National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-02-23

Of these United States, was born Feb. IL,
1872 Told style) in Washington parish,
Westmoreland county, Va, near tho juno
tion of Pope's creek with the Potomac.
His father. Augustine Washington, was
twice married, and the second wife, Mary
Ball, was tho mother Of him whom the
nation honors to-day. Early in his child
hood the home whore Washington was
born was destroyed by fire, and Angus
tine Washington removed then, with his
wife and Eve children, TO another estate
which he owned on the north bank of the
Rappahannook, near Fredericksburg. In
MAS Augustine Washington died. leaving
\ largo landed estate aud that part which
b now historic as the home Of tho father
of his country known as Mount Vernon,
was by will loft to Lawrence. the elder
brother Of Gen. Washington.
AUGUSTINE wAsHINGToN,
f-om what little history tells us Of him,
was man ofgreat capacities and possessed
Of an education far beyond that Of
the majority Of the neighboring gentry,
and 1t was from him that George Wash.
inRton learned the higher mathematics
that made him at the ago Of IS the most
expert and best known surveyor in all
Virginia. OF Mary Ball, tho mother Of
washington, the hero's own writings show
that he inherited many Of the best traits
that made him so great leader of men;
wisdom, prudence, and discretion, and
grand calmness and dignity of bearing
that only on very few known occasions
was lost sight Of in the inherited fiery
Temperament of his fathers warrior an
cestors.
Soon aftor the death Of Augustine
Washington the family removed TO the
estate devised to Lawrence, who was then
captain in one Of tho three American
regiments with Admiral Vernon in the
great expedition to the Spanish Main
and Cartagens, and it was from this cir
cumstance that
THE NAME MOUNT VERNON"
was conferred by Capt. Washington upon
his estate in honor of his admired and
gallant commander. 1t was soon after
ward, In 1746, whom about IA years of
age and through the influence Of Admiral
Vernon, that Washington was appointed
q midshipman in tho British navy, and
IL is related that his luggage was already
on board n frigate then lying in the
Potomac, near Piscataway creek, when,
in compliance with the tears and en-
treaties of his widowed mother, no
turned back and declined his warrant,
although strongly tempted by the pros
poet of seeing the world afloat under the
ensign Of his then ruler.
Washington, as above told, early adopted
surveying as q profession, aud was largely
employed by that Lord Fairfax who was
the owner Of more than 5000, 900 acres Of
Virginia lands, which he had inherited
from his mother, "a daughter of Lord Culpep-
per. In this employment the young survey
or became intimately acquainted with the
hv &c ha do nd
the country west to the Ohio, and that
led, in 1751, to his appointment as major
and adjutant general Of the forces raised
to protect the western frontier against the
already anticipated French and Indian
war. In that same year he was forced to
resign his commission, in order to accom-
pany his brother Lawrence to the West
Indies in search for health. In the next
year Lawrence died, and, being followed
soon after by his iNhat daughter, George
Washington succeeded to the estsss that is
now ~
THE MECCA OF ALL PATRIo ITO AMER
-. ICANs.
In the fall of 1853 Washington, not yet
% years Of age, was selected by Gov. Din
widdie, of Virginia, to bear dispatches to
the French commandant on the lakes,
and on the information gained on tho
raised in the next year for frontier SER
vice, Of which Washington. declining the
command was made lieutenant colonel,
but not long after became its colonel.
With this command Washington was first
in action on May %, 1854, in skirmish
near Great Meadows, in Pennsylvania,
where all of the French command were
either killed or captured. In the next
year occurred the disastrous expedition
of Braddock against Fort Duquesne, in
which Washington (who had resigned his
commission in disgust at the custom which
gave precedence to any officer holding a
royal commission over all colonial Off
oers), served as q volunteer aid-de-camp
to Gen. Braddock. In the same year a
brigade was raised TO protect tho Virginia
frontier, the command of which was given
to Washington, and this he retained
until the end of the French war, when
he resigned. During this period of SER
vice he made strong efforts to obtain pro-
motion to
A ROYAL COMMISSION IN THE BRITISH
ARMY,
but received. as another historian tell us,
nothing but a good-natured rebuke from
George ii and sneer from Horace Wal
pole"
In the summer of 1858 his long wooing
Of Mistress Martha Gusts, the widow of
John Parke Gusts, neighbor, resulted
IN an engagement of marriage, which was
consummated Jan. H. 1853, and he re-
Tired to his Mount Vernon estate to con-
nuct his private affairs during the greater
portions of each year, while his winters
were spent at the colonial capitol OF Will
liamsburg in attendance on the general
assembly, of which he was member.
The ties that bound the colonies and
the mother country, as tho years passed
by, grew with each year wider space
apart, and while Washington labored to
soothe his countrymen and heal the
wounds OF dlscord, when the time for
action came no was of tue first to stand
forward with hand and sword. booted and
spurred for the struggle which he car
ried to the successful end that was then
the wonder, as it Is now the admiration,
Of the world.
After the "shot heard round the world"
was fired at Lexington the continent al
congress, on June 10, 1775 elected Con.
Washington, then 43 years old,
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF THE AR
AnES"
of the colonies, and in the same month
he assumed command Of the little forces
at Boston. OF his subsequent career
during the war Of the revolution the
world knows better than these columns
can tell of how he battled with the
trained veterans Of the British army and
Its mercenary allies; of his patient forbear-
ance with the trnculent brAggart Lee aud
others. and his endurance in hardshlps,
which he shared alike with his suffering
subordinates, until the glorious end came
when he laid down his sword and made
his famous parting address Dec 90, 1888,
ut Annapolis before the congress of the
colonies he had moulded into freed
nation.
Retiring again to his beloved Mount
Vernon he remained quietly until May,
1857, when he went to Philadelphia as a
member Of the convention which framed