Today in History: Washington leaves Mount Vernon

On May 4, 1775, George Washington climbed into his chariot and departed Mount Vernon, bound for Philadelphia. He was on his way to attend the Second Continental Congress, convening just a month after the Revolution’s first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. It would take five days to travel from his home to Philadelphia through towns, farm fields, crudely-made roads and paths, and across Colonial America’s countryside. He would not return home to Mount Vernon for another six years.