USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 11
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The systematic operations of the French in building a line of forts, and providing cannon and a strong military force at each, sub- stantially on the same line that Celeron had formally taken possession of with his plates, finally aroused the attention of the British gor- ernment, and the Secretary of State, Earl Holderness, addressed the governors of the several colonies urging that they be put in a state of defense. The communication to the governor of Virginia was considered of so much importance as to be sent by a government ship. It reached its destination in October, 1753, and the matter of the dispatch was of such pressing import, as to require the sending of a special messenger to the French commandant on this side of the great lakes, to remonstrate with him in an official capacity for intruding upon English territory, but probably more especially to ascertain precisely what had been done and with what forces the French were preparing to contest their claims.
Robert Dinwiddie, then Lieutenant-governor of Virginia, made no delay in selecting a suitable person for this embassage, and his choice fell upon George Washington, the Adjutant General of the Northern Division of the Virginia militia, and only twenty-one years of age. It should here be observed that Lawrence Washington, the brother of George, who was president and a leader of the Ohio Com- pany, had died July 26, 1752, and that by his will a large share of his estates and interests had fallen to George. He consequently had a pecuniary interest in holding the lands of the Ohio Company, in addition to the patriotic one of discharging a public trust. It should also be observed that Dinwiddie was a large stockholder in the Ohio Company.
The youthful Washington made no delay in accepting the trust imposed on him, and though now the inclement season of the year, he quickly had his preparations completed for his departure. It ap- pears from the following note to the Lords of Trade, that the gov-
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ernor had previously sent a messenger on a similar errand: *The person [Capt. William Trent | sent as a commissioner to the com- mandant of the French forces, neglected his duty, and went no further than Logstown, on the Ohio. He reports the French were then one hundred and fifty miles further up the river, and I believe was afraid to go to them." But there was no fear on the part of George Wash- ington, though then but a mere boy, and he was soon on his way. That we may understand precisely the nature of his mission we pre- sent the commission and instructions which he received: "Whereas, I have received information of a body of French forces being as- sembled in a hostile manner on the river Ohio, intending by force of arms to erect certain forts on said river within this territory, and contrary to the dignity and peace of our sovereign, the King of Great Britain, These are, therefore, to require and direct you, the said George Washington, forthwith to repair to Logstown, on the said river Ohio, and, having there informed yourself where the French forces have posted themselves, thereupon, to proceed to such place, and, being there arrived, to present your credentials, together with my letter, to the chief commanding officer, and in the name of his Britanic Majesty, to demand an answer, thereto. On your arrival at Logstown, you are to address yourself to the Half King, to Mon- acatoocha, and the other Sachems of the Six Nations, acquainting them with your orders to visit and deliver my letter to the French commanding officer, and desiring the said chiefs to appoint you a sufficient number of their warriors to be your safeguard, as near the French as you may desire, and to await your further direc- tion. You are diligently to inquire into the numbers and force of the French on the Ohio and the adjacent country, how they are likely to be assisted from Canada, and what are the difficulties and conveniences of that communication, and the time required for it. You are to take care to be truly informed what forts the French have erected, and where; how they are garrisoned and ap- pointed, and what is their distance from each other, and from Logs- town, and from the best intelligence you can procure, you are to learn what gave occasion to this expedition of the French; how they are likely to be supported, and what their pretensions are. When the commandant has given you the required, and necessary dispatches, you are to desire of him a proper guard to protect you as far on your return, as you may judge for your safety against any straggling Indians or hunters that may be ignorant of your character and molest you."
It will be observed that the ship bearing the royal dispatch reached Virginia in October. This letter of instructions was dated October 30th, 1753, and on the same day the youthful envoy left Williamsburg, reaching Fredericksburg on the 31st. Here he engaged
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his old " master of fence," one Jacob Van Braum, a soldier of for- tune, as interpreter, though as Irving observes, " the veteran swords- man was but indifferently versed either in French or English." Purchasing horses and tents at Winchester, he bade good-bye to the abodes of civilization, and pushed on over mountain and across stream, through the wilderness, on his important and perilous mis- sion. At Will's Creek, now Cumberland, he engaged Mr. Gist, who had been the agent of the Ohio Company in exploring all that region and negotiating with the natives, to pilot him on, and secured the services of John Davidson as Indian interpreter, and four fron- tiersmen. With this escort he set ont on the 15th of November, but found his way impeded by storms of rain and snow. Passing Gist's cabin, now Mount Braddock, and John Frazier's place at the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monongahela River, and finding the river swollen by recent rains, he placed his luggage in a canoe, thus re- lieving the horses, and himself rode on to the confluence of the Monongahela with the Ohio. " As I got down before the canoe" he writes in his journal, " I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land at the Fork, [now Pittsburg], which I think extremely well suited for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty or twenty-five feet above the com- mion surface of the water, and a considerable bottom of flat, well timbered all around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very nearly at right angles; Allegheny bearing northeast, and Monongahela sonth- west. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift running water, the other deep and still without any perceptible fall."
It had been proposed, by the agents of the Ohio Company, to build a fort two miles below the forks on the south side, where lived Shingiss, chief Sachem of the Delawares. But Washington says in his journal, " As I had taken a good deal of notice yesterday of the situation at the fork, my curiosity led me to examine this more particularly, and I think it greatly inferior, either for defenee or ad- vantages." The good judgment of Washington in preferring the forks for a fort was subsequently confirmed by the French engineers, who adopted the site at the forks. At Logstown, which was twelve miles below the forks, Washington met ten Frenehmen, deserters from a party of one hundred, who had been sent up from New Orleans with eight canoe loads of provisions to this place, where they expected to meet a force from Lake Erie. This showed unmistak- able evidence that the French were determined to take forcible pos- session of the country. The wily chieftains asked Washington why he wanted to communicate with the French commandant, and being naturally suspicious that they had not fathomed all the purposes, and bearings of this mission, they delayed him by their maneuvres.
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Indeed, an old Indian Sachem had previously propounded, to Mr. Gist, while surveying the lands south of the Ohio, this question, "The French claim all the land on one side of the Ohio, the En- glish elaim all the land on the other side-now where does the Indian's land lie ?" There was, undoubtedly, a suspicion in the minds of these dusky kings that the English as well as the French were preparing to occupy this delectable country. " Poor savages !" exclaims Mr. Irving, " Between their ' fathers ', the French, and their ' brothers,' the English, they were in a fair way of being most loving- ly shared out of the whole country."
Finally, after having been detained about a week by Indian diplomacy, Washington set out on the 30th of November, with an additonal escort of three of the Indian chiefs, Half King, Jeskakake and White Thunder, and one of their best hunters. A toilsome journey of five days brought the party to Venango, at the month of the Venango River, or French Creek, where the French flag was floating upon a cabin which had been occupied by the same John Frazier visited on the Monongahela, where he had plied the trade of a gunsmith; but from which he had been driven by the French. Captain Jean Coeur was in command here, who said he was in com- mand on the Ohio, but he advised Washington to present his creden- tials for an answer, to a general officer who had his headquarters at " the near fort." " He invited me to sup with them " the journal proceeds, "and treated us with the greatest complaisance. The wine as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully with it soon banished the restraint which at first appeared in their conversation, and gave a license to their tongues to reveal their sentiments more freely. They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and by G-d they would do it; for that though they were sensible the English had two men for their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs." But the French had yet something to learn of the temper and steady endurance of the English in America. Washington ascertained that there had been some " fifteen hundred men on this side of Ontario lake. But upon the death of the General all were recalled to about six or seven hundred, who were left to garrison four forts, one on a little lake at the head waters of French Creek, now Waterford, another at Erie, fifteen miles away." Jean Coeur was adroit in his influence over the Indians, and used his best arts to win the chiefs, who had accompanied Washington, from their allegience to him, plying them with liquor, and refusing to receive back the wampum belt which the Half King offered as a token of his tribe's allegiance to the French. But after long parleying they finally got off on the 7th. Washington records in the journal: " We passed over much good land since we left Venango, and
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through several very extensive and rich meadows, one of which, I believe, was nearly four miles in length, and considerably wide in some places." This passage undoubtedly refers to the valley where is now spread out the city of Meadville.
At the fort at Le Boeuf, now Waterford, Washington was courte- ously received by the General in command of all the forces south of the lakes. " The commander," proceeds the Journal under date of December 12, "is a knight of the military order of St. Louis and named Legardeur de St. Pierre. He is an elderly gentleman, and has much the air of a soldier. He was sent over to take the command immediately upon the death of the late general and arrived here about seven days before me." In the letter which Dinwiddie had entrusted to Washington, the claim of the English to all this Ohio territory was reiterated, and a demand made that the French should depart from it, and no more molest its peaceful occupaney. The answer of the Chevalier was courteous, but firm. He said that the question of the rightful occupancy of this territory was not one which he could properly argue, that he was an officer commanding a detachment of the French army in America, but that he would transmit the letter of the Governor to his General, the Marquis Du Quesne, "to whom it better belongs than to me to set forth the evidence and reality of the rights of the king my master upon the lands situated along the river Ohio, and to contest the pretensions of the King of Great Britain thereto. His answer shall be law to me. * * As to the summons you send me to retire, I do not think myself obliged to obey it. Whatever may have been your instructions, I am here by virtue of the orders of my general; and I entreat you, sir. not to doubt one moment but that I am de- termined to conform myself to them with all the exactness and reso- Intion which can be expected from the best officer."
Governor Dinwiddie had added to the business part of his com- munication the following request: "I persuade myself you will receive and entertain Major Washington with the candor and polite- ness natural to your nation, and it will give me the greatest satis- faction, if you can return him with an answer suitable to my wishes for a long and lasting peace between us." In his response the Chevalier added in reply to this clause: "I made it my particular care to re- ceive Mr. Washington with a distinction suitable to your dignity, as well as his own quality and great merit. I flatter myself that he will do me this justice before you, sir, and that he will signify to you, in the manner I do myself, the profound respeet with which I am, sir," etc.
His mission over, he sent his horses on in advance, and himself and party took to canoes in which they floated down French Creek to Fort Venango. Finding his horses jaded and reduced, he gave
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up his own saddle horse for transporting the baggage. Equipped in an Indian hunting dress he accompanied the train for three days. Finding the progress very slow, and the cold becoming every day more intense, he placed the train in charge of Van Braam, and taking his necessary papers, pulled off his clothes, and tied himself up in a watch-coat. Then with gun in hand, and pack on his back, he set out with Mr. Gist, to make his way on foot back to the Ohio. Falling in with a party of French and Indians, he engaged one of them for a guide, who proved treacherous, leading them out of their way, and finally turned upon and fired at Washington, " not fifteen steps off." But he missed, or the great spirit guided the bullet aside. Ridding themselves of him they traveled all night to escape pursuit. Being obliged to cross the Allegheny, with " one poor hatchet " they toil- somely made a raft. "Before we were half way over," proceeds the journal, "we were jammed in the ice, in such a manner that we ex- pected every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to try to stop the raft that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet water. Notwithstanding all our efforts we could not get to either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it. The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and some of his toes frozen, and the water was shut up so hard that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the morning."
Arrived at the Gist settlement, Washington bought a horse and saddle, and on the 6th of January, 1754, he records " we met seven- teen horses loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the fork of the Ohio, and the day following some families going out to settle. This day we arrived at Will's Creek, after as fatiguing a journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad weather. From the first day of December to the fifteenth there was but one day on which it did not rain or snow incessantly; and throughout the whole journey we met with nothing but one continued series of cold, wet weather, which occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, especially after we had left behind us our tent, which had been some screen from the inclemency of it. * I arrived at Williams-
burg on the 16th, when I waited upon his Honor, the Governor, with the letter I had brought from the French commandant, and to give an account of the success of my proceedings. This I beg leave to do by offering the foregoing narrative, as it contains the most remarkable occurrences which happened in my journey. I hope what has been said will be sufficient to make your Honor satisfied with my conduct; for that was my aim in undertaking the journey and chief study throughout the prosecution of it."
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It must be confessed that this embassage, undertaken in the dead of winter, through an almost trackless wilderness infested by hostile savages, by a boy of twenty-one, was not only romantic, but arduous and dangerous in the extreme, and in its execution showed a dis- cretion and persistent resolution remarkable for so youthful a per- son, and giving promise of great future usefulness.
The information which he obtained, and which was embodied in a modest way in his journal, was of great importance. The journal was published and widely circulated in this country and in England. It plainly disclosed the fact that the French, in building strong forts and providing cannon and a military force for garrisoning them, meant to hold this whole Ohio country by force of arms, and that if the English would foil them in this design they must lose no time in preparation to oppose force to force. The lateness of the season and the coming on of severe weather alone prevented the French from proceeding down the Allegheny and taking post on the Ohio, in the fall of 1753. The following spring would doubtless witness such a hostile movement. Which shall win? Thus far the French had shown muen the greater military activity, and their strong points were selected by competent engineers detailed from the French army, who had superintended the erection of their strong forts. Arrived at the threshold of a great era, the near future will witness the decision, whether this fair land, in the midst of which is what is now the county of Greene, shall be peopled by the Frank, and be under the control of the lilies of France, or an English-speaking people shall spread over this broad domain-the whole Mississippi valley, the flower of the continent-whether the Catholic or the Protestant shall be the religion of its people.
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CHAPTER IX.
TROOPS SENT TO FORT PITT-FRENCH CAPTURE IT- THE SUMMONS -- WASHINGTON MOVES FORWARD-JUMONVILLE SKIRMISH TAKES POST AT THE GREAT MEADOWS-SURRENDER-CAMPAIGN WITH FOUR OBJECTS --- BRADDOCK TO MOVE AGAINST FORT DU QUESNE -FRANKLIN FURNISHES WAGONS --- BRADDOCK MOVES LEISURELY- ORDER OF MARCH- OBSERVATION OF FRANKLIN-SICKNESS OF WASHINGTON --- INDIANS IN CAMP- BRIGHT LIGHTNING-INDICA- TIONS OF A HOSTILE FORCE -- MENACING INSCRIPTIONS-CROSS AND RECROSS THE RIVER-A MILITARY PAGEANT- ARMY PUT IN BATTLE ORDER-ENEMY COMMANDED BY BEAUJEU- THE WAR WHOOP INDIANS GAIN THE FLANK BY A WOODED RAVINE- REGULARS THROWN INTO CONFUSION- - BRADDOCK MORTALLY WOUNDED - KILLED AND WOUNDED --. WASHINGTON PRESERVED GREAT SPIRIT PROTECTED HIM BRADDOCK BURIED-DUNBAR COWED -- ENEMY'S STRENGTH --- WASHINGTON'S LOSSES ---- GAL- LANTRY ADMIRED. 1
APTAIN TRENT, who seems to have been much relied upon, C was ordered by the Governor of Virginia to enlist a company of one hundred men and proceed without delay to the forks of Ohio and complete the fort there begun. Washington was empowered to raise a company of like number with which to collect supplies and forward to the working party at the fort. In the meantime Dinwiddie convened the Virginia Legislature and asked for money with which to conduct his military operations, and called upon the other colonies to join him. Lack of funds, want of royal authority to enter upon this warfare, and other exenses, kept the other colonies from engag- ing immediately ; but the Virginia Legislature voted money, and the number of troops authorized was increased to 300, to be divided into six companies, of which Washington was offered the command. But on account of his youth he declined it, and Joshua Fry was made Colonel and Washington, Lieutenant-Colonel. On the 2d of April, 1754, Washington set out with two companies of 150 men for the fort on the Ohio, Colonel Fry with the artillery, which had just arrived from England, to follow. But before Washington had arrived at Will's Creek intelligence, was received that Captain Contracœur, acting under authority of the Governor General of New France, having embarked a thousand men with field-pieces, upon
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sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, at the flood-tide in the Allegheny River, had dropped down and captured the meagre force working upon the fort at the forks, both Trent and Frazier, the two highest in command, being at the time absent. The garrison of about fifty men were allowed to depart with their working tools.
Though bloodless, this was an act of hostility. The war was begun which was to greatly modify the map of the world. "The seven years war," says Albach, "arose at the forks of the Ohio; it was waged in all quarters of the world; it made England a great imperial power; it drove the French from Asia and America, and dissipated their scheme of empire." Contracœur immediately pro- ceeded with the building of the fort which the Virginians had begun. HIe had issued, before the surrender, what he was pleased to denomi- nate a summons, in which he "sirs" every sentence, and orders the English out of the Ohio country in the most absolute and authorita- tive way. "Nothing," he says, "can surprise me more than to see you attempt a settlement upon the lands of the King, my master, which obliges me now, sir, to send you this gentleman, Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of the Artillery of Canada, to know of you, sir, by virtue of what authority you are come to fortify yourself within the dominions of the King, my master. * Let it be as it will, sir, if you come out into this place charged with orders, I summon you in the name of the King, my master, by virtue of orders which I got from my General, to retreat peaceably with your troops from off the lands of the King and not to return, or else I will find myself obliged to fulfill my duty, and compel you to it. * * * I pre- vent you, sir, from asking one hour of delay."
Washington, though but a stripling, determined to move boldly forward, although his force was but a moiety of that of the Freneli, and intreneh upon the Redstone. To add to his perplexity, he re- ceived intelligence that a reinforcement of 800 men was on its way up the Mississippi to join Contracœur at the forks. Sending out messengers to the governors of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Mary- land, to ask for reinforcements, he pushed on to the Great Meadows, arriving on the 27th. Here he learned that a scouting party of the French was already in this neighborhood. Not delaying a moment, he started with forty pieked men, and though the night was dark and the rain fell in torrents, he came up with the French before morning, eneamped in a retreat shielded by rocks and a broken country. Order of attack was immediately formed, the English on the right, and the friendly Indians on the left. The French aroused, flew to arms, when a brisk firing commenced, which lasted for some- time, and the French, seeing no way of escape, surrendered. In this spirited skirmish, Jumonville, the commander, and ten of his men were slain, and twenty-two were taken prisoners. Washington's
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loss was one killed and two wounded. This was the young com- mander's first battle, and if we may judge of it by the measure of success it was the presage of a brilliant career. He naturally felt a degree of pride and exultation. In a letter to his brother he added a postscript in these words, "I fortunately escaped without any wounds; for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and re- ceived all the enemy's fire; and it was the part where the man was killed and the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound." When this was reported to the King, George II, he dryly remarked, " He would not say so, if he had been used to hear many."
At the Great Meadows a fort was marked out and partially forti- fied, which was designated Fort Necessity. Supplies were scarce and could be brought up with difficulty. Not satisfied to stop here, Washington pushed on to Gist's at the head waters of the Redstone, where some intrenchments were thrown up. But learning that the French were approaching in force, and seeing that no sufficient sup- ply of provisions could be had, he was obliged to return to Fort Necessity, which he proceeded to strengthen. On the morning of the 3d of July, the French under Captain de Villiers, a brother-in- law of Jumonville, with a force 900 strong, commenced an attack upon the fort. Outnumbered nearly three to one Washington boldly accepted the wager of battle and all day long and until eight at night, made a gallant fight, when the French commander asked for a par- ley and demanded a surrender, which was refused; again the demand was made and again refused. Exhausted by the fatigues of the day and suffering for lack of provisions, Washington, on being offered the privilege of marching out with the honors of war, decided to accept the terms, and on the 4th of July, a day memorable in the future annals of the country, though of humiliation now, departed with drums beating and colors flying. In this engagement, of 300 under Washington's command, twelve had been killed and forty- three wounded. The loss in Captain Mackay's independent com- pany of South Carolinians was not known, nor the loss of the French, which was believed to be much more serious.
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