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Life of George Washington

This great historical biography was Washington Irving’s principal work.  It was founded chiefly upon George Washington’s correspondence, which is preserved in manuscript in the archives of the United States Government.  Irving worked at it intermittently for many years; and it was published in successive sections during the last years of his life, 1855 to 1859, while he was living in retirement with his nieces at Sunnyside, on the Hudson River.

The De Wessyngton family, of the county of Durham, in feudal times, produced many men of mark in the field and in the cloister, and at a later period the Washingtons were intrepid supporters of the unfortunate House of Stuart.  Compromised by this allegiance, two brothers, John and Andrew, uncles of Sir Henry Washington, the gallant defender of Worcester, emigrated to Virginia in 1657, and purchased lands in Westmoreland County, by the River Potomac.  John, who became military leader of the Virginians against the Indians, was great-grandfather of the illustrious George Washington.

George, born February 22, 1732, in a homestead on Bridges Creek, was the eldest son of Mary Ball, second wife of Augustine Washington.  Two half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, survived from the first marriage; and Mary had three other sons and two daughters.  George received his first education in an “old field school-house,” taught by the parish sexton; but the chief influences of his boyhood were the morality of his home and the military ardour of the colonists against the Spanish and the French.  Lawrence, his eldest brother, had a captaincy in the colonial regiment which fought for England in the West Indies, in 1740, and the boy’s whole mind was turned to war.

His father died when he was eleven years old, and George was sent to live with his married brother Augustine.  Here he attended school, was eager in the acquirement of knowledge, and became expert in all athletic exercises.  He very nearly entered on a naval career, but at his mother’s earnest entreaty renounced the project, and returning to school, studied land-surveying.

Lawrence, his brother, having married into the Fairfax family, George came under the notice of Lord Fairfax, owner of immense tracts of country, who was so pleased with the lad’s character and accomplishments that he entrusted him with the task of surveying his possessions.  At the age of sixteen George Washington set out into the wilderness, and acquitted himself so well that he was appointed public surveyor.  He thus gained an intimate knowledge, and of the ways of the Indians.