Being George Washington (37 page)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moves to Mount Vernon to live with Lawrence.

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

November 17—Shows first signs of smallpox.

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

December 22—Departs for return to Virginia.

January 28—Lands at Yorktown.

Spring—Suffers from “a violent pleurisy.”

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

July 26—Death of Lawrence Washington of consumption.

September 1—Joins the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge.

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

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

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

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

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

January 6—Marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

May 10—Parliament passes the Tea Act.

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

March 5—The Battle of Bunker Hill.

April 19—The battles of Lexington and Concord.

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

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

June 15—Washington appointed head of the Continental Army.

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

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

January—Washington lifts ban on black recruitment.

January 10—Thomas Paine publishes
Common Sense
.

January 24—Knox reaches Cambridge with artillery.

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

July 4—American independence proclaimed in Philadelphia.

July 9—Washington celebrates independence in New York City.

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

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

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

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

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

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

December 8—British occupy Newport, Rhode Island.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 30—Dr. Rush resigns as surgeon general.

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

May 3—Congress promotes Benedict Arnold to major general.

July 11—Arnold submits his resignation to Congress.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 17—General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga.

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

November 3—Thomas Mifflin resigns as quartermaster general.

December 19—Washington arrives at Valley Forge.

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

January 19—Conway Cabal collapses; Congress supports Washington.

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

February 6—French-American alliance signed in Paris.

February 23—Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge.

February 24—Great Britain declares war on France.

March 2—Nathanael Greene appointed quartermaster general.

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

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

June 8—Martha Washington departs Valley Forge.

June 18—British evacuate Philadelphia; Washington appoints Arnold its military governor.

June 19—Washington leaves Valley Forge.

June 28—Battle of Monmouth.

June—Fortifications at West Point, New York, are named “Fort Arnold.”

July 4—Generals Cadwalader and Conway fight a duel in the aftermath of the Conway Cabal.

March 5—Congressional committee clears Arnold of corruption charges.

March 19—Arnold resigns his commission.

April 3—Congress forwards charges against Arnold to Washington.

April 8—Arnold marries Loyalist Margaret “Peggy” Shippen.

May 5—Arnold writes Washington; demands a quick trial.

May 10—Messenger reaches Major John André in New York City with offer from Arnold to defect.