Speech...less.

:::sigh::: I mean, come on, it's George Washington. How hard could it be? And yet I am opressed by an incredible lack of enthusiasm and energy about memorizing this speech. And it happens to be due tomorrow. Wish me luck!

George Washington. The man is something of a legend to us Americans. The name itself means dignity, honor, courage, leadership, patriotism. George Washington was not only a family man, distinguished citizen, and prominent politician, but a war hero.

Born on February 22, 1732, George Washington was the youngest of three siblings, and the only son of his father’s second marriage, making a big age difference between him and his older brothers. He was raised on Ferry Farm in Stafford County Virginia, and educated by his father and eldest brother until he took a job as a serveyor as a young man. Washington’s experience as a serveyor gave him a good geographical knowledge of his homeland, knowledge that would play a key role in his military career. At age 20, George applied for command in the Virginia militia. He promptly received the possition of Major. Soon after came the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War. Washington was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and led an expedition to Fort Duquesne. His mission: to drive out the French Canadian forces. On their way, Washington’s regiment ambushed a french scout party, which had been sent to make peaceful negotiations with Washington and his men. However, Washington did not know this, and when Jumonville, the leader of the scout party handed him papers to prove the fact, one of the indian allies with Washington killed Jumonville.

Expecting a French attack from Fort Duquesne, Washington decided it would be wise to fortify his position. Thus he built Fort Necessity. Fort Necessity was aptly named. It was built in haste, more so to keep Washington’s own men out of the supplies than to be anything defendable. It consisted of a a palisade en-circling a small hut which held the supplies. Around it all, the men a dug a trench. Then the French came: 600 French soldiers and 100 indians. Much more than Washington had been told to expect, and lead by the brother of the murdered Jumonville, Coulon de Villiers. After an semi-successful counter-attack, the Virginias and British regulars fell back to Fort Necessity, where the Frenched pinned them in with musket fire. It began to rain, and the troops in the trenches were soon standing in water up to their waste. Water which eventually turned to blood. Finally Washington surrendered. He and his men were alowed safe return to Virginia where Washington expected to find shame, but instead, found thanks and honor, the defeat being blamed on poor supplies and support.

A year later, British General Braddock led an expedition to finish the job, Washington serving as one of his aids. As the British army of over 1400 began to cross the Monongahella River, they unexpectedly encountered a French counter strike force. The French and Indian forces, recovering from the sruprise much better than the British troops, scattered into the woods and began pouring bullets into the tightly packed, confused British regulars. Washington begged Braddock to let the men break ranks and fight indian style, taking cover in the woods. Braddock said no. As a result, the French and Indians had a large, solid mass of red uniforms as a target, while the British troopers had moving, scattered, invisible Indians and French soldiers as targets. The battle was disastrous. Eventually Braddock was shot from his horse. Washington then assumed command and succeeded in slapping together a rear guard, allowing what remained of the British force to fall back to safety. Back home, Washington was praised and toasted as “The Hero of Monongahela”. The British casualties amounted to over 800 dead and wounded, more than half their original force, while the French and Indians casualties were only 39 total. This served as a hard learned lesson that Washington would put to effective use during the Revolution.

After Braddock’s Defeat, Washington retired form the military service and married Martha Custis. Together they moved to Mount Vernon and raised the two children Martha had had from her previous marriage. But it wasn’t long before the Revolution began, and Washington was called back to military service as the Commander and Chief of the Contenintal Army. From then on, Washington’s military career is marked with spectacular victories, incredible military exploits, and honorable defeats, from the Battle of Long Island, Crossing the Delaware, Valley Forge, and finally, his great victory at Yorktown and the end of the Revolution. Next came his presidencey, and finally George was able to settle down and live the life of an aristocratic farmer, what he had always wanted to do. One day, Washington was out supervising his farms on horsback in snow, hail, and freezing rain. When he returned home to dinner, he didn’t change out of his wet clothes. The next morning, George Washington woke with a bad cold and fever, which soon developed into pnuemonia. Due to a lack of medical knowledge at the time, doctors knew no better than to draw blood. George Washington died on December 14, 1799. His last words were, “Tis Well.”