WASHINGTON, GEORGE, was born in the year 1732, on the 22d of February; as every Ame rican learns from the annual jubilee of his country's gratitude. A plantation called Wakefield, in West moreland county, Virginia, was the place rendered illustrious by his nativity. The mansion house was then situated on Pope's creek, about half a mile from the Potomac; but it has since fallen into ruins, and there is no trace of its former existence but in the records of him whose memory can never die.
The family of the subject of this memoir traces its descent from John Washington, who emigrated from England and settled upon the estate of Wake field in the year 1657. His grandson, Augustine, was twice married. By his first union he had two sons, Lawrence and Augustine; by his second in termarriage with Miss Mary Ball, he left five children, the eldest of whom was George Wash ington, whose life and career will be briefly sketched in the present article.
The care and education of Washington devolved upon a fond and intelligent mother, in consequence of the death of his other parent while he was yet in early childhood. His studies were directed to ob jects of strict and substantial utility, according to I.
lhblished .1dovh1:trker.
the ordinary custom and limited opportunities of American gentlemen at that early period; but the formation of his character upon the solid founda tion of virtue and religion, was the object of an in terest that knew no intermission; and the success of the result is now deeply graven on the fairest page of the world's whole history.
The bent of his mind towards the profession of arms exhibited itself so strongly before his fifteenth year, that a midshipman's warrant was then ob tained for him through the influence of friends. To this project insuperable obstacles were opposed by maternal tenderness, and three years afterwards he appears to have been employed as a public sur veyor, by Lord Fairfax, proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia. In his nineteenth year he re ceived a commission appointing him an adjutant general of the province, with the rank of major, and from that period his military career was no longer to be restrained or impeded.
The movements of the French, which began at this period to unveil their vast design of connecting Canada and Louisiana by a regular chain of forti fied posts, attracted the jealous notice of Governor Dinwiddie, and deeply excited the apprehensions of the inhabitants of the provinces. The responsi ble duty of visiting the French commander, and of conveying the remonstrance against his proceed ings, was consigned to Major Washington, then barely twenty-one years of age; but the mission was executed with a prudence, courage, and ability, that would have honoured the maturest judgment, and which greatly elevated the character of the young envoy among his countrymen. The journey
was undertaken at the most dangerous season of the year, and exposed to such perils from floods and concealed enemies, as could scarcely be conceived at the present day by the peaceful inhabitants of those flourishing regions. Washington's journal, which was regularly kept for the information of the governor, gave brilliant promise of his qualities for public service: his military observations on the country through which he passed, exhibited saga city and knowledge far beyond his years and limited experience, and were afterwards of eminent service in the difficult wars waged with the French and their Indian allies. It was he who first invited at tention to the commanding position now occupied by the city of Pittsburgh: though the enemy after wards anticipated the provincials, by the erection of the famous Fort du Quesne, for so many years the source of all evil to the British colonies.
The continued invasions of the French rendered it necessary to make active preparations for de fence, and a regiment of three hundred men was therefore raised, under the authority of the Vir ginian assembly. Of this force, the command was conferred upon Colonel Joshua Fry, and the Lieu tenant-colonelcy given to Washington. No regular declaration of war had yet passed between England and France, but the troops of both parties already treated each other as enemies, whenever oppor tunities of collision were presented. In April 1754, the lieutenant-colonel advanced with two companies to the Great Meadows in the Alleghany mountains, for the double purpose of protecting the frontier and watching the progress of the French. He there received notice from a friendly Indian, called the half King, of some recent acts of aggression, and of the proximity of a French de tachment, which then lay encamped and concealed in the neighbourhood. As no doubt could pos sibly exist in relation to their hostile intentions, Washington determined at once to anticipate the movement, knowing that in war none are so open to surprise as those who meditate the same upon their adversaries.