FORMATION OF CONTINENTAL ARMY
After Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Boston faced a new threat of a growing British siege line about its perimeters.
In response the Second Continental Congress warned the colonies to employ defensive mode.
On June 14th, the Congress recognized the militias around Boston as the core of a continental army, immediately took further measures to raise companies of riflemen from other colonies, and set out to build the army into a force of fifteen thousand men. –The Making of the American Mind, Matthew Spalding, p 13
COMMANDER IN CHIEF APPOINTED
Resolving the next day to appoint a general to lead the Continental Army, delegate John Adams nominated George Washington and Congress unanimously chose Washington, a respected delegate from Virginia, for the job. There never really was a question as to the choice. –The Making of the American Mind, Matthew Spalding, p 13
EXPERIENCE NEEDED
Washington alone – having fought honorably in the French and Indian War and served as an aide to General Edward Braddock, the British commander who led the expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne and the Ohio Country – had real military experience that was lacking in his fellow delegates. –The Making of the American Mind, Matthew Spalding, p 14
In Congress, George Washington was prominent and vocal on every military committee. He forcefully explained to his colleagues the needs and demands of warfare, and he wore his uniform to sessions of Congress to show he was deadly serious. –The Making of the American Mind, Matthew Spalding, p 14
VIRGINIAN NEEDED TO UNIFY COLONIES
Besides, to unite the colonies in a common effort, the various militias from New England needed to be led by a commander from another region, and Virginia was the largest and most prosperous of the colonies. –The Making of the American Mind, Matthew Spalding, p 14
Washington’s fellow Virginians convinced many congressmen of his singular determination to the patriot cause. –Mount Vernon
TRUSTWORTHY
Politically, Washington was a moderate revolutionary; a sober leader determined to defend colonial rights. Washington’s presence also helped his cause; several contemporaries described his appearance as majestic. –Mount Vernon
He has so much martial dignity in his deportment that you distinguish him to be a general and a soldier from among ten thousand people. -Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania delegate to Second Continental Congress
Of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
I think I knew General Washington intimately and thoroughly; and were I called on to delineate his character it should be in terms like these.
His mind was great and powerful…no judgment was ever sounder…it was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of war, where hearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best. and certainly no General ever planned his battles more judiciously…he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern. perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose whatever obstacles opposed. his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision…he was indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, & a great man…his deportment easy, erect, and noble; the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback…These are my opinions of General Washington, f which I would vouch at the judgment seat of god, having been formed on an acquaintance of 30 years.
PERSONIFIED AMERICAN REVOLUTION
George Washington was the personification of the ideals of the American Revolution…a man of military experience, but also a man with an unequalled reputation for integrity. Someone whose established character proved him to be completely trustworthy, so that soldiers would never fear that they were risking everything for nothing more than an exchange of one tyrant for another. The commander in chief would need to inspire men to join an army that did not exist to die for a country that had not yet been invented. He would have to be completely identified with the cause of American liberty. There was only one man in America who fit that description. –The Education of George Washington by Austin Washington, p202
