America at 250 by Francis P. Sempa

‘Young Washington’ an Accurate Depiction of Early Challenges

One way to enjoy and learn about the United States’ 250th birthday is to visit a movie theater and watch “Young Washington,” the historically accurate story of George Washington’s young adulthood as a Virginia surveyor, a soldier, and a commander of men in battle. Released this July by Angel Studios, the movie stars William Franklyn as Washington, Ben Kingsley as Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddle, and Kelsey Grammer as Lord Fairfax. Directed by Jon Erwin, with Kristopher Kimlin as cinematographer, “Young Washington” shows the early challenges that shaped the man who became the “father” of our country and the “indispensable man” (to borrow biographer James Flexner’s phrase) of the American Revolution.

The young George Washington exhibited courage, ambition, endurance, loyalty, and commitment as he explored the “western” wilderness of the claimed Virginia colony in what is today western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, and suffered defeat and humiliation in early fighting in the French and Indian War which expanded into a world war known as the Seven Years War. Even at a young age, Washington because of his height (6’3”) and bearing had the appearance of a leader of men. He cared deeply about his reputation, studying a guidebook on civility and etiquette, and sought to control what biographer Ron Chernow describes as a “furnace of ambition [that] burned with a bright, steady flame inside.”

Lord Fairfax, a neighbor, took an interest in Washington’s career. Chernow notes that Fairfax shared books with Washington, including Caesar’s “Commentaries” and a biography of Alexander the Great. Young Washington fell in love with Fairfax’s daughter Sally (played by the beautiful Mia Rodgers) who was betrothed to another man—it was a love that Washington, who later married Martha Custis, would take to his grave.

Washington longed to be a Royal officer in the British army like his brother Lawrence, but settled for being an officer in the Virginia militia. As a young officer he displayed leadership qualities but suffered from inexperience—inexperience that would be costly to him and his men. In August 1753, Virginia’s Royal Governor sent him on an expedition to persuade the French to surrender their claim to land in western Pennsylvania, near present-day Pittsburgh—land that Washington had surveyed for the Ohio Company. When the French balked at leaving, Governor Dinwiddie commissioned Washington as a lieutenant colonel and ordered him to take a hundred men, march to the Forks of Ohio, and construct a British fort.

The French beat him to it, and constructed Fort Duquesne. European empires were about to clash again in North America, with Indian tribes on both sides, and 22-year-old George Washington would help light the spark that set the world aflame by preemptively attacking French forces. Washington’s Indian allies savagely attacked wounded French soldiers, including Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville. After the preemptive attack, Washington ordered the construction of a fort in a meadow near what is now Uniontown, Pennsylvania—Fort Necessity. It was a disastrous decision by the inexperienced commander. The French and their Indian allies attacked the circular fort from all sides. Washington surrendered, but negotiated a settlement that allowed him and his men to depart the fort but not before Washington signed an agreement that accused him of assassinating de Jumonville in the earlier preemptive attack.

As Ron Chernow points out, Washington’s reputation suffered from the debacle at Fort Necessity, but he had learned valuable lessons about fighting on the frontier, and he had once again demonstrated “composure in battle” and a “professional toughness” that would serve him and the new nation well in the War of Independence two decades later.

The movie’s climactic scenes are of the battle between British regulars under General Edward Braddock, who sought to capture Fort Duquesne, and French and Indian forces who ambushed the British on July 9, 1755. Young George Washington, serving as an aide de camp to Braddock, writes Chernow, “displayed unblinking courage and a miraculous immunity in battle.” Two horses were shot from under Washington and bullets pierced his uniform and hat but did not wound him. A man who witnessed Washington’s actions that day remarked: “I expected every moment to see him fall. His duty and station exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.”

The care of Providence saved George Washington to later lead the young United States to military victory over the British and to founding the greatest nation in world history.

Francis P. Sempa is the author of the books “Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century” and “America’s Global Role.” He is a contributing editor to “The American Spectator” and writes a regular column for “Real Clear Defense.”