But Washington would not delay.
Sixteen days after that, he was back in Virginia, telling the governor all about his adventures, and giving his opinion about the best way to deal with the French.
* * * * *
IX.—HIS FIRST BATTLE.
It was now very plain that if the English were going to hold the Ohio Country and the vast western region which they claimed as their own, they must fight for it.
The people of Virginia were not very anxious to go to war. But their governor was not willing to be beaten by the French.
He made George Washington a lieutenant-colonel of Virginia troops, and set about raising an army to send into the Ohio Country.
Early in the spring Colonel Washington, with a hundred and fifty men, was marching across the country toward the head waters of the Ohio. It was a small army to advance against the thousands of French and Indians who now held that region.
But other officers, with stronger forces, were expected to follow close behind.
Late in May the little army reached the valley of the Monongahela, and began to build a fort at a place called Great Meadows.