George Washington played a key role in the lives of many people. In this two-part series we look at how he recognized talent and developed a number of younger men during his life. In part 1 of 2, we look at who influenced Washington when he was young, and how he developed Joseph Reed and Nathanael Greene. Michael Wilhelm explains.
A 1772 portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale.
Boyhood and Background
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, according to the New Style calendar. His parents were Augustine Washington and Mary Ball Washington. Washington was the oldest child born to the union. Augustine had been previously married to Jane Butler. They had four children: Butler (1716), who died in infancy, Lawrence (1718), Augustine, Jr. (1720) and Jane (1722), who died in January 1734 or 1735. Jane Butler Washington died on November 24, 1729, one-month sigh of her 30th birthday. Augustine and Mary were married on March 6, 1731. They had six children: George (1732), Betty (1733), Samuel (1734), John Augustine (1736), Charles (1738), and Mildred (1740). Mildred was the only child of their marriage not to reach adulthood. Lawrence and Augustine Jr. were away at Appleby Grammar school in England, where their father had also been educated. Augustine was not among the elite of the Virginia gentry, yet he had established his family well beyond the reach of poverty by the time of his death. He died on April 12, 1743 at the age of 48 at Ferry Farm. His death was a strange foreshadowing of Washington’s own death near the turn of the century. This event changed Washington’s own prospects at a classical education that his older half-brothers had enjoyed.
Washington had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother. Though when one reads the evidence, it appears that part of the problem may have been that they were a great deal alike. Mary Washington was by all accounts not someone with whom to trifle. Mary was tasked due to the death of her husband with the management of Ferry Farm, the raising of five children aged five to eleven, and the supervision of the household slaves.[1] “The hypercritical mother produced a son who was overly sensitive to criticism and suffered from a lifelong need for approval. One suspects, in dealing with this querulous woman, George became an overly controlled personality and learned to master his temper and curb his tongue.”[2] His mother, though widowed at 35, would never remarry and make her way in a world where her success was deemed as improbable. George, for his own part was always deferential to his mother but seemed later in life to avoid her if at all possible. His letters were addressed to her as “Honored Madame” and yet, one searches in vain for a word of love or affection from him directed toward her. The man who was known for seeking to always do his duty seemed to learn this trait in his relationship with his mother.
A Surrogate Father
“Quite naturally, George turned to older men as sponsors and patrons, cultivating the art of ingratiating himself with influential figures.” [3] The first of these older men that Washington turned to was a natural choice, his older half-brother Lawrence. Lawrence was 14 years Washington’s senior. He also had some advantages that Washington would never be able to enjoy. The first and probably the one that Washington felt most keenly was education. Lawrence had received a classical education, whereas the younger George had to contend himself with the basic grade school curriculum, though he appeared to excel at math. Lawrence served in the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1748) under Admiral Edward Vernon. Vernon would later lend his name to Lawrence’s estate. After his service, Lawrence married Anne Fairfax of Belvoir. This marriage meant that Lawrence had moved into the high society of the Virginia gentry. “It was through his brother’s steadily growing influence and powerful connections that George Washington was able to start getting a foothold in a world that otherwise would have been completely unattainable to him.”[4]
Washington so admired his brother that he desired to follow him into service in His Majesty’s Royal Navy. In fact, Washington seems for years to be on a mission to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Yet in this desire, he was to be disappointed. Mary Ball Washington did not like the idea of her son going off to sea at such a young age (he was about 15). Mrs. Washington would even enlist the help of her brother, Joseph Ball. Answering her letter, Ball stated his view of the young Washington’s prospects in the Navy. His uncle observed that in service they would, “cut him and staple him and use him like a Negro, or rather, like a dog.”[5] His desire being scuttled, Washington turned to surveying. One might well wonder how different American history might have been if George Washington had ended up serving on a ship in His Majesty’s Service.
During his time in the Navy appears to be when Lawrence contracted tuberculosis. He was seeking relief from the disease in a warmer climate, prompting him to invite Washington on a trip to Barbados in late 1751. While there, one of the most serendipitous events of Washington’s life occurred though it likely did not appear to be such at the time. Washington contracted smallpox and was laid up for some time with it. However, upon his recovery, he was also immune for life from one of the most virulent killers of the 18th century.
Because Lawrence Washington died in July 1752 from tuberculosis, it can be easy to underestimate the effect he had on his younger half-brother. However, that influence was immense. Lawrence enabled Washington to enter into a level of society he had heretofore never known. His relationship with Lord Fairfax and indeed, the entire Fairfax family sets his life on a different course. It is through the Fairfax family that Washington comes to the attention of Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie. It is by following in Lawrence’s footsteps that Washington will eventually become Adjutant General in the Militia of Virginia as well as a member of the House of Burgesses. It also through provisions by Lawrence in his will and the deaths of Lawrence’s widow and his infant daughter, that Washington inherits his beloved Mount Vernon. It is not a stretch to begin to trace through Washington’s interaction with the young men that he would encounter throughout his life this tendency. Washington sees a man with talent and draws that man into his circle. It is a pattern that repeats itself over and over. It becomes most pronounced his military family during the American Revolution.
A Penman and Quartermaster
Joseph Reed was born August 27, 1741. He graduated from The College of New Jersey (later Princeton) and completed his law studies in London. He would meet his wife, Esther de Berdt while there. They would have five children. He had at first hoped for a reconciliation between the colonies and England. He would join the Continental Army in 1775 with the rank of Lt. Col. “Aware of his own limited formal education, Washington selected college graduates who were ‘Pen-men’ as aides, whose facility with language assured that the grammar and syntax of his correspondence was worthy of ‘His Excellency.’”[6] These young men would make up part of his military family and in some cases become as close to Washington as anyone ever would. “His most trusted aides—Joseph Reed was the first, followed by Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens later in the war—became surrogate sons who enjoyed direct access to the general in after-dinner sessions, when Washington liked to encourage conversation as he ate nuts and drank a glass of Madeira.” [7] During the early stages of the war, Reed is shown to have held Washington’s confidence in a profound way. He served both as Washington’s secretary and Quartermaster of the Army. Washington even showed himself distressed when Reed departed camp to attend to his law practice. “’At present my times is so much taken up at my desk that I am obliged to neglect many other essential parts of my duty,’ he pleaded to Reed. ‘It is absolutely necessary therefore for me to have persons that can think for me as well as execute orders.’”[8]
Unfortunately, Reed gave Washington reason to question his estimation of his character, if not his abilities. Reed began to harbor doubts about Washington’s ability as a general. He then proceeded to allow these doubts to be known to certain others, but in particular, General Charles Lee. Lee was second in command of the Army but had always thought he should have been first. He was eccentric and quixotic, never far removed from his company of dogs. Reed confided in a letter to Lee that Washington seemed to be unable to make up his mind in instances and at Long Island had failed to countermand Greene when circumstances called for it. Reed then included a secret codicil in a letter from Washington to Lee. In this secret message, Reed had suggested that Lee and some others should go to Congress and form a new plan for the Army. Washington was being undermined by his own secretary. Washington uncovered what Reed was doing when he inadvertently opened a letter Lee had sent to Reed. He was deeply hurt by this betrayal. Washington explained to Reed that he had opened the letter because it was their manner of doing business due to the nature of his office. Washington simply sent the letter ahead to Reed after letting him know that he had read it. The uncertainty that must have gripped Reed would have been torturous. It took some time for the relationship to be restored, but Washington did allow Reed to remain with him. Though in restoring the relationship, Washington made it clear that what bothered him the most is that Reed had not felt free to share his doubts with him.
Reed would go on to be elected to the Continental Congress. In addition, he would be elected as President of Pennsylvania twice (the office is nearest to that of governor of the state). Reed, who it will be remembered, at first desired reconciliation with England was accused of traitorous correspondence with them. It was not until after this death that he would be cleared. It may be because of these accusations that he took such a hardline stance against Loyalists. Slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania while he was president. Reed had moved on from his dependent relationship toward Washington, but he never forgot whom has caused his star to rise. He suffered from poor health and died on March 5, 1785.[9]
The Bookworm from Warwick
Nathanael Greene was a voracious reader who built a massive library on a number of subjects but especially military strategy and history when it appeared that the situation with Great Britain was moving toward war. Greene was raised in a family of practicing Quakers, which caused him some difficulties given his martial activities. Ezra Stiles, future president of Yale University, was responsible for Greene’s early education. He would marry Catherine (Caty) Littlefield in July 1774. The happy couple would have 5 children together. When he joined the Kentish Guards of the Rhode Island militia he was expelled by the Quakers. Greene had had a limp from birth and this limited his advancement in the Guards, though he had been instrumental in their founding. After Lexington and Concord, the Rhode Island Assembly chose Greene as one of the commanders of their three regiments. Thus, he was promoted from private to brigadier general in less than a year.
It was Greene’s organizational skills that brought him to the attention of George Washington. In August 1776, he was promoted to Major General. He would become Washington’s most trusted advisor and one of his closest friends. He would be appointed Quartermaster in 1778, a position he would hold until the summer of 1780. It was his monumental task to supply the Continental Army with virtually no money to accomplish this. Washington preferred to make decisions with the input of his military family. So, he would call councils of war to discuss strategy and attempt to make decisions from consensus. This was at one and the same time one of Washington’s great strengths and striking weaknesses. At pivotal moments in the New York campaign, Washington made suggestions or followed incorrect advice and put the army in jeopardy. One striking instance of this, was involving the decision to defend or abandon Forts Washington and Lee. Washington had an unenviable task. Though he felt that New York was indefensible with the force that he then possessed, he had been ordered by the Continental Congress to defend it. Though Greene had at first felt they should burn and abandon the city, he had informed Washington that the forts could be defended. Washington listened. However, with their command of the water, the British has very little trouble overrunning the defenders at both forts. Greene took responsibility for the disaster. This was in Washington’s eyes how one kept in his good graces. Do your best, but when you fail, admit it and take responsibility. The relationship barely hit a bump.
When the southern campaign began to heat up in the latter years of the war, Washington appointed Greene head of the Southern Army replacing Horatio Gates. Greene began a hit and run strategy against Cornwallis, with an emphasis on run. Greene, with his understanding of supply, made it his objective to push Cornwallis farther and farther away from his supply. Greene also waited to engage until he had handpicked a patch of ground that he was ready to defend. The ground in question was known as Guilford Courthouse. Greene set his forces in three defensive lines near the farm of Joseph Hoskins straddling both side of New Garden Road in what is now Greensboro, NC. The militia that made up most of Greene’s first line fired one shot at the advancing British and began to run. This has led to speculation that had they not run so quickly, that the result of the battle might have been much different. However, though technically a defeat for the American forces, the battle of Guilford Courthouse was certainly an unmitigated disaster for the British. The 2nd and 3rd American lines with the help of experienced Continental soldiers fought fiercely. In fact, at the American 3rd line, Cornwallis gave the order to fire grapeshot into the mass of soldiers, even though it was a certainty that his own men would be hit. The casualty report for the British was that they had lost 25 percent of their force either killed or wounded. Charles James Fox told the British Parliament that, “Another such victory would ruin the British Army.”[10] This more than anything may be Greene’s legacy. He greatly increased the cost of victory. It proved to be a cost they soon decided that they no longer could pay. It is far from coincidental that Guilford Courthouse occurred only 6 months before the final major battle at Yorktown. It can be stated that the stars aligned so that Cornwallis had been boxed in for the climatic battle. Yet it should be acknowledged, that much of Cornwallis’ desperation was engineered by Greene and his ragtag force.
On the Greene Monument that stands where the 2nd American line was positioned at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, there are two testimonials to him and his contribution at the battle. The first comes from his friend and mentor, George Washington: “It is with a pleasure to which friendship alone is susceptible to that I congratulate you on the glorious end you have put the hostilities in the southern states.” This from Cornwallis: “Greene is as dangerous as Washington. I never feel secure when he is in my neighborhood.”[11] Washington had technically not “discovered” Greene. The Rhode Island Assembly had done that. But Washington certainly made Greene a national rather than a regional figure. Their relationship was based on a mutual respect and a trust that honestly, did not come easily for Washington. He believed Greene had earned it. Though he would have much preferred to keep Greene near him just in the interests of friendship, there is reason to believe that promoting Greene to head of the Southern Army may have been Washington’s best decision of the war. Unfortunately, much like Joseph Reed, Greene did not long survive the war. He died in Georgia at a plantation gifted to him by that state on June 19, 1786. He was likely a victim of sunstroke. Washington would help Caty with the care and education of her children. It remains an unanswerable question of history what role Greene might have placed in the future career of Washington had he been alive to see it.[12]
This brings us to basically the halfway point of the current analysis. Both Reed and Greene were privileged to a side of Washington that many did not see. He was capable of depth in regard and concern, as his relationship with both men attests. Nor was this all. In the second installment, we will examine two more younger men whom Washington would recognize as talented and capable. He would open doors for them as he opened doors of opportunity for this penman and his general.
Now, read part 2 on how Washington developed and recognised those around him here.
[1] Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: The Penguin Group, 2010.
[2] Ibid, p. 11.
[3] Ibid, p. 10.
[4] mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/lawrence-washington.
[5] Ellis, Joseph E. His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Alfred K. Knopf 2004. p. 9.
[6] Ibid, p. 80.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Chernow, p. 217.
[9] General Biographical information from revolutionary-war.net/joseph-reed/.
[10] https://www.dwhike.com/History/Revolutionary-War/Guilford-Courthouse-NC/
[11]https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=h2DOyPQP&id=6F184706B907B23588B8ED6A8E795DDFFB4D0415&thid=OIP.h2DOyPQPKmFkOTnVw9GsQgHaFH&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2f4.bp.blogspot.com%2f-vJLOZMiLKsM%2fUjPK-LaGw-I%2fAAAAAAAAEaM%2f-SaxUStXPdo%2fs1600%2fGuilford%2bCourthouse%2bGreenes%2bStatue.jpg&exph=1104&expw=1600&q=Battle+of+Guilford+Courthouse+Statue&simid=607987878111478537&ck=0F1C3CF0207680D2F19DA6DFB6D94CA0&selectedIndex=8&ajaxhist=0
[12] General biographical help received at ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/nathanael-greene
