Title: General George Washington, Military Leader

Grade Level: Elementary School

Objectives: Identify qualities of leadership, analyze how General Washington’s

officers described their leader—and compare and contrast the two.

National History Standards:

Standard 2: Student comprehends historical sources; Standard 3:

Student engages in historical analysis and interpretation; Era 3:

Revolution and the new nation (1754–1820s); Standard 1C:

George Washington’s role as military leader.

Time: 45 minutes

Background:

George Washington was appointed general and commander in chief of the

Continental army on June 15, 1775. He stood tall when he accepted his commission—

more than six feet, in fact. And he cut an impressive figure in his uniform: “His frame

is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength,” wrote a friend in

1760. He has “rather long arms and legs,” large hands and feet, a head that is “well-

shaped, though not large” with “blue gray penetrating eyes,” and “dark brown hair

which he wears in a que [braid].” His “movements and gestures are graceful, his walk

majestic, and he is a splendid horseman.”

Delegates to the Continental Congress who appointed Washington were impressed by

his commanding presence, military experience, and political savvy. So were the officers

and troops he led during the war. Washington won their confidence and admiration

by combining “affability & Courtesie, without Arrogancy” with “the strictest

discipline” and “the strictest justice” (he did not hesitate to whip, drum out of the

army, or even execute those who failed to obey orders). He believed that maintaining

the respect of his men was necessary “to support a proper command.” He did not

fraternize with his men, but he asked nothing of them that he was not willing to do

himself and often joined them in battle.

Washington also took special care to outfit himself in a fashion suitable to a

commanding general. He wore a fine uniform with epaulets on the shoulders, and

sometimes a blue ribbon across his waistcoat to distinguish himself. And he outfitted

himself with accoutrements suitable to a general: tents, a collapsible bed, folding

tables, camp stools, and bags and trunks filled with equipment and staples, including

a set of silver camp cups engraved with the Washington family crest.

1 4 t he pr ice of fr eedom: amer icans at war gener al george washington

Section I: War of Independence

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Materials: George Washington’s camp chest, sword, uniform, epaulets, andcamp cupOnline Video—Lydia Post rst-person account

Battle of Princeton, by William Mercer, 1786 Letter of First Virginia Regiment to George Washington, December31, 1758: Dictionary

Lesson:

Set the stage for this lesson by watching Lydia Post’s account of the war online .Explain to the class how George Washington became the general and commander inchief of the Continental army. Then introduce students to Washington using some ofhis military possessions—his camp chest, uniform, sword and camp cup. Lead a classdiscussion by asking the following questions:

15

, by William Mercer, 1786

“[Washington] has a dignity that forbids familiarity, mixedwith an easy a ability that creates love and reverence.”

—Abigail Adams

T H E P R I C E O F F R E E D O M : A M E R I C A N S A T W A RG E N E R A L G E O R G E W A S H I N G T O N

http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/resources/video/Lesson3.asx

Battle of Princeton Courtesy of Atwater Kent Museum, Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection

1 6 t he pr ice of fr eedom: amer icans at war gener al george washington

1. Who were the members of the army? (farmers, citizens, some veterans of

the French and Indian War, etc.)

2. How much experience did these men have? (most had almost none)

3. What did the soldiers think fighting a war against the British would be like?

4. What kind of leader did these men need?

Divide the class into teams of three to four students. Ask each group to make a list of

the qualities they believe a good military leader needs. Have each group join with one

other group, compare their lists, and then come up with one complete list. Get back

together as a class and have the groups report out. Make one master list on the board

of the qualities of a good military leader.

Print out several copies of the letter received by George Washington from his officers

upon his retirement. Highlight and number the letter’s paragraphs—or even the

sentences, depending on the level of your class—so that each group has to focus on

only a small section of the letter. Have the students rejoin their groups and, with the

help of a dictionary, analyze a small section of the letter. Ask them to make notes

about what the officers say are Washington’s leadership qualities.

Come back together as a class to make a second list on the board (next to the first) of

George Washington’s leadership qualities according to his officers. Finally, compare

the two lists and discuss the differences.

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George Washington’s camp chest National Museum of American History

gener al george washington t he pr ice of fr eedom: amer icans at war 1 7

George Washington’s uniform,

epaulets, camp cup, sword

National Museum of American History

Lesson 3

Transcript of a letter written by the 1st Virginia Regiment to George Washington,

December 31, 1758

FORT LOUDOUN Decr. 31st. 1758

The humble Address of the Officers of the Virginia Regiment.

SIR,

We your most obedient and affectionate Officers, beg leave to express our great Concern, at the

disagreeable News we have received of your Determination to resign the Command of that

Corps, in which we have under you long served.

The happiness we have enjoy’d, and the Honor we have acquir’d, together with the mutual

Regard that has always subsisted between you and your Officers, have implanted so sensible an

Affection in the Minds of us all, that we cannot be silent on this critical Occasion.

In our earliest Infancy you took us under your Tuition, train’d us up in the Practice of that

Discipline, which alone can constitute good Troops, from the punctual Observance of which you

never suffer’d the least Deviation.

Your steady adherance to impartial Justice, your quick Discernment and invarable Regard to

Merit, wisely intended to inculcate those genuine Sentiments, of true Honor and Passion for

Glory, from which the great military Atcheivements have been deriv’d, first heighten’d our natural

Emulation, and our Desire to excel. How much we improv’d by those Regulations, and your own

Example, with what Alacrity we have hitherto discharg’d our Duty, with what Chearfulness we

have encounter’d the several Toils, especially while under your particular Directions, we submit to

yourself, and flatter ourselves, that we have in a great measure answer’d your Expectations.

Judge then, how sensibly we must be Affected with the loss of such an excellent Commander,

such a sincere Friend, and so affable a Companion. How rare is it to find those amable

Qualifications blended together in one Man? How great the Loss of such a Man? Adieu to that

Superiority, which the Enemy have granted us over other Troops, and which even the Regulars

and Provincials have done us the Honor publicly to acknowledge. Adieu to that strict Discipline

and order, which you have always maintain’d! Adieu to that happy Union and Harmony, which

has been our principal Cement!

It gives us an additional Sorrow, when we reflect, to find, our unhappy Country will receive a loss,

no less irreparable, than ourselves. Where will it meet a Man so experienc’d in military Affairs? One

so renown’d for Patriotism, Courage and Conduct? Who has so great knowledge of the Enemy we

have to deal with? Who so well acquainted with their Situation & Strength? Who so much

respected by the Soldiery? Who in short so able to support the military Character of Virginia?

Your approv’d Love to your King and Country, and your uncommon Perseverance in promoting

The Price of Freedom

Lesson 3

the Honor and true Interest of the Service, convince us, that the most cogent Reasons only could

induce you to quit it, Yet we with the greatest Deference, presume to entreat you to suspend

those Thoughts for another Year, and to lead us on to assist in compleating the Glorious Work of

extirpating our Enemies, towards which so considerable Advances have been already made. In

you we place the most implicit Confidence. Your Presence only will cause a steady Firmness and

Vigor to actuate in every Breast, despising the greatest Dangers, and thinking light of Toils and

Hardships, while lead on by the Man we know and Love.

But if we must be so unhappy as to part, if the Exigencies of your Affairs force you to abandon

Us, we beg it as our last Request that you will recommend some Person most capable to

command, whose Military Knowledge, whose Honor, whose Conduct, and whose disinterested

Principles we may depend upon.

Frankness, Sincerity, and a certain Openness of Soul, are the true Characteristics of an Officer,

and we flatter ourselves that you do not think us capable of saying anything, contrary to the

purest Dictates of our Minds. Fully persuaded of this, we beg Leave to assure you, that as you

have hitherto been the actuating Soul of the whole Corps, we shall at all times pay the most

invariable Regard to your Will and Pleasure, and will always be happy to demonstrate by our

Actions, with how much Respect and Esteem we are,

... Sir.

... Your most affectionate

... & most obedt. humble Servants

GO. WEEDON

HENRY RUSSELL

JNO. LAWSON

GEO: SPEAK

WM. WOODFORD

JOHN MCCULLY

JOHN SALLARD

W HUGHES

WALT CUNINGHAM

WILLIAM COCKE

DAVID KENNEDY

JAS. CRAIK, Surgeon

JAMES DUNCANSON

AS. ROY

NOTE: Letters to Washington and Accompanying Papers. Published by the Society of the Colonial Dames of

American. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton. This is a text version; the original is in The Library of

Congress’s Washington Papers available online:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(lw030097))

The Price of Freedom

ROBERT STEWART

JOHN MC. NEILL

H: WOODWARD

ROBT. MCKENZIE

THOS. BULLITT

JOHN BLAGG

NATHAL. GIST

MORDI. BUCKNER

WM. DAINGERFIELD

WM FLEMING

LEONARD PRICE

NATHL. THOMPSON

CHS. SMITH

GeneralDaso, Dik, ed., with Howard Morrison and David Allison. The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Marquand Books, 2004.

Section I: War of IndependenceBrenner, Barbara. If You Were There in 1776. Bradbury Press, 1994.

Galvin, John R. The Minute Men: The First Fight—Myths and Realities of the American Revolution. AUSA Books, 1989.

Marrin, Albert. George Washington and the Founding of a Nation. Dutton Children’s Books, 2001.

Meltzer, Milton. The American Revolutionaries: A History in Their Own Words 1750–1800. HarperTrophy, 1993.

Tourtellot, Arthur B. Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution. W. W. Norton, 2000.

Whitelaw, Nancy. The Shot Heard ’Round the World: The Battles of Lexington & Concord. Morgan Reynolds, 2001.

Section II: Wars of ExpansionBachrach, Deborah. Custer’s Last Stand: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, 1990.

Christensen, Carol and Thomas. The U.S.-Mexican War. Bay Books, 1998.

Herb, Angela M. Beyond the Mississippi: Early Westward Expansion of the United States. Lodestar, 1996.

Marrin, Albert. Tatan’ka Iyota’ke: Sitting Bull & His World. Dutton Chidren’s Books, 2000.

Section III: Civil WarBetter, Susan Provost. Billy Yank and Johnny Reb: Soldiering in the Civil War. Twenty-First Century, 2000.

Chang, Ina. A Separate Battle: Women & the Civil War. Lodestar Books, 1991.

Everett, Gwen. John Brown: One Man Against Slavery. Rizzoli, 1993.

McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2002.

Meltzer. Milton. Voices from the Civil War: A Documentary History of the Great American Conflict. HarperCollins, 1989.

Murphy, Jim. The Boy’s War. Confederates & Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War. Clarion Books, 1993.

Reef, Catherine. Civil War Soldiers: African-American Soldiers. Twenty-First Century, 1993.

Section IV: World War IIBachle, Rosemary Eckroat. Women’s War Memoirs. Western Heritage Books, 1999.

DeLee, Nigel. Voices from the Battle of the Bulge. David and Charles, 2004.

Gluck, Sherna Berger. Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War, and Social Change. Twayne, 1987.

Green, Gladys and Michael. Patton and the Battle of the Bulge. Motorbooks International, 1999.

Josephson, Judith Pinkerton. Growing Up in World War II 1941–1945. Lerner Publications, 2003.

McNeese, Tim. Battle of the Bulge. Chelsea House, 2003.

Section V: Cold War/VietnamBlight, James G., and David A.Welch. Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Frank Cass, 1998.

Brugioni, Dino A. Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Random House, 1991.

Edelmann, Bernard. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. W. W. Norton, 2002.

Palmer, Svetlana, and Sarah Wallis. Intimate Voices from the First World War. William Morrow, 2004.

Section VI: September 11 and Its AftermathDudley, William, ed. The Attack on America: September 11, 2001. Greenhaven, 2002.

Frank, Mitch. Understanding September 11th. Viking, 2002.

Thoms, Anne, ed. With Their Eyes: September 11th—the View from a High School at Ground Zero. HarperCollins, 2002.

6 6 t he pr ice of fr eedom: amer icans at war b ibl iogr aph y

Bibliography

Americans at War, produced by The History Channel An introduction to the themes of the exhibition

War of IndependenceFirst-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios:

Lydia Minturn Post, Long Island housewife, 1776

James Collins, teenage soldier, no date

Doonyontat, Wyandot chief, 1779

Elijah Churchill, recipient of the first Purple Heart, 1783

Mexican WarFirst-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios:

José María Tornel y Mendívil, Mexican secretary of war, 1837

George Ballentine, English volunteer for the United States, 1853

Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid, acting governor of New Mexico, 1846

Ulysses S. Grant, American soldier, 1885

Civil WarFirst-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios:

Louis Myers, Third West Virginia Infantry, 1862

William G. Christie, Minnesota soldier, 1863

Eugenia Phillips, spy for the South in Washington D.C., 1861

Spottswood Rice, African American Union soldier, 1864

World War IWorld War I Overview, produced by The History Channel

World War IIWorld War II Cartoons, produced by The History Channel

World War II Overviews in the Newsreel format,

produced by The History Channel

From World War I to World War II

The North Atlantic and North African Theater

The European Theater

The Pacific Theater

The USO in World War II, produced by The History Channel

First-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios:

George Hynes, U.S. Army, a last letter home, 1942

Robert Morris, U.S. Coast Guard, fighting in Italy, 1943

Robert Sherrod, journalist, the beach at Tarawa, 1943

Ann Darr, Women Airforce Service Pilots, 1997

Daniel Inouye, Medal of Honor recipient, 2000

VietnamExcerpt from Huey Helicopter—Air Armada, The History Channel

documentary, 2002

First-Person Accounts, produced by Arrowhead Film & Video:

Hal Moore, commander of a Seventh Cavalry Regiment

battalion, 2003

Fred Castleberry, veteran of the Twenty-fifth Infantry Division, 2002

Clarence Sasser, recipient of the Medal of Honor, 2004,

(produced by Pyramid Studios)

The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Teacher’s Manual DVD Menu

Department of Education and Public Programs

National Museum of American History

Smithsonian Institution, MRC 603

Washington D.C. 20013-7012

http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory