George Washington Wanted to Recruit Soldiers of Character and Means

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Alan Pell Crawford, A Few Men of Character. By 1775, Washington had strong ideas about how to run an army. Oggicers, he said, should be men of independent means. Wall Street Journal, Dec 10, 2013
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303442004579124111644254466
(book review on Stephen Brumwell, George Washington; Gentleman warrior. Quercus, 2013 AND Robert MS McDonald (ed), Sons of the Father, George Washington and his protégés. University of Virginia Press, 2013)
  
Note:
(a) "The British had expected to confront 'a parcel of ragged, disorderly fellows headed by officers of their own stamp.' Instead, they met "men properly disposed who made a good and soldier-like appearance," capable of performing "in every particular."
(i) parcel (n; Middle English, from Latin particula small part — more at PARTICLE):
"a company, collection, or group of persons, animals, or things :  LOT <the whole story was a parcel of lies>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parcel
(ii) stamp (n):
2:  the impression or mark made by stamping or imprinting
3a :  a distinctive character, indication, or mark
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stamp
(iii) particular (n):
"an individual fact, point, circumstance, or detail <a hero in every particular — Ron Fimrite>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/particular

(b) "in his mid-20s, when he led the Virginia Regiment [in the French and Indian War]. By 1775 when he took command of the Contimental Army * * * Washington told Gov Patrick Henry * * * that he [Henry] should avoid 'the soldier and the officer being too nearly on a level.' Because America didn't have a long military tradition, and its men lacked experience, Washington thought that other considerations should be weighed: The 'true criterion * * * is to consider whether the candidate for office has a just pretension to the character of a gentleman, a proper sense of honor, and some reputation to lose.'  The best officers, Washington told John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, would be men of means. Only financial independence would allow 'men of character to engage,' Washington said, 'and till the bulk of your officers are composed of such persons as are actuated by principles of honor, and a spirit of enterprise, you have little to expect from them.'"  (the last omission in original)
(i) George Washington (1731-1799; president 1789-1797) is the "father" in the book title Sons of the Father.
(ii) Virginia Regiment
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Regiment
(Active 1754–1762; The regiment served in the French and Indian War)

Quote: "The Virginia Regiment is noteworthy in the colonies because it was the first all-colonial professional military force. Although colonials had served in the British Army, and local militias were common, the regiment was the only unit at the time to drill regularly and wear a standard uniform.

(iii) Unit History. Virginia Regiment. undated
www.virginiaregiment.org/The_Virginia_Regiment/Unit_History.html
("The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia 's Governor Dinwiddie, initially as an all volunteer corps. Lt Col George Washington assumed command (and promotion to Colonel) upon the death of Col Joshua Fry in 1754. * * * Most recruits were characterized by George Washington as 'loose, Idle Persons... quite destitute of House, and Home.' Hampered by frequent desertions because of poor supplies, extremely low pay and hazardous duty * * * Later drafts pulled only those who could not provide a substitute or pay the 10 pound exemption fee, ensuring that the only Virginia 's poor would be drafted. * * * Washington commanded the unit until he resigned upon the fall of Fort Duquesne in 1758. The regiment served on until 1762")
(iv) French and Indian War
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War
(1754–1763; is the American name for the North American theater of the Seven Years' War [1756-1763]. The war was fought primarily between the colonies of British America and New France)
(v) Patrick Henry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry
(1736-1799; the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786; is remembered for his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech; In 1775, Henry was commissioned as colonel of the 1st Virginia Regiment [the unit existed 1775-1783])
(vi) on a level with:
"equal with <they were treated as menials, on a level with cooks>"www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/on%2Ba%2Blevel%2Bwith___1
(vii) Continental Congress
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Congress
(first congress convened in 1774--Peyton Randolph of Virginia was its president; second congress in 1775--John Hancock of Massachusetts was the president; both in Philadelphia)
actuate (vt): "to move to action"www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/actuate

(c) "This collection of essays, edited by Robert MS McDonald, explores Washington's relationships with a series of younger men. These include * * * less well-known ones, such as Daniel Morgan, Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox. The selection seems somewhat arbitrary. John Marshall —described in passing by Brian Steele, one of the contributors, as 'the public figure perhaps closest to Washington in his final years'—is left out, while Capt Robert Kirkwood of Delaware, who never met his commander in chief, gets an entire chapter."
(i) Daniel Morgan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan
(1736-1802)
(ii) Nathanael Greene
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_Greene
(1742-1786; known for his successful command in the Southern Campaign, forcing British general Charles Cornwallis to abandon the Carolinas and head for Virginia, where the latter surrendered at Yorktown))
(iii) John Marshallen.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall(1755-1835; served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and was friends with George Washington; chief Justice 1801-1835)
(iv) Robert Kirkwood
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kirkwood
(1746-1791; "he joined a 1791 military expedition led by Arthur St Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory. In November 1791, Kirkwood was killed by Native Americans from the Miami tribe in a major defeat near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana")

(d) "he [Wahington] relied increasingly on the sound judgment and native ingenuity of men such as Henry Knox. Knox came to Washington's attention in 1775 for his work on the defenses around Boston. His resourcefulness and keen interest in military science proved invaluable. When Washington allowed Knox to head for Fort Ticonderoga in hopes of retrieving some 50 British cannon captured by Ethan Allen, Knox succeeded against long odds. Over nine harrowing weeks, Mark Thompson writes, Knox and his men hauled 60 tons of artillery 300 miles through the New York backcountry, along waterways and gullied roads, across ice and snow.' Deployed on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston, the guns helped persuade the British to abandon the city. But Knox was far more than a herculean teamster. Washington put him in charge of all Continental artillery, and the batteries under his direction loomed large at Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth and Yorktown. After the war, Knox became Washington's secretary of war. * * * Forced as a child to support his mother when his father abandoned the family, Knox was a mere bookseller before the war, self-educated and obese. But he understood artillery and could see its role in sieges and in the mobile warfare that would characterize the Revolution. * * * Of Knox, Washington wrote to John Adams in 1798, 'there is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy.'"
(i) Henry Knox
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Knox
(1750-1806; section 2.1 Siege of Boston [for  the trail map, click "Noble train of artillery"])
(ii) Lake George relative to Lake Champlain
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Champlain
and Hudson River can be appreciated in a map of this Wiki page.
Battle of Monmouth
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monmouth
(June 28, 1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey; Washington had fought his opponent to a standstill after a pitched and prolonged engagement; the first time that Washington's army had achieved such a result)