CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE BRITISH, FRENCH & INDIAN WAR 1754
-1763
CHAPTER 3
The Storm Rising in the West
OWING THE FOUNDING OF VIRGINIA IN 1607, a string of British colonies
ped along the Atlantic seaboard. Immigration and natural growth swelled
ial population to more than 1.5 million by 1750, creating a constant
new agricultural land. Although most British colonists lived only a few days
coast, colonial land holdings extended far into the North American
interior. trencn ano American Inaian claims to tnose same lanas made conract inevitaole.
By the end of the 1740s, British officials viewed with alarm the prospect of a French
empire stretching uninterrupted from Canada to Louisiana. The riches that would flow to
France could threaten the very existence of the British colonies, and perhaps Great Britain itself.
British strategists believed expansion across the Appalachian Mountains was critical to the
security and prosperity of Britain's Atlantic empire.
A WARNING TO THE FRENCH
France and Britain were officially at peace in 1753. The last war between them had ended in
1748, but disputes over colonial boundaries remained. British officials viewed French activities
from Acadia to the Ohio Valley as encroachments. Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie strongly
advocated confronting the French. In 1749, Virginia land speculators of the newly formed Ohio
Company obtained a land grant near the Forks of the Ohio River, but their plans to erect a fort
and settlement there were threatened by Governor Duquesne's expedition from Canada. In
October 1753, Dinwiddie and his council dispatched George Washington, a young militia
officer, to gather intelligence and deliver a warning to the French commander on the Ohio.
When Major George Washington returned with confirmation of French intentions in
January 1754, Governor Dinwiddie moved quickly to raise an army. This task was far more
complicated in the British colonies than in New France. On paper, the Virginia militia alone
(14,000 men) outnumbered its Canadian counterpart, but unlike the Canadians, the Virginia
militia had not participated in a major military campaign for generations. Support from other
British colonies was weak. With few Indian allies or British soldiers available for defense,
Virginia and other colonies had, when the need arose, raised "provincial" troops for a limited
CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE BRITISH, FRENCH & INDIAN WAR 1754 -
1763
term of service. Dinwiddie created such a regiment for the Ohio
By evening, one-third of Washington's force was dead or
expedition, the first detachment of which set out in April under
wounded. Heavy thunderstorms and constant firing left most
newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Washington.
defenders' firearms useless. When his demoralized soldiers broke
While the Virginians marched to the Forks of the Ohio,
into the rum supply, Washington had little choice but to surrender.
the French drove off an advance party of workers and began
Washington's force was allowed to return to Virginia with the
building Fort Duquesne. Washington was still 60 miles away when
honors of war (arms, flags, and a symbolic piece of artillery), but a
Seneca chief Tanaghrisson sent warning of an enemy party nearby.
provision in the capitulation assigned Washington responsibility
On the morning of May 28, 1754, Washington and 40 soldiers
for the "assassination" of Ensign Jumonville. Washington and his
attacked Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville and his
officers blamed this seeming admission of culpability on poor
detachment of Canadian militia. The brief, chaotic firefight ended
translation, but the damage to Washington's reputation was deep.
with the wounded Jumonville producing a written summons
"I wish Washington had acted with prudence and circumspection
similar to the one Washington had carried to the French six
requisite in an officer of his rank,' New York Indian agent William
months before. Tanaghrisson, whose demands that the French
Johnson complained. Washington's sometime-ally Tanaghrisson
leave his country had been ignored and belittled, killed Jumonville
later complained that although he was a good-natured man, the
with a blow from his tomahawk, saying, "thou art not yet dead,
young Virginian had little experience and "made no Fortifications
my Father."
at all, but that little thing upon the Meadow, where he thought the
French would come up to him in open field."
REVENGE AT THE GREAT MEADOWS
Not surprisingly, the most damning criticism came from
Expecting retaliation for his attack on Jumonville, Washington set
Canada. After the capitulation, Washington's campaign journal fell
his men to building a small fort at the nearby Great Meadows. This
into French hands, and was eventually passed to Governor
natural clearing in the heavily timbered Allegheny Mountains
Duquesne, who observed, "He lies a great deal in order to justify the
seemed "a charming field for an encounter" to the inexperienced
assassination of Sieur de Jumonville, which has recoiled upon him
Virginian, who expected a European-style battle in the open.
and which he was stupid enough to admit in his capitulation."
His expectations were dashed on July 3, 1754, when Jumonville's
Duquesne concluded, "There is nothing more unworthy, lower, or
brother, using the cover of the surrounding forest, attacked with 500
even blacker than the opinions and way of thinking of this
French soldiers and Canadian militiamen and 100 allied warriors.
Washington! It would have been a pleasure to read his outrageous
The action quickly settled into an uneven firefight, with bullets
journal to him right under his nose.'
raining down on Fort Necessity from wooded hillsides nearby.
CLASH OF EMPIRES: THE BRITISH, FRENCH & INDIAN WAR 1754 -1763
lid
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Commission: Gov. Robert Dinwiddie
appoints Daniel Parke Custis as
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lieutenant in Virginia militia, 1754
Ink on vellum with wafer seal,
12-1/2 x 15 inches
Special Collections, John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation, 2002.5
DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, one of the wealthiest men in Virginia,
received this colonel's commission in the Virginia militia from
Governor Dinwiddie in December 1754. Custis died suddenly in
1757, and two years later his young widow Martha Dandridge
Custis (1731-1802) married George Washington.
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