For the events about to be described, the story will jump far ahead in time from the tales we related in our previous chapters. We have depicted a very rough and brutal sequence of events from the Schenectady and Deerfield massacres to the Lachine massacre. By now, those of you who have adventured with us, whether viewing from an American, Indian, French or British perspective will have absorbed a taste of the reality of life as it was experienced by the settlers, townspeople, native people, farmers and their respective governments - all caught between the competing empires of France and Great Britain.
We leave 1704, the last date we had contact with and leap forward to 1753 when some very important events will introduce to you names, both familiar and unfamiliar, whose activities played such a significant part in the world’s history. So let’s imagine ourselves in the shoes of these actors as they appear on the big screen of life’s always mysterious and surprising drama.
George Washington ordered to Fort Le Boeuf
George Washington, (later to be the first President of the United States of America) was just 21 years old in 1753 when he received a call to report to the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie in Williamsburg. Earlier in his youth, George had become skilled as a surveyor and had been instrumental in mapping out many of the frontier lands of Virginia. He had come to the attention of Governor Dinwiddie and had impressed him with his attention to detail as well as his diligence and ability to handle the wilderness; particularly his diplomacy in dealing with the native people.
Washington had received considerable military training in the use of arms and in military maneuvers from his elder half-brother Lawrence Washington and a close friend of Lawrence’s by the name of Jacob Van Braam, who was an expert fencer. Van Braam also had a substantial history of military service in Europe. Both men were officers in the Virginia militia. Lawrence, unfortunately, had died of tuberculosis the previous year.
An interesting sidelight to Lawrence’s military life is that he had served in the Caribbean under the famous British Admiral Vernon and later named his Washington estate, Mount Vernon, in the Admiral’s honour. It was from Mount Vernon that George Washington was summoned by Governor Dinwiddie and it was to Mount Vernon that Washington would return after his current and final revolutionary war service was over.
In 1752, Virginia Governor Dinwiddie appointed Washington a district adjutant of the militia, with the rank of major because in spite of his youth, he possessed many of requirements for any task that might be given to him. The militia at that time was not a permanent or properly equipped military force but was composed of volunteer colonists who met somewhat irregularly to practice the elements of military discipline. They were looked upon as a resource available for emergencies.
The French Challenge to the British Colonies
Governor Dinwiddie informed Washington that he was alarmed because he had received information from his Indian spies that the French were building a series of forts from Lake Erie to the Allegheny River and perhaps south to the Monongahela, obviously an attempt to consolidate their massive territorial claims as far west as the Ohio Valley. The new forts were Fort Presqui’le on Lake Erie and Fort Le Boeuf (Fort de la Riviere au Boeuf) about 15 miles south of Lake Erie on the French River, near where the town of Waterford is today and another Fort Machault on a different tributary of the Allegheny.
The Governor was aware that the French saw the Blue Ridge Mountains as a natural barrier to New England’s expansion and were determined to prevent the English colonies from moving westward over the mountains, into the Shenandoah Valley and further west into the Ohio River valley as well as north to Lake Erie. Already there were early settlements in the Shenandoah, mainly by Scots-Irish families and French Huguenots.
The British Challenge to the French
The French knew that the English settlements everywhere were growing rapidly and were massively outpacing the French. The French authorities and their colonial governors realized they had to act fast to push the English back, by force if necessary, or lose control over their original territorial claims, made by right of discovery. They also needed to protect their vital trading route from Montreal to Fort Frontenac, to Fort Niagara, to Lake Erie and down the Allegheny to the Ohio River and thence to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
Major Washington was asked to head north to Fort Le Boeuf (some 560 miles away) and deliver a letter to the French commander, ordering him to remove the fort and vacate all territories in what is now known as Pennsylvania and all other French forts in territories claimed by New England.
The Governor also informed Washington that he (the Governor) would be organizing a small party of men to travel to the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, where they then flow south as the Ohio River (where today’s Pittsburg now stands) and commence the building of a small fort. The Governor hoped to head off any attempt by the French to build a fort on that strategic location. The new English fort was to be known as Fort George.
Little did Governor Dinwiddie know that the Marquis de Duquesne, the recently appointed Governor of New France, had specific instructions from Versailles “to make every effort possible to drive the English from our territory and to prevent them from coming here to trade.” Plans were therefore already underway to send small army of some 900 French troops, allied Indians and tradesmen to assemble at Fort Le Boeuf, and travel to the very same strategic location where Dinwiddie was planning to build Fort George and erect a new fort to be named Fort Duquesne in the Governor’s honour.
Into this mix of competing secret plans, George Washington was being sent to deliver Governor Dinwiddie’s rather imperious letter to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf. It would set in motion a sequence of events unforeseen by either side.
Washington’s Journey
It was a cold, wet day in early November when Washington set out. Under his command was an experienced frontiersman Christopher Gist, he had hired as his guide. He also hired his friend Jacob Van Braam to accompany him as his official French interpreter. After weeks of hard going, they arrived at Logstown, King Shingas’s village on November 24.
There, a delegation of three other Ohio Iroquois chiefs arrived; Half King, whose Indian name was Tahnagrisson and Chiefs Jeskakake and Kaghswaghtaniunt. On November 29 a meeting was held in the council house and it was decided that Shingas would remain in his village and Half King and the two others chiefs plus an Indian hunter would go with Washington’s party. They left the next day to continue their journey north.
After covering about 70 miles, they arrived at Venango, a French camp where they were invited to dinner by the officer in charge, a M. Joncaire. Washington wrote that they were treated very nicely. The next day they set out for Fort Le Boeuf with a French officer and three other soldiers to escort them the rest of the way (about 68 miles). The water at Sugar Creek was so high that they had to swim their horses over and raft their supplies across separately. One of their horses was too weak to go further and they had to leave it behind. Finally, on December 11, they arrived at the French fort after traveling through heavy rains and snow and crossing any number of difficult swamps.
Washington delivers Governor Dinwiddie’s Letter December 12, 1753
Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, the new commander on the Ohio, had assumed command at Fort Le Boeuf only eight days before George Washington arrived to deliver the letter from Governor Dinwiddie. The letter contained a challenge that asked by what authority the French had established themselves on Virginia territory and instructed them to remove themselves forthwith.
In the council next day, Saint-Pierre was assisted by his second-in-command Captain Repentigny, who Washington said “understood little English,” but Washington also said that Saint-Pierre was a fine gentleman, treated him courteously and made a very favorable impression on him. However, the response of Saint-Pierre to Governor Dinwiddie’s letter was direct and plain. He simply stated that any dispute over land must be settled by those who had the authority to do so and as commander he would obey the orders of his general, Governor Duquesne, to whom he would forward the letter.
On December 14, Saint-Pierre received the Indian delegation including Half King Tahnagrisson, Jeskakake and Kaghswaghtaniunt. They had come to break off relations with the French by returning the wampum “speech belt” that the French had given to their tribes the previous July. The chiefs felt that they had been poorly dealt with by the French since that time. Saint-Pierre treated them courteously and tried to win them back with liquor and gifts.
Meanwhile, Washington and his companions spent the time wandering freely about the Fort making detailed note of its strengths, weaknesses and numbers of cannon and personnel. They particularly noted the large fleet of boats and canoes either already built or under construction. Obviously they were being prepared to launch an invasion to the south in the coming spring.
On December 16, both Washington’s and the Half King’s delegations left by boat for Venango and their journey home. Their horses were sent on foot, without loads and in the care of several French handlers.
On December 22, Saint-Pierre sent Dinwiddie’s letter to Governor Duquesne who received it towards the end of January. Moving quickly, Duquesne then ordered his newly appointed commander of the Fort Duquesne expedition, Sieur de Contrecoeur, then at Fort Niagara, to “enter the Belle River area with the attachment he commands and march toward Chineque and have a fort built where he shall have command as well as all the Belle Riviere, its portage and the forts dependent upon it.” * He was being ordered to enter the Ohio with a force of 600 men and erect Fort Duquesne. Things were heating up fast.
* The Belle River area refers to the “Beautiful Ohio River.” Chineque or “Chine Que” was the original name for the forks of the Ohio where Fort Duquesne was to be built and was a way the early French explorers had of making light of the location as being the hoped for route to China. Lachine near Montreal was said to have received its name for the same reason.
The Journey Home to Williamsburg
Several incidents on the way back nearly resulted in a disaster for Washington. If anything, the journey now being deeper into the winter was a more dangerous and difficult trial. Further, Washington realized the imminent danger of the French activities and he was determined to waste no time getting back with his information.
They encountered a small party of French allied Indians who shot at them and lightly wounded Washington. They had to abandon their horses that grew too weak to be of further use. Crossing the Allegheny River, Washington tried to pole their raft out of the way of some ice and lost his balance, falling into the frigid 10 foot deep water, barely saving himself by catching one of the logs of the raft.
How he survived is a mystery, given that he was soaked from head to toe. His boots were filled with icy water and there was no encampment or refuge nearby. Washington wrote in his diary that they had to spend the night in frozen clothes and that Mr. Gist, his guide, also froze all his fingers and some of his toes. The next morning the river was frozen over and they walked across the ice, fortunately soon reaching the safety of a small English trader’s settlement.
On January 16, 1754, after completing the return trip to Williamsburg, Washington handed his detailed written report to Governor Dinwiddie. It included the information he had gathered that the French were preparing to move down the Allegheny River to the forks of the Ohio that spring and within days the report was published in Williamsburg. A London edition soon followed and included a map based on Washington’s hand drawn map of the Ohio River Valley.
The Opening Shots of the French and Indian War
Known as the Seven Years War in Europe, the war did not officially begin until 1756. This conflict pitted France, Austria, Sweden, Saxony, Russia and later Spain against Britain, Prussia and Hanover. Britain however, focused on defeating the French navy and merchant fleet, seizing its colonies and eliminating France as a commercial rival because Britain had neither the strength nor money to finance a land war in Europe.
Strangely, the first shots of the war were to be fired in North America two years before the war was declared and by a few Virginia militia men led by George Washington. These were to be shots that would sound around the world and change it forever.
On March 15, 1774 Washington was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and was made second in command to Colonel Joshua Fry. Colonel Fry died shortly after in an accident and Washington found himself in command. Anxious to reinforce the small group of workers that had been sent to build Fort George, Washington took an advance force of approximately 120 men intending to reach Red Stone Creek (about 37 miles from Fort George) and entrench themselves there to await reinforcements.
Before Washington’s detachment made it across the mountains, Captain Trent, the leader of the construction detachment at Fort George appeared at Will’s Creek April 24, 1754, where Washington’s party was resting. He had come to request more help to build the fort and Washington when surprised to see him. While Washington was discussing the matter with one of his junior officers and Captain Trent, an Ensign Ward from Fort George entered the camp, surprising both Washington and Captain Trent.
Ward reported that the French had ejected the men engaged in building the fort, taken possession of it and renamed it Fort Duquesne. The French force had surrounded the fort and so overwhelmingly outnumbered and out gunned the colonist-builders they had no choice but to surrender. They were treated honorably, allowed to keep their arms and possessions and march away from the fort without further interference.
Washington was determined to keep on going and prepare a road sufficient to allow reinforcements to be brought up along with all the necessary provisions; ammunition, cannons etc. to eject the French from British territory. So far as Washington was concerned the French had declared war.
In late May, Washington and his men reached a large grassy natural clearing known as the Great Meadows. He made this his base camp in the Meadows because there was plenty of food there for his animals and a good supply of water nearby. By this time Captain Stevens had arrived with his company of 50 men, so the reinforcements were beginning to arrive.
The Jumonville Glen Attack
Soon after his arrival at Great Meadows, Washington received information that a party of French soldiers was camped in a ravine not far from his position. On the stormy night of May 27, 1754, Washington and about 40 of his men began an all night march in a driving rain to confront the French and learn their intentions. At dawn, Washington met with Half King his old Indian friend and made plans to contact the camp. The French commander had not posted sentries so they were easily surrounded.
A shot was fired, no one knows who fired it but soon the peaceful glen was filled with the crashing of muskets and the smoke of gunpowder. The skirmish lasted about 15 minutes and when over 10 French soldiers were dead and 21 captured. One escaped and made his way back to Fort Duquesne. Washington lost one killed and two or three wounded.
Washington sent his prisoners back to Williamsburg and hurried back to Great Meadows to build his fort there as quickly as possible because he knew an attack would soon be coming from the French out of Fort Duquesne.
Unfortunately, the leader of the French, a young Ensign named Joseph Coulon de Villiers; Sieur de Jumonville was among the killed. It turned out that he was the brother of Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers, commander of the force that would soon attack Washington at his Great Meadows fort, now appropriately named Fort Necessity. The French had taken great umbrage at the attack, feeling it was unwarranted and they regarded the killing of Jumonville as nothing less than murder.
And so the Seven Years War began!
Bibliography
In this episode, our main source of information is from many and various internet historical articles. As before, we would prefer you ask us about the source of any particular piece of information you may wish to research. We will try our best to help you. Other information is from reference books in our own libraries.
Comments by Your Hosts Ken and Dick
We hope you enjoyed this Chapter and the story. We are surprised there is so little controversy about the series. It is our hope that perhaps this is because we have presented a balanced view at all times. Sometimes it looks as though we might be weighting one side of the story more than the other but real history does that by its very nature. Fortune is fickle. First it favours one group or individual and then another.
As we said in our Preface, no party to these long ago times was without stain, and there is plenty of courage, generosity and goodwill to go around; exactly as we could say about the political, military and civil societies of today’s world. Facts are facts and we try our best to stick to them as closely as possible.
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We wish all the very best to all our readers. Look for Chapter 5 in two to three weeks.
Ken Tellis is an ex sailor who has traveled the world lived in Quebec and raised a family in the French milieu. Ken can be reached at 
