George Washington was born in Westmoreland, Virgina February 22nd of 1732. He was born into a rich plantation family of self-made wealth; this helped him form values of hard work, responsibility and leadership early on. His formal schooling was sparse regardless, he developed a love for learning and was an avid reader.  

At the age of 11 George became the head of his household where we would manage and run the family estate along with his mother and his siblings. When he was 17, he became a land surveyor where he would explore and map the lands of Virgina and surrounding states. 

In 1754, George joined the Virgina militia, a part of the British army at the time, where he fought in the French and Indian war as a British officer. He learned valuable leadership and command skills. He distinguished himself on multiple occasions during the conflict but due to him being under the British empire as an American colonist, he was prevented from moving up the ranks. This led to him retiring early and living quietly at his Mount Vernon estate he purchased with his new wife. 

He would remain working his estate during the early years of the American Revolution until the first continental congress in which he was present. Here, due to his military experience, he was given command of the small and unproven continental army and state militias of the area. He would take command after the battles of Lexington and Concord. 

With his continental army and the state militias of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island he pushed the British into Boston where he would trap them there. Beginning what we know as the siege of Boston. Despite his inferior numbers and the inexperience of his troops, he managed to maintain the siege and capture nearby forts from British occupation. 

He proved to be an excellent leader by commanding the loyalty of his men, one way he achieved this was listening and taking in ideas of others. He wanted to take Boston by force, but his men believed this to be a bad idea, instead they would maintain the siege which would lead to the British abandoning Boston. Leading to the Continental army capturing Boston with little resistance.

Despite his great qualities, he is still a man capable of mistakes. As he leads his army into New York state, he made multiple strategic mistakes leading to his army being nearly destroyed on multiple occasions. It was so devastating that he nearly lost his command of the army and Congress would lose faith in his abilities. In the end the army only remained intact due to his inventive leadership, we see this with his crossing of the Delaware river where he managed to save his army from a superior British army. 

Another aspect of Washington is he was able to learn from his mistakes. After his defeats he learned how to fight and beat the British. One way he did this was by improving his army. Through extreme drilling and training he was able to forge an army that could challenge the elite British regulars.