on this day the shadowy historical character of the Baron of Ohio, George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia, British America.

A wealthy scion of the plantation class, he followed a traditional path in his early adulthood, appointed adjutant general in the Virginia militia. For his courageous leadership in the Seven Years War, he would be rewarded with a Commission in the British Army.

Birth of the Sinister Baron of OhioOf course allegations would later emerge that Washington was guilty of poor generalship at Fort Necessity, and the cold-blooded murder of French commander Jumonville. The "Jumonville incident" became an international affair and was a major spark of the French Indian war. When he was released he was asked not to return to Ohio Country for one year. It appears that Washington's agenda was to seize land in the Ohio Valley.

Further events indicated that all was not what it seemed. Because in 1758, the discovery of his love letter to Sally Cary Fairfax forced the twenty-six year-old Colonel George Washington to temporarily flee Virginia with the angry family members of his jilted fiancee Martha Dandridge Custis on his heels.

During the the brief uprising of 1776-8, Washington served with distinction in the British Forces that easily defeated the Continental Army led by the inept revolutionary general Gates. He was rewarded by the Crown with the gift of huge tracts of lands which made him not only one of America's wealthiest men, but one of her largest slaveholders.

Shortly afterwards, he was offered the position of Grand National Master of a new National Grand Lodge of the United Colonies. By deploying his leadership skills to unite lodges in the thirteen colonies, Washington laid the foundation for the modern day fraternal organisations that underpin American society.

His legacy is acknowledged by the George Washington Statue at the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA. But perhaps a more powerful image of his success are the photographs of the swearing in of Winston Spencer Churchill, the first Prime Minister of the United Dominions of America, and of course, a third degree Freemason.