Show George Washington r Westerner t e in e r M a I I 1 k r ii I tv 9 Jy vi r t I Ir v m 1 41 t 4 03 a Colonial Militia Officer nt c M t tI I AL A L a i. i Washington at Defeat Braddock j v s 1 ash U Washington R Raising Vie British Fl Flag F Fort t Duquesne Duquesne 1758 MIA A 0 r w CM carM I t By Dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON Map by John C C. C Fitzpatrick author of George Washington Colonial Traveler courtesy the Dobbs M company publishers IU N you ou sow saw the title of ot this article did you OU Ond nd yourself sayIng say say- Ing InrI George Washington a Westerner West erner Why I thought bo ho walborn was wal born bora In Virginia lived most of or his hla life Ufe there slid and died there And Virginia certainly Is II an I Eastern L state hate Youre You're quite right for tor he be waland was wal wasand wasand and It Is II Hut But the point Is band and and Its It's one which few tew Americans perhaps thAt realize that some lome of ot the most mOlt Important events event In Washington's career took place In the West Vest that he was 81 one of the most Western minded men of ot his Ilia day and that he retained his hll Interest In the West to the end o of bis hll life Washington's tint first In the experience West came when be was wu sixteen years rear old In 1743 1718 Lord Fairfax engaged the young Virginian 16 to aid George W. W Fairfax his hll agent In making surIs lurr sur lur r Is In the Shenandoah Valley Valle beyond belond the mUD o JUdie mountain mountains Till This trip trio lasted lilted a month and brought him for tor the tho first firt time Into contact with the red nd men who were to resist so 0 a savagely the westward push of the white men Five years later Washington set let out upon another an as other journey farther west welt which was more snore fraught with danger and Touch much more Important t historically The Ohio company formed In la 8 by bl a London merchant and several leveral prominent t men In ID Virginia had bad obtained a grant arrant of ot acres acrE on the Ohio river But Hut when the company compan y attempted to make good rood Its claim to these lands landa the Fren French ht who were determined to dominate the Interior of ot North America broke up the their trading posts and carried their traders trader away t to Canada as prisoners Moreover Marquis Du tho the new governor general of Canada or dered forts tort built In the Ohio country to hold I Ifor It t for the French Hy 1753 1713 they had hall establishes established posts fIOt at Presque Isle Ule the Iho JIle present ent Erie I Pa Ill an andI and andIe I L I-e I e Ul ut near Water Waterford ford pa ls and an outpost at st tat at t the junction of ot French creek creel and the Allegheny Late In the year lar Governor of VIr- VIr sent Washington to warn arn the tile French rench o oil oft of or the lands landl claimed by the th English Washing ton en engaged raced Gist OIt who had surveyed the tho Ohio company's lands In 1750 nw ss II his hi guide guid and four tour others other as II servitors Later Latu they were joined by a party of friendly Indians Indian who accompanied ac to companied them to Venango The expedition made blade J In Iq the dead of ot winter was a perilous as well ell ss III a futile one Both Roth th the French commanders commander at Venango and I Le were firm la lIa their refusal to quit their post poet until ordered to do so IU by the governor of ot Oan Can ff ada So SoV V Washington hn toa started back to report t to t DinwiddIe During this trip Washington visited lIlted for tor th the first time the Forks Forkl of ot the Ohio and recorded record t ed his In-his journal I spent some lome time Ume la in viewIng view t fag Ing the River niven and the Land In the Fork which t. 1 think thick extremely well situated for tor a Fort Washington could not b hive hate fe realized st It tb the time how important to bis hll future career this spot was to be ber For within a year ear Ct captain Trent with a party of backwoodsmen was build Sag Ing tn a tort fort at It this extremely well situated place sod loll Washington as II a lieutenant colonel colonel o of Virginia ta militia was marching with a sma small force torce of raw ra troops under orders orden from Governor Governo J ln Iddle f garrison It When lyben be he reached Wills Will Creek sow jow Cumberland Met lid be he learned that the French had swooped down driven drive Trents Trent's men aWl away and were ere themselves building Fort Duquesne Duquene t there here ere Washington pushed J on and I a party of ot French Frenc under came out ont from frow Duquesne t to to S repel tor force e with lib force Oa On May 28 so 1754 1751 I InS In whet hat Is la now Fayette count county Pennsylvania the t two wo tiny forces met the volleys they exchanged opened the war that was wal to be he waged until 1701 1103 on n the battle baUle fields of Europe the plains of In In- In la and end around the islands Inlands of ot the sea lea as wells welli well a 81 i s In the woods wooda of the New World Thus Thua George Washington's first fight on the frontier made him an international figure For or was killed In the encounter assas the French declared and after that the he great conflict was Inevitable Washington fell ell back bark to the treat Great Meadows where he built builta a I crude breastwork which he named Fort Nece Ity dry There he was attacked by Coulon de VII VII- h lers lIers ers Jumonville's brother and all day long loni his hll t weary half ed loa soaked ked to the tho skin akin by IT the constant rain and depleted b by the mus- mus letry ketry fire Oro from the heights which commanded t hem fought ought off orr their assailants That night Washington was forced to capitulate A year later Inter Washington again rode West this time as 88 an aide aille to Gen Oen I Edward dward e fine British b army which was certain to capture Fort Duquesne from the French Then came the fat Fatal l July 0 9 on the Monongahela and a few tew days day later Washington was writing to his hla brother Augustine fly Ky the all powerful dispensations e of ot Providence I have hare been protected beyond beloud human probability and sod expectation for tor I had d tour four bullets through my ml coat and two horses horse g shot under r me yet lt escaped unhurt although death was leveling my companions on ever every y side of ot me nIP The next two years found Washington now a colonel and commander ln In of ot nit nil the in mill mill- III- III In Virginia guarding her frontlet frontier against the Indians Indiana who encouraged by Braddocks Braddock's d defeat de de- e feat teat repeatedly a attacked tacked the tho outlying settle settle- Y 1 4 t t a Mission to the Ohio I reel fOIl ra IrAQ meats ment Most of ot this time was wat spent pent at Fort For t l. l Cumberland and Fort Loudoun Winchester with occasional trips to Williamsburg to Alexandria Alex Ale z andria andrla and Ind to Mount Vernon and Ind longer jou Jour jour- N to Philadelphia New York and Boston Doston Hut But at last in fa the fall faU of 1758 he be set let out to for tor forthe r the West again This time he was In command comman d of or Virginia troops accompanying the expedition of ot Gen Oen John Forbes Forbe against Fort Duquesne e and on November 28 be he wrote to Governor Govern or Fauquier Fort ort Duquesne or toe the ground rather o on n which It stood was U possessed by his majesty majesty's i troops on ta tta InstAnt Victory at last I So the career of or George Georg Washington as a frontier fighter ended 1 In Je January Jan Jan- uary 1760 1100 he married the Widow an J prepared to settle down at st Mount Vernon as II a aVirginia Virginia gentleman tar farmer mer But his hla experience h durin during daring the French and Indian war had bad given give him an In Intimate knowledge of the land across the mountains and he realized realised Its future tutor Importance and the opportunities which It U would ld afford for tor a land speculator simulator In 1 when Governor Dinwiddie issued a proclamation giving acres of ot western r laud land nd to men who had served in the war WashIngton Wash Wash- Ington as a major received l acres on the Ohio although he did not succeed In lq having I it t surveyed and patented until seven seen years rears later Uy By ly the Hoyal noyal Proclamation of 1703 at the close ot of f the French and ond Indian war he received 5 acres cres more In his hla own right and from tram other of of- cers and men who held their claims lightly h he e purchased 2500 acres more In 1770 acting as agent and attorney to locate the he western lands granted to officers of ot the First Firs t Virginia regiment by Governor DinwiddIe Washington himself Journeyed to Fort Pitt t the he former Fort ort Duquesne There he held con con- with George Croghan Indian agent aget and d with the chiefs of or f the Six Nations and then a accompanied ac- ac r companied by Doctor Craik his physician friend and nd three servants started down the Ohio h by l boat hoat ont This expedition which took him down t to o the he mouth of ot the Kanawha river and up that ream tream for tor a considerable distance was fo for tor r pleasure leasure as well as business and his diary Is II full fuU I of f references to the hunting which he enjoyed d In n that region In addition to looking after arter the land Interests s ot of if his Ills brother officers he was waa also inspecting the lands which William Crawford had marked ou out t for tOI or him for tor Lund Washington and for tor his own ow brothers Samuel and John Crawford Wash Washing In ton on was especially concerned with establishing g his hili Is title to these lands One Ono of ot the results of ot this Journey Is le seen In Inan Inn an n advertisement signed by Washington which h appeared In the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Baltimore Balti Balti- 1 more Advertiser for August Au 22 2 1773 and which wide h 1 offered for sale acres of land on th the B Great Kanawha and the Ohio rivers In thi this a advertisement ad Washington states that if It th the e scheme for tor establishing a new v government o othe on a 0 the he Ohio In the manner talked of should ever eve r be effected these must be among the most va valuable val yal I lands Eventually a new government was WI esta there but there but not the one perhaps which li h had 1 In mind Soon after the struggle t 0 o for or liberty began Washington's mind was was occupied occupied oc oc- o e with a greater greuter problem than that of or h his la western lands and It kept his mind occupied t for tor forthe o r the next seven or eight years At the close of ot the Revolution Washington o n owned land In what whet Is la now New Now York Pennsylvania Penney Pennsyl 1 vania vanla Maryland Virginia West Vast Virginia Oh Ohio to and Kentucky far tar west even as as e Besides owning all this land Washington w walso was as is also interested In developing routes of or communication comma nl cation and travel between the East East- and ti the id re West Vest because he be knew that the West Nest could n not Dot of idt t be developed de rapidly without them In 1751 1 he set let out on another journey Journe to ti the 1 West to obtain information of ot the nearest at and d best communication between the Eastern and at id d Western waters This Ibis information he recur secured ed idu idd d by bl traveling on horseback across ten mountain mounta u ranges and covering a distance of OS-l OS miles In n 34 days dars Upon his return be he wrote I 1 am Rm we well U ll pleased with nl my Journey as CIS It has haa been the ti p e means of my obtaining a knowledge e of ot facts facts- facts coming at the temper and disposition of or ti the e Western Inhabitants and making reflections ns thereon ther which otherwise must have been ag II wild d Incoherent or perhaps as foreign from the tra truth th as 81 the Inconsistency of ot the reports which I hi had d received even from those thole to most cre credit seemed due dul generally were One result of ot his bis journey Journe was the founding of ot the Potomac company Incorporated In ITS 1783 by the kiss legislatures of ot both Maryland and Virginia Virgin for constructing a canal to connect the Jam James ea and aud Potomac rivers with the Ohio A Apart part of ot the canal was hat dug but It was never carried J to completion Washington was 88 given gl CO ro shares khares In Inthe Inthe the Potomac company and he he- left these in his bis will to the founding of ot a university to be eats established D In the District of ot Columbia When Washington died he be owned more th than in as inas OOOO acres of ot land valued at nearly half halt ina a million dollars dollar The greater part of ot this w was waa as In Ia the West or at least what was ruse regarded as its the West at that time They Included SO acres in Virginia on the Great Kanawha ha SOa a river on the Ohio river riser on 00 Itou Rough nouh fh lh creek In la Kentucky 3 1 on the Little Utile Mla Miami ml river In Ohio 1110 1119 in Maryland 1000 on the b Mo- Mo lo lost hank beak k river elver In New Nework York ork and last but not lea least st et H In Pennsylvania Not least because becan th these thue eye se sety lU acres Included the Great Crest Meadows where sea a ayoung young frontier tighter fighter had built Fort Necessity ley ty and embarked upon the kiss military career e ten even en though tt it was Will with a defeat that mad bade the tb he name of George Washington forever famous I C 0 Walter N Union |