A woman motivated Washington to lead troops from the front

As a young man I became enthralled with the space program. I had a poster on my wall of the first three astronauts who did the lunar landing.

A number of years later I was at the Kennedy Space Center when John Glenn came in from his second space flight. The emotion I felt overwhelmed me as I watched one of my boyhood heroes.

I would also have the opportunity to visit with the last man to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan.

These men provided me with motivation to help me conquer problems I faced on my farm.

Our founding fathers had people who motivated them also.

My family and I had some business in Washington D.C. this last March, and we incorporated into our trip a visit to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.

I was amazed to learn the size of Mt. Vernon. It was more than 8,000 acres with more than 3,000 cultivated.

Washington also had holdings of more than 50,000 acres in the Ohio Valley, according to the museum at Mt. Vernon.

Washington was a very intelligent forward thinker. He developed a method to thresh wheat using horses running in a round barn with slats in the floor to let the grain fall through. He also harvested more than a million pounds of fish each year from the river.

What motivated him to risk everything, even his life, to fight for freedom and help form a country? Joan of Arc was one of the influences.

It seems the code of conduct that Joan put into place in the French Army was influential in the code of conduct that was put into place by George Washington. This code of honor has existed in our military until current times.

As Joan took over the command of the French Army some military leaders told her that no one would follow her. She said she wouldn't know because she would not look back as she charged into battle.

This influence affected Washington's thinking. He was known for leading the charge. During one battle he led the charge so aggressively that he was right up against the opposing line of fire.

All of the opposing soldiers took aim on him and fired, smoke filled the sky and, for a moment, he could not be seen. When the smoke cleared, to the amazement of the those who had shot at him, he was still standing and leading his men. On another occasion, there were at least three bullet holes in his clothes, and two of his horses were shot out from under him.

We have all seen the picture of the crossing of the Delaware in December of 1776. Washington had lost all battles up to this point. The Hessians had taken Trenton.

Washington, with a little motivation from Thomas Payne in a pamphlet that starts out "These are the times that try men's souls," decided to retake Trenton.

Did you know there were three crossings, and did you know why there was not a shot fired when they retook the town?

Two of the crossings failed, and the powder got wet in the crossing, so the Americans couldn't fire a shot. George was so determined to move forward for freedom that he drew his sword and continued his march to retake Trenton.

My personal Hero Hall of Fame has made room for George Washington, the man who was not at the signing of the Declaration of Independence because he was busy putting the Continental Army together while the Declaration was written.