Nicholas Trist was fired from his job as commissioner to Mexico in October 1847. However, he ignored his recall order and stayed on the job. By February 1848, he had successfully negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That treaty ended the Mexican American War and led to one of the largest land acquisitions in U.S. history.

George Washington began his professional career as a professional land surveyor. He worked for the Fairfax family of Belvoir Manor. The experience was the foundational for the father of America. Washington took the experiences of surveying into his military career and employed the skills throughout his life.

On July 3, 1775, George Washington formally assumed command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, MA and published his first order of the day. This is an important milestone in American history.

Fort Ward in Alexandria, Virginia has been preserved and dedicated to the history of the 68 forts that surrounded Washington D.C. throughout the duration of the American Civil War from 1861-1865.