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The Estate

George Washington

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A-Z Index

The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington

American West

Washington as a Young Surveyor

The "Indian Prophecy" and the "Bulletproof President"

The “Indian Prophecy” is to a legend told about George Washington’s miraculous survival at the Battle of the Monongahela, and a subsequent encounter he had with an Indigenous sachem. A variant version is sometimes known as “the Bulletproof President.”1 The tale is credited to Washington’s doctor and friend James Craik, and the fullest version was published by Washington’s step-grandson George Washington Parke Custis in the 1820s.

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Bullskin Lands

Bullskin Run, also known as Bullskin Creek, is a tributary of the Shenandoah River, located in present-day Jefferson County West Virginia, formerly part of Frederick County in Virginia.  The surrounding Bullskin Lands, taking their name from the creek, are comprised of fertile farmland characteristic of the Shenandoah Valley. George Washington began acquiring tracts of land along Bullskin Run while in the service of Lord Thomas Fairfax as a young surveyor in the 1750s.  He continued to expand his holdings along Bullskin Run, eventually owning thousands of acres of property, tracts of which he leased to tenant farmers while operating his own personal plantation.

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Hugh Henry Brackenridge

Hugh Henry Brackenridge was a Scottish-born Pennsylvanian preacher, politician, writer, and jurist, who – though not strictly a Founding Father himself – was intimately familiar with several founders, James Madison in particular.

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Northwest Ordinance

After gaining independence from Great Britain, one of the many contentious issues facing the United States were competing claims to western lands. These lands were generally referred to as the Northwest Territory and included the current states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.

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Proclamation Line of 1763

The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a British-produced boundary marked in the Appalachian Mountains at the Eastern Continental Divide.

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The "Indian Prophecy" and the "Bulletproof President"

The “Indian Prophecy” is to a legend told about George Washington’s miraculous survival at the Battle of the Monongahela, and a subsequent encounter he had with an Indigenous sachem. A variant version is sometimes known as “the Bulletproof President.”1 The tale is credited to Washington’s doctor and friend James Craik, and the fullest version was published by Washington’s step-grandson George Washington Parke Custis in the 1820s.

Learn more