George Washington and horse Washington, George (the Father of the United States) US general and politician; led Virginia militia in French and Indian War 1754, 1755-1758; member of House of Burgesses 1759-1774; Virginia delegate to Continental Congress 1774-1775; commander-in-chief of Continental army during American Revolution 1775-1783; forced British troops to evacuate Boston 1776; after crossing Delaware River 1776, defeated Hessians under Johann Rall at battle of Trenton 1776; defeated British troops of Charles Cornwallis at battle of Princeton 1777, solidifying American control over New Jersey; defeated by British troops under William Howe at battle of Brandywine 1777 and battle of Germantown 1777, losing American control over Pennsylvania; settled troops for winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 1777-1778; defeated British troops of Charles Cornwallis at battle of Yorktown 1781, causing Cornwallis' surrender, British capitulation, and end of American Revolution; president of Constitutional Convention 1787; 1st president of US 1789-1797 (only unanimously elected US president); established 1st presidential cabinet 1789; moved US capital from New York City to Philadelphia 1790; oversaw establishment of Bank of US 1791 and US Mint at Philadelphia 1792; declared US impartiality in European War of the First Coalition 1793; ordered suppression of Whiskey Rebellion 1794; issued Farewell Address 1796, warning against partisanship and entangling foreign alliances _1732-1799