The charter of 1607 granted to the London Company all the territory in America lying between the 34th and 38th degrees of north latitude.
In 1609 the charter was amended and enlarged, so that it comprised a region stretching two hundred miles north and the same distance south of Point Comfort, and extending “up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and northwest.”
In 1623 the London Company was dissolved, and their territory, except where grants had been made to private individuals, reverted to the Crown.
The Virginians never fully accepted this decision. Penn’s grant was respected; but any other territory within the limits of their charter they continued to claim, notwithstanding the action of the King’s Bench.
To explore and occupy his vast domain was one of the most fascinating objects of the early Virginians.
It was to vindicate their claim to the region about the forks of the Ohio that the youthful Major George Washington was sent to the French posts in 1753.
The authorities of Pennsylvania, however, now began to contend that the claims of Virginia overlapped the charter granted to William Penn, and some correspondence took place between Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, and Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, in the years 1752 and 1753.
Early in 1753 the Virginians undertook to secure possession of the country about the Forks of the Ohio against the common enemy, the French, by building a fort, where Pittsburgh now stands. The French, under Contrecœur descended the Allegheny, drove the Virginians away, and themselves built a stronghold at the same place, which they called Fort Duquesne.
This disputed territory remained in the hands of the French until General Forbes invested Fort Duquesne, November 24, 1758. The fort was rebuilt and named Fort Pitt.
No revival of the dispute took place until January, 1774, when one Dr. John Conolly, a native of Lancaster, and one whom Bancroft describes as “a physician, land-jobber and subservient political intriguer,” appeared with authority from Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, and took possession of Fort Pitt, and renamed it Fort Dunmore.