>> thank you to all of you for coming. so i'm going to read three passages and i will set each wine and historical context so i will introduce the passages. then afterwords we can have questions and answers. i think we have propagated an image of washington over the last two and half centuries doing a lot of disservice to americans especially america's youth.

we cultivated this image of a great leader of unwavering judgment and thoughtless decision-making. just like he was born out of the ether as a great leader and arrived on the scene as a man god. but remember he didn't become commander-in-chief of the continental army until he was 43 years old so he had a long career before that. it was quite a checkered career in some ways. so i will start with a passage from the beginning of the book the first chapter. just a little bit about george washington in general.

>> at 21 washington was was a very different washington from the one we know and hold sacred. different from the stately commander of the continental army the country gazing off into posterity. this is not that washington possessed of superhuman virtue given the chance with that nation step down to a quiet life on the virginia plantation. not a cherry tree bedtime story. to be temperamental and petulant demanding and stubborn and annoying and

passionate. washington has not yet learned to cultivate this image or contain his emotions stead is a raw young man struggling toward maturity and in love with a close friends wife. this is the washington of emotional neediness and personal ambition and mistakes everything put on a grander scale most young people make mistakes many learn from that the difference with washington that quickly expanded from local to regional and to global with far-reaching historical consequences.

this washington personally bears responsibility to inadvertently striking a spark to light the tender into the french and indian war accused of being a war criminal and assassin and murderer and an incompetent leader and an international embarrassment. the war he touched offered last seven years the first truly global war. this war from the late 1750s and 60s won much of the continent from the british and at the same time it would mushroom into the revolution against the same british. these early years of washington's life give us a

picture at odds with his popular image. this war and personal passage through the wilderness laid the groundwork -- lay the groundwork that washington would one day become. so essentially before he was a great leader he was not a great leader. he really struggled with a difficult learning curve but he learned from those mistakes and failures and that's where i find that washington is truly inspirational not simply that was a great leader but struggled and failed to learn. that is a hugely important listen -- lesson here is a guy who was really struggling was more instructive and more

human so this focuses on george washington's early years mostly in his 20s basically from the time he is 21 through 26. five years that i realize not so long ago i spent roughly four years researching and writing this book so i was keeping pace almost a year by year basis his research and writing to his real life. he is wonderful and much more accessible and more stony faced so today these days especially they talk about a crisis of leadership around the world and this george washington that was struggling that we don't know much about

cancer best as a valuable lesson today. we don't really think of george washington not to be quite effortless but ambition is not the first thing that marks in their lies but he is extremely ambitious. and to put this in context to think about his family background so for george washington's ancestral family in in land -- england and then virginia trying to get to the upper tier of aristocracy with markable consistency they had not gotten there. they attempted to marry widows

that would rise in status even though the wealth would disperse to sink down in status to marry another wealthy widow. and george followed the same pattern that he married very wealthy and landed with martha. so in the early 1500s that was the ancestral washington who managed and married the widow of the wall merchant to reach the monastery leah who can tell me what's going on politically in england? henry viii.

so henry viii at this point tries to do what? he has issues with the catholic church he tries to an office marriage and the pope won't let him. so he solves this by getting rid of the catholic church and as it happens the ancestral washington and his wife had an inside track to buy the land at a good price and that immediately faulted the ancestral washington from a sheep manager into a top rental man. he built a big manner it is a

living museum today he had 11 kids his son had 15 kids so by this time now it's a 1600 so what's happening with those religious issues over there the puritans are struggling for their own identity and the ancestral washington was the first to go as a pastor and got on the wrong side between

the loyalist and parliamentarian. and this ancestral pastoral washington was called a malignant and was exiled so his sons had few opportunities one found a way out tuition he managed to get invested in a trading venture going to virginia i was second below the captain and washington sailed to virginia across the atlantic to the potomac and

had a big cargo of tobacco this is only in the 1650s it is only 40 or 50 years after jamestown with tobacco coming in is a big crop it is the cocaine of its era extremely valuable. it available to the aristocrats. so the captain had a load of tobacco to sail out of the potomac river january 1657 then they had a sandbar. a huge winter storm moves in the ship sinks in the tobacco. his ruined and at this point the captain says to john the sailor you only a lot of money for that tobacco is that i

don't have it. so this ad up with a lawsuit in virginia this was still primitive times and the magistrate is a wealthy plantation owner and he takes a shining to young john the sailor and he pays off his debts with the big packet of beaver pelt that is how primitive the economy was. he also introduced him to his daughter's of course what happens he marries and pope he

is so happy he establishes george washington's family so that serendipitous turn of events but they were not the top aristocracy they are more like tobacco farmers they don't have the marble doorways and thousand speakers and hundreds of slave they do but it is a much dollars scale. so george himself was born 75 years after john the sailor arrives but his first wife died young so when george arrived had several older half-brothers. when george was 11 his father

dies. i always think at this point if his father had died at 11 and he had a close relationship with his mother, and his older brother whom he reviewed who died in his 20 from tuberculosis i think he would have been less than vicious and felt more anchored or settled in the world but when he's young he's very strident. so when he is 11 he leaves almost all of the plantation land to george's older half-brothers which leaves george with very little formal education without a way to make a living so he and his older half-brother warren suggest you go to use to sail

with the royal navy with the mission to south america. george's mother writes to his blather in london what you think at the age of 14? the brother writes back don't let him do it they will treat him like a slave like a dog so mother says no way. he is not at sea but on land. at 14 or 15 he took up the survey instruments and taught himself how to survey. he was really focused only from a very early age that focus and dedication and concentration he went after the things that he wanted. he taught himself his older half-brother had married into a very wealthy fairfax family fairfax county, virginia and it is all over and they were

true british superiors the keying of being but had given the family ancestors 5 million acres of virginia land. we have our half acre monster if you think a 5 million acres if you map that out it would be a square 90 miles by 90 miles that is how much land that fairfax is held they were selling off of the frontierland on the edge with the big survey party and george went out on there to learn how to survey in a formal way and got some experience on the frontier and difficult conditions. by the age of 18 he goes by himself he sets himself up in business to survey the frontierland and is making good money buying his own frontierland but is still

ambitious to climb the aristocracy. so it age 21 he takes a post as a part-time officer in the virginia military national guard. the lower officer part-time. at this point the british governor of virginia needed someone to deliver a message over the appellations into the wilderness to the french. and george said i'm here. he had some frontiers. experience. so they sent him in to the ohio wilderness at 21. this is not where ohio is today but a much larger area

as a whole drainage area indiana and illinois kentucky tennessee west virginia virginia and pennsylvania. a huge area. basically the region a size of france a wilderness for those who had been living in hunting for centuries though the messenger to the french commandant was out of fort way back in this was essentially state out of all of these lands they belong to king george. i will get into the history between england and france 700 years. at this point there is a few years of peace between the two countries.

so the french were in canada and the british had their colony with our 13 colonies on the atlantic seaboard in greenland was that huge shop of wilderness. they both laid claim to it. both france and britain. in october 1753 george leaves the plantation land of virginia with a wilderness guide to new what he was doing and several servants on horseback going from the plantation country across the appellations and were hammered by winter storms it is a real struggle. it is if you have ever camped

in the winter snow you know is not pleasant. they were dealing with that. george had never been that condition before. after he travels hundreds and hundreds of miles they get back to a french post in the wilderness and the french officer greets george very formal and remember george is 21 years old he says i have a message from the governor and the french officer says you have the wrong guy show it to my commander who is a one-week ride that way. so he goes through more snow and cold and they get to the made mom -- main french commandant the very

distinguished elderly gentleman former professional winter with great experience he's in his early 50s a whole different standard of age in those days. then he receives george very formally and graciously with a formal dinner and french wine with candlelight is a very gracious time and he reads the letter over the course of the next couple days he writes the response. george takes the letter and immediately sets out to get it back to the governor and was told to travel with all possible haste. so they set out and they get slammed by winter. really cold and snow we get so

cold the horses cannot find forage the streams are frozen so they cannot find water to drink. so finally they leave the horses for servants behind and set off on their order one point suggest take the shortcut through the wood is the not such a good idea george says let's do it. at one point he think they are chased by indian for 48 hours straight they were running from this pursuit of indians they think are tracking them is no course of this they come to for that we know now is the allegheny river they think that is frozen because it so

bitterly cold but when they get there there is i.c.e. along the shores that the center is open and running very swiftly. wilderness guide says we have to get to the other side we will build a raft because they left the horses behind their equipment they only have one goal hatchet they spent all day chopping down trees with his hatchet. they build a raft and they finally finish at death so this is the second passage. >> after laboring on the raft the entire day and finished

just after sunset they slung their backpacks on board to slide into the river they jump on board grabbing the polls they had crafted with which standing on the raft to push against the bottom of the river pushing the raft forward through the river pushing to the broad allegheny the sudden power of the current seized the raft jerking it downstream. flows of i.c.e. swirling in the river pressed up against them the raft wedge between the moving flows it jostled and bumped underwater by the force of the current to threaten to capsize. we expected every moment for the raft to sink and we would. washington recorded in his journal determined to save himself important mission

washington shoved his pole to the river bottom and leaned on it with his frame to study the raft. that strengthen and fine horsemanship that distinguished him nothing here. the river's powerful current shoved the raft into the pool while washington clone to his having the pool forward like the arm of the catapult. the force through washington into the deep swirling water. he surely had i gasp as he in the i.c.e. flow with his arms reaching out the human body can survive only a few minutes in water just above the freezing point before succumbing to hypothermia dangerously low body temperatures. one reflex of the hyperventilate the heart rate drops as it chills the sensors deep in the skin the body

preserves the vital functions by closing capillaries and fingers and sending blood to the warm brain and heart and lungs the fingers quickly stiffened in the arms and legs responding only clumsily to commands. thinking becomes confused as the core temperature drops below 95 degrees in the brain enzymes slow. at a core temperature of 86 hypothermia victim in frigid water becomes unconscious and drowns or long before then the current could sweep him downstream pulling him beneath the flows trapping him underwater bumping of trying to surface for air hitting the underside of the flows granted --dash taking an opening until finally his breath expires. tossed overboard he seeks the

bottom the rat water ran too deep to prevent he reached with his hands seizing hold of a log of the raft and pulled himself up onto the wobbly platform to pick up the polls again trying to shove the raft toward the far shore the fourth swept him straight down the river channel did by the flows trapped in the current of flowing nicely could not propel themselves to the safety of either sure. and ireland appeared in the twilight the river swept the raft toward it. grabbing their backpacks they abandons the raft to clamber onto the i the cold pushed in as night began to fall. they were not saved and without a fire they could

easily perish over night of hypothermia especially washington is close were soaked his body was already badly chilled. the starting fire at night on the snow covered island with fingers bendable was a daunting painful task. washington was probably two chilled or slow and clumsy to perform it and perhaps did not possess as much fire starting skill as his partner. the task would fall to his partner who would suffer squatted barehanded in the snow to strike the spark to ignite the tinder putting sticks into the flight the gold was so extreme and severe at all of the speakers some of his toes rosen according to

washington he again overestimated his strength in attempting to shove the raft against the current and underestimated the power nature. i will skip ahead quite a lot for the passage. although from that one when i think about it spending quite a lot of time on the rivers and lakes how close we came to losing would be the father of our country as a very narrow escape he had many that that was profound. washington gets all the way back over the appellations of the virginia colony's capital now it is a great living museum there is a large

governor's palace in the governor's palace the governor reads the letter from the french commandant and very politely says i would like to maintain peace but as to your request to be i don't think so. so the governor he is shaking with rage and washington is sitting there and this is where the trouble begins. the indignant governor dispatches washington back into the wilderness as the head of a small military party with the message to the fridge to be. and the governor warns washington do not be the aggressive just be cautious

that washington does exactly the opposite. in essence pushed party of french in while they were having breakfast later was a french diplomatic delivery message that claimed to having the most recent evidence the testimony of an eyewitness indicates washington himself fired the first shot and the events are quite easy incident that is the latest evidence and his men opened fire on the french summer sleeping or having breakfast the result was disastrous. the french were slaughtered.

the survivors were taken prisoner. the french commanding officer was wounded and there was an indian chief known as the half king went up behind the wounded and he took his hatchet and smashed it down into the school splitting it open and squished his brain basically murdered the guy. you can imagine this did not well with each. a prudent leader at this point would have hesitated to say okay.

maybe i should regroup this didn't go as planned. and think what to do next but not washington. with his eagerness and ambition keeps going forward. and is almost cocky and his attitude with this skirmish and he writes his brother right after the black battle in says and i heard bullets whistling and there is something charming of the sound sometimes later was published in england sticking responded if you heard many he would not say so. washington writes to the governor right after they put up no more resistance and i

will drive them back to damn montréal. but soon after it turns out the french had unleashed party from there hundreds of french altars coming toward washington. he built this ramshackle port which he is proud of that he could withstand the attack the 500 men it was a claptrap like bring it on. the french washington was expecting them to come across anything. brush around what he calls the turning or ending the indian sitting across marching across the battle formation away washington hoped that they

went screaming across the pasture. toward the wooded hills i get big open meadow he wanted the timber to build the fort ran into this wooded hill they had easy shots at the fort it was a complete disaster for washington slaughtered it's raining here in the muddy trenches filled with these guys are long dead and they have to surrender it is a huge communication humiliation but still he was kept on given the circumstances that is surprising but one was his

amazing bravery he was fearless nobody ever questioned his bravery and also willing to take on huge responsibilities at the age by the time he was he had nearly 1000 of the virginia regiment in this that started the french indian war. and washington's job was basically to protect the virginia frontier family that was 350 miles long i compare it today what would be the afghanistan pakistan frontier very rugged heavily wooded and

with indigenous people who are very good warriors and know their way around. it was a hopeless task. but initially washington focused on himself with his reputation. and he quit or threaten to quit at least seven times over to little pay for other officers who ranked higher. over criticism that appeared in the virginia newspaper and his civilian friends and spurred that if you quit now you will sully your reputation so he didn't. he went back and forth during the whole period. one of the problems coveted a

british royal officer's commission. compared to the colonial commission that washington held given by the governor of virginia as opposed to king george itself this was a real problem for george. one day he was on the virginia tier captain dagwood he is from maryland and is a captain which is lower than a colonel however he has from the king himself above washington and washington d.c. is about and

it drives washington crazy he cannot command him so he goes to greatly on the journey to resolve this so this final passage is about this particular. and one of his journeys washington remains in restless exile in winchester in the shenandoah valley 34-year-old captain dagwood the and young colonel washington of winchester each ran their own dedicated to protecting the frontier settlers but is

winter deepened the stalemate would eat away five off the street/and my under the gray skies captain -- worthy to the frozen wilderness to deliver a message to the french commandant days preferred dagwood he was tending to his various businesses but yet he had severe captain claims already and finally became insufferable. on january 14 he wrote to the governor i have determined to resign a commission rather than submit to a command of a person who i think has not such a superlative merit to balance the inequality of frank pettis is convoluted writing has to do with feeling

underappreciated. that of quitting furtively suggested a solution that would quell his restlessness to take action. he would personally ride north to meet with general shirley boyle governor of massachusetts who was in charge of all british forces of the : boston washington would petition the governor to rank him above captain dad for the. the governor granted permission and he set out in early february anyway to serve his subordinate officers for round-trip winter journey on house -- horseback over 1000 miles he hoped to determine his fate that he had to be behind what command he did have and with his responsibilities regarding the tier's assumption that indians would not cross the mountains

and attack the frontier settlers would prove false. so washington right off and goes to first to philadelphia to new york manhattan which was a tiny settlement and in new york he stays with a friend beverly robertson and beverly's brother is john robinson but beverly has read is a read -- aristocrat of high standing and she was the daughter of phillipsburg phillips granted time earlier another huge chant discharge of wheel one -- real so she

was part of that family and it happened that susan had a younger sister polly was 26 years old. it was an eligible heiress 251,000 acres. washington always had an eye for land and for the ladies so washington in new york riding on his way to boston takes polly suzanne out on the town of course there is no broadway plays however there is broadway in the middle manhattan island but the biggest thing at this point is called the microcosm or the world in miniature in a model

of a roman temple with all sorts of dancing figures in positions players if you turn the cranks the figures dance around hand. remember this is the beginning of the mechanical age the people were really impressed with this technology. polly and susanna liked it so much washington took them back twice. but no spark was struck polly in washington so he rode on to boston and governor shirley kept him for a while washington really loved find close so he bought some finery in boston as he did when he went through most of the towns

with fancy gloves and hats and more weight in the peculiar thing he has a weakness for silver lacey always buys silver lace. he also gambled and lost of money playing cards. but eventually governor shirley says okay you can be above captain dad would. so washington writes back. he has all of this finery and i should say one of the other peculiar things about washington is whenever he gets a new command is the first thing is is sit down design

officer's uniform he likes fancy officer uniforms this is where the silver lace comes in. he's collecting silver lace along the way. so then he writes back that far more serious problems had just begun now that he returns attention to the frontier the responsibility that was his all along to protect the frontier settlers massacre landed sided he rode fast over the blue ridge to winchester in mission valley found the indians threatened the frontier settlers up and down the valley formerly state attacks they had abandoned homestead and fled to the small forts for the town of winchester self nobody knew that they would attack winchester washington desperately tried to recruit more men he had only 40 under

his command remainder was that his rival integrity and they were spread among the virginia frontier. washington sent out for militia to rendezvous at winchester to force out of the shed no but only 15 showed up all of my ideal hopes to raise a number of men to scour the jesus mountain have finished into nothing complained washington the timidity of the inhabitants is difficult to blouse extremely frustrated washington with much from about waiting for opportunities in patients

avoid major battles impossible would come to fruition his future where he served as commander-in-chief of a far larger body of troops. things only got worse on the frontier the residence anticipated a full-scale attack at any moment and townspeople assisted to chop down trees and bushes to prevent ambushes from hiding. so at this point washington does not know whether to keep the few men that he has winchester at the main port or scatter them out. he does a very smart thing. he calls the subordinate officers into a meeting into the house of war and solicited

every officers opinion what to do and listen very carefully. and he deliberated this is on the very first instances of washington doing this to really consulting his subordinates and listening into liberating making a considered decision. this would serve very well in the years ahead becoming and she and something that he really became known for. it started right here. so this really taught him a lot about logistics and organization distraction he was a very conscientious administrator and organizer. he learned a lot. but still the frontier deteriorated and after two and a half years of hard work hi

danger political maneuvering was clear command of the virginia regiment but within a mere two weeks of achieving this he found himself in an impossible situation hopelessly underequipped against an unseen foe surrounded by mass panic awash with the bloodied and gruesome reign of terror scalp bodies lay outside that farmhouse's brain beaten out left sticking out of their schools performs debt access embedded in the mutilated torsos. in these moments of crisis surrounded by frontier families begging to be protected young washington began to move beyond his self-absorption and of session with rank and reputation.

in his empathy for the people suffering he made a fess first step towards a selflessness and sacrifice of which one day he would become legendary. thank you spee17 spee17 will we have question and answer? whatever you want to do. >> and the perils of the freezing water that is indicative of her other book. >> yes that's a good question and very relevant in this

situation. i came at this writing about young washington in his early life not as a presidential biographer or a historian but as the wilderness angle because i read about wilderness and adventure and how wilderness is really affecting the human psyche so i stumbled across this story of washington as a young man in the wilderness of the ohio valley fast with how he responded to the situation. my therapy books are about world and adventures that i have bad or written about or the physiology and the psychology that's why i try to bring to bear on the story with my deep research what is like to be in the wilderness have been there a lot myself

or down the rivers over the mountains in the winter and a lot of these experience so i really want to bring that to the book. so i want people to understand how difficult this was what they went through as a young man and how remarkably he did despite these steaks. at the time i wanted it to be very accurate and i read lots and lots of his letters to absorb myself in his life from that era and that his research i brought to bear. >> in that same vein talking about leadership it talks a lot about the idea of what

makes a good leader and it feels like it is a continuation of that. >> bakley. my previous book does a lot with the early expedition across the country of lewis and clark across the continent and various leaders with different personalities of leaders in a difficult wilderness situation and how they respond differentl differently. i was trying to build on that in the washington book as well and how he responded to difficult wilderness situation and that your wings fought.

>> were you able to read enough letters and journals to see how his character changes with his ego issues or how they mutated with experience and age? >> to some degree. it doesn't happen all at once that you can the changes answered moments that he expresses himself in the letters to take tremendous empathy to the frontier settlers who are getting slaughtered and begging for help. he was much less guarded those days he got guarded as he got older and more conscious of his image here he is still relatively unguarded see the flashes. there are certain moments from the frontier settlers begging him and another moment pivotal

moment that helped him move him along toward a more expansive worldview. at one point he survives this incredible battle when the british did finally send 2000 redcoats into the ohio wilderness to take the french port and of course the british general was utterly slaughtered from the indians they cannot even see behind trees and they go into mass panic basically and most of them died. washington is the last man standing in this group. is very brave intro it to drag

general braddock off the battlefield and after this incredible massacre washington discovers he has four bulletholes through his coat and hat and writes to his brother soon after and felt providence was protecting him so he starts to feel he has a larger role in the world. . .