This collection contains correspondence, surveys, military records, memoranda, accounts, receipts, and ephemera pertaining to George Washington's careers as surveyor, military leader, and U.S. president. Also present are Washington family correspondence and material relating to Mount Vernon and Washington's household, including several items regarding enslaved laborers.

George Washington (February 22, 1732-December 14, 1799), the first president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the son of a planter and enslaver. At age 17, he started working as a licensed land surveyor. Washington's military career began in 1752 when he was appointed to the Virginia militia. In 1753, he was sent by Virginia's governor as special envoy to the French in the Ohio Valley. During the French and Indian War, he served as a volunteer aide-de-camp, and as colonel of the Virginia Regiment in command of the colony's forces defending the frontier, resigning his commission in 1758.

29 Linear Feet (25 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

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RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time.