Discovering George Washington
Little-known facts about the nation's first president
- By Cate Lineberry
- Smithsonian.com, November 01, 2006, Subscribe
—Washington's birth record does not include a middle name.
—Upon the death of his father, Augustine, Washington became an 11-year-old owner of ten slaves.
—Washington's formal education ended when he was around 15 years old.
— Washington stood six feet, three inches tall.
— He started losing his teeth in his twenties.
— The National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore, Md., has on display one of Washington's lower dentures—made from gold, ivory and lead, as well as human and animal teeth.
— The only time Washington traveled out of the country was to Barbados in 1751 with his brother Lawrence who was suffering from tuberculosis.
— He and Martha were both 27 when they married.
— Martha, who had first been married at 18, was one of the wealthiest widows in the Tidewater region of eastern Virginia when she married Washington. Only one of her four children with her first husband Daniel Custis survived to adulthood.
— When Washington inherited Mount Vernon from his brother, the plantation was 2,000 acres. By the time of George's death in 1799, it was 8,000 acres.
— Charles Willson Peale painted the earliest known portrait of Washington in 1772.
— One of Washington's most interesting innovations was a nearly round, 16-sided barn for thrashing wheat.
— He established a spy ring in 1780 to reveal that Major General Benedict Arnold was a traitor.
— Washington died on December 14, 1799 of a throat infection and was mourned by the nation for months.
— At his death, Washington owned more than 300 slaves. They were emancipated in his will and some were paid pensions for decades.
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Comments (4)
The older I get, the more I appreciate the importance of George Washington to the survival of our new nation. Well done, General!
Posted by Karl Lopez on February 20,2012 | 10:45 PM
There are several minor errors in this account. We know little about what "formal education" he received.
GW was 26 when he married Martha. Lawrence was his half brother. He didn't inherit Mount Vernon at Lawrence's death. The spy ring was not created to reveal Benedict Arnold was a traitor. [which was a terrible shock to GW] He most likely died from epiglotitis. While excessive bleeding hastened his death, it did not cause it. Only his slaves [slightly more than a third of the total were freed by his will and Martha's actions. The others were never freed.
Posted by Peter Henriques on January 24,2011 | 09:25 PM
It was "quite interesting"!
Posted by Polowa Suarez Prieto on April 18,2009 | 06:37 AM
It was Martha who actually freed the slaves. George willed that they be freed on Martha's death and she felt she did not want slaves to speed that along so she freed them soon after George died from being bleed and going into shock. The practice of the time when people were seriously ill.
Posted by k j martin on February 21,2009 | 12:03 AM