Boyhood Of George Washington (2nd Ed, 1992)

we all know that George Washington was the first president of the United States many pictures of him were painted when he was president but there aren't any of him when he was a boy what if we had a picture album of George Washington's life and in it were pictures of him in the years before he was grown up what sort of things would we say our album about George Washington would probably have a picture of a plantation he was born on a plantation in 1732 in the colony of Virginia and there would probably be a map to show where Virginia was there was no country called the United States then just 13 colonies that were owned by England in the plantation house we'd see George's mother Mary busy at work she depended on slaves to help her run the plantation George's father Augustine was off and away from home he owned an iron Foundry 30 m away if he lived closer to it he could spend less time traveling that's why there's a picture of the Washington family in a wagon in 1735 moving to another Plantation here's George's mother and father his younger sister Betty and baby brother Samuel George also had two half Brothers Lawrence and Augustine who was called Austin both were at school in England and George had never met them George's mother was his father's second wife his first wife had died now in April of 1735 the family moved to the plantation that would become very important in George Washington's life this was little Hunting Creek George spent the next three years here he called this Plantation his homeh house he would always love the place our album would show an important event that occurred while George lived here in the summer of 1738 a ship returned from England and on it was his half brother Lawrence Lawrence was 20 years old and had finished school he was coming back to America to live at little Hunting Creek that was a wonderful summer for six-year-old George Washington he got to know his older brother they rode together fish together in the nearby pomac River and talk together Lawrence was very impressed with George but in November of that year George had to move from Little Hunting Creek to another Plantation George's father had just bought Lawrence stayed at little Hunting Creek and ran that Plantation now our pictures show George and his family at Ferry Farm on the rahan river across from the town of Fredericksburg George enjoyed watching the ships on the river and sometimes thought he'd like to be a sailor one day Lawrence rode over to fairy Farm in a uniform he had been appointed a captain in the Virginia contingent of Britain's American regiment Britain was at war with Spain and wanted to drive the Spanish from the Caribbean Lawrence and thousands of other Colonial troops sailed South Lawrence was gone for 2 years the whole operation was a disaster because of the stubbornness of the British general who commanded the troops all that kept the Virginia militia from being wiped out was the the action of vice admiral Edward Vernon Vernon would become a hero for Lawrence back home again Lawrence renamed little Hunting Creek Plantation in Vernon's honor and so little Hunting Creek became Mount Vernon next year in the spring George visited Lawrence at Mount Vernon he loved being back at his homeh housee he also met Lawrence's new neighbors the fairfax's George was very nervous about this the fair faxes were very rich and lived a different kind of life from even a welltoo landowner like George's father Their Manners were different from his more like those of English nobility than like his colonial American manners he wanted to be more like the fairfax's and their friends so he could be accepted by them he tried to follow the rules of Civility a kind of guide to good manners that he had learned in school the fairfax's and their Plantation called Belvoir were a Center of social life in the colony of Virginia 11-year-old George liked to listen to people who visited the fairfax's and talked about fortunes to be made in Western lands but George's brother liked being at belir for an additional reason he was very attracted to the Colonel's daughter and would soon marry her and take her to Mount Vernon her name was an but she was called Nancy now in April of that year George's found father Augustine died all his property was left to his wife and children Lawrence became the owner of Mount Vernon and the iron Foundry and 11-year-old George became the owner of Fairy Farm but now there would not be enough money available to send him to school in England he'd have to prepare himself to earn a living in America his brothers urged George to learn all he could about surveying his father had done some surveying a surveyor measures land and helps to set boundaries of property a surveyor has to be very good in mathematics George used his father's instruments and practiced by surveying lands owned by his relatives and friends when he was 16 he got his first job surveying Colonel fairfax's cousin Lord Fairfax hired George to go along with a group of surveyors to report on the land he owned in the shinoa Valley of Virginia and M in our album we'd see pictures of George during that surveying trip and his new experiences in the wilderness we'd see the trick the others played on him one night when they pretended to be doing him a favor by letting him sleep in the only bed available but the bed's mattress turned out to be full of fleas and [Music] lice he rode through rainstorms and went swimming at a warm spring he saw Indians at a trading post and settlers who were surprised and angered to find that the land they thought they owned actually belonged to Lord Fairfax now our pictures would show George Washington during the next few years as he worked as a surveyor and became a very good one he was appointed official surveyor of the newly organized coal pepper County in Virginia pictures of 19-year-old George in 1751 would show him and Lawrence on board a ship voyaging south from Virginia this was the first and only time George would leave the colonies Lawrence was very ill with tuberculosis and George was accompanying him to an island in the Caribbean where they thought his health might improve it was September the first two weeks out the Seas were calm and the skies were clear and blue but then the SK SK darkened and the Sea grew rough and the winds grew strong and heavy rains fell as the age of a tropical hurricane passed over them but the ship made it through the storm and George and Lawrence landed safely on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean George became ill with small poox while he was there but he had a mild case he may have worried though over the pock marks the disease left in his face he thought it would make him less attractive to the young ladies George quickly recovered from small poox but his brother remained ill the next year we'd see Mount Vernon where Lawrence finally died in July of 1752 in December George was living at Mount Vernon again Nancy remarried and moved to her new husband's house she rented Mount Vernon to George now in 1752 George Washington was 20 years old and a successful surveyor in Virginia but he felt he would be more successful if he followed a military career as his brother Lawrence did a few days before his 21st birthday George was at Williamsburg the capital of the Virginia colony he met with Robert dwy governor of the colony dwy had appointed Georgia major and now gave him his first important military assignment Den witty sent him into the Ohio Valley to carry a warning to the French to leave the those lands they were claimed by Britain but France was building forts there France claimed the land too George met with an Indian Chief and learned that the French were trying to enlist his support against the British then George met with the French commander and delivered the note of warning but George could tell that the French plann to stay in the Ohio Valley in spite of the British warning and he reported that to Governor deny soon after in the spring of of 1754 George was following the same Trail Into the Wilderness again now promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel this time George was leading a group of volunteer militia men their assignment was to prevent the French from taking control of the Ohio Valley this Mission would help George Washington learn about the larger struggle between the British and the French for control of all of North America now 22-year-old George Washington would have his first experience at Leading Men in battle he would lose this battle with the French at Fort Necessity in the foothills of the alagan this marked the beginning of the French and Indian war that eventually made Britain the dominant power in North America but in spite of this defeat his reputation as a fine officer would grow until he would be chosen by the colonies to lead their own war against Britain for Independence but in this year of 1754 when he was 22 years old George Washington had no idea of what his future held no one in America at that time could imagine that one day after many years of [Music] war there would be a new independent nation in North America the United States of America and that George Washington would be its first president [Music]