BY AARON BANCROFT, D. D.

PASTOR OF A CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN WORCESTER.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

STEREOTYPED BY T. H. CARTER & CO. BOSTON.

Boston:

PUBLISHED BY T. BEDLINGTON,

NO. 31, WASHINGTON-STREET.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS-TO WIT: District Clerk's Office.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the eighth day of October, A. D. 1825, in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, TIMOTHY BEDLINGTON, of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "The Life of GEORGE WASHINGTON, Commander in Chief of the American Army, through the Revolutionary War; and the first President of the United States. By AARON BANCROFT, D. D. Pastor of a Congregational Church in Worcester. In two volumes. Vol. I."

In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act, entitled "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during tne times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other prints."

JNO. W. DAVIS,{

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

PREFACE.

THE following publication originated in the author's wish to place within reach of the great body of his countrymen, an authentick biography of General WASHINGTON.

Judge Marshall, in his valuable life of this illustrious patriot, has embraced not only the settlement and general history of the North American Colonies; but also the political history of the United States. His work is therefore necessarily too expensive to be obtained by all classes of American people. The writer of these memoirs apprehended, that by publishing the life of WASHINGTON in a compressed form, he should enable those of his fellow citizens, who are not in possession of Marshall, to leave to their posterity a memorial of a man, who was pre-eminently distinguished as a Soldier and Statesman.

General WASHINGTON was from his youth devoted to his country, his character therefore cannot be portrayed, without bringing into view many important publick transactions. The plan of the writer has been to notice no individual or event, further than was necessary to display the principal character.

He has made Judge Marshall his leading authority for facts, and has in some measure followed him in the order of events. The histories of the war by Doctors Ramsay and Gordon, and several original writings have been consulted; but he trusts, that greater liberty has not been taken with any of them than is fair and honourable. The few facts, which have not before been published, were received immediately from confidential friends of General WASHINGTON, or from gentlemen who, in respectable official situations, were members of his family during his military command.

It has been the endeavour of the author to display the character of the man who is the subject of the work, by exhibiting in a connected view his actions and his writings; and he has, as far as possible, made this exhibition in the person of General WASHINGTON.

He has not conceived that he was writing for men of erudition, but for the unlettered portion of the community; and he has for their benefit more particularly studied simplicity of style. Should he be so happy as to obtain their approbation, he will receive an ample reward of his labour.

He entertains no expectation of acquiring literary fame by this publication; but he hopes to escape the disgrace of having written a useless book.

Worcester, Massachusetts, October, 1807.