Was Washington A Good Leader Essay Research

Was Washington A Good Leader Essay, Research Paper

Washington: Good LEader?”The answer was that there was no one else. Washington was recognized as the indispensable man. Until the fighting was almost over, his leadership was not again seriously challenged.” During the Revolutionary War, there were some people who doubted Washington s leadership skills. George Washington possessed qualities that made him “indispensable.” He was a brigadier general of the Virginian forces during the French and Indian War. Forbe described him as “the army s greatest expert on the wilderness and it s warfare.” But Rochambeau thought that “Washington was a fool.” Washington possessed a new fighting style that he could only lead. This fighting style looked to others as if he did not know what he was doing. Was Washington really a good leader, or was he just an important part of a larger plan?Why was Washington chosen as the Commander in Chief of the American forces? Washington was chosen as leader because he was young, he did not want a salary, he did not waste anything, and, most importantly, “Washington was the most celebrated veteran of the French and Indian War.” Adams recognized Washington s charm, physical and intellectual power, and his youth and found him to be the perfect leader. Of all the leaders in the French and Indian War, was Washington the only leader left? For example, his superior officer Braddock could have been a leader, but he died in an Indian raid that miraculously only Washington survived. Other leaders during the war now were either old or dead. As Flexner put it, “Washington was the most celebrated veteran of the French and Indian War who was still young enough to lead a new contest. He possessed a charm combined with manifest physical and nervous power.” Washington himself knew that he was not the leader everyone thought he was. Flexner said, “Washington s memories of his activities during the French and Indian War did not encourage any confidence in his military gifts, and the task ahead seemed to call for genius. Washington told some of the Virginians to try to stop them from making him the Commander in Chief. But in the end, a unanimous decision made him the Commander in Chief. Now as the Commander in Chief, Washington had to live up to his expectations. During many times of the war, Washington had gotten help from other people. Washington knew from the very beginning that he had to have help. He begged for “help from four grasping men, each of whom concluded that the new Commander in Chief was to incompetent to get on without the help each condescendingly promised.” Two of these were soldiers, Horatio Gates and Charles Lee, and the other two were politically important businessmen, Joseph Reed and Thomas Mifflin. During the war, Lee saved Washington and his troops many times. At Fort Lee, Reed inserted in one of Washington s letters to Lee that “the entire army felt Lee s presence was their only hope.” Lee failed in his attempts to save and protect Washington and his troops, and so he finally decided to listen to Washington. But Washington let Lee use his own plan and temporarily let Lee lead because he knew that there was nothing he could do now. A German Volunteer named Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Baron von Steuben claimed to have been a high ranking official under Frederick the Great. He was neither a baron nor under Frederick the great; he was an impostor. But he proved to be an able drillmaster and open minded to the characteristics of the American Troops. Without Steuben, the troops would not have been noticed as a well-trained group of soldiers. The image of the American troops was of disorganized farmers. Washington had been given credit for his troops of being organized military men. To some extent Washington trained them, but Steuben also trained them. At Philadelphia, the British troops had two possible choices. Washington chose the wrong one the British would take, and so “he and the Continental Army had been made to look foolish, all the more by contrast by the Northern Army,” Gates army. He also planned attacks on Boston and New York because he thought that the French Navy was going to help him. Without the French Navy, he would not be able to win. Washington s war strategy was a strategy he had taken from the Indians. When Washington attacked Trenton, he used a type of hit-and-run raid he saw when the Indians attacked in the French and Indian War. His type of hit-and-run raid would be more sophisticated. Washington would attack from three different points so they could not escape, and he would attack on Christmas when they were relaxed. Washington s plans were always to complicated says Flexner. But only one of his three forces got across the river because it was during one of the severest winters. Washington actually benefited from the bad weather. This was not the first time that the weather helped him, when he should have lost. The German Troops, the Hessians, did not think that anyone would be stupid enough to go through the bad weather. Again, this was not the first time that Washington did something that no one else would have done because it was so stupid. But his plan worked, and the Hessians were caught of guard and they surrendered quickly. When Washington faced Howe and the British in Boston in the beginning of the war, another storm made Washington win when he should have lost. His troops were untrained with their wea