Popular fables illustrating young George Washington's youthful honesty, piety, and physical strength have long taken the place of documented fact. The story that Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River had its origins in the recollections of a cousin that George could throw a stone across the much narrower Rappahannock River. When George Washington was eleven years old, his father Augustine died, leaving most of his property to George's older half brothers. As the oldest child remaining at home, George undoubtedly helped his mother manage the Rappahannock River plantation where they lived. Washington was well on his way to a successful and profitable career. In an effort to establish himself as a member of the gentry class, he worked hard, saved his money, and bought unclaimed land. Martha brought enormous wealth, along with two small children, “Jacky” and “Patsy,” to the marriage. It was her second marriage, his first. Over the years, Washington enlarged his house. First he raised the roof to create a third floor. Later he would add a wing to both ends, build a piazza overlooking the Potomac River, and crown his vision with a pediment and cupola. By the time of his death in 1799, he had expanded the plantation from 2,000 to 8,000 acres consisting of five farms, with more than 3,000 acres under cultivation. At age 11, George Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father. In those days in Virginia, the institution of slavery was considered “a given” and slaves, like land and other property, could be bought, sold, given away, rented out, and passed down through inheritance. As a young man, George was no different from other members of the Virginia planter class in his attitude that there was nothing morally wrong with slavery.
In June 1775, Congress commissioned George Washington to take command of the Continental Army besieging the British in Boston. He wrote home to Martha that he expected to return safely to her in the fall. The command kept him away from Mount Vernon for more than 8 years. For much of the remainder of the war, Washington's most important strategic task was to keep the British bottled up in New York. Although he never gave up hope of retaking the city, he was unwilling to risk his army without a fair prospect of success. An alliance with France and the arrival of a French army under the Comte de Rochambeau in July 1780 renewed Washington's hopes to recapture New York; however, together Washington and Rochambeau commanded about 9,000 men -- some 5,000 fewer than Clinton. In the end, therefore, the allied generals concluded, that an attack on New York could not succeed.
sources:
"George Washington." HISTORY. N. p., 2019. Web. 2 Mar. 2019.
"George Washington's Life." George Washington's Mount Vernon. N. p., 2019. Web. 2 Mar. 2019.
