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General George Washington: Diplomat
byAn important facet of Washington’s generalship has gone largely unexplored by historians: his role as a diplomat. For a top-level military leader in a…
George Washington
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Experience, Policies, Failures: President Washington & the Native Americans
byExperience had taught George Washington a great many things. His father had passed away at a young age, denying him the chance for the…
Washington’s Farewell Advice to the Nation
byLast month, Americans observed the peaceful transition of power from one president to another, from one political party to another. Some will point to…
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George Washington Tells a Lie
byIn June 1780, Gen. George Washington told a lie. In fact, he planned a major deception. But as it was intended to deceive the…
Fishermen and Foxhunters: Washington’s “Gentlemen of Fortune”
byBefore Lexington and Concord, before there was any need for an army, and before men found themselves beholden to the dictates of military service…
Washington Heeds Jeney, Takes Trenton
byAttacking at night, during a snowstorm: genius or folly? For Gen. Richard Montgomery at Quebec on December 31, 1775, it was a fatal disaster,…
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How Yorktown Almost Couldn’t Afford to Happen
byGen. George Washington, from the point of view of Americans being trapped at “York,”[1] wrote these prophetic words- These by being upon a narrow…
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The Truth About George Washington and Hemp
byDid George Washington grow hemp? Yes. Hemp was a well-known, multi-purpose crop. Did George Washington smoke hemp? There’s absolutely zero evidence that he grew…
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Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America
byBook review: Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America (Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2015) by Stephen Knott and Tony Williams [BUY ON AMAZON] The American…
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The Alleged Amorous Affairs of Washington
byIf there was one tall hunk that nearly all the women of the colonies swooned over (and many in England and Europe, quite likely),…
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The Carefree and Kindhearted General George Washington
by“The most unhappy man in the world,” wrote the Commissary General of Purchases at Valley Forge about Gen. George Washington.[1] On every portrait we…
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First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His — and the Nation’s — Prosperity
byBook Review: First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His — and the Nation’s — Prosperity by Edward G. Lengel (Da Capo Press, 2016). [BUY NOW ON…
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George Washington Convenes a Firing Squad
byIn an army where men died as a matter of course, there was nonetheless something peculiarly unsettling about the business scheduled for the morning…
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Colonel Tench Tilghman: George Washington’s Eyes and Ears
byIn the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House hangs a painting commissioned by the Maryland Legislature often called the “Annapolis Portrait” of…
45 Genuine George Washington Quotes During the Revolutionary War
byThey’re everywhere now. On the pages of social media, displayed on bumper stickers, and in the speeches of political candidates, partisan factions claim a…
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Washington Plays Hardball with the Howes
bySummering on Long Island in 1776 was no vacation for Gen. George Washington. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he was attempting to build…
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Aaron Burr’s Other Famous Adversary
byThe name Aaron Burr immediately brings to mind his rival, Alexander Hamilton. But Hamilton wasn’t the only prominent person with a dislike for Burr….
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George Washington’s Agent Z: The Curious Case of Lt. Lewis J. Costigin
byOne of the things that make human intelligence operations so interesting is that you never know how, and for that matter whether, an operation…
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George Washington or John Hanson: Who Was the First President?
byPerhaps you’ve seen this mythbuster: “WHO WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? I suspect George Washington was your best guess….
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General Washington’s Appeal for a Federal Government
byMost professional and amateur historians of the American Revolutionary period are very aware of George Washington’s prowess as a military commander of the Continental…
A Gift for General Washington
byIn a letter to Patrick Henry recounting the events of the Battle of Monmouth, George Washington included information about losses on both sides and…
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George Washington’s “Baker Master”
byI, poor creature, worn out with scribbling, for my Bread and my Liberty, low in Spirits and weak in Health, must leave others to…
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Allegheny Burning: George Washington, Daniel Brodhead, and the Battle of Thompson’s Island
byFollowing the Battle of Monmouth in late 1778, the traditional narrative of the American Revolution becomes lost for many non-specialists. With the existing dichotomy…
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7 Gold Medals of America’s Revolutionary Congress
byOf the many thousands of soldiers and seamen serving during the Revolutionary War, only a select few were singled out by the Continental Congress…
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Washington’s Second Christmas Day Attack
byFrom the intelligence provided by his New York and New Jersey spies, General Washington believed, early in 1777, that General Howe would eventually strike…
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The American Crisis Before Crossing the Delaware?
byDoes saying so make it so? Perhaps, if said convincingly and repeatedly. But sometimes it’s fair to ask: Who says so? And how do…
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Fortifying Philadelphia: A Chain of Redoubts and Floating Bridges
byOn August 25, 1777 General William Howe with 17,000 men landed at Head of Elk, Maryland; he was 57 miles south of the city…
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Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary?
byIn 1758, just before returning home from the French and Indian War, George Washington ran for a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. Given…
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George Washington’s Use of Humor during the Revolutionary War
byMost early portraits of George Washington represent him as serious and even dour, and more than a few contemporaries described the man as aloof….
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Drilling Holes in George Washington’s Wooden Teeth Myth
byGeorge Washington did not chop down a cherry tree and carve wooden teeth from it. Maybe one of the most enduring myths in American…
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Allen McLane: Case Study in History and Folklore
byThe best portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature; and we are not certain that the best histories…
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How George Washington saved the life of Abraham Van Buskirk’s Son
byAbraham Van Buskirk was Bergen County’s leading Loyalist at the onset of the American Revolution. A prominent “Practitioner of Physic” with an income of…
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General Washington and the Body-Snatchers
byAmong the many challenges Gen. George Washington faced in his first year as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he probably didn’t expect to deal…
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Disarming the Disaffected
byIn a previous article I said that there are “times when a gun would have come in real handy” but there were no guns…
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His Excellency’s Guards
byOn March 11, 1776, George Washington, headquartered at the Vassal mansion in Cambridge, Massachusetts, issued the following General Order to his officers: “The General…
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Misinformation, Disinformation, and Gen. Washington’s Gunpowder Supply
byIn the summer of 1775, Gen. George Washington fell victim to bad information about the Continental Army’s gunpowder supply. When he finally received accurate…
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Plotting the ‘Sacricide’ of George Washington
byThere are two versions of how the plot to murder George Washington first came to light in June 1776, precisely at the moment a…
George Washington’s Top 10 Talents According to John Adams
byCrotchety old John Adams had finally had enough. It was bad enough that after George Washington’s battlefield victories at Trenton and Princeton, the idol…
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George Washington’s Mount Vernon: A Landscape for the New Cincinnatus
byWhen George Washington returned to Mount Vernon in the last days of 1783, he became the new Cincinnatus. Roman senators in the fifth-century B.C….