The Indispensable Man

Since this week is George Washington's birthday, I feel compelled to write something about His Excellency, the "Indispensable Man."

Young Washington

Those two sobriquets are just a sampling of the many honorifics afforded Washington both during his lifetime and as his legacy grew.  You might be surprised to know that some of the early biographies of Washington were poorly drawn and in some instances created or stoked mythology that has continued through today, such as the cherry tree incident, wooden teeth, and his "vision" at Valley Forge.  But Washington's actual achievements outstrip all fictional characterizations. In this blog, we'll discuss some of his earlier accomplishments.

The young George Washington managed to overcome relatively modest beginnings and rise to a stature that has reached across the ages. Born in the second marriage of a small Virginia landholder, a nearly cosmic chain of events helped bring George Washington to the forefront of Virginia society - the platform from which he launched his career. These events include a succession of early deaths (father, male siblings), failure in love, finding a wealthy benefactor, making a successful marriage, exploiting political connections, and finally profiting from a string of near-catastrophic failures.

Young Martha Custis

When Washington's older brothers died at relatively early ages, young Washington inherited the Virginia lands he never aspired to.  Before coming to them, Washington set out to find his own way through surveying.  He learned about land and mathematics - things that would later help him in land speculation and planning military campaigns. Young Washington became acquainted with Lord Fairfax (we won't speculate on rumored paramour Sally Fairfax here) and the brilliant and wealthy George Mason. Both connections helped him gain prominence. Failed early romances caused him to meet some prominent families and ultimately gained the acquaintance of the wealthy young widow, Martha Custis.  His marriage to Martha made him a "man of consequence" in Virginia planter society. It also grounded him and helped him mature into a man of financial and emotional substance.

Virginia Governor
Robert Dinwidie

Because of his persistent lobbying and survey experience, Virginia's Royal Governor Dinwidie sent a very young Washington west to explore Virginia's vast holdings.  Back then the Commonwealth included West Virginia and claimed large parts of today's Kentucky, Ohio, and beyond. The problem was:  those lands swarmed with Indians whose tomahawks were guided by their French benefactors to the north. Neither the French nor the Indians viewed the lands that now comprise Ohio and Kentucky as part of the Old Dominion. Yet Washington made several missions west, one of which resulted in the massacre of a French Ambassador. That incident led directly to a chain of events that started the Seven Years War in Europe and the French and Indian War in America.  Essentially, George Washington ignited the world war that would eventually lead to the American Revolution!

Serving as Aide to General Braddock in 1755

Colonel Washington
 of the Virginia Militia

During the French and Indian War, politics made Washington the eventual commander of the Virginia militia. But when Britain's Lord Loudoun and a succession of other British commanders rebuffed his requests for a regular commission, Washington began to question his "Britishness."  Although denied a regular commission, his knowledge of the west got Washington appointed aide to General William Braddock's fateful (and fatal) campaign to take the French fort located near today's Pittsburgh.  The column of over 1,000 British regulars was ambushed in the forests of western Pennsylvania. But Washington's coolness while officers and men alike panicked in the face of the French and Indians, brought him renown.  Despite that, Washington spent the remainder of the war commanding a weak militia force in an uneven defense of western Virginia settlements from Indian raids.




The post-war period in America once more relegated Washington to a local figure who focused his efforts on farming and land dealings, while dabbling in petty Virginia politics.  But after the French and Indian War Washington also began a period of political reflection that grew him in intellect and gravitas.  As the struggle with the mother country began to loom over the colonies, Washington's early exploits, successes as well as failures...would eventually lead to his acclamation as commander in chief of the Continental Army in June 1775.

His Excellency, George Washington,
was proclaimed commander in chief of
the Continental Army

Promotions and Pride

I served over 20 years in the US Army and had 8 years of ROTC experience prior.  Not what you think - I took junior ROTC at Xavier High School, the Jesuit Military Academy of New York. But throughout all of those years, I had one event that always filled me with a sense of accomplishment that was strangely combined with a sense of dread...the promotion!

In the military one's success is measured in three ways when not actually in combat, in which case it is measured by surviving, or seeing your unit members survive, or closing on the enemy with fire and movement and taking your objective (or holding it).  In other words, winning battles and wars.  But through the course of a war or a career awards and medals for accomplishment  gallantry and the like are nicely punctuated with the occasional promotion.  The Army does not have cash bonuses like the civilian sector, therefore promotions (okay, there are longevity steps) are the only tangible means of remuneration...the gift that keeps on giving. And they do stoke the ego...

                                                                                

                                                         Medals are symbols of achievement

Many in the service of their country will publicly disdain the need for such recognition but for the most part such sentiments are pure balderdash.  Almost everyone likes recognition and in the military, short of awards for gallantry - promotions are it.  During the period of the Yankee Doodle Spies, the promotion of officers was a big thing.

Silas Dean

And just like their British counterparts, the American officer corps were intensely political. Congress made promotions and commands at the highest level. Officers lobbied congressional representatives in their quest for advancement. The American agents in France, Silas Dean, and Benjamin Franklin, even solicited rank and command for foreign officers and civilians. John Adams, disgusted with this military politicking, wrote that he  “wearied to Death with the Wrangles between military officers, high and low. They Quarrell like Cats and Dogs. They worry one another like Mastiffs Scrambling for Rank and Pay like Apes for Nuts.”

 Military pride nearly cost us our independence. More to the point,  a promotion or command denied often played a pivotal role during the war.  Note the less than honorable service of  General Charles Lee, Washington's second in command who avoided over-achieving whenever it undercut General Washington's authority. The scheming of General Horatio Gates, victor at Saratoga, became the center of an anti-Washington cabal aimed at replacing Washington with him.  And pride as toxic to the nation's struggle for independence is most notoriously exemplified by the treason of General Benedict Arnold, whose grievances (and they were legion) included the unjust denial of a deserved promotion to Major General. Each of these men turned on Washington and thus the cause, due to excess pride.

                                               
                                                                              Horatio Gates

We often forget that the men who served as our First Patriots were human beings who had families and obligations.  Promotion meant prestige and honor.  These were very important traits in the 18th century.  They also meant more pay and most officers and all enlisted men were not wealthy landholders but teachers, shopkeepers, small farmers, etc. So a promotion and the potential for more money was a real consideration. And all (correctly) assumed that higher rank during the war meant higher prestige that could be advantageous after the war,  Again, they weren't much different than folks today.  In a perfect world patriotism is its own reward. But in the real world patriotism needs to be rewarded fairly.

                                                                             

                                                                         Charles Lee

Unfortunately, a promotion in the Continental Army did not necessarily result in an increase in pay.  In fact, payment for officers and enlisted was sporadic. Congress had to ask the states for the money to pay the Army and the states delayed or reneged whenever they could. Without going into it here, this almost took down the new republic before it was launched and only swift action by George Washington himself prevented a disaster. It also formed Washington's political leanings toward a strong central government self-sufficient enough to fund the national defense, the common defense. So curiously, the politics of promotion played a key role in the course of the war and the formation of the country.

                                                                Continental Army Officers