George 6: Starting a World War

While still chopping a road through the wilderness, looking for a place to make a desparate stand against the French, George Washington wrote letters to the Governors of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland asking for help. The Governor and Assembly of Pennsylvania wasted time arguing about how any money appropriated should be raised.

Over and over in his military career George would experience frustrations like this with weak colonial governments, weak Governors, and militia units that felt they had the right to go home whenever they felt like it. By the time of the Revolution – still 20 years away - these experiences made George a firm advocate – unlike some other Founding Fathers - of strong central government, a strong executive, and a standing army.

In May George had his men start building a circular pallisade he called Fort Necessity at a place named Great Meadows. George's ally from his diplomatic expedition a few months earlier, the Seneca chief Half-king, sent him a message that the French army was on the move in his direction. His old guide Christopher Gist arrived to tell him that 50 French soldiers had passed his house 15 miles away. On the journey Gist had seen signs of perhaps the same group only five miles from George's fort.

It looks like George was spoiling for a fight at this point and he took 40 men to Half-king's camp. Here there were more signs of French soldiers on the move and George and his ally set out to track them down.

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The young leader and his men, along with the Half-king and his men, moved stealthily through the forest searching for the French. Then..., well, then we don't know for sure what happened. Here is our chance to act like real historians and analyze bits of incompatible evidence. Check out the accounts of what happened at Jumonville Glen and then try to figure out what "really" happened: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumonville_Glen

Based on my studies this is what I think: George was in the lead when he spotted a group of French soldiers. Some of the French ran for their guns. I'm quite sure George would have ordered his men to fire first. According to his report to Dinwiddie he set out that day with the intention of attacking so he was ready to fight. The French returned fire and the gun battle blazed for several minutes. People were killed and wounded on both sides. The Indians seem to have stayed hidden in the woods for a time.

Then Jumonville, the leader of the French, although wounded, made his voice heard and got everyone to stop shooting. He said he had a written message from the French to the English. I believe George would have had this message brought to him so somone who spoke French could translate it for him. At this point the impatient Indians burst from the woods and started killing the wounded French and scalping the dead. The uninjured French soldiers would have rushed forward to surrender to the colonists to escape from the Indians. When George realized what was happening he would have rushed forward to stop the Indians, but not before they killed Jumonville who may have been on a diplomatic mission similar to the one George had gone on a few months before.

This fight on May 28, 1754, was George's first combat action. These were the first shots in the French and Indian War that would last nine years in North America and of the Seven Years War that would spread around the globe.

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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.

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Copyright © 2018 by Joseph Wayne Gadway