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FREDERICKSBURG, 1758—George Washington, son of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, has been elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses while serving with the British regulars at Fort Cumberland. Although urged by friends to return to the colony of Virginia and “show his face,” Washington opted to remain with his men and was successful in winning a seat in the House from Frederick County.
VALLEY FORGE, 1777-1778—General Washington struggles to keep his troops alive and well in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, this winter. Inadequate shipments of food, clothing, and supplies have left the regiments in shambles; poor hygiene and rampant disease threaten the lives of all the soldiers camped there. General Washington has made repeated appeals for increased supplies, but the mismanagement of the supply trade has yet to be resolved. In the meantime, General Washington struggles alongside his men while political rivals threaten to remove his power. Military and civilian critics, particularly Thomas Conway and Dr. Benjamin Rush, feel that there are several men who are better suited to lead the Continental army.
YORKTOWN, 1781—After losing two children in infancy and her daughter Patsy to epilepsy, Martha Washington lost her last child to camp fever. John Parke Custis, known as Jacky to family and friends passed away on November 5 at Yorktown, merely seventeen days after the surrender of Britain's General Cornwallis. Jacky leaves behind a wife and four children. General and Mrs. Washington will raise the younger two children, Eleanor “Nelly” Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, at Mount Vernon, their home in Virginia.
NEW YORK, 1789 (AP)—After many months of debate to establish our new American government, the first official election was held on February 4, 1789. George Washington has received all 69 electoral votes! Washington, who will be inaugurated on April 30 of this year, accepted his new office, despite his overwhelming desire to return to his estate at Mount Vernon: “I was summoned by my country . . . from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and . . . with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years.” Washington and his wife Martha will move to the country’s capital, New York City.
PHILADELPHIA, 1793 (AP)—President George Washington has won his second election to the presidency of the United States! The inauguration will take place on March 4 in Philadelphia, the new capital of the United States. However, the prospect of returning to the stress of presidential life has left Washington doubtful. Washington wrote to his friend Henry Lee, “that it was after a long and painful conflict in my own breast, that I was withheld fro requesting, in time, that no votes might be thrown away upon me; it being my fixed determination to return to the walks of private life.” The next four years do in fact promise to be difficult; factionalism has already begun to sprout in government over constitutional interpretation. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was the driving force behind the creation of the National Bank and National Mint, will remain in the service of the President. Edmund Randolph will replace Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state.
PHILADELPHIA, 1794—Western Pennsylvanians have turned their resentment over recent taxes on whiskey into a violent opposition. They are launching the first major civil disturbance of President Washington’s term in office. Last week, U.S. Marshal David Lenox met with resistance in Westmoreland County while trying to collect taxes on locally distilled liquor. Military action will be taken, much to the regret of the President: “I have accordingly determined to do so, feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but withal, the most solemn conviction, that the essential interests of the Union demand it.” The army is being organized from other northern states, and it will advance into Pennsylvania shortly.
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