His Excellency: George Washington

Popular accounts of the Revolutionary War frequently oversimplify it, making it seem as if American victory was preordained. However, the British frequently had the upper hand. As Washington camps at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78, the situation for the American army seems almost hopeless. The soldiers suffer severe hardships from cold, hunger, disease, and lack of supplies and clothes. The army separates itself into a distinct hierarchy with Washington at its head. Several notable personalities emerge at Valley Forge, including John Marshall, Baron Steuben, and the Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman who becomes a trusted friend and confidant of Washington. Washington survives a slander campaign orchestrated by Thomas Mifflin, a disgruntled former aide of his.

As the British launch an attack on the South, Washington dreams of ways in which France could help him win the war. At the same time, Washington’s political beliefs come into sharper focus. He longs for “extended powers at the national level” (127) that will enable him to obtain more money, supplies, and recruits for the army. To achieve this, he advocates vesting more centralized power in Congress instead of the state governments, which he believes are too much influenced by local interests. The news of General Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of the American cause and defection to the British side deals a blow to American morale, as do several mutinies of groups of soldiers dissatisfied with the lack of proper clothes and supplies. To Washington, the prospects of the war seem at their lowest ebb: “Having pledged his life, his fortune, and his honor, he was about to lose them all” (130).

A “concatenation of causes” (130) conspires to reverse the fortunes of the American side and allow them to win the war in October 1781. First, the Congress ratifies the Articles of Confederation, providing “a constitutional foundation for that new entity called the United States of America” (131). This creates a series of new departments that would “provide greater coherence in managing the war effort” (131). In August of 1781, British troops under Lord Cornwallis move into Yorktown, Virginia, a colony they had avoided previously. Washington’s troops, with the help of French forces under Rochambeau, move in and trap the British, leading to the climactic battle that ends in the surrender of Cornwallis and victory for the Americans.

Washington refuses to believe that the war is over and keeps his army at the ready for a possible British reprisal. This decision fuels widespread fears that Washington intends to maintain the army in perpetuity and make himself a military dictator. Washington responds to these rumors with reassurances that he has no intent to make himself a king, and that such would be a betrayal of the ideals of the American Revolution. In the fall of 1783, the peace treaty signaling American victory in the War of Independence is finalized. Washington bids farewell to his army and is feted in Annapolis. It is “the greatest exit in American history” (146).