Genealogy and History Fan

About two years into the American Revolutionary War, the British captured Philadelphia. The humiliated members of The Continental Congress had to flee the city to save their lives.

General George Washington led his army of 12,000 to a place called Valley Forge which was about 20 miles from Philadelphia. It was December with snow and a harsh wind blowing. There were no buildings to use as barracks. They pitched tents for some shelter while they built small huts of sticks and logs held together with mud plaster. Over 1,000 dirt floored drafty log huts were constructed by the army. Their clothes were little more than rags and some of the men had no shoes! These terrible conditions were made worse by few supplies (blankets, medicine etc.) and scant amounts of poor quality food.

Although no military battles were fought at Valley Forge, many lost their lives while camped there for six months. Typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia were the predominant killers - downing about 2,000 men. Also hundreds of horses starved to death.

General Washington stayed with his army throughout the winter (1777-1778). The men who did survive became stronger and more confident. By spring there was plenty of food and the men received proper clothing.

Their German born skilled drill sergeant Baron von Steuben, began rigorously training the army in much needed military tactics. They left Valley Forge with renewed energy, high spirits, greater abilities and a firm will to win the fight for independence.

I have two fifth great grandfathers with the last name of Miller from Pennsylvania. I have written about both of them in previous articles. They were soldiers in the Revolution. Frederick survived the War but Peter did not.

According to family records, Peter fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill and also took part in the Boston Tea Party. Sadly Peter lost his life at Valley Forge where he is buried. He left behind his wife and five young children.

May our Country ever remain “the land of the free and the home of the brave”.

Happy Birthday America!

June 17, 1775 was the date of the first major battle between the “Brits” and the Colonial troops. This fighting occurred in Boston and was known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, even though the actual location was on Breed’s Hill.

As 2000 British soldiers marched up the hill, the Americans were given the orders not to fire until they saw “the whites of their eyes.” The Americans held off the British in two separate attacks in quick succession. About 30 minutes later the British attacked a third time. The Colonists soon ran out of ammunition and were left only with bayonets to defend themselves. The British won this fight but lost over half their troops. The Americans lost about 400 men.

On July 6, 1775 The Continental Congress presented a declaration of the “Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms.” The proclamation listed the Colonists reason for fighting Great Britain. It also stated in no uncertain terms, that America was “resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves”.

In November the American Navy was established by Congress. Right before Christmas, British King George III issued a royal edict to close off the Colonies to all commerce and trade.

In June 1776 a huge British war fleet docked in New York Harbor. This fleet consisted of 30 battleships with 1200 cannons, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 Navy men, and 300 supply ships.

On June 7th Virginia Congressman Richard H. Lee presented a formal resolution to Congress that called for America to declare it’s independence from England. A few days later Congress appointed a committee to compose a declaration of independence. Committee members were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson, who was chosen to write the document was able to complete the first draft in only one day! Jefferson presented his paper to Congress on June 28th. A few changes were made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. On July 2nd, twelve of the colonial delegations (New York abstained) voted to support and adopt Lee’s resolution for independence.

On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress formally endorsed Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. Copies of the document were prepared and delivered to all of the Colonies. The actual signing did not occur until August 2nd. All 55 members of the Congress signed their names to that now famous and revered document. The war continued for nearly seven more years which will be topics for future articles.

My German born fifth great grandfather Frederick Miller, lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1776. He was eighteen when he became a soldier in the Revolution. He survived the war, went on to marry and was the father of seven children. I salute all the brave men who fought to make this a free and independent country.

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands… deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny… is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
Thomas Paine (written December 1776)

Have a happy and safe 4th of July celebration!

The American Civil War took over 600,00 lives and led to over 1,000,000 casualties. The war officially began on April 12, 1861. It lasted four long years where father fought son, brother fought brother and neighbor fought neighbor.

My second great-uncle, James Anthony Brown of Jackson County Indiana enlisted August 11, 1862 in Captain Ralph Applewhite’s K Company. This was the 67^th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteer Infantry. From September 14 -17 1862, the regiment was at the battle of Mumfordville, Kentucky. The regiment was captured on September 17^th but was paroled and sent to Indianapolis to reorganize. The 67^th went on to fight battles in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The 67^th lost one officer and 52 enlistees to wounds. Two officers and 194 men died from disease. Sadly James Anthony Brown died March 25, 1862 of a staph infection at the Washington Military Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Back in Indiana, James’ wife Jemima Johnson Brown waited at home with their four month old son and five other children. According to family stories, when word came of James’ death, Jemima “took to her bed” to die also. While in this depressed state, their house caught on fire. She was carried from the house in her bed sheets. It was reported that she sat on a nearby hillside and watched her house burn to the ground. Jemima did recover and raised her children on the government pension she received of $16.00 a month. Jemima remained in Jackson County where she died at the age of 81.

James and Jemima’s story is just one example of why the Civil War has been called the bloodiest and saddest war in American history.

“We here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that the government by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” ( portion of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address given November 19, 1863.)

Genealogy tip:  If your immigrant ancestor served in the Civil War he automatically became a U.S. citizen without going through the naturalization process.

A very talented and remarkable woman, Julia Ward Howe, is largely responsible for Mothers having a special day and also for writing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.  Julia Ward was born into a wealthy New York family on May 27, 1819. Her mother died when Julia was only five. Her education included literature, science, and math as well as French, Italian, German, Latin and Greek. She began writing professionally at the age of twenty.

Shortly before her twenty-fourth birthday Julia married the philanthropist and reformist Dr. Samuel G. Howe. Howe was the head of the famed Perkins Institute for the Blind. They were the parents of six children. Besides being an accomplished poet and playwright, Julia assisted her husband with his anti-slavery journal, the Boston Commonwealth.

In 1861, the Howes went to Washington to view a Union army parade. On their way back to Boston their group sang patriotic songs. After singing “John Brown’s Body”, a member of the group suggested that Julia should consider writing better lyrics for that tune. Later that evening Julia wrote the words to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Julia was paid $5.00 when the song was published in February 1862. The song became an inspiration for the Union soldiers fighting against slavery. I wonder if Julia could have imagined how beloved those words would become for countless people?

After the war Julia became interested in women’s rights and world peace. For eighteen years Julia served as president of the New England Women Suffrage Association. In 1870 she wrote a powerful article entitled Mother’s Day Proclamation. She translated this article into several languages and had it widely distributed. She successfully campaigned for an official holiday and celebration of Mother’s Day. (Mother and daughter Ann and Anna Jarvis also contributed to this crusade.)

Julia Ward Howe died on October 17, 1910. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day.

Julia Ward Howe was a grand lady and a great American!

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,

His truth is marching on. (Chorus)

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps;

The have built Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,

His day is marching on. (Chorus)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.

Oh, be swift, my soul to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on. (Chorus)

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on. (Chorus)

Chorus:

Glory, glory hallelujah! Glory, glory hallelujah!

Glory, glory hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

As  tax day, April 15^th draws near taxes are on many people’s minds. Did you know that the average person works 2 ½ hours everyday just to pay that day’s share of taxes? Taxes have no doubt been a “sore point” for ages.

The theme “no taxation without representation”, had been heard in Boston as early as 1753. But it took 23 more frustrating years for things to begin to change. Was the high tax on the Colonist’s beloved tea “the straw that broke the camel’s back”? Actually, the tax was on all British imports, but the main point was that the colonies had no representatives in Parliament. Something had to be done, so a relatively small group of men took action and dumped a huge shipment of tea.

There are some events that took place during the historic time when America was declaring its independence from England that are so historic, so iconic that they have taken on the status of myth and legend as much as history. And certainly the Boston Tea Party fits that description. .

But the events of December 16, 1776 were not fable or myth but real and important parts of the development of the American Revolution that was crucial to the early foundation of this country. The situation of taxation that was being imposed by England on goods that were coming into the colonies was one of serious stress on the colonists because they had no control over those taxes.

Finally, it was time for the colonists to make a statement that this unethical and immoral use of taxes on tea was for all intents and purposes an act of war and they were going to treat it as such. Badly disguised as Indians, the brave colonists boarded the HMS Dartmouth and her sister ships, the HMS Beaver and the HMS Eleanor and skillfully and efficiently dumped the entire delivery of tea into Boston harbor. All totaled, over forty five tons of tea went into the water that night.

This event was pivotal in pushing the hostilities between England and the colonies past the “nuisance” stage and setting forces in motion for war. But more than that, it was such a bold statement of defiance that many colonists were inspired to join the increasing chorus calling for war and independence.

For loyal Britains, the idea of separating and forming their own country was hard to grasp. But the leadership of the men who planned and executed the Boston Tea Party demonstrated a new independent spirit. This was the kind of backbone, the sense of pride and independence that was to come to define the American spirit in years ahead. But it took the courage and boldness of this little band of men to demonstrate that being trod on by a foreign tyrant was not something we had to put up with.

It made a statement to England and showed the colonists that revolution was possible and they really could think of themselves as free people who would bow to no king. From that time forward the independence of America was inevitable. These visionary leaders showed us an America that gave power to its people, not to kings or governments. The result in how America works and how our lives are lived is the direct outcome of bold protests such as the Boston Tea Party.

My 5^th great grandfather, Peter Miller, according to family stories was one of the 300 members of the Boston Tea Party. He was a coppersmith in Boston before joining the fight for independence.

How grateful I am for men (and women) who have stood up and made a positive difference for all of us. May we remember and honor their lives and accomplishments.

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From the following article we learn some of the reasons why people trace their family history. Ready this for some interesting ideas.

What is Genealogy?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Javier_Colayco]Javier Colayco

Genealogy, generally defined, is the study of one’s ancestry. However, in actuality, genealogy is much more involved and interesting than its general definition lets on.

When you begin studying genealogy, you realize just how much interesting information your family history can reveal. Genealogy can shed light on where your ancestors came from, where they lived, what they did for a living, who they married and what property they owned.

Almost everyone, whether they realize it or not, has participated in some form of genealogy activity. In grade school, did you ever make a family tree? That’s genealogy! Genealogy can be as simple as making a record of your family tree from you to your great grandparents or as complex as tracing your entire lineage back to ancient times.

The history of genealogy dates back to the Old Testament of The Bible. In the very first book, the Book of Genesis, we see a family’s bloodline narrated and the importance of genealogy. The New Testament would later also reflect the importance of genealogy in religion and society. Both the Books of Matthew and Luke outline the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth.

But The Bible is not the only written record that lends credence to the importance of genealogy. Throughout history we find records of disputes, murders and even wars where genealogy played a part in the story. Ties to royalty, rights to inheritances and eligibility for rulership are all tied to a person’s heritage, and genealogy provides the map that illustrates who has right to what claims.

There are a number of instances throughout history in which genealogy played an important role as certain dramas unfolded before humanity. From something as significant as the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth to something as modernly-trivial as the true father of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, genealogy has oftentimes been at the forefront as history played itself out.

Genealogy also played a large role in England’s historical claim to the throne of France. King Edward III was a Norman-French descendant. When his uncle, Charles IV of France, passed away Edward tried to lay claim to the French throne.

He tried convincing the powers that be that even though his mother could not lay claim to the throne because she was a woman, she could pass on the bloodline’s right to the throne, making him the rightful ruler of France. Of course, the descendants of the male side of the bloodline didn’t agree and the argument eventually led to the Hundred Year’s War.

England and France aren’t the only countries to have disputes over who would be the rightful heir of a throne because of genealogy. Rowena’s, Byzantium, Portugal, and even ancient Egypt all have histories that are rich in bloodline disputes.

Genealogy finds aren’t all ancient history. Modern genealogy issues have hit the media recently. Al Sharpton’s recent discovery is proof of the ironies that genealogy may uncover. Mr. Sharpton, who earlier this year stated that he might run for president in 2008, recently discovered through genealogy research that his great-grandfather was a slave owned by none other than Senator Strom Thurman’s great-great-grandfather. In fact, the two may be related by blood.

Then, of course, there are the less-significant genealogy disputes that don’t have nearly as much importance as some of these historical and political events, but they get enough media coverage to make them world famous. The true family tree of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter is just one instance. Perhaps this dispute over lineage wasn’t historically significant, but it appears that many found it to be a topic of intense interest.

There are a number of reasons why people pursue genealogy. From something as simple as a mild interest in one’s family history to something as significant as trying to find the parts of a broken family and piece them back together, the reasons for studying genealogy are numerous.

Genealogy can help a person get in touch with who they really are. You can find out who your ancestors were, what they did, where they lived, and more. By tracing your roots, you not only learn about those in your bloodline who have gone before you, but you can research and gain an understanding of these members of your family that you never had the chance to meet.

While genealogy doesn’t always dig up buried treasure, it is indeed a possibility. Did you have a rich great uncle who died without any heirs? One you never knew about? If you did, genealogy could help you uncover the details that would help you claim what was rightfully yours.

There have been times throughout history when extreme circumstances split families apart. World War II, for instance, tore brother from sister and mother from child. Genealogy is a tool that can help piece broken families back together and thousands of people have done just that.

Sometimes genealogy is just plain fun. Wouldn’t it be exciting to find out you were a distant cousin of a famous celebrity, or that your great-great-great-great grandfather was a king? Many times genealogy can uncover interesting and exciting facts about a person’s family tree.

Genealogy, while always important, didn’t experience such a widespread explosion in popularity until the advent of the Internet. Gone are the days when researching your family tree meant running from one public records facility to the next, hoping you could find missing pieces to the puzzle by mailing away for information that might never arrive.

With more and more public records being made available online, priceless genealogy information is just a mouse click away and easier than ever to create a fluid family tree. Its no wonder millions of Internet users have started tracing their family lines on the Web. What used to take years to accomplish can now be done in a matter of days or weeks.

With genealogy becoming more and more popular and advanced genealogy tools now so readily available, there really hasn’t been a better time to get involved. Whether you only want to trace your family history back a few generations or you want to see just how far back you can climb up your family tree, the genealogy tools now available will make the process faster, more efficient and much more enjoyable.

Javier Colayco is the founder of TribalJunction.com ( http://www.tribaljunction.com), a site that makes it easy to create a family tree and find distant relatives. With additional features like group email, customizable user profiles and more, Tribal Junction also helps families keep in touch.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Javier_Colayco http://EzineArticles.com/?What-is-Genealogy?&id=839230

Recently we learned that Barack Obama is distantly related to six presidents and to Brad Pitt. Hillary Clinton is distantly related to Angelina Jolie, Camilla Parker-Boles and Madonna. John McCain is a 6^th cousin of first lady Laura Bush. In my own genealogy, I have a President (Harry Truman) and an outlaw (Jesse James) from the same family line. You never know who might turn up in your family!

“Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

In recent months leading up to the Primary elections, we heard much about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial retired minister of the church that Barack Obama had attended for 20 years. Some say it doesn’t really matter what Rev. Wright speaks from the pulpit. Could Wright’s views really have little or no influence on his parishioners? This current story reminds me of a very old family story that shows the great influence that one minister had on his congregation.

Rev. Peter Muhlenberg, a Lutheran Minister in Shenandoah County, Virginia was chosen to head a “Committee of Safety” on January 10, 1775. He began to enlist Germans and others in the Valley for what many called the “inevitable conflict”.

In the early morning of April 19, 1775 some 70 armed militiamen from Massachusetts fixed upon British guardsmen. This unordered attack which is known as “the shot heard around the world” was what officially began the American Revolution.

A few days later on April 23rd, Congress ordered 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized. On May 15th, Congress placed the country in a “state of defense.” One month later George Washington was appointed by a unanimous vote to become the General and Commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.

Meanwhile down in Virginia, Rev. Muhlenberg, preached his final sermon to his parishioners. He resigned as their minister and then threw off his robes. Underneath his robes was the uniform of a Colonel in the Continental Army (blue coat with yellow buttons worn over white breeches). He marched out of the church with the male members of the congregation following him to the recruiting office! We believe that one of our relatives, William Clevenger, was one of those men who was persuaded by his pastor, to sign up for the “cause of independence”.

I can imagine that the good Reverent on that day may have quoted Psalm 31:24 “Be ye of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”

Col. Muhlenberg and his regiment served with Washington at Morristown, New Jersey where Muhlenberg was promoted to Brigadier-General. It has been reported that William Clevenger was also there at Morristown. William was later wounded at the battle of Monmouth.

Do you believe that some ministers of today are over-stepping their bounds? Do you believe they should espouse their political and “non-traditional” views from the pulpit? Has worshipping God, loving our neighbor and serving mankind been put on the back burner for some in this political year? Tell me what you think.

As the Civil War came to an end, it was important to take the accomplishments that had been made and transition them into the law of the land. This needed to be done before any ground was lost, and as reconstruction returned the nation to one country rather than two warring parties. The upheaval of society that the abolition of slavery represented and the massive surge forward for black history was so important that it had to be made permanent with amendments to the constitution.

The work to change a nation from one of slavery to one of equality started with three important amendments to the constitution. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery forever and the fourteenth amendment reversed the negative effects of the Dred Scott decision providing equal protection under the law for all citizens of this country regardless of race, color or creed.

Next came the fifteenth amendment which went further than just establishing the basic human rights of the African American community. It made a change so fundamental to how America works that its ramifications were sweeping and far reaching down to this day. The text of the amendment is direct and elegant…

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.This was a tremendous leap forward for the black community when this amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870. It finally meant that the African American population in this country could stand up and be counted and start making a mark on politics.But like so many other great advances in black history, earning the right to vote didn’t automatically make it easy to vote. There was staunch resistance to actually allowing blacks to go to the polling booth in many communities across the country. The Klu Klux Klan engaged in intimidation tactics to try to keep African Americans home from the polls. In Louisiana, the mob attempts to stop the institutions of a legally elected and integrated local government had to be broken up by federal troops sent in by Ulysses S. Grant.

Probably the most serious threat to the actual workability of the fifteenth amendment was the introduction of the poll tax and other registration tricks that were used such as literacy tests and voter qualification tests. This practice became such a problem that it instigated the passage of the twenty fourth amendment which outlawed poll taxes which were only designed to usurp the rights of African Americans to vote.

But these desperate attempts could not stop the march of justice and democracy to assure that voting rights were available to all Americans. Before long blacks were occupying positions of influence and decision making in state legislatures and at the federal level. It’s been a long struggle but even in the last few decades we have seen positions of high honor and influence held by African Americans such as Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. And if Barack Obama wins the democratic nomination, that will be yet another break through for a proud man and a proud people.

“If liberty and equality are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be attained when all persons share in government to the utmost.”

Aristotle (384-323 B.C.)

May we all exercise our right to vote so we can all be a part of the governing process. But we should also care enough to learn about the candidates and issues and vote for who we think would be the best for our country.

“Every voter ought not merely to vote, but to vote under the inspiration of the high purpose to serve a nation.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)

Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her father James McCauley, was a carpenter and her mother Leona Edwards, was a teacher. Rosa, as a child, was small for her age and suffered poor health. She was raised on her maternal grandparents farm near Montgomery, Alabama. She lived there with her grandparents, her mother and her younger brother Sylvester. Rosa was home schooled by her mother until she was 11 years old. She enrolled in school to take academic and vocational classes but had to drop out to help care for her grandmother and mother who became ill.

In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks who was a barber from Montgomery. After her marriage Rosa was employed as a domestic worker and also as a hospital aide. With her husband’s encouragement, Rosa finished high school in 1933. This was at a time when less than 7% of African American had a high school diploma.

Rosa and her husband Raymond were members of the NAACP. She served for many years as the secretary of the Montgomery chapter.

In 1955, Rosa worked at Montgomery Fair, a department store in downtown Montgomery. She boarded her usual bus at 6pm, Thursday December 1, to go home. She paid the fare and sat in the first row of seats in the “colored section”. When the bus became crowded, the bus driver ordered Rosa to relinquish her seat to a white man as was the cultural order of things at that time. But Rosa Parks was not interested in seeing that the cultural order of things continue. She refused to give up that seat.

The explosion of outrage and social change that was released by that one simple act of “civil disobedience” is the watershed moment that anyone affected by the civil rights movement points to as the most important event in modern black history. Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving her seat up that day. Her trial for that act of “civil disobedience” brought to the national spotlight another important leader in the civil rights movement by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This one event began to escalate and gather energy in the black community. It was an exciting and somewhat frightening time as the black community was energized and began to organize around these two courageous leaders. The result was the most powerful civil rights protests in the history of the movement occurred. This protest came to be known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Rosa Parks was not a trained instigator or a skilled manipulator of groups. She was just a citizen and an “ordinary” woman with simple daily needs. She was not looking to start a nation changing civil rights movement when she refused to give up her bus seat.

Rosa Parks won the right to be treated as a human being for herself and for her people across America and even around the world. She is an inspiration to us all that we too must demand the right of simple human dignity for all people who are citizens of this great land. 

In 1996, President Bill Clinton presented Rosa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1999 she was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

Rosa Parks died October 24, 2005. President George Bush ordered that all U.S. flags in public areas be flown at half-staff on the day of her funeral. She was the 31^st person and the 1^st woman whose body lay in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

The infamous bus is at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan. On the 50^th anniversary of her arrest, President Bush declared that a statue of Parks be included in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. You’re come a long way Rosa!

In the United States we have been blessed to have had some truly outstanding leaders. On almost anyone’s “top ten” list of great presidents, George Washington will usually be at the top of the list. His stature in American history is legendary and the respect Americans have for him, their first president, borders on adoration.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father Augustine Washington, owned a large tobacco plantation. George learned the manners and received the education befitting a Virginia gentleman.

As a teenager, George’s main interest seemed to be his military training and western land expansion! At age 16, he assisted in surveying the Shenandoah Valley on behalf of Lord Thomas Fairfax who was a distant relative.

At age 22 George received a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia. He fought in skirmishes in a conflict which grew into the French and Indian War. The following year he began serving as an aide to General Edward Braddock. During this time he escaped injury even though 4 bullets tore through his jacket. He also had 2 horses shot from under him and was still unhurt.

When commanding the troops during the Revolutionary War, a famous incident that has been captured beautifully by artists, was his decision to cross the Delaware in New Jersey to stage a surprise attack. It was yet another brilliant maneuver that showed his firm grasp of military strategy and only served to add to his fame and reputation as an outstanding leader of men. His skills on the battlefield earned him the title of Commander-in-Chief of the American Army when the continental congress created that role in 1775. Small wonder when he ascended to the presidency some years later, he carried the title of Commander-in-Chief with him to the presidency where it continues to reside today.

After the war, Washington was interested in retiring from public life but he was never one to turn away when his nation needed him. And needed him it did as he presided over the Continental Congress to assure the successful drafting of the US Constitution. Of the many great accomplishments of his life, his ability to provide leadership and inspiration to that assembly to produce this masterpiece, the U.S. Constitution, would certainly be ranked as perhaps his finest hour.

George Washington was rewarded for his superior leadership skills when he was given the awesome responsibility of serving as the first President of the United States. His wisdom and insight into what the nation needed at each stage of its early development made him the man of the hour for a struggling republic. Few recognize that one of his greatest contributions to the presidency was recognizing that the nation was torn and weary of war. So using his considerable influence and negotiating skills, Washington signed a number of important treaties that resulted in years of peace that were needed to turn the country from thoughts of war to thoughts of building a great nation.

Washington never tired of providing leadership for two terms as the first American president and it was he who decided not to serve a third term and returned once again to private life. But his impact on the nation and the world was profound and long lasting. It was the kind of nation shaping influence that truly earned him the title “Father of our Country .”

On December 14, 1799, within 3 years after his retirement to Mount Vernon, he died of a throat infection. For months the nation mourned his passing.

One of my favorite quotes by George Washington is: “Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the nations of the world would live by this creed!

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