George Washington's career began as a surveyor, and he continued that activity throughout his life. Beginning in 1747, at the age of 17 years, he secured an appointment as county surveyor for the newly created frontier county of Culpeper and then continued to work in Frederick and Hampshire Counties. He surveyed into the Shenandoah Valley to what is now Harper’s Ferry.
He maintained a journal of all his travels and observations in the western regions and played a large role in opening the Ohio Valley to Virginia settlers.
In addition to public surveys, Washington prepared two maps of the area that became the city of Alexandria, Va., on the Potomac River in 1748-9. Washington played a major role in starting the French and Indian War when, on a mapping and exploratory mission in 1754, he ambushed a French detachment and a French officer was killed. That became a proximate cause of the war.
During the French and Indian War, his appointment as lieutenant colonel of the newly formed Virginia Regiment was largely the result of his knowledge of the wilderness and map-making skills. During the war, he was responsible for constructing a chain of forts covering over 400 miles, as well as the layout and construction of roads in the vicinity. To this day, one of these roads is still known as “Washington's Road.”
He was also involved in the awarding of land claims to veterans of the war, all of which lay west of the Ohio River and none of which had been surveyed at that time.
Even as a general during the Revolutionary War, he periodically found it necessary to make his own field sketches of battlefields. In 1777, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, he appointed Robert Erskine to begin a complete survey of the nation; the result was the development of the first official maps of the United States. These helped greatly in military operations. As President, Washington created the office of Geographer to the Army.
Submitted by the George Washington Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution