Perhaps the most important element in Washington’s military education during the French and Indian War was his development of a strategic sense. The struggle for the Forks of the Ohio had started as a Virginia affair, but it quickly took on an international prominence. Washington became one of the men at the center of the conflict. Although he had a limited understanding of the European politics and diplomacy that helped to fuel the war, he nevertheless sensed the crucial importance of Indian affairs. He also perceived the strategic value of the different regions of North America — such as the Middle Atlantic, the Ohio, and the Hudson Valley — and learned how British ministers thought of conquering or defending a continent. Most of all, he learned how war could become a battleground for the competing ambitions and interests of the various colonies.
| Place | City | |
|---|---|---|
| Kings Mountain National Military Park | Blacksburg | This 3,945 acre park commemorates the 1780 battle between colonialists — Patriot vs. Loyalist with no British involved. |
| Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site | Camden | The 107-acre site includes the town of 18th century Camden, the Joseph Kershaw mansion — headquarters for Lord Cornwallis — and more. Fourteen battles of the Revolution were fought in the area. |
| Drayton Hall | Charleston | The mansion, built 1738-42, was the birthplace of patriot William Henry Drayton. |
| Middleton Place | Charleston | Well-preserved eighteenth century plantation with America's oldest landscaped gardens; the house dates to the late 1730s. |
| Old Slave Mart Museum | Charleston | Opened in 2007, the museum offers a narrative history of slavery in the U.S. The building, formerly Ryan’s Mart, was an actual showroom where slaves were bought and sold. |
| Cowpens National Battlefield | Chesnee | A pasturing area at the time of the battle, the site covers 845 acres and is preserved to its 1781 appearance. |
| Charles Pinckney National Historic Site | Mount Pleasant | Charles Pinckney was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor; the 28-acre site is just a remnant of Pinckney's 715-acre coastal plantation, Snee Farm. |
| Ninety Six National Historic Site | Nintey Six | Commemorates two Revolutionary War battles and includes the original 1781 Star Fort, historic roads, the original town sites of Ninety Six & Cambridge, the reconstructed Stockade Fort, and siege trenches. |
General George Washington: A Military Life (2005)