George Washington's First War

His Early Military Adventures

David A. Clary

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781439181119
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439181126
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

Renowned historian David A. Clary studies George Washington’s early military career as a young colonel during the French and Indian War, and how those campaigns influenced his leadership and strategy as a general during the Revolutionary War and as the first president of the newly formed United States of America.

The searing, formative military adventures of the inexperienced boy colonel of the French and Indian War who grew up to become one of the great soldier-statesmen of his age.

George Washington wasn’t born a military leader. He became one the hard way—through trial and error and perseverance at a very early age and in the most trying circumstances imaginable. From the massacre of a French diplomatic party by soldiers under his command (thereby starting a world war), to his surrendering of Fort Necessity to the French, to his leading a harrowing retreat of British troops under fire, we see Washington learn the lessons of command.

George Washington’s First War is a story told in vivid language, combining dramatic depictions of battle with the anxieties and frustrations of an adolescent who’s not yet a great man. Readers learn of harrowing ordeals in the wilderness, the hitherto little explored role played by the Indian nations whose continent this was, and the epic clash of empires that all combined to turn the young Washington into the great commander and president of his age.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• A Word About Words
• Cast of Characters
• Introduction
• George Washington’s First War
• Prologue: Pickawillany (June 21, 1752)
• One: Chuising Rather to Sleep in the Open Air 1732–1753
• Two: The Nations of These Countries are Very Ill Disposed 1600–1753
• Three: You See Brothers I Have Got Thus Far on My Journey 1753–1754
• Four: I Heard the Bullets Whistle 1754
• Five: Join Your French Father and Help Him Crush the Assassins 1754
• Six: There Has Been Vile Management in Regard to Horses 1755
• Seven: I Expected Nothing But Death For Ever One of Us 1755
• Eight: We Took Some Pretty Vigorous Measures to Collect a Force 1755–1756
• Nine: I am Afraid to Turn to This Hand Or to That 1756
• Ten: Discontent and Murmuring Will Ensue 1757
• Eleven: All is Lost By Heavens Our Enterprise Ruin’d 1758
• Envoi: I Do not Think Myself Equal to the Command 1759–1799
• Epilogue: Braddock’s Grave (October 13, 1913)
• Chronology
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author
• Photo Insert