Mark Twain, andHenryDavidThoreau.Hediedin1974. North alsowrotebiographiesofAbrahamLincoln,ThomasEdison, ofAmericanheroesforyoungadultreaders.Sterling biographies became thegeneraleditorofNorthStarBooks,publisher Rascal author ofmanybooksforyoungadultsandadults,including Born in 1904 in Koshkonong, Wisconsin, Sterling North is the early nation together first initsfragile years. leadership remarkablepolitical skills that held the the developed he Revolution andhow American inthe thatwould theBritish laterdefeat strategies discover how themilitary learned deathfrom escaped smallpox.narrowly You’ll also battles in the French andIndian War andhow he about Readers learn will Washington’shair-raising asamilitary service background andearly leader. the UnitedStates’ firstpresident, tracingfamily his WASHINGTON GEORGE

EAN , whichwasaNewberyHonorbookin1964.In1957,he tells the early story of story theearly tells Follow us on us Follow Visit $12.99 US|£8.99 UK|$16.99CAN ISBN: 978-0-7603-5229-8 QuartoKnows.com

north GEORGE FRONTIER COLONEL FRONTIER author ofthenewbery honorbook • SterlingNorth WASHINGTON FRONTIER COLONEL GEORGE rascal • GEORGE WASHINGTON FRONTIER COLONEL

• Sterling north • Contents Quarto is the authority on a wide range of topics.

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Original text © 1957 Gladys North 3 The Years at Ferry Farm 21 Additional material © 2006 Flying Point Press Map © Richard Thompson, Creative Freelancers, Inc. 4 Compass Needle and Cupid’s Dart 31 First published in 1957 by Random House, Inc. This edition published in 2016 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA. 5 Sea Voyage to Barbados 43 Telephone: (612) 344-8100 Fax: (612) 344-8692 quartoknows.com 6 Danger on the Ohio Frontier 53 Visit our blogs at quartoknows.com 7 First Victory and First Defeat 71 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owners. All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the 8 An Aide to Braddock 87 artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that 9 Frontier and Metropolis 109 credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a subsequent reprinting of the book. 10 Fortunes of War and of Love 125

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• chapter one • A BABY CHRISTENED GEORGE

“The wind in the night increased to a mere storm and raind exceed’g hard; towards day it moderated and ceased Raining but the whole day afterwards was Squally.” Thus George Washington, in his copper-plate handwriting, reported the weather of February 22, 1760—exactly twenty-eight years after his birth. Perhaps it was just such a typical February day in 1732 when “about 10 in The Morning” (to quote the family Bible) a lusty boy named George was born to and her husband Augustine. Their modest plantation house stood on a low bluff above the widening waters of Pope’s Creek where it enters the in Tidewater, . george washington • A baby christened george •

The twenty-four-year-old mother has been described as living children by a former wife of , a a handsome woman of medium height, with a well-rounded woman no longer living. Besides this half-sister, little George figure and a pleasing voice. She has also been described as had two big half-brothers attending Appleby School far luxury-loving and slightly spoiled. She had acquired by across the sea in England. The eldest was a boy of fourteen inheritance some land, a few slaves, several riding horses and named Lawrence, a brave and gentle person who would a “good silk plush riding saddle.” She loved to dance, and later have great influence in shaping George’s character. The appears to have enjoyed excellent health. Despite her “deathly other half-brother, Augustine, Jr., was known to the family as fear of thunder storms” she lived beyond her 80th birthday. “Austin.” He was a year or two younger than Lawrence. These Augustine Washington the father, known to his friends three—Lawrence, Austin and Jane—furnished a ready-made as “Gus,” has been portrayed as a man of great strength, six family for the first child of Mary Ball Washington. feet fall, well-proportioned and blond. Although he owned It is undeniable that George Washington had many vast tracts of land and a part interest in iron mines and advantages from birth. One hundred and twenty-five years furnaces, he was not a particularly successful businessman. had passed since the first hopeful settlers had come to Kindly by nature and fond of children, he must have been Jamestown. Never again would Virginia know a “starving deeply moved as he looked down upon his young wife and time.”) Plantations were well established along the James, the her first child. York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac—those beautiful Perhaps the slave boy who kept the many hearths burning rivers running into the Chesapeake. was now called to replenish the fire. Possibly a slave girl from But not all of these plantations were equally large or the separate building that housed the kitchen now brought productive. On some the fertility was already impaired by hot broth for the tired mother. Let the wind buffet the wide years of tobacco planting. Some owners prospered, some Potomac into seething crests of foam. Let the gulls go crying did not. Despite his many acres, Augustine Washington was over the stormy water. Inside the plantation house in the fire- not a really rich man by modern standards nor even by the lit bedroom all was warm and secure. standards of his own day. The Carters, the Fairfaxes and many other Virginia planters were far wealthier. At about this point one can visualize a little girl of nine More important than any material wealth George would tiptoeing into the room to have her first look at her new half- inherit was his endowment of good health, a good brain and brother. Her name was Jane, and she was the youngest of three a sound family tradition. In these he was rich indeed.

10 11 george washington

In 1732 when George Washington was born into the fourth generation of his paternal family in America, the

Washingtons had been on the Potomac for seventy-five ’s years. It was possibly in just such stormy weather that John First Life Washington, Mate of a sailing ketch called the Sea Horse Martha Washington, known to of London, came scudding up the windswept waters of the us today as America’s first First Potomac in the year 1657. Later the little ship went aground Lady, had an interesting life before and was sunk. But the Mate’s story has a happy ending. He she met George. She was born Martha Dandridge, daughter to married the daughter of a wealthy planter and acquired a John and Frances Dandridge, on large plantation between Mattox Creek and Pope’s Creek. June 2, 1731, in Chestnut Grove John’s eldest son was named Lawrence. One of Lawrence’s in the Province of Virginia. At age eighteen, she married a very rich sons was Augustine—the tall, blond Gus who now stood local plantation owner, Daniel Parke looking down at his small son, George. Custis, who was twenty years older. From the beginning, Martha Great-grandfather John, grandfather Lawrence and was a partner in running the many family plantations, and at age twenty-five, when her husband died, Martha became sole man- father Augustine—each of this direct male line had added ager of five plantations, handling 17,000 acres and a workforce land to the family holdings. Each had been a Justice of the of 300 slaves. Daniel and Martha had four children together, but Peace, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and an only two survived. These two surviving children, named Jackie and Patsy, would become the only children George Washington would officer in the Virginia Militia. And each had enjoyed at least ever have when he married Martha two years later, in 1759. The a few years’ schooling “back home” in England—a privilege couple never had children of their own. George was never to be granted. Possibly this healthy boy, soon to be christened George Martha was an important supporter of Washington and the con- tinental troops during the Revolutionary War, and for eight years could hope to be as locally important as his father, grandfather she made annual visits to boost their spirits. But she was very and great-grandfather. But no one that February day in 1732 devoted to private family life at and did not wish for could have predicted that this son of Mary and Augustine George to become president. She refused to attend the inaugura- tion events. Washington would one day be called The Father of His Country—“First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

12

• chapter two • CHILDHOOD ON THE POTOMAC

When George Washington was born there were, of course, no automobiles, airplanes, locomotives or steamboats, nor was there electricity and modern plumbing. Men, animals, wind and falling water provided most of the harnessed energy. In that year young Louis XV was on the throne of France. George II was the King of England. The most widely known American was a twenty-six-year- old Philadelphia printer named Benjamin Franklin. It would be two more years before Daniel Boone would be born—one of the few frontiersmen who would see more action in the wilderness than George Washington himself.

Young Washington’s military aspirations. Illustration from Footprints of Famous Men by John Edgar. george washington • childhood on the potomac •

At the Pope’s Creek plantation, George knew nothing of Great Falls of the Potomac some twenty-four miles upstream. such matters. He ate, slept, played with his pets and watched The members of theWashington family making this long-legged colts frisking in the pastures. He was warned not move were five in number: Augustine the father, Mary the to fall into the shallow waters of Pope’s Creek. The fenced- mother, and their children George, Betty and Samuel, ages in kitchen garden was a safe place for him to play. Here the three, two and one. George’s half-sister Jane had died within mockingbirds sang by day and the whippoorwills called at the year. His half-brothers, Lawrence and Austin, were still at night. Roses grew along the grassy walks between the well- school in England. kept beds of vegetables and flowers. The herb garden of sage, Three more children were to be born to Mary Ball thyme, rosemary, pennyroyal and rue reminded him of the Washington within the next few years: John Augustine, called good odors of things cooking in the kitchen. George found “Jack,” in 1736; Charles in 1738; and Mildred, in 1739—a ripe strawberries hiding under green leaves. All of his life he child who did not survive infancy. would enjoy gardens and orchards, planting and improving George, eldest and strongest of this tribe, quite probably his fruit trees and his flowers. led the others in their adventures. He would have been the When does memory begin? Perhaps George Wash- first to learn the dangerous thrill of riding horseback on some ington’s first clear recollections were of the bustle and small mount, with the wind in his ginger-colored hair and the confusion of moving from his birthplace to another great ground speeding backward under flying hoofs. farm which Augustine owned farther up the Potomac at Augustine would certainly have taken his children to see Little . (This was a 2,500-acre plantation the mill he had built at Dogue Run for grinding flour and that would later become famous as Mount Vernon.) What corn meal. One can imagine the row of youngsters standing noise and excitement as the slaves and workmen prepared the entranced as they watched the clear water tumbling over the furniture, farm tools and livestock for this big adventure! mossy water wheel. Inside the dusty mill, the rumble of the It is probable that a small house already stood on millstones and the groaning of the wooden cogwheels may the present site of the white-pillared mansion when the have frightened the smaller children. Washingtons moved in 1735 to that imposing bluff above the Equally exciting to the young Washingtons were the “River of Swans” at the “Freshes” of the Potomac. The word activities at the private wharf on the Potomac. Here, probably “Freshes” refers to the fact that the water here is less salty under some watchful adult eye, they could fish or lie in the than farther down the river, being constantly refreshed by the sun idly viewing the barges being rowed by slaves across the

16 17 george washington • childhood on the potomac •

water to the Maryland shore. Sails were often visible, tacking returned loaded with at least some of these treasures (even if into the wind or skimming like floating leaves ahead of a stiff the shoes were not a perfect fit and a few of the items had breeze. Wild ducks and geese wedged over, high above them. been ruined by sea water)! On memorable occasions the children were chased off It was from this wharf that Augustine had sailed away the wharf to watch from a safe distance the loading of huge on another worried business trip to England. He was to hogsheads of leaf tobacco into a three-masted, ocean-going attend a conference concerning those troublesome iron ship. This was the harvest of an entire season of planting mines and furnaces which were earning almost nothing for being freighted off to some merchant in England. Here in its himself or for his English partners. Mary and her children finished form was the crop they had watched all year, from the must have watched the sails of that departing ship until they tiny green plants raised so carefully in covered beds, through disappeared far down the Potomac on the way to the angry the transplanting, cultivating, harvesting and stripping of the Atlantic Ocean. Months later the head of the family was pungent leaves. What back-breaking labor had gone into the safely home again with news that Lawrence would soon be production of each of those great barrels of leaf tobacco upon following. Already this big brother was something of a hero which depended the success of the entire plantation! in the mind of six-year-old George. Augustine and Mary made a long list of goods they But the happiness the Washingtons had known at Little wanted the ship’s captain to bring back from England. They Hunting creek was suddenly threatened by the news that could grow most of their own food, but they needed from Augustine had again made the decision to move, this time to the mother country many things not made in Virginia. Fine a little farm on the narrow Rappahannock. They would leave cloth for suits and dresses, for example, was not to be had behind them the beautiful “River of Swans,” the wide green in the new land. Handkerchiefs, too, and bright ribbons, meadows, the cool deep forests and the plantation house on warm gloves and shoes of leather were obtainable only from the bluff—a place which from his childhood to the day of his abroad. Nor was that all. By British restriction, farming tools death George Washington so greatly loved. such as sickles, hoes, axes and saws could not be fashioned in the colonies, so these too must come from England. And, of course, green tea and Cheshire cheese; yes, even a few toys and sweets for the children if the tobacco fetched a good price that year. What a day it must have been when the ship

18 1919 • chapter three • THE YEARS AT FERRY FARM

The new farm to which the Washingtons moved late in 1738 had an eight-room house situated pleasantly on high land overlooking the river. On the far shore lay the village of Fredericksburg. Some two miles up river, the Falls of the Rappahannock marked the head of navigation. Below the falls the water was deep enough for ocean-going vessels. There were few waking moments in which a boy could have been unaware of this ribbon of water lying to the west of the house—a place to swim and fish, and a highway for the ships serving the tobacco port of Fredericksburg.

In this painting by G.G. White, George Washington tells his father that he cut the tree. “Father, I cannot tell a lie: I cut the tree.” george washington • INDEX •

D E Dagworthy, John, 115–116, 120–121 English Dandridge, Martha. See Washington, Martha American respect for forces of, 105 Davies, Samuel, 105 as enemies of the French, 53–54, 88 Davison, John, 60 French and Indian Wars, 78–79, 81–85, 107, Delaware tribes, 57, 60, 69, 98 110–115, 132–133 Diaries of George Washington French Revolutionary Wars, 155 action against French and, 72, 78 Indians and, 54, 56 Barbados journey, 44–46, 48 of 1794, 155 journey on foot from Fort Le Boeuf, 67–68 taxation, 143–144 message for the French and, 63–65 trade restrictions, 18, 144 time as surveyor, 34–35, 37 Dinwiddie, Robert F action against French and, 71–72 communications to during action against French, 74–77 Fairfax family, 11, 31–32 defense-mindedness of, 125–126 Fairfax, George William, 32, 35, 40 effective demotion of Washington and, 87–88 Fairfax, Lord, 31–34 message to French in Ohio River Valley, 54, 63–64 Fairfax, Nancy, 32, 44, 48–49 report of frontier defenses, 114–115, 122 Fairfax, Sally Cary, 40 ending of Washington to French, 54 Fairfax, William, 32 Washington delivers letters to, 48 Fauntleroy, Betsy, 40 Washington’s Battle of Monongahela report to, 104–105 Fauquier, Francis, 135 Washington’s Ohio valley report to, 69 Ferry Farm, 21–22, 25 Dogue Run mill, 17 Forbes, John, 131 Dunbar, Colonel, 94, 103 Fork of the Ohio, French and English competition for, 54 dysentery, 127 Fort Cumberland, 91, 111

164 165 george washington • INDEX •

Fort Duquesne Indians and, 54, 56–59, 61–63, 64 action against French at, 71–75 seizure of Fork of Ohio, 73–74 Braddock’s advance towards, 93–96 as threat to frontier, 112–114 French abandonment of, 132 French and Indian Wars French forces at, 95 , 81–85 history of, 55 end of, 132–133 Fort Le Boeuf, 61, 63 frontier defenses during, 110–115 Fort Lee, 147–148 overview of, 107 Fort Loudoun, 126 start of, 78–79 Fort Necessity French Revolutionary Wars, 155 battle of, 81–85 Fry, Joshua, 72 entrenchment at, 76–77, 80–81 Fort Pitt, 55, 132 Fort Ticonderoga, 147 G Fort Washington, 147–148 George III, 143 Franklin, Benjamin, 91, 105, 126, 152 Germantown, Battle of, 148 Fraunces Tavern, 151 Gist, Christopher, 6–7, 65–67, 65 Frazier, John, 59, 61 Grymes, Lucy, 40 Fredericksburg, Virginia, 21–22 French H arrival on continent, 53 Half King, 57–61, 64, 77–78, 81 conflict with Half King, 57–59 , Alexander, 154, 155 defeat in America, 132–133 Henry, Patrick, 149 as enemies of the English, 53–54, 88 Hillary, William, 45 French and Indian Wars, 78–79, 81–85, 107, 110–115, Hog, Peter, 72 132–133 House of Burgesses, Virginia, 130–131, 136–137 French Revolutionary Wars, 155

166 167 george washington • INDEX •

Howe, General, 147–148 Jefferson, Thomas, 27, 149 Huron tribes, 98 Jeskakake, 60, 61 Joncaire, Captain, 61–62 I Jumonville, Sieur de, “Assasination” of, 79–80, 84–85 imports from Britain, 18–19 Indians L attempted French ambush of Washington and Gist and, Laurel Hill, 76 65–68 Lexington, Massachusetts, 144 battle on Monongahela and, 98–103 , 16–19 Braddock and, 94–95 Long Island, 147 English and French and, 54, 56–63, 64 Loudoun, Earl of, 126 at Fort Necessity, 77–78, 81 French and Indian Wars, 78–79, 81–85, 107, 110–115, 132–133 M as threat to frontier, 61, 112–114 Mackay, Captain, 75 “War Daunce” of, 37 Manhattan, 147 See also Half King; specific tribes and nations Marin, Sieur de, 57, 59 iron mines/furnaces, 19 Marye, James, 22–23 Iroquois Federation, 56, 57–60 Mattox Creek, 12 Mercer, George, 117, 137 J Minute Men, 144 Monakotoocha, 60 Jack the Black Hunter, 94, 123 Monmouth, Battle of, 148 James River, 11 Monongahela, Battle of, 98–103 Jumonville, Sieur de, 72–73, 75, 78–79 Monongahela River, 97–98, 100–103 Jay Treaty of 1794, 155 Montcalm, Marquis de, 126, 133

168 169 george washington • INDEX •

Montreal, 62 Pope’s Creek, 9, 12, 16 Morris, Robert, 89, 102 Pope’s Creek famr, 25 Morristown, New Jersey, 148 Potomac River, 11, 16–17 Mossom, David, 135 Princeton, Battle of, 148 Mount Vernon inherited by George Washington, 49 Lawrence Washington at, 24–25 R life with new family at, 139–141 , 11 Little Hunting creek home as precursor to, 14 Raystown, Pennsylvania, 131 proximity to Fairfax family house, 31 of 1790, 155 Muse, George, 72 Revolutionary Army , 144–151 difficulties cing,fa 147–148, 150 O Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief, 145–147 Ohio Company, 43 “River of Swans,” 16 Ohio River Valley, French and English competition for, 54, 61 Robinson, Beverley, 119 Ojibwa tribes, 98 royal forces Orme, Robert, 89, 95–96, 102 American respect for, 105 Ottawa tribes, 98 American Revolution, 144–151 colonial vs., 75, 116 P Rules of Civility, 26–27 Paine, Thomas, 149 Philadelphia, 119 S Philipse, Mary “Polly,” 119–120 Sea Horse of London, 12 Philipse, Susannah, 119 Sharpe, Governor of Maryland, 88, 121 Pitt, William, 132 Shawnee tribes, 57, 60

170 171 george washington • INDEX •

Shingiss, 60 Vernon, Admiral, 24 Shirley, William (Governor of Massachusetts), 116–117, Villiers, Joseph Coulon de (Sieur de Jumonville), 79–80, 120–121 84–85 Shirley, William, 89, 102 Villiers, Louis Coulon de, 81 Silver-heels, 77–78 slavery, 41 smallpox, 29, 46 W St. Clair, John, 92 wampum belts, 60–62, 80 Stamp Act, 143–144 Washington, Augustine “Gus,” 9–12, 23–25 Stephen, Adam, 72–73, 115–116 Washington, Augustine, Jr. “Austin,” 11, 17, 25 Stewart, Robert, 118 Washington, Charles, 17 Washington, George ambition of sea-life, 28 T appointed commander-in-chief of Revolutionary Army, taxation, 143–144, 155 145–147 teeth, 29 birth of, 9–10 tobacco exports, 18 dysentery and, 127 trade restrictions, 18, 144 election to House of Burgesses, 130–131 Trenton, Battle of, 148 election to Presidency, 152 tuberculosis, 43, 46 inauguration, 153, 156–157 Turtle Creek, 97 Lord Fairfax on, 33–34 Newburgh-on-the-Hudson speech, 150 pictured, 14, 20, 30, 65, 70, 99, 106, 134, 154 V relationship with Braddock, 90–91, 95–96 encampment, 148 romantic life of, 38–40 Van Braam, Jacob, 56, 73, 84 schooling of, 22–23 Venango, 61–62 slavery and, 41

172 173 george washington • INDEX •

as surveyor, 34–37 teeth of, 29 Y wedding of, 135–136 yellow fever, 24 Washington, Jane, 10–11, 17 York River, 11 Washington, John, 12 Yorktown, Battle of, 149 Washington, John Augustine “Jack,” 17, 79–80, 103–104 Washington, Lawrence (George’s grandfather), 12 Washington, Lawrence (George’s half-brother), 11, 17, 19, 23–25, 28, 43, 46–49, 47 Washington, Martha courtship of, 128–130 early life, 13 family life at Mount Vernon, 139–141 pictured, 13, 134 Washington’s appointment as head of Revolutionary Army, 146–147 wedding of, 135–136 Washington, Mary Ball, 9–10, 23–26, 28 Washington, Nancy. See Fairfax, Nancy Washington, Samuel, 17 Weems, Parson M. L., 22–23 of 1794, 155 White Thunder, 60, 61 Williamsburg, Virginia, 110 Wills Creek, 91–93 Winchester, Virginia, 91–92, 111–113, 122, 126 Wolfe, General, 133

174 175 Image Credits Note: In some cases, the photographs used are representations of the historical people described.

Bridgeman Images 30 (Private Collection/Ken Welsh), 41 (Private Collection/Peter Newark American Pictures), 42 (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA), 51 (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, France/Archives Charmet), 52 (Private Collection/Peter Newark American Pictures), 65 (Private Collection/Ken Welsh), 70 (Private Collection/© Look and Learn), 86 (Private Collection/© Look and Learn), 106 (Private Collection/Peter Newark American Pictures), 108 (Metropolitan of Art, New York, USA), 124 (Private Collection/Ken Welsh), 134 (Private Collection), 142 (Private Collec- tion/Peter Newark American Pictures), 154 (Private Collection/Ken Welsh), 156–157 (© Collection of the New-York Historical Society, USA), 158 middle left (© Trustees of Leeds Castle Foundation, Maidstone, Kent, UK)

Getty 13 (Three Lions/Stringer)

Library of Congress Front cover, back cover, 8, 14, 20, 29, 55, 137, 158 bottom left

Public Domain 47; 158 top left and right, middle right, bottom left; 159 top left and right, middle left and right, bottom left and right

Shutterstock, Everett Historical 50, 83, 99, 160–161