The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington

1779 Campaign

In 1779, General Washington made a series of strategic decisions that defeated a British offensive, maintained control of the Hudson River, and protected critical Continental Army resources.

Annis Boudinot Stockton

Annis Boudinot Stockton is remembered for her prolific and patriotic poetry.

Anthony Walton White

Siding with the opposition to the royal government, Anthony Walton White was recommended to General George Washington in the first weeks of his command of the Continental Army by George Clinton, a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York. Washington tried White as an aide-de-camp for several weeks, but courteously turned him down in favor of Robert Hanson Harrison in October of 1775.

Battle of Bennington

The Battle of Bennington, on August 16, 1777, formed part of the Saratoga Campaign.

Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine, fought just outside of Philadelphia on September 11, 1777, resulted in an overarching British victory and the conquest of the rebel seat of government.

Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens was fought on January 17, 1781.  It began shortly after dawn on a bitterly cold morning near Chesnee, South Carolina. After almost an hour of fighting, American forces led by Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, Colonel Andrew Pickens, Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, and other militia leaders defeated British forces under the command of General Banastre Tarleton. The strategic and tactical victory displayed effective cooperation between leaders of the Continental Army and various state militias in ending the violent conflict that raged in the interior of South Carolina. A turning point in the war’s southern campaign, victory at Cowpens produced a massive boost of morale among American forces and was a crucial step in securing the south for the American patriots.

Battle of Princeton

On January 3, 1777, Continental Army soldiers under the command of General George Washington defeated a force of British troops near Princeton, New Jersey. The action was part of a larger campaign to regain momentum following a string of defeats in the New York City area throughout the summer and fall of 1776.

Battle of Second Trenton

On 2 January 1777, a Continental Army force led by George Washington successfully repulsed a British attack in Trenton, New Jersey by soldiers under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis.

Battle of Stony Point

In early 1779, Parliament sent a directive to General Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in America, to bring George Washington into a general action at the start of the campaign.

Battle of White Plains

The Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776 ended in defeat for General George Washington and his army as they retreated from New York City following a series of British victories earlier that summer.

Benjamin Franklin in London

As Mount Vernon is to George Washington and Monticello is to Thomas Jefferson, 36 Craven Street in London is to Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin, Espionage and Counter-Espionage

Benjamin Franklin made his fortune as a printer, journalist and newspaper proprietor, before taking up a non-executive role in his own firm to dedicate his time to public service. It was natural that he should build close contacts with the newspaper trade during his time in London as a political representative.

Benjamin Tallmadge

American espionage has its roots in the Revolutionary War, specifically in the network known as the Culper Spy Ring. At the center of this ring, appointed by General George Washington to provide military intelligence from the British headquarters in New York City, was Major Benjamin Tallmadge.

British Occupation of New York City

On August 22, 1776, New Yorkers heard the cannon blasts of the Battle of Long Island. Five days later, an expeditionary force of over 32,000 British regulars, 10 ships of line, 20 frigates, and 170 transports defeated Washington’s troops at Kip’s Bay and invaded Manhattan Island. Thus began seven years of British occupation in the City of New York.

Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts was incorporated in 1636 along the Charles River on the outskirts of Boston. In addition to being home to some of the world’s finest educational institutions, Cambridge served as the headquarters of General George Washington from July 1775 to April 1776 during the Siege of Boston.

Committees of Correspondence

Committees of correspondence were longstanding institutions that became a key communications system during the early years of the American Revolution (1772-1776). Towns, counties, and colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia had their own committees of correspondence.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay is considered to be one of the first major historians of the American Revolution. His significant contributions to American literature include two volumes of History of the Revolution in South Carolina (1785), History of the American Revolution (1787), and The Life of George Washington (1807).

Disease in the Revolutionary War

In the first years of the Revolutionary War, George Washington and his Continental Army faced a threat that proved deadlier than the British: a smallpox epidemic, lasting from 1775-1782.

Francis Fauquier

Francis Fauquier served as the lieutenant governor and acting governor of the Virginia colony from 1758 until his death in 1768. During his tenure, he managed economic consequences of the Seven Years’ War and mounting political tensions between colonists and Britain. In this role, Fauquier corresponded with George Washington, a colonel in the Virginia militia at the time. Born of elite status in London, Fauquier later championed education in Virginia and pursued scientific inquiry.

François-Jean de Chastellux

George Hammond

George Hammond was an English diplomat who served as Britain’s first envoy to the United States from 1791 to 1795. Born in East Riding, County York, England, in 1763, Hammond received a liberal education as a fellow of Merton College in Oxford, England. His career in diplomacy began when he was sent to Paris as secretary to British diplomat David Hartley during negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Hammond was later chosen as the first minister plenipotentiary to the United States, where he would face the daunting task of addressing American grievances against Britain while simultaneously advancing his home country’s agenda. Hammond accomplished this task with a measure of difficulty during his four-year station in the United States.  

George Washington's Marquee Tents

Throughout the course of George Washington’s military career, he owned a series of marquees – eighteenth century generals’ and field officers’ tents – which served jointly as his headquarters when no nearby stately homes were available, as well as dining and sleeping quarters. The long, oval-shaped tents were amongst the most essential and practical pieces of any general’s military equipage. Due to their heavy use and exposure to the elements, particularly throughout the eight-year-long American Revolutionary War, Washington wore through several sets. Today Washington’s surviving tents are the only existing military tents from the war. They serve as iconic symbols of the war and his military leadership.

Gouverneur Morris

Known as “the Penman of the Constitution,” the eccentric and outspoken Gouverneur Morris contributed in multiple ways to building the core foundation of American government.

Henry Knox

Henry Knox was a Revolutionary War general whose efforts to build a robust American militia were paramount to the colonies? victory against Britain, as well as the development of the early Republic?s armed forces.

Hudson River Campaign - 1779

Sir Henry Clinton’s 1779 Hudson River Campaign was one of multiple attempts by the British to take possession of the Hudson Highlands in the Hudson River Valley, which provided naval access sites and key fortifications. Although Clinton’s troops were initially victorious in raiding Continental Army fortifications and towns sympathetic to the patriot cause, these victories proved to be fleeting. In the end, the Clinton’s objective of crushing General George Washington’s forces went unaccomplished in the region.

Hugh Mercer

In the summer of 1776, when British military operations shifted from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, George Washington dispatched Brigadier General Hugh Mercer to confer with the Governor of New Jersey.

Israel Putnam

Israel “Old Put” Putnam had a distinguished military career, serving for the British in the Seven Years’ War, and then for the Continental Army rising to the rank of major general. He fought in major battles of the American Revolution, including the Siege of Boston and Battle of Long Island before being appointed to smaller commands. He corresponded with George Washington in order to receive instruction and guidance from the Commander-in-Chief.

John Armstrong Jr.

John Armstrong Jr. was an officer in the Continental Army and the anonymous author of the infamous Newburgh Address in March 1783. He survived the incident to have an active political career, serving as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as the U.S. ambassador to France, and as secretary of war during the War of 1812. 

John Cadwalader

Colonel John Cadwalader led the Third Battalion of the Philadelphia militia during the American War for Independence. His command reinforced the Continental Army led by General George Washington during the winter of 1776-1777, and Cadwalader played a crucial role at the Battle of Princeton in January 1777.

John Fitzgerald

Born in Ireland and described as “bred to trade,” John Fitzgerald immigrated to Virginia by 1773 and established himself in Alexandria as a merchant, gaining in that town the friendship of George Washington.1 Siding with the rebellious faction of northern Virginia, he was appointed an officer in the Fairfax County Independent Company in 1774.2 As tensions furthered with Great Britain, Fitzgerald was commissioned a Captain of the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army on February 9, 1776.3 In the summer of 1776, the battalion was ordered to join the main army in New York and arrived in time to counter the enemy at the Battle of Harlem Heights.4 The 3rd Regiment’s Major died from wounds received at the engagement and, as senior Captain, John Fitzgerald was promoted to that rank on October 3, 1776.5 Deeming John Fitzgerald to be “an Officer of unexceptionable merit,” George Washington appointed him an aide-de-camp when an opening on his staff arose a few weeks later.6 For the next two years, Lieutenant Colonel John Fitzgerald capably served in the Commander-in-Chief’s “military family” on the fields of battle at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown, and in non-battlefield conflict like the Conway Cabal incident.7 Wounded at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, Fitzgerald thereafter left the army, returning to Alexandria to marry and resume his commercial pursuits.8 However, his military accomplishments were not yet complete. When an enemy naval force arrived before Alexandria with intentions of burning the town in April of 1781, Fitzgerald “…made so good a display for the few men he could collect that the enemy were frightened and did not land, although they were five times the number of his men.”9

Joseph Brant

Joseph Brant, also referred to as Thayendanegea (1743–1807) was a Mohawk leader, military strategist, and diplomat.

Joseph Reed

Joseph Reed was one of George Washington’s aides-de-camp early in the American Revolutionary War and eventually held the ranks of colonel and adjutant-general.

Meschianza

On May 18, 1778, British officers in occupied Philadelphia threw an extravagant farewell party to honor the commanders of the Army and Navy, General Sir William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe.

New Windsor Cantonment

The American victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 marked the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War in North America. Until victory was declared, however, General George Washington remained steadfast in maintaining the Continental Army’s position. He divided his army by sending part of it south, under Major General Arthur St. Clair, and the rest north to Pompton, New Jersey, and New Windsor, New York. About 7,500 of Washington’s troops were stationed in New Windsor. Washington kept his headquarters a few miles away in Newburgh, New York, from 1782 to 1783, making Newburgh-New Windsor area the last winter cantonment (military quarters) of the main Continental Army.

New York Campaign

Quebec Campaign

Resignation of Military Commission

On December 23, 1783, then commander in chief of the Continental Army, George Washington, addressed the Continental Congress in Annapolis in order to resign his military commission. The resignation not only signified the end of Washington’s tenure as commander in chief, a position to which he was appointed to on May 9, 1775, but also Washington’s desire to return to his Mount Vernon estate as a private citizen. Americans ever since have viewed this event as a testament to Washington’s republican values, as he willingly surrendered power of the army back to the governmental body that first appointed him.

Richard Kidder Meade

Richard Kidder Meade was born July 14, 1746 into the respectable family of David and Susannah Meade of Nansemond County, Virginia.  As a youth, Richard Kidder Meade received a classical education in London, England, first at James Graham’s school and then at Fuller’s Academy.  In 1767, he married and embarked upon the life of a farmer in Prince George County, Virginia.  However, this was not to be.  By the end of 1771, all three of his children had tragically passed away and his wife died in January of 1774. 

Robert Hanson Harrison

Hailing from Charles County, Maryland, Robert Hanson Harrison established himself as an attorney-at-law in Fairfax County, Virginia, by 1769.  In this capacity, he came to the notice of George Washington and represented Washington on several legal matters in the years leading up to the War for Independence.  Harrison sided firmly with the American cause by actively participating in patriotic associations, from supporting the Virginia Nonimportation Resolves in 1770 to serving as the clerk for the Fairfax County Resolves in 1774.  Most significant of his undertakings, perhaps was his position as a military officer of the Fairfax Independent Company and as Washington's aide-de-camp.

Rochambeau

By the autumn of 1794, most of the prisoners in the Conciergerie, a Parisian jail that housed enemies?

Samuel Fraunces

Business owner, dedicated patriot, well-known chef, presidential steward

Siege of Charleston - 1776

The 1776 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, was a short but important military episode in the early years of the American Revolution. A small American Patriot force defending Charleston under the overall command of Major General Charles Lee successfully repelled a combined British assault force of 2,900 soldiers and seamen under Major General Sir Henry Clinton and Commodore Peter Parker on June 28, 1776.  American use of a fortification on Sullivan’s Island played a critical role in the victory, as the fort dominated the narrow channel into Charleston Harbor and prevented any British ships from entering.  The Patriots’ victory helped increase support for independence among South Carolina’s population and the British did not return to the Southern Colonies in force for nearly three years.

Siege of Charleston - 1780

The 1780 siege of Charleston was a decisive success for the British during the War of the American Revolution as they shifted their strategy to focus on the southern theater known as the Southern Strategy. Capture of the city and its harbor gave them a vital base from which to conduct operations in their attempt to rally the support of American Loyalists and reconquer the southern states. Conversely, the loss of Charleston was a painful blow to the American cause. It was made even worse by the capture of over 2,500 Continentals and numerous vital weapons and supplies.

Siege of Savannah

The Siege of Savannah (September 23 to October 18, 1779) refers to the failed attempt by American and French forces to retake the port city from its British occupiers. It was one of the costliest battles of the Revolutionary War in terms of casualties.

Sir Guy Carleton

Guy Carleton, First Baron of Dorchester, was the Governor of Quebec from 1768 to 1778, and Commander-in-Chief of British forces from 1782 to the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

Sir Henry Clinton

The only son of a British Admiral, Sir Henry Clinton was raised in pre-revolutionary America.

Southern Strategy

The Southern Strategy was a plan implemented by the British during the Revolutionary War to win the conflict by concentrating their forces in the southern states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Although the British proposed plans for a southern campaign as early as 1775, the strategy did not come to full fruition until France became America’s ally following the latter’s decisive win at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. France’s subsequent entry into the war in February 1778 forced the British to reevaluate the war in America. British Secretary of State for the American Department, Lord George Germain, responded by turning to the Southern Strategy. The strategy depended upon the assumption that many southerners remained loyal to the British. American loyalist support never matched Germain’s expectations, and harsh tactics used by the British on their southern campaign only further alienated southern loyalists. By 1781, the Southern Strategy failed to prevent British defeat in the war as the British were defeated at Yorktown.

Tench Tilghman

Of the thirty-two officers who assisted George Washington as aides-de-camp during the course of the War for American Independence, Tench Tilghman proved to be the Commander-in-Chief’s most loyal aide, serving with him from August 1776 to November 1783. After working closely with General Washington for only a few months in 1776, Tilghman would prophetically observe, “…indeed the Weight of the whole War may justly be said to lay upon his Shoulders…”1    

Wilhelm von Knyphausen

Wilhelm von Knyphausen, German landgrave and General Lieutenant, was a commander of German auxiliary troops during the American Revolutionary War. The British hired these troops, collectively known as Hessians because they predominantly came from the German state of Hesse-Cassel, as mercenaries. Knyphausen was notable for his role in the capture of Fort Washington (renamed Fort Knyphausen), and for his brief command of New York City during the British commanding general, Henry Clinton's, absence.

William Moultrie

William Moultrie was South Carolina’s highest-rankling Continental officer, finishing the Revolutionary War with the rank of major general. After the war, he served as the president of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina from 1784 until his death. Before the Revolutionary War, he served on colonial assemblies. From 1785 to 1787 and 1792 to 1794, he served as governor of South Carolina. As a planter in the lowcountry of South Carolina, he enslaved over two-hundred people.