George Washington: The Soldier Who Could Not Die — Part One

Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday celebrated each year on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as a part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others, Presidents’ Day is now viewed as a day to honor all U.S. Presidents, past and present. Washington’s and Lincoln’s actual birthdays occur in the month of February (Washington 2/22/1732; Lincoln 2/12/1809).

Enter George Washington, first U.S. President and “first in the hearts of his countrymen.” In the years prior to the start of the Revolutionary War, Americans and their Native American allies fought the French and their Indian allies in the French and Indian War (1753-1763). In 1755, twenty-three-year-old Colonel Washington brought 100 Virginia buckskins to join forces with veteran General Edward Braddock and his 1,300 British troops on an expedition to oust the French from western Pennsylvania. Their combined force reached a point seven miles from the French fort, and while following a path through a wooded canyon, they encountered a waiting ambush; the enemy opened fire on them from both sides.

The British, according to their customary battlefield strategy, promptly lined up shoulder to shoulder along the bottom of the ravine and, not surprisingly, were slaughtered. Over the ensuing two hours, 714 were felled while only thirty French and Indians were wounded-nearly all those by Washington’s buckskins, who were accustomed to woodland warfare and had sought cover when the attack began.

Of the 86 British and American officers in the battle, 62 were either killed or wounded. George Washington was the only mounted officer not shot down off his horse, though he had been particularly vulnerable, having courageously ridden back and forth along the front lines, delivering General Braddock’s orders among the troops.

General Braddock was mortally wounded in the ambush so Colonel Washington took command. He gathered the frazzled troops and retreated to Virginia. Along the way, Braddock died; and Washington took upon himself the role of a military chaplain, personally conducting the funeral service, reading Scriptures and offering prayers. (C.M. Kirkland, Memoirs of Washington, 1870)

Washington and his remnants finally reached Fort Cumberland in western Maryland on July 17, 1755. Word had spread across the colonies that all the troops had been killed, so Washington immediately wrote his family, assuring them that he was still alive, but only as a result of what he described as “the miraculous care of Providence.” He also wrote his brother: “….by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation, for I had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.” (The Writings of George Washington to John Augustine Washington on July 18, 1755; U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931)

As word of Washington’s supernatural preservation reached the colonies, the Rev. Samuel Davies, considered one of the great pulpit preachers of the first Great Awakening (1730-1770), asserted that the way in which God had directly intervened to protect the young and virtually unknown Washington certainly appeared to be a sign that “Providence has hitherto preserved him….for some important service to his country.” (Samuel Davies, Religion and Patriotism: The Constituents of a Good Soldier, 1756)

Fascinating confirmations of just how miraculous Washington’s preservation had been came fifteen years later. Washington had returned in this instance to the same Pennsylvania woods in which he had earlier fought, but his time as part of a peaceful surveying mission. An old Indian chief, hearing that Washington had returned to the area, traveled to meet him, explaining, “I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle.” (George Washington Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, 1860)

Over a council fire, the chief announced that he had been a leader with the French fifteen years earlier. He then recounted the famous battle from his perspective. He explained that he had ordered his braves to single out the officers and shoot them down, and that Washington had been specifically targeted but to no avail. The chief personally fired at Washington some seventeen times with his own rifle (which, according to the chief, had never before been known to miss) but without effect. He thus concluded that Washington was under the care of the Great Spirit. He therefore instructed his men to stop firing at him, telling Washington that he had “come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven and who can never die in battle.” (Joseph Banvard, Tragic Scenes in History of Maryland and the Old French War, 1856)

Red Hawk, another Native American chief in the same battle, also claimed to have shot at Washington eleven times without hitting him. Convinced that the Great Spirit was protecting him, he too ceased firing.

There are many other examples of God’s hand on the life of our beloved first President and military hero. Next time: Part Two of George Washington-The Soldier Who Could Not Die.

Tim Lewis can be reached at timlewis1@windstream.net.

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