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George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame
A concise, compelling biography of Washington and the forces that drove him
What drove George Washington to become the preeminent man of his time and to secure a lasting reputation as one of history’s great leaders? In this concise and engaging profile, Peter Henriques—a renowned Washington expert—recounts how Washington possessed a desperate desire to be seen, admired, honored, and above all to be remembered. Over the course of his life, Washington deliberately and self-consciously shaped his public image. Even his decision, dictated in his last will and testament, to emancipate the men and women he had held in slavery during his lifetime related directly to his desire to be perceived as honorable after his death and to safeguard his posthumous reputation. The complicated and controversial question of Washington and slavery is examined in an afterword to the biography. Written with a clarity that comes only from deep understanding, this biography goes right to the heart of what made Washington live, and succeed as the greatest of America's Founding Fathers.
What drove George Washington to become the preeminent man of his time and to secure a lasting reputation as one of history’s great leaders? In this concise and engaging profile, Peter Henriques—a renowned Washington expert—recounts how Washington possessed a desperate desire to be seen, admired, honored, and above all to be remembered. Over the course of his life, Washington deliberately and self-consciously shaped his public image. Even his decision, dictated in his last will and testament, to emancipate the men and women he had held in slavery during his lifetime related directly to his desire to be perceived as honorable after his death and to safeguard his posthumous reputation. The complicated and controversial question of Washington and slavery is examined in an afterword to the biography. Written with a clarity that comes only from deep understanding, this biography goes right to the heart of what made Washington live, and succeed as the greatest of America's Founding Fathers.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2025
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October 11, 2025
The essence of Washington!
As author Peter Henriques writes about publishing his new book, “…my goal was to summarize my many years spent studying George Washington and incorporate the best of Washington scholarship into a brief, readable, scholarly book for people who wish to better understand America’s most important statesman.” And, in doing this, Henriques focused upon what he feels primarily drove Washington: his quest for honor and fame. IMHO, the author has succeeded admirably in achieving his goal. In numerous instances, through wide-ranging examples and almost poetic words, he reveals for us what one might call the essence of Washington.
For the historical record, however, I do have some very minor issues with some of the scholarship the author cites:
P 1 “From Natchez to New Haven, speakers declared Washington ‘the American Moses,’ proudly above such lesser men as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Oliver Cromwell, and Napoleon.” At the time of Washington’s death in 1799, the alliterative Natchez was not yet included in the Union’s 16 states. As well, it is easily argued that Napoleon had not yet reached “great man” status.
P 48 “…and Leutze has the boat going in the wrong direction.” I would think that this depends upon whether you’re looking at the scene from the south or from the north, but there are complications in both cases. Interestingly, I have counted ten other things wrong with the famous painting (ref: Quora.com “Did the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware accurately portray the real event?”).
P 69 “Frederick the Great later wrote, ‘The achievements of Washington and his little band of compatriots between the space of ten days, were the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievement?" There is no record of FTG ever having said or written this.
P 69 “After all, he lost considerably more battles than he won.” IMHO, Washington’s record was even. Of the 14 battles he was personally engaged in, he won six, lost six, and tied two. (ref: Quora: “How many battles did George Washington win during the American Revolution?”)
P 71 “King George III apparently declared that if Washington actually did hand back his commission and return to private life, he would be the greatest man of his age.” Hearsay, written years after Washington’s death, mostly a verbal comment from King George’s painter Benjamin West. Other versions: greatest man in the world; greatest character of the age, etc.
P 72 The poet mentioned is not Francis Hopkins but Francis Hopkinson.
P 103 There is no record that Monroe said or wrote that Washington “had done more harm to the country in the last several years than any other individual.”
P 125-138 In his “Afterword,” the author discusses how George Washington dealt with slavery, Washington’s “only unavoidable subject of regret.” To his insightful discussion, I would like to add that Martha Washington's views on slavery had to have heavily influenced George Washington. She had a strong pro-slavery stance. Most of their slaves were hers as dower-slaves, legally belonging to her children/grandchildren. George’s will gave his own slaves freedom upon Martha’s death, but she freed them early due to fear that they would kill her to gain their freedom. It is said that at her death, she did not free the one slave whose freedom she could control. The surviving dower-slaves were eventually freed when Robert E. Lee, who married Martha’s great-granddaughter, was forced to comply with Martha’s grandson’s will. Martha was George’s life partner. Happy wife, happy life!
Bottom-line, I believe this book to be a major contribution to the scholarship on George Washington. I think you’ll find it to be an excellent addition to your George Washington library. Highly recommended!
Of possible interest for those interested in George Washington’s character: George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul, a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!”
As author Peter Henriques writes about publishing his new book, “…my goal was to summarize my many years spent studying George Washington and incorporate the best of Washington scholarship into a brief, readable, scholarly book for people who wish to better understand America’s most important statesman.” And, in doing this, Henriques focused upon what he feels primarily drove Washington: his quest for honor and fame. IMHO, the author has succeeded admirably in achieving his goal. In numerous instances, through wide-ranging examples and almost poetic words, he reveals for us what one might call the essence of Washington.
For the historical record, however, I do have some very minor issues with some of the scholarship the author cites:
P 1 “From Natchez to New Haven, speakers declared Washington ‘the American Moses,’ proudly above such lesser men as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Oliver Cromwell, and Napoleon.” At the time of Washington’s death in 1799, the alliterative Natchez was not yet included in the Union’s 16 states. As well, it is easily argued that Napoleon had not yet reached “great man” status.
P 48 “…and Leutze has the boat going in the wrong direction.” I would think that this depends upon whether you’re looking at the scene from the south or from the north, but there are complications in both cases. Interestingly, I have counted ten other things wrong with the famous painting (ref: Quora.com “Did the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware accurately portray the real event?”).
P 69 “Frederick the Great later wrote, ‘The achievements of Washington and his little band of compatriots between the space of ten days, were the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievement?" There is no record of FTG ever having said or written this.
P 69 “After all, he lost considerably more battles than he won.” IMHO, Washington’s record was even. Of the 14 battles he was personally engaged in, he won six, lost six, and tied two. (ref: Quora: “How many battles did George Washington win during the American Revolution?”)
P 71 “King George III apparently declared that if Washington actually did hand back his commission and return to private life, he would be the greatest man of his age.” Hearsay, written years after Washington’s death, mostly a verbal comment from King George’s painter Benjamin West. Other versions: greatest man in the world; greatest character of the age, etc.
P 72 The poet mentioned is not Francis Hopkins but Francis Hopkinson.
P 103 There is no record that Monroe said or wrote that Washington “had done more harm to the country in the last several years than any other individual.”
P 125-138 In his “Afterword,” the author discusses how George Washington dealt with slavery, Washington’s “only unavoidable subject of regret.” To his insightful discussion, I would like to add that Martha Washington's views on slavery had to have heavily influenced George Washington. She had a strong pro-slavery stance. Most of their slaves were hers as dower-slaves, legally belonging to her children/grandchildren. George’s will gave his own slaves freedom upon Martha’s death, but she freed them early due to fear that they would kill her to gain their freedom. It is said that at her death, she did not free the one slave whose freedom she could control. The surviving dower-slaves were eventually freed when Robert E. Lee, who married Martha’s great-granddaughter, was forced to comply with Martha’s grandson’s will. Martha was George’s life partner. Happy wife, happy life!
Bottom-line, I believe this book to be a major contribution to the scholarship on George Washington. I think you’ll find it to be an excellent addition to your George Washington library. Highly recommended!
Of possible interest for those interested in George Washington’s character: George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul, a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!”
December 29, 2025
George Washington: His Quest for Honor and Fame — At Another Man’s Expense
This book closely resembles Peter Henriques’ earlier work, First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington (2020), in which the author explores both the admirable and controversial aspects of Washington’s life. In that earlier book, Henriques devoted an entire chapter to the Asgill Affair and, in a subsequent presentation, judged Washington’s decision to select an innocent 20-year-old British officer for execution as retaliation a “serious misjudgment”—a remarkably restrained assessment of this episode. Indeed, the affair represented one of the most serious challenges to Washington’s reputation during the Revolutionary War and sparked America’s first international diplomatic crisis, ultimately requiring the intervention of King Louis XVI to secure Captain Charles Asgill’s release.
It is therefore extraordinary—given the book’s stated focus on Washington’s self-fashioning—that Henriques does not even give a passing mention to the Asgill Affair in this later book, which purports to examine Washington’s lifelong effort to shape and sanitise his legacy.
What demands scrutiny is Washington’s overriding concern during these events of 1782: how the world would judge his violation of the 14th Article of Capitulation, which guaranteed the protection of prisoners of war. While awaiting his expected execution, Asgill was imprisoned under close arrest in a tavern populated by hostile and angry revolutionaries. Although Washington instructed Colonel Elias Dayton to treat Asgill with “every tender attention and politeness,” these orders were either ignored or unknown to those guarding him. According to Asgill’s own testimony, he was repeatedly abused and beaten, at one point sustaining injuries so severe that he nearly died. Washington was fully aware of these conditions. Asgill wrote several desperate letters pleading for relief—letters Washington later excluded from the papers he prepared for publication.
In 2019, Asgill’s own account of these events finally appeared when his long-suppressed 20 December 1786 letter to the New Haven Gazette was published for the first time. Written in response to Washington’s public version of events, Asgill sought to correct damaging falsehoods that had circulated throughout Europe. He denied claims that he had been led thrice to the gallows or that a gibbet had been erected outside his window, and he rejected the insinuation that he himself had spread these rumours. They had been circulating months before his release, when he was still imprisoned and powerless to speak publicly.
Washington’s portrayal of Asgill—by omission and insinuation—cast the victim as a liar and malcontent, a slur that endured for two-and-a-half centuries. Correspondence between Washington and his former aide, David Humphreys, reveals a deliberate effort to “devise” a public defense of Washington’s conduct. That choice of word alone strongly suggests careful manipulation rather than transparency.
By omitting the Asgill Affair entirely and without addressing the facts outlined here Henriques misses a crucial opportunity to confront another instance of Washington’s determination to appear flawless to posterity—even at the expense of an innocent man.
Anne Ammundsen, author of The Charles Asgill Affair: Setting the Record Straight
This book closely resembles Peter Henriques’ earlier work, First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington (2020), in which the author explores both the admirable and controversial aspects of Washington’s life. In that earlier book, Henriques devoted an entire chapter to the Asgill Affair and, in a subsequent presentation, judged Washington’s decision to select an innocent 20-year-old British officer for execution as retaliation a “serious misjudgment”—a remarkably restrained assessment of this episode. Indeed, the affair represented one of the most serious challenges to Washington’s reputation during the Revolutionary War and sparked America’s first international diplomatic crisis, ultimately requiring the intervention of King Louis XVI to secure Captain Charles Asgill’s release.
It is therefore extraordinary—given the book’s stated focus on Washington’s self-fashioning—that Henriques does not even give a passing mention to the Asgill Affair in this later book, which purports to examine Washington’s lifelong effort to shape and sanitise his legacy.
What demands scrutiny is Washington’s overriding concern during these events of 1782: how the world would judge his violation of the 14th Article of Capitulation, which guaranteed the protection of prisoners of war. While awaiting his expected execution, Asgill was imprisoned under close arrest in a tavern populated by hostile and angry revolutionaries. Although Washington instructed Colonel Elias Dayton to treat Asgill with “every tender attention and politeness,” these orders were either ignored or unknown to those guarding him. According to Asgill’s own testimony, he was repeatedly abused and beaten, at one point sustaining injuries so severe that he nearly died. Washington was fully aware of these conditions. Asgill wrote several desperate letters pleading for relief—letters Washington later excluded from the papers he prepared for publication.
In 2019, Asgill’s own account of these events finally appeared when his long-suppressed 20 December 1786 letter to the New Haven Gazette was published for the first time. Written in response to Washington’s public version of events, Asgill sought to correct damaging falsehoods that had circulated throughout Europe. He denied claims that he had been led thrice to the gallows or that a gibbet had been erected outside his window, and he rejected the insinuation that he himself had spread these rumours. They had been circulating months before his release, when he was still imprisoned and powerless to speak publicly.
Washington’s portrayal of Asgill—by omission and insinuation—cast the victim as a liar and malcontent, a slur that endured for two-and-a-half centuries. Correspondence between Washington and his former aide, David Humphreys, reveals a deliberate effort to “devise” a public defense of Washington’s conduct. That choice of word alone strongly suggests careful manipulation rather than transparency.
By omitting the Asgill Affair entirely and without addressing the facts outlined here Henriques misses a crucial opportunity to confront another instance of Washington’s determination to appear flawless to posterity—even at the expense of an innocent man.
Anne Ammundsen, author of The Charles Asgill Affair: Setting the Record Straight
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