George Washington

George Washington(1732-1799) was the first President of the United States. As a military leader, he commanded a colonial expedition west during the French and Indian War, then served as Commander in Chief during the American Revolution.

Washington was born in the year 1732 to Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball, near Bridges Creek at the estate later known as Wakefield. His father passed away the year he turned eleven, and he was raised by his mother. As a young man he was given the knowledge to move in the upper-class society both he and his mother were a part of. At the age of 16, Washington assisted Lord Thomas Fairfax in surveying the land of the Shenandoah. In the year 1754 he came to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the French and Indian War, fighting in several of the opening battles of the conflict. The following year he was chosen to serve as an aide to General Edward Braddock, with whom he escaped major injury but lost at least two horses.

Following the war, some of his followers offered him the chance to become king. He refused, and then later again declined to keep power at the end of his two terms as President. This set the model for the peaceful transfer of power currently seen following elections in almost all modern governments around the world.

As a boy he chopped down a cherry tree, later admitting it and saying, "I cannot tell a lie.". When he was older he lost his teeth and replaced them with wooden teeth. His house is at Mount Vernon. He was a descendant of one of the signers of the Magna Carta.