GEORGE WASHINGTON, First President of the United States was born on this date (d. 1799); George, as everyone knows, had no children of his own And he surrounded himself with a circle of young male revolutionaries…handsome young things…that he called his “family.”
Among his favorites were John Laurens, who once fought a duel to defend George’s honor (sullied by some cad now lost to history); and Alexander Hamilton, who was known to be, as we have noted in these postings, as something of a cock-tease.
Washington was often accused, it seems, by his enemies of being a bit soft (or perhaps hard?) on the boys and was suspected of being overly fond of young Hamilton in particular. These are always dismissed as “18th century “classicism.” Whatever.