George Washington High School - Continental Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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FOREWORD They show us statues of you, VVashington, but they are made of marble and make you cold and hard. VVe see paintings of you only to Find that it is your face and figure that the artist has placed on the canvas and not the real you that must have lived behind that mask-like face. We read biog- raphies in which men have tried to place on the pages you and your life, but all we find marching steadily through the pages are the things you did, as Continental Congressman, as General, as Presie dent. We should like to know you as you really were. You were born February 22, l732, at Wake- field. Virginia. It is probable that your birth was not a great event in your family. Your mother was a second wife and there were already some children, enough. in fact, so that it was clearly seen that there would be no inheritance for you. YVe do not know much about your early life. Your education was not of the bestg and although your writings showed the working of a great mind, they were always to be somewhat marred by poor spelling, Your father died when you were still young. You wanted to go to sea when you were fifteen, but your mother changed your mind. Finally you went to live with your half-brother Lawrence at Nlount Vernon and this was the beginning of a new life for you. lVhile at lylount Vernon good fortune came to you. You aroused the interest of Lord Fairfax. lt so happened that your studies had included sur- veying and mathematics. Rows and rows of figures, accuracy and precision, these things were real things to your mind. Lord Fairfax had lands to be sur- veyed. You surveyed them. You gained a power- ful friend. It was in 1751 that Lawrence VVashington, your half-brother, was ill and you and he Went to Barbadoes in order to attempt to regain his health. This was the only time you were ever to leave the American continent, and this was not to be a pleasant trip for you. Smallpox leaves, many times. I In Ill ull llll una: llll lllll I-ull Illll I I ...I- lu. ...- 1 lu nu -....--

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0 J I I B Contents F rontnspiece .AA.. George Washzngton Dedication Foreword Book I ..., ..,.o . ,The School Boy The Bicentennials of W'32 The Cavaliers of S,32 Book II ...,.... ....... T he Youth Athletics Book III ..o.,.... The Man of Action Activities Book IV. ..,,.,..k.. The Executwe Administration Book V .... The Vzrgznm Gentleman Social Activities Humor X52 few' w ' S

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permanent distiguring marks. You were not a particularly handsome person. You were tall, bony, with a small head, large hands and a large nose, and then you contracted smallpox. From Barba- does you returned with a puck-marked face. Your half-brother also returned, but only to die, and you, through other deaths, received Blount Vernon as your own. You were now quite a personage in Virginia. The French were encroaching on Vfestern lands and your governor decided that you were the man to be sent to tell them that they must leave. You accomplished little, but the journal you kept during the journey was published, and you gained some prestige in the colonies. Following the unsuccessful mission to the French, you were made lieutenant-colonel of the Virginia Regiment, and it was your duty to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio River. The French forced you to surrender and you were sent home. Abuse was heaped upon you. It was not your fault that you lost. The causes were insuflicient numbers, unskilled men, little cooperationg but you lost. You resigned from your commission, The following year General Braddock with his magnificent expedition to quell the French and Indians came to your attention. You went with Braddock as an aide in the hopes that at the end of the expedition you might gain a commission. Brad- dock, with his proud British regulars and in a holi- day spirit, marched into the wilds. The French failed to fight like gentlemen, they hid behind trees. The British ran and fell on every side. You tried to save them, but it was of no use. Bravely you conducted yourself that day, YVashington, and when the day was done, your clothes had many bullet holes in them. You did not know what fear was. You gained considerable fame, but you failed to get the commission. Braddock died from a wound and a broken heart. You went home. Though bachelors were somewhat rare in Colo- nial days, you were one, and not through choice. Tradition tells us that you proposed to several -5?