If you Google GW’s birthday, the Internet will tell you that it was February 22, 1732. However, Washington’s Birthday is celebrated every year on the third Monday of February, which, this year falls on the 16th of February. This birthday confusion comes from Great Britain and its colonies adopting the Gregorian calendar, thus moving the first president’s birthday to its current date. Washington, however, was technically born on February 11th, 1731 according to the Julian calendar that was used at the time of his birth. Confusing, right?
For our sake, though, the technicalities don’t matter. As long as we take a smidgen of our day to recognize the birth of our first (and one of our greatest) Presidents, I’m a happy camper. To do so, here are some interesting facts that you may not know about the father of our nation.
1. Washington only had about 8 years of formal schooling, but he was so good at math he became a land surveyor at 16 years old. Prodigy, much?
2. Washington decided that all United States Presidents would be addressed as “Mr. President.”
3. He was the richest president of all time. Adding up his assets of land and slaves (which he later freed in his will), Washington would be worth about $500 million if he were alive today—this guy was pretty much the definition of success (even though he did have some problems with debt in his life)
4. Washington was basically a moonshiner, even though he did pay the taxes on alcohol and have a license. In one year, his distillery produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey.
5. Not only could GW command troops and politic, he could breed mules like a champ. In fact, he actually introduced mules to America, breeding his own horses with the donkeys owned by the King of Spain and the Marquis de Lafayette.
6. Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, actually hated Washington. Paine published a malicious open letter to him, attacking him as a general and president.
7. GW’s dentures were made of gold, lead, ivory, and human and animal teeth. Yikes.
8. Not only did he breed mules, he bred hound dogs. He adored these animals, and gave some of them really weird names like Sweet Lips and True Love…
9. Washington basically defied death. During the French and Indian War, he was shot 4 different times, each bullet missing his body, but hitting his hat and clothing instead. Two horses were also shot out from under him during this war. He also survived cases of smallpox, malaria, and dysentery, ultimately living for 67 years.
10. He lost more battles than he won, but is known as such a great general because he could hold a ragged out army together for so long.
11. He didn’t have a middle name—George Washington is already badass enough.
12. Washington is the only president to go into battle during his actual presidential term.
man running in forestPhoto by 
