George Washington's military experience began just prior to the French and Indian War when the governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie commissioned him as a major in the Virginia militia. Following this, Washington was sent in the same year as an envoy of the British Crown to French colonial authorities and Native Americans as far north as present-day Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1754 he led another expedition to the area to assist in the construction of a fort at present-day Pittsburgh. Before reaching that point, Washington and some of his men, along with British-allied Mingo led by Tanacharison, ambushed a French scouting party. The scouting party's commander was killed, although the exact circumstances of his death were disputed. This peacetime act of aggression is seen as one of the inciting incidents of the Seven Years' War. The French responded by attacking fortifications Washington erected following the ambush, forcing his surrender. Released on parole, Washington and his troops returned to Virginia.
In 1755, Washington participated as a volunteer aide in the ill-fated Braddock Expedition led by Major-general Edward Braddock, where he distinguished himself in the retreat following the Battle of the Monongahela. Washington served from 1755 until 1758 as colonel of the Virginia Regiment, directing the provincial defenses against French and Native Americans raids and building the regiment into one of the best-trained provincial regiments in the Thirteen Colonies. He led the regiment as part of the 1758 Forbes Expedition of Brigadier-general John Forbes that successfully drove the French from Fort Duquesne, during which he and some of his companies were involved in a friendly fire incident. Unable to get a commission in the British Army, Washington then resigned from his commissions, married, and took up the life of a Virginia plantation owner.
Washington gained valuable military skills during the war, acquiring tactical, strategic, and logistical military experience. He also acquired important political skills in his dealings with British military officers and colonial officials. Washington's military exploits, although they included some notable failures, made his military reputation in the colonies such that he became a natural selection as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. His successes in military and political spheres during that conflict led to his election as the first President of the United States in 1789.
Background
Born into a prosperous colonial Virginia family in Bridges Creek near Fredericksburg in , George Washington was schooled locally until the age of 15. His father Augustine's sudden death occurred when Washington was just 11 years old. This eliminated the possibility of schooling in England, and his mother rejected attempts to place him in the Royal Navy.Freeman, pp. 1:1–199 Thanks to the connection by marriage of his half-brother Lawrence to the wealthy Fairfax family, Washington was appointed as the surveyor of Culpeper County in 1749 when he was just 17 years old. Washington's brother had purchased an interest in the Ohio Company, a land acquisition and settlement company whose objective was the settlement of Virginia's frontier areas, including the Ohio Country, territory north and west of the Ohio River.Chernow, ch. 1 Its investors also included the governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington as a major in the Virginia militia in February 1753.Anderson, p. 30Freeman, p. 1:268
Emissary
The Ohio Country was inhabited by several Native American peoples that were nominally under the political control of the Haudenosaunee based in what is now northwestern New York.Anderson, p. 16 The area was also the subject of several conflicting claims by British and French colonies. The British colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania both claimed the area, and traders from Pennsylvania had been trading with local Native Americans at least since the early 1740s.Anderson, pp. 17,25 In 1752, representatives of the Ohio Company reached an agreement with local Native American leaders allowing the construction of a fort and a tiny settlement at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers (present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), and for the establishment of some settlements south of the Ohio River.Anderson, p. 28 The French were alarmed by these developments, and in 1753 began the construction of a series of fortifications in the uppermost headwaters of the Ohio River (near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania), intending to extend the line of forts downriver and deny British traders and settlers access to the territory.O'Meara, pp. 18–20 When news of this reached Virginia, Governor Dinwiddie sought advice from the British government in London. He received orders to send a messenger to the French, reiterating British claims and demanding that they stop construction of their forts and quit the territory.Anderson, p. 37
Governor Dinwiddie chose Major Washington, then 21 years old, for the trek into the Ohio Country to assess the French military situation, and to deliver the British demands.O'Meara, p. 3 He was a good choice despite his youth because he was familiar with the frontier from survey work, had good health, and both government and Ohio Company leaders trusted Washington. Although he had no frontier warfare experience, neither did most other Virginians.Chernow, pp. 56-57 Washington departed from Williamsburg at the end of October 1753. In Fredericksburg, he picked up Jacob Van Braam, a family friend who spoke French, before heading into the Virginia highlands. There he was joined by Christopher Gist, an Ohio Company agent who was familiar with the territory, and a few backwoodsmen to assist with expedition logistics.Anderson, p. 43 When the expedition arrived at the site of the proposed fort, Washington noted that the site was well chosen, having "the entire Command of the Monongahela".
The expedition then proceeded on to Logstown, a large Indian settlement a short way down the Ohio River. After parleying with the settlement's inhabitants, the Mingo "Half King" Tanacharison and three of his men agreed to accompany the British expedition to meet with the French. Washington also learned that many of the Ohio tribes were as unhappy about the British plans for settling the area as they were about the French plans to fortify it. Leaving Logstown on November 30,Anderson, p. 44 they arrived at Fort Machault on December 4. The commander there, Captain Philippe-Thomas de Joncaire, directed Washington to his superior officer, stationed at Fort LeBoeuf, further north.O'Meara, pp. 3–4 While dining with Joncaire, Washington learned of French intentions to "take possession of the Ohio".O'Meara, p. 5
Washington's party reached Fort LeBoeuf on December 11, in the middle of a raging snowstorm. The French commander, Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, received them with hospitality; however, in response to Dinwiddie's demands, he pointed out that the letter was more properly addressed to his superior, the governor of New France Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville.Anderson, p. 45 The letter Legardeur drafted in response to Dinwiddie's was clear and to the point: "as to the summons you send me to retire, I do not think myself obliged to obey it." Washington took careful notes of the military arrangements at both forts before departing on December 16. He was somewhat concerned by the fact that Tanacharison and his men remained behind for further discussions with the French; he wrote, "I saw that every stratagem which the most fruitful brain could invent, was practiced to win Half King to their interest".O'Meara, pp. 33–34 He returned to Williamsburg after a month of difficult travel. Dinwiddie had Washington's account of the expedition widely distributed to emphasize the French threat. It was printed on both sides of the Atlantic, giving Washington an international reputation.O'Meara, p. 45
Jumonville and Fort Necessity
While Washington was returning from this expedition, Dinwiddie sent men from the Ohio Company (who were also commissioned into the provincial militia) under William Trent to begin construction of the company's fort. In February, with Tanacharison's blessing, Trent and his men began construction of the fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.O'Meara, p. 41 Legardeur's successor at Venango, Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur, led a force of about 500 Canadians and Native Americans (rumors reaching Trent's men put its size at 1,000) to dislodge them. On April 16, they arrived at the forks; the next day, Trent's force of 36 men, led by Ensign Edward Ward in Trent's absence, agreed to leave the site,O'Meara, pp. 50–51 over the vociferous objections of Tanacharison. The French then began construction of Fort Duquesne.Anderson, p. 49
Washington, upon his return to Williamsburg, was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the newly created Virginia Regiment, and ordered by Dinwiddie to raise a force to assist in the completion of Trent's fort.Lengel, p. 31 Dinwiddie's orders were to "act on the [defensive], but in Case any Attempts are made to obstruct the Works or interrupt our [settlements] by any Persons whatsoever, You are to restrain all such Offenders, & in Case of resistance to make Prisoners of or kill and destroy them."Anderson, p. 51 Historian Fred Anderson describes Dinwiddie's instructions, which were issued without the knowledge or direction of the British government, as "an invitation to start a war." Washington was ordered to gather up as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way. By the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had recruited fewer than 160 men.Anderson, p. 50 Moving quickly and without artillery, his force marched north and west, picking up additional militia companies along the way. On April 19, outside Winchester, Virginia, Washington received word that a large French force was descending the Allegheny. On reaching Wills Creek he met part of Trent's company, who, in addition to confirming the arrival of the French, brought a supportive message from Tanacharison.Lengel, p. 32 To keep Tanacharison's support, Washington decided to advance rather than turning back. However, road-building went slowly, and by the end of May Washington's company had reached a place known as the Great Meadows (now in Fayette County, Pennsylvania), about south of the forks. There he began construction of a small fort and awaited further news or instructions.Lengel, p. 33
On May 23, Contrecœur, now in command at Fort Duquesne, sent Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville with 35 Canadiens to see if Washington had entered French territory, and with a summons to order Washington's troops out; this summons was similar in nature to the one Washington had delivered to them in 1753.Lengel, p. 34 On May 27, Washington was told by Christopher Gist that a French party numbering about 50 was in the area. In response, Washington sent 75 men with Gist to find them.Lengel, p. 35 That evening, Washington received a message from Tanacharison, informing him that he had found the Canadien camp and that the two of them should meet. Although he had just sent another group in pursuit of the French, Washington went with a detachment of 40 men to meet with Tanacharison. The Mingo leader had with him 12 warriors, two of whom were boys. After discussing the matter, the two leaders agreed to attack the Canadiens.Lengel, p. 37