George 5: Preparing to Fight the French

George Washington's journal of his diplomatic mission to the French in the Winter of 1753-54 was printed and distributed throughout the colonies and in England. By the time he was 22 years old then, George was already famous. The journal warned the British of French intentions in the Ohio Valley and paved the way for the Seven Year's War between the two great empires.

George's mission to the French had also demonstrated two of the characteristics that would make him great: courage and perseverance. He had dealt with difficult frontiersman, scheming French officers, and both friendly and hostile Indians. He had endured physical exhaustion, freezing cold, and heavy rain and snow. He had been almost shot, almost drowned, and almost frozen. But through everything that happened there is no sign that George ever deviated from his course, ever took his eyes off the goal, ever hesitated to take the next step forward, ever considered - even for a second - giving up.

In many ways George was a normal man. In some ways he even fell short of the skills or accomplishments enjoyed by other Founding Fathers. But what he demonstrated on this diplomatic expedition, and what he would show many times in later years was that when it came to courage and perseverance he did not fall short and he was not normal at all, but rather extraordinary. These are the same traits that would later carry him through eight years of revolution and then another eight years as President.

***

[This is one of the best single volume biographies of our greatest President.]

[If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

***

Now that imperial conflict seemed inevitable, Governor Dinwiddie decided to raise an entire regiment and send it into the wilderness to thwart French schemes. George Washington was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He would join the regiment as second-in-command.

The Governor understood that the race in the Spring of 1754 would be to see whether the French or the English would first reach the fork of the Ohio – the point where the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers join to form the Ohio River. George Washington himself – in his Journal – had described this spot as ideal for a fort. When the French moved in the Spring they would undoubtedly find the same spot and reach the same conclusion.

Dinwiddie sent a Captain Trent with one company of soldiers (about 50 to 100 men) to reach the fork first and start building a fort. George set out with two more companies (about 150 men) on April 2, planning to join Captain Trent and take command of the new fort. Along the way George and his men would prepare a road for the regimental commander, Colonel Joshua Fry, who would follow along with an additional three companies and some artillery.

At a place called Will's Creek, far from the fork, George was surprised to find Captain Trent, and horrified five days later when Trent's men came straggling in. They reported that a force of 1000 French soldiers had arrived at the fork to seize their half-finished fort and drive them away. Trent's men had seen enough and headed for home. George heard rumors that more French were on the way with 600 Indians.

Far from home, with evidence that he would be outnumbered more than 10 to 1, George started looking around for a place to build his own fort.

***

Note:
My biographical study of George Washington was intended for my own education but I thought I would also like to share what I have learned here on my blog. The main sources of information I used were:

First, "George Washington: A Biography" by Washington Irving. I like this one because it was written by one of our early American literary masters and because it was written so long ago that Irving often mentions talking with people who had actually seen George.

Second, "Washington: An abridgement in one volume By Richard Harwell of the seven-volume George Washington" By Douglas Southall Freeman. I wanted the complete seven volume set but that is not yet available on Kindle. Too bad. Still, this abridgement is a great work, packed with information.

Third, "Washington: A Life" By Ron Chernow. This is an excellent modern biography that came out in 2010, helping me to get some of the more recent research missing from the older biographies.

***

Copyright © 2018 by Joseph Wayne Gadway