George Washington and the General's Dog Read online

  For my father—

  like Washington, so brave and so honest

  —F.M.

  For Tom and Marianne—

  wonderful people, wonderful friends

  —R.W.

  Author acknowledgments: Thanks to the world’s greatest librarian, Liz Dobuski, for guiding me toward this story. Thanks to Caprice Serafine for her help with mastiffs. Thanks to my editor, Shana Corey, for her grace and expertise in helping to draft this story. Thanks to Diane Landolf for help with photo research. Much of the research that went into crafting this story was supported by the words of George Washington himself through his voluminous writings, available at the Library of Congress, and by James Thomas Flexner’s biography Washington: The Indispensable Man.

  Photograph credits: George Washington with Nelson: © Francis G. Mayer/CORBIS; Alexander

  Hamilton: © Archivo Iconographico, S.A./CORBIS; William Howe: © Hulton Archive by Getty

  Images; note to William Howe courtesy of the Library of Congress.

  Text copyright © 2002 by Frank Murphy. Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Richard Walz.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  stepintoreading.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at randomhouse.com/teachers

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Murphy, Frank, 1952–George Washington and the general’s dog / by Frank Murphy ; illustrated by Richard Walz.

  p. cm. — (Step into reading. A step 3 book.) summary: Recounts events in the life of George Washington that focus on his fondness for animals.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-375-98144-9

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-449-81288-4

  1. Washington, George, 1732–1799—Juvenile literature. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature.

  3. Generals—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. 4. Dogs—United States—History—18th century—Juvenile literature.

  5. Human-animal relationships—United States—History—18th century—Juvenile literature. [1. Washington, George, 1732–1799.

  2. Presidents. 3. Human-animal relationships.] I. Walz, Richard, ill. II. Title.

  III. Series: Step into reading. Step 3 book.

  E312.66.M84 2003 973.4'1'092—dc21 [B] 2002015218

  Step into reading, random house, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Title Page

  Copyright

  First Page

  George Washington is one of

  America’s greatest heroes.

  Most people know that

  George was honest and brave.

  But there is something

  about George that people

  don’t always know.

  George Washington loved animals.

  George learned

  to ride horses as a boy.

  Sometimes he rode into town.

  George rode fast,

  but he never fell.

  People said

  he was the best rider

  they had ever seen.

  When George grew up,

  he moved to a farm

  called Mount Vernon.

  Every day,

  George checked on

  the horses and hogs.

  He checked on the oxen,

  mules, and sheep.

  But he spent the most

  time with his dogs.

  George had a lot of dogs.

  He owned thirty-six dogs

  in his lifetime.

  He took them hunting.

  He played with them.

  He even gave them cute names

  like “Mopsey,” “Sweetlips,”

  and “Truelove.”

  Sometimes George

  spoiled his dogs.

  He let them run

  around the house.

  One day,

  George’s wife, Martha,

  cooked a ham for dinner.

  George’s dog Vulcan

  jumped up and

  stole the ham—

  right off the table!

  Martha chased after him.

  But George just laughed.

  George liked being

  at Mount Vernon

  with Martha and the animals.

  But America needed him.

  America was not yet

  its own country.

  It was an English colony.

  That means it belonged

  to England.

  Many American colonists

  wanted to be free

  from England.

  So they went to war.

  The war was called

  the American Revolution.

  The colonists chose George

  to be their general.

  George chose his favorite dog,

  Sweetlips, to go with him.

  He said goodbye

  to Martha and Mount Vernon.

  He jumped on

  his horse, Nelson.

  Then he rode into battle.

  Sweetlips was right beside him.

  In George’s day,

  soldiers often brought

  dogs with them to war.

  Dogs helped hunt.

  Dogs helped track the way.

  Dogs helped guard

  against wild animals.

  Best of all,

  dogs were great partners!

  The general of

  the English army

  was named William Howe.

  He had a dog, too.

  He also had 9,000 soldiers.

  They had plenty of supplies.

  George did not have

  nearly as many supplies.

  Sometimes his soldiers

  were cold.

  Sometimes they were hungry.

  But they did not give up.

  In the fall of 1777,

  George’s troops

  went to Pennsylvania.

  They were fighting

  the English troops.

  Guns fired!

  RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

  Cannons roared.

  BOOM! BANG!

  Smoke filled the air.

  Finally, the fighting ended.

  The English soldiers

  went back to their camp.

  The battle was over

  for the day.

  The smoke began to clear.

  George noticed a dog

  without a soldier.

  It looked lost.

  George bent down

  and patted the dog’s head.

  The dog followed George

  back to the colonists’ camp.

  He wagged his tail.

  Whose dog is this?

  wondered George.

  George looked

  at the dog’s collar.

  The tag had

  a man’s name on it.

  That name was William Howe.

  William Howe!?

  George couldn’t believe his eyes!

  William Howe was the enemy!

  Word about the enemy dog

  spread through camp.

  Some of George’s men

  wanted to keep the dog.

  But George said no!

  George believed the dog

  belonged with his master.

  George had his friend

  Alexander Hamilton

  write a note to Gen
eral Howe.

  The note said that George

  wanted to return the dog.

  Both sides raised white flags.

  The white flags meant

  no one could fight.

  George’s soldiers

  walked the dog

  across the battlefield.

  They gave him back

  to General Howe.

  People in England

  found out about

  George’s good deed.

  The English still wanted

  to beat George

  and win the war.

  But now they respected him.

  Some English people

  even liked him.

  They had never heard

  a story of such great kindness

  between enemies.

  In 1783, America won

  the war against England.

  America became

  its very own country.

  George Washington

  went home to Mount Vernon.

  Friends around the world

  wanted to honor George.

  They wondered what

  he would like.

  Then they remembered

  the story about the dog.

  Soon, presents started

  arriving at Mount Vernon.

  The King of Spain

  sent George a mule!

  George named him

  “Royal Gift.”

  A friend from France gave George

  an even bigger gift—

  seven dogs!

  George’s work

  was not done, though.

  The American people

  needed a leader.

  They elected George

  to be their first president.

  People all over America

  loved their new president.

  They cheered when

  he rode by in his carriage.

  They knew it was him

  because his six white horses

  always led the way.

 

 

  Frank Murphy, George Washington and the General's Dog

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