On Cambridge common in Massachusetts, George Washington rides
out in front of the American troops gathered there, draws his
sword, and formally takes command of the Continental Army.
Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the
French and Indian War, was appointed commander in chief by the
Continental Congress two weeks before. In serving the American
colonies in their war for independence, he declined to accept
payment for his services beyond reimbursement of future
expenses. George Washington was born in 1732 to a farm family in
Westmoreland County, Virginia. His first direct military
experience came as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia colonial
militia in 1754, when he led a small expedition against the
French in the Ohio River valley on behalf of the governor of
Virginia. Two years later, Washington took command of the
defenses of the western Virginian frontier during the French and
Indian War. After the war's fighting moved elsewhere, he
resigned from his military post, returned to a pl