Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
General Washington
From the full length portrait by John Trumbull at Yale University
This portrait is one of 54 canvasses the artist presented to YaleUniversity in return for an annuity of $1,000. Washington was in hisforty-third year and it is considered the best likeness of him at theoutbreak of the Revolution. The canvas depicts him, "six feet twoinches in height, with brown hair, blue eyes, large head and hands,and strong arms."
THE
LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
OF THE
AMERICAN FORCES,
DURING THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY,
AND
FIRST PRESIDENT
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
COMPILED UNDER THE INSPECTION OF
THE HONOURABLE BUSHROD WASHINGTON,
FROM
ORIGINAL PAPERS
BEQUEATHED TO HIM BY HIS DECEASED RELATIVE, AND NOW IN POSSESSION OFTHE AUTHOR.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
AN INTRODUCTION,
CONTAINING A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE COLONIES PLANTED BY THE ENGLISHON THE
CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA,
FROM THEIR SETTLEMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THAT WAR WHICH TERMINATEDIN THEIR
INDEPENDENCE.
BY JOHN MARSHALL.
VOL. I.
THE CITIZENS' GUILD
OF WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD HOME
FREDERICKSBURG, VA.
1926
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
In his will George Washington bequeathed to his favorite nephew,Bushrod Washington, his personal letters, private papers and secretdocuments accumulated during a lifetime of service to his country.When the bequest became known, many of the literary men of the countrywere proposed for the commission to write the authorized life of ourFirst President.
Bushrod Washington's choice fell upon John Marshall, Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court. To him he handed over all the precious papers lefthim by his distinguished relative. George Washington and Marshall'sfather, Thomas Marshall, were boyhood companions, so John Marshallknew "the Father of His Country" as a neighbor and friend from hisearliest youth, and served under him in the Revolution.
If it be true that it takes a great man to interpret the life of agreat man then Bushrod Washington made no mistake in the selection ofa biographer. For Marshall, under the influence of Washington, came tobe nearly as great a man as the character whose life and achievementsheld his deepest thought for nearly a quarter of a century. Certainlyhis services to his country rank close to Washington's. Marshall'ssympath