George Washington, Excerpt: Indian Prophecy
By mid year of 1770, while many in the Colonies were concerned about the Boston Massacre, Washington
was concerned about land owed to those who served in the Virginia Regiment. It had been fifteen years since
the battle of Monongahela [massacre]. The Virginia Regiment had lost a lot of good men during that battle, as
well as other battles in the French Indian War. Washington himself was almost a casualty in many of those
battles. He wanted the British crown to make good their promised land grants in Ohio for the veterans and their
heirs. The Six Nations had agreed to a deal to sell land south of the Ohio in 1766 and Pontiac's uprising and
War was now over. “In 1769, Governor Botetourt of Virginia at last gave him permission to seek out a
qualified surveyor and to notify all claimants that surveying would proceed. Once the surveying was completed
the land could be divided among the remaining Virginia Regiment veterans or their heirs. Washington arranged
to have Crawford appointed the ‘Surveyor of the Soldiers Land.’ In the fall of 1770 Washington, Crawford,
and a fellow veteran named Dr. James Craik set out from Fort Pitt by canoe to explore possible sites for the
bounty lands, making notes and observations as they journeyed to the junction of the Ohio and Great Kanawha
Rivers.”65
While at camp in the woods off the Kanawha, Colonel Washington and his group were approached by a
small party of non threatening looking Indians on a mission. The old Indian Chief had traveled a long and weary
journey. His mission was to meet George Washington in person before his death. We can only speculate how
the Chief knew where to search out Washington in the deep woods of Ohio, hundreds of miles from the nearest
settlement and where he was there for only a limited time. Washington received the embassador in his usual
courteous style and a Council fire was soon kindled. It was somewhat of a stressful and awkward encounter as
they sat around the fire, and the reason soon became apparent. It was “he who lay in ambush on the banks of
the Monongahela, and wrought such havoc in Braddock’s Army”66 and the Virginia Regiment. The Grand
Sachem spoke through Joseph Nicholson, the group’s interpreter.
I am a Chief and ruler of many tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the Great Lakes, and to
the far Blue Mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of
the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forest
that I first beheld this chief [Washington]. I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and
daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe–he hath and Indian’s wisdom and his warriors fight as
we do–himself alone exposed.
Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew
not how not to miss–‘twas all in vain; a power mightier far than we, shielded him from harm. He did
not die in battle. I am old, and soon shall be gathering to the great council-fire of my fathers, in the
land of shades, but ere I go, there is a something, bids me speak, in the voice of prophecy. Listen!
The Great Spirit protects that man, and guides his destinies-he will become the chief of many nations,
and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage
to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.67
Editors note: Dr. Craiks account of George Washington’s camp encounter or “Indian Prophecy” was
included in many school text books.
The Chief soon fell silent staring into the flames of the campfire. He had accomplished what he had set out
to do. He had spoken his piece, nothing more needed to be said. The Grand Sachem had been given a divine
gift of prophetic insight into the future by the Great Spirit. While the Chief knew he would not be alive to
witness the prophecy he spoke, he had an inner knowing of its truth. He had the wisdom of a leader who had
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lived many years and had experienced many things. He knew better than to question the will and works of the
Great Spirit.
From his Ohio trip, George Washington made only brief diary entries. As with most private matters
involving Providence or in this case prophecy, he filed away a mental note of the event. Others like Dr. James
Craik were more publicly vocal about their camp encounter and “The Indian Prophecy.” “Washington successfully
accomplished the object of his mission, and, in the end, his old companions in arms, received their just dues.
...How perilous his journey was, at the time, may be inferred from the fact, that soon after his return, there was
another Indian outbreak on the banks of the Great Kanawha, whither Washington went; and, in the engagement,
Colonel Lewis and other Virginians lost their lives.”68
Washington and his fellow legislators in the Virginia House of Burgesses now started to more closely
monitor events in Boston and the Northern Colonies as news filtered in of the burning of the Customs Schooner
Gaspe, June 9, 1772 and Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773. “The sympathy and patriotic feelings of the
Burgesses were strongly excited; and they forthwith passed an order deprecating this ministerial procedure, as
a hostile invasion, and setting apart the 1st of June to be observed “as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer,
to be implore the Divine interposition for averting the heavy calamity, which threatened destruction to their civil
rights and the evils of civil war, and to give them one heart and one mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper
means, every injury to American rights.”69
So alarmed was Governor Dunmore over the actions and patriotic feelings among members, that he
dissolved the House the next day. “Not to be diverted from their purpose, however the delegates repaired
immediately to the Raleigh Tavern, eighty-nine in number, organized themselves into committee, and drew up
and signed an Association.”70 They attended the religious services on the day appointed for the fast and
Washington wrote in his diary, that he went to church, and fasted all day.
Later in the war:
The Continental Army under George Washington of about 13,000 troops faced off with a little over
13,000 British troops led by General Henry Clinton on June 28, 1778, in New Jersey at the Battle of Monmouth.
It was at this battle that a house wife by the name of Molly Picher took over firing the cannon after her husband
fell in battle. Washington went “dashing into the middle of the field to get a better view of the advancing enemy.
“He remained there some time upon his old English charger,” wrote an eye witness, “while the shot from the
British artillery were rendering up the earth all around him.”186 At this battle as with many other battles Washington
was exposed. He was speaking with an officer when “a cannon ball struck just at his horse’s feet throwing dirt
into his face, and over his clothes, the general continued giving his orders, with out noticing the derangement of
this toilette. The officers present, several of whom were of the party the proceeding evening, looked at each
other with anxiety. The chief of the medical staff, pleased with the proof of his prediction, and reminiscence of
what had passed the night before, pointed toward heaven, which was noticed by the others, with a gratifying
smile of acknowledgment.”187 “The night before by camp fire, Doctor Craik had expressed his great faith in the
Indian’s prophecy. “Gentlemen,” he said, to some of the officers, “recollect what I have often told you, of the
old Indian’s prophecy.” Yes, I do believe, a Great Spirit protects that man—and that one day or another,
honored and beloved, he will be the chief of our nation, as he is now our general, our father, and our friend.
Never mind the enemy, they can not kill him, and while he lives, our cause will never die.”188
Washington had assistance at the Battle of Monmouth from Marquis de Lafayette. The French nobleman
of nineteen years had left his wife and wealth in France and had come to America to fight for the cause of
Liberty. He came to assist the Colonies in their military struggle against Britain. Injured at the Battle of Brandywine
the previous year, Washington told the doctor attending Lafayette’s leg wound, “Treat him as though he were
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my son.”189 He and Lafayette had become lifelong friends; they were kindred spirits in time. So close was the
bond between them that Washington adopted Lafayette as a surrogate biological son he never had. Lafayette
often referred to him self as Washington’s “adopted son,” he named his own son, George Washington Motier
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de Lafayette after George Washington. ....
... Marquois de Lafayette in a letter to Colonel Trumbel after the war recalled George Washington at the
Battle of Monmouth. He wrote, “I was a very young major-general on that memorable day, and had a great
deal to do, but took time, amid the heat and fury of the fight, to gaze upon and admire Washington, as mounted
on a splendid charger covered with foam, he rallied our line with the words never to be forgotten: Stand fast,
my boys, and receive your enemy; the southern troops are advancing to support you! I thought them, as I do
now, that never have I seen so superb a man.”193 Washington so impressed Lafayette that he predicted, “His
name will be revered throughout the centuries by all who love liberty and humanity.”194 Others commented
about Washington that “He wore a sword with a peculiar grace.... the man was made for the sword, and not
the sword for the man.”195
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