Washington

Since Presidents' Day was originally intended to celebrate America's First President, George Washington, let's take a quick look at this important figure in American History.

Father of a Country

George Washington was not only the first President of the United States, but he was the leader of the US Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Without his leadership during the war for independence, the United States may not exist at all.

Visit the timeline below to explore Washington's involvement in the American Revolution.

Washington's Spies

One important key to the victory of Washington's troops over the British was his use of spies. Washington had several spies and spy rings providing information about enemy movements during the war. They often used secret codes to send messages. The codes served two purposes:

• Helping to ensure that if the message was intercepted, the enemy wouldn't be able to understand it
• Protecting the sender of the message, in case it was found in their possession

The coded messages probably looked much like the one below. When might such a message have been written?