 days after taking office in 1841. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. Of the individuals elected as president, four died in office of natural causes, four were assassinated, the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution put Tylers precedent into law in 1967. It also established a mechanism by which an intra-term vacancy in the presidency could be filled. Richard Nixon was the first president to fill a vacancy under this Provision when he appointed Gerald Ford to the office, later, Ford became the second to do so when he appointed Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him. Previously, a vacancy was left unfilled. Throughout most of its history, politics of the United States have been dominated by political parties, the Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, there were no parties. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, factions began rallying around dominant Washington Administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and he was, and remains, the only U. S. president never to be affiliated with a political party. Since Washington, every president has been affiliated with a party at the time they assumed office. Four presidents held other high U. S. federal offices after leaving the presidency, several presidents campaigned unsuccessfully for other U. S. state or federal elective offices after leaving the presidency. Additionally, one president, John Tyler, served in the government of the Confederate States during the American Civil War
List of Presidents of the United States
–
The
White House in
Washington, D.C. is the president's official residence, the center of the administration, and a prominent symbol of the office.
List of Presidents of the United States
List of Presidents of the United States
–
1
List of Presidents of the United States
–
2
17.
President of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
President of the United States
–
Incumbent
Barack Obama since January 20, 2009 (2009-01-20)
President of the United States
–
Presidential Seal
President of the United States
–
Obama signing legislation at the
Resolute desk
President of the United States
–
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, successfully preserved the
Union during the
American Civil War
18.
Commanding General of the United States Army
–
During the American Revolutionary War, the title was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. In 1783, the title was simplified to Senior Officer of the United States Army, in 1821, the title was changed to Commanding General of the United States Army. The office was referred to by various other titles, such as Major General Commanding the Army or General-in-Chief. From 1789 until its abolition in 1903, the position of Commanding General was legally subordinate to the Secretary of War, the position was abolished with the creation of the statutory Chief of Staff of the Army in 1903. List of United States military leaders by rank Notes Footnotes Historical Resources Branch, Eicher, John H. Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits and Biographical Sketches, United States Army Center of Military History. Charlottesville, Virginia, The Judge Advocate Generals School, U. S. Army
Commanding General of the United States Army
–
LTG Nelson A. Miles, the last Commanding General of the United States Army
19.
Continental Army
–
The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
Continental Army
Continental Army
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Infantry of the Continental Army.
Continental Army
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1778 Drawing of a member of the
Stockbridge Militia (from Revolutionary War diary of
Johann Von Ewald)
Continental Army
–
Continental Army Plaza,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
20.
Second Continental Congress
–
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5,1774 and October 26,1774, also in Philadelphia, the second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776. When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10,1775 it was, in effect, many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second, and the delegates appointed the same president and secretary. Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts, within two weeks, Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses, he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson, who arrived several weeks later. Henry Middleton was elected as president to replace Randolph, but he declined, Hancock was elected president on May 24. Delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies were present when the Second Continental Congress convened, Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. On May 13,1775, Lyman Hall was admitted as a delegate from the Parish of St. Johns in the Colony of Georgia, not as a delegate from the colony itself. The Second Continental Congress would meet on May 10,1775, by the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Congress was to charge of the war effort. For the first few months of the struggle, the Patriots had carried on their struggle in an ad-hoc and they had seized arsenals, driven out royal officials, and besieged the British army in the city of Boston. On July 6,1775 Congress approved a Declaration of Causes outlining the rationale, on July 8, Congress extended the Olive Branch Petition to the British Crown as a final attempt at reconciliation. However, it was received too late to do any good, silas Deane was sent to France as a minister of the Congress. American ports were reopened in defiance of the British Navigation Acts, the Congress had no authority to levy taxes, and was required to request money, supplies, and troops from the states to support the war effort. Individual states frequently ignored these requests, Congress was moving towards declaring independence from the British Empire in 1776, but many delegates lacked the authority from their home governments to take such a drastic action. Advocates of independence in Congress moved to have reluctant colonial governments revise instructions to their delegations, on May 10,1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending that any colony lacking a proper government should form such. The resolution of independence was delayed for weeks as revolutionaries consolidated support for independence in their home governments. The records of the Continental Congress confirm that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations, on June 7,1776, Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent. He also urged Congress to resolve to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances, Lee argued that independence was the only way to ensure a foreign alliance, since no European monarchs would deal with America if they remained Britains colonies
Second Continental Congress
–
Thirteen Colonies United States
Second Continental Congress
–
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's
Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Second Continental Congress
21.
First Continental Congress
–
It was called in response to The passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, the Congress was attended by 56 delegates. The Pennsylvania delegation was appointed by the colonial assembly, Georgia declined to send delegates because they were hoping for British assistance with Native American problems on their frontier and did not want to upset the British. The Congress met briefly to consider options, including a boycott of British trade, rights and grievances. The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Intolerable Acts. Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened the following year to organize the defense of the colonies at the onset of the American Revolutionary War, the delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia. The Congress met from September 5 to October 26,1774, peyton Randolph presided over the proceedings, Henry Middleton took over as President of the Congress for the last few days, from October 22 to October 26. Charles Thomson, leader of Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence, was selected to be Secretary of the Continental Congress, the delegates who attended the Congress were not of one mind concerning why they were there. Their ultimate goal was to develop a solution to the difficulties. Radicals, such as Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman, Samuel Adams, to counter these ideas, Galloway put forward a Plan of Union, which suggested an American legislative body be formed, with some authority, and whose consent would be required for imperial measures. In the end, the voices of reconciliation and compromise carried the day and it requested that local Committees of Safety enforce the boycott and regulate local prices for goods. These resolutions adopted by the Congress did not acknowledge the power of Parliament even to regulate trade. Furthermore, they did not repudiate control by the royal prerogative, the Congress had two primary accomplishments. The first was a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1,1774, the West Indies were threatened with a boycott unless the islands agreed to nonimportation of British goods. Imports from Britain dropped by 97 percent in 1775, compared with the previous year, Committees of observation and inspection were to be formed in each colony for enforcement of the Association. All of the colonial Houses of Assembly approved the proceedings of the congress with the exception of New York, if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed, the colonies would also cease exports to Britain after September 10,1775. The boycott was successfully implemented, but its potential for altering British colonial policy was cut off by the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, the colonists were forced to quarter British soldiers, and feed them. The second accomplishment of the Congress was to provide for a Second Continental Congress to meet on May 10,1775, however, letters appear to have been sent only to Quebec
First Continental Congress
–
First Continental Congress 1774
First Continental Congress
–
Carpenters' Hall
First Continental Congress
22.
Military career of George Washington
–
The military career of George Washington spanned over forty years of service. Washingtons service can be broken into three periods with service in three different armed forces, Virginias Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, appointed Washington a major in the provincial militia in February 1753. In that year the French began expanding their control into the Ohio Country. These competing claims led to a world war 1756–63 and Washington was at the center of its beginning, the Ohio Company was one vehicle through which British investors planned to expand into the territory, opening new settlements and building trading posts for the Indian trade. Washington delivered the letter to the local French commander, who refused to leave. Governor Dinwiddie sent Washington back to the Ohio Country to protect an Ohio Company group building a fort at present-day Pittsburgh, before he reached the area, a French force drove out the companys crew and began construction of Fort Duquesne. The French responded by attacking and capturing Washington at Fort Necessity in July 1754 and he was allowed to return with his troops to Virginia. The experience demonstrated Washingtons bravery, initiative, inexperience and impetuosity and these events had international consequences, the French accused Washington of assassinating Jumonville, who they claimed was on a diplomatic mission similar to Washingtons 1753 mission. Both France and Britain responded by sending troops to North America in 1755, in 1755, Washington was the senior Colonial aide to British General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Braddock Expedition. This was at the time the largest ever British military expedition ventured into the colonies, the French and their Indian allies were able to ambush the expedition, mowing down over 900 casualties including the mortally-wounded Braddock. The Virginia Regiment was the first full-time American military unit in the colonies, Washington was ordered to act defensively or offensively as he thought best. In command of a soldiers, Washington was a disciplinarian who emphasized training. He led his men in brutal campaigns against the Indians in the west, in 10 months units of his regiment fought 20 battles, and lost a third of its men. Washingtons strenuous efforts meant that Virginias frontier population suffered less than that of other colonies, in 1758, Washington participated in the Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. He was embarrassed by a fire episode in which his unit and another British unit thought the other was the French enemy and opened fire. In the end there was no fighting for the French abandoned the fort. Upon his return to Virginia, Washington resigned his commission in December 1758 and 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 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
Military career of George Washington
–
Washington's 1754 map showing
Ohio River and surrounding region
Military career of George Washington
–
Portrait of George Washington in military uniform, painted by
Rembrandt Peale.
Military career of George Washington
–
Major-General Braddock's death at the Battle of the Monongahela, July 9, 1755.
Military career of George Washington
–
Portrait by
Charles Willson Peale. Painted in 1772, it depicts Washington as colonel of the
Virginia Regiment, and is his earliest known likeness.
23.
George Washington in the French and Indian War
–
George Washington commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Because of his role in the founding of the United States. His devotion to republicanism and civic virtue made him a figure among early American politicians. Washingtons military experience began in the French and Indian War with a commission as a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia. In 1753 Washington was sent as an ambassador from the British crown to the French officials and Indians as far north as present-day Erie, the following year he led another expedition to the area to assist in the construction of a fort at present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before reaching that point, he and some of his men, accompanied by Indian allies and its leader was killed, although the exact circumstances of his death were disputed. This peacetime act of aggression is seen as one of the first military steps leading to the global Seven Years War, the French responded by attacking fortifications Washington erected following the ambush, forcing his surrender. Released on parole, Washington and his troops returned to Virginia, in 1755 he participated as a volunteer aide in the ill-fated expedition of General Edward Braddock, where he distinguished himself in the retreat following the climactic Battle of Monongahela. Unable to get a commission in the British Army, Washington then resigned from the militia, married. Washington gained valuable military skills during the war, acquiring tactical, strategic and he also acquired important political skills in his dealings with the British military establishment and the provincial government. His successes in military and political spheres during that conflict led to his election as the first President of the United States of America, born into a well-to-do Virginia family near Fredericksburg in 1732, 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, 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. Its investors also included Virginias Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington a major in the militia in February 1753. The Ohio Country was occupied by a variety of Indian tribes that were nominally under the suzerainty of the Iroquois Confederacy based in what is now northwestern New York, the area was also the subject of several conflicting claims by British and French colonies. The British provinces of Virginia and Pennsylvania both claimed the area, and traders from Pennsylvania had been trading with the Indians at least since the early 1740s, when news of this reached Virginia, Governor Dinwiddie sought advice from the British government in London. He received orders to send a messenger to the French, reiterating British claims and demanding that they stop construction of their forts and quit the territory. Governor Dinwiddie chose Major Washington, then 21 years old, for the trek into the Ohio Country to assess the French military situation, and to deliver the British demands. He was a good choice despite his youth because he was familiar with the frontier from survey work, had good health, although he had no frontier warfare experience, neither did most other Virginians
George Washington in the French and Indian War
–
This portrait of Washington was painted in 1772 by
Charles Willson Peale, and shows Washington in uniform as a colonel of the Virginia Regiment. The original hangs in Lee Chapel at
Washington and Lee University in
Lexington, Virginia. It is the earliest known depiction of Washington.
George Washington in the French and Indian War
–
A map of the upper
Ohio River and surrounding area drawn by Washington during or after his 1753 expedition
George Washington in the French and Indian War
–
A recreation of
Fort Necessity
George Washington in the French and Indian War
–
Major-General
Braddock 's death at the
Battle of the Monongahela, July 9, 1755.
24.
Battle of Jumonville Glen
–
The British colonial force had been sent to protect a fort under construction under the auspices of the Ohio Company at the location of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A larger Canadien force had driven off the construction crew. Washington was alerted to Jumonvilles presence by Tanacharison, and they joined forces to surround the Canadian camp, some of the Canadians were killed in the ambush, and most of the others were captured. Jumonville was among the slain, although the circumstances of his death are a subject of historical controversy. Since Britain and France were not then at war, the event had international repercussions, after the action, Washington retreated to Fort Necessity, where Canadian forces from Fort Duquesne compelled his surrender. The terms of Washingtons surrender included a statement admitting that Jumonville was assassinated and this document and others were used by the French and Canadiens to level accusations that Washington had ordered Jumonvilles slaying. Authorities in New France became more aggressive in their efforts to expel British traders and colonists from this area, the French action drew the attention of not just the British, but also the Indian tribes of the area. In particular, Tanacharison, a Mingo chief also known as the Half King, if the river is blocked up, I have the forces to burst it open and tread under my feet all that oppose me. I despise all the things you have said. He then threw down some wampum that Tanacharison had offered as a good will gesture, marin died not long after, and command of the operations was turned over to Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Virginia Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie sent militia Major George Washington to the Ohio Country as an emissary in December 1753, Washington returned to Williamsburg and informed Governor Dinwiddie that the French refused to leave. The governor also issued a commission to Ohio Company employee William Trent, with instructions to raise a small force. Dinwiddie issued these instructions on his own authority, without asking for funding from the Virginia House of Burgesses until after the fact. Trents company arrived on site in February 1754, and began construction of a storehouse and stockade with the assistance of Tanacharison, when Contrecœur learned of Trents activity, he led a force of about 500 men to drive them off. On April 16, Contrecœurs force arrived at the forks, the day, Trents force of 36 men, led by Ensign Edward Ward in Trents absence. The French then began construction of the fort they called Fort Duquesne, historian Fred Anderson describes Dinwiddies instructions, which were issued without the knowledge or direction of the British government in London, as an invitation to start a war. Washington was ordered to gather up as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way, by the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had recruited fewer than 160 men. Along their march through the forests of the frontier, Washington was joined by men at Winchester
Battle of Jumonville Glen
–
Washington's map of the
Ohio River and surrounding region containing notes on French intentions, 1753 or 1754.
Battle of Jumonville Glen
–
Portrait of
George Washington by
Charles Willson Peale, 1772
Battle of Jumonville Glen
–
Photo of the battle site in 2007.
Battle of Jumonville Glen
–
A 1912 map showing the route of the
Braddock expedition
25.
Battle of Fort Necessity
–
The Battle of Fort Necessity took place on July 3,1754, in what is now the mountaintop hamlet of Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement was one of the first battles of the French and Indian War, the battle, along with the May 28 Battle of Jumonville Glen, contributed to a series of military escalations that resulted in the global Seven Years War. Washington built Fort Necessity on a meadow west of the summit of a pass through the Allegheny Mountains. Authorities in New France became more aggressive in their efforts to expel British traders and colonists from this area, in previous wars, the Québecois had more than held their own against the English colonials. The French action drew the attention of not just the British, the reason for this was that they had to provide them with the goods that the Anglo-American traders had previously supplied, and at similar prices. This proved to be singularly difficult, with the exception of one or two Montreal merchant traders, the Canadians showed a great reluctance to venture into the Ohio country. In particular, Tanacharison, a Mingo chief also known as the Half King, became anti-French as a consequence. In a meeting with Paul Marin de la Malgue, commander of the Canadian construction force, the latter reportedly lost his temper, if the river is blocked up, I have the forces to burst it open and tread under my feet all that oppose me. I despise all the things you have said. He then threw down some wampum that Tanacharison had offered as a good will gesture, Marin died not long after, and command of the operations was turned over to Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Saint-Pierre politely informed Washington that he was there pursuant to orders, Washington returned to Williamsburg and informed Governor Dinwiddie that the French refused to leave. Dinwiddie ordered Washington to begin raising a regiment to hold the Forks of the Ohio, in present-day Pittsburgh. The governor also issued a commission to Ohio Company employee William Trent, with instructions to raise a small force. Dinwiddie issued these instructions on his own authority, without asking for funding from the Virginia House of Burgesses until after the fact. Trents company arrived on site in February 1754, and began construction of a storehouse and stockade with the assistance of Tanacharison, in response, the Canadians sent a force of about 500 men, Canadian, French, and Indians under Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur. On April 16, they arrived at the forks, the day, Trents force of 36 men, led by Ensign Edward Ward in Trents absence. The Canadians tore down the British works, and began construction of the fort they called Fort Duquesne, historian Fred Anderson describes Dinwiddies instructions, which were issued without the knowledge or direction of the British government in London, as an invitation to start a war. Washington was ordered to gather as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way, by the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had gathered 186 men
Battle of Fort Necessity
–
The modern replica of Fort Necessity
Battle of Fort Necessity
–
Portrait of
George Washington by
Charles Willson Peale, 1772
Battle of Fort Necessity
26.
Forbes Expedition
–
The Forbes Expedition was a British military expedition led by Brigadier-General John Forbes in 1758, during the latter stages of the French and Indian War. Forbes commanded between 6,000 and 8,000 men, including a contingent of Virginians led by George Washington and this well organized expedition was in contrast to a similar expedition led by Edward Braddock in 1755 that ended in the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela. Working for most of the summer on the construction of the road, periodic fortified supply depots, in mid-September, a reconnaissance force was soundly defeated in the Battle of Fort Duquesne when its leader, Major James Grant, attempted to capture the fort instead of gathering information alone. This collapse of Native American support made it impossible for the French to hold Fort Duquesne, when the expedition neared to within a few miles of Fort Duquesne in mid-November, the French abandoned and blew up the fort. Three units of scouts led by Captain Hugh Waddell entered the smoking remnants of the fort under the orders of Colonel George Washington on November 24, general Forbes, who was ill with dysentery for much of the expedition, only briefly visited the ruins. He was returned to Philadelphia in a litter, and died not long afterward, Forbes Road Braddock Expedition Nemacolins Path Beaver Wars Susquehannock peoples Erie peoples Shawnee Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War, The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, the British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania,1758, A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne. Fowler, William M. Empires at war, The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America 1754-1763
Forbes Expedition
–
Engraving depicting the British arrival at the remains of
Fort Duquesne
Forbes Expedition
27.
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
George Washington commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Because of his role in the founding of the United States. His devotion to republicanism and civic virtue made him a figure among early American politicians. Washington played a military and political role in the American Revolution. His involvement began as early as 1767, when he first took political stands against the acts of the British Parliament, after the war broke out with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, his role became military with his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He appeared before the Second Continental Congress in military uniform, signaling that he was prepared for war, Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, the next day it selected Washington as commander-in-chief. 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 existence for single years. In 1777 Washington was again defeated in the defense of Philadelphia, Washingtons activities from late 1778 to 1780 were more diplomatic and organizational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Sir Henry Clintons army that occupied the city. His attention was drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York. When General Clinton sent the turncoat General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, the arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. The army was disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23,1783. Born into a well-to-do Virginia family near Fredericksburg in 1732, 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. 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 and its investors also included Virginias Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington a major in the provincial militia in February 1753. Washington played a key role in the outbreak of the French and Indian War and 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 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. Washington learned to organize, train, and drill, and discipline his companies, 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. He gained an understanding of strategy, especially in locating strategic geographical points. He developed a negative idea of the value of militia, who seemed too unreliable, too undisciplined
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Currier and Ives depiction of Washington accepting his
Continental Army commission from the
Second Continental Congress
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Washington was in the vanguard of British forces that occupied
Fort Duquesne, recently abandoned by the French, in 1758.
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Washington in 1772
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
British forces evacuate the city at the end of the
Siege of Boston
28.
Boston campaign
–
The Boston campaign was the opening campaign of the American Revolutionary War, taking place primarily in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The entire British expedition suffered significant casualties during a running back to Charlestown against an ever-growing number of militia. Subsequently, accumulated militia forces surrounded the city of Boston, beginning the Siege of Boston. The main action during the siege, the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17,1775, was one of the bloodiest encounters of the war, and resulted in a Pyrrhic British victory. There were also numerous skirmishes near Boston and the areas of Boston, resulting in loss of life, military supplies. In July 1775, George Washington took command of the assembled militia, on March 4,1776, the colonial army fortified Dorchester Heights with cannon capable of reaching Boston and British ships in the harbor. The siege ended on March 17,1776, with the permanent withdrawal of British forces from Boston, to this day, Boston celebrates March 17 as Evacuation Day. In 1767, the British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which imposed duties on paper, glass, paint. The Sons of Liberty and other Patriot organizations responded with a variety of protest actions, francis Bernard, then Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, requested military forces to protect the Kings personnel. In October 1768, British troops arrived in the city of Boston, tensions led to the Boston Massacre on March 5,1770, and the Boston Tea Party on December 16,1773. In response to the Tea Party and other protests, Parliament enacted the Intolerable Acts to punish the colonies, with the Massachusetts Government Act of 1774 it effectively abolished the provincial government of Massachusetts. However, popular resistance compelled the newly appointed officials in Massachusetts to resign or to seek refuge in Boston. Gage commanded four regiments of British regulars from his headquarters in Boston, on September 1,1774, British soldiers removed gunpowder and other military supplies in a surprise raid on a powder magazine near Boston. This expedition alarmed the countryside, and thousands of American Patriots sprang into action, partly in response to this action, the colonists carried off military supplies from several forts in New England and distributed them among the local militias. On the night of April 18,1775, General Gage sent 700 men to seize munitions stored by the militia at Concord. Several riders — including Paul Revere — alerted the countryside, shots were exchanged, eight Minutemen were killed, the outnumbered colonial militia dispersed, and the British moved on to Concord. During the search, there was a confrontation at the North Bridge, by the time the redcoats or lobster backs began the return march to Boston, several thousand militiamen had gathered along the road. A running fight ensued, and the British detachment suffered heavily before reaching Charlestown, with the Battle of Lexington and Concord — the shot heard round the world — the war had begun
Boston campaign
–
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by
John Trumbull
Boston campaign
–
A 1775
Amos Doolittle engraving depicting a bit of the action at the
North Bridge in
Concord
Boston campaign
–
A
Currier and Ives print depicting
George Washington accepting the role of Commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army from
Congress.
Boston campaign
–
John Trumbull 's
Surrender of General Burgoyne
29.
Siege of Boston
–
The Siege of Boston was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army garrisoned in what was then the city of Boston. Both sides had to deal with supply and personnel issues over the course of the siege. British resupply and reinforcement activities were limited to sea access, after eleven months of the siege, the British abandoned Boston by sailing to Nova Scotia. The siege began on April 19 after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress formed the Continental Army from the militia, with George Washington as its Commander in Chief. Military actions during the remainder of the siege were limited to raids, minor skirmishes. In November 1775, Washington sent the 25-year-old bookseller-turned-soldier Henry Knox to bring to Boston the heavy artillery that had captured at Fort Ticonderoga. In a technically complex and demanding operation, Knox brought many cannons to the Boston area by January 1776, in March 1776, these artillery fortified Dorchester Heights, thereby threatening the British supply lifeline. The British commander William Howe saw the British position as indefensible and withdrew the British forces in Boston to the British stronghold at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 17. Prior to 1775, the British had imposed taxes and import duties on the American colonies, parliament authorized Gage, among other actions, to disband the local provincial government. It was reformed into the Provincial Congress, and continued to meet, the Provincial Congress called for the organization of local militias and coordinated the accumulation of weapons and other military supplies. Under the terms of the Boston Port Act, Gage closed the Boston port, when British forces were sent to seize military supplies from the town of Concord on April 19,1775, militia companies from surrounding towns opposed them in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. At Concord, some of the British forces were routed in a confrontation at the North Bridge, the British troops, on their march back to Boston, were then engaged in a running battle, suffering heavy casualties. All of the New England colonies raised militias in response to this alarm and they particularly blocked the Charlestown Neck, and the Boston Neck, leaving only the harbor and sea access under British control. In the days following the creation of the siege line, the size of the colonial forces grew, as militias from New Hampshire, Rhode Island. General Gage turned his attention to fortifying easily defensible positions, in the south, at Roxbury, Gage ordered lines of defenses with 10 twenty-four pound guns. In Boston proper, four hills were quickly fortified and they were to be the main defense of the city. Over time, each of these hills were strengthened, Gage also decided to abandon Charlestown, removing the beleaguered forces to Boston
Siege of Boston
–
Engraving depicting the British evacuation of Boston
Siege of Boston
–
1775 map of the
Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston.
Siege of Boston
–
Engraving depicting
Ethan Allen demanding the surrender of
Fort Ticonderoga
Siege of Boston
–
The Battle of Bunker Hill,
Howard Pyle, 1897
30.
New York and New Jersey campaign
–
The British held New York harbor for the rest of the war, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets. Washington had New England soldiers as well as regiments from states as far south as Virginia, landing on Long Island in August, Howe defeated Washington in the largest battle of the war, but the Continental Army was able to retreat to Manhattan under cover of darkness and fog. Washington suffered a series of defeats in Manhattan, with the exception of the skirmish at Harlem Heights, at that point Howe returned to Manhattan to capture forces Washington had left in the north of the island. Howe ordered his troops into winter quarters in December, establishing a chain of outposts from New York to Burlington, during the remaining winter months, both sides skirmished frequently as the British sought forage and provisions. Britain maintained control of New York City and some of the territory until the war ended in 1783. Northern New Jersey was the scene of skirmishing between the forces for the rest of the war. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, British troops were under siege in Boston and they defeated Patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill, suffering very high casualties. In January 1776 Washington ordered Charles Lee to raise troops and take command of New Yorks defenses, Lee had made some progress on the citys defenses when word arrived in late March 1776 that the British army had left Boston after Washington threatened them from heights south of the city. At the end of April, Washington dispatched General John Sullivan with six regiments to the north to bolster the faltering Quebec campaign, in June he set sail for New York with the 9,000 men assembled there, before all of the transports arrived. German troops, primarily from Hesse-Kassel, as well as British troops from Henry Clintons ultimately unsuccessful expedition to the Carolinas, were to meet with Howes fleet when it reached New York. General Howes brother, Admiral Lord Howe, arrived at Halifax with further transports after the general sailed, Washington learned from prisoners taken that Howe had landed 10,000 men, but was awaiting the arrival of another 15,000. He consequently split the Continental Army between fortified positions on Long Island, Manhattan and other locations, and also established a Flying Camp in northern New Jersey. This was intended as a force that could support operations anywhere along the Jersey shore of the Hudson. The Howe brothers had been granted authority as peace commissioners by Parliament, king George III was not optimistic about the possibility of a peace, yet I think it right to be attempted, whilst every act of vigour is unremittingly carried on. Their powers were limited to granting of general and special pardons, on July 14, pursuant to these powers, Admiral Howe sent a messenger with a letter addressed to George Washington, Esq. across the harbor. Washingtons adjutant, Joseph Reed, politely informed the messenger that no person with title was in their army. Admiral Howes aide wrote that the Punctilio of an Address should not have prevented the letters delivery, a second request, addressed to George Washington, Esq. etc. was similarly rejected, although the messenger was told that Washington would receive one of Howes adjutants. In that fruitless meeting, held July 20, Washington pointed out that the powers the Howe brothers had been given were not of much use
New York and New Jersey campaign
–
George Washington, by
Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller
New York and New Jersey campaign
–
Map of the campaign
New York and New Jersey campaign
–
Admiral
Richard Howe, from a mezzotint engraving by R. Dunkarton, after the painting by
John Singleton Copley
New York and New Jersey campaign
–
General
William Howe, 1777 mezzotint
31.
Battle of Trenton
–
The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War which took place on the morning of December 26,1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After a brief battle, nearly the entire Hessian force was captured, the battle significantly boosted the Continental Armys flagging morale, and inspired re-enlistments. The Continental Army had previously suffered several defeats in New York and had forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Because the river was icy and the severe, the crossing proved dangerous. Two detachments were unable to cross the river, leaving Washington with only 2,400 men under his command in the assault, the army marched 9 miles south to Trenton. The Hessians had lowered their guard, thinking they were safe from the American army, Washingtons forces caught them off guard and, after a short but fierce resistance, most of the Hessians surrendered. Almost two thirds of the 1, 500-man garrison was captured, and only a few troops escaped across Assunpink Creek, despite the battles small numbers, the American victory inspired rebels in the colonies. With the success of the revolution in doubt a week earlier, the dramatic victory inspired soldiers to serve longer and attracted new recruits to the ranks. In early December 1776, American morale was very low, the Americans had been ousted from New York by the British and their Hessian auxiliaries, and the Continental Army was forced to retreat across New Jersey. Ninety percent of the Continental Army soldiers who had served at Long Island were gone, men had deserted, feeling that the cause for independence was lost. Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, expressed doubts, writing to his cousin in Virginia. At the time a town in New Jersey, Trenton was occupied by three regiments of Hessian soldiers commanded by Colonel Johann Rall. Washingtons force comprised 2,400 men, with divisions commanded by Major Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan. Washington had stationed a spy named John Honeyman, posing as a Tory, Honeyman had served with Major General James Wolfe in Quebec at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13,1759, and had no trouble establishing his credentials as a Tory. Honeyman was a butcher and weaver, who traded with the British and this enabled him to gather intelligence, and also to convince the Hessians that the Continental Army was in such a low state of morale that they would not attack Trenton. Shortly before Christmas, he arranged to be captured by the Continental Army, after being questioned by Washington, he was imprisoned in a small hut, to be tried as a Tory in the morning, but a small fire broke out nearby, enabling him to escape. The American plan relied on launching coordinated attacks from three directions, General John Cadwalader would launch a diversionary attack against the British garrison at Bordentown, New Jersey, to block off reinforcements from the south. General James Ewing would take 700 militia across the river at Trenton Ferry, seize the bridge over the Assunpink Creek and prevent enemy troops from escaping
Battle of Trenton
–
Battle of Trenton, by
H. Charles McBarron, Jr., 1975
Battle of Trenton
–
The American plan of attack under Washington
Battle of Trenton
–
The Hessian Sketch of the Battle of Trenton
Battle of Trenton
–
Passage of the Delaware, painting by American
Thomas Sully, 1819
32.
Philadelphia campaign
–
The Philadelphia campaign was a British initiative in the American Revolutionary War to gain control of Philadelphia, which was then the seat of the Second Continental Congress. From there, he advanced northward toward Philadelphia, Washington prepared defenses against Howes movements at Brandywine Creek, but was flanked and beaten back in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11,1777. After further skirmishes and maneuvers, Howe was able to enter, Washington then unsuccessfully attacked one of Howes garrisons at Germantown before retreating to Valley Forge for the winter. General Howe resigned during the occupation of Philadelphia and was replaced by his second-in-command, Clinton evacuated the troops from Philadelphia back to New York City in 1778 in order to increase that citys defenses against a possible Franco-American attack. Washington harried the British army all the way across New Jersey, at the end of the campaign the two armies were roughly in the same positions they were at its beginning. While this time was punctuated by numerous skirmishes, the British army continued to occupy outposts at New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, Germain approved his plan, although with fewer troops than Howe requested. He also approved plans by John Burgoyne for an expedition to force his way to Albany from Montreal, Washington realized that Howe certainly ought in good policy to endeavor to Cooperate with Genl. Burgoyne and was baffled why he did not do so, historians agree that Lord Germain did a poor job in coordinating the two campaigns. Following Howes capture of New York and Washingtons retreat across the Delaware, Howe on December 20,1776 wrote to Germain, proposing an elaborate set of campaigns for 1777. These included operations to control of the Hudson River, expand operations from the base at Newport, Rhode Island. The latter Howe saw as attractive, since Washington was then just north of the city, Howe wrote that he was persuaded the Principal Army should act offensively, where the enemys chief strength lies. Germain acknowledged that this plan was well digested, but it called for more men than Germain was prepared to provide. However, by mid-May Howe had apparently abandoned the idea of an overland expedition and we must probably abandon the Jersies. Along the same lines Don Higginbotham concludes that in Howes view, was Burgoynes whole show, with regard to Burgoynes army, he would do only what was required of him. He sailed from New York not long after, Washingtons Continental Army had been encamped primarily at Morristown, New Jersey, although there was a forward base at Bound Brook, only a few miles from the nearest British outposts. In response to this raid, Washington moved his army forward to a fortified position at Middlebrook in the Watchung Mountains that commanded likely British land routes toward Philadelphia. For reasons that are not entirely clear, General Howe moved an army to Somerset Court House. If he performed this move as a feint to draw Washington out from his position, it failed
Philadelphia campaign
–
Statue of
Anthony Wayne at
Valley Forge
Philadelphia campaign
–
Lord
George Germain
Philadelphia campaign
–
General Sir
William Howe
Philadelphia campaign
–
Portrait of
George Washington by
Léon Cogniet
33.
Battle of Brandywine
–
The British Army defeated the American Army and forced them to withdraw toward the American capital of Philadelphia. The engagement occurred near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania during Howes campaign to take Philadelphia, more troops fought at Brandywine than any other battle of the American Revolution. It was also the longest single-day battle of the war, with fighting for 11 hours. Howes army departed from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on July 23,1777, marching north, the British Army brushed aside American light forces in a few skirmishes. Washington offered battle with his army posted behind Brandywine Creek, while part of his army demonstrated in front of Chadds Ford, Howe took the bulk of his troops on a long march that crossed the Brandywine beyond Washingtons right flank. Due to poor scouting, the Americans did not detect Howes column until it reached a position in rear of their right flank, belatedly, three divisions were shifted to block the British flanking force near a Quaker meeting house. After a stiff fight, Howes wing broke through the newly formed American right wing which was deployed on several hills, at this point Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen attacked Chadds Ford and crumpled the American left wing. As Washingtons army streamed away in retreat, he brought up elements of Nathanael Greenes division which held off Howes column long enough for his army to escape to the northeast, polish General Casimir Pulaski defended Washingtons rear assisting in his escape. The defeat and subsequent maneuvers left Philadelphia vulnerable, the British captured the city on September 26, beginning an occupation that would last until June 1778. Unloading the ships proved to be a problem because the narrow river neck was shallow. General George Washington had situated the American forces, about 20, 300-strong and his forces were able to reconnoiter the British landing from Iron Hill near Newark, Delaware, about nine miles to the northeast. Because of the delay disembarking from the ships, Howe did not set up a typical camp, as a result, Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing forces. This site was important as it was the most direct passage across the Brandywine River on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia, on September 9, Washington positioned detachments to guard other fords above and below Chadds Ford, hoping to force the battle there. Further upstream was a brigade under Colonel Moses Hazen covering Buffingtons Ford, Washington was confident that the area was secure. The British grouped forces at nearby Kennett Square, Howe, who had better information about the area than Washington, had no intention of mounting a full-scale frontal attack against the prepared American defenses. He instead employed a flanking maneuver, similar to that used in the Battle of Long Island, about 6,800 men under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen advanced to meet Washingtons troops at Chadds Ford. September 11 began with a fog, which provided cover for the British troops. Washington received contradictory reports about the British troop movements and continued to believe that the force was moving to attack at Chadds Ford
Battle of Brandywine
–
Hessian map of the Philadelphia campaign
Battle of Brandywine
–
Map of the Brandywine battlefield (1830 engraving)
Battle of Brandywine
–
Location of Stirling's Division on the ridge (i.e. Birmingham Hill) just west of Birmingham road (looking west). The British Grenadier battalions attacked from right to left, ultimately forcing Stirling to fall back with a bayonet charge.
Battle of Brandywine
–
Nation Makers by
Howard Pyle depicts a scene from the battle. The painting hangs in the
Brandywine River Museum.
34.
Battle of Germantown
–
The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. Howe left a garrison of some 3,000 troops in Philadelphia, while moving the bulk of his force to Germantown, learning of the division, Washington determined to engage the British. His plan called for four columns to converge on the British position at Germantown. The ambition behind the plan was to surprise and destroy the British force, much in the way as Washington had surprised. In Germantown, Howe had his infantry and the 40th Foot spread across his front as pickets. In the main camp, Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanded the British left, a heavy fog caused a great deal of confusion among the approaching Americans. After a sharp contest, Sullivans column routed the British pickets, unseen in the fog, around 120 men of the British 40th Foot barricaded the Chew Mansion. When the American reserve moved forward, Washington made the decision to launch repeated assaults on the position. Penetrating several hundred yards beyond the mansion, Sullivans wing became dispirited, running low on ammunition, as they withdrew, Anthony Waynes division collided with part of Greenes late-arriving wing in the fog. Mistaking each other for the enemy, they opened fire, meanwhile, Greenes left-centre column threw back the British right. With Sullivans column repulsed, the British left outflanked Greenes column, the two militia columns had only succeeded in diverting the attention of the British, and had made no progress before they withdrew. Despite the defeat, France, already impressed by the American success at Saratoga, Howe did not vigorously pursue the defeated Americans, instead turning his attention to clearing the Delaware River of obstacles at Red Bank and Fort Mifflin. After unsuccessfully attempting to draw Washington into combat at White Marsh, Washington, his army intact, withdrew to Valley Forge, where he wintered and re-trained his forces. The Philadelphia campaign had begun badly for the Americans, the Continental Army had suffered a string of defeats at Brandywine, and at Paoli, leaving the city of Philadelphia defenceless. Charles Cornwallis subsequently seized Philadelphia for the British on September 26,1777, Howe left a garrison of 3,462 men to defend the city, moving the bulk of his force north, some 9,728 men, to the outlying community of Germantown. With the campaigning season drawing to a close, Howe determined to locate, Howe established his headquarters at the Stenton Mansion, the former country home of James Logan. Despite having suffered successive defeats, Washington saw an opportunity to entrap and he resolved to attack the Germantown garrison, as the last effort of the year before entering winter quarters. His plan called for a complex, ambitious assault, four columns of troops were to assail the British garrison from different directions, at night, Washingtons hope was that the British would be surprised and overwhelmed much how the Hessians were at Trenton
Battle of Germantown
–
American forces lay siege to the
Chew house during the Battle of Germantown.
Battle of Germantown
–
British, Hessian and Loyalist forces
Battle of Germantown
35.
Battle of White Marsh
–
The battle, which took the form of a series of skirmish actions, was the last major engagement of 1777 between British and American forces. From here, Washington monitored British troop movements in Philadelphia and evaluated his options, after a series of skirmishes, Howe called off the attack and returned to Philadelphia without engaging Washington in a decisive conflict. With the British back in Philadelphia, Washington was able to march his troops to winter quarters at Valley Forge. They then marched east on Skippack Pike, turned left on Forty-Foot Road, and marched to Sumneytown Pike, while there, Brig. Gen. Francis Nash died of wounds incurred at Germantown and was buried in the Mennonite Meeting Cemetery. Washington remained at Towamencin for one week, gathering supplies and waiting to see if Howe would move against him, on October 16, Washington moved his forces to Methacton Hill in Worcester Township. After learning of Howes withdrawal from Germantown to Philadelphia, Washington moved his army to Whitpain,5 miles closer to Philadelphia, on October 20. On October 29, Washingtons army numbered 8,313 Continentals and 2,717 militia, although the terms of enlistment of many soldiers from Maryland and Virginia were due to expire. With his ranks reinforced, Washington dispatched a brigade to assist with the defense of Forts Mifflin and Mercer, on November 2, at the recommendation of his council of war, Washington marched his forces to White Marsh, approximately 13 miles northwest of Philadelphia. At White Marsh, the army began to build redoubts and defensive works, after the surrender of British Lt. Gen. Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates sent Col. Daniel Morgans rifle corps, and the brigades of Paterson and Glover. With these additional forces, and the onset of winter. A quarter of the troops were barefooted, and there were very few blankets or warm clothing, Washington became so desperate that he even offered a reward of $10 to the person who could supply the best substitute for shoes, made of raw hides. Morale was so low and desertion so common that Washington offered a pardon on October 24 to all deserters who returned by January 1, Washingtons loss of Philadelphia and inactivity brought criticism from Congress, who pressured him to attack the city. He therefore called a council of war on November 24 which voted against an attack 11 to 4, nonetheless, Washington rode out the next day to view the British defenses, which turned to be stronger than he had expected. On October 19, Howe withdrew the British forces from Germantown, Howe took advantage of his time in Philadelphia to raise additional forces from the loyalist population in the region. Newly-promoted Maj. John Graves Simcoe reinforced his unit, the Queens Rangers, William Allen, Jr. the son of notable loyalist William Allen, raised the 1st Battalion of Pennsylvania Loyalists, and was made its lieutenant colonel. Loyalist James Chalmers raised the 1st Battalion of Maryland Loyalists, and was given its command, recruitment also took place among the citys Irish Catholic population, with the formation of the Irish Catholic Volunteers, and in the counties immediately surrounding Philadelphia. The weeks with two major armies sitting within miles of each other were not without conflict, and a petite guerre ensued in the no mans land between White Marsh and Northern Liberties. Minor skirmishes between light troops increased in intensity throughout November, with almost daily losses being incurred by both the British and the Americans, eleven houses in all were burned to the ground, and residents of Philadelphia climbed onto rooftops and church steeples to watch the spectacle
Battle of White Marsh
–
View from the British positions at the Battle of White Marsh. Ink on paper, by
cartographer Johann Martin Will
Battle of White Marsh
–
Capt. John Montresor was responsible for establishing the defenses around British-occupied Philadelphia.
Battle of White Marsh
–
A German map of the Battle of White Marsh.
Battle of White Marsh
–
The
Wissahickon Creek, near the encampment of the Pennsylvania militia.
36.
Valley Forge
–
Valley Forge was the military camp 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed more than 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February 1778, General George Washington sought quarters for his men with winter almost setting in, and with greatly diminishing prospects for campaigning. Washington and his troops had fought in early December what was the last major engagement of 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh and he devised to pull his troops from their present encampment in the White Marsh area and move to a more secure location for the coming winter. Several locations were considered for the winter quarters, but Washington selected Valley Forge. Valley Forge was named for a forge on Valley Creek in Whitemarsh. It was not the best place to set up camp for the Continental Army. This location also left the vulnerable under-supplied army in striking distance of the British, the area was close enough to the British to keep their raiding and foraging parties out of the interior of Pennsylvania, yet far enough away to halt the threat of British surprise attacks. The densely forested plateau of Mount Joy and the adjoining two-mile-long plateau of Mount Misery made the area easily defensible and it also provided abundant forests of timber that were used to construct thousands of log huts. Seventy-eight of the huts in the camp housed the soldiers, on December 19,1777, Washingtons poorly fed, ill-equipped army staggered into Valley Forge, weary from long marches. Winds blew as the 12,000 Continentals prepared for winters fury, only about one in four of them had shoes, and many of their feet had left bloody footprints from the marching. Grounds were selected for brigade encampments, and defense lines were planned, the first properly constructed hut appeared in three days. One hut required 80 logs, and timber had to be collected from miles away and it went up in one week with the use of only one axe. These huts provided sufficient protection from the cold and wet conditions of a typical Pennsylvania winter. By the beginning of February, construction was completed on 2,000 huts and they provided shelter, but did little to offset the critical shortages that continually plagued the army. Washington ordered that two windows should be cut into each hut during the springtime, as the climate grew considerably warmer, mud was also chipped between the logs to improve ventilation. The soldiers received inadequate supplies of meat and bread, some getting their only nourishment from firecake, occasionally, there would be pepper pot soup, a black pepper-flavored tripe broth. So severe were conditions at times that Washington despaired that unless some great, starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can. Snow was limited and small in amounts, the layer of snow was often too thin to be collected and melted into drinking water
Valley Forge
–
Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge
Valley Forge
–
The encampment, winter 1777
Valley Forge
–
Encampment at Valley Forge in 1778 (1830 engraving by G. Boynton)
Valley Forge
–
General Von Steuben, 1930 Issue
37.
Battle of Monmouth
–
The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28,1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court House and it is also known as the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. Sensing the opportunity to smash the Continentals, Cornwallis pressed his attack, finally, Washington tried to hit the exhausted British rear guard on both flanks, but darkness forced the end of the engagement. Both armies held the field, but the British commanding general Clinton withdrew undetected at midnight to resume his armys march to New York City. The battle improved the military reputations of Washington, Lafayette and Anthony Wayne but ended the career of Charles Lee, who would face court martial at Englishtown for his failures on the day. According to some accounts, an American soldiers wife, Mary Hays, brought water to thirsty soldiers in the June heat, British forces had captured Philadelphia in 1777. Clinton was ordered to dispatch units to West Florida and the West Indies which left him too few troops to continue occupying Philadelphia, Clinton was also ordered to abandon New York and withdraw to Quebec if he felt his position there was untenable. A French fleet under dEstaing had sailed from Toulon in April,1778 and it was originally intended that the withdrawing British army would travel directly to New York via the sea, escorted by the Royal Navy. A lack of transports forced Clinton to change his plans, while the stores, heavy equipment and Loyalist American civilians fleeing revenge attacks would be shipped by sea, the main army would march overland across New Jersey. On June 18, the British began to evacuate Philadelphia, the British force comprised 11,000 British and German regulars, a thousand Loyalists from Philadelphia, and a baggage train 12 miles long. As the British advanced, the Americans slowed their advance by burning bridges, muddying wells, with a high of over 100 °F, both sides lost almost as many men to heat stroke as to the enemy. Major General Charles Lee, Washingtons second-in-command, advised awaiting developments as he did not wish to commit the American force against the British regulars. However, Washington determined that the British column was vulnerable to attack as it traveled across New Jersey with its baggage train, Washington was still undecided how to attack the British column, and held a council of war. The council, however, was divided on the issue, with a group of officers including General Anthony Wayne urging a partial attack on the British column while it was strung out on the road. Lee was still cautious, advising only harassing attacks with light forces, Lee, as Washingtons senior subordinate, was initially appointed commander of the advance force, but turned it down because of his doubts about the plan. However, when the force was increased to 5,000, Lee met with his subordinates but failed to give them proper orders, resulting in a piecemeal and disorganized attack on June 28 against the British rear guard under General Charles Cornwallis. After several hours of fighting in the hot weather, several American brigades executed a tactical retreat, the British rear guard counterattacked and as his flanks rapidly became routed, Lee was forced to order a withdrawal. Washington, advancing with the force along the Monmouth road, encountered Lees fleeing troops and finally Lee himself
Battle of Monmouth
–
Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth by
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Battle of Monmouth
–
Map of the battle of Monmouth
Battle of Monmouth
–
The legend of
Molly Pitcher is closely associated with the battle.
Battle of Monmouth
38.
Battles of Saratoga
–
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. Burgoyne fought two battles to break out. They took place eighteen days apart on the ground,9 miles south of Saratoga. Trapped by superior American forces, and with no relief in sight, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga and his surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, was a great turning point of the war because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory. Burgoynes strategy to divide New England from the colonies had started well. He won a tactical victory over General Horatio Gates and the Continental Army in the September 19 Battle of Freemans Farm at the cost of significant casualties. His gains were erased when he attacked the Americans in the October 7 Battle of Bemis Heights. Burgoyne was therefore compelled to retreat, and his army was surrounded by the much larger American force at Saratoga and this battle also resulted in Spain joining France in the war against Britain. The first battle, on September 19, began when Burgoyne moved some of his troops in an attempt to flank the entrenched American position on Bemis Heights, Benedict Arnold, anticipating the maneuver, placed significant forces in his way. While Burgoyne did gain control of Freemans Farm, it came at the cost of significant casualties, skirmishing continued in the days following the battle, while Burgoyne waited in the hope that reinforcements would arrive from New York City. Militia forces continued to arrive, swelling the size of the American army, disputes within the American camp led Gates to strip Arnold of his command. Burgoyne attacked Bemis Heights again on October 7 after it became apparent he would not receive relieving aid in time, when the American Revolutionary War approached the two-year point, the British changed their plans. Giving up on the rebellious New England colonies, they decided to split the Thirteen Colonies and isolate New England from what the British believed to be the more loyal middle, the British command devised a grand plan to divide the colonies via a three-way pincer movement in 1777. The northern pincer was to proceed southward from Montreal, and the three forces were to meet in the vicinity of Albany, New York, severing New England from the other colonies. In June 1777 British General John Burgoyne, known as Gentleman Johnny for his manners, after his early capture of Fort Ticonderoga, his campaign had become bogged down in difficulties. Elements of the army had reached the upper Hudson as early as the end of July, one attempt to alleviate these difficulties failed when nearly 1,000 men were killed or captured at the August 16 Battle of Bennington. Furthermore, news reached Burgoyne on August 28 that St. Legers expedition down the Mohawk River valley had turned back after the failed Siege of Fort Stanwix. Faced with the need to reach defensible winter quarters, which would require either retreat back to Ticonderoga or advance to Albany, consequent to this decision he made two further crucial decisions
Battles of Saratoga
–
Surrender of General Burgoyne by
John Trumbull, 1822; This painting hangs in the
United States Capitol Rotunda.
Battles of Saratoga
–
General
John Burgoyne, portrait by Sir
Joshua Reynolds, c. 1760
Battles of Saratoga
–
General
Horatio Gates, portrait by
Gilbert Stuart
Battles of Saratoga
–
Modern view of the battleground of Freeman's Farm
39.
Sullivan Expedition
–
With the Amerindians shelter gone and food supplies destroyed, thereafter the strength of the Iroquois Confederacy was broken. The survivors fled to British regions in Canada and the Niagara Falls, the Sullivan Expedition devastated the Iroquois crops and towns and left them dependent upon the mercy of the British for the harsh winter of 1779. When the American Revolutionary War began, British officials as well as the colonial Continental Congress sought the allegiance of the influential Iroquois Confederacy, the Six Nations divided over what course to pursue. Most Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas chose to ally themselves with the British, but the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, thanks in part to the influence of Presbyterian missionary Samuel Kirkland, joined the American revolutionaries. For the Iroquois, the American Revolution became a civil war, the Iroquois homeland lay on the frontier between the Province of Quebec and the provinces of New York and Pennsylvania. Working out of Fort Niagara, men such as Loyalist commander Colonel John Butler, Sayenqueraghta, Mohawk military leader Joseph Brant, on June 10,1778, the Board of War of the Continental Congress concluded that a major Indian war was in the offing. Since a defensive war would prove to be inadequate the board called for an expedition of 3,000 men against Fort Detroit. Congress designated Major General Horatio Gates to lead the campaign and appropriated funds for the campaign, in spite of these plans, the expedition did not occur until the following year. At the same time, Butlers Rangers attacked German Flatts in the Mohawk Valley, destroying all the houses, further American retaliation was soon taken by Continental Army units under William Butler and John Cantine, burning the substantial Indian villages at Unadilla and Onaquaga on the Susquehanna River. In vain, Brant, who was blamed for the attack, the town was plundered and destroyed. The Cherry Valley Massacre convinced the American colonists that they needed to take action, in April 1779, American Colonel Van Schaick led an expedition of over 500 soldiers against the Onondaga, destroying several villages. When the British began to concentrate their efforts on the southern colonies in 1779. His initial impulse was to assign the expedition to Major General Charles Lee, but he, Major General Philip Schuyler, Washington first offered command of the expedition to Horatio Gates, the Hero of Saratoga, but Gates turned down the offer, ostensibly for health reasons. Major General John Sullivan, fifth on the seniority list, was offered command on March 6,1779, the immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground, but you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and he ordered Gen. James Clinton to assemble a fourth brigade at Schenectady, New York, move westward up the Mohawk River Valley to Canajoharie, and cross overland to Otsego Lake as a staging point. When Sullivan so ordered, Clintons New York Brigade was to march down the Susquehanna to meet Sullivan at Tioga, destroying all Indian villages on his route. Sullivans army was to have totaled 15 regiments and 5,000 men, but his Pennsylvania brigade entered the more than 750 men short
Sullivan Expedition
–
Commemorative plaque of the Sullivan Expedition in
Lodi, New York
Sullivan Expedition
–
Letter from John Sullivan, 1779
Sullivan Expedition
–
Postage stamp, USA, 1929
40.
Yorktown campaign
–
The Yorktown or Virginia campaign was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in October 1781. The campaign involved land and naval forces of Great Britain and France, British forces were sent to Virginia between January and April 1781 and joined with Cornwalliss army in May, which came north from an extended campaign through the southern states. The Royal Navy attempted to dispute this control, but Admiral Thomas Graves was defeated in the key Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5, American and French armies that had massed outside New York City began moving south in late August, and arrived near Yorktown in mid-September. Deceptions about their movement successfully delayed attempts by Clinton to send troops to Cornwallis. The Siege of Yorktown began on September 28,1781, in a step that probably shortened the siege, Cornwallis decided to abandon parts of his outer defenses, and the besiegers successfully stormed two of his redoubts. When it became clear that his position was untenable, Cornwallis opened negotiations on October 17, when the news reached London, the government of Lord North fell, and the following Rockingham ministry entered into peace negotiations. These culminated in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in which King George III recognized the independent United States of America. Clinton and Cornwallis engaged in a war of words defending their roles in the campaign. By December 1780, the American Revolutionary Wars North American theaters had reached a critical point, the national currency was virtually worthless, public support for the war, about to enter its sixth year, was waning, and army troops were becoming mutinous over pay and conditions. In the Americans favor, Loyalist recruiting in the south had been checked with a blow at Kings Mountain in October. Virginias only defenses consisted of locally raised militia companies, and a force that had been virtually wiped out in the 1779 raid. Steuben had established a center in Chesterfield for new Continental Army recruits. French military planners had to balance competing demands for the 1781 campaign, after a series of unsuccessful attempts at cooperation with the Americans, they realized more active participation in North America was needed. However, they also needed to coordinate their actions with Spain, as the French fleet was preparing to depart Brest in March 1781, several important decisions were made. Due to a lack of transports, France also promised six million livres to support the American war effort instead of providing additional troops, the French fleet at Newport was given a new commander, the Comte de Barras. In orders that were not fully shared with General Washington. The French general, the Comte de Rochambeau was instructed to tell Washington that de Grasse might be able to assist, the French fleet sailed from Brest on March 22. The British fleet was busy with preparations to resupply Gibraltar, after the French fleet sailed, the packet ship Concorde sailed for Newport, carrying the Comte de Barras, Rochambeaus orders, and credits for the six million livres
Yorktown campaign
–
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by
John Trumbull, depicting the British surrendering to French (left) and American (right) troops. Oil on canvas, 1820.
Yorktown campaign
–
Comte de Grasse
Yorktown campaign
–
General
Sir Henry Clinton
Yorktown campaign
–
Benedict Arnold
41.
Siege of Yorktown
–
The battle boosted faltering American morale and revived French enthusiasm for the war, as well as undermining popular support for the conflict in Great Britain. In 1780, approximately 5,500 French soldiers landed in Rhode Island to assist their American allies in operations against British-controlled New York City. On the advice of Rochambeau, de Grasse informed them of his intent to sail to the Chesapeake Bay, where Cornwallis had taken command of the army. Cornwallis, at first given confusing orders by his officer, Henry Clinton, was eventually ordered to build a defensible deep-water port. Cornwallis movements in Virginia were shadowed by a Continental Army force led by the Marquis de Lafayette, the French and American armies united north of New York City during the summer of 1781. When word of de Grasses decision arrived, the armies began moving south toward Virginia. De Grasse sailed from the West Indies and arrived at the Chesapeake Bay at the end of August, bringing additional troops and providing a naval blockade of Yorktown. He was transporting 500,000 silver pesos collected from the citizens of Havana, Cuba, to fund supplies for the siege, while in Santo Domingo, de Grasse met with Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, an agent of Carlos III of Spain. De Grasse had planned to leave several of his warships in Santo Domingo, Saavedra promised the assistance of the Spanish navy to protect the French merchant fleet, enabling de Grasse to sail north with all of his warships. In the beginning of September, he defeated a British fleet led by Sir Thomas Graves that came to relieve Cornwallis at the Battle of the Chesapeake, as a result of this victory, de Grasse blocked any escape by sea for Cornwallis. By late September Washington and Rochambeau arrived, and the army, after initial preparations, the Americans and French built their first parallel and began the bombardment. With the British defense weakened, on October 14,1781 Washington sent two columns to attack the last major remaining British outer defenses, a French column took redoubt #9 and an American column took redoubt #10. With these defenses taken, the allies were able to finish their second parallel, with the American artillery closer and more intense than ever, the British situation began to deteriorate rapidly and Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on the 17th. After two days of negotiation, the ceremony took place on the 19th, Lord Cornwallis was absent from the ceremony. With the capture of more than 7,000 British soldiers, on December 20,1780, Benedict Arnold sailed from New York with 1,500 troops to Portsmouth, Virginia. He first raided Richmond, defeating the militia, from January 5–7 before falling back to Portsmouth. The Marquis de Lafayette was sent south with 1,200 men to help with the assault, however, Destouches was reluctant to dispatch many ships, and in February sent only three. Destouches withdrew due to the damage sustained to his fleet, leaving Arbuthnot, on March 26, Arnold was joined by 2,300 troops under command of Major General William Phillips, who took command of the combined forces
Siege of Yorktown
–
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by
John Trumbull, depicting the British surrendering to French (left) and American (right) troops. Oil on canvas, 1820.
Siege of Yorktown
–
Siège de Yorktown by
Auguste Couder, c.1836. Rochambeau and Washington giving their last orders before the battle.
Siege of Yorktown
–
Washington firing the first gun
Siege of Yorktown
–
Storming of Redoubt #10.
42.
Culper Ring
–
This article is in the process of revision and expansion. The Culper name was suggested by Washington, who devised it from Culpeper County, the two main members of the Ring were Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, who used Samuel Culper, Sr. and Samuel Culper, Jr. respectively as aliases. Tallmadge was in contact with and control of the Ring. Tallmadge was referred to by the alias of John Bolton, the Rings task was to send messages to General Washington about the activities of the British Army in New York City, the British headquarters and base of operations. The members of the Ring operated mostly in New York City, Long Island, the Rings covert operations started in late October 1778 and continued through the British evacuation of New York in 1783, but its heyday was between 1778 and 1781. They also reported that the British planned to counterfeit American currency on the paper used for the Continental dollars. The Culper Ring is often credited with the exposure of an attempt on Washingtons life, but no record of an attempt exists. Under pressure from American colonial forces, the British Army under General William Howe evacuated Boston, Massachusetts on March 17,1776 and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia to reorganize. Before Howes forces had completed their departure, American General George Washington had begun to move his troops to New York City, Washington correctly suspected that Howe would return to New York City to make it the British base of operations. General Howes troop ships began to arrive at New York Harbor on June 28,1776, on July 3,1776, Howes men began to land at undefended Staten Island. General Howes brother Vice Admiral Richard Howe arrived the week to take charge of the British naval force. British and Hessian soldiers continued to arrive until August 12,1776, Washington did not have a spy network in New York that he could count on for intelligence, as he could from the many Patriots who had previously organized to spy on the British Army at Boston. On the other hand, the British could depend on the many Loyalists at New York City for intelligence, so Washington divided his smaller force in order to defend several possible locations on Long Island and Manhattan Island, where the British might attack. On August 22,1776, British Army troops from Staten Island landed on Long Island to begin the New York and New Jersey campaign to drive the Continental Army from New York City. First, on August 27,1776, the British overwhelmed the American defenders at the Battle of Long Island, on August 30,1776, Washingtons troops quietly withdrew from Long Island to Manhattan before the British could attack the outnumbered and demoralized Americans. On September 15, General Howe attacked the Continental Army force stationed at New York City and they landed at Kips Bay and drove the Americans out of the city, capturing all of the cannon that they had there. By early December, the Americans had been forced to withdraw across New Jersey to Pennsylvania, the British controlled New York City and made it their military headquarters and base of operations until the war ended in 1783. Honeyman also gave the Hessians false intelligence about the condition of the Continental Army, Alexander Rose debunks the Honeyman story, however, in an article for the CIAs Studies in Intelligence Journal, tracing it to his daughter and grandson
Culper Ring
–
Colonel
Benjamin Tallmadge, leader of the Culper Ring, in a 1790 portrait with his son William
Culper Ring
–
British ships in New York Harbor following the British takeover of New York City in 1776
Culper Ring
–
The only known portrait of instrumental spy
Robert Townsend, sketched in the early 1800s
Culper Ring
–
Raynham Hall, the
Oyster Bay home of spy
Robert Townsend, now a museum
43.
Newburgh Conspiracy
–
The Newburgh Conspiracy was what appeared to be a planned military coup by the Continental Army in March 1783, when the American Revolutionary War was at its end. Possibly instigated by political actors in the Congress of the Confederation, the letter was written by Major John Armstrong, aide to General Horatio Gates, although the authorship of its text and underlying ideas is a subject of historical debate. Commander-in-Chief George Washington stopped any serious talk by appealing successfully to his officers to support the supremacy of Congress in an address on March 15. The motivations of numerous actors in these events are the subject of debate, some historians allege that serious consideration was given within the army to some sort of coup détat, while others dispute the notion. The exact motivations of congressmen involved in communications with army officers implicated in the events are similarly debated, after the British loss at the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781, the American Revolutionary War died down in North America, and peace talks began between British and American diplomats. The American Continental Army, based at Newburgh, New York, Congress had in 1780 promised Continental officers a lifetime pension of half their pay when they were discharged. Financier Robert Morris had in early 1782 stopped army pay as a cost-saving measure, a number of officers organized under the leadership of General Henry Knox and drafted a memorandum to Congress. It expressed unhappiness over pay that was months in arrears, in the memo they offered to accept a lump sum payment instead of the lifetime half pay pension. It also contained the threat that any further experiments on their patience may have fatal effects. The seriousness of the situation was also communicated to Congress by Secretary at War Benjamin Lincoln, Congress was politically divided on the subject of finance. The treasury was empty, and Congress lacked the power to compel the states to provide the funds for meeting its obligations. The army delegation first met with Robert Morris and other nationalists, the politicians convinced McDougall that it was imperative for the army to remain cooperative while they sought funding. The hope they expressed was to tie the armys demands to those of the other creditors to force opposing Congressmen to act. On January 6 Congress established a committee to address the armys memo and it first met with Robert Morris, who stated that there were no funds to meet the armys demands, and that loans for government operations would require evidence of a revenue stream. When it met with McDougall on January 13, the general painted a picture of the discontent at Newburgh. When Congress met on January 22 to debate the report, Robert Morris shocked the body by tendering his resignation. The Congressional leadership immediately moved to keep Morriss resignation secret, debate on a funding scheme turned in part on the issue of the pension. Twice the nationalists urged the body to adopt a commuted pension scheme, after the second rejection on February 4, a plot to further raise tensions began to take shape
Newburgh Conspiracy
–
The reconstructed Temple at the
New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site, where the critical meeting took place on March 15, 1783
Newburgh Conspiracy
–
General
Alexander McDougall
Newburgh Conspiracy
–
Gouverneur Morris (left) and
Robert Morris (right), portrait by
Charles Willson Peale, 1783
Newburgh Conspiracy
–
Colonel
John Brooks, 1820 portrait by
Gilbert Stuart
44.
Newburgh letter
–
Washington reacted very strongly against the suggestion, and was greatly troubled by it. The letter could in many ways have been a point in American history. Nicolas proposal, while never fully formed, would not be suggesting tyranny, the letter can be considered part of the Newburgh conspiracy and indeed the first grievance that Nicola highlights is the lack of adequate payment for troops. Image of Nicolas letter Text of Washingtons response
Newburgh letter
–
Lewis Nicola to George Washington, May 22, 1782, with Observations
45.
Badge of Military Merit
–
The Badge of Military Merit is considered the first military award of the United States Armed Forces. Although the Fidelity Medallion is older, after being issued to three soldiers for an event in 1780 it was never awarded again, so the Badge of Military Merit is often considered the oldest. The Purple Heart is the official decoration of the Badge of Military Merit. The Badge of Military Merit was first announced in General George Washingtons general orders to the Continental Army issued on August 7,1782 at the Headquarters in Newburgh. The writings of General Washington indicate that three badges, two Honorary Badges of Distinction and a Badge of Military Merit, were created on August 7,1782 and this is thought to be the first time in modern history that military awards had been presented to common soldiers. The practice in Europe was to honor high-ranking officers who had achieved victory, but in America, as General Washington said, the road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is…open to all. Not only instances of gallantry, but also of extraordinary fidelity. Men who have merited this last distinction to be suffered to pass all guards, the road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is thus open to all. This order is also to have retrospect to the earliest stages of the war, Browns badge was found in a Deerfield, New Hampshire barn in the 1920s. There is disagreement in published sources about what became of Browns badge after that, a badge on display at the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire on behalf of the Society of the Cincinnati, New Hampshire Branch is stated to be Browns. Other sources say that Browns badge was reported lost in 1924 while in the possession of Bishop Paul Matthews, as of 2015, Churchills badge was owned by the National Temple Hill Association and on display at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site. Churchills badge was rediscovered when H. E. Johnson, a Michigan farmer and one of Churchills descendants, bissells badge was reportedly lost when his house burned in July 1813. After the Revolutionary War, the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse although it was never officially abolished, in 1932, the United States War Department authorized the new Purple Heart Medal for soldiers who had previously received either a Wound Chevron or the Army Wound Ribbon. At that time, it was determined that the Purple Heart Medal would be considered the official successor decoration to the Badge of Military Merit
Badge of Military Merit
–
Badge of Military Merit
46.
Purple Heart
–
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April 5,1917, with the U. S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, the Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers by Gen. George Washington himself. General Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate, from then on, as its legend grew, so did its appearance. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until after World War I, on October 10,1927, Army Chief of Staff General Charles Pelot Summerall directed that a draft bill be sent to Congress to revive the Badge of Military Merit. The bill was withdrawn and action on the case ceased January 3,1928, a number of private interests sought to have the medal re-instituted in the Army, this included the board of directors of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum in Ticonderoga, New York. On January 7,1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, confidentially reopened work on a new design, involving the Washington Commission of Fine Arts. Elizabeth Will, an Army heraldic specialist in the Office of the Quartermaster General, was named to redesign the newly revived medal, using general specifications provided to her, Will created the design sketch for the present medal of the Purple Heart. The new design, which exhibits a bust and profile of George Washington, was issued on the bicentennial of Washingtons birth, wills obituary, in the edition of February 8,1975 of The Washington Post newspaper, reflects her many contributions to military heraldry. The Commission of Fine Arts solicited plaster models from three leading sculptors for the medal, selecting that of John R. Sinnock of the Philadelphia Mint in May 1931, the first Purple Heart was awarded to MacArthur. During the early period of American involvement in World War II, with the establishment of the Legion of Merit, by an Act of Congress, the practice of awarding the Purple Heart for meritorious service was discontinued. By Executive Order 9277, dated December 3,1942, the decoration was applied to all services and this executive order also authorized the award only for wounds received. Subject to approval of the Secretary of Defense, Executive Order 10409, dated February 12,1952, dated April 25,1962, Executive Order 11016, included provisions for posthumous award of the Purple Heart. Dated February 23,1984, Executive Order 12464, authorized award of the Purple Heart as a result of terrorist attacks, or while serving as part of a peacekeeping force, public Law 99-145 authorized the award for wounds received as a result of friendly fire. Public Law 104-106 expanded the eligibility date, authorizing award of the Purple Heart to a prisoner of war who was wounded after April 25,1962. This change was effective May 18,1998, during World War II, nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured in anticipation of the estimated casualties resulting from the planned Allied invasion of Japan. To the present date, total combined American military casualties of the seventy years following the end of World War II—including the Korean, in 2003, there remained 120,000 Purple Heart medals in stock. The existing surplus allowed combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep Purple Hearts on-hand for immediate award to soldiers wounded in the field, the History section of the November 2009 edition of National Geographic estimated the number of Purple Hearts given. Above the estimates, the reads, Any tally of Purple Hearts is an estimate
Purple Heart
–
Purple Heart
Purple Heart
–
Reverse of Purple Heart Medal and Purple Heart Ribbon
Purple Heart
–
Sign on
Interstate 35 designating the Purple Heart Trail.
Purple Heart
–
Purple Heart Memorial,
Westland, Michigan
47.
Nelson (horse)
–
Nelson or Old Nelson was George Washingtons horse and one of several horses owned by George Washington. He was a chestnut with a blaze and white feet. The horse was acquired by Washington in 1779 and died in 1790 at about the age of 27, as Washington was known for being a skilled horse rider, Nelson was a significant icon for a number of years, being one of Washingtons favorite horses. Nelson was foaled in 1763 and was given to Washington in 1778 by Thomas Nelson of Virginia, Washington stated that Nelson was his most favored horse to use during the Revolutionary War, as he was not easily provoked by gunfire. The other horse he rode during the Revolutionary War, and on whom he is often portrayed, was his gray horse. Washington ceased to ride Nelson after the war, Nelson and Blueskin were retired and lived at Mount Vernon post-war
Nelson (horse)
–
Washington (left) on Nelson at Valley Forge
Nelson (horse)
–
"Washington at the Battle of Trenton", shown on Nelson
48.
Blueskin (horse)
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Blueskin was a gray horse ridden by George Washington. He was one of Washingtons two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War, the horse was a half-Arabian, sired by the stallion Ranger, also known as Lindsays Arabian, said to have been obtained from the Sultan of Morocco. Blueskin was a gift to Washington from Colonel Benjamin Tasker Dulany of Maryland, Dulany married Elizabeth French, a ward of Washingtons, who gave her away at her wedding to Dulany on February 10,1773. Blueskin, due to his hair coat, was the horse most often portrayed in artwork depicting Washington on a horse. Washingtons other primary riding horse was Nelson, a chestnut gelding said to be calmer under fire than Blueskin, both horses were retired after the Revolutionary War. Marks of antiquity have supplied the place of beauties with which this horse abounded—in his better days. Nothing but the recollection of which, & of his having been the favourite of Mr Dulany in the days of his Court ship, Mrs Washington presents her Compliments and thanks to Mrs Dulany for the Roots of Scarcity
Blueskin (horse)
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Washington on Blueskin
Blueskin (horse)
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Washington Receiving a Salute on the Field of Trenton, another portrayal of Blueskin
49.
Founding Fathers of the United States
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Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin were members of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were authors of the The Federalist Papers, Jay, Adams and Franklin negotiated the Treaty of Paris that would end the American Revolutionary War. Washington was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and was President of the Constitutional Convention, according to the CIA, Washington, Jay and Franklin helped define the powers of the Executive Branch All held additional important roles in the early government of the United States. The term Founding Fathers is sometimes used narrowly, referring specifically to the those who signed the engrossed version of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Of the 55 Framers, only 39 signed the Constitution, a further subset of Founders includes those who signed the Continental Association or the Articles of Confederation. During much of the 19th century, they were referred to as either the Founders or the Fathers, the First Continental Congress met briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1774 and consisted of fifty-six delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States of America. On the list of attendees was George Washington, who would soon be out of military retirement to command the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Also in attendance was Patrick Henry, and John Adams, who were elected by their respective colonial assemblies, other notable delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New Yorks John Jay. This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, when the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10,1775, it was, in effect, a reconvening of the First Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second, notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, John Hancock of Massachusetts, and John Witherspoon of New Jersey. Hancock was elected Congress President two weeks into the session when Peyton Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses, Thomas Jefferson replaced Randolph in the Virginia congressional delegation. The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, Witherspoon was the only active clergyman to sign the Declaration. He also signed the Articles of Confederation and attended the New Jersey convention that ratified the Federal Constitution, the newly founded country of the United States had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament. The Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a government which was made up of a one-house legislature. Its ratification by all thirteen colonies gave the second Congress a new name, the Congress of the Confederation, later, the Constitutional Convention took place during the summer of 1787, in Philadelphia. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention, the result of the Convention was the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers represented a cross-section of 18th-century American leadership, almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were leaders in their communities. Many were also prominent in national affairs, virtually every one had taken part in the American Revolution, at least 29 had served in the Continental Army, most of them in positions of command
Founding Fathers of the United States
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Declaration of Independence, a painting by
John Trumbull depicting the
Committee of Five presenting their draft of the
Declaration of Independence to the Congress on June 28, 1776. Trumbull's painting appears on the reverse of the
United States two-dollar bill.
Founding Fathers of the United States
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The
Albany Congress of 1754 was a conference attended by seven colonies, which presaged later efforts at cooperation. The
Stamp Act Congress of 1765 included representatives from nine colonies.
Founding Fathers of the United States
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Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by
Howard Chandler Christy
Founding Fathers of the United States
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Portrait of
George Washington and his valet slave
William Lee.
50.
Virginia Association
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The Virginia Association was a series of non-importation agreements adopted by Virginians in 1769 as a way of speeding economic recovery and opposing the Townshend Acts. The Virginia Association served as the framework and precursor to the more powerful Continental Association. The adoption of the Virginia Association resolutions was preceded by a push from northern Virginians for expanded domestic industry, starting in the mid-1760s, most Virginians were heavily impacted by a minor economic recession. The economic downturn was a result of the costs of the French and Indian War in addition to local climate difficulties. The economic struggles for many Virginians were exacerbated by the passage of the Stamp Act, the colonist reaction in Virginia was to encourage domestic manufacturing growth and economic diversification. After the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767, general sentiment in Virginia pushed eagerly for some action. George Washington, at the time, an owner in northern Virginia, promoted the implementation of some sort of non-importation scheme and conveyed his thoughts to his neighbor. Washington contended that if the scheme was adopted on a large scale, Mason, along with Washington and Richard Henry Lee, spent several weeks formulating the language of a non-importation association that would ultimately help strengthen the states economy. Gathered at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, VA, the House of Burgesses, on May 17, began discussing the Mason draft. After amending some of the articles and the preamble, the House of Burgesses, which was made up two representatives from each of the countries, proceeded to pass the Virginia Association resolutions. In the preamble of the Virginia Association resolutions, it was declared that the “Townshend Acts were unconstitutional, as part of the agreement, colonists were prohibited from purchasing, after September 1,1769, any article on a long list of enumerated goods. However, because there were goods that could not be replaced by Virginia manufacturers. The association was given the power to call future meetings. A meeting of one hundred signers was necessary to revise the terms of the agreement unless the British Parliament met the demands that were detailed in the Association resolutions. The Association was not as successful as intended because there were many merchants who did not follow the boycott. British exports to the colonies declined by 38% in 1769, after Britain lifted the Townshend duties from all items except tea, the Association gradually weakened, and finally collapsed in 1771
Virginia Association
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Early
51.
Continental Association
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The Continental Association, often known simply as the Association, was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain. The Association aimed to alter Britains policies towards the colonies without severing allegiance, the boycott became operative on December 1,1774. The Association was fairly successful while it lasted, trade with Great Britain fell sharply, and the British responded with the New England Restraining Act of 1775. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War effectively superseded the attempt to boycott British goods, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to reform colonial administration in British America and, in part, to punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Many American colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution, as they had done during the 1760s—most effectively during the Stamp Act crisis of 1765—colonists turned to economic boycotts to protest what they saw as unconstitutional legislation. The word boycott had not yet coined, colonists referred to their economic protests as, depending upon the specific activity, non-importation, non-exportation. On May 13,1774, the Boston Town Meeting, with Samuel Adams acting as moderator, passed a resolution called for an economic boycott in response to the Boston Port Act. Paul Revere, who served as messenger, carried the Boston resolutions to New York. Adams also promoted the boycott through the committees of correspondence. The First Continental Congress was convened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia on September 5,1774, twelve colonies were represented at the Congress. On October 20,1774, Congress created the Association, based on the earlier Virginia Association, the Association signified the increasing cooperation between the colonies. The Association alleged that this system was calculated for enslaving these colonies, and, with them. This was a recognition of the need and demand for American goods abroad, all American colonists were to direct their agents abroad to also comply with these restrictions, as would all ship owners. The Association set forth policies by which the colonists would endure the scarcity of goods, merchants were restricted from price gouging. Local committees of inspection were to be established in the colonies by which compliance would be monitored, any individual observed to violate the pledges in the Articles would be condemned in print and ostracised in society as the enemies of American liberty. Colonies would also cease all trade and dealings with any other colony that failed to comply with the bans and these delegates signed the Association in Congress. Many local signings also took place, the Continental Association went into effect on December 1,1774. The ban did succeed for the time it was in effect, however, the British retaliated by blocking colony access to the North Atlantics fisheries
Continental Association
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The Association adopted by the Continental Congress was published and often signed by local leaders.
Thomas Jefferson, who was not yet a delegate to Congress, signed this copy (lower left) with other Virginians.
Continental Association
52.
Fairfax Resolves
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The Fairfax Resolves was a set of resolutions adopted by a committee in Fairfax County in the colony of Virginia on July 18,1774, in the early stages of the American Revolution. Written primarily by George Mason, the rejected the British Parliaments claim of supreme authority over the American colonies. More than thirty counties in Virginia passed similar resolutions in 1774, but the Fairfax Resolves were the most detailed, the most influential, in response, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, dissolved the House of Burgesses. The burgesses reconvened at the Raleigh Tavern on May 27 and called for Virginias counties to elect delegates to a convention to meet in August. George Washington and Charles Broadwater were elected as Fairfax Countys representatives to the convention, the statement would also formally serve as instructions to Fairfax Countys delegates to the Virginia Convention. The committee wrote a draft that was, in all likelihood, Mason and Washington met at Washingtons Mount Vernon home on July 17, and perhaps revised the resolutions. The following day in Alexandria, the Fairfax Resolves were endorsed in a meeting of freeholders chaired by Washington, the Resolves also marked a step forward in inter-colonial cooperation as more Americans began to realize that a threat against one colony was a threat against all. The non-importation protest called for in the Resolves influenced, with modifications, the Virginia Association. In the Common Cause, American Response to the Coercive Acts of 1774, chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press,2006. Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE, Cato Institute, text of the Fairfax Resolves, as published in the American Archives, presented online by the Northern Illinois University Libraries
Fairfax Resolves
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Early
53.
Mount Vernon Conference
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The Mount Vernon Conference was a meeting of delegates from Virginia and Maryland held March 21–28,1785, to discuss navigational rights in the states common waterways. On March 28,1785, the group drew up a thirteen-point proposal to govern the two rights on the Potomac River, Pocomoke River, and Chesapeake Bay. Ratified by the legislature of both states, the compact helped set a precedent for later meetings between states for discussions into areas of mutual concern. The conference, initially scheduled to begin March 21,1785 in Alexandria, Virginia, was a meeting of delegates from Maryland, Samuel Chase, none of Virginias delegates were present when Marylands arrived for the meeting. The conference reconvened at Mount Vernon on March 21,1785 with Washington presiding, Marylands representatives were empowered to discuss with Virginia shared concerns involving the Potomac and Pocomoke Rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. To the contrary, the Virginia legislatures instructions to its appointees focused solely on the Potomac, nonetheless, common ground was found and on March 28,1785, a final report was prepared for the two state legislatures. The report contained 13 clauses and was ratified by both Maryland and Virginia and it declared the Potomac, which was under Marylands sole jurisdiction, to be a common waterway for use by Virginia as well. It also provided for reciprocal fishing rights, dividing the costs of constructing navigation aids, cooperation on defense and it also called for commissioners to deal with any future problems that might arise. Political leaders in Pennsylvania and Delaware were invited to join the agreement as well, the circumstances that led to the conference began as the country emerged victorious from the Revolutionary War. Lacking an effective central government under the Articles of Confederation, the states quarreled among themselves and some even established proprietary regulations, tariffs, and currency. This awareness led to the chartering of the Potomac Company to make improvements to the Potomac River, the companys goal was the linking of the East Coast with the trans-Appalachian northwest. The Mount Vernon Conference became a model of interstate cooperation outside the framework of the Articles of Confederation and its success encouraged James Madison to advocate for further discussions on constitutional issues facing the states. He had little to show for efforts to get Virginias delegates in the Continental Congress to seek expanded powers to deal with trade issues, instead, he introduced a proposal in the Virginia General Assembly to act on the suggestion of the Compact commissioners for further debate of interstate issues. With Marylands agreement, on January 21,1786, Virginia invited all the states to attend another meeting on commercial issues, delegates from five states gathered to discuss ways to facilitate commerce between the states and establish standard rules and regulations. As a result of the gathering, commissioners called for there to be another constitutional convention at which possible improvements to the Articles could be discussed, the desired convention took place in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. There, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania made oblique reference to the success of the Mount Vernon Conference, in 1908, a government commission would associate these related events more closely
Mount Vernon Conference
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George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Fairfax County, Virginia
Mount Vernon Conference
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View of the Potomac from Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, Virginia, toward the Maryland shore
54.
Constitutional Convention (United States)
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The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17,1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention, the result of the Convention was the creation of the United States Constitution, placing the Convention among the most significant events in the history of the United States. Most of the time during the Convention was spent on deciding these issues, while the powers of legislature, executive, once the Convention began, the delegates first agreed on the principles of the Convention, then they agreed on Madisons Virginia Plan and began to modify it. A Committee of Detail assembled during the July 4 recess eventually produced a draft of the constitution. Most of the draft remained in place, and can be found in the final version of the constitution. After the final issues were resolved, the Committee on Style produced the final version, before the Constitution was drafted, the nearly 4 million inhabitants of the 13 newly independent states were governed under the Articles of Confederation, created by the Second Continental Congress. It soon became evident to all that the chronically underfunded Confederation government. As the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of the states, in addition, the Articles gave the weak federal government no taxing power, it was wholly dependent on the states for its money, and had no power to force delinquent states to pay. Once the immediate task of winning the American Revolutionary War had passed, the states began to look to their own interests, another impetus for the convention was Shays Rebellion. A political conflict between Boston merchants and rural farmers over issues such as property seizures for tax debts had broken out into an open rebellion. This rebellion was led by a former Revolutionary War captain, Daniel Shays, himself a farmer with tax debts. The rebellion took months for Massachusetts to put down completely, in September 1786, at the Annapolis Convention, delegates from five states called for a Constitutional Convention in order to discuss possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia on May 14,1787, Rhode Island, fearing that the Convention would work to its disadvantage, boycotted the Convention and, when the Constitution was put to the states, initially refused to ratify it. James Madison arrived first, and soon most of the Virginia delegation arrived, while waiting for the other delegates, the Virginia delegation produced the Virginia Plan, which was designed and written by James Madison. On May 25, the delegations convened in the Pennsylvania State House, George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Convention, and it was agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting. Although William Jackson was elected as secretary, his records were brief, Madisons Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, supplemented by the notes of Robert Yates, remain the most complete record of the Convention. Throughout the debate, delegates constantly referred to precedents from history in support of their position, most commonly, they referred to the history of England, in particular the Glorious Revolution, classical history, and recent precedents from Holland and Germany. Outside the Convention in Philadelphia, there was a convening of the Society of the Cincinnati
Constitutional Convention (United States)
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Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States
Constitutional Convention (United States)
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Independence Hall's Assembly Room
Constitutional Convention (United States)
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James Madison, the author of the Virginia Plan
Constitutional Convention (United States)
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Front side of the Virginia Plan
