George Washington was born February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. George was the eldest of six. At the age of 15, he had finished his schooling, and became a successful surveyor. Eventually his expeditions earned him enough money to buy land of his own. December 1752, Washington was made a commander of the Virginia militia (granted he had no military experience). As the French and Indian War went on, he was assigned Commander of all Virginia’s militia forces. He reigned 8 years later, and returned to Mount Vernon and was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served until 1774. In 1751, Washington made his only trip outside of America, to Barbados with his older half-brother Lawrence, who suffered from tuberculosis. He hoped the warm climate would help him recuperate. Shortly after their arrival, Washington contracted smallpox. Although he survived, the illness left him with permanent facial scars. In 1752, Lawrence, Washington’s mentor, died. Washington eventually inherited Lawrence’s estate, Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia. In 1759 he married a rich widow with two children named Martha Custis. Later Washington expanded Vernon from 2,000 acres to an 8,000 acre property with a total of five farms. He was very interested in farming and constantly experimented with new crops and methods of land conservation. In 1760, Washington felt the heat of the taxes from the British. He believed that the best way to beat out the British was to declare independence from England. In 1774, Philadelphia held the First Continental Congress where Washington served as a delegate. A year later the Second Continental Congress had appointed Washington Commander and Chief of the first Continental Army, as the American Revolution went underway. Washington was a better General than a military strategist. He was not a genius on the battlefield, however his skills to keep his men alive and together w