Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 13 of 1,110

_ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ''O?~ WA HIGT N I' __ ___ __ ~LI-^ -----) I

self-government, which, after ten years, culminated
by act of Parliament of the port of
Boston. It was at the instance of Virginia
that a congress of all the colonies was called
to meet at Philadelphia September 5, I774,
to secure their common liberties-if possible
by peaceful means. To this Congress
Colonel Washington was sent as a delegate.
On dissolving in October, it recommended
the colonies to send deputies to
another Congress the following spring. In
the meantime several of the colonies felt
impelled to raise local forces to repel insults
apd aggressions on the part of British
troops, so that on the assembling of the next
Congress, May IO, 1775, the war preparations
of the mother country were unmistakable.
The battles of Concord and Lexington
had been fought. Among the earliest
acts, therefore, of the Congress was the
selection of a commander-in-chief of the
colonial forces. This office was unanimously
conferred upon Washington, still a
member of the Congress. He accepted it
on June I9, but on the express condition he
should receive no salary.
He immediately repaired to the vicinity
of Boston, against which point the British
ministry had concentrated their forces. As
early as April General Gage had 3,000
troops in and around this proscribed city.
During the fall and winter the British policy
clearly indicated a purpose to divide public
sentiment and to build up a British party
in the colonies. Those who sided with the
ministry were stigmatized by the patriots
as " Tories," while the patriots took to themselves
the name of "Whigs."
As early as I776 the leading men had
come to the conclusion that there was no
hope except in separation and independence.
In May of that year Washington
wrote from the head of the army in New
York: "A reconciliation with Great Britain
is impossible. . . When 1 took
commn4.. ot the army. I abhorred the idea i

of independence; but I am now fully satisfied
that nothing else will save us."
It is not the object of this sketch to trace
the military acts of the patriot hero, to
whose hands the fortunes and liberties of
the United States were confided during the
seven years' bloody struggle that ensued
until the treaty of 1783, in which England
acknowledged the independence of each of
the thirteen States, and negotiated with
them, jointly, as separate sovereignties. The
merits of Washington as a military chieftain
have been considerably discussed, especially
by writers in his own country. During
the war he was most bitterly assailed
for incompetency, and great efforts were
made to displace him; but he never for a
moment lost the confidence of either the
Congress or the people. December 4, 1783,
the great commander took leave of his officers
in most affectionate and patriotic terms,
and went to Annapolis, Maryland, where
the Congress of the States was in session,
and to that body, when peace and order
prevailed everywhere, resigned his commission
and retired to Mount Vernon.
It was in I788 that Washington was called
to the chief magistracy of the nation. He
received every electoral vote cast in all the
colleges of the States voting for the office
of President. The 4th of March, I789, was
the time appointed for the Government of
the United States to begin its operations,
but several weeks elapsed before quorums
of both the newly constituted houses of the
Congress were assembled. The city of New
York was the place where the Congress
then met. April 16 Washington left his
home to enter upon the discharge of his
new duties. He set out with a purpose ot
traveling privately, and without attracting
any public attention; but this was impossible.
Everywhere on his way he was met:
with thronging crowds, eager to see the
man whom they regarded as the chief defender
of their liberties, and everywhere.