Excerpt from Address: Delivered Before the Society Sons of the Revolution in the State of Missouri, at Their Annual Meeting, February 22, 1895, at St. Louis, Mo

June, 1752, the brothers Laurence and George took a trip to Barbadoes in the West Indies for the benefit of the health of Laurence. This is the only time that George Washington ever set foot off the shores of his native America. The trip did Laurence little good. He died that year leaving George the guardian and eventual inheritor of Mount Vernon. Thus at twenty years of age Washington was manager of a large estate on the banks of the Potomac, and adjutant-general in organizing and equipping the militia in a district of Virginia. Both of these pursuits were much to his taste. From a school-boy he had a passion for arms. A fondness for farming he always showed. With the help of two old soldiers of the Spanish war he acquired knowledge and practice of the manual of arms, and of some evolu tions in the field. The differences between the French and English settlers concerning the land along the Ohio being still in agitation, the Governor of Virginia sought for a fit man whom he could send on special embassy to the French Commander. The man must be strong; for 600 miles through the wilderness were to be traversed, - and that too in the depth of winter. He must be brave; for this wilderness was full of savages, and he was to go Without a military escort, indeed, almost alone. He must be wise; for his diplomacy and tact were to be pitted against the wiles of Frenchmen and the cunning of Indians. Major Wash ington, twenty-one years old, was the strong, brave, wise man chosen for this duty; and his duty he performed faithfully and successfully during the winter months of 1753. From this time Washington was a marked man. Hostilities between the French and English commencing, Virginia raised a regiment of troops in which Washington was appointed lt.-colone1. Soon after, by the death of the Colonel, he became, at twenty-three years of age, Colonel commanding the forces raised. In this, his first cam paign, Col. Washington met with reverses as well as successes. He was compelled to give up to the French, on terms of capitulation, a fort in which he was entrenched. In the war ensuing, known as the seven years' war, and terminated after the victory of Wolfe at Quebec, Washington was more or less actively engaged - as volunteer on Gen. Braddock's staff, - as adjutant-general raising troops and putting them into the field, - and as Commander-in Chief of Virginia's forces.

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