joseph ellis his excellency george washington

Washington, weary and much aged from the years of battles and deprivation, “retired” to his landholdings and slave labor estates. Overall 8 long years would pass and the Continental Army would suffer from disease (smallpox), lack of supplies, low morale, and no pay before finally striking the winning blow at Yorktown, Virginia against General Cornwallis. The colonists are joined by France and win a critical battle at Saratoga, New York. He serves throughout the entire war unharmed by bullet, blade, or bomb, seemingly lucky or perhaps protected by divine providence. Washington's courage and valor are never in question as he sits atop his horse in the face of musket balls and grapeshot from enemy fire. He is unsuccessful in his initial strategy for the War of Independence, losing almost every engagement fought against the British and their Prussian allies. “His Excellency,” is the name Washington is addressed as by his officers and men. The colonists were mostly loyal to the English crown and sought protection from French and Indian hostilities.Ĭlick here to see the rest of this review Washington begins his apprenticeship as a surveyor of unsettled lands west of the Allegheny Mountains before he petitions Governor Dinwiddie to serve under British General Edward Braddock who has been sent to put down the insurrection of French military streaming south from Canada. He ended his formal education after primary school, not attending college but instead opting for a military career. Washington was big for his day, athletic for someone of his size, and was a skilled horseman. Born the second son, therefore without inheritance, of Augustine Washington and his second wife Mary Ball outside Fredericksburg, Virginia on February 22, 1732. In fact, he was a mortal man serving as an officer and a statesmen, during the creation of an historic new nation unlike any other the world had ever seen where the ideal of liberty and freedom for all is a radical concept in a world of dictatorial monarchies. George Washington never does chop down a cherry tree only to proclaim to his father he could not tell a lie nor throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River.

Joseph ellis his excellency george washington