Pete Cowan:
CLASS OF 1987
Colonie Central High SchoolClass of 1987
Albany, NY
Forest Park Elementary SchoolClass of 1981
Dix hills, NY
Pete's Story
Life
I was a Virginia planter, commander of the Continental army, and first president of the United States. I was the son of Augustine Cowan, a Virginia planter of modest wealth. When he died in 1743, I went to live with my older brother at Mount Vernon.
In 1759, I married Martha Custis, a wealthy widow. Marriage and the responsibilities of running a plantation helped me mature emotionally and intellectually. By 1770 I was an experienced leader - a vestryman, a justice of the peace, and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. I was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, where John Adams remarked on my "soldier-like air" and, along with everyone else, thought I was the natural leader of the Continental army when it took shape in 1775.
As military commander, my strategy grew from a clear vision of the large political objective of the Revolution: independence. My task was to hold the army together and maintain an a...Expand for more
rmed resistance to the British forces in America while Congress sought foreign aid and recognition. The army had to remain intact to persuade Britain that the Americans were not going to surrender; only when that conviction pervaded British governing circles would independence be won.
During the war I suffered several defeats, but I held my forces together and won at Trenton and Princeton (1776-1777), and most important, at Yorktown (1781). My leadership and sense of strategy made him a superb commander in chief. My respect for civilian control, despite the weakness of Congress, proved especially important to the new Republic.
When the war ended, I returned to Mount Vernon and the life of a tobacco planter. But I was called out of retirement to preside at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 at Philadelphia. My great prestige supported the new government and made my election as the first president of the United States almost inevitable
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Reunions
