by Sally Morem

Created on: August 24, 2009   Last Updated: August 25, 2009

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

-Henry Lee's eulogy of George Washington

George Washington was the first commander-in-chief of America's armed forces. The Continental Congress formally gave him supreme command over troops surrounding Boston in the summer of 1775. He trained them, scrounged supplies for them, brought cannon for their fortifications down from Ticonderoga, and organized their lines.

He did such a superb job the British were forced to cede Boston to the Americans in March 1776. He then marched the army to New York in an effort to secure that city against invasion. Unfortunately, he occupied Brooklyn, which was impossible to defend against determined British land and sea forces. He saved the army from annihilation by organizing retreats from Manhattan, Long Island, New Jersey, and then into Pennsylvania.

There, they settled in for the winter, except for the brilliant capture of Hessian-occupied Trenton, New Jersey, across the Delaware River. After defeating the British in Princeton, his forces were routed in Brandywine and Germantown.

Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates won a splendid victory for the Americans in 1777 in Saratoga. Some suggested replacing Washington with Gates, but an attempted coup collapsed due to lack of public support. Washington would remain America's military commander for better or worse.

Spirits rose when word reached the troops that France had recognized American independence. With the help of von Steuben and LaFayette, Washington concentrated on training the men during those harsh winter months in Valley Forge.

In the spring of 1778, Washington attacked Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey while the British were withdrawing their forces from Philadelphia to New York. Unfortunately, the attempt to bottle up British forces failed, but Washington's quick actions saved the Americans from defeat.

Nathaniel Greene and the Swamp Fox-Daniel Morgan-kept the British busy in Virginia and the Carolinas while Washington concentrated on the British in New York.

When French forces arrived in 1780, Washington, Rochambeau, and d'Estaing coordinated their efforts and trapped British forces under Cornwallis in Yorktown. Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781.

Washington had a keen, practical intelligence. He was able to learn what a military commander needs to know through victory and defeat on the field. How to deploy troops in battle. How to set up ambushes.

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