that it was engaged in spying. He returned to Fort Necessity, which a large
French force attacked on July 3. It fell after a day's fighting. In making
the surrender, Washington signed a paper that imputed to him the blame for
"l'assassinat" (murder) of Jumonville. Not versed in French, Washington
later explained that he had not understood the meaning of the incriminating
word.
By the terms of the surrender, he and his men were permitted to return,
disarmed, to the Virginia settlements. The news of his defeat moved Britain
to send to Virginia an expedition under Gen. Edward Braddock, whom
Washington joined as a voluntary aide-de-camp, without command of troops.
Braddock's main force reached a point on the Monongahela River about 7
miles (11 km) southeast of Fort Duquesne where, on July 9, 1755, he
suffered a surprise attack and a defeat that ended in disordered flight.
Washington's part was that of inspiriting the men. His bravery under fire
spread his fame to nearby colonies and abroad. Dinwiddie rewarded him by
appointing him, in August, to the command of Virginia's troops, with the
rank of colonel.
His new duties excluded him from leadership in the major campaigns of the
war, the operations of which were directed by British officials who
assigned to Virginia the humdrum task of defending its inland frontiers. No
important battles were fought there. Washington drilled his rough and often
unsoldierly recruits, stationed them at frontier posts, settled disputes,
struggled to maintain order and discipline, labored to procure supplies and
to get them transported, strove to have his men paid promptly and provided
with shelter and medical care, sought support from the Virginia government,
and kept it informed. His command trained him in the management of self-
willed men, familiarized him with the leaders of Virginia, and schooled him
in the rugged politics of a vigorous society.
The French and Indian War also estranged him from the British. Thereafter,
he never expressed a feeling of affection for them. He criticized Braddock
for blaming the Virginians as a whole for the shortcomings of a few local
contractors. He also thought that Braddock was too slow in his marches. As
commander in Virginia, he resented his subordination to a British captain,
John Dagworthy, and made a trip to Boston early in 1756 in order to get
confirmation of his authority from the British commander in America. He
objected that one of his major plans was upset by ill-considered orders
from Britain, and in 1758 he disputed with British officers about the best
route for an advance to Fort Duquesne. The war ended in such a way as to
withhold from him a suitable recognition for his arduous services of nearly
six years and to leave him, if not embittered, a somewhat disappointed man.
Life at Mount Vernon
Resigning his commission late in 1758, he retired to Mount Vernon. On Jan.
6, 1759, he married Martha Dandridge, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, whose
estate included 15,000 acres (6,000 hectares) and 150 slaves. Washington
became devoted to Martha's two children by her first marriage, John Parke
Custis and Martha Custis.
As a planter, Washington concentrated at first on tobacco raising, keeping
exact accounts of costs and profits. He soon learned that it did not pay.
British laws required that his exports should be sent to Britain, sold for
him by British merchants, and carried in British ships. Also, he had to buy
in Britain such foreign finished goods as he needed. On various occasions
he complained that his tobacco was damaged on shipboard or sold in England
at unduly low prices. He thought that he was often overcharged for freight
and insurance, and he objected that British goods sent to him were
overpriced, poor in quality, injured in transit, or not the right type or
size. Unable to control buying and selling in England, he decided to free
himself from bondage to British traders. Hence he reduced his production of
tobacco and had his slaves make goods of the type he had imported,
especially cloth. He developed a fishery on the Potomac, increased his
production of wheat, and operated a mill. He sent fish, wheat, and flour to
the West Indies where he obtained foreign products or money with which to
buy them.
From the start he was a progressive farmer who promoted reforms to
eliminate soil-exhausting practices that prevailed in his day. He strove to
improve the quality of his livestock, and to increase the yield of his
fields, experimenting with crop rotation, new implements, and fertilizers.
His frequent absences on public business hindered his experiments, for they
often required his personal direction.
He also dealt in Western lands. Virginia's greatest estates, he wrote, were
made "by taking up ... at very low prices the rich back lands" which "are
now the most valuable lands we possess." His Western urge had largely
inspired his labors during the French and Indian War. At that time, Britain
encouraged settlement in the Ohio Valley as a means of gaining it from the
French. In July 1754, Governor Dinwiddie offered 200,000 acres (80,000
hectares) in the West to colonial volunteers. Washington became entitled to
one of these grants. After the war he bought claims of other veterans,
served as agent of the claimants in locating and surveying tracts, and
obtained for himself (by July 1773) 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) along the
Ohio between the Little Kanawha and Great Kanawha rivers, and 10,000 acres
on the Great Kanawha. In 1775 he sought to settle his Kanawha land with
servants.
Washington lived among neighbors who acquiesced in slavery and, if opposed
to it, saw no feasible means of doing away with it. In 1775 he endorsed a
strong indictment of the slave trade, but in 1776 he opposed the royal
governor of Virginia who had urged slaves of patriot masters to gain
freedom by running away and joining the British army to fight for the king.
When Washington was famous as a world figure he dissociated himself,
publicly, from slavery, although he continued to own many slaves. He
favored emancipation if decreed by law. In his will he ordered that his
slaves be freed after the death of Mrs. Washington.
Early Political Activity
After expelling France from North America, Britain decided to reserve most
of the Ohio Valley as a fur-producing area. By the Quebec Act (1774),
Britain detached from Virginia the land it claimed north of the Ohio River
and added it to the royal Province of Quebec. This act struck at
Washington's plans because it aimed to leave the Indians in possession of
the north bank of the Ohio, where they could menace any settlers on his
lands across the river. In April 1775 the governor of Virginia, John
Murray, 4th earl of Dunmore, canceled Washington's Kanawha claims on the
pretext that his surveyor had not been legally qualified to make surveys.
At this time, also, Britain directed Dunmore to stop granting land in the
West. Thus Washington stood to lose the fruits of his efforts during the
French and Indian War.
As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1774,
Washington opposed the Stamp Act, which imposed crushing taxes on the
colonies for the support of a large British army in America. Virginia, he
said, was already paying enough to Britain: its control of Virginia's trade
enabled it to acquire "our whole substance." When the Townshend Revenue Act
(1767) levied taxes on tea, paper, lead, glass, and painter's colors,
Washington pledged not to buy such articles ("paper only excepted"). By mid-
1774 he believed that British laws, such as the Boston Port Act and the
Massachusetts Government Act, showed that Britain intended to do away with
self-government in the colonies and to subject them to a tyrannical rule.
In May he joined other Virginia burgesses in proposing that a continental
congress should be held, and that a "provincial congress" be created to
take the place of the Virginia assembly, which Dunmore had disbanded.
Washington was chairman of a meeting at Alexandria in July that adopted the
Fairfax Resolves, and he was elected one of the delegates to the 1st
Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia in September. There the
Fairfax Resolves provided the basis for the principal agreement signed by
its members--the Continental Association. This forbade the importing into
the colonies of all goods from Britain and all goods subject to British
taxes. Moreover, it authorized all towns and counties to set up committees
empowered to enforce its provisions. The Continental Congress thus enacted
law and created a new government dedicated to resisting British rule.
Washington spent the winter of 1774-1775 in Virginia, organizing
independent military companies which were to aid the local committees in
enforcing the Continental Association and, if need be, to fight against
British troops.
The American Revolution
When the 2d Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775, the fighting near
Boston (Lexington-Concord) had occurred. The British Army was cooped up in
Boston, surrounded by nearly 14,000 New England militiamen. On Feb. 2,
1775, the British House of Commons had declared Massachusetts to be in a
state of rebellion. This imputed to the people of that colony the crime of
treason. Washington, by appearing at the 2d Congress in uniform (the only
member thus attired), expressed his support of Massachusetts and his
readiness to fight against Britain. In June, Congress created the
Continental Army and incorporated into it the armed New Englanders around
Boston, undertaking to supply and pay them and to provide them with
generals. On June 15, Washington was unanimously elected general and
commander in chief.
The tribute of a unanimous election reflected his influence in Congress,
which endured throughout the American Revolution despite disagreements
among the members. In 1775 they divided into three groups. The militants,
