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George Washington - 26 reference results
Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May, 1861, when he resigned to fight for the Confederacy. Aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis through most of the Civil War, he was promoted to major general in 1864. In the last days of the war, Lee commanded a brigade and was captured in the fighting at Sailor's Creek (Apr., 1865). He was professor of civil and military engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (1865-71) and, succeeding his father, president of Washington and Lee Univ. (1871-97).
Julian, George Washington, 1817-99, American abolitionist, U.S. Representative from Indiana (1849-51, 1861-71), b. Wayne co., Ind. Elected to the Indiana legislature as a Whig in 1845, he later became prominent in the Free-Soil party and in 1849 was sent to Congress by a coalition of Free-Soilers and Democrats. There he continued his radical antislavery activities. In 1852 the Free-Soil party nominated him for Vice President on the ticket with John P. Hale. He joined the Republican party at the time of its formation and in 1861 returned to Congress, where he became chairman of the committee on public lands and a member of the committees on the conduct of the war, on Reconstruction, and on the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In 1872 he joined the Liberal Republican party and after its demise was associated with the Democratic party. From 1885 to 1889 he was surveyor general of New Mexico by appointment of President Cleveland.

See published collections of his speeches; biography by P. W. Riddleberger (1966).

Hough, George Washington, 1836-1909, American astronomer, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., grad. Union College, 1856. He discovered 627 double stars and made systematic studies of the surface of Jupiter. Many instruments for use in astronomy, meteorology, and physics were designed and constructed by him. From 1862 to 1874, Hough was director of Dudley Observatory, Albany, N.Y. In 1879 he was appointed professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Chicago and director of Dearborn Observatory; when the observatory was removed to Evanston, Ill., he introduced original plans for the dome and electric control for the telescope.
Goethals, George Washington, 1858-1928, U.S. army engineer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. West Point, 1880. After serving on various inland water projects, he was appointed chief engineer of the Panama Canal when John F. Stevens resigned (1907). Goethals found the difficulty of the work increased by the climate, yellow fever, labor troubles, unexpected complications in building the locks, and crumbling substrata in the Culebra Cut. By taking intense personal interest in the men and expressing satisfaction in their individual achievements, he created an atmosphere of cooperation and completed the project ahead of schedule. He was governor of the Panama Canal Zone (1914-16). In World War I he was briefly (1917) general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, then (Jan.-Apr., 1918) head of the Bureau of Purchase and Supplies, and finally assistant chief of staff in charge of supplies.
George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. Among its research facilities are the Space Policy Institute and the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.
George Washington Memorial Parkway: see National Parks and Monuments (table).
George Washington Carver National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table).
George Washington Bridge, vehicular suspension bridge across the Hudson River, between Manhattan borough of New York City and Fort Lee, N.J.; constructed 1927-31. It is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. Its main span is 3,500 ft (1,067 m) long and 250 ft (76 m) above the water. Cass Gilbert was the consulting architect, and O. H. Ammann was in general charge of the planning and construction. In 1962 a lower deck of six lanes was completed.
George Washington Birthplace National Monument: see Wakefield.
Gale, George Washington, 1789-1861, American educator and clergyman, b. Stanford, N.Y., grad. Union College, 1814, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1819. In 1827 he founded Oneida Institute at Whitesboro, N.Y., where students paid for their instruction by doing manual labor. He planned a college in the West to be similarly maintained, and he organized a land company that founded Galesburg, Ill. From the proceeds he established Knox Manual Labor College in 1837; the manual labor feature was later dropped and the institution became Knox College. Gale served as trustee and taught literature and moral philosophy there until his retirement in 1857.

See his autobiography (1964).

Doane, George Washington, 1799-1859, Episcopal bishop of New Jersey (1832-59), b. Trenton, N.J. He acted as rector of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, N.J., and there he established a school for girls, St. Mary's Hall, and Burlington College for boys. A leading high churchman, Bishop Doane was also the author of a number of hymns, including "Softly Now the Light of Day" and "Fling Out the Banner, Let It Float." The Life and Writings of George Washington Doane (4 vol., 1860-61) was prepared by his son, William Croswell Doane, 1832-1913. He was bishop (1869-1913) of the Episcopal diocese of Albany, and author of the well-known hymn "Ancient of Days."
De Long, George Washington, 1844-81, American arctic explorer, b. New York City, grad. Annapolis, 1865. In 1873 he was assigned to the Juniata, which was sent to the arctic to search for C. F. Hall's expedition on the Polaris. In 1879, backed by the younger James Gordon Bennett and under the auspices of the U.S. navy, he sailed from San Francisco on the Jeannette with a plan to penetrate Bering Strait and attempt a dash to the North Pole. There was then a theory that a current from Japan would speed them north. Instead, the vessel was caught in the ice pack and drifted nearly two years until it was crushed and sank. The men had abandoned ship with provisions, sledges, and boats and now set out southward for Siberia. After reaching open water and embarking in the boats, they were separated. One boat was lost. A second, with De Long in command landed, but only two men sent ahead for aid survived. The third boat, commanded by George W. Melville, reached the Lena delta and was rescued. The next year Melville returned and found the bodies of De Long and his companions, who had perished from cold and hunger.

The expedition had proved definitely that Wrangel Island was not the southern tip of a northern continent and had proved essential facts about the polar drift. In traversing nearly 50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km) of Arctic Ocean territory, De Long had proved that the continental shelf of northern Siberia extends far northward and is dotted by numerous small islands. The expedition was also a demonstration of heroism. De Long's diary was edited by his widow as The Voyage of the Jeannette (1884). Melville's account was published as In the Lena Delta (1885).

See E. Ellsberg, Hell on Ice (1938), a fictionalized account; E. De Long, Explorer's Wife (1938); A. Hoehling, The Jeannette Expedition (1967, repr. 1969).

Custis, George Washington Parke, 1781-1857, American dramatist, b. Mt. Airy, Md., educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). The grandson of Martha Washington, he grew up at Mt. Vernon and became heir to part of the Washington estate. He wrote several plays, including The Indian Prophecy (1827), Pocahontas (1830), and The Railroad (1830). Custis also wrote Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington (1860).
Cullum, George Washington, 1809-92, American army officer, b. New York City, grad. West Point, 1833. In the Civil War, Cullum was made a brigadier general of volunteers (Nov., 1861) and served as chief of staff to General Halleck (1861-64) and as superintendent of West Point (1864-66). He is chiefly known for his excellent Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy (1850; 3d ed., 3 vol., 1891), which furnishes sketches of the graduates of West Point.
Crile, George Washington, 1864-1943, American surgeon, b. Coshocton co., Ohio, M.D. Univ. of Wooster medical school (later merged with Western Reserve Univ.), 1887. He taught at the Univ. of Wooster (1889-1900) and at Western Reserve Univ. (1900-1924) and was a founder and director (from 1921) of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He worked on hemorrhage and transfusion, surgery of the thyroid, and shock, developing the technique of anociassociation to prevent surgical shock. His works include Diseases Peculiar to Civilized Man (1934), Phenomena of Life (1936), and Intelligence, Power, and Personality (1941).
Carver, George Washington, 1864?-1943, American agricultural chemist, b. Diamond, Mo., grad. Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.; B.S., 1894; M.A. 1896). Born a slave, he later, as a free man, earned his college degree. In 1896 he joined the staff of Tuskegee Institute as director of the department of agricultural research, retaining that post the rest of his life. His work won him international repute. Carver's efforts to improve the economy of the South (he dedicated himself especially to bettering the position of African Americans) included the teaching of soil improvement and of diversification of crops. He discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut, the sweet potato, and the soybean and thus stimulated the culture of these crops. He devised many products from cotton waste and extracted blue, purple, and red pigments from local clay. From 1935 he was a collaborator of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Carver contributed his life savings to a foundation for research at Tuskegee. In 1953 his birthplace was made a national monument.

See biographies by R. Holt (rev. ed. 1966) and L. Elliott (1966).

Cable, George Washington, 1844-1925, American author, b. New Orleans. He is remembered primarily for his early sketches and novels of creole life, which established his reputation as an important local-color writer. Cable served as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and afterward was a writer and reporter for the New Orleans Picayune. His short stories of New Orleans culture began to appear in Scribner's Monthly in 1873; they were collected and published as Old Creole Days (1879). Among his novels are The Grandissimes (1880), Madame Delphine (1881), Dr. Sevier (1884), and Gideon's Band (1914). Cable's works depict the picturesque life of creoles in antebellum Louisiana with charm and freshness. Discernible in some of them is the author's moral opposition to slavery and class distinction. After 1884, Cable lived in Northampton, Mass. His later works, notably the essays collected in The Silent South (1885) and The Negro Question (1890), reveal his concern with social evils, particularly with the betrayal of the freed African American slaves.

See his letters, ed. by L. L. Leffingwell (1928, repr. 1967); biography by L. D. Rubin (1969); study by P. C. Butcher (1959).

(born May 5, 1817, Wayne county, Ind., U.S.—died July 7, 1899, Irvington, Ind.) U.S. politician. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in several Indiana towns. By the mid-1840s he was a Whig member of the Indiana state legislature and a frequent author of antislavery newspaper articles. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of the Free Soil Party in 1848, he was that party's vice-presidential candidate in 1852. In 1856 he helped form the Republican Party. Again serving in the House (1861–71), he played an important role in making emancipation a Northern war aim in the American Civil War. In 1867 he helped prepare articles of impeachment against Pres. Andrew Johnson. He later wrote books and articles on reform causes, including women's suffrage.

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(born June 29, 1858, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 21, 1928, New York, N.Y.) U.S. army officer and engineer. After graduating from West Point, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he gained experience in the construction of canals and harbours; he also taught engineering at West Point. Appointed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to direct the building of the Panama Canal, he successfully confronted complex problems of both engineering and logistics. He was appointed the Canal Zone's first governor (1914–17). In World War I, he directed procurement for and the movement of U.S. troops at home and abroad. After retiring in 1919, he served as a consultant to many organizations, including the Port of New York Authority.

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(born May 5, 1817, Wayne county, Ind., U.S.—died July 7, 1899, Irvington, Ind.) U.S. politician. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in several Indiana towns. By the mid-1840s he was a Whig member of the Indiana state legislature and a frequent author of antislavery newspaper articles. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of the Free Soil Party in 1848, he was that party's vice-presidential candidate in 1852. In 1856 he helped form the Republican Party. Again serving in the House (1861–71), he played an important role in making emancipation a Northern war aim in the American Civil War. In 1867 he helped prepare articles of impeachment against Pres. Andrew Johnson. He later wrote books and articles on reform causes, including women's suffrage.

Learn more about Julian, George W(ashington) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 29, 1858, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 21, 1928, New York, N.Y.) U.S. army officer and engineer. After graduating from West Point, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he gained experience in the construction of canals and harbours; he also taught engineering at West Point. Appointed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt to direct the building of the Panama Canal, he successfully confronted complex problems of both engineering and logistics. He was appointed the Canal Zone's first governor (1914–17). In World War I, he directed procurement for and the movement of U.S. troops at home and abroad. After retiring in 1919, he served as a consultant to many organizations, including the Port of New York Authority.

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George Washington Carver

(born 1861?, near Diamond Grove, Mo., U.S.—died Jan. 5, 1943, Tuskegee, Ala.) U.S. agricultural chemist and agronomist. Born a slave, Carver lived until age 10 or 12 on his former owner's plantation, then left and worked at a variety of menial jobs. He did not obtain a high school education until his late twenties; he then obtained bachelor's and master's degrees from Iowa State Agricultural College. In 1896 he joined Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, where he became director of agricultural research. He was soon promoting the planting of peanuts and soybeans, legumes that he knew would help restore the fertility of soil depleted by cotton cropping. To make them profitable, he worked intensively with the sweet potato and the peanut (then not even recognized as a crop), ultimately developing 118 derivative products from sweet potatoes and 300 from peanuts. His efforts helped liberate the South from its untenable cotton dependency; by 1940 the peanut was the South's second largest cash crop. During World War II he devised 500 dyes to replace those no longer available from Europe. Despite international acclaim and extraordinary job offers, he remained at Tuskegee throughout his life, donating his life's savings in 1940 to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee.

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National monument, eastern Virginia, U.S. Established in 1930, it consists of 538 acres (218 hectares) located along the Potomac River. Wakefield, the house where George Washington (b. Feb. 22, 1732) spent the first three years of his life, burned in 1779. The present Memorial House was reconstructed in 1931–32 and represents a typical 18th-century Virginia plantation dwelling with a period garden.

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George Washington, oil painting by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1796; in the White House.

(born Feb. 22, 1732, Westmoreland county, Va.—died Dec. 14, 1799, Mount Vernon, Va., U.S.) American Revolutionary commander-in-chief (1775–83) and first president of the U.S. (1789–97). Born into a wealthy family, he was educated privately. In 1752 he inherited his brother's estate at Mount Vernon, including 18 slaves; their ranks grew to 49 by 1760, though he disapproved of slavery. In the French and Indian War he was commissioned a colonel and sent to the Ohio Territory. After Edward Braddock was killed, Washington became commander of all Virginia forces, entrusted with defending the western frontier (1755–58). He resigned to manage his estate and in 1759 married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731–1802), a widow. He served in the House of Burgesses (1759–74), where he supported the colonists' cause, and later in the Continental Congress (1774–75). In 1775 he was elected to command the Continental Army. In the ensuing American Revolution, he proved a brilliant commander and a stalwart leader, despite several defeats. With the war effectively ended by the capture of Yorktown (1781), he resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon (1783). He was a delegate to and presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention (1787) and helped secure ratification of the Constitution in Virginia. When the state electors met to select the first president (1789), Washington was the unanimous choice. He formed a cabinet to balance sectional and political differences but was committed to a strong central government. Elected to a second term, he followed a middle course between the political factions that later became the Federalist Party and the Democratic Party. He proclaimed a policy of neutrality in the war between Britain and France (1793) and sent troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). He declined to serve a third term (thereby setting a 144-year precedent) and retired in 1797 after delivering his “Farewell Address.” Known as the “father of his country,” he is universally regarded as one of the greatest figures in U.S. history.

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George Washington Carver

(born 1861?, near Diamond Grove, Mo., U.S.—died Jan. 5, 1943, Tuskegee, Ala.) U.S. agricultural chemist and agronomist. Born a slave, Carver lived until age 10 or 12 on his former owner's plantation, then left and worked at a variety of menial jobs. He did not obtain a high school education until his late twenties; he then obtained bachelor's and master's degrees from Iowa State Agricultural College. In 1896 he joined Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, where he became director of agricultural research. He was soon promoting the planting of peanuts and soybeans, legumes that he knew would help restore the fertility of soil depleted by cotton cropping. To make them profitable, he worked intensively with the sweet potato and the peanut (then not even recognized as a crop), ultimately developing 118 derivative products from sweet potatoes and 300 from peanuts. His efforts helped liberate the South from its untenable cotton dependency; by 1940 the peanut was the South's second largest cash crop. During World War II he devised 500 dyes to replace those no longer available from Europe. Despite international acclaim and extraordinary job offers, he remained at Tuskegee throughout his life, donating his life's savings in 1940 to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee.

Learn more about Carver, George Washington with a free trial on Britannica.com.

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