Washington pushed forward with one hundred and fifty men, to attempt to May 1, 1754 retrieve this loss, confident that a larger force than his own, under Colonel Fry, would speedily follow. He marched for the junction of the Red Stone Creek and Monongahela River, thirty-seven miles from Fort Duquesne, where he intended to fortify himself, and wait for the arrival of Colonel Fry, with artillery. On the way, he received intelligence from Half King May 24 that a French force was then marching to attack the English, wherever they might be found. Washington was now a few miles beyond the Great Meadows, an eligible place for a camp, and thither he returned and threw up an intrenchment, which he called Fort Necessity, from the circumstances under which it was erected. On the 27th, he received another message from Half King, informing him that he had discovered the hiding-place of a French detachment of fifty men. With a few Indians, and forty chosen troops, Washington proceeded to attack them. They were found in a well-sheltered place among rocks, and, assaulting them by surprise, he defeated them after a severe skirmish of ten minutes. Ten of the Frenchmen were killed (among whom was M. De Jumonville, the commander), one wounded, and twenty-one made prisoners. Washington had only one man killed, and two or three wounded. The prisoners were conducted to Fort Necessity, and from thence sent over the mountains into Eastern Virginia. ***
*Joshua Fry was a native of Somersetshire, England, and was educated at Oxford. He was at one time professor of mathematics in William and Mary College, Williamsburg; was subsequently a member of the House of Burgesses, and served as a commissioner in running the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. With Peter Jefferson, he made a map of Virginia, and by these employments became well acquainted with the frontier regions. In 1752, he was one of the Virginia commissioners for making a treaty with the Indians at Logstown. His integrity, experience, and knowledge of the Indian character qualified him to command the expedition against the French in 1754. He died at Will's Creek, while on his way to the Ohio, on the 31st of May, 1754.
** Ensign Ward was in command of the post when the enemy approached, Captain Trent being then at Will's Creek, and Lieutenant Frazier at his residence, ten miles distant. The whole number of men under Ward was only forty-one.
*** The French made a great clamor about this skirmish, declaring that Jumonville was the bearer of dispatches; and French writers unjustly vilified the character of Washington, by representing the affair as a massacre. Cotemporary evidence clearly indicates that Jumonville's embassy was a hostile, not a peaceful one; and, as Contrecour had commenced hostilities by capturing the fort at the Ohio Fork, Washington was justified in his conduct by the rules of war.
Death of Colonel Fry.—Washington in Command.—Fort Necessity.—Washington's Return home.—The Great Meadows.
Two days after Washington wrote his dispatch to Colonel Fry, communicating the facts May 31 respecting attack on the French, that officer died at Will's Creek. His troops, intended to re-enforce Washington, were sent forward, and swelled his little army to four hundred men. On the death of Fry, the chief command of the expedition devolved upon Washington, and with his inadequate force he proceeded to attack Fort Duquesne. He held a council of war at Gist's plantation, where information was received that the French at Duquesne were re-enforced, and were preparing to march against the English. Captain Mackay, with his South Carolina company, and Captains Lewis and Poison, with their detachments, were summoned to rendezvous at Gist's plantation, where another council was held, and a retreat was resolved upon. The intrenchments thrown up at Gist's were abandoned, and, with their ammunition and stores, the whole party reached Fort Necessity on the first of July. 1754 There, on account of great fatigue, and suffering from hunger, they halted, and commenced the construction of a ditch and abatis, and strengthened the stockades. *
On the third of July, a French force under M. De Villiers, Jumonville's brother, reported to be nine hundred strong, approached to the attack of Fort Necessity. It was about eleven o'clock when they came within six hundred yards of the outworks, and began an ineffectual fire. Colonel Washington had drawn up his little band outside the trenches, and ordered his men to reserve their fire until the enemy were near enough to do execution. But the French were not inclined to leave the woods and make an assault upon the works. At sunrise, rain had begun to fall, and toward noon it came down in torrents, accompanied by vivid lightning. The trenches into which Colonel Washington ordered his men were filled with water, and the arms of the provincials were seriously injured. A desultory fire was kept up the whole day by both parties, without any decisive result, when De Villiers sent proposals to capitulate. Washington at first declined, but on consultation with his officers, and being assured there was no chance of victory over such overwhelming numbers, he consented, and highly honorable terms were conceded. The English were allowed to march out of the fort with all the honors of war, retaining their baggage, and every thing except their artillery, and to return to Will's Creek unmolested. Washington agreed to restore the prisoners taken at the skirmish with Jumonville, ** and that the English should not attempt to erect any establishment beyond the mountains for the space of one year. On their march from the fort, a party of one hundred Indians, who came to re-enforce the French, surrounded them, and menaced them with death. They plundered their baggage, and committed other mischief.
The provincials finally arrived at Will's Creek, and Washington, with Captain Mackay, proceeded to Williamsburg, where the former communicated to Dinwiddie, in person, the events of the campaign. *** The House of Burgesses of Virginia approved generally of the conduct of the campaign, and passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his officers. **** The
* The Great Meadows, where Fort Necessity was built, is a level bottom, cleft by a small creek. Around it are hills of a moderate height and gradual ascent. The bottom is about two hundred and fifty yards wide where the fort was erected. It was a point well chosen, being about one hundred yards from the upland or wooded grounds on one side, and about a hundred and fifty on the other. The creek afforded water for the fort. On the side nearest the wood were three entrances, protected by short breast-works or bastions. The site of this fort is three or four hundred yards south of what is now called the National Road, four miles from the foot of Laurel Hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland, at Will's Creek. When Mr. Sparks visited the site in 1830, the lines of the fort were very visible.—See Sparks's Writings of Washington, ii., 457.
** This part of the capitulation the governor refused to ratify, because the French, after the surrender, took eight Englishmen prisoners, and sent them to Canada. Vanbraam and Stobo, whom Washington left with De Villiers, as hostages for the fulfillment of the conditions of the capitulation, were sent to Canada. The prisoners on both sides were finally released.