George Washington and Army Essay

George Washington: The First American Hero

Today, George Washington is an American icon, a symbol of patriotism, strength, and humility. His honesty has become the source of legend, to the point that it is easy to forget that he was a real human being with significant political and military accomplishments. Perhaps what is equally surprising about Washington as the durability of his image is the fact that he was just as beloved in his own era. Death sometimes erases some of the more unflattering aspects of a historical figure's legacy from the collective memory but Washington was always revered, even in life. In fact, many of his contemporaries wished to make him a king after he helped secure American independence, an honor which he refused. Instead, he went on to become the nation's first Chief Executive.

George Washington first came to political prominence in colonial America due to his military leadership during the French and Indian Wars. He was born to a land-owning Virginian family but the Washington family came upon hard times after the untimely death of his father. Young George never had a gentleman's education due to his widowed mother's financial struggles but he did find work as a surveyor (Knott). After his brother passed away from tuberculosis, Washington lobbied for his brother's military position and received it, despite his youth and inexperience (Knot).

The initial conflict the young Washington presided over involved a dispute over the Ohio Valley between the British and the French. At the time, acting as an envoy for the British, Washington built a fort in the disputed area to prevent further French encroachment (Knott). While reinforcing the fort, Fort Necessity, Washington killed a small number of French in a skirmish -- unknown to Washington one of these men was an envoy, which caused a diplomatic incident and actually precipitated the French-Indian war, an incident which would haunt Washington for the rest of his life and initially make him reluctant to take command of the colonial army (Knott).

Despite the inexperience exhibited in his behavior, Washington did learn a number of important lessons from his tenure fighting in the French-Indian Wars. Most notably, he became aware of the unique guerrilla tactics used by the Indians that flouted the conventions of conventional warfare, ideas which would later prove useful against the British. When the British sent over the Royal Army to assist with the conflict, Washington acted as an aide to General Edward Braddock (Knott). During the skirmish over Fort Duquesne, Washington attempted to persuade the British to use different fighting techniques to hold off the guerilla tactics of the Indians but Braddock ignored Washington and the British were routed by the natives (Knott).

Although the British blamed the colonists for the defeat, Washington was still hailed as a victor. "The colonials, refusing to be England's scapegoat, reacted by elevating Washington as a hero. To convey their approval of his leadership and abilities, the colonials gave him command of all Virginian forces and charged him mainly with defending the colony's western frontier from Native American attacks" (Knott). Washington eventually resigned from the army after he captured Fort Duquesne in 1758, but thanks to this command of the Virginian forces, he became aware of how to train and command an army single-handedly at a very young age (Knott).

Washington also gained a strong sense of injustice and righteous indignation against the British Crown, as he believed he had been treated very badly by the British forces over the course of his stewardship. This sense of outrage was further fostered when Washington returned to his life as a gentleman farmer. The British system of tariffs on tobacco left him in debt and forced him to expand into more crops that could be sold domestically, as well as weaving, fishing, and other practices to reduce his estate's dependency on England (Knott). Although there was less revolutionary ferment in the southern colonies at first, Washington was one of the first and most prominent citizens to support revolt. "But a series of English provocations -- the closure of Boston Harbor, new taxes, the shooting deaths of five colonials in an altercation with Royal troops, the abolition of the Massachusetts state charter -- made Washington a firm believer in American independence by the early 1770s" (Knott).

Interestingly, when Washington was selected by the Second Continental Congress to lead the colonial army, he did not think he was capable of doing so, based upon his missteps during the French-Indian Wars. "I beg it may be remembered that I, this day, declare…