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WAS divided. He was now to enter on a military career. In 1753 the encroachments of the French assumed a formidable aspect. French troops pushed from Canada across the lakes, and began to establish forts on the waters of the Ohio; and, encouraged by their presence, the Indians threatened hostility. The governor of Virginia resolved to send a commissioner to confer with the French officer in command, to protest against his encroachments, and to procure intelligence respecting the designs and conditions of the French, as well as to hold amicable consultation with the Indians. Major Washington was but twenty-one, yet to him the commission was intrusted. It involved a difficult journey of nearly six hundred miles, over mountain and through wilderness, and required the greatest tact in its execution. Washington, however, performed it successfully. His journal of the expedition was printed in London by the government as a disclosure of the designs of the French. A military expedition to the Ohio was resolved on, and Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was appointed second in command. On the 24th of May, 1754, the first shot was fired, when, at a place called the Great Meadows, Washington attacked and defeated a detachment of French, killing their commander, Jumonville. On the 3rd of July, however, he was attacked by a superior force of French on the scene of his first skirmish, where he had thrown up an intrenchment, and was obliged to agree to retreat. His first campaign had ended unsuccessfully, but his conduct throughout had gained him a high reputation for courage and prudence. It was now, however, that his loyalty received its first shock. The governor of Virginia promulgated a scheme by which the highest officers in the provincial regiments were to become mere captains, and even inferior to those in the king's army holding similar commissions. Colonel Washington would thus be reduced to Captain Washington, and serve under officers whom he had commanded. Rather than submit to this, he resigned his commission. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1755 he at once accepted an invitation to serve in a new campaign against the French, with his old rank, and as one of the "military family" of General Braddock, who had arrived from England with two regiments of regulars. The march to attack Fort Duquesne was undertaken at his suggestion, and the failure of the English at the battle of the Monongahela, some miles from that fort, is attributed by American writers to Braddock's neglect of his advice in matters of detail. Washington, who had been struck down by fever, reached the camp the evening before the engagement, in which he displayed considerable courage, and had two horses shot under him. Braddock himself died of his wounds, and the retreat of the English became a rout. Washington retired to Mount Vernon, which had become his own by the death of his brother and his niece. He soon, however, returned to military life, being appointed commander-in-chief of the Virginian forces. Four years spent in this position opened his eyes to the defects of the militia system, and did not strengthen his attachment to the mother country, so constant was the annoyance to which he was subjected by the claims and pretensions of the officers of the royal army. From a military point of view his chief achievement was the construction of a chain of defensive forts against the Indians. He served also under General Forbes in the successful expedition against Fort Duquesne, November, 1758. Immediately after this success he resigned his commission, and married, in January, 1759, Mrs. Martha Custis, a beautiful and amiable widow, who brought him a considerable accession of wealth. For several years he devoted himself chiefly to the management of his property. Tobacco was the staple, on the cultivation of which he bestowed most pains, exporting it to England, and importing direct most of the articles in common use. His books and accounts were all kept by himself with fulness and accuracy. The monotony of a planter's life was diversified by the pleasures of the chase, and by the exercise of a liberal hospitality. For the fifteen years preceding the revolution he was regularly elected a member of the house of burgesses, which he punctually attended; and at Williamsburg, where its sittings were held, he cultivated the intimacy of the most eminent men of his native province. In that assembly he did not shine or attempt to shine as a debater, but he acquired influence by the careful consideration which he gave to every subject, and by the soundness and impartiality of his judgments. When the first differences arose between the colonies and the mother country, he was firm for what he considered to be the rights of the colonists, although, like other eminent Americans, he was disposed to a policy of conciliation, until the petition of the first congress was rejected by the English government. Before that event he had presented to the house of burgesses the non-importation agreement of 1769; and when it was confirmed by them he strictly carried it out in his private capacity. After the house of burgesses was dissolved by the governor of Virginia in June, 1774, he was one of the members who met and recommended a general congress. As the delegate of Fairfax county, he was a member of the convention which met at Williamsburg on the 1st of August, and was appointed by it, with Patrick Henry and five others, its representative at the general congress. On this assembly, which met on the 5th September, 1774, at Philadelphia, his judgment and knowledge produced a deep impression. Returning home when its proceedings were over, he was invited to inspect and instruct the militia companies of his province, now preparing for the coming struggle. The second congress met at Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775, and committees were appointed to prepare reports on the defence of the country. Of all of them Washington was chairman, and on the 15th of June, 1775, he was appointed by the unanimous vote of congress commander-in-chief of the continental army.

The biography of Washington for the next eight years is the history of the American war, and only the leading points in it can be glanced at. When he arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts—where he fixed his head-quarters—to take command of the army then besieging the British in Boston, he found his effective force one of less than fifteen thousand men, without military organization, stores, clothing—without even ammunition. Apart from the formidable character of the foe, he had the greatest difficulties to struggle with, above and below. The men considered themselves bound only by the militia laws of their several states, and were jealous of the slightest encroachment on that "liberty" which they had taken arms to defend. A party in congress professed itself suspicious of a military dictatorship, and opposed at once the organization which alone could make the army powerful, and any concession of power to the commander-in-chief. Even had the congress been otherwise disposed, its powers were limited. It could advise and suggest, but the execution of its recommendations depended in a great measure on the consent of the separate states and their legislatures. Washington had thus to deal with not merely the men under his command—not merely with congress even, but with the authorities and legislatures of the different states; and the correspondence which he had to carry on was as large as the extent of the difficulties which he had to overcome. His patience and perseverance found their first reward in the evacuation of Boston by the British on the 17th of March, 1776. He then proceeded to defend New York, which after an engagement on Long Island, 27th of August, he had to evacuate, retreating behind the Delaware. But this disaster itself was useful. Its influence helped him to procure from congress authority to enlist soldiers bound to serve while the war lasted, or for not less a period than three years. He was authorized to raise a large additional force, and something like dictatorial power was conferred on him for six months. The result justified the concession. Recrossing the Delaware, and after engagements at Trenton (26th December, 1776) and at Princeton (4th January, 1777), Washington recovered almost the whole of New Jersey. Of the campaign of 1778 the chief events were the defeat of Washington by Howe at the battle of Brandywine (11th September, 1777), and of Germantown (3rd October). But the fighting power displayed by the raw American levies was now such as to influence the wavering French government to assist the States. On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty of alliance between France and the United States was signed at Paris, and after two campaigns, during which Washington acted chiefly on the defensive, in the July of 1780 arrived a French force of five thousand men under Rochambeau. The British, under Lord Cornwallis, were then overrunning the Carolinas. A year elapsed before the armies of Washington and Rochambeau formed an effective junction, and the two commanders determined to act in concert against Cornwallis, now in Virginia. Cornwallis intrenched himself at Yorktown, which was completely invested by Washington and Rochambeau on the 30th of September. On the 19th of October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis capitulated, an event which virtually closed the war. The year 1782 was passed in comparative inaction. A proclamation that a preliminary treaty of peace had been signed at Paris was made to the American army on the 19th of April, 1782, "precisely eight years," Mr. Sparkes notes, "from the day on which