With George Washington into the wilderness

by Edwin L. Sabin

1752. This summer Lawrence dies at Mount Vernon. He wills the plantation to his little daughter, and as executor of the estate George remains there to oversee the business. Aged twenty, he is now appointed by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia as adjutant-general of the northern military division which covers several counties.

1753. Major George Washington, aged twenty-one, is sent by Governor Dinwiddie as a commissioner to inquire into the French invasion of the Ohio River country in the northwest; for the French soldiers from Canada were building a line of forts from Lake Erie down along the Ohio River in territory claimed by Great Britain. Major Washington was to travel almost 600 miles through the wilderness, and find the French commander. He leaves Williamsburg, the Virginia capital, on the last day of October. He takes with him Christopher Gist as guide, John Davidson as Indian interpreter, Jacob Vanbraam, who had been a soldier and was a fencing master, to speak French, and four others. After a journey of forty-five days he arrives at the French headquarters post fifteen miles south of Lake Erie. On the way he notes that the “Forks of the Ohio,” where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join in present western Pennsylvania, is a fine site for a fort.

1754. In January Major George Washington is back to report to Governor Dinwiddie at Williamsburg that the French refuse to withdraw from their line of posts. An expedition is organized to build a British post at the Forks of the Ohio. Major Washington is commissioned lieutenant-colonel, as second in command. In April he marches with three companies to support a detachment already gone. The detachment is driven from the Forks by the French, and as commander in the field, Lieutenant-Colonel Washington entrenches at Great Meadows, short of the Forks. On May 28th he surprises a French and Indian detachment and defeats it. This is his first battle; he is twenty-two years old. Having been reinforced to 400 men, at Great Meadows he erects a log fort named Fort Necessity, in order to hold fast, and on July 3rd is attacked by 900 French and Indians. This night terms are made by which the garrison should march out with the honors of war. On July 4th Fort Necessity is abandoned to the French. The French build Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio.

1755. After the affair at Great Meadows the Colonial troops lacked men and supplies and money. Washington protests against another campaign until strength and weather permit. This spring General Edward Braddock of the British Regulars arrives to lead a force of Regulars and Colonials against Fort Duquesne. George Washington is invited to join him as aide, with rank of captain. The expedition is defeated by the French and Indians near Fort Duquesne, July 9th, in a terrible battle. General Braddock is fatally wounded, and Colonel George Washington behaves “with the greatest courage and resolution;” has two horses shot from under him and four balls through his coat.

1755–1757. Following the battle of Braddock’s Field, Colonel Washington continues to live at beautiful Mount Vernon, to which he has fallen heir. He is soon appointed by the Virginia legislature to the command of all the Virginia militia. He is kept busy organizing the troops and inspecting the outposts.

1758. Having recovered from a long illness extending into March, in July he marches his Virginia regiments to take part in another expedition, this time under General Forbes, against Fort Duquesne. He leads the advance, but the fort is deserted by the enemy. The name is changed to Fort Pitt, which becomes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the close of this year Washington again retires to private life.

1759. Not quite twenty-seven years old, he is married, January 6th, to Mrs. Martha Custis, daughter of John Dandridge and widow of John Parke Custis, with two children. She is three months younger than George Washington, and wealthy in her own rights.

1759–1769. Having been elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, or the Colonial legislature, Colonel Washington serves there. He resides at Mount Vernon, and devotes his private life to the business of his plantation, to hunting and riding, and to mingling in local society and in that of Williamsburg the capital and Annapolis the capital of Maryland. In business he is very strict, keeping full account of all transactions and shipping his tobacco to England.

1770. This fall he makes a trip, horseback, to the Forks of the Ohio again, where a few cabins around Fort Pitt mark the beginning of Pittsburgh; thence down the Ohio for 255 miles by canoe, inspecting the western lands granted to soldiers of the French and Indian War with Great Britain.