Where Was George...On This Date in History!!

Hello 1000 Bookies!!  

"I can with truth assure you, I hear Bullets whistle and believe me there was something charming in the sound" George Washington to his brother Jack Washington, July 1754 

July 3rd was a tough day in the life of George Washington, the Father of Our Country.  On the eve as we celebrate our Independence as a nation, reflecting back on key events in the life of George Washington provides guideposts to our national character. 

First, on July 3rd, 1775, George Washington arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts to take command of the Continental Troops as Commander and Chief.  Colonel Washington arrived at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia dressed in his military uniform from the French and Indian War.  The Adams Cousins--John and Sam, recognizing the need for the cause to be embraced by all the colonies, nominated General Washington for Commander & Chief over their sometime ally, the richest man in America, John Hancock.  Washington arrived in Hancock's hometown to take control over a rag tag militia of Minutemen who claimed with some justification to be doing pretty well without him--"winning" battles at Lexington & Concord and Bunker Hill, inflicting high casualties on the British.  When Washington arrived not only was he viewed suspiciously, but he then unmasked a traitor who had been a prominent Member of the Sons of Liberty and a protege of Samuel and John Adams--Dr. Benjamin Church, the Surgeon General of the Continental Army. 

Earlier in his career, July 3rd was a date of infamy. Exactly 265 years ago on July 3rd 1754, Lt. Colonel Washington surrendered his hastily constructed fort--Fort Necessity--to the French.  The whole expedition by Washington was a debacle which was probably a good thing.  The Colonial Empires of Great Britain and France were competing all over the globe on almost every continent for hegemony.  There was no place on the planet that empires abutted each other more uncomfortably than in North America especially in the Ohio Valley.  That was the scene where George Washington and his rag tag militia with Indian Guides met with the French in a place that would become Jumonville's Glen. At some point a French agent was killed by the Indians in a gruesome way.  The French wanted revenge and troops were sent.  Washington built a fort in the worst possible place making him vulnerable to attack.  But as the quote above projects--Washington was courageous. 

The battle of Jumonville's Glen and Fort Necessity began the French and Indian War which morphed into the first real world war--the Seven Years War.  When the war ended, Britain became the most powerful nation on the earth, the French were evicted from the main land of the continent and the British were broke and looking for ways to get out of debt.  They ingeniously decided to tax the colonies and a terrible beauty was born.  Had George Washington succeeded and become a hero, he may have been accepted into the British Army and history could have been very different. 

One final thought--when King George II read Virginia Governor Dinwiddie's report with Washington's line about the charming sound of bullets he was reportedly to have said, "He would not say so if he had been used to hear many."

For your further reading pleasure, I recommend three books:

Patriots, The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J Langguth is the absolute best book hands down on the American Revolution.  In fact James Mustich made a large mistake not including it on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die.

Young George Washington by Peter Stark looks at his early career and rise.

The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson is an 850 masterpiece of the Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America (1754-1766).  This masterpiece looks at the colonial careers of Washington, Thomas Hutchinson and Benjamin Franklin.  The book also looks at the role of the tribes in North America. 

Happy Independence Day, My Friends!!!