George Washington didn't confess to chopping down a cherry tree

Keeping all of February’s presidential birthdays straight is a headache. Ronald Reagan was born on Feb. 6, William Henry Harrison on Feb. 9, Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12, and the first president, George Washington, was born on Feb. 22. Congress washed its hands of the mess by lumping them all together on Presidents Day.

Chances are you grew up hearing Washington chopped down a cherry tree as a 6-year-old boy. When his dad asked who was responsible, the future father of our country “fessed up and said, ‘I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet.'” It’s a story that inspired countless generations of kids always to tell the truth.