Colonel George Washington

Washington secured a reputation for “the greatest courage and resolution” during the opening—often disastrous—battles of the war. In 1755, the royal governor of Virginia named him commander of the colony’s provincial regiment. For two years he oversaw the Virginia Regiment, and attempted to secure a commission in the British Army. In 1759, after helping defeat the French in the Ohio River valley, Washington resigned. He was disillusioned with a British military that disparaged provincials, and frustrated with commanding free-willed volunteers.