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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7797634" data-attributes="member: 6873517">Washington was indeed a skilled surveyor and had spent a lot of time on the frontier when he was in British colonial service during the Seven Years' War (known here as the French and Indian War).I'm not sure I'd agree Washington was a tactical genius. For instance, he made some really doofus mistakes during the Battle of Long Island that nearly got the nascent Continental Army annihilated. He was, however, very charismatic as a leader, capable of keeping it together during some really dark times, and strategically savvy. He also was able to get the services of some very able underlings, such as Benedict Arnold (before he turned his coat in a fit of jealous rage) and Nathanael Greene, as well as the European professional soldiers Count von Steuben and the Marquis de Lafayette. I'd also disagree that the Continentals were amateur militiamen (although there were militia and guerrillas in service). By the end of the war they were seasoned and well-drilled thanks to von Steuben and Lafayette, and the war would not have been won without the Continentals. After the war, the Continental Army was allowed to disintegrate (shamefully---many of the regulars nearly starved to death in 1783 in winter quarters) but in a very real sense, Lafayette and, especially, von Steuben, were the fathers of the professional officer corps.</blockquote>