"We search history in vain to find a parallel to Washington. As a statesman, as a general, as a thoroughly good man, he stands pre-eminent. He was so emphatically the Father of his country that it may almost be said that he created the Republic." -John S.C. Abbott, Preface, 1875 American historian John S.C. Abbott wrote George Washington-Life in America One Hundred Years Ago (1875) as part of his American Pioneers and Patriots series. George Washington (1732-1799), "Father of His Country," was an American general and commander-in-chief of the patriot forces in the American Revolution and served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.