The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington

1779 Campaign

In 1779, General Washington made a series of strategic decisions that defeated a British offensive, maintained control of the Hudson River, and protected critical Continental Army resources.

Annis Boudinot Stockton

Annis Boudinot Stockton is remembered for her prolific and patriotic poetry.

Anthony Walton White

Siding with the opposition to the royal government, Anthony Walton White was recommended to General George Washington in the first weeks of his command of the Continental Army by George Clinton, a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York. Washington tried White as an aide-de-camp for several weeks, but courteously turned him down in favor of Robert Hanson Harrison in October of 1775.

Battle of Bennington

The Battle of Bennington, on August 16, 1777, formed part of the Saratoga Campaign.

Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine, fought just outside of Philadelphia on September 11, 1777, resulted in an overarching British victory and the conquest of the rebel seat of government.

Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens was fought on January 17, 1781, near Thicketty Creek, South Carolina, on a 500 square yard grazing pasture.

Battle of Princeton

On January 3, 1777, Continental Army soldiers under the command of General George Washington defeated a force of British troops near Princeton, New Jersey. The action was part of a larger campaign to regain momentum following a string of defeats in the New York City area throughout the summer and fall of 1776.

Battle of Second Trenton

On 2 January 1777, a Continental Army force led by George Washington successfully repulsed a British attack in Trenton, New Jersey by soldiers under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis.

Battle of Stony Point

In early 1779, Parliament sent a directive to General Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in America, to bring George Washington into a general action at the start of the campaign.

Battle of White Plains

The Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776 ended in defeat for General George Washington and his army as they retreated from New York City following a series of British victories earlier that summer.

Benjamin Franklin in London

As Mount Vernon is to George Washington and Monticello is to Thomas Jefferson, 36 Craven Street in London is to Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin, Espionage and Counter-Espionage

Benjamin Franklin made his fortune as a printer, journalist and newspaper proprietor, before taking up a non-executive role in his own firm to dedicate his time to public service. It was natural that he should build close contacts with the newspaper trade during his time in London as a political representative.

Benjamin Tallmadge

American espionage has its roots in the Revolutionary War, specifically in the network known as the Culper Spy Ring. At the center of this ring, appointed by General George Washington to provide military intelligence from the British headquarters in New York City, was Major Benjamin Tallmadge.

British Occupation of New York City

On August 22, 1776, New Yorkers heard the cannon blasts of the Battle of Long Island. Five days later, an expeditionary force of over 32,000 British regulars, 10 ships of line, 20 frigates, and 170 transports defeated Washington’s troops at Kip’s Bay and invaded Manhattan Island. Thus began seven years of British occupation in the City of New York.

Cambridge

Committees of Correspondence

Committees of correspondence were longstanding institutions that became a key communications system during the early years of the American Revolution (1772-1776). Towns, counties, and colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia had their own committees of correspondence.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay is considered to be one of the first major historians of the American Revolution. His significant contributions to American literature include two volumes of History of the Revolution in South Carolina (1785), History of the American Revolution (1787), and The Life of George Washington (1807).

Disease in the Revolutionary War

In the first years of the Revolutionary War, George Washington and his Continental Army faced a threat that proved deadlier than the British: a smallpox epidemic, lasting from 1775-1782.

Francis Fauquier

Writing from Fort Loudoun, Virginia, on June 17, 1758, Colonel George Washington honored Francis Fauquier with best wishes for a successful tenure as the new lieutenant governor of the Colony of Virginia.  Thomas Jefferson later deemed Fauquier "the ablest man" to have occupied this post.  Lauded and beloved, Fauquier’s justness in disputes and enthusiasm for education reflect the Enlightenment ideas he espoused.

François-Jean de Chastellux

George Hammond

George Hammond was an English diplomat who served as Britain’s first envoy to the United States from 1791 to 1795. Born in East Riding, County York, England, in 1763, Hammond received a liberal education as a fellow of Merton College in Oxford, England. His career in diplomacy began when he was sent to Paris as secretary to British diplomat David Hartley during negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Hammond was later chosen as the first minister plenipotentiary to the United States, where he would face the daunting task of addressing American grievances against Britain while simultaneously advancing his home country’s agenda. Hammond accomplished this task with a measure of difficulty during his four-year station in the United States.  

George Washington's Marquee Tent

Gouverneur Morris

Known as “the Penman of the Constitution,” the eccentric and outspoken Gouverneur Morris contributed in multiple ways to building the core foundation of American government.

Henry Knox

Henry Knox was a Revolutionary War general whose efforts to build a robust American militia were paramount to the colonies? victory against Britain, as well as the development of the early Republic?s armed forces.

Hudson River Campaign - 1779

Hugh Mercer

In the summer of 1776, when British military operations shifted from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, George Washington dispatched Brigadier General Hugh Mercer to confer with the Governor of New Jersey.

Israel Putnam

John Armstrong Jr.

John Armstrong Jr. was an officer in the Continental Army and the anonymous author of the infamous Newburgh Address in March 1783. He survived the incident to have an active political career, serving as a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as the U.S. ambassador to France, and as secretary of war during the War of 1812. 

John Cadwalader

Colonel John Cadwalader led the Third Battalion of the Philadelphia militia during the American War for Independence. His command reinforced the Continental Army led by General George Washington during the winter of 1776-1777, and Cadwalader played a crucial role at the Battle of Princeton in January 1777.

John Fitzgerald

Joseph Brant

Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea (1743-1807) was a Mohawk warrior, tribal leader, and diplomat most notable for his alliance with the British during the American Revolution.

Joseph Reed

Joseph Reed was one of George Washington’s aides-de-camp early in the American Revolutionary War and eventually held the ranks of colonel and adjutant-general.

Meschianza

On May 18, 1778, British officers in occupied Philadelphia threw an extravagant farewell party to honor the commanders of the Army and Navy, General Sir William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe.

New Windsor Cantonment

The American victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 marked the last major campaign of the Revolutionary War in North America. Until victory was declared, however, General George Washington remained steadfast in maintaining the Continental Army’s position. He divided his army by sending part of it south, under Major General Arthur St. Clair, and the rest north to Pompton, New Jersey, and New Windsor, New York. About 7,500 of Washington’s troops were stationed in New Windsor. Washington kept his headquarters a few miles away in Newburgh, New York, from 1782 to 1783, making Newburgh-New Windsor area the last winter cantonment (military quarters) of the main Continental Army.

New York Campaign

Quebec Campaign

Resignation of Military Commission

Richard Kidder Meade

Richard Kidder Meade was born July 14, 1746 into the respectable family of David and Susannah Meade of Nansemond County, Virginia.  As a youth, Richard Kidder Meade received a classical education in London, England, first at James Graham’s school and then at Fuller’s Academy.  In 1767, he married and embarked upon the life of a farmer in Prince George County, Virginia.  However, this was not to be.  By the end of 1771, all three of his children had tragically passed away and his wife died in January of 1774. 

Robert Hanson Harrison

Rochambeau

By the autumn of 1794, most of the prisoners in the Conciergerie, a Parisian jail that housed enemies?

Samuel Fraunces

Business owner, dedicated patriot, well-known chef, presidential steward

Siege of Charleston - 1776

Siege of Charleston - 1780

Siege of Savannah

The Siege of Savannah (September 23 to October 18, 1779) refers to the failed attempt by American and French forces to retake the port city from its British occupiers. It was one of the costliest battles of the Revolutionary War in terms of casualties.

Sir Guy Carleton

Guy Carleton, First Baron of Dorchester, was the Governor of Quebec from 1768 to 1778, and Commander-in-Chief of British forces from 1782 to the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

Sir Henry Clinton

The only son of a British Admiral, Sir Henry Clinton was raised in pre-revolutionary America.

Southern Strategy

Tench Tilghman

Wilhelm von Knyphausen

William Moultrie