A Year With George Washington
On April 6, 1756, twenty-four-year-old George Washington arrived at Winchester, Virginia, having recently been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of all Virginia forces. His instructions are to assemble troops and prepare to defend the vulnerable, 350-mile-wide frontier from French and Indian attacks.
Following the humiliating defeat of British General Edward Braddock at the Battle of the Monongahela, Indian raiding parties, bent on terrorizing the colonial inhabitants on the Maryland and Virginia frontier, made use of the very road Washington and his men had cleared in the wilderness a few years before. The horrifying result was that in a sixty-mile stretch of forest between the Maryland outpost of Fort Cumberland and the Northern Virginia town of Winchester lay a wasteland of burned-out cabins and disfigured and scalped bodies of helpless settlers.
The Virginia House of Burgesses, reacting to the violent incursions and knowing that the mother country would not provide a defense commensurate with the moment, had voted to allocate £40,000 to protect its vulnerable borderland. Governor Dinwiddie chose George Washington to lead their defense.
Though Washington had his reservations about the command, he ensured that, before he accepted the honor, he would be granted near-complete control over the selection of personnel, particularly field officers who were to serve beneath him. He was granted the control as he wished and traveled to Winchester, a bit overwhelmed by the esteem his countrymen had shown in selecting him. Not everyone was pleased with his selection, however, as Washington had to contend with his seemingly perpetually dissatisfied mother.
One can hardly blame her for the concern, for George had already gone to war in the Ohio Valley and was nearly killed, having survived the Battle of the Monongalela, with four bullet holes in his coat and two horses shot out beneath him. Unlike many British soldiers, who were shocked by the unconventional warfare in America and ran in a harried retreat during the battle, Washington and his Virginians joined in the fray. The Virginians were so immersed in close-quarters fighting with the enemy that many were killed with “friendly fire” from the British regulars, who had no idea who or where the enemy was. Washington was one of but a few officers not wounded or killed. He, in particular, was particularly courageous under fire, putting himself in harm’s way many times, emerging each time unscathed.
In a rather brusque letter to his mother, Washington, fully cognizant of the weight of the moment, explained, as he would many times in the future, that he had little choice but to answer the call of his country, and it would be a mark of disgrace to refuse such an honor.
Honored Madam,”
“If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio again, I shall. But [if]the command is pressed upon me by the general voice of the country and offered upon such terms as can’t be objected against, it would reflect dishonour upon me to refuse it and that, I am sure, must, or ought, to give you greater cause of uneasiness than my going in an honourable com[man]d.”
Washington believed that, to be taken seriously in his new command, he must look the part. He signed on with a new London Agent for clothing and supplies and sent ahead three hogsheads of tobacco as prepayment. He ordered silk stockings, gold-and-scarlet sword knots, and ruffles for his uniform. He directed that the officers wear blue coats with scarlet cuffs and lapels, and scarlet waistcoats adorned with silver lace. He instructed his men that they should provide for themselves “a silver-laced hat of a fashionable size.”
Washington’s first foray into commanding an army would foreshadow the challenges he would experience some twenty years later when he would command a much larger force in the Revolutionary War. His demand for high standards in training, discipline, and decorum was present in 1756, just as it would be in 1776. Despite their bravery at the Monongahela, some Virginians were wholly unsuited to military life. Desertion was commonplace; difficulty in procuring supplies, indolence among the officers, and a torrent of other challenges also plagued him, as they would two decades later.
Young Washington’s time as Commander-in-Chief came to an end following a dispute that arose when a British Captain named John Dagworthy, below him in rank, refused to follow orders. Washington protested, but the matter had to be settled by the Royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, William Shirley, who was at the head of all military endeavors in North America following the death of General Braddock. Governor Shirley attempted to “split the baby” by ordering Dagwood to follow Washington’s commands, but at the same time, he refused to acknowledge Washington’s superior rank. In fact, Shirley made it clear that any colonial officer, no matter the rank, would be inferior to a British Captain. He solved the present dilemma by simply taking away Dagworthy’s officer’s commission. In Washington’s mind, the solution was more simply to grant him an officer’s commission in the British army, which Shirley stubbornly refused. Washington resigned in protest. One has to think what would have been the fate of America had Governor Shirley granted Washington’s request.
Thankfully, we will never know.
