Washington's campaigns in British service
It is simple to view George Washington as the most famous and successful soldier of the American War of Independence or indeed as the first president of the newly created United States. His military career began, of course, long before these illustrious years of his life. For more than twenty years before the battles that severed North America from Britain, Washington served on campaign and on the battlefield in the service of his fellow colonial settlers and the Crown itself. Then, before and during the French and Indian War, the enemy was the...

Washington's campaigns in British service
It is simple to view George Washington as the most famous and successful soldier of the American War of Independence or indeed as the first president of the newly created United States. His military career began, of course, long before these illustrious years of his life. For more than twenty years before the battles that severed North America from Britain, Washington served on campaign and on the battlefield in the service of his fellow colonial settlers and the Crown itself. Then, before and during the French and Indian War, the enemy was the...

The French and the English had both arrived at about the same time in North America. The French appeared mostly in modern-day Canada, and later, along the area bounding the Mississippi River. The English appeared mostly along the Atlantic coast from moder