75 Surprising Facts About US Presidents – Part 1

When George Washington passed away in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte personally gave a eulogy and ordered a ten-day requiem. In Great Britain, the entire Royal Navy lowered its flags at half mast.

2. After having his hat shot from his head, bullets tear through his coat, and two horses shot from under him George Washington was able to ride 40 miles through the darkness to summon reinforcements while suffering from a severe case of dysentery.

3. George Washington and Samuel Adams, both considered to be leaders of the American Revolution, refused to join a political party because they believed the idea would divide Congress. They're instead only identified as Whigs, a common name for those supporting independence.

4. First American president George Washington stopped the Revolutionary War to return a lost dog to the enemy. The terrier of a British general was found wandering the battlefield. The US waved a truce flag, and both sides stopped shooting until the dog was successfully returned to the British commander.

5. Due to American Public Law 94-479, by the 94th Congress, George Washington is protected from being outranked by any officer in past, present, and future so if there’s a 6-star general, Washington is automatically upgraded to 7.

George Washington warned the American Public of four things in his Farewell Address: Sectionalism, Political Factions, National Debt and Foreign Influence.

7. George Washington's infamous wooden teeth were actually human teeth from slaves.

8. George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were Christian Deists and did not believe that Jesus Christ was divine.

9. George Washington, 1st President of the United States, specifically said that he didn't want Political Parties to existing.

10. On Feb 20th, 1792 George Washington signed the Postal Service Act, making it illegal for postal officials to open anyone's mail.

After his presidency, George Washington owned the largest whiskey distillery in the U.S.

12. George Washington's only military surrender was to the French.

13. In 1739, a 16-year-old girl named Eliza Lucas in South Carolina was instrumental in creating an economy accounting for 1/3 the value of the colony's output pre-Revolution. George Washington held her in such high esteem, upon her death he traveled to Philadelphia to be one of her pallbearers.

14. George Washington, the first President of USA, quelled an officer insurrection by putting on a new pair of spectacles while reading a letter to the group stating "Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind." Many officers were moved to tears.

15. George Washington's best spy, code named 'Culper Jr.', was only identified as Robert Townsend nearly 150 years after the war because a Long Island historian named Morton Pennypacker recognized his handwriting from some business receipts and matched it to intelligence correspondence.

Conrad Heyer, a soldier who crossed the Delaware with George Washington and lived long enough to be photographed.

17. During the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, President George Washington became the only sitting president to ever lead troops in the field.

18. George Washington was so afraid of being buried alive that he asked his staff to wait two days after his death to be buried.

19. George Washington was surprised to discover the Chinese weren't White.

20. One of the oldest companies in America sold soap to George Washington and many other presidents. They still sell the scents in the exact formulas today.

George Washington had to borrow money to travel to New York to be inaugurated as the first President.

22. George Washington almost joined the Royal Navy (British Navy) but his mom talked him out of it.

23. George Washington once said, "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

24. The statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square in London sits on imported soil from the US because Washington claimed 'he would never again step foot on English soil.'

25. In 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated on a book of the law, not a Bible. The tradition of using a Bible was only documented for George Washington and presidents following Tyler.