George Washington Read online

  Also by David O. Stewart

  NONFICTION

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  Copyright © 2021 by David O. Stewart

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  library of congress cataloging-in-publication data

  Names: Stewart, David O., author.

  Title: George Washington : the political rise of America’s founding father / David O. Stewart.

  Description: New York : Dutton, Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020036458 (print) | LCCN 2020036459 (ebook) | ISBN 9780451488985 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780451488992 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Washington, George, 1732–1799. | Washington, George, 1732–1799—Influence. | Generals—United States—Biography. | Presidents—United States—Biography. | United States—Politics and government—1775–1783. | United States—Politics and government—1783–1809. | United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Influence.

  Classification: LCC E312 .S85 2021 (print) | LCC E312 (ebook) | DDC 973.4/1092 [B]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036458

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036459

  While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover image: George Washington. Print. Emmet Collection (The New York Public Library / Art Resource, NY)

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  To Matthew, Colin, and Rebecca

  Contents

  Dramatis Personae

  PART I

  1. Time for a New Plan

  2. Beginnings

  3. The School of Fairfax

  4. His Brother’s Keeper

  5. Turning Point

  6. First Command

  7. Blooded

  8. Picking Up the Pieces

  9. A Worse Catastrophe

  10. The Naked Frontier

  11. A Wilderness of Difficulties

  12. Biting the Hand

  13. New Paths

  14. Back into the Woods

  15. The Push to Fort Duquesne

  16. Washington in Love

  PART II

  17. The New Life

  18. To Mount Vernon

  19. Man of Business, Master of Slaves

  20. The Backbencher Advances

  21. The Wheel of History: The Stamp Act and the Robinson Scandal

  22. Pivot to Fairfax County

  23. The Master of Mount Vernon

  24. Never Enough Land

  25. Washington’s Association

  26. Upheavals at Mount Vernon

  27. Seizing the Moment: The Fairfax Resolves

  28. A Continental Character

  29. The Storm Breaks

  30. General Washington

  31. “One of the Most Important Characters in the World”

  PART III

  War

  32. The Bloody Path to Valley Forge

  33. The First Adversary: The Conway Cabal

  34. The Second Adversary: “This Fatal Crisis”

  35. The Third Adversary: The British

  36. Victory, He Said

  37. The Long, Bumpy Victory Lap

  The Nation

  38. Home, Not Retired

  39. Back into Harness

  40. America’s Rebirth

  41. A Working Politician

  Governing

  42. On Untrodden Ground

  43. The Debt and the Residence

  44. The Compromise

  45. The Bank

  Peace

  46. Second-Term Blues

  47. The Calamitous Frenchman

  48. Troubles Within

  49. The Fight for Peace

  50. Farewell, Again

  Freedom

  51. Home for Good

  52. Wrestling with Sin

  53. Farewell Forever

  Illustrations

  Acknowledgments

  A Note on Sources

  Notes

  Index

  Dramatis Personae

  Abigail Adams—Often separated from her husband, John Adams of Massachusetts, Adams sustained their wise and fascinating correspondence of several decades, offering insightful observations on events and personalities. Unlike her husband, she was an unabashed admirer of Washington.

  John Adams—A brilliant lawyer from Massachusetts, Adams was a leading figure in the two Continental Congresses. He pressed for Washington’s appointment as commander in chief of the Continental Army and then for the Declaration of Independence. As a diplomat, Adams helped negotiate the peace treaty of 1783 and served as minister to Britain. He was Washington’s vice president for two terms and succeeded him in the presidency. Longtime political allies, Washington and Adams shared a mutual respect, but not much warmth.

  Samuel Adams—Leader of the Massachusetts resistance to British policies before the Revolutionary War, Adams served as president of the Continental Congress and governor of his home state.

  William Alexander, “Lord Stirling”—A wealthy New Jerseyan who unsuccessfully claimed a Scottish peerage, Alexander was a regimental and divisional commander in the Continental Army. He helped thwart the “Conway Cabal,” which aimed to supplant Washington as commander in chief. Alexander also served as major general at the Battle of Monmouth Court House and presided over the subsequent court-martial of Major General Charles Lee.

  Anna Maria Dandridge Bassett—Younger and favorite sister of Martha Dandridge Washington. Her home with Burwell Bassett, Eltham Plantation, was a favorite stop for George and Martha Washington when they traveled between Mount Vernon and the Virginia colonial capital in Williamsburg.

  Burwell Bassett—Husband of Anna Maria Dandridge, Bassett was a planter in New Kent County, Virginia, and enjoyed an easy friendship with Washington and his family. After the Battle of Yorktown, Martha’s son, John Parke Custis, died of camp fever at Bassett’s Eltham Plantation.

  John Carlyle—A Scottish merchant who settled in Alexandria, Virginia, Carlyle married a daughter of Colonel William Fairfax, served as commissary for the Virginia Regiment at the beginning of the French and Indian War, and was a justice of the Fairfax County Court with Washington.

  General Thomas
Conway—Though the “Conway Cabal” is named for him, this Irishman and veteran of French military service was a junior partner of that effort to supersede Washington as commander in chief in 1777–78. An able battlefield commander, Conway made enemies because of his arrogance and ambition. He returned to Europe in summer 1778, after being shot in the mouth in a duel.

  Dr. James Craik—A Scot trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Craik emigrated to Virginia and settled in Winchester, where he served as surgeon for the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. In 1770 and again in 1784, Craik traveled with Washington through western Virginia and other frontier lands. He also served as a surgeon in the Continental Army. A lifelong friend of Washington’s, Craik moved to Alexandria after the war and led the physicians who cared for Washington in his final illness in 1799.

  John (Jacky) Parke Custis—Martha Washington’s son by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis, Jacky Custis inherited great wealth at a young age, though his indifference to education frustrated Washington. Custis was eighteen when he married Eleanor Calvert of Maryland, and served in Virginia’s assembly during the Revolutionary War. He died of camp fever in 1783 at age twenty-six, shortly after the Battle of Yorktown, where he had joined Washington’s staff. He left four children, two of whom were raised by George and Martha Washington.

  Robert Dinwiddie—Scottish merchant and British official who was colonial governor of Virginia from 1751–58. Dinwiddie sent Washington on his first public mission to French forts on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1753–54, and appointed Washington to lead the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. Relations between the two men soured before Dinwiddie returned to England.

  Bryan Fairfax—Son of Colonel William Fairfax, Bryan was a neighbor of Washington’s who often joined him on fox hunts before the Revolutionary War. Bryan served with Washington as a justice of the Fairfax County Court. After the war, he became an Episcopal priest and was recognized as the eighth Lord Fairfax for a short time before his death in 1802.

  Ferdinando Fairfax—The youngest son of Bryan Fairfax, in 1790 Ferdinando published a proposal for liberating slaves and colonizing them in Africa.

  George William Fairfax—Son of Colonel William Fairfax and Washington’s close friend, George William inherited the Belvoir estate adjacent to Mount Vernon, served on the governor’s council of colonial Virginia, and joined Washington on the Fairfax County Court and the Truro Parish vestry. When he moved to England in 1772, George William left his American affairs in Washington’s hands. An opponent of the British policies that led to the Revolutionary War, George William never returned to America.

  Sarah (Sally) Cary Fairfax—Married to George William Fairfax in her late teens, Sally and her husband were intimate friends with their neighbors, George and Martha Washington. Based on two letters Washington sent to her in 1758, some speculate that he had romantic feelings for her.

  Thomas, Lord Fairfax—The sixth Lord Fairfax, he was the proprietor of the huge royal land grant comprising the Northern Neck of Virginia, an area equivalent to the state of New Hampshire. Lord Fairfax lived in England until the late 1740s, holding royal sinecures and reputedly mixing with playwright Joseph Addison and other society wits. Nearly fifty when he arrived in Virginia, he settled in Winchester and devoted himself to managing his lands.

  Colonel William Fairfax—A British colonial official in the Caribbean and Massachusetts, Colonel Fairfax in 1732 was appointed land agent for the vast Northern Neck land holdings of his cousin, Lord Fairfax. In Virginia, Colonel Fairfax built his estate at Belvoir on the Potomac River, next to Mount Vernon. He served in the colony’s House of Burgesses and then on the governor’s council. He was mentor for both Lawrence and George Washington.

  Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet—French minister to the United States from 1794 to 1796, appointed to succeed (and arrest) Edmond-Charles Genêt (“Citizen Genêt”). His reports of conversations with Secretary of State Edmund Randolph prompted Randolph’s resignation in 1795.

  General Horatio Gates—British officer who served with Washington during the French and Indian War and later emigrated to Virginia. Gates became a major general in the Continental Army, winning the pivotal Battle of Saratoga in autumn 1777. The Conway Cabal, which included Gates, aimed to elevate him above Washington, but failed. Gates remained in the army until the peace treaty of 1783.

  Edmond-Charles Genêt—French minister to the United States in 1793, “Citizen Genêt” commissioned privateers to raid British shipping from American ports, recruited Americans to invade British and Spanish colonies, and pressed for American assistance to France. After Genêt threatened to appeal to the American people over Washington’s head, the president asked the French government to recall Genêt, and blamed the Frenchman for inciting opposition to his administration.

  Christopher Gist—A frontiersman and explorer who undertook expeditions for the Ohio Company when it was led by Lawrence Washington, Gist accompanied Washington on his first public engagement, carrying a message from Virginia colonial governor Dinwiddie to the French military in western Pennsylvania in 1753–54. Gist was at the Battle of Fort Necessity in 1754 and on Braddock’s expedition the following year.

  General Nathanael Greene—A Rhode Island ironmaker who forsook Quakerism to fight the British, Greene was Washington’s most trusted commander, often assigned the most difficult duties. Rising to major general and command of the southern theater of the war in 1780–81, Greene died in 1786, when only forty-six years old.

  Alexander Hamilton—A native of the West Indies who came to America as a teenager, the brilliant Hamilton impressed Washington as a young artillery officer, then served as an aide for several years. As secretary of the treasury for the first five years of Washington’s presidency, Hamilton helped establish the new government’s financial footing. He championed the Constitution in The Federalist essays, and his newspaper advocacy provided critical support for the Washington administration.

  Patrick Henry—A brilliant orator and savvy politician, Henry served with Washington in the Virginia House of Burgesses and also in the Continental Congress. Though they parted ways over ratification of the Constitution, they remained friendly until Henry’s death in 1799.

  Thomas Jefferson—Jefferson and Washington, colleagues in the House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, shared an enthusiasm for developing western lands from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River. Washington recruited Jefferson as his first secretary of state, enduring an eight-month wait for his fellow Virginian to return from his diplomatic post in Paris and a visit to his home at Monticello. They worked effectively in Washington’s first administration, but Jefferson resigned after becoming disenchanted with the president’s preference for a strong national government and by clashes with Treasury Secretary Hamilton. Jefferson became the leader of the opposition to Washington, was elected vice president in 1796, and thereafter became the third president.

  Thomas Johnson—A Maryland political figure and ally of Washington’s, Johnson was the first governor of his state. Working with Washington on opening the Potomac to navigation, he served on the board of the Potomac Company, and also was one of the original commissioners of the District of Columbia. Johnson served for a short time on the U.S. Supreme Court.

  Henry Knox—A bookseller from Boston with no military experience, Knox became chief of the Continental Army’s artillery service and Washington’s trusted adviser. Knox also was the nation’s first secretary of war.

  Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette—Often considered Washington’s surrogate son, Lafayette came to America to fight the British in 1777 and was commissioned as a major general before his twentieth birthday. Lafayette stood by Washington through the Conway Cabal and led American troops in several engagements, including the Battle of Yorktown. After the war, he returned to France, where he was an early leader of that nation’s 1789 revolution. Lafayette urged Washi
ngton to free his slaves.

  Henry Laurens—A merchant and slave trader in South Carolina, Laurens represented that state in the Continental Congress and served as its president in 1777–78. Laurens provided essential political support for Washington during the Conway Cabal and the Valley Forge encampment.

  John Laurens—Son of Henry Laurens and staff officer for Washington in the Continental Army, the South Carolinian opposed slavery and sought unsuccessfully to establish a regiment of Southern slaves who could win their freedom through military service.

  Tobias Lear—A New Hampshire native and Harvard graduate who served as Washington’s personal secretary from 1784 to 1799, Lear married Martha Washington’s niece, Fanny Bassett Washington. He wrote a moving eyewitness account of Washington’s final illness.

  Charles Lee—A member of the large Lee clan of Westmoreland County, Charles Lee performed legal work for Washington in the 1790s and served as attorney general for the last fifteen months of Washington’s presidency.

  General Charles Lee—An officer in the British Army during the French and Indian War, who later served in the armies of Poland and Portugal, the eccentric Lee—usually accompanied by multiple dogs—moved to America and was a major general in the Continental Army. After his erratic performance at the Battle of Monmouth Court House in 1778, he demanded a court-martial to review his conduct, which suspended Lee from the army for a year. He never returned to the army.

  Henry (“Light Horse Harry”) Lee—A cavalry commander in the Continental Army and brother to Attorney General Charles Lee, Henry became governor of Virginia and Washington’s political ally. One of his sons, Robert E. Lee, married a daughter of Martha Washington’s grandson, George Washington Parke Custis.

  Richard Bland Lee—Younger brother of Henry and Charles Lee, he represented Washington’s district in the House of Representatives for the first six years of the Washington administration and was a key swing vote in the 1790 compromise that brought the seat of government to the Potomac region and the adoption of the financial system proposed by Washington and Hamilton.