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25 Reasons Why George Washington Was The Most Fascinating President in American History

Khalid Elhassan February 20, 2023 32 min

A Great Leader, Even if a Mediocre General

George Washington at the Battle of Germantown. Valley Forge Park Alliance

George Washington was a great leader, but only a so-so general. As a matter of fact, he lost more battles than he won. Fortunately for him, the battles he won included the American Revolution’s final and most important battle: the Siege of Yorktown, that ended with the surrender of a British army. The fights he lost included the Battle of Germantown, near Philadelphia. There, a British army led by Sir William Howe defeated Washington and his forces on October 4^th, 1777.

After the loss, the Americans were forced to retreat. They discovered that their ranks included an unexpected addition: a clearly well-kept terrier. When they inspected the dog’s collar, Washington’s men discovered that it belonged to Sir William Howe. The British commander’s dog had wandered into the battlefield, and in the confusion attached itself to the Americans. The Patriots wanted to keep it in order to taunt Howe and the British, but Washington would not stoop so low as to keep another man’s dog.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.