George Washington was alive in 1775.
The French and Indian War ( 1754 -- 63 ) comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years ' War of 1754 -- 63 . The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754 , during which Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old George Washington ambushed a French patrol . George Washington . In 1775 , the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution . Mount Vernon . The mansion is built of wood in a loose Palladian style , and was constructed by George Washington in stages between 1758 and 1778 .