urrender of
Charleston, S. C., to the British--Treason of Benedict
Arnold.

CHAPTER VII 73

Gen. Gates Defeated at Camden, S. C.--Battle of King's
Mountain--Washington Sends Aid to the South--Siege of
Yorktown--Surrender of Lord Cornwallis--Peace Treaty
Signed--Washington's Farewell to His Officers.

CHAPTER VIII 83

Washington Retires to Mount Vernon--Inaugurated as
First President of the United States--His Reelection--His
Death at Mount Vernon.

[Illustration: The Washington Monument]

LIST OF COLORED PLATES

Washington Leaving His Home _Frontispiece_

Washington Taking Command of the Army 20

Washington Crossing the Delaware 40

At Valley Forge 52

Washington Bidding Farewell to His Officers 73

Washington Welcomed in New York 83

[Illustration]

CHAPTER I

WASHINGTON'S EARLY LIFE--APPOINTED AS SURVEYOR--FIRST TRIP INTO THE
WILDERNESS--ENTRUSTED WITH MESSAGE TO THE FRENCH--1732-1754

[Illustration]

The twenty-second day of February is a national holiday in America
because, as everybody knows, it is the anniversary of George
Washington's birthday. All loyal Americans love and honor him, the
greatest man in the history of the Republic.

He was born in 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, where the Potomac
River flowed past his father's farm. The farm-house, called "Wakefield,"
was burned, but the United States Government built a monument to mark
the place where it stood.

When "Wakefield" was destroyed, the family lived for a time in a home,
later called Mount Vernon, in Fairfax County. But the real boyhood home
of George Washington was a farm overlooking the Rappahannock River,
where his parents went when he was about eight years old. His father,
Augustine Washington, was a prosperous Virginia planter, and owned
several fine estates.

His mother's name was Mary Ball. She was a beautiful and sensible woman,
and a wise, firm and loving mother. She was his father's second wife and
there were two little lads already in the home, Lawrence and Augustine,
when she came to take the place of their mother who had died. Besides
these two half-brothe