They were looking backwards too
We read history as though it is forward looking. But for the people in it, they were looking backwards. . There are still matters from the past to resolve. . Washington makes an October to December 1770 trip out west to scope out land promised him and his men from Lt Gov Dinwiddie in 1754.
And read about an enduring legend spawned from that 1770 trip out west.
Meanwhile 5 March 1770 Boston Massacre occurred earlier.
John Adams is busy defending British soldiers bullied by colonial instigators wanting to cause an incident. . That trial was going on while Washington was on his western trip making good on a promise from the past. .
Years after he became the the second president of the United States,
John Adams remembered the trials: . “The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right.” –John Adams . http://www.john-adams-heritage.com/boston-massacre-trials/ .
See Picture of George Washington in his French and Indian War Uniform in ..... 1772.... years after he left his service in that war at the end of 1758, January 1759. Fascinating story on that portrait.
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