Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-07-02
George Washington.

which tried mems souls" to make
q special allusion to the one whose
exalted patriotism, unflinching BRAY
ely, and sterling integrity, placed
him in the command of the armies
of the Revolution. WASHINGTON, the
revered name which sheds imper-
ishable glory upon our beloved Ter
ritory, and which We proudly bear
as part of the distinctive appellation
of our journal, is handed down un-
sullied by any of the corruptions or
political intrigues that have tarn-
ished the record of many who have
achieved fame on the fields of battle.
1t is the one beacon light to which
all can turn with pride and satisfac-
ton, the glorious record which all
may reverence and seek to emulate.
George Washington, familiarity
known as the /" Father of his Coun-
,rv," was born in Westmorland
county. Virginia, Feb. 22d, 1882.
His opportunities for education were
few, but such as they were, laid the
foundation for a character full of
good discipline and sound principles.
His father died when hs was but
ten years of age, and he was thrown,
in great measure upon his own re-
sources for acquiring the varied in
formation which so materially shaped
his subsequent career. His mind
being naturally mathematical and
philosophical, he prepared himself
to he useful to his fellow citizens as
q civil engineer, and as the country
was wild, and much of it then I'M
surveyed, he occasionally found
agreeable and profitable employment
in surveying different parts of his
native State. He also directed much
of his attention to the science of
arms, in the use of which every
young man was instructed, in order
to repel the incursions of the Indi-
ans, who were often led ON by skill
full Frenchmen. At the age of
nineteen he was appointed one OF
the acknowledgements of Virginia,
which gave him the rank of ma jor,
and soon after he was advanced to q
colonelcy and sent by Gov. Dinwid-
die to the Ohio with dispatches to
the French commander, vino was
erecting Notifications from Canada
to New Orleans, in violation Of ex-
listing treaties.
In the Spring of 1855, Washington
was pursuaded to accompany Gen
eral Braddock as an aid, with the
rank of colonel, in his disastrous ex-
petition against Fort Du Quesne;
and had his advice been followed on
that occasion, the result would have
been very different.
Three years afterwards (175S)
Washington commanded the Virgin
ians in another expedition against
the fort, which terminated success
fully. At the close of the campaign
be left the army, and was soon after
married to Mrs. Martha Curtis, (the
widow of Col. Daniel Parke Curtis, J
whose maiden name was cambridge,
and whose intelligent and patriotic
conduct, as wife and widow, will
ever be gratefully remew bered in
American annals.
In 1869 he was elected to the
House of Burgesses, and continued
to be returned to that body, with
the exception of occasional intervals,
until 1774, when he was sent to
represent Virginia in the Continent
al Congress. His well-tempered
zeal and his military skill, which en-
abled him to suggest the most prop
er means for national defense, if the
country were urged to extremities,
soon fixed all eyes upon him, as one
we'll qualified to direct in the hour
of peril; and accordingly, after the
first scene of the revolutionary drama
was opened at Lexington and Con-
cord, and an army had concentrated
at Cambridge, he was on the 18th of
June, 1775, unanimously appointed
commander-in-chief of the American
forces. The self-sacrifcing spirit
which governed his future course ia
too we'll known to require any eluci-
dation.
1