[Illustration: EARLY FORDS IN THE OHIO VALLEY.]
Convinced that the westward movement of trade and population was favorable for a speculation in land, some prominent men in Virginia [14] formed the Ohio Company, and obtained from the British king a grant of five hundred thousand acres in the Ohio valley on condition that within seven years a hundred families should be settled on it and a fort built and garrisoned.
GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE ALARMED—When, therefore, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia heard that the French were building forts on the Allegheny, he became greatly alarmed, and sent a messenger to demand their withdrawal. But the envoy, becoming frightened, soon turned back. Clearly a man was wanted, and Dinwiddie selected George Washington, [15] a young man of twenty-one and an officer in the Virginia militia.
WASHINGTON'S FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE.—Washington was to find out the whereabouts of the French, proceed to the French post, deliver a letter to the officer in command, and demand an answer. He was also to find out how many forts the French had built, how far apart they were, how well garrisoned, and whether they were likely to be supported from Quebec.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT FORT LE BOEUF.]
Having received these instructions, Washington made his way in the depth of winter to Fort Le Boeuf, delivered the governor's letter, and brought back the refusal of the French officer to withdraw. [16]
FORT DUQUESNE (1754)—Dinwiddie now realized that the French held the Allegheny, and that if they were to be shut out of the Ohio valley, something had to be done at once. He therefore sent a party of backwoodsmen to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio (where Pittsburg now is). While they were at work, the French came down the Allegheny, captured the half-built fort, and in place of it erected a larger one which they named Duquesne (doo-kan').
GREAT MEADOWS.—Meantime Washington had been sent with some soldiers to Wills Creek in western Maryland. When he heard of the capture of the fort, he started westward, cutting a road for wagons and cannon as he went, and camped for a time at Great Meadows, in southwestern Pennsylvania. There, one night, he received word from Half King, a friendly Indian encamped with his band six miles away, that a French force was hidden near at hand. Washington with some forty men set off at once for the Indian camp, and reached it at daylight. A plan of attack was agreed on, and the march begun. On Washington's approach, the French flew to arms, and a sharp fight ensued in which the French commander Jumonville [17] and nine of his men were killed.
FORT NECESSITY.—At Great Meadows Washington now threw up an intrenchment called Fort Necessity. Some more men having reached him, he left a few at the fort and went on westward again. But he had not gone far when word came that the French were coming to avenge the death of Jumonville. Washington therefore fell back to the fort, where he was attacked and on July 4, 1754, was forced to surrender, but was allowed to return to Virginia with his men.
All previous wars between France and England had begun in the Old World, but now a great struggle had begun in the New.