e might cause him to face.
The nature of each ordeal must be briefly stated; brief also, but
sufficient, the account of the way he accomplished it. I have quoted
freely from his letters wherever it seemed fitting, first, because in
them you get his personal authentic statement of what happened as he
saw it, and you get also his purpose in making any move; and next,
because nothing so well reveals the real George Washington as those
letters do. Whoever will steep himself in them will hardly declare
that their writer remains an elusive person beyond finding out or
understanding. In the course of reading them you will come upon many
of those "imponderables" which are the secret soul of statecraft.

And so with all humility--for no one can spend much time with
Washington, and not feel profound humility--I leave this little sketch
to its fate, and hope that some readers will find in it what I strove
to put in it.

W.R.T.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS _June 11, 1922_

CONTENTS

I. ORIGINS AND YOUTH
II. MARRIAGE. THE LIFE OF A PLANTER
III. THE FIRST GUN
IV. BOSTON FREED
V. TRENTON AND VALLEY FORGE
VI. AID FROM FRANCE; TRAITORS
VII. WASHINGTON RETURNS TO PEACE
VIII. WELDING THE NATION
IX. THE FIRST AMERICAN PRESIDENT
X. THE JAY TREATY
XI. WASHINGTON RETIRES FROM PUBLIC LIFE
XII. CONCLUSION
INDEX

ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO

_Channing_ = Edward Channing: _History of the United States_. New
York: Macmillan Company, III, IV. 1912.

_Fiske_ = John Fiske: _The Critical Period of American History,
1783-1789_. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1897.

_Ford_ = Worthington C. Ford: _The Writings of George Washington_. 14
vols. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1889-93.

_Ford_ = Worthington C. Ford: _George Washington_. 2 vols. Paris:
Goupil; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1900.

_Hapgood_ = Norman Hapgood: _George Washington_. New York: Macmillan
Company. 1901.

_Irving_ = Washington Irving: _Life of George Washington_. New York:
G.P. Putnam. 1857.

_Lodge_ = Henry Cabot Lodge: _George Washington_. 2 vols. American
Statesman Series. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1889.

_Marshall_ = John Marshall: _The Life of George Washington_. 5 vols.
Philadelphia. 1807.

_Sparks_ = Jared Sparks: _The Life of George Washington_. Boston.

_Wister_ = Owen Wister: _The Seven Ages of Washington_. New York:
Macmillan Company. 1909.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

CHAPTER I

ORIGINS AND