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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
and frustrated. The winter of 1778 wit-
nessed the miseries of Valley Forge, and
here Washington displayed his best quali-
ties, holding together a disheartened force
which could be only meagjely fed and
clothed by means of forced levies. Lady
Washington was present, living at the home
o^ Isaac Potts, a Quaker preacher, where
she gathered other soldiers' wives, who bus-
ied themselves making garments for the
soldiers. Washington lived with his officers
and men, sharing all their discomforts. It
was here that Baron von Steuben rendered
efficient aid by perfecting the organization
of the army and systematically drilling it.
On May 11, 1778, Sir Henry Clinton with
10,000 men began his march from Philadel-
phia to New York, and Washington broke
camp at \'alley Forge and went in pursuit,
encountering the enemy at Monmouth, New
Jersey. Owing to the misconduct of Gen-
eral Lee, the Americans fell into disorder.
At this juncture Washington met Lee, whom
he rebuked with all the indignation of his
nature, then rallied his troops and drove
Cornwallis from the field. In July, 1778,
the French fleet appeared, and Washington
communicated his plans of attack to Ad-
miral D'Estaing, but the latter, pleading
injuries to his ships by a severe storm,
sailed for the West Indies, having effected
nothing. In 1779 Washington went before
Congress with a plea for good money for
payment of the troops, the Continental cur-
rency being practically worthless. Later
(1781), in consequence of nonpayment for
many months, a Connecticut regiment
mutinied, a portion of the Pennsylvania line
rebelled, and the New Jersey line became
disaffected. These ills were cured in a de-
gree; and Washington, though a man of
tender sympathies, felt obliged to hang two
of the New Jersey ringleaders. While bus-
ied with the immediate operations of his
own troops, Washington was directing the
operations of the army in the south, and
with consummate skill. As a result of his
combinations, simultaneous attacks were
planned against the British in New York,
Yorktown and Charleston. Washington in
person led 2000 Continentals and 4000
French from West Point to Yorktown, a
distance of four hundred iniles, and invested
Cornwallis, who surrendered October 19,
1 78 1, this virtually ending the war.
On December 4, 1783, Washington took leave of his officers in a banquet at Fraun- ce*s Tavern, in New York. He then re- turned to Mount Vernon, and busied him- self with the rehabilitation of his estate, and in promoting the settlement of the west, his principal interest in the latter un- dertaking being to enable the officers and men who had followed him during the long struggle for independence, to secure homes for themselves. On May 2, 1787, at the convention assembled at Philadelphia to amend the articles of confederation and union, Washington was unanimously chosen its president, and in February, 1789, the electoral college under the new constitution elected him first president of the United States. He received official notice of his election, April 14, 1789, at Mount Vernon, and set out on his journey to New York, great public assemblages greeting him all the way through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and he was inaugurated April 30, Chancellor Livingston administer- ing the oath of office, following it with the exclamation, "Long live George Washing- ten, president of the United States." Wash-
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