The First Founder: 15 Fascinating Facts About George Washington

1. His Famous Dentures Were Never Made of Wood

Popular lore often claims that George Washington wore wooden dentures, but this is a persistent historical myth. In reality, the nation's first president suffered from excruciating dental issues throughout his adult life and relied on complex prosthetics made from gold, lead, brass, and hippopotamus ivory. Crucially, his dentures also incorporated real human teeth, some of which were purchased from enslaved workers at Mount Vernon. The ill-fitting, painful apparatuses distorted his jaw structure, which explains the stern, tight-lipped expression seen in his famous portraits. By the time he took the presidential oath of office in 1789, Washington had only a single natural tooth remaining in his mouth.

2. He Operated the Largest Whiskey Distillery in America

Beyond his military and political endeavors, Washington was an exceptionally shrewd entrepreneur who launched one of the most profitable spirits operations in early America. Encouraged by his farm manager James Anderson, he built a massive, state-of-the-art distillery at Mount Vernon in 1797. The facility housed five copper stills and produced a high-proof rye whiskey that was sold throughout the region. By 1799, the year of Washington's death, his distillery yielded nearly 11,000 gallons of whiskey, making it the largest producer of distilled spirits in the young United States. Today, a fully functional reconstruction of his historic distillery operates at Mount Vernon, producing spirits using Washington's original recipe.

3. He Holds the Highest Military Rank in U.S. History

During his lifetime, Washington served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and held the four-star equivalent rank of Lieutenant General. However, as the U.S. military expanded over the following two centuries, modern five-star generals technically outranked the father of the nation. To resolve this historical anomaly, Congress passed a joint resolution in 1976 during the American Bicentennial to posthumously promote Washington. President Gerald Ford signed the decree naming him General of the Armies of the United States. By explicit federal law, no past, present, or future military officer can ever outrank George Washington on the officer seniority list.

4. He Was Made an Honorary Citizen of France

In August 1792, the French National Assembly decided to bestow honorary French citizenship upon several foreign figures who had fought for the cause of human freedom. George Washington was selected alongside other prominent revolutionary thinkers such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Paine. The French government praised Washington as a beacon of liberty who had successfully led a newborn nation out of tyranny. Although Washington never traveled to Europe, he deeply cherished the military alliance between the United States and France forged during the Revolutionary War. Consequently, he remains one of the extremely rare Americans in history to hold official French citizenship.

5. He Introduced the First Breeding Mules to America

Washington recognized that early American agriculture urgently needed draft animals that were stronger than standard horses and more agile than oxen. Realizing the hybrid power of mules, he reached out to European royalty to secure high-quality breeding stock for the nation. In 1785, King Charles III of Spain gifted Washington a prized Andalusian donkey named Royal Gift. Washington meticulously crossed the royal jack with his finest Virginia mares, producing exceptional offspring that transformed agricultural labor across the country. Through his deliberate breeding efforts, Washington earned the reputation as the father of American mule breeding.

6. He Accumulated a 221-Year Overdue Library Fine

In October 1789, while serving his first term as president in New York City, Washington checked out two books from the New York Society Library. One of these titles was The Law of Nations, a prominent treatise on international law and diplomacy. However, Washington never returned the volume, and no record existed of him paying for it before his death. The library eventually flagged the overdue status in their historic ledgers, noting that accrued late fees reached tens of thousands of dollars over the centuries. In 2010, staff at Mount Vernon officially settled the matter by presenting the library with a duplicate copy of the exact 1789 edition.

7. He Never Signed the Declaration of Independence

Many people mistakenly assume that Washington was among the founders who penned their names to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. However, Washington was not present in Philadelphia during the Second Continental Congress because he was already serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. At the exact moment the delegates signed the document, Washington was stationed in New York City preparing his troops for an imminent British naval invasion. On July 9, 1776, Washington had the Declaration read aloud to his soldiers gathered at City Hall Plaza to bolster their morale. Though he championed the cause of independence, his famous signature only appears on the U.S. Constitution.

8. He Had Red Hair and Never Wore a Wig

Historical paintings often depict Washington with a pristine head of stark white hair, leading many to assume he wore powdered wigs standard for gentlemen of his era. In reality, Washington never wore a wig and possessed natural reddish-brown hair throughout his youth and middle age. To maintain a fashionable and dignified appearance, he personally greased, pulled back, and heavily powdered his natural hair every morning. He styled his real locks into a neat queue tied with a velvet ribbon behind his neck. As he aged, his natural hair turned gray, requiring far less white powder to achieve his iconic silver look.

9. He Survived Four Bullet Holes and Two Dead Horses in Battle

Washington was legendary for his physical fearlessness on the battlefield, which frequently put him in severe personal danger. During the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755, fought during the French and Indian War, Washington served as an aide-de-camp and rode directly into heavy enemy fire. Over the course of the brutal firefight, two separate horses were shot and killed right out from under him. When the smoke cleared, officers discovered that four enemy bullets had pierced Washington's coat and another had grazed his hat, yet he emerged without a single scratch. This miraculous survival convinced many contemporary observers that divine providence was protecting the young officer.

10. He Created the American Foxhound Dog Breed

Washington was a passionate fox hunter who spent decades working to breed the ultimate American hunting dog. He carefully crossed English foxhounds with French hounds gifted to him by the Marquis de Lafayette to create a faster, sleeker, and more athletic canine. His meticulous breeding program at Mount Vernon laid the foundation for what is recognized today as the American Foxhound breed. Washington maintained detailed diaries tracking his dogs' lineages and bestowed humorously colorful names upon them. Among his favorite pack members were dogs named Sweet Lips, Vulcan, Tipsy, Drunkard, and Searcher.

11. His Fatal Illness Was Likely Worsened by His Doctors

In December 1799, Washington fell ill with a severe throat infection, likely acute epiglottitis or streptococcal pharyngitis, after inspecting his farm in freezing rain. Seeking a remedy, his attending physicians subjected the 67-year-old former president to aggressive medical treatments standard for the 18th century. Over a span of less than 16 hours, the doctors performed multiple bloodlettings, removing approximately 40 percent of his total blood volume. They also administered blistering plasters, mercury compounds, and emetics that induced severe dehydration. Rather than curing his respiratory distress, this massive blood loss and physical trauma likely accelerated his rapid decline and death.

12. He Was the Only Early President Without a College Education

Unlike fellow Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison—who attended prestigious institutions like William & Mary, Harvard, and Princeton—Washington lacked a formal college degree. His father, Augustine Washington, died suddenly when George was just eleven years old, ending any hopes of sending the young boy to school in England. Forced to support his family, Washington ended his formal schooling around age 15 and taught himself practical mathematics, drafting, and land surveying. By age 17, he earned his official surveyor's license from the College of William & Mary without taking classes there, launching his lucrative early career.

13. He Ran a Secret Mastermind Spy Ring During the Revolution

Washington understood that the Continental Army could not match the British military in raw power, so he leaned heavily on intelligence gathering to win the war. He personally directed the Culper Spy Ring, a covert espionage network based in New York City and Long Island that operated in total secrecy. Washington introduced advanced spy tactics, including invisible inks, complex numeric ciphers, coded dispatches, and secret dead drops to protect his operatives. The intelligence provided by this network uncovered major British troop movements and exposed Benedict Arnold's treasonous plot to surrender West Point. Washington's mastery of espionage allowed his army to outsmart superior forces throughout the conflict.

14. He Had No Biological Children Due to Early Illness

Despite enjoying a loving 40-year marriage with his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis, George Washington had no biological children of his own. Modern medical historians suspect that a severe case of smallpox or tuberculosis contracted during his trip to Barbados in 1751 left him permanently sterile. Martha had four children from her previous marriage, two of whom survived into adulthood, and Washington warmly welcomed them as his own. Following the premature death of Martha's son John Parke Custis, George and Martha legally adopted and raised two of their grandchildren, George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, at Mount Vernon.

15. His Presidential Salary Equaled 2% of the Total U.S. Budget

When Washington assumed the presidency in 1789, he initially refused to accept a salary, expressing a desire to serve his country purely out of patriotic duty. However, Congress insisted on paying him an annual salary of $25,000 to ensure that the office of the presidency remained open to citizens of any economic background rather than just the extremely wealthy. That $25,000 sum was enormous for the era, representing roughly two percent of the entire federal budget of the United States. Adjusted for modern inflation and purchasing power relative to national expenditure, Washington's compensation remains the largest relative salary of any president in American history.