George Washington was the most celebrated person in American history. George was commander in chief of the Continental army during the American Revolution and first president of the United States of America (1789-1797).
He was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on February 22, 1732, George Washington was the oldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, who were Prosperous Virginia gentry of English descent. George spent his early years on the family estate along the Potomac River. His early education included the study of such subject's as mathematics, surveying, the class classics, and "rules of activity." His father died in 1743, and soon thereafter George went to live with his half brother Lawrence, who became something of a substitute father for his brother, had married into the Fairfax family, prominent and influential Virginians who helped launch George's career.
An early ambition to go to sea had been effectively discouraged by Georges's mother; instead he turned to surveying, securing, (1748) and an appointment to survey Lord Fairfax's lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven (now Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County. George accompanied his brother Lawrence to Barbados in an effort to cure Lawrence of tuberculosis, but Lawrence died in 1752. soon after the brothers returned. George ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate. .
By the 1753 the growing rivalry between the British and French over control of the Ohio Valley, soon to erupt into the French and Indian War (1754-1763), created new opportunities for the ambitious young Washington. He first gained public notice when, as adjutant of one of Virginia's four military districts, he was dispatched (October 1753) by Governor Robert Dinwiddie on a fruitless mission to warn the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf against further encroachment on territory claimed by Britain.
