May 5, 2006
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1. Site Name: Martha Dandridge Custis Washington
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/mw1.html
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Keyword(s): Martha Washington
Description: Martha
Dandridge Custis Washington
"I think I am more like a state prisoner
than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart
from...” So in one of her surviving letters, Martha Washington confided to a
niece that she did not entirely enjoy her role as first of First Ladies. She once conceded that, "many younger
and gayer women would be extremely pleased" in her place; she would
"much rather be at home." But
when George Washington took his oath of office in New York City on April 30,
1789, and assumed the new duties of President of the United States, his wife
brought to their position tact and discretion developed over 58 years of life
in Tidewater Virginia society.
Oldest daughter of John and Frances Dandridge,
she was born June 2, 1731, on a plantation near Williamsburg. Typical for a girl in an 18th-century
family, her education was almost negligible except in domestic and social
skills, but she learned all the arts of a well-ordered household and how to
keep a family contented. As a girl of
18--about five feet tall, dark-haired, gentle of manner--she married the
wealthy Daniel Parke Custis. Two babies died; two were hardly past infancy when
her husband died in 1757.
From the day Martha married George Washington in
1759, her great concern was the comfort and happiness of her husband and
children. When his career led him to
the battlegrounds of the Revolutionary War and finally to the Presidency, she
followed him bravely. Her love of private
life equaled her husband's; but, as she wrote to her friend Mercy Otis Warren,
" I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in
obeying the voice of his country."
As for her, "I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in
whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the
greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not
upon our circumstances."
At the President's House in temporary capitals,
New York and Philadelphia, the Washingtons chose to entertain in formal style,
deliberately emphasizing the new republic's wish to be accepted as the equal of
the established governments of Europe. Still, Martha's warm hospitality made
her guests feel welcome and put strangers at ease. She took little satisfaction
in " formal compliments and empty ceremonies" and declared, "I
am fond of only what comes from the heart." Abigail Adams, who sat at her right during parties and
receptions, praised her as "one of those unassuming characters which
create Love and Esteem."
In 1797 the Washingtons said farewell to public
life and returned to their beloved Mount Vernon, to live surrounded by kinfolk,
friends, and a constant stream of guests eager to pay their respects to the
celebrated couple. Martha's daughter
Patsy had died, her son Jack at 26, but Jack's children figured in the
household. After George Washington died
in 1799, Martha assured a final privacy by burning their letters; she died of
"severe fever" on May 22, 1802.
Both lie buried at Mount Vernon, where Washington himself had planned an
unpretentious tomb for them.
2. Site Name: A Biography of Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Aide-de-camp to Washington (1777-1781)
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/B/hamilton/hamil05.htm
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Keyword(s): Alexander Hamilton
Description: As Hamilton was
settling in at headquarters in New Jersey in the early spring of 1777,
Washington was resisting General Howe's attempts to engage his forces in open
battle. Washington moved his
headquarters numerous times around New York State and Pennsylvania, trying to
second-guess Howe's next move, which was to be on Philadelphia rather than New
York as he had anticipated. After
parrying with Howe most of the summer, Washington engaged him, and was
defeated, at Brandywine Creek in September.
On September 18, Hamilton led a small force to
destroy a flour warehouse before the advancing British troops could confiscate
it, and was almost killed when British scouts fired on his party. His horse was shot, and Hamilton was forced
to swim across the Schuylkill River to safety.
He then dashed off a note to the Continental Congress advising them to
abandon the capitol, which they did.
The British marched into Philadelphia on
September 26 unopposed, and Washington's army was defeated again at Germantown
in early October.
That same month, General Horatio Gates, who led
the American forces in the north, accepted the surrender of General Burgoyne's
entire army at Saratoga in a brilliant and morale-boosting victory. Gates was hailed as the hero of the
revolution, and there were grumblings among the troops, and in congress, that
Gates should take Washington's place as Commander-in-Chief. Gates himself challenged Washington's
position by sending notification of his victory directly to Congress, rather
than through Washington, as was proper protocol.
More hurt than indignant, Washington found
himself in the embarrassing position of needing Gates' assistance. With the northern positions secure, he
needed extra troops to defend the area around Philadelphia. Knowing the delicacy of the mission, the
General sent Hamilton to request the troops from Gates.
Although feigning cheerful compliance with the
order delivered by the young aide (Hamilton was twenty-two at the time), Gates
apparently tried to take advantage of Hamilton's youth by passing off his
smallest and weakest brigade. Hamilton,
wise beyond his years, was not so easily fooled. He demanded that Gates hand over better men:
"When I preferred your opinion to other
considerations, I did not imagine you would pitch upon a brigade little more
than half as large as the others; and finding this to be the case I
indispensably owe it to my duty, to desire in His Excellency's name, that
another brigade may go instead of the one intended."
3. Site Name: General
Horatio Gates
U.R.L.
Address: http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/GATES.HTM
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Keyword(s): General
Horatio Gates
Description: Brigadier General
Horatio Gates
Horatio Gates (1727–1806) was an American
general in the American Revolution. He
was born at Maldon, Essex, England.
Entering the British Army, he first served in Nova Scotia in
1749–1750. During the French and Indian
War he was severely wounded attacking the French at Fort Duquesne in 1755 but
helped capture French Martinique in 1761.
Gates retired from the army on half pay in 1765
as a major and in 1772 moved with his family to Virginia, following the advice
of his old comrade-in-arms George Washington. Gates accepted appointment as a
lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia, and when the Revolution broke out,
he took the American side. In June 1775
he was made adjutant general of the army, with the rank of Brigadier
General. He was a capable and
experienced administrator and a conscientious worker.
Commander of the Northern Army: After the evacuation of Boston in 1776,
Gates, now a major general, was appointed to command the northern American
army, which had retreated from Canada.
Here he came into jurisdictional conflict with Gen. Philip Schuyler,
commander of the Northern Department. Congress settled the matter in favor of
Schuyler, and Gates served for a time in Philadelphia.
In the spring of 1777 rivalry again occurred
between Schuyler and Gates. Finally, in
August 1777, Gates took command of Schuyler's defeated army as it fell back
from Ticonderoga before Gen. John Burgoyne's advance. Two battles near Saratoga and Burgoyne's surrender followed,
adding luster to Gates' reputation, although some critics whispered that he
personally had little to do with winning the battles.
Gates was appointed president of the Board of
War late in 1777. At this time the
“Conway Cabal,” involving Gen. Thomas Conway, is supposed to have sought to
replace Washington with Gates. Some
members of Congress did wish Washington's removal as commander in chief, but
there is considerable doubt whether any real conspiracy existed.
Commander of the Southern Army: In October 1778, Gates was appointed to the
command in Boston. A year later he left
the army for a period and retired to his plantation. In the spring of 1780 he took the field again as commander of the
southern army, which was an almost destitute force consisting largely of
untrained militia. Near Camden, S.C., on August 16, the British attacked Gates'
army, which broke and ran in wild confusion. Gates has received much blame for
this defeat, but it seems probable that few generals could have done better,
given the condition of the troops under his command.
Gates was soon replaced by Gen. Nathanael Greene
and did not return to active duty until August 1782. His only son died during the war, and his wife shortly
after. In 1786, Gates married a wealthy
widow. He sold his Virginia plantation
in 1790, emancipated his slaves, and moved to a farm within the limits of what
is now New York City. Gates served one
term in the New York legislature. He
died on his farm on April 10, 1806.
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/FRENCH.HTM
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Keyword(s): The French and Indian War
Description: Fort Detroit Under
Siege - 1763
In the continuing colonial rivalry, attention
soon focused on the Forks of the Ohio River, a strategically crucial area
claimed by both the British and the French but effectively occupied by
neither. In 1754 the Ohio Company of
Virginia, a group of land speculators, began building a fort at the Forks only
to have the workers ejected by a strong French expedition, which then proceeded
to construct Fort Duquesne on the site.
Virginia militia commanded by young George Washington proved no match
for the French and Indians from Fort Duquesne.
Defeated at Fort Necessity (July 1754), they were forced to withdraw
east of the mountains.
The British government in London, realizing that
the colonies by themselves were unable to prevent the French advance into the
Ohio Valley, sent a force of regulars under Gen. Edward Braddock to uphold the
British territorial claims. In July
1755, to the consternation of all the English colonies, Braddock's army was
disastrously defeated as it approached Fort Duquesne.
Again the British looked to the Iroquois League
for assistance, working through William Johnson, the superintendent of Indian
affairs in the north. As usual, the Iroquois responded but without much
enthusiasm. Other tribes, impressed
with French power, either shifted allegiance to the French or took shelter in
uneasy neutrality. In 1755 the British
forcibly deported virtually the entire French peasant population of Nova Scotia
(Acadia) to increase the security of that province. But it was not until May 1756, nearly two years after the
outbreak of hostilities on the Virginia frontier, that Britain declared war on
France. For the time being Spain
remained uncommitted in the conflict, which was part of the larger Seven Years
War.
Under the effective generalship of the marquis
de Montcalm, New France enjoyed victory after victory. In 1756, Montcalm forced the surrender of
the British fort at Oswego on Lake Ontario, thereby breaking the British finger
hold on the Great Lakes. A year later
he destroyed Fort William Henry at the south end of Lake George, dashing
British hopes for an advance through the Champlain Valley to Crown Point. The northern frontier seemed to be
collapsing in upon the British colonies.
William Pitt (the Elder), Britain's new prime
minister, had adopted a policy of drastically increasing aid to the American
colonies, and he was able to do so because the Royal Navy kept the sea-lanes
open. France, in contrast, found itself
unable to maintain large-scale support of its colonies. As a result, by 1758 the period of French
ascendancy was coming to an end. T he British, employing increasing numbers of
regulars, sometimes in conjunction with provincial troops, began gaining
important victories under the military leadership of Jeffrey, Lord Amherst.
In 1758 a British expedition forced the surrender
of Louisbourg, and another expedition advancing west from Philadelphia caused
the French to abandon the Forks of the Ohio. This latter victory, in turn,
convinced many Indians that Britain would prevail after all, accelerating a
shift of tribal support away from the French.
Only at Ticonderoga, south of Crown Point, did British arms suffer a
major defeat.
For the British, 1759 proved to be a year of
stunning successes in America. One
British expedition took Niagara.
Another, led by Amherst himself, seized both Ticonderoga and Crown
Point, thereby opening the way to Montreal.
A third, commanded by young Gen. James Wolfe, sailed up the Saint
Lawrence and, after much difficulty, defeated Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham
just outside Quebec. The surrender of
Quebec itself soon followed. In 1760,
Amherst completed the conquest of Canada with a successful three-pronged
offensive against Montreal.
By the end of 1760, French resistance in North
America had virtually ceased. The only
fighting still going on was between the British and the Cherokee Indians in the
south, and that ended in a British victory in 1761. The Seven Years' War did continue elsewhere, with Spain becoming
involved against Britain early in 1762.
The overwhelming strength of British sea power, however, rapidly eroded
French hopes of success. Britain, too, needed peace, primarily for financial
reasons.
The war-weary nations began negotiations that in
February 1763 produced the decisive Treaty of Paris. Britain gained all of North America east of the Mississippi
River, including Canada and Florida, so that a bright future for its colonists
seemed assured. With the French and Spanish menace now removed from their
frontiers and the Indians deprived of foreign support in their resistance to
British expansion, the inhabitants of the coastal colonies could feel less
dependent on Britain and better able to fend for themselves.
Their experience with British regular forces
during the war, moreover, had generated mutual dislike, which was not softened
by the American habit of trading with the enemy in the Caribbean. At the same time, Britain's costly struggle
with France had depleted the British treasury, a fact that soon would lead
Parliament to seek additional revenue by taxing the American colonies. Clearly, then, conditions arising from the
French and Indian Wars helped set the stage for the American Revolution.
Author: Douglas Edward Leach
Picture Credit: The Granger Collection
Bibliography:
Hamilton, Edward, The French and Indian Wars (1962); Jennings, Francis,
Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies, and Tribes in the Seven Years War in
America (1988; repr. 1990); Leach, Douglas, Arms for Empire (1973); Parkman,
Francis, France and England in North America, 9 vols. (1865-92); Peckham, Howard,
The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762 (1964).
U.R.L.
Address: George Washington
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Keyword(s): George Washington
Description:
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and
let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True
friendship is a plant of slow growth,
and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to
the appellation”; “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own
reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company”; It is better to
offer no excuse than a bad one”; “TLabor to keep” alive in your breast that
little spark of celestial fire called conscience”.
U.R.L.
Address: http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/slavery/index.html
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Keyword(s): George Washington
Description: Upon the decease of my
wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves, which I hold in my own
right, shall receive their freedom. To
emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be
attended with such insuperable difficulties on account of their intermixture by
Marriages with the dower Negroes, as to excite the most painful sensations, if
not disagreeable consequences from the latter, while both descriptions are in
the occupancy of the same Proprietor; it not being in my power, under the
tenure by which the Dower Negroes are held, to manumit them. And whereas among those who will receive
freedom according to this devise, there may be some who from old age or bodily
infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to
support themselves. It is my will and desire
that all who come under the first and second description shall be comfortably
clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such of the latter
description as have no parents living.
Or if living they are unable, or unwilling to provide for them shall be
bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty five
years. In cases where no record can be
produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgment of the Court,
upon its own view of the subject, shall be adequate and final.
The Negroes thus bound, are (by their Masters or
Mistresses) to be taught to read and write and be brought up to some useful
occupation, agreeably to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, providing
for the support of orphan and other poor children. I do hereby expressly forbid
the sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth, of any slave I may
die possessed of, under any pretence whatsoever.
And I do moreover most pointedly, and most
solemnly enjoin it upon my Executors hereafter named, or the Survivors of them,
to see that this clause respecting slaves and every part thereof be religiously
fulfilled at the Epoch at which it is directed to take place; without evasion,
neglect or delay, after the crops which may then be on the ground are
harvested, particularly as it respects the aged and infirm, seeing that a
regular and permanent fund be established for their support so long as there
are subjects requiring it; not trusting to the uncertain provision to be made
by individuals.
And to my Mulatto man William (calling himself
William Lee) I give immediate freedom; or if he should prefer it (on account of
the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of
walking or of any active employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it
shall be optional in him to do so: In either case however, I allow him an
annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent
of the victuals and cloths he has been accustomed to receive, if he chuses the
last alternative; but in full, with his freedom, if he prefers the first; &
this I give him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his
faithful services during the Revolutionary War. Reprinted W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington,
Retirement Series, vol. 4, April - December 1799. (Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia, 1999), 477-492.
U.R.L.
Address: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwtime.html
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Keyword(s): Time Line George Washington
Description:
1748 March, begins career as surveyor in a venture to the Shenandoah Valley on
behalf of prominent Virginia landowner, Lord Thomas Fairfax. Accompanies James
Genn, surveyor for Prince William county, and George William Fairfax, the son
of Lord Fairfax.
April-May
1754 - Leads Virginia forces against French at Fort Duquesne in the upper Ohio
River Valley. Builds Fort Necessity at
Great Meadows, Pennsylvania.
May
27, defeats French scouting party but is subsequently forced to surrender Fort
Necessity after brief battle. October, Washington resigns commission when
Virginia colonial forces are reduced to separate autonomous companies.
U.R.L.
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Keyword(s): Time Line George Washington
Description: Time Line George Washington
1774
July 6-18, attends meetings in Alexandria, Virginia, which address the growing
conflict between the Colonies and Parliament.
Washington co-authors with George Mason the Fairfax County Resolves,
which protest the British "Intolerable Acts"--punitive legislation
passed by the British in the wake of the December 16th, 1773, Boston Tea
Party. The Fairfax Resolves call for
non-importation of British goods, support for Boston, and the meeting of a
Continental Congress.
July
18, the Resolves are presented to the public at the Fairfax County Courthouse. Fairfax Resolves
September
5 - October 26, the First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.
Washington serves as a delegate from Virginia.
October
9, while attending the First Continental Congress, Washington responds to a
letter from Captain Robert Mackenzie, then in Boston. Mackenzie, a fellow
Virginia officer, criticizes the behavior of the city's rebellious
inhabitants. Washington sharply
disagrees and defends the actions of Boston's patriots. Yet, like many members
of Congress who still hope for reconciliation, Washington writes that no
"thinking man in all North America," wishes "to set up for
independency."
9. Site Name: The Washington Monument
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Address: http://www.nps.gov/wamo/home.htm
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Keyword(s): Washington Monument
Description: Washington Monument
Of all the Presidents of the United States,
George Washington is the most celebrated. Efforts to commemorate his legacy
began during his lifetime and continue to this day. Down through the years they
have taken on many forms. His
leadership and service to the republic have been distinguished through the
naming of the federal capital, universities, streets, counties, and a
state. In addition to these honors, he
had been remembered in works of art, monumental buildings, and historic
preservation, involving Americans of all walks of life. But none have captured the imagination of
the people worldwide like the Washington Monument.
10. Site Name: History of the Washington
Monument
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.nps.gov/wamo/history/chap1.htm
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Keyword(s): Washington Monument
Description:
Early Proposals: By 1783 the fame of George Washington,
Commanding General and first President of the United States, was assured in the
pantheon of statesmen of the world. The
Continental Congress recognized Washington's services and his unique role in
the founding of the new Republic and, following numerous public and private suggestions
to honor him, proposed in 1783 that an equestrian statue be erected "at
the place where the residence of Congress shall be established." At the time the future of the infant Nation
was as fraught with uncertainty as the location of its permanent seat.
Thus
it was that when the French landscape engineer, Maj. Charles Pierre L'Enfant,
drew up at Washington's request his first landscape plan for the future
capital, the site for such an equestrian statue was included as one of the
principal features of the Federal District. On his well-known plan L'Enfant had
made the following notation with approval of Washington: "The equestrian
statue of George Washington, a monument voted in 1783 by the late Continental
Congress." [1]
This same area, south of the Nation's principal residence, the Executive
Mansion, is the site of one of the noblest architectural structures of the
country, the Washington Monument.
Congress
took no action until December 1799, when eight days after the death of
Washington, United States Representative John Marshall, later the distinguished
Chief Justice, proposed that "a Marble monument, be erected by the United
States in the Capitol, at the City of Washington, and that the family of George
Washington be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it. " No
action was taken on this proposal other than the preparation of a catafalque
which now rests in a crypt in the depths below the central dome of the Capitol
and which is used on occasion for state funerals.
In
1800 it was proposed that a "mausoleum of American granite and marble, in
pyramidal form 100 feet square at the base and of proportionate height,"
be erected to Washington's memory. In
1801 the House appropriated $200,000 for the construction of such a mausoleum,
but the Senate opposed it. In 1816 and
again in 1832 Congress considered the placing of a tomb for Washington's
remains in the Capitol building. On
both occasions, however, members of the Washington family who refused to permit
the removal of Washington’s remains from his Mount Vernon estate where the will
of the late President specifically requested that he be interred opposed this.
Throughout
the Nation there was a deep sense of disappointment over the failure of
Congress to provide for the erection of an appropriate memorial to the Founding
Father in the District of Columbia.
Other communities had already erected monuments to the memory of
Washington, the most pretentious being the 204-foot Doric column memorial
erected at a cost of $150,000 in neighboring Baltimore, Md. The money for this was raised by popular
subscription, lottery proceeds, and by a final appropriation from the State of
Maryland.
11. Site Name: continental Army
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/CONTAR.HTM
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Keyword(s): Continental Army
Description: The Second Continental
Congress, then meeting at Philadelphia, (the lawmakers) chose as commander of
the "Continental Army" George Washington, a 43-year-old delegate from
Virginia, a planter and a ranking militia officer in the French and Indian
Wars.
Britain seemingly had enormous advantages in a
war against its colonies. It possessed
a well-established government, a sizable treasury, a competent army, the most
powerful navy in the world, and a large Loyalist population in the
colonies. By contrast, the American
rebels had no chief executive such as the king, or a cabinet whose members had
assigned responsibilities. In fact, the
Americans had no separate or independent departments of government such as war,
treasury, and foreign affairs until near the end of the conflict.
The Continental Congress itself had as its
rivals the 13 state legislatures, which often chose not to cooperate with their
delegates in Philadelphia. Indeed,
Congress was an extralegal body, existing at the pleasure of the states before
the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781.
The Americans, however, were not without their own
advantages. A vast reservoir of
manpower could be drawn upon. For the
most part, men preferred short-term enlistments--and many who served came out
for a few weeks or months--but they did serve: the best estimates are that over
200,000 participated on the patriot side.
General Washington was often short of shoes and powder, but rarely were
he and other commanders without men when they needed them most, although at
times American leaders had to take into the army slaves, pardoned criminals,
British deserters, and prisoners of war.
Moreover, Americans owned guns, and they knew how to use them.
American Colonial Soldier (Left): If the Continental Army won few fixed
battles, it normally fought reasonably well; it extracted a heavy toll on the
enemy, who usually could not easily obtain reinforcements. Although only
Washington and Major General Nathanael Greene were outstanding commanders, many
others were steady and reliable, including Henry Knox, Benjamin Lincoln,
Anthony Wayne, Daniel Morgan, Baron von Steuben, the Marquis de Lafayette, and
Benedict Arnold, before he defected to the enemy in 1780.
The Americans also were fighting on their own
soil and consequently could be more flexible in their military operations than
their opponents. Washington and other
Continental Army commanders usually followed the principle of concentration,
that is, meeting the enemy in force wherever British armies appeared. In the interior, however, against bands of
Loyalists and isolated British outposts and supply trains, the American militia
not infrequently employed guerrilla or partisan tactics with striking
successes.
12. Site Name: Marquis
de Lafayette
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/LAFAYETT.HTM
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Keyword(s): Marquis de Lafayette
Description: Marquis de Lafayette
"The play, sir, is over." October 1781
The French general the Marquis de Lafayette,
called the hero of two worlds, was prominent in both the American Revolution
and the French Revolution. Born on
Sept. 6, 1757, to a noble family in the Auvergne, he defied the French
authorities in 1777 by crossing the Atlantic to offer his services to the
Continental Congress at Philadelphia.
He was a friend of George Washington, who became his model, and served
under him at the Battle of the Brandywine and at Valley Forge.
In 1779 he went to France to expedite the
dispatch of a French army, but he returned to distinguish himself again at
Yorktown (1781). Brave in battle and
staunch in adversity, Lafayette won enduring popularity in America, and his
fame did much to make liberal ideals acceptable in Europe.
As discontent in France mounted, Lafayette
(left) advocated the convocation of the States-General in 1789. He became a deputy and proposed a model
Declaration of Rights. Elected
commander of the National Guard on July 15, 1789, he appeared gallantly with
his troops at the Festival of Federation on July 14, 1790, to celebrate the
apparent coming of age of a free and united community.
However, Lafayette proved unable to fulfill the
promise of his youth. Although he had enormous potential power as a mediator,
he had neither a realistic policy of his own nor the flexibility to support the
more practical comte de Mirabeau.
Despised by the court as a renegade aristocrat whose bourgeois army was
unable to protect the royal family, he was also hated by the populace for
trying to suppress disorder, especially after he fired on a crowd in Paris in
July 1791.
In 1792, as an army commander, Lafayette made a
futile attempt to save the monarchy and then deserted to the Austrians, who
promptly imprisoned him as a dangerous revolutionary. Released in 1797 at Napoleon Bonaparte's insistence, Lafayette
was allowed to return to France in 1799.
In 1815 he was one of those who demanded
Napoleon I's abdication.
In 1824, Lafayette made a triumphant tour of the
United States. By then his home, La Grange, was a place of pilgrimage for
liberals throughout the world. When the
July Revolution of 1830 occurred, he was again called on to command the
National Guard, to identify the monarchy of Louis Philippe with the ideals of
1789.
He died in Paris on May 20, 1834; his name
continues to signify freedom.
13. Site Name: Benedict
Arnold
U.R.L.
Address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold
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Keyword(s): Benedict
Arnold
Description: Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold (January 14, 1741 – June 14,
1801) was a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He is most known for what is seen as an act
of treason against the United States — plotting to surrender the American fort
at West Point, New York to the British.
Arnold had distinguished himself as a hero of the revolution early in
the war through acts of cunning and bravery at Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 and at
the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. Arnold
strongly opposed the decision by the Continental Congress to form an alliance
with France, having experienced a bitter defeat at the hands of the French and
their Indian allies during the French and Indian War (1754–1763).
Disaffected due to grievances with the
Continental Congress and the military; suffering from mounting personal debt,
and facing corruption charges filed by the Pennsylvania civil authorities,
Arnold also faced pressure at home from his young second wife, a British
Loyalist. In 1780 he formed a plot to
obtain the fort at West Point, New York and surrender it to the British. This
would have given British forces control of the Hudson River valley and split
the colonies in half. The plot was thwarted, but Arnold successfully evaded
capture by the Continental army and fled to England. He was given a commission
as Brigadier General in the British Army along with a reduced award of £6,000 sterling.
Picture Credit:
Marquis de Lafayette (1779) by Charles Wilson Peale, Washington and Lee
University (top); Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia (bottom).
Bibliography: Bernier, Olivier, Lafayette: Hero
of Two Worlds (1983); Buckman, Peter, Lafayette: A Biography (1977); Gerson,
Noel B., Statue in Search of a Pedestal: A Biography of the Marquis de
Lafayette (1976); Gottschalk, Louis R., Lafayette Comes to America (1935; repr.
1974), Lafayette Joins the American Army (1937; repr. 1974), Lafayette and the
Close of the American Revolution (1942; repr. 1974), Lafayette between the
American and French Revolution (1950; repr. 1974), Lafayette in the French
Revolution, through the October Days (1969), and Lafayette in the French
Revolution: From the October Days through the Federation (1973); Horn, Pierre,
Marquis de Lafayette (1989); Idzerda, Stanley J., et al., eds., Lafayette in
the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776-1790, 4
vols. (1977-81).
© Copyright "The American Revolution Home
Page" - Ronald W. McGranahan 1998 - 2004. All Rights Reserved.
14. Site Name: Nathanael
Greene and the Supply of the Continental Army
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.qmfound.com/greene.htm
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Keyword(s): Continental Army
Description: Nathaniel Greene and
the Supply of the Continental Army
By Edward Payson The Quartermaster Review
May-June 1950
It was March 1778 and on the hills of Valley
Forge, rising above the Schuylkill River, lay the winter quarters of George
Washington 's Continental Army. On this
scenically beautiful spot, commanding a broad panorama of the fertile
Pennsylvania countryside, the great Virginian had stood guard all through the
winter. Only twenty miles to the
southeast lay Philadelphia, capital and largest city of the newborn United
States; since September the British forces of General Sir William Howe had held
it. Sixty miles to the west lay the
small Pennsylvania town of York, the meeting place of the fugitive Continental Congress. From his vantage point at Valley Forge,
Washington could observe the movements of his opponents and make any
deployments that might be necessary to protect his own forces or the temporary
capital at York.
But the greatest menace to the American cause
during that long winter came not from Sir William Howe but from the breakdown
of the American supply system. The
Quartermaster General's Department, which was responsible for the procurement
of tents, spades, shovels, and other camp equipage and of all transportation
facilities, was in utter confusion.
Quartermaster General Thomas Mifflin, a leading Pennsylvania patriot,
was a politician, not a soldier; his talents were better to the hustings than
to the administration of a complex supply service. Discontented in his uncongenial position, he longed to abandon it,
after July 1777 did not even pretend to perform the duties of his office.
Finally, in November, he submitted his resignation. Yet Congress took no steps to appoint a successor and let matters
drift, thought reports of fraud in the headless department were continually
being circulated and the Commissary General was complaining, not without
justification, that deficiencies in the food supply, for the procurement of
which was his responsible, were attributable to the failure of the
Quartermaster General's Department to provide transportation for its carriage.
By January troubles originating in these two
departments of the Army were taking up almost as much time in Congress as were
all other matters put together.
Washington, in a moment of despair, wrote that he could "declare
that no Man, in my opinion, ever had his measures more impeded than I have, by
every department in the Army" and singled out the lack of assistance from
the Quartermaster General as the outstanding example of the difficulties under
which he labored. Washington was,
indeed, obliged to perform many quartermaster duties himself.
A committee of the Continental Congress,
investigating the supply situation at Valley Forge, reported that truly
alarming conditions prevailed in the Quartermaster General’s Department. Unless these conditions were speedily
improved, this committee warned, not only "the future success'' but also
"the present existence" of the Army would be imperiled. It reported that the supplies of
Washington's forces were "dispersed over the whole country; not an
encampment, route of the army, or considerable road but abounds with wagons,
left to the mercy of the weather and the will of the inhabitants." The committee noted that three thousand
spades and shovels had only recently been discovered in the immediate vicinity
of the camp and that huge quantities of tents and tent-cloth had "laid a
whole summer in a farmer's barn, and unknown to the officer of the department,
was lately discovered and brought to camp by a special order from the General
(Washington)." Had straw been
procured in adequate quantities, the report claimed, the ''lives of many
soldiers" would have been saved.
''Unprovided with this or other materials" to protect them from
''cold and wet earth," hundreds of soldiers had fallen ill, and the number
of deaths had mounted ''to any extraordinary degree."
As for horses and wagons, the committee found
that these essential means of transportation were nearly nonexistent. "Almost every species of camp
transportation," it declared, "is now performed by men, who patiently
. . . yoke themselves to little carriages of their own making or load their wood
and provisions on their backs."
There was ample pork in New Jersey, the report continued, but owing to
the non-availability of wagons, not a single pound could be brought to Valley
Forge. Because of such conditions, the
committee warned, there was real danger that the troops would starve or
disperse in search of food.
Despite the committee's criticism of the
Quartermaster General's Department, it would be unfair to conclude that the
alarming shortages it described resulted wholly from Mifflin's administrative
incapacity or the irresponsibility of quartermaster agents. Many conditions militated against a
successful administration by any Quartermaster General, no matter how competent
he might be. The American colonies had
never developed an adequate system of land transportation. There were few roads-almost no good ones-and
even wagons were scarce in both town and country.
The colonies had relied largely on the sea and
the tidal rivers of the coast for transfer of commodities over long
distances. But the British blockade was
so effective that practically all American seaborne traffic was paralyzed, and
the Continental Army depended on the undeveloped system of land
communications. Moreover, when two
large armies occupied the same region, as was the case in the Philadelphia-Valley
Forge area in the winter of 1777-78, their demands created a local scarcity of
supplies. Under such conditions
American Quartermasters were at a disadvantage, for they had only a
depreciating paper currency to offer for supplies, whereas British
Quartermasters offered gold or silver.
Inevitably, Howe in Philadelphia obtained the bulk of the available
horses, wagons, and camp equipage, while Washington at Valley Forge got very
little.
15. Site Name: US Treasury - Biography of
John W. Snow, Secretary of the Treasury
U.R.L.
Address: www.ustreas.gov/organization/bios/snow-e.html
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Keyword(s): George Washington’s
Secretary of Treasury
Description: President George W. Bush
nominated John William Snow to be the 73rd Secretary of the Treasury on January
13, 2003 . The United States Senate
unanimously confirmed Snow to the position on January 30, 2003 and he was sworn
into office on February 3, 2003. As
Secretary of the Treasury, Snow works closely with President Bush on a broad
array of economy policy issues.
Before coming to Treasury, Snow was Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of CSX Corporation, where he successfully guided the
global transportation company through a period of tremendous change. During Snow’s twenty years at CSX, he led
the Corporation to refocus on its core railroad business, dramatically reduce
injuries and train accidents, and improve its financial performance.
Snow’s previous public service includes having
served at the Department of Transportation as Administrator of the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Deputy Undersecretary, Assistant
Secretary for the Governmental Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Policy, Plans and International Affairs.
Snow served as Chairman of the Business
Roundtable, the foremost business policy group comprised of 250 chief executive
officers of the nation's largest companies.
During his tenure as Chairman from 1994 through 1996, he played a major
role in supporting passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and
working on the deficit reduction agreement.
Snow is also recognized as a leading champion of
improved corporate governance practices.
He is a former co-chairman of the influential Conference Board's
Blue-Ribbon Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise. He also served as co-chairman of the
National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement
in 1992 that made recommendations following the savings and loan crisis.
John Snow was born in Toledo, Ohio, on August 2,
1939, and graduated in 1962 from the University of Toledo. He later earned a Ph.D. in economics from
the University of Virginia where he studied under two Nobel Prize winners. Snow graduated with a law degree from the
George Washington University in 1967 and then taught economics at the
University of Maryland , University of Virginia , as well as law at George
Washington. He also served as a Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute in 1977 and a Distinguished Fellow at the Yale School of Management
from 1978 until 1980
16. Site Name: Henry Knox
U.R.L.
Address:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/sw-sa/Knox.htm
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Keyword(s): Henry Knox
Description:
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on
25 July 1750; upon his father’s death left school at twelve to work in a
bookstore; joined a local military company at eighteen, was present at the
Boston Massacre, 1770, joined the Boston Grenadier Corps in 1772; married Lucy
Flucker in 1774; joined the patriot cause and offered his services to General
Washington in 1775; was commissioned colonel of the Continental Regiment of
Artillery; led the expedition to transfer captured British guns from Fort
Ticonderoga to Boston in 1776, a move that forced the British to evacuate the
city; led the Delaware River crossing and participated in the Battle of Trenton
in 1776; was promoted to brigadier general and Chief of Artillery of the Continental
Army, December 1776; participated in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and
Germantown in 1777 and Monmouth in 1778; sat on the court-martial of Major John
Andre in 1780; placed the American artillery at the Yorktown siege in 1781;
commanded the West Point post, 1782–1783; organized the Society of the
Cincinnati, 1783; was commander in chief of the Army, 23 December 1783–20 June
1784; served under the Confederation as Secretary at War, 8 March 1785–11
September 1789; served under the Constitution as first Secretary of War, 12
September 1789–31 December 1794; prepared a plan for a national militia,
advocated and presided over initial moves to establish a regular Navy, urged
and initiated the establishment of a chain of coastal fortifications, and supervised
Indian policy; retired to Thomaston, Maine, 1796; engaged in lumbering,
shipbuilding, stock raising, and brick manufacturing; died in Thomaston on 25
October 1806.