When George was eleven years of age his father died, leaving him to the tender care of his mother and his two older half-brothers. The youth had now outgrown the advantages of the school kept by Mr. Hobby, and consequently was sent to live at Bridges Creek, with his half-brother Augustine, who was married and had settled there. Here George attended a school kept by a Mr. Williams, and was as diligent as ever in his studies, although always preferring those of the more practical kind, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history and the making out of bills, accounts and the like. He also studied surveying, and often went out for practice in this art, so that he might master it thoroughly. In the meantime, he did not forget his athletic exercises and his horsemanship, and it was said that he could ride as well and throw a stone as far as anybody of his age.
Shortly after his father’s death, Lawrence Washington had married the daughter of William Fairfax, who was then living in Virginia, and managing the large estates of his cousin, Lord Fairfax,—estates which lay upon both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lawrence had settled at Mount Vernon, named, as told before, after his old commander, and he was now an influential member of the community, belonging to the House of Burgesses, and acting as adjutant-general of the district. Here George was a frequent visitor, and here he became at one time possessed with a desire to join the navy, his brother’s visitors filling him with stories of the glories of such a life. A midshipman’s warrant was obtained for him, his baggage was packed, and all was made ready for his departure. But at the last moment Mrs. Washington broke down and begged her son to remain at home.
“But how can I refuse now I have enlisted?” said George.
“If you go you will break your mother’s heart,” was the sobbed-out answer.
At this George stood for several minutes in deep silence. A struggle was going on in his breast. At last he caught his mother around the neck.
“I will stay at home,” he said, softly. “I can’t go away and see you suffer.”
His baggage was brought ashore, the midshipman’s warrant annulled, and George returned to school. Some few called him a coward for this, but he did not care, for his conscience told him that he had done what was right.
When George gave up school and came to stay again at Mount Vernon he was a frequent visitor at Belvoir, the home of the Fairfaxes, but a few miles away. Here he had a companion in George Fairfax, the son of the manager of the estate, and the two were often out hunting or fishing together. In the meantime, Lord Fairfax, a nobleman of sixty, had come on from England. He was a great hunter and often took the two Georges with him behind his hounds. He took a special liking to Washington and treated him very much as a son, and one day, learning that Washington had studied surveying, asked to see some of the young man’s maps. These were brought and inspected, and at the conclusion of the interview Lord Fairfax made Washington an offer that he survey the estates, and offered him from a doubloon to six pistoles per day, according to the work accomplished. George Fairfax was to accompany the young surveyor.
The compact was made and the young surveyor, but sixteen years old, and clad in plain buckskin and hunting shirt, started out, accompanied by George Fairfax. At times they had attendants with them, but not always. It was the month of March and the snow still lay deep in the mountain passes, and the rivers were much swollen. The two traveled for miles along the Shenandoah, making surveys and maps, the accuracy of which are to-day beyond dispute. It was a life to which Washington was unaccustomed, yet he never complained. For the most part they slept in the open, in the “howling wilderness,” with only the canopy of stars above them. Once they stopped at the cabin of a squatter and the vermin in the bed drove George out in the middle of the night; again they were out in their tent when a big storm came up and blew the tent to shreds and sent their traps flying in all directions. Once Washington’s bed caught fire and he would have been sadly burnt had not his companion awakened him. He now met many Indians, and one day witnessed a war dance, which, however, ended in nothing more than a drunk on the part of the red men. They had to hunt a large portion of their food and had to go hungry several times, when fish and game failed to appear. The Indians were always suspicious of them, and viewed the doings of the young surveyor with awe, and inspected the marks set up with exceeding curiosity. “White man make mark what for?” asked one old Indian, and when Washington tried to explain he went on: “Dis red man’s land, white man no need to mark him,” and strode off in disgust and wrath. That night George and his companion lay awake with their guns in their hands, fearing the old Indian might come back to harm them, but the old warrior did not reappear.
When the surveys were completed, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, drew them up into proper shape, and presented them to Lord Fairfax. His lordship was greatly pleased with the work done and listened closely to all George had to tell him about the soil, the timber in the forests, the currents of the streams, and other matters of importance.