5. This expedition was followed by vigorous movements of the French. They built a fort called Le Bœuf, on French Creek, and another named Venango, on the Alleghany. About the same time, the country south of the Ohio was again explored by Gist and a party of armed surveyors.
6. The Indians were greatly alarmed at the prospect. They rather favored the English cause, but their allegiance was uncertain. In the spring of 1753, the Miami tribes, under the leadership of the Half-King, met Benjamin Franklin at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and made a treaty with the English.
Washington sent to St. Pierre.
7. Before proceeding to actual war, Governor Dinwiddie determined to try a final remonstrance with the French. A paper was drawn up setting forth the nature of the English claim to the valley of the Ohio, and warning the authorities of France against further intrusion. A young surveyor, named George Washington, was called upon to carry this paper from Williamsburg, Virginia, to General St. Pierre at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie.
8. On the last day of October, 1753, Washington set out on his journey. He was attended by four comrades besides an interpreter and Christopher Gist, the guide. At Logstown, Washington held a council with the Indians, and then pressed on to Fort Le Bœuf. Here the conference was held with St. Pierre. Washington was received with courtesy, but the general of the French was acting, he said, under military instructions, and would eject every Englishman from the valley of the Ohio.
Washington's Route to Ft. le Bœuf.
9. Washington soon took leave of the French, and returned to Venango. Then, with Gist as his sole companion, he left the river and struck into the woods. Clad in the robe of an Indian; sleeping with frozen clothes on a bed of pine-brush; guided at night by the North Star; fired at by a prowling savage from his covert; lodging on an island in the Alleghany until the river was frozen over; plunging again into the forest, the young ambassador came back without wound or scar to the capital of Virginia. The answer of St. Pierre was laid before the governor, and the first public service of Washington was ended.
English post on the Ohio.
10. In the mean time the Ohio Company had sent thirty-three men, under command of Trent, to erect a fort at the source of the Ohio. In March, 1754, they built the first rude block-house on the site of Pittsburgh. After all the threats of the French, the English had beaten them in seizing the key to the Ohio valley.