George Washington was born on 22 (11 O.S.) February 1732 in Virginia.
His father Augustine had a plantation and started an iron works,
and his first son Lawrence was born in 1716.
Augustine attended an Anglican Church, served in the militia, became a justice of the peace
in July 1716 before becoming sheriff of Westmoreland County.
His first wife died in 1729, and he married the heiress Mary Ball in March 1731.
George attended a church school and learned reading, writing, mathematics.
When Augustine died in April 1743, he had 64 slaves.
George inherited Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River with ten slaves.
His mother Mary managed the property for him until he came of age.
She liked to read to her children lessons of morality and religion especially
from Matthew Hale’s Contemplations, moral and divine that was published in 1700.
As a child George copied out the 110 maxims of the
Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.
Here are the first one and the last three:
1. Every action done in company ought to be
with some sign of respect to those that are present….
108. When you speak of God and his attributes,
let it be seriously and with reverence.
Honor and obey your natural parents although they be poor.
109. Let your recreations be manful, not sinful.
110. Labor to keep alive in your breast
that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.1
George read the first 143 issues of The Spectator
by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.
He went to school and excelled at mathematics.
He read his favorite play, Addison‘s Cato: A Tragedy, about 1745.
He was also influenced by the Stoic philosophy of Seneca’s Morals.
He began learning surveying and mapmaking,
and in March 1748 George went with his friend George William Fairfax
to survey land in the Shenandoah Valley in order to sell lots for Lord Fairfax.
His mother let him go because he was going to be paid.
He began writing a diary on his journey.
On March 23 they encountered 30 Indians who had a scalp from a battle.
They managed to get the native Americans drunk.
Washington published the pamphlet A Journal of My Journey over the Mountains
began Friday the 11th. of March 1747/8 and ended on the 13th of April 1748.
George Washington was influenced by his older half-brother Lawrence
who had a military career and was getting into politics.
George read Julius Caesar’s Commentaries and the Histories of Alexander the Great
by Quintus Curtius, and he studied military strategy, tactics, and history with Lawrence.
In the spring of 1749 Lawrence helped George get a job
surveying a new Potomac port for Alexandria.
George also benefited from his friendship with the influential Lord Fairfax of Belvoir
who gave him all the surveying work he wanted.
On July 30 young Washington was commissioned the surveyor
for Culpepper County with a salary of £15 plus expenses.
In the spring of 1750 he surveyed land for Fairfax in the Shenandoah Valley.
George had earned about £400,
and in October he bought 1,459 acres in three parcels there.
His brother Lawrence became ill and had given up his seat
in the House of Burgesses in May 1749.
In 1751 the two brothers visited Barbados.
George came down with a high fever from smallpox on November 17,
and his recovery on December 12 made him immune.
George delivered a letter from Lawrence to Governor Robert Dinwiddie
on 26 January 1752, and he went back to surveying.
Lawrence died of tuberculosis at Mount Vernon on July 26.
By then George had 2,315 acres in Shenandoah Valley,
and he joined the new Masonic lodge in Fredericksburg.
On November 8 he wrote,
So far as I am acquainted
with the principles and doctrines of Free Masonry,
I conceive it to be founded in benevolence
and to be exercised only for the good of Mankind.”2
Later when President, he would write that the purpose of Freemasonry
is “to promote the happiness of the human race.”
In 1744 the Iroquois Confederacy of Six Nations had agreed to
the Treaty of Lancaster which established the eastern border of the Shenandoah Valley.
The British interpreted this as opening the Ohio country to the west,
and in 1745 Virginia granted 300,000 acres of the western lands to colonists.
Thomas Lee led a group of prominent men who started the Ohio Company of Virginia
with Lawrence and Austin Washington, Robert Dinwiddie, and other veterans of
King George’s War (1744-48), and they got a grant of 200,000 acres in the Ohio Valley.
In 1749 New France’s Governor La Galissonnière sent Captain Pierre-Joseph de
Céleron de Blainville with about 200 Canadians and 30 Indians into the Ohio region.
In 1751 Robert Dinwiddie arrived as Virginia’s colonial Lt. Governor.
He had invested in the Ohio Company and asked
the British Government to approve forts in the Ohio country.
Both the British and the French were claiming the Ohio territory by 1752.
After Adjutant General Lawrence Washington died, Governor Dinwiddie created four militia
districts and appointed his half-brother George Washington adjutant of the southern district.
On November 4 George Washington became the
fifth initiate in the new Masonic Lodge in Fredericksburg.
Dinwiddie chose Christopher Gist to negotiate a treaty with Indians
at Logstown, and he gained land south of the Ohio River.
The French Governor-General Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville declared that
they would construct forts near Lake Erie in the Ohio River system,
and he sent General Paul Marin de la Malgue, who had fought
in King George’s War, with 2,000 men to build the forts.
The first French fort at Presque Isle was finished in May 1753.
Rumors spread that the French were coming to remove English traders.
Christopher Gist, George Croghan, who worked as an Indian agent for Pennsylvania,
and the interpreter Andrew Montour, who spoke French, English, and six Indian languages,
held councils with the Miamis to make allies for the British.
Dinwiddie appointed professor Joshua Fry and two others as treaty commissioners,
and in May 1752 Gist guided them to Logstown.
Virginia sent William Trent to meet with Indians at Logstown in August 1753,
and he distributed arms and ammunition.
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia received the authority from London in October
to construct forts in the Ohio and attack French invaders.
He quickly sent Major George Washington who found Indian allies at Logstown,
but Philippe de Joncaire at Venango persuaded all but Half King
and three other Mingos to leave Washington’s group.
Virginia’s Gov. Dinwiddie called an emergency meeting of his executive council
on October 27, and they discussed this order that was signed by King George II:
If you shall find any number of persons,
whether Indians or Europeans, shall presume to erect
any fort or forts within the limits of our province of Virginia,
you are to require them peaceably to depart,
and not to persist in such unlawful proceedings.
And if, not withstanding your admonitions,
they do still endeavor to carry on
such unlawful and unjustifiable designs,
we do hereby strictly charge and command you
to drive them off with force of arms.3
Dinwiddie was also involved in the Ohio Company, and on 30 October 1753
he commissioned 21-year-old Major George Washington to warn
the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf to depart from the Ohio Valley.
Dinwiddie made young Washington commander of four militia districts
of Northern Neck in Virginia, and he gave him the King’s order.
Washington took his fencing teacher Jacob van Braam to interpret French,
and Christopher Gist joined him as a guide at Wills Creek.
They were accompanied by the Delaware chief Shingas and added
Half King Tanacharison and three more Indians at Logstown.
Captain Philippe Joincaire tried to delay them by giving the Indians presents and liquor.
Shingas excused himself, and Half King could only persuade
three Mingos to push on through snow and rain.
Washington delivered the message to Legardeur de St. Pierre
at Fort Le Boeuf near Lake Erie.
Washington and Gist barely survived freezing weather on the way back.
Dinwiddie urged Washington to write an account of his adventure
that was published in Williamsburg and London.
In his diary Washington described his first wilderness mission this way:
On Wednesday the 31st. of October 1753
I was commissioned and appointed by the Honorable
Robert Dinwiddie, Esqr. Governor &ca., of Virginia
To visit & deliver a Letter to the Commandant
of the French Forces on the Ohio,
& set out on the intended Journey the same Day.
The next, I arrived at Fredericksburg,
& engaged Mr. Jacob Vanbraam, Interpreter;
& proceeded with him to Alexandria,
where we provided Necessaries;
from thence we went to Winchester & got Baggage
Horses, &ca. and from there we pursued the new Road
to Wills Creek, where we arrived the 14th of November.
Here I engaged Mr. Gist to Pilot us out,
& also hired four others as Servitors, Barnaby Currin
& John McGuier (Indian Traders) Henry Steward,
and William Jenkins, & in Company with those Persons,
left the Inhabitants the Day following.
The excessive Rains and vast Quantity of Snow
that had fallen, prevented our reaching Mr. Frazer’s,
an Indian Trader, at the Mouth of Turtle Creek,
on Monongahela, ’til Thursday.
22nd: We were informed here,
that Expresses were sent a few Days ago to the Traders
down the River to acquaint them with the General’s Death,
& Return of Major Part of the French Army
into Winter Quarters.
The Waters were quite impassible,
without Swimming our Horses, which obliged us
to get the Loan of a Canoe from Mr. Frazer
& to send Barnaby Currin and Henry Steward
down Monongahela with our Baggage to meet us
at the Forks of Ohio, about 10 miles, to cross Allegany.
As I got down before the Canoe, I spent some Time
in viewing the Rivers, & the land in the Fork,
which I think extremely well situated for a Fort,
as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers.
The Land at the Point is 20 or 25 Feet
above the common Surface of the Water;
& a considerable Bottom of flat, well-timbered Land
all around it, very convenient for Building.
The Rivers are each a Quarter of a Mile, or more, across,
& run here very near at Right Angles; Allegany bearing N.E.
and Monongahela S.E. the former of these two
is a very rapid swift running Water
the other deep and still, with scarce any perceptible Fall.
About two Miles from this,
on the S: E: Side of the River, at the Place
where the Ohio Company intended to erect a Fort,
lives Singiss, King of the Delawars;
We called upon him to invite him
to Council at the Logstown.4
This text goes on for 16 pages to 16-17 January 1754.
Washington met with Iroquois chiefs at Logstown.
The Seneca chief Tanaghrisson, who was known as “Half King,” called George
“Conotocaurius” which means “Town-destroyer” or “Town-taker,” a name
the Susquehannahs had given to his great grandfather, John Washington.
George took notes on Half-King’s speech and emphasized certain words.
Half-King had demanded that the French get off Indian land, and then he said,
If you had come in a peaceable manner, like our brothers,
the English, we should not have been
against your trading with us, as they do,
BUT TO COME, FATHERS, AND BUILD HOUSES
UPON OUR LAND AND TO TAKE IT BY FORCE
IS WHAT WE CANNOT SUBMIT TO….
But the Great Being above allowed it to be
a place of residence to us;
so, Fathers, I desire you to withdraw
as I have done [for] our brothers the English….
I lay it down as a trial for both, to see which will have
the greatest regard for it, and that side we will stand by.5
The Iroquois nations had a rule that they had to give three warnings before going to war.
The Delawares warned the French at Niagara,
and the Logstown Council sent a second warning.
Half King had signed a treaty with the British, and he gave the French the third warning
to the commander Sieur de Marin at Fort Presque Isle, saying “The great Being who lives
above, has ordered Us to send Three Messages of Peace before We make War.”6
Half King advised Washington and told him that the French had built
a fort at Lake Erie and Fort Le Boeuf near French Creek.
Governor Dinwiddie had invited Miamis, Mingoes, Shawnees, and Delawares
to meet at Winchester in September to unify southern tribes against French aggression.
In October word spread that the French were coming in 200 canoes.
Marin died that month, and French building stopped until spring.
Dinwiddie sent a letter to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf
complaining about the construction of the fort.
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia received the authority from London
in October to build forts in the Ohio region and attack French invaders.
He quickly sent Major George Washington who found Indian allies at Logstown,
but Philippe de Joncaire at Venango persuaded all but Half King
and three other Mingos to leave Washington’s group.
On November 6 the Virginia Council recognized Major Washington
as the adjutant of militia for the Southern District.
Washington met with the Delaware Chief Shingas on November 22.
Four days later he went with Half King to a council
at the Long House where Washington gave this speech:
Brothers, I have called you together in Council,
by Order of your Brother the Governor of Virginia,
to acquaint you that I am sent with all possible Dispatch
to visit & deliver a Letter to the French Commandant
of very great Importance to your Brothers the English
& I dare say to you their Friends & Allies.
I was desired Brothers, by your Brother the Governor,
to call upon you, the Sachems of the Six Nations,
to inform you of it, & to ask your Advice & Assistance
to proceed the nearest & best road to the French.
You see Brothers I have got thus far on my Journey.
His Honor likewise desired me to apply to you
for some of your young Men to conduct
and provide Provisions for us on our Way:
& to be a Safeguard against those French Indians,
that have taken up the Hatchet against us.
I have spoken this particularly to you Brothers,
because His Hon. our Governor,
treats you as good Friends & Allies,
& holds you in great Esteem.
To confirm what I have said
I give you this String of Wampum.7
Then Half King spoke.
On a difficult diplomatic mission in winter
with rain and snow Washington traveled 250 miles.
At the Venango trading post on December 4 he found that
the French had taken over John Fraser’s house.
Washington met the French Captain Philippe Thomas de Joncaire, and from him
Washington learned that the French were planning to take over the Ohio region.
Half King gave Joncaire the third warning.
The French used food and alcohol to persuade the Indians not to leave
with Washington who went on ahead with Christopher Gist.
Major Washington reached Fort Le Boeuf on December 11,
and he observed 220 canoes by the creek.
He delivered his letter from Dinwiddie to Legardeur de Saint-Pierre.
After a few days the Presque Isle commander Louis de Repentigny
gave Washington a letter which he took back to Dinwiddie.
Washington took notes on the fort on December 13
while French officers were in a council of war.
He delivered his message that the French had to leave the Ohio Valley.
The next day the French Captain Saint Pierre
gave Washington a sealed message for Gov. Dinwiddie.
The Indian guards were influenced to stay with the French,
though Washington managed to keep Half King with him.
Washington and Gist went on ahead with one Indian who shot at them.
Gist overcame the native and wanted to kill him;
he accepted Washington’s plea not to do that.
With one hatchet they built a raft to cross an icy river.
Struggling with the ice, Washington fell in the water and was soaked.
Gist suffered frostbite in his fingers and toes.
They spent the night on a tiny island in the river,
and in the morning they walked across the frozen river.
After stopping at Belvoir to see his friends George William Fairfax
and his wife Sally, Washington arrived at Williamsburg on 16 January 1754.
He delivered the French letter to Virginia Governor Dinwiddie,
and his report was published and sent to the Lords of Trade.
Dinwiddie ordered Captain William Trent to get 100 men
to build the fort at the forks of the Ohio River.
He also commanded Washington to raise 100 militia, but no one showed up.
In February Governor Dinwiddie promised volunteers land east of the Ohio,
and the next month he put Col. Joshua Fry and Lt. Col. Washington
in command of an expedition to finish the fort at the forks
of the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela Rivers.
Washington had trouble impressing wagons at Winchester.
Captain Trent had taken 20 men from Red Stone Creek
to the forks in February and started building.
When the Delawares refused to trade food, Trent left to get more supplies.
When Virginia’s General Assembly opened at Williamsburg on February 14
Gov. Dinwiddie informed them of Washington’s report on his mission to Fort Le Boeuf.
Then he warned them that 1,500 French and their Indian allies
were going
to meet at Logstown in the spring to build a fortress by the Ohio.
The French built Fort Le Boeuf by French Creek in the spring,
and in June about 800 French moved south to the river forks.
The Burgesses voted for £10,000 with some conditions
Dinwiddie reluctantly accepted to build a fort on the Ohio.
This enabled him to raise 300 volunteers forming six companies of 50.
Dinwiddie in March commissioned Washington a Lieutenant Colonel,
and he ordered him to march his enlisted soldiers to the Ohio.
These orders applied:
You are to act on the defensive,
but in case any attempts are made to obstruct the works
or interrupt our settlements by any persons whatsoever,
you are to restrain all such offenders
and in case of resistance
to make prisoners of, or kill and destroy them.8
On April 2 Washington led 160 new recruits into the wilderness,
and they reached Winchester on April 10.
Captain Adam Stephen was there with a company.
Trent’s unit built a fort that was completed on April 17.
On that day the new French commandant, Captain Pécaudy de Contrecoeur, arrived
at the Ohio forks with 1,000 French troops, 360 boats and canoes, and 18 cannons,
and he demanded the English evacuate the fort which they named Fort Duquesne.
Trent was away, and his Ensign Ward complied.
On April 22 Washington wrote this letter to Governor Robert Dinwiddie:
This encloses several letters, and the minutes of a
Council of War, which was held upon the receipt of them.
Your Honor may see to what unhappy straits
the distressed Inhabitants as well as I, am reduced.
I am too little acquainted, Sir, with pathetic language,
to attempt a description of the people’s distresses;
though I have a generous soul, sensible of wrongs,
and swelling for redress, But what can I do?
If bleeding, dying! would glut their insatiate revenge,
I would be a willing offering to Savage Fury:
and die by inches, to save a people!
I see their situation, know their danger, and participate
in their Sufferings; without having it in my power
to give them further relief, than uncertain promises.
In short, I see inevitable destruction in so clear a light,
that unless vigorous measures are taken by the Assembly,
and speedy assistance sent from below;
the poor Inhabitants that are now in Forts,
must unavoidably fall; while the remainder
of the County are flying before the barbarous Foe.
In fine; the melancholy situation of the people;
the little prospect of assistance; the gross and scandalous
abuses cast upon the Officers in general—which is
reflecting upon me in particular; for suffering misconducts
of such extraordinary kinds—and the distant prospects,
if any, that I can see, of gaining Honor and Reputation
in the Service—are motives which cause me to lament
the hour that gave me a Commission: and would induce me
at any other time than this, of imminent danger;
to resign without one hesitating moment, a command,
which I never expect to reap either Honor or Benefit from:
But, on the contrary, have almost an absolute certainty
of incurring displeasure below: While the murder of poor
innocent Babes, and helpless families,
may be laid to my account here!
The supplicating tears of the women; and moving petitions
from the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow,
that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind—
I could offer myself a willing Sacrifice to the butchering
Enemy, provided that would contribute to the people’s ease.
Lord Fairfax has ordered men from the adjacent counties:
But when they will come, or in what numbers,
I can not pretend to determine.
If I may judge from the success we have met with here,
I have but little hopes; as three days incessant
endeavors have produced but twenty men.
I have too often urged my opinion for vigorous measures.
Therefore I shall only add; that besides the accounts
you will receive in the Letters; we are told,
from all parts, that the woods appear to be alive
with Indians, who feast upon the Fat of the Land.
As we have not more than a Barrel or two of Powder
at this place; the rest being at Fort Cumberland;
I could wish your Honor would send up some.
I wrote to Alexandria and Fredericksburg,
desiring that two Barrels may be sent from each place;
but whether there is any at either, I know not.
I have sent Orders to Captain Harrison to be diligent
on the waters where he is posted; and to use his
utmost endeavors to protect the People; and, if possible,
to surprise the Enemy at their sleeping places.
Ashby’s Letter is a very extraordinary one.
The design of the Indians was only, in my opinion
to intimidate him into a Surrender—For which reason
I wrote him word, that if they do attack him,
he must defend that place to the last extremity: and,
when he is bereft of hope; then to lay a train
to blow up the Fort, and retire by night to Cumberland.
A small Fort which we have at the mouth of
Patterson’s Creek, containing an officer and thirty men
guarding Stores, was attacked smartly by the French
and Indians; and were as warmly received;
upon which they retired.
Our men at present are dispersed into such small Bodies,
guarding the People and Public Stores;
that we are not able to make or even form a Body.9
In April the French sent 1,000 soldiers in 300 canoes and 60 battoes
under Claude-Pierre Pécaudy, Seigneur de Contrecoeur.
He persuaded the 40 Virginians to “retreat peaceably.”
The French brought their tools and began building Fort Duquesne.
On April 25 Contrecoeur met up with Washington and his 186 men
at Wills Creek and informed them that a thousand French
had taken over the fort at the Ohio Fork of the Monongahela River.
Col. Joshua Fry was sent with the rest of the Virginia regiment.
Washington’s small force marched to Redstone Creek
and Half King declared they were ready to attack the French.
Contrecoeur was informed about the Virginians,
and he sent Ensign Jumonville with 35 soldiers to find them.
Captain Trent led 100 men.
The British impressed 74 wagons at Winchester.
Chippewas and Ottawas were going to join the French.
The British invited the Cherokees, Catawbas,
and Chickasaws to assist them, but none came.
On May 4 an Independent Company arrived from South Carolina with British officers.
On 9 May 1754 Benjamin Franklin published the news received
from George Washington that the French had expelled the British
from the fort they were constructing at the forks of the Ohio River.
Franklin reported how the French and Indians had been building forts
and attacking people on the western frontier.
He concluded the article,
The confidence of the French in this undertaking
seems well-grounded on the present
disunited state of the British colonies,
and the extreme difficulty of bringing
so many different governments and assemblies
to agree in any speedy and effectual measures
for our common defense and security;
while our enemies have the very great advantage of being
under one direction, with one council, and one purse.
Hence, and from the great distance of Britain,
they presume that they may with impunity
violate the most solemn treaties
subsisting between the two crowns,
kill, seize and imprison our traders,
and confiscate their effects at pleasure
(as they have done for several years past),
murder and scalp our farmers, with their wives and children,
and take an easy possession of such parts of the
British territory as they find most convenient for them;
which if they are permitted to do,
must end in the destruction of the British interest,
trade, and plantations in America.10
This article was accompanied by what is considered the first political cartoon
in America showing a snake cut into eight pieces representing seven colonies
and New England with the words “Join, or die.”
In the spring of 1754 the Virginia Assembly created a committee
to direct the spending of £10,000 they appropriated, and
Gov. Dinwiddie complained that they were “in a republican way of thinking.”11
Washington went to Wills Creek with 159 men,
but Col. Fry did not send the promised pack horses.
Learning that Washington was leading a few hundred Virginians to Ohio,
Contrecoeur sent a small contingent under Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers,
Sieur de Jumonville, to warn him he was in French territory.
Jumonville’s group was not a fighting unit and did not even post guards.
On rainy May 18 Washington wrote to Dinwiddie complaining that
the British were paid more than Americans.
The next day Washington wrote to Half King urging him
to join the English with his forces against the French enemies.
On May 24 Washington and his men camped at Great Meadows, and he learned
that a French detachment crossed the Youghiogeny River 18 miles away.
Christopher Gist reported that fifty French soldiers had raided his house,
and Half-King found that they were camped seven miles away.
Washington wrote a letter to Governor Dinwiddie on May 27.
They began building a stockade.
Gist reported about 50 French near Redstone Creek, and at dawn on May 28
Washington attacked them with 40 men and Half King’s Mingos by Redstone Creek.
Both sides held that the other had fired the first shot.
According to Drouillon, Jumonville and his interpreter were
reading a summons for a parley when the violence began.
Half King was reported to have killed Jumonville with a tomahawk.
The Virginians and the Indians with them killed nine other men, wounded one,
and took 20 prisoners while only one Englishman was killed;
only Monceau escaped to inform those at Fort Duquesne.
This incident broke the peace between France and England.
Washington wrote to Gov. Dinwiddie that his forces
had only one man killed and two or three wounded.
On May 31 Col. Joshua Fry fell off his horse, was trampled by its hooves, and died.
That accident made Washington commander of the Virginia Regiment.
He sent for reinforcements, and about 200 came from Virginia.
He had Fort Necessity built at Great Meadows.
About a hundred Indian refugees joined them, and they ran out of flour.
On June 9 Major George Muse arrived with 200 men.
On the 14th Captain James McKay arrived with an independent South Carolina company.
He declined to take orders from Washington, and he would not let his men work on a road.
Half King and all the Indians left Fort Necessity.
A quarter of the remaining 400 men were unfit to fight.
Half King and about 40 Indians opened a council
at a camp for three days that ended on June 21.
Washington said his men would fight on the side of the Six Nations (Iroquois),
and he advised them to send their women and children to English settlements for safety.
He made promises to them that he would not be able to keep.
Indians in Ohio had to choose between the French and the English.
Jumonville’s brother, Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers,
got permission from Contrecoeur to get revenge with 600 French
and Canadian soldiers and about a hundred Indians.
They attacked Fort Necessity on July 3 during a rainstorm.
Fort Necessity had no roof, and their ammunition
was ruined by rain; their supplies were almost gone.
The English had 30 killed and 70 wounded in the musket battles.
The 600 French and Canadians with a hundred Indians outnumbered those left
at Fort Necessity by more than two to one, and they were running low on food.
They also killed the horses and cattle.
After sunset the French suggested a parley.
With their losses and wet powder Washington
decide to send Jacob van Braam to negotiate.
The Capitulation allowed the Virginians and South Carolinians to leave,
and Washington signed it not realizing that Dutch Van Braam did not understand
the French word that stated Jumonville had been “assassinated.”
Van Braam and Captain Robert Stobo were taken to Fort Duquesne as hostages.
Stobo managed to smuggle out valuable intelligence from Fort Duquesne.
The French ransacked the baggage,
and they took Washington’s Diary to Governor Duquesne.
The English agreed not to cross the mountains for a year.
Villiers burned the buildings at Gist’s settlement and
Redstone Creek before returning to Fort Duquesne.
A North Carolina regiment of 450 men was poorly armed and
paid with paper money that other colonies would not accept.
After a mutiny and desertions, Col. James Innes disbanded them in August.
On July 4 the Virginians marched out of the fort
carrying their weapons as Fort Necessity was burned.
During the march on the road to Wills Creek the British were
harassed by Indians, and deserters fled into the woods.
The next day they counted 293 officers and men.
When they got to Wills Creek, only 165 had not deserted.
These two incidents were the first violence that eventually led to the Seven Years War
in 1756-63 between Britain and France which has been called the first world war
because the main fighting took place in Europe and North America as well as in India.
Friedrich II of Prussia estimated that this war killed
853,000 soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Horace Walpole in London commented, “The volley fired
by a young
Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire.”12
In June and July 1754 the British and the Iroquois
met at Albany, New York to patch up their differences.
Pennsylvania’s delegate Benjamin Franklin proposed his Albany Plan
for a central government that would discipline Indians,
make treaties, regulate trade, and make new laws.
Colonial assemblies rejected the plan on July 10.
Gov. Dinwiddie wrote to Washington on August 1
and ordered him to take his regiment of
300 men to Wills Creek and then destroy
French supplies at Logstown near Fort Duquesne.
Many men were deserting, and after writing to Dinwiddie on the 20th
he had 25 men who were marching off arrested.
Washington believed he did not have enough men to carry out Dinwiddie’s orders,
and the Governor promoted someone else over Washington.
William Johnson was an expert on the Indians, and he criticized Washington saying,
I wish Washington had acted with the prudence
and circumspection requisite in an officer of rank.
I can’t help saying he was very wrong in many respects,
and I doubt not his being too ambitious
of acquiring all the honor, or as much as he could,
before the rest joined him.13
Some Indians in the Ohio region were joining the French.
Half-King became ill and died in October.
Pennsylvania’s Indian agent Conrad Weiser wrote in his journal,
The Half-King complained very much of the behavior
of Colonel Washington to him
(though in a very moderate way, saying the Colonel
was a good-natured man, but had no experience)
saying that he took upon him to command the Indians
as his slaves, and would have them every day
upon the out scout and attack the enemy by themselves,
and that he would by no means take advice from Indians.14
In October the House of Burgesses levied a poll tax
to pay for a grant of £20,000 to the military.
Dinwiddie met at Williamsburg with governors Arthur Dobbs
of North Carolina and Horatio Sharpe of Maryland.
When Washington’s Virginia Regiment was broken up into independent companies led
by captains, he decided not to accept the demotion to captain and gave Dinwiddie
his letter of resignation as Colonel of the Virginia Regiment in late October.
On 17 December 1754 Washington began paying 15,000 pounds of tobacco
each Christmas to lease Mount Vernon with its 18 slaves from Lawrence’s widow Ann.
In 1754 he published The Journal of Major George Washington, sent by the
Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq.; His Majesty’s Lieutenant-Governor, and
Commander in Chief of Virginia, to the Commandant of the French Forces on Ohio.
General Edward Braddock arrived in Virginia on 20 February 1755,
and the largest British army so far landed in America in March.
That month Washington went to Alexandria and met Braddock
who arranged a British conference of governors there in April.
Washington was impressed by William Shirley of Massachusetts,
and in a letter from Mount Vernon on April 23 he wrote to William Fairfax,
I have had the honor to be introduced to the Governors;
and of being well received by them all,
especially Mr. Shirley, whose character and
appearance has perfectly charmed me,
as I think every word and every action
discovers the Gent’n. and great Politician.
I heartily wish something of such unanimity amongst us,
as appeared to Reign between him and his Assembly.15
Washington accepted a position on Braddock’s staff at Wills Creek.
The British Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Cumberland, ordered
General Braddock to attack Fort Duquesne by traveling through Virginia’s wilderness.
The colonies had not delivered the 200 wagons and 2,500 horses they promised.
Braddock asked for 150 wagons and 1,500 horses,
and he advanced Benjamin Franklin £800.
Two weeks later Franklin returned with 150 wagons and 259 horses.
Franklin advised Braddock to watch out for
ambushes by Indians, and the General replied,
These savages may be a formidable enemy
to your raw American militia,
but upon the king’s regular and disciplined troops, sir,
it is impossible they would make any impression.16
Braddock’s forces had to build a road, and they marched slowly.
Washington advised using packhorses, but Braddock insisted on wagons and carriages.
Washington in the surrender of Fort Necessity had pledged
not to go back to the Ohio country for one year.
He joined the army at Frederick and became an aide-de-camp
on May 10 for General Braddock at Fort Cumberland in Maryland.
George Croghan and Andrew Montour were there
with about a hundred Mingoes led by Scaroudy.
Braddock was against giving Indians land, and the chiefs responded,
“If they might not have Liberty To Live on the Land, they would fight for it.”17
The English learned that Fort Duquesne had a garrison of only 45 men.
Braddock’s aide-de-camp Washington suggested sending 1,200 men ahead to attack
Fort Duquesne before it could be reinforced; but he was ill and stayed behind.
Shawnees and Delawares had often been told that the English would remain east
of the mountains, and Contrecoeur sent them to harass the English army on the road.
General Braddock in early June had about 3,000 men
on the road to Wills Creek that was renamed Fort Cumberland.
On June 17 Braddock sent 800 soldiers and artillery ahead of the army.
Washington on the 20th stayed behind at the supply depot.
Still ill after the end of the year, Washington on July 8
joined Braddock’s army twelve miles from Fort Duquesne.
Hundreds of Indians had gathered there to fight for the French.
Only 24 Iroquois warriors fought for the British.
On July 9 Contrecoeur sent Liénard de Beaujeu with 72 French marines,
146 Canadians, and 637 Indians to attack Braddock’s force.
Lacking Indian help, the English had not scouted their flanks well
and were ambushed a few miles from the fort.
The British troops met the charge and killed Beaujeu.
Jean-Daniel Dumas took command and ordered his troops to hold the
narrow road while the Indians from behind trees shot down the British soldiers.
Braddock refused to let his men disperse and take cover.
On July 9 Braddock’s advance force of about 14,000 men began
to ford the Monongahela River in three groups led by Braddock,
Lt. Col. Thomas Gage, and Captain Horatio Gates.
On the other side of the river they were attacked by 900 soldiers from Fort Duquesne.
As British soldiers retreated, Braddock sent Captain Thomas Waggener to take a hillside.
British troops thinking they were French shot at them.
Waggener survived as the British and French killed all 30 of his men.
Washington had a fever from dysentery, and he suffered painful headaches.
He used cushions to ride his horse and joined the fight.
Braddock had four horses killed under him one after another,
and then a bullet entered his lungs.
General Braddock was laid in a wagon, and he ordered Washington at night to go to
Williamsburg and tell Col. Dunbar to send food and medical supplies and get £4,000.
In this defeat half the British suffered casualties before they retreated.
Washington estimated that 300 men were left dead in the field.
Out of 1,469 troops the British lost 63 of 86 officers killed or wounded,
as were 914 of about 2,100 English and American soldiers with about 600 killed.
French losses were only three officers, three Canadians, two Marines, and fifteen Indians.
As the English fled, they left behind wagons, packhorses, cattle,
equipment, Braddock’s papers, and £25,000 sterling in a chest.
Washington later told his mother that he had two horses
shot under him and four bullets through his coat and hat.
Osage warriors reported that they shot guns and arrows at Washington
and that he must have been spared by powerful medicine.
During the retreat three days later the dying Braddock
gave his command to Col. Thomas Dunbar and ordered him to destroy
their provisions so that wagons could be used for wounded men who
had been able to walk or had been carried by others for two days.
Dunbar continued the retreat and abandoned the
heavy artillery to the numerically weaker French.
Washington had Braddock’s body buried in the road used by the wagons
afterward so that Indians would not be able to recover the remains.
Washington survived these debacles and was treated as a hero for his courage.
Benjamin Franklin commented, “This whole transaction gave us the first suspicion that
our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular troops had not been well founded.”18
Virginia’s House of Burgesses voted to raise 1,200 men,
and they appropriated £40,000 to defend Virginia.
They offered Washington the command, and he declined because of lack of experience.
When they improved the offer, he accepted.
On August 14 he was appointed colonel of the Virginia Regiment
and commander of all Virginia’s forces for 30 shillings a day,
£100 for expenses, and a 2% commission on purchases.
The British army outnumbered the French 20 to 1,
and the French stayed mostly in New York and Canada.
Fort Duquesne was their base for Indian raids in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
These raids caused many settlers to move.
During that summer of 1755 large bands of up
to 150 Shawnees killed 70 Virginia settlers.
After learning of Braddock’s defeat near Fort Duquesne in July,
Dinwiddie sent three companies of rangers to guard the frontier.
The Burgesses raised £40,000 with another poll tax for a force of 1,200 men.
They had already enacted a law to provide workhouses for the poor,
and in August they put a price limit on Indian corn.
The Governor commissioned Washington a colonel
in August and put him in command of all Virginia forces.
In the past year 21 people had been killed
beyond the mountains, and nine prisoners were taken.
Washington went to Williamsburg on August 17, and the General Assembly
voted him £300 compensation for what he lost on the Braddock march.
The Assembly reduced the army from 4,000 to 1,200 troops.
Washington accepted being commander-in-chief in Virginia on August 31.
He designed a blue uniform with red cuffs.
He organized defense of the Shenandoah Valley
at Winchester where many Indians traveled.
He appointed Adam Stephen lieutenant colonel in command
of the Virginia Regiment at Fort Cumberland.
Washington’s main concern was to defend the 350-mile western frontier of Virginia.
Tobacco production was not doing well, and the price had gone up.
In October the Assembly passed the Two Penny Acts that
made it easier to pay tobacco debts with money.
Dinwiddie refused to approve new paper money
and dissolved the House for a new election.
The French paid Indians by letting them keep scalps,
and in October 1755 Virginia offered their friendly Indians $10 for scalps.
That month Gov. Dinwiddie persuaded the Assembly to enact
a death sentence for mutiny, desertion, and willful disobedience.
Henry Campbell deserted and got seven others to go with him.
Washington had him hanged as a deterrent.
He was a strict disciplinarian, and men caught drinking were given fifty lashes.
Other officers respected him for being polite and fair.
Washington’s name was on the ballot in the election
for Virginia’s House of Burgesses in December.
He was at Fort Cumberland and could not campaign,
and he got only 40 votes and was not elected.
Washington wrote to the Governor for more forces, and Dinwiddie
called out half the militia in the western counties, about 4,000 men.
Military service could still be avoided by paying a fine of £10 to hire a substitute.
Out of 230,000 people in Virginia, 27,000 were enrolled in the militia.
The General Assembly raised £25,000 to protect the frontiers,
and a new poll tax of two shillings annually for three years was levied.
In the fall of 1755 the Governor of Nova Scotia sent about
1,150 French Acadians to Virginia; but they were unpopular,
and the following April the Assembly voted to send them to England.
In February 1756 Washington with his aide, Captain George Mercer,
and two slaves left Virginia and visited Pennsylvania’s Governor
Robert Hunter Morris and Benjamin Franklin who had formed
an extra-legal militia to defend against the French and Indians.
Washington admired the Quaker leader William Penn as a great man.
He met with Governor Shirley in Boston on March 5.
He was disappointed because Shirley appointed Maryland’s
Governor Sharpe to lead the campaign against Fort Duquesne.
On April 27 Washington wrote to Gov. Dinwiddie
“In order to avoid censure in every part of my conduct, I make it a rule
to obey the dictates of your Honor, the Assembly, and a good conscience.”19
Indians were attacking many settlements in Virginia.
In May he started the building of Fort Loudon on high ground
near Winchester, and he issued the following public notice:
Whereas I have a great reason to believe,
the Dangers apprehended from the French
and Indian incursions are now pretty much over;
none of them being seen or heard of for some time past;
and having certain advice of several parties of them
returning over the Alleghany mountains.
I take this method of informing
and persuading those unfortunate people
who were obliged to abandon their Plantation,
of their security and necessity to return again.
Numbers of the Militia being already,
and more will be very soon,
so posted and dispersed around the Frontiers.
Building Forts, scouting, scouring and patrolling the woods;
that the least appearance of the Enemy
will soon be discovered
and every necessary measure taken to repel them,
and defend the Inhabitants from any danger or trouble.
It is to be hoped, that people will pay regard to this notice;
if their own interest or the public good
can be motives to prevail with them
to return and take care of their cattle and Crops.
As they will be so well guarded and defended,
that with good assistance, they may for the future
live in the greatest security and peace.20
On 9 April 1756 Washington in a letter to Pennsylvania’s
Governor Robert Hunter Morris wrote,
I had scarce reached Williamsburg,
before an express was after me with news
of the French & Indians advancing within our Settlements,
and doing incredible mischief to the Inhabitants
which obliged me to postpone my business there,
and hurry to their assistance with all expedition:
when I came to this place,
I found everything in deep confusion: and the poor
distressed Inhabitants under a general consternation.
I therefore collected such force as I could immediately raise,
and sent them in such parties, and to such places
as ’twas judged most likely to meet with the Enemy:
one of which, under the command of Mr. Paris,
luckily fell in with a small body of them as they were
surrounding a small Fort on the No. River of Cacapehon;
whom they engaged, and (after half an hour’s close firing)
put to flight with the loss of their commander Monsr Donville
(killed) & three or four more mortally wounded.
The accident that has determined the fate of Monsieur;
has, I believe, dispersed his Party: for I don’t hear
of any mischief done in this Colony since, though we are
not without numbers who are making hourly discoveries.
I have sent you a copy of the Instructions
that were found about this Officer: that you may see
how bold and enterprising the Enemy have grown,
how unconfined are these ambitious designs of the French:
and how much it will be in their power,
(if the Colonies continue in their fatal Lethargy)
to give a final stab to liberty & Property.
Nothing I more sincerely wish than a union to the Colonies
in this time of Eminent danger:
and that you may find your assembly in a temper of mind
to act consistently with their preservation.
What Maryland has, or will do I know not:
but this I am certain off, that Virginia will do everything
that can be expected to promote the public good.21
On April 14 Governor Morris and his Council declared war
on the Delawares and Shawnees, offering a bounty for scalps,
and the Assembly cooperated with the garrisoning of forts with militia.
The following week Quakers met with Scarouady and
other Indian leaders at the home of Israel Pemberton.
He and five other conscientious Friends resigned from the Assembly in June, ending
the 74 years of pacifist government in Pennsylvania called “the Holy Experiment.”
On April 22 Washington in a letter to Gov. Dinwiddie wrote,
This encloses several letters, and the minutes of
a Council of War, which was held upon the receipt of them.
Your Honor may see to what unhappy straits
the distressed Inhabitants as well as I, am reduced.
I am too little acquainted, Sir, with pathetic language,
to attempt a description of the peoples distresses;
though I have a generous soul, sensible of wrongs,
and swelling for redress—But what can I do?
If bleeding, dying! would glut their insatiate revenge—
I would be a willing offering to Savage Fury:
and die by inches, to save a people!
I see their situation, know their danger,
and participate their Sufferings;
without having it in my power
to give them further relief, than uncertain promises.
In short; I see inevitable destruction in so clear a light,
that, unless vigorous measures are taken by the Assembly,
and speedy assistance sent from below;
the poor Inhabitants that are now in Forts,
must unavoidably fall; while the remainder of the County
are flying before the barbarous Foe.
In fine; the melancholy situation of the people;
the little prospect of assistance;
the gross and scandalous abuses cast upon the Officers
in general—which is reflecting upon me in particular;
for suffering misconducts of such extraordinary kinds—
and the distant prospects, if any, that I can see,
of gaining Honor and Reputation in the Service—
are motives which cause me to lament the hour
that gave me a Commission: and would induce me
at any other time than this, of imminent danger;
to resign without one hesitating moment, a command,
which I never expect to reap either Honor or Benefit from:
But, on the contrary, have almost an absolute certainty
of incurring displeasure below:
While the murder of poor innocent Babes,
and helpless families, may be laid to my account here!22
Britain declared war against France on May 17.
The Board of Trade appointed Edmond Atkin the Imperial Indian
Superintendent of the southern department while William Johnson,
who knew Mohawk, got the position in the north and served for 18 years.
Christopher Gist became Atkin’s deputy.
In five years Indians captured 822 settlers and killed 765.
By 1756 they had killed over a thousand settlers and soldiers.
When Major General James Abercromby arrived in the spring of 1756,
Gov. Dinwiddie advised him that the Indians’ way of bush fighting was different;
they looked for opportunities to destroy their enemies.
That summer Washington tried to instill discipline by punishing with lashes
fighting among the troops, drunkenness, profanity, and malingering.
Those deserting during battle could be hanged.
From 1755 to 1758 the British managed to get 80 Cherokees and
over 200 Catawbas, Tuscaroras, Nottaways, and others to fight for Virginia.
In September 1755 Andrew Montour had promised Indians they would be treated better.
He explained that the commander Washington had
the power to treat them as allies and brothers.
Washington consulted with his mentor William Fairfax.
On 10 January 1757 in a very long letter to the new Governor
and Commander-in-Chief John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun,
describing and criticizing Virginia’s current military situation Washington wrote,
My Lord:
The posture of affairs in this quarter is really melancholy,
and the prospect was rendered more gloomy
while there appeared no hopes of amendment;
but, from the presence of your Lordship at this time
in the Dominion, we conceive hopes
of seeing those threatening clouds dispelled.
The sums of money, my Lord,
which had been granted by this colony to carry on war,
have been very considerable; and to reflect
to what little purpose is matter of great concern,
and will seem surprising to those,
who are not acquainted with the causes, and the confusion
with which all our affairs have hitherto been conducted,
owing to our having no fixed object,
or pursuing any regular system, or plan of operation.
As I have studied with attention and care
the nature of the service in which we are engaged,
have been engaged therein from the beginning
of the present broils, and have been an eye-witness
to all the movements and various proceedings,
I beg leave to offer a concise and candid account
of our circumstances to your Lordship;
from which many errors may be discovered,
that merit redress in a very high degree.
It was not until it was too late, we discovered that
the French were on the Ohio; or rather, that
we could be persuaded they came there
with a design to invade his Majesty’s dominions.
Nay, after I was sent out in December, 1753,
and brought undoubted testimony
even from themselves of their avowed design,
it was yet thought a fiction and a scheme
to promote the interest of a private company,
even by some who had a share in the government.
These unfavorable surmises caused great delays
in raising the first men and money,
and gave the active enemy time to take possession
of the Fork of Ohio (which they now call Duquesne)
before we were in sufficient strength to advance thither,
which has been the chief source
of all our past and present misfortunes.
For by this means,
(the French getting between us and our Indian allies)
they fixed those in their interests,
who were wavering and obliged the others to neutrality,
’till the unhappy defeat
of his (late) Excellency General Braddock.
The troops under Colonel Dunbar going into quarters
in July, and the inactivity of the neighboring colonies,
and the incapacity of this,
conspired to give the French great room to exult,
and the Indians little reason to expect
a vigorous offensive war on our side, and induced the other,
which promised the greatest show of protection.
This is an undeniable fact, and that all of the Indians
did not forsake the English interest,
’till three months after the battle of Monongahela,
but actually waited to see
what measures would be concerted to regain our losses
and afford them the protection
we had but too liberally promised them.
Virginia, it is true, was not inactive all this time:
On the contrary, voted a handsome supply for raising men
to carry on the war, or more properly, to defend herself;
matters being reduced to this extremity
for want of assistance.
But even in this, she signally failed,
arising, I apprehend from the following causes:
The men first levied to repel the enemy marched for Ohio
the beginning of April, 1754, without tents, without clothes,
in short, without any conveniences to shelter them,
(in that remarkably cold and wet season,)
from the inclemency of the weather,
and to make the service tolerably agreeable.
In this state did they, notwithstanding, continue,
till the battle of the Meadows, in July following,
never receiving in all that space any subsistence;
and very often under the greatest straits
and difficulties for want of provisions.
These things were productive of great murmurings
and discontent, and rendered the service so distasteful
to the men, that, not being paid immediately
upon coming in, they thought themselves bubbled,
and that no reward for their services was ever intended.
This caused great desertion,
and the deserters spreading over the country,
recounting their sufferings and want of pay
(which rags and poverty sufficiently testified)
fixed in the mind of the populace such horrid impressions
of the hardships they had encountered,
that no arguments could remove these prejudices,
or facilitate the recruiting service.
This put the Assembly upon enacting a law
to impress vagrants, which added to our difficulties,
for, compelling these abandoned miscreants into the service,
they embraced every opportunity to effect their escape,
gave a loose to their vicious principles,
and invented the most unheard-of stories
to palliate desertion and gain compassion;
in which they not only succeeded,
but obtained protection also.
So that it was next to impossible, after this,
to apprehend deserters, while the civil officers rather
connived at their escape, than aided in securing them.
Thus were affairs situated, when we were ordered,
in September, 1755 to recruit
our force to twelve hundred men.
’T is easy therefore to conceive, under these circumstances,
why we did not fulfill the order, especially when the officers
were not sufficiently allowed for this arduous task.
We continued, however, using our endeavors
until March following, with much success.
The Assembly, meeting about that time,
came to a resolution of augmenting our numbers
to fifteen hundred men by drafting the militia,
(who were to continue in the service until December only,)
and by a clause in the act exempting all those,
who should pay ten pounds,
our numbers were very little increased,
one part of the people paying that sum,
and many of the poorer sort absconding.
This was not the only pernicious clause in the act
for the funds arising from these forfeitures
were thrown into the treasury; whereas,
had they been deposited in proper hands for recruiting,
the money might have turned to very good account.
But a greater grievance than either of these was
restraining the forces from marching out of the colony,
or acting offensively, and ordering them to build forts,
and garrison them, along our frontiers
(of more than three hundred miles in extent.)
How equal they or any like number are to the task,
and how repugnant a defensive plan is
to the true Interest and welfare of the colony,
I submit to any judge to determine
who will consider the following particulars.
First, that erecting forts at greater distances
than fifteen or eighteen miles, or a day’s march asunder,
and garrisoning them with less than
eighty or a hundred men, is not answering the intention;
because, if they are at a greater distance from each other,
it is inconvenient for the soldiers to scout between,
and gives the enemy full scope to make their incursions
without being discovered, until they have fallen
on the inhabitants and committed a ravage.
And after they are discovered, the time required
in assembling troops from forts more distant,
prevents a pursuit being made in time,
and allows the enemy to escape without danger
into a country so mountainous,
and full of swamps hollow ways covered with woods.
Then, to garrison them
with less than eighty or a hundred men,
the number is too small to afford detachments,
but what are very liable to be cut off by the enemy,
whose numbers in this close country
can scarcely be known till they are proved.
Indian Parties are generally intermixed
with some Frenchmen, and are so dexterous at skulking,
that their spies, lying about these small forts for some days
and taking a prisoner, make certain discoveries
of the strength of the garrison; and then, upon observing
a scouting party coming out, will first cut it off,
and afterwards attempt the fort.
Instances of this have lately happened.
Secondly, our frontiers are of such immense extent, that
if the enemy were to make a formidable attack on one side,
before our troops on the other could get to their assistance,
they might overrun the country; and it is not improbable,
if they had a design upon one part,
they would make a feint upon the other.
Thirdly, what it must cost the country to build these forts,
and to remove stores and provisions into them; and
Fourthly, and lastly
where and when this expense will end?
For we may be assured, if we do not endeavor
to remove the cause, we shall be as liable
to the same incursions seven years hence as now;
indeed more so.
Because, if the French are allowed
to possess those lands in peace,
they will have the entire command of the Indians,
and grow stronger in their alliance;
while we, by our defensive schemes
and pusillanimous behavior will exhaust our treasury,
reduce our strength and become the contempt
of these savage nations, who are every day enriching
themselves with the plunder and spoils of our people.
It will evidently appear
from the whole tenor of my conduct,
more especially from reiterated representations,
how often I have urged the Governor and Assembly
to pursue different measures, and to convince them,
by all the reasons I was capable of offering,
of the impossibility of covering so extensive a frontier
from Indian incursions,
without more force than Virginia can maintain.
I have endeavored to demonstrate,
that it would require fewer men to remove the cause,
than to prevent the effects, while the cause subsists.
This notwithstanding, as I before observed,
was the measure adopted, and the plan
under which we have acted for eight months past,
with the disagreeable reflection
of doing no essential service to our country,
gaining honor to ourselves, or reputation to our regiment.
However, under these disadvantageous restraints
I must beg leave to say,
that the regiment has not been inactive;
on the contrary, it has performed a vast deal of work,
and has been very alert in defending the people, which
will appear by observing, that, notwithstanding we are
more contiguous to the French and their Indian allies,
and more exposed to their frequent incursions
than any of the neighboring colonies,
we have not lost half the inhabitants,
which others have done,
but considerably more soldiers in their defense.
For in the course of this campaign, since March, I mean,
(as we have had but one constant campaign, and continued
scene of action, since we first entered the service),
our troops have been engaged
in upwards of twenty skirmishes, and we have had
near a hundred men killed and wounded,
from a small regiment, dispersed over the country,
and acting upon the defensive as ours is by order.
This, I conceive will not appear inconsiderable to those,
who are in the least degree acquainted with the nature
of this service and the posture of our affairs;
however it may to chimney-corner politicians,
who are thirsting for news, and expecting by every express
to hear in what manner Fort Duquesne was taken, and
the garrison was led away captive by our small numbers;
although we are restrained from making the attempt,
were our hopes of success ever so rational!
The next thing I beg leave to mention,
is our military laws, and regulations.
The first men raised, were, if I rightly remember,
were under no law; if any, the military law,
which was next of kin to it.
But under this we remained a short time,
and by instilling notions into the soldiers,
who knew no better,
that they were governed by the articles of war,
we felt little inconveniences;
and the next campaign we were joined with the regulars,
and made subject to their laws.
After the regulars left us, the Assembly,
as I before mentioned, passed an act,
in September following to raise twelve hundred men, and,
in order (I suppose) to improve upon the act of Parliament,
prepared a military code of their own,
but such a one as no military discipline
could be preserved while it existed.
This being represented by the most pressing
and repeated remonstrances, induced the Assembly
to pass a bill in October following, for one year only;
making mutiny and desertion death,
but took no cognizance of many other crimes,
equally punishable by act of Parliament.
So that no officer, or soldier accused of cowardice,
holding correspondence with the enemy, quitting a post,
or sleeping upon it and many other crimes of a capital dye,
or pernicious tendency, could be legally tried.
Neither was there any provision made for quartering
and billeting of soldiers; impressing of wagons &ca &ca.
But that which contributed most towards
rendering this law inconvenient and absurd,
and at the same time to demonstrate that
the Assembly fully intended to prevent
any enterprise of their troops out of the colony,
was a clause forbidding any courts-martial to sit out of it;
by which means all proceedings held
at Fort Cumberland (in Maryland) were illegal,
and we were obliged to remove to Virginia
for trial of offenders,
or act contrary to law, and lie open to prosecution.
How then were we to behave upon a march
perhaps fifty, eighty, or a hundred miles distant?
These circumstances concurring to render the law
ineffectual, induced me again to recommend an amendment,
which I did with all the force and energy or argument
I was master of.
But no regard has hitherto been paid to my remonstrances.
To what cause it is owing, I know not,
unless to short sittings and hurry of business;
for I can conceive of no reason on earth,
why the Assembly should be against instituting rules
for the regulation of their forces, which long experience
in established armies have fully evinced the necessity of.
But, to cut short the account,
we are under no government at all, to speak properly.
Indeed there is a jumble of laws
that have very little meaning or design in them,
but to conspire to make command intricate,
precarious in supporting authority,
and not to offend the civil powers;
who, tenacious of liberty,
and prone to censure and condemn all proceedings
that are not strictly lawful, never considering
what cases may arise to render them necessary.
Another grievance, which this act subjects us to,
is the method prescribed to pay for deserters.
Many of our deserters are apprehended
in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and,
for the sake of a reward, are brought to the regiment;
instead thereof they receive certificate only,
that they are entitled to two hundred weight of tobacco.
This certificate is to be given into a Court of Claims,
they refer it to the Assembly, and there it may lie
perhaps two or three years before it is paid.
This causes great dissatisfaction, and the ill-disposed to aid,
rather than prevent, the escape of soldiers.
No regular provision is established for the maimed
and wounded, which is a discouraging reflection,
and grievously complained of.
The soldiers very justly observe, that the result of bravery
is often a broken leg, arm, or an incurable wound;
and when they are disabled,
and not fit for service they are discharged,
and reduced to the necessity of begging from door to door,
or perish thro’ indigence.
It is true, no instance of this kind hath yet appeared;
on the contrary, the Assembly have dealt generously
by those unfortunate soldiers, who have met with this fate.
But then, this provision is not established,
nor in any wise compulsory,
and a man may suffer in the interval of their sitting.
After giving this short and genuine account
of our military laws;
and then observing that these laws are expired,
I conceive there need but few arguments to prove
the difficulty of keeping soldiers under proper discipline,
who know they are not (legally) punishable
for the most atrocious crimes.
When this happens to be the case, as it is ours at present,
how is it to be wondered at if mutiny, desertion,
and all other irregularities creep into the camp or garrison?
more especially if we consider that hard duty,
want of clothes, and almost every necessary that renders
a soldier’s life comfortable and easy, are strong incentives,
and, to go yet further, when these in themselves
intolerable grievances are set to view
in the most glaring point of light by a person,
who, lost to all sense of honor and virtue,
(and building, I am sorry to say, upon a proclamation
inviting the deserters from the Virginia Regiment
to enlist in the Royal American Regiment,)
has made use of every artifice to represent
the fatigues and hardships of this service,
and the ease and conveniences of the other,
to seduce them from their duty.
Want of clothing, may be esteemed
another principal grievance
which our soldiers have labored under.
In the first twelve months of their service
they received no clothing; but in March, 1754,
they were presented each with a suit
made of thin sleazy cloth without lining,
and flannel waistcoats of an inferior sort.
After that no others were sent for
(and two pence stoppages drawn from every man’s pay,
recruits not excepted,)
until repeated complaints and remonstrances from me,
enforced in June last by a representation
of many gentlemen of the Assembly
(who had formed an association,
and saw the disagreeable situation of the soldiers)
induced the Committee, to whom these addresses
were presented, to send for clothing, &ca.
These were to have been here by the middle of October,
but no advice is received of them yet,
which gives the soldiers some pretense
to suspect they are deceived.
And it is owing to this irregular pay,
and the causes aforementioned,
that their late disobedience ought to be ascribed.
For I can truly say, and confidently assert,
that no soldiers were ever under better command
than these were before.
Perhaps it may be asked by gentlemen
not thoroughly acquainted with the nature of our service,
why the officers do not see that
their men’s pay is more properly applied?
In answer I must beg leave to observe,
that, after the soldiers have appropriated
a part for purchasing reasonable and fit necessaries;
the remainder is barely sufficient to keep them in shoes,
owing, in the first place, to the very great consumption
the service occasions, and, in the next,
to the exorbitant price, which this article bears.
I have known a soldier go upon command
with a new pair of shoes, which perhaps have stood
from seven shillings and sixpence to ten shillings,
and return back without any;
so much do they wear in wading creeks, fording rivers,
clambering mountains covered with rocks, &c.
As great a grievance as any I have mentioned is yet
unnoticed, i.e., the militia under their present regulation.
A representation of this matter comes better
and more properly from others;
yet my zeal for the service
and my interest in the welfare of my country,
have influenced me to touch slightly on some things
relative to their conduct, as I cannot enter deeply
into the causes that produce them.
When they come into service,
it is with the utmost difficulty they are prevailed upon
to take measures for self-defense,
much less for the protection of the inhabitants.
But indolent and careless, and always unguarded,
are liable to be surprised.
By this means Vass’s fort was taken
(and the garrison destroyed, and Dickinson’s
was on the point of sharing the same fate).
To set forth all the reasons that can contribute
to render the militia of little use, and to point out
all the causes which combine to make our service
infinitely hard and disagreeable,
would swell these observations into a volume,
and require time, and a more able pen than mine.
But there are yet some things that require to be spoken
to the ill-judged economy that is shown in raising of men.
We are either insensible of danger,
till it breaks upon our heads, or else,
through mistaken notions of economy, evade the expense,
till the blow is struck,
and then run into an extreme of raising militia.
These, after an age, as it were, is spent in assembling them,
come up, make a noise for a time, oppress the inhabitants,
and then return, leaving the frontiers unguarded as before.
Notwithstanding former experience convinces us,
if reason did not, that the French and Indians
are watching their opportunity,
when we are lulled into fatal security
and are unprepared to resist an attack,
to master their force to invade the country,
and by ravaging one part terrify another,
and then retreat when our militia assemble,
repeating the stroke as soon as they are dispersed,
sending down parties in the intermedium
to discover our motions, procure intelligence,
and sometimes to divert our troops.
Such an invasion we may expect in March, if measures
to prevent it are neglected, as they hitherto have been.
The want of tools occasions insurmountable difficulties
in carrying on our works, either offensive or defensive.
Cartridge-paper is an article not to be met with in Virginia.
And now, before I sum up the whole,
I must beg leave to add,
my unwearied endeavors are inadequately rewarded.
The orders I receive are full of ambiguity.
I am left, like a wanderer in a wilderness,
to proceed at hazard.
I am answerable for consequences,
and blamed without the privilege of defense.
This, my Lord, I beg leave to declare to your Lordship,
is at present my situation.
Therefore, it is not to be wondered at,
if, under such peculiar circumstances,
I should be sickened in a service,
which promises so little of a soldier’s reward.
I have long been satisfied of the impossibility
of continuing in this service, without loss of honor.
Indeed, I was fully convinced of it
before I accepted the command the second time,
(seeing the cloudy prospect that stood before me;)
and did not for this reason reject the offer,
(until I was ashamed any longer to refuse,)
not caring to expose my character to public censure.
But the solicitations of the country overcame my objections,
and induced me to accept it.
Another reason of late has continued me in it until now,
and that is, the dawn of hope that arose,
when I heard your Lordship was destined by his Majesty
for the important command of his armies in America,
and appointed to the government of his dominion of Virginia.
Hence it was, that I drew my hopes,
and fondly pronounced your Lordship our patron.
Although I had not the honor to be known to your Lordship,
your Lordship’s name was familiar to my ear,
on account of the important services
performed to his Majesty in other parts of the world.
Do not think, my Lord, that I am going to flatter;
notwithstanding I have exalted sentiments
of your Lordship’s character and respect your rank,
it is not my intention to adulate.
My nature is open and honest and free from guile!
We have my Lord, ever since our defense
at the Meadows, and behavior under
His Excellency General Braddock, been tantalized,
nay, bid to expect most sanguinely, a better establishment,
and have waited in tedious expectation
of seeing this accomplished.
The Assembly it is true, have, I believe,
done every thing in their power to bring this about;
first, by soliciting his honor the Lieutenant-Governor,
to address his Majesty; and next, by addressing his Majesty
themselves in favor of their regiment.
What success these addresses have met with,
I am yet a stranger to.
With regard to myself, I cannot forbear adding, that,
had his Excellency General Braddock
survived his unfortunate defeat,
I should have met with preferment agreeable to my wishes.
I had his Promise to that purpose,
and I believe that gentleman was too sincere and generous
to make unmeaning offers, where no favors were asked.
General Shirley was not unkind in his promises,
but he has gone to England.
I don’t know, my Lord, in what light
this short and disinterested relation
may be received by your Lordship;
but with the utmost candor and submission it is offered.
It contains no misrepresentations,
nor aggravated relation of facts, nor unjust reflections.
Virginia is a country young in war,
and till the breaking out of these disturbances,
has remained in the most profound and tranquil peace,
ne’er studying war nor warfare.
It is not therefore to be imagined that
she can fall into proper measures at once.
All that can be expected at her hands she cheerfully offers,
the sinews of war, and these only want your Lordship’s
ability and experience to be properly applied and directed.
It is for this reason I have presumed
to lay this information before your Lordship, that if
there be any thing in it which appears worthy of redress,
and your Lordship will condescend
to point out the way it may be obtained.
And now, my Lord, how to apologize to your Lordship,
for assuming a freedom, which must (at any rate)
give you trouble, I know not, unless an affectionate zeal
to serve my country steady attachment to her interests,
the honor of arms, and crying grievances
she is struggling under, will plead an excuse,
till I am so happy as to have an opportunity of testifying
how much I admire your Lordship’s character,
and with what profound respect
I have the honor to be, &c.23
Loudon did make Maryland responsible for Fort Cumberland so that
Washington’s Virginia Regiment would only have to supervise forts in Virginia.
Washington increased punishment from 1,000 lashes to 1,500,
and he had a gibbet built forty feet high for hangings.
At the end of 1756 Peter Randolph and William Byrd III persuaded Catawbas
and Cherokees to fight with the English by promising to build what became
Fort Loudoun at Winchester, and about 400 Indians arrived in April 1757.
The following spring the Assembly increased the Virginia force to 2,000 men.
Dinwiddie was ill and was replaced by Francis Fauquier who reported in June that the
second regiment of a thousand men under Col. Byrd had joined Washington at Winchester.
Washington purchased a copy of Humphrey Bland’s Treatise of Military Discipline,
and in a letter on 29 July 1757 he advised his captains,
Devote some part of your leisure hours to the study
of your profession, a knowledge in which
cannot be attained without application;
nor any merit or applause to be achieved
without a certain knowledge thereof.
Discipline is the soul of an army.
It makes small numbers formidable,
procures success to the weak, and esteem to all;
and may, in a peculiar manner to us, who are in the way
to be joined to regulars in a very short time,
and of distinguishing through this means
from other Provincials.24
In 1757 the House of Burgesses raised the bounty paid for Indian scalps to £15.
On October 8 Washington wrote to Col. John Stanwyx,
To think of defending a frontier as ours is
of more than three hundred and fifty miles’ extent,
with only seven hundred men, is vain and idle,
especially when that frontier
lies more contiguous to the enemy than any other.25
Gov. Dinwiddie often reprimanded Washington,
and on October 27 Washington wrote to him,
I must beg leave before I conclude,
to observe in justification of my own conduct, that
it is with pleasure I receive reproof when reproof is due,
because no person can be readier to accuse me
than I am to acknowledge an error
when I have committed it,
nor more desirous of atoning for a crime
when I am sensible of being guilty of one.
But on the other hand, it is with concern I remark
that my best endeavors lose their reward;
and that my conduct, although I have uniformly studied
to make it as unexceptionable as I could,
does not appear to you in a favorable point of light;
otherwise your honor would not have accused me
of loose behavior, and remissness of duty, in matters
where I think I have rather exceeded than fell short of it.
This I think is evidently the case
in speaking of Indian affairs at all,
after being instructed in express terms not to have
any concern with or management of Indian affairs.26
Washington on November 5 from Fort Loudon wrote to
Gov. Dinwiddie that he was suffering from dysentery and a fever.
He was concerned about two Indians who had been scalped, and he wrote,
I applied to Captain Gist in their behalf,
and told him I must represent the matter to your Honor.
But he assures me that he has neither
goods to reward them, money to procure them,
or even an interpreter, which totally incapacitates him
for doing any kind of service.27
After William Pitt became British Prime Minister in 1757,
he turned his attention to the British war in America.
He recalled the Commander-in-Chief John Campbell, Earl of Loudon,
and on April 27 he replaced him with Brigadier General John Forbes
directing him to move against Fort Duquesne.
Forbes appointed the Swiss Col. Henry Bouquet as a tactical commander.
Pitt increased the men, money, and resources for Virginia,
and the Assembly stopped conscription and offered an enlistment bounty of £10.
Concerned that paying for Indian scalps would drive Indians to their enemies,
in 1758 Virginia’s new Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier repealed the bounty law.
In March 1758 levies up to 2,700 men were authorized to support
the expedition led by Brigadier General Forbes to take Fort Duquesne,
and troops were promised land bounties on the Ohio River.
Col. George Washington wanted to go by the road Braddock had used in Virginia,
but Pennsylvanians insisted on a new road in their province.
Forbes wanted more Indian allies,
but he had difficulty supplying and controlling 700 Cherokees.
When their chief Attakullakulla (Little Carpenter) tried
to leave the expedition, he was arrested as a deserter.
Forbes eventually released him, and that summer most of the Cherokees went home.
The Moravian missionary Christian Frederick Post traveled twice to
the Ohio
country in diplomatic efforts, meeting with Tamaqua (King Beaver), Shingas, and
other chiefs to keep the Delawares and Shawnees as allies and the Six Nations neutral.
Shingas had been told by a trader that the French and English
intended to kill all the Indians and divide their land.
In a friendly manner Tamaqua advised the English
to go back over the mountains and stay there.
By April 1758 there were 604 Cherokees and 48 Catawbas in Winchester,
and in June the two Virginia regiments had a thousand men.
British officers were no longer superior to provincial ones of the same rank,
and that pleased Washington.
Forbes by July had an army of over 6,000 with 1,200 British regulars, 2,700 from
Pennsylvania, 1,600 from Virginia, and 350 in the Royal American Regiment.
Cherokees attacked Fort Duquesne 17 times between April and August.
Washington persuaded Forbes to let the regulars
dress like Indians with hunting shirts and leggings.
Washington spent £40 to provide 3 pints of brandy, eight quarts of cider,
13 gallons of beer, and 34 gallons of wine for voters,
and on 24 July 1758 he was elected to the House of Burgesses
with 309 votes out of 397 cast to represent Frederick County.
Thomas Bryan Martin was second with 240 votes,
and he was also elected a Burgess.
Washington served there until 24 June 1775.
He was promoted to colonel and participated in the war in which
the British forces defeated the French, Canadians, and their Indian allies.
Washington was a strict disciplinarian and punished disobedient troops with many lashes.
As General Forbes approached Fort Duquesne,
Washington proposed advancing with three brigades.
On 14 September 1758 Major James Grant attacked Fort Duquesne with 838 men
to stop the Indian raids; but François Le Marchand de Lignery met them with
a thousand soldiers and Indians, and Grant lost 22 officers
and had a third of his men killed, wounded, or captured.
Grant himself was taken as a prisoner to Canada.
The French and the Indians quarreled over the spoils,
and most of the natives returned to their villages.
Brigadier General Forbes sent a thousand men under John Mercer
and George Washington in November against Lt. Corbiere who had
only thirty Canadians and 140 Indians; but in the dark Mercer’s men
and Washington’s soldiers shot at each other, resulting in 38 casualties.
Forbes was not good at dealing with the Indians,
and gradually most of the 700 Cherokees left the expedition.
Croghan had promised fifty warriors, but he arrived in November with less than fifteen.
Forbes welcomed those who came with the
Delaware chief Pisquetomen and Christian Frederick Post.
Lignery had lost the rest of his Indians to a peace council at Kuskuski,
and he decided to evacuate and destroy Fort Duquesne.
On November 11 Forbes and his council decided to end the expedition.
The next day Washington organized a response to
a French attack and was fired on by both sides.
Yet he captured three enemies.
Washington led an advance force with 1,000 men,
and Forbes’ main army caught up with them on November 19.
On November 24 the French destroyed Fort Duquesne
and retreated as 500 left on the Ohio River.
The next day Washington claimed the remains for England,
and Forbes stationed a hundred Virginians and a hundred Pennsylvanians
as a garrison at what would be called Fort Pitt and later Pittsburgh.
Washington managed to claim a large portion of the 200,000 acres
allotted to the veterans, leaving less for the enlisted men.
The English built Fort Pitt where the three rivers meet,
and Forbes left a garrison of 250 men.
Maryland troops were deserting Fort Cumberland,
and the Maryland Assembly was not sending provisions.
Israel Pemberton sent four wagons with £1,400 worth of trade goods
to Forbes who was ill and went back to Philadelphia.
Brigadier General John Stanwix was put in charge of Fort Pitt.
The Quaker Pemberton persuaded Stanwix to remove Croghan’s control over trade,
and Pemberton sent him £3,000 more in goods.
On November 28 Brigadier General Washington wrote to
Governor Francis Fauquier and retired from the Virginia Regiment.
On 6 January 1759 Washington married the wealthy widow
Mrs. Martha Custis who had two children.
She inherited from her husband Daniel Custis £31,000,
17,438 acres, and 85 slaves worth £9,000.
On January 10 Washington in his farewell speech to his officers in the
French and Indian War said, “I had nothing to boast, but a steady honesty—
this I made the invariable rule of my actions; and I find my reward in it.”28
On February 22 he began sitting in the Virginia House of Burgesses,
and the House Speaker John Robinson appointed Washington
to the important standing Committee of Propositions and Grievances.
He also was on three committees on soldiers and army dealers.
They passed a resolution thanking him for overcoming the
French and their Indians and for taking over Fort Duquesne.
Washington supported bills that improved Fairfax County
and got permission to go home early.
On April 6 he with his wife Martha and her two children moved into Mount Vernon.
The war in America ended in September 1760
when the French surrendered at Montreal.
Martha went with her husband to Williamsburg in October as people were celebrating.
On 15 February 1761 Washington learned that Adam Stephen
was running for one of the two seats from Frederick County.
Martin retired, and Washington persuaded his friend George Mercer to run for that seat.
Men voted orally then, and Dr. Craik organized it
so that those for Washington and Mercer voted first.
Washington was elected with 505 votes and Mercer with 400; Stephen got 294 votes.
Washington was ill again, and he went to the Berkeley Springs in August.
He had malaria for six months and missed sessions of the House of Burgesses.
In 1761 Washington inherited Mount Vernon.
In a letter to Robert Cary & Co. on November 3,
noting that the Assembly would provide supplies for an Indian War,
though the Cherokees were asking for peace, he wrote,
I wish the powers of Europe were as well disposed
to an accommodation as these poor wretches are.
A stop would soon be put to the effusion of human blood,
and peace and plenty would resume its empire again,
to the joy and content (I believe)
of most ranks and degrees of people.29
He helped veterans of the French and Indian War get land
and worked with others to improve conditions.
In 1761 Col. Henry Bouquet ordered settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains to leave.
Washington and other planters with land grants there complained to Gov. Fauquier.
On 28 May 1762 Washington in a letter to Robert Cary & Company wrote,
As I have ever laid it down as an established Maxim
to believe that every person is, (most certainly ought to be)
the best judges of What relates
to their own Interest & Concerns
I very rarely undertake to propose Schemes to others
which may be attended with uncertainty & miscarriage.30
Washington became a vestryman for an Anglican Church in October 1762.
That year his new overseer Nelson Kelly had to promise that
“he will take all necessary and proper care of the Negroes committed
to his management, treating them with humanity and tenderness when sick.”31
His overseers were not allowed to use the whip on blacks.
He began using slaves as overseers until he had
three blacks managing three of his five farms.
Every year each slave was given new clothes and shoes.
He even allowed some slaves to hunt wild game in the woods.
Over the years 47 of his slaves ran away,
and he took time to hunt them down and did not harm them.
He rarely sold a slave.
In July 1766 he had a ship take a runaway and rogue to St. Kitts.
This was a warning to other slaves to behave.
Washington went to see plays, and he especially liked
Sheridan’s School for Scandal.
He must have read Shakespeare because in wartimes
he quoted Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Henry V.
At other times he quoted Hamlet, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest.
The Seven Years’ War of Britain and France that ended
with a treaty in Paris on 15 February 1763 increased the British national debt
from £74.6 million in 1756 to £132.6 million at the end of the war.
Some American merchants supplied British troops, and imports of the 13 colonies
increased from £168,246 in 1757 to £707,998 in 1760.
In a letter on 27 April 1763 Washington wrote,
We are much rejoiced at the prospect of peace
which ’tis hoped will be of long continuance and
introductory of mutual benefits to the merchant and planter,
as the trade of this Colony will flow in a more easy
and regular channel than it has done
for a considerable time past.32
In the Paris Treaty the French let go of their empire in America
and ceded land east of the Mississippi River to Britain.
France also recognized Spain’s territory west of the Mississippi River.
The British built Fort Pitt ten times bigger than Fort Duquesne,
and they established British garrisons.
Indians were concerned that they were building forts,
and the British stopped providing gifts for the Indians to save money.
The Seneca Guyasuta had been a guide for Washington,
and he organized resistance against British imperialism that was called Pontiac’s War.
Washington did not participate in that war.
On October 7 a royal British proclamation designed to benefit the fur trade
with Indians banned the settlers west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Washington wanted to buy more land, and he and 17 planters
formed the Mississippi Land Company on 3 June 1763.
In September they petitioned Britain for 2.5 million acres the French had ceded.
Their claims came into conflict with the Ohio Company
that was owned by Washington, the Lees, and others.
Washington also worked with ten investors that included several Burgesses,
and they bought 40,000 acres of swampland in southern Virginia and North Carolina.
Their project was to drain the swamp,
and each investor supplied five slaves for the work.
The project failed, and Washington kept his 4,000 acres until 1795.
In Britain’s royal proclamation in 1763 they formed their acquired territory
into the colonies Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada.
The Appalachian Mountains separated the colonies from
Indian land that extended west to the Mississippi River.
Traders were required to get a pass from the Governor
or Commander-in-Chief of the colonies.
Gov. Dinwiddie’s bounties to war veterans provided a range
from 5,000 acres for field officers to 50 acres for privates.
The southern Indian superintendent John Stuart organized
a council in November for about a thousand Cherokees, Creeks,
Catawbas, Chicakasaws, and Choctaws at Augusta, Georgia.
In May 1764 Virginians learned that the British Parliament was preparing
to make the colonies pay for the costs of the French and Indian War.
That summer the northern Indian superintendent
William Johnson assembled a council at Niagara.
George Mason protested that the British gave their land in the west to the Indians.
Washington, Jefferson, Arthur Lee, Patrick Henry, and others objected
to British tyranny and wanted the right to buy and sell Indian land.
Notes
1. George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 22.
2. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 27.
3. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 75.
4. Washington Writings, p. 17-18.
5. George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 62-63.
6. The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans,
and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway, p. 64.
7. Washington Writings, p. 22.
8. George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 81-82.
9. Washington Writings, p. 74-76.
10. “Join or Die” by Benjamin Franklin, The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 9, 1754
in Benjamin Franklin Writings ed. J. A. Leo Lemay, p. 376-377.
11. Dinwiddie Papers, I, 101 quoted in Colonial Virginia, Volume 2
by Richard L. Morton, p. 630.
12. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 45.
13. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 105.
14. George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 100.
15. All Cloudless Glory: The Life of George Washington, Volume I:
From Youth to Yorktown by Harrison Clark, Volume 1, p. 61.
16. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 54.
17. The Indian World of George Washington by Colin G. Calloway, p. 106.
18. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 61.
19. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves,
and the Creation of America by Henry Wiencek, p. 39.
20. Basic Writings of George Washington ed. Saxe Commins, p. 54.
21. Washington Writings, p. 71-72.
22. Ibid., p. 74-75.
23. Basic Writings of George Washington, p. 55-66.
24. George Washington: A Biography by Douglas Southall Freeman, Volume 2,
p. 262-263.
25. Ibid., p. 67.
26. The Life of George Washington by John Marshall, p. 15-16.
27. Basic Writings of George Washington, p. 70.
28. George Washington: The Forge of Experience (1732-1775)
by James Thomas Flexner, p. 349.
29. George Washington: A Biography Volume 3 Planter and Patriot
by Douglas Southall Freeman, p. 68.
30. Washington Writings, p. 105.
31. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 112.
32. George Washington: A Biography Volume 3 Planter and Patriot
by Douglas Southall Freeman, p. 89.
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