Three leading members of the pantheon of America's founders warned us of what lay ahead: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
Washington was a wily fox in combat. He had a unique ability--gained from years of exploring and surveying the land--to see the battlefield from above and adjust his field position when necessary. Sometimes just in time. He stayed with his army throughout the Revolutionary War. The monument to him in Washington, D.C. is not tall enough.