Emerging from Valley Forge, Washington began a pursuit of the British as they withdrew to New York. Attacking at the Battle of Monmouth, the Americans fought the British to a standstill. The fighting saw Washington at the front working tirelessly to rally his men. Pursuing the British, Washington settled into a loose siege of New York as the focus of the fighting shifted to the southern colonies. As commander in chief, Washington worked to direct operations on the other fronts from his headquarters. Joined by French forces in 1781, Washington moved south and besieged Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. Receiving the British surrender on October 19, the battle effectively ended the war. Returning to New York, Washington endured another year of struggling to keep the army together amid a lack of funds and supplies. Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. Washington is given full credit for the strategies that forced the British evacuation of Boston in 1776 and the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. In 1758, Washington resigned his commission and retired from the regiment. Returning to private life, he married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis on January 6, 1759, and took up residence at Mount Vernon. With his newly obtained means, Washington began expanding his real estate holdings and greatly expanded the plantation. Though he never had children of his own, he aided in raising Martha's son and daughter from her previous marriage. As a one of the colony's wealthiest men, Washington began serving in the House of Burgesses in 1758.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston. He was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Franklin loved to read, but his family didn't have enough money for him to go to school, so he had to work with his dad. At around 12 years