Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.

At this point in his life, George Washington was a twenty-two year old soldier on the Virginia frontier during the early stages of the French and Indian War.  His voluminous correspondence with the governor of Virginia shows him to be brash, easily insulted, and anxious to earn military renown.  There were also traces, like these words, of the man into whom he would mature.

George Washington to Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia | Wednesday, May 29, 1754