50 Facts About George Washington

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732.

Washington’s father was Augustine Washington.  He was a wealthy aristocrat who owned tobacco plantations, iron mines, and slaves.

Washington’s father died when George was 11.

George Washington’s mother was Mary Ball Washington.  She was Augustine Washington’s second wife.

Mary ball Washington and George had a poor relationship.  She never breathed a proud word about her son during the American Revolution and was thought to be a Tory.

Washington was one of America’s tallest presidents at 6.2 feet.  He weighed 200 pounds.

Washington had two half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine; Three brothers, Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles; One sister, nested Betty Lewis.

Lawrence Washington was Georges older half-brother whom George greatly admired.

George went to live with Lawrence shortly after his father’s death.

George was encouraged by his brother to study surveying which was a prestigious position in Washington day.

As a teenager George began surveying for wealthy land owners.

Lawrence died at the age of 34 of tuberculosis and smallpox, leaving his estate in Mount Vernon to George.

George Washington contracted smallpox.  It left his face slightly scarred.  Luckily his survival of the disease inoculated him against what would end up being the largest killer of the American Revolutionary War.

Ferry farm was the name of Washington’s childhood home located on the Rappahannock River.

In addition to smallpox Washington survived malaria and dysentery.

Washington was not formally educated past the age of 15.  He was the only founding father to become president who did not have a college education.

George’s father in half-brothers had all attended Appleby school in England, but his father’s early death ruined his chances at a formal education.

At age 17 George became a surveyor on the Virginia frontier.

By the age of 21 Washington owned over 1500 to acres of land.

Declared the best horseman of his time George survived having two horses shot out from under him during the French and Indian war.

During his first military term Washington, a lieutenant colonel, had been sent west by the governor of Virginia to try to keep the French out of the newly claimed Virginia Land.

On May 28 1754, Washington ambushed a French scouting party of about 30 men, killing 10 men, wounding one and taking the rest prisoners.  One of the prisoners Washington took was the commander of the French Force Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville.

The incident which set off the French and Indian war occurred when Jumonville was being questioned by Washington.  The French commander was carrying papers which supposedly showed them on a diplomatic mission.  During Washington’s questioning, Tanacharison (An Indian Chief & Ally) walked up to Jumonville and cleaved his skull with a tomahawk as Washington stood dumbfounded.  The other braves started killing and scalping the wounded before Washington re-gained his wits and put a stop to it.

Washington was later defeated at fort necessity by the half-brother of Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville.  Louis Coulon de Villiers believed Washington responsible for his brother’s death.

George Washington was the only member of the founding fathers of the United States that was truly non-partisan.

The most important decision made by Washington while in office was made in 1793 when he issued the Proclamation of Neutrality during the French Revolutionary wars.  He understood the need for the country to build instead of fighting a foreign war.  This established the first foreign policy.

Nelson and Blue Skin were the names of George Washington’s horses.

Washington was at one time the nation’s largest distiller.  Mount Vernon produced over 11,000 gallons of whiskey.

316 slaves worked the fields at Mount Vernon, washington’s plantation.

Even though Washington was the only prominent, labor molding founding father to emancipate his slaves, he gave written authorization to the overseers to whip slaves that were in need of “correction” including women slaves.

On January 5, 1759, at the age of 27 George Washington married a widow Martha Dandridge Curtis.

George and Martha had no children together.  It is believed that Washington was sterile.

George adopted Martha’s two children Martha Parke Curtis (Patsy) and John Curtis.

Patsy was a toddler when Washington married Martha.  At a young age Patsy began having seizures and despite the advanced medical care Washington sought for his daughter, the seizures grew worse it.

One evening shortly after dinner Patsy collapsed into a seizure fit.  Washington knelt beside Patsy, tears streaming down his face as she drew her last breath at the age of 16.

Jacky (John Curtis), was a civilian aide to his stepfather George Washington.  At Yorktown he contracted camp fever and died.  His widow was 23 years old and had four children.

Two of Jacky’s youngest daughters Nelly and Wash were adopted by George and Martha Washington.

Washington insisted throughout the American Revolution that military officials must submit to their superiors in Congress.  America owes the subordination of the military to the civilian authorities to Washington.  The best illustration of this was Washington’s voluntary surrender of his sword and commission to the Confederation Congress at the Revolution’s end.

Washington is the only American president ever to lead an army in battle as the commander-in-chief.  During the whiskey rebellion of 1794, he marched to Pennsylvania to take command of a large army that put down the protest against the tax on distilled spirits.

After the revolutionary war, Washington sought pinion on slavery softened.  In 1786 Washington wrote a friend stating that, “There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some plan adopted for the abolition of slavery”.  However, in 1793 he signed the Fugitive Slave Act.  This act gave slave owners the right to capture fugitive slaves in any U.S. State.

George Washington’s inaugural speech was only 133 words long.  It was the shortest inaugural speech in history delivered by an American president.

Washington’s oath to office was given in New York City on the balcony of the senate chamber at Federal hall on Wall Street.

The bible used to swear Washington into office belonged to New York’s Saint John ’s Masonic Lodge.

Washington’s last will and testament ordered that all 124 of his slaves be freed after his wife’s death.

Martha Washington became worried that the 124 slaves scheduled to be freed after her death might try to kill her.  Therefore, Martha decided to free those slaves a year after her husband died.

George Washington was supposed to be buried beneath the floor under the dome of the capitol.  He died before the rotunda floor was finished.

Washington’s last words were, “I die hard, but I am not afraid to go . . .  let me go quietly.  I cannot last long . . . It is well. ”

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.  True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to be the appellation.” ~ George Washington, the man.

“Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a free man contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.” ~ George Washington, 1st President of the United States of America.