CHAPTER VIII.

FIGHTING FOR POSSESSION.

I. Contest for the Ohio Valley.—Although but little of the actual fighting during the French and Indian war took place within West Virginia, yet the State's very existence depended upon the success of that struggle, and it is proper that more than a passing notice should be taken of those stirring events of frontier history. In 1754 the French and Indian war began, and it continued seven years. This was the first war after West Virginia settlements began. In that war the French were allies of the Indians. The trouble grew out of the rival claims of the French and English to Canada and the country between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. English colonists had settled the coast from Maine to Georgia, and as far westward as the base of the mountains. In some places the English settlements were beginning to cross the Alleghanies. The French had settled Canada, and they were building forts and establishing trading posts in the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi with the purpose of holding all the country between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. They based their claim upon discovery. Their traders and missionaries had first explored the region. The English claimed it also, because they wanted it. It was the natural region for the westward expansion of their colonies. In 1753 the French already had a pretty firm hold on Canada, but they were just beginning to occupy the Ohio Valley. The English believed that further encroachment by the French upon the disputed territory should be checked.

2. George Washington's Mission to the French.-Late in the year 1753 the Governor of Virginia learned that the French. were builning forts on the Allegheny River. That region was then claimed by Virginia, and the Governor sent George Washington to carry a letter to the French officer in command. The letter requested the French to withdraw from that country. Washington was at that time twenty-one years old. At the beginning of winter, accompanied by Christopher Gist, an experienced woodsman, he set out upon his long journey through the wilderness. He passed the site of Cumberland, in Maryland, and of Pittsburg, and ascending the Allegheny River, he delivered the letter to the French officer at the fort. The reply was given in writing, and Washington set out upon his return. It was now winter, and the weather was very cold. After many narrow escapes, at one time from drowning, at another from freezing, and again from Indians, Washington reached home.

3. The Virginians Plan an Expedition. The reply of the French officer to the request that he withdraw his forces from the Allegheny River, convinced the Governor of Virginia that strong measures must be adopted or the French would obtain possession of the Ohio Valley. An expedition was sent from Virginia the next spring to build a fort on the site of Pittsburg. Other troops, commanded by Colonel Fry, followed some days later for the purpose of garrisoning the fort. Washington was second in command of the troops under Fry, and in a short time all the responsibilities of the enterprise devolved upon him. Work had scarcely begun on the proposed fort at Pittsburg when one thousand French, with eighteen cannon, came down the Allegheny River, and gave the Virginians one hour in which to pack up and leave. Resistance was useless, and the little company of Virginians set out for home.

4. The Death of Jumonville.-By that time the expedition under Colonel Fry, on the march to Pittsburg, had reached

the western side of the Alleghany Mountains. When the advance party, under Washington, arrived in the vicinity of the Monongahela River it met an advance party of French. A fight took place; the French were defeated, and their leader, Jumonville, was killed. That was the first skirmish of a war which raged seven years in all parts of the world, wherever French and English came in contact. The chief theater of the war in America was Canada and the Ohio Valley. The result was that the French were defeated, their power in America was destroyed, and the foundation was laid for the future greatness of the United States. It was a contest for a continent rather than for the possession of a few valleys. Let us trace the leading events of that important war.

5. The Surrender of Washington.-The conflict opened inauspiciously for the English. After Jumonville was killed Washington learned that a large French force was coming from Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg) to fight him. Not feeling himself strong enough to give battle successfully where he was, he retreated to the Great Meadows, a point in southern Pennsylvania. There he built Fort Necessity. The French, who were assisted by Indians, soon made an attack. The battle was severe, and the French proving too strong, Washington was compelled to surrender. The enemy was generous and permitted him to march his army back to Virginia. This surrender occurred July 4, 1754, just twenty-two years before the Decaration of Independence. France was left for the time in possession of all the country west of the Alleghanies.

6. Startling Proposition by the French.-It was with much surprise, in January, 1755, that the English received a proposal from the French that neither should occupy the country between the Alleghany Mountains and the Ohio River. That territory now comprises the larger part of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The proposal of the French, had it been accepted, would have left it an uninhabited wilderness, separating the French possessions in Ohio from the

English colonies east of the mountains. The French were trying to drive a shrewd bargain. The English were not deceived. Their reply was equally startling to the French. They proposed that France destroy all its forts in the Ohio Valley, as far west as the Wabash River; raze the forts at Niagara and Crown Point; surrender Nova Scotia; and leave as a neutral desert, the country between the Bay of Fundy and the St. Lawrence River. Perhaps no one expected France to accept this proposition; yet, she would have gained by doing so. For in the end she was left without an acre of the disputed territory. Instead of granting what England demanded, France sent three thousand soldiers to America. The English also sent an army under General Braddock.

7. The March to the West.-War had now commenced. The English planned their campaign. They intended to strike the first blow at Fort Duquesne, which was the gateway to the Ohio Valley. From that point General Braddock expected to march to Canada and drive the French from that country. His route lay from Alexandria, Virginia, through Winchester, to Cumberland (then called Will's Creek), and from that point to Pittsburg. He was joined by troops from the colonies, chiefly Virginians and Pennsylvanians. Washington was an officer under Braddock. In June the army left Cumberland, moving slowly over the mountains, repairing or making the road as it advanced.

Braddock's Defeat.-Nothing but success was expected. But hopes were doomed to disappointment. On July 9, when within nine miles of Fort Duquesne, at a place still known as Braddock, the concealed army of French and Indians fired upon the English. The troops under Braddock were on open ground, the enemy behind rocks and trees. The battle was very severe for two hours. The British regular soldiers were seized with panic, and they added confusion to the battle. It is believed that the whole army would have been destroyed

had not Washington and the Virginians stood their ground and enabled the regular soldiers to get away. As it was, the slaughter was appalling. Of the three companies of Virginians (240 men), only thirty remained alive. Washington had two horses killed under him, and four bullets passed through his clothes, but he was not wounded. Braddock had placed all his dependence upon the regular soldiers whom he had brought from England. On different occasions he had cast slurs upon the Virginians and other American troops. But when the battle came, his regulars wasted their ammunition and then ran like sheep. Washington and the Virginians stood their ground and did the only effective fighting done by Braddock's army that day.

9. The Retreat.-The General was mortally wounded. Washington brought off the remnant of the army, leaving 714 men upon the field, dead or dying. The retreat was toward Cumberland. Braddock died upon the road, and was buried at night within a mile of Fort Necessity. Reenforcements under Colonel Dunbar were met coming up; but no effort was made to check the retreat. Military stores to the value of half a million dollars were destroyed. They might have been saved by taking them back to Cumberland. So complete was the destruction that nothing was left for the army to eat, and it became necessary to send to Cumberland for provisions to feed the troops while retreating to that place. Nor did the panic cease when Cumberland was reached; but Colonel Dunbar, who was then in command, fled with his British regulars to Philadelphia.

10. Washington Did Not Lose Heart.-Washington at once became the hope of the Virginians. He remained cool in the midst of excitement and danger. With what troops were left behind, he built or repaired the fort at Cumberland and made the best arrangements possible for resisting the attacks of the French and Indians, if they should pursue. Fortunately, there was no immediate pursuit. In the exultation of victory,