In the eight weeks since capturing Fort Ticonderoga, British General John Burgoyne had seen his army go from being invincible to facing starvation and defeat. The Americans were having issues as well. With the loss of Fort Ticonderoga, New Englanders in Congress had the perfect excuse to remove General Phillip Schuyler, who was strongly disliked, from command. He was replaced with General Horatio Gates, and General George Washington sent his best field commander, General Benedict Arnold, to assist as well. Unfortunately, Gates resented Arnold’s fame and that resentment would almost cost the Continental Army this campaign.

In December 1777, following the loss of Philadelphia, General George Washington moved his Continental Army into winter quarters about 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there were no shelters for the 12,000 soldiers and improvised wooden huts, housing 8-12 men, were hastily erected, but barely kept out the wind. Washington, who remained with his troops throughout the long winter, sent countless requests to Congress imploring them to alleviate his men’s suffering. But Congress, without taxation authority and little influence over the states, seemed powerless to help.

In the spring of 1777, most of the British army was stationed in New York. For his next move, General William Howe decided to attack Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies and home of the Continental Congress. Rather than march over land through New Jersey, Howe sailed his regiments up the Chesapeake Bay and landed sixty miles south of the city. Washington quickly moved to get between Howe’s army and the capital but failed to guard a ford to his north. When the British attacked on September 11, 1777, they outflanked the Americans and Washington was forced to retreat.

After achieving a great victory at the Battle of Trenton, General George Washington recrossed the Delaware River hoping for a second miracle. In response, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 6,000 Redcoats marched towards Trenton and struck back at the bold Americans, leaving a battalion at Princeton, twelve miles north. On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington, unnoticed by British sentries, moved his men around the British flank towards Princeton and attacked at dawn. Perfect.

In late December 1776, after four months of hard-fighting, the 16,000-man Continental Army had dwindled to a force of 3,000 soldiers encamped in Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River. General George Washington chose this desperate moment to strike a surprise blow at the Redcoats. He would cross the river Christmas night and attack the 1,500-man Hessian garrison in Trenton, knowing that the Hessians would be recovering from a day of Christmas reverie.

Although the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, Washington’s troops faced more setbacks than successes at the start of the American Revolution. By the time of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, the army had dwindled down to roughly 3,000 poorly clad, poorly fed and poorly armed men. Thinking the end was near, Britain’s General Howe placed his soldiers in winter quarters. He would soon find out the American Army still had some fight.

When General George Washington took command of the Continental Army, the challenges he faced were formidable. Instead of one unified force, every colony had its own militia, each at various stages of development. Consequently, training was non-existent, discipline was lax, and the men were disrespectful to their officers. By comparison, the British Army was a force of well-equipped and well-trained soldiers, led by professionals, and far more numerous than the Continentals.

George Washington was elected to Virginia’s House of Burgesses in 1758, becoming active in colonial politics. Washington was a moderate and initially took a measured but critical approach to English policies. After the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and King George’s harsh response, delegates from twelve colonies met at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, with Washington as one of Virginia’s seven representatives. When delegates reconvened in May 1775, the American colonies were at war with England following the Battles of Lexington and Concord and found a capable leader in George Washington.

Martha Washington was born on June 2, 1731 in New Kent County, Virginia. At 18, she married Daniel Parke Custis, who died unexpectedly, leaving Martha a 26-year-old wealthy widow with two children. Martha’s parlor became the destination of many bachelors in Virginia, including George Washington. They were married in 1759 and lived a fairly quiet life at Mount Vernon until George was named the commander of the Continental Army in 1775.

George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy 26-year-old widow, on January 6, 1759. They were a couple well suited for each other and made their home at Mount Vernon. Washington managed the estate with his customary zeal and energy, rising early every morning and working the land six days a week, leaving Sunday for church and entertaining friends. As was typical on plantations, enslaved people performed most of the work at Mount Vernon. Washington was opposed to the institution of slavery but did not free his slaves until he died, granting them their freedom in his will, the only founding father to do so.

In February 1753, George Washington began his illustrious military career as a major in the Virginia militia. In November, with England and France struggling for control of North America’s lucrative fur trade, he was sent to a French fort near present-day Pittsburgh with an ultimatum for the French to leave the area, but they refused to comply. The following year, Washington, recently promoted to Colonel, was again dispatched to this outpost, but this time with two infantry companies and orders to drive out the French.

George Washington’s American story begins in 1656 when his great-grandfather, John Washington, emigrated from England to Virginia and established an acreage in Virginia’s Northern Neck. George’s father, Augustine, married Mary Ball and moved to Pope’s Creek, Virginia, where, on February 22, 1732, they had their first child, a strapping boy they named George.

The siege of Boston was the longest in our nation’s history, running from April 19, 1775, to March 17, 1776. The guns brought from Fort Ticonderoga by Colonel Henry Knox gave General George Washington what he needed to force the British to evacuate.

In 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together many influential leaders from colonial America. 56 men, including George Washington and John Adams, met to formulate a response to England’s Coercive Acts, which closed the port of Boston and revoked Massachusetts’ colonial charter in response to the Boston Tea Party. This historic gathering was the first time complete separation from England was openly discussed.

During the American Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga was a strongpoint on the natural waterway between the American colonies and British-controlled Canada. The cannons captured there provided the heavy artillery General Washington needed to intimidate the British out of Boston.

George Washington recognized that a nation with excessive debt would struggle to survive. Washington also knew from experience that all nations did what was in their own best interest, and encouraged America to be a friend to all and an enemy to none.

George Washington understood that for our great nation to succeed it must remain united. Although differences of opinion were to be expected, Americans could not allow these disagreements to split us apart. Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses Washington’s thoughts on unity, delivered in his Farewell Address, and why it still matters today.

One of our nation’s most significant documents, George Washington’s Farewell Address, was not really an address but rather a letter written by Washington to his fellow citizens as he neared the end of his second term. Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, discusses the reasons that drove Washington not to seek a third term, and why it still matters today.

The Pinckney Treaty ended a border dispute with Spain, opened the Mississippi and New Orleans to commerce and helped bring our nation closer together.

During his second term, George Washington kept the United States at peace and improved our nation’s economy. But most importantly, at the end of his term, he willingly gave up the power of the Presidency, something leaders at that time did not do.