George Washington Laid Down His Command of the Continental Army
When the American Revolutionary War broke out, George Washington was appointed to command the Continental Army, and he served as its commander in chief throughout the conflict. He was never a brilliant battlefield commander, but he was a brilliant leader who took disorganized militia mobs, and forged them into a disciplined standing national army. Despite hardships, shortages, political intrigues, backstabbing, and outright treason from some politicians in Congress and some of his own officers in the field, he kept the Continental Army as a going concern until victory was won.
Washington had the satisfaction of leading that army in delivering the final blow, and with French help, he trapped and besieged the British in Yorktown in 1781. The ensuing surrender of Lord Cornwallis brought major fighting in North America to an end. However, although major combat had ended, the war was still on, and the British still had about 26,000 troops occupying New York, Savannah, and Charleston, plus a powerful fleet. In the meantime, the allied French army and navy had left, so the Americans were on their own.
The war would not come to a definitive end until the Paris Peace treaty of 1783 was finally accepted by Congress, and during that period, Washington remained in command of the army. He had no shortage of anxieties and worries to keep him up at nights, not least them of a threatened mutiny by his officers, who proposed to march against Congress for its failure to pay their wages. Washington managed to overcome those difficulties, and keep the Continental Army from overthrowing the civilian government. That might have been his greatest service to America, by saving it from the precedent of soldiers seizing power. That kept the new country from starting along along the path of banana republics.
Britain recognized American independence in the Paris Peace Treaty, which was signed in September of 1783. George Washington then demobilized and disbanded his army, and on December 4th, 1783, after leading the Continental Army for eight and a half year, he bade his officers farewell. He then resigned his commission, effective December 23rd, and like a new Cincinnatus, he returned to his Virginia Plantation at Mount Vernon. Upon hearing that Washington had voluntarily given up power, king George III did not believe it at first. When he was finally convinced of the report’s veracity, the British monarch stated that such a selfless act made the American general “the greatest character of the age“.