Show a J estev nev yz in 1 11 1 t k ZIP j no A ja 4 11 XV ae lq 14 4 n a N W 7 az L af pf V 4 aa a officer FROM WA t A I 1 AV va W we alt K 06 gt Braddock 5 Q WWI flag Fort Duquesne by ELMO SCOTT WATSON map by john C fitzpatrick author of george washington colonial traveler courtesy the th bobbs merrill company publishers HEN you saw raw the title of this I 1 article did you find yo yourself saying george washington a westerner euer why I 1 thought he was born in virginia lived most ot of his life there and died there and virginia certainly Is an eastern state youre quite right tor for he was and it Is but the point Is and its one which few americans perhaps realize that some of the most important events in career took place in the west that he was one of the most western minded men of his day and that he retained his interest in the west to the end of his life first experience in the west came wh when en he was sixteen years old in lord fairfax engaged the young virginian to aid george AV fairfax his agent in making surveys in the shenandoah valley beyond the blue ridge mountains this trip lasted a month and brought him for the first time into contact with the red men who were to resist so savagely the westward push of the like white men five years later washington set out upon another journey farther west which was more fraught with danger and much more important historically the ohio company formed in 1718 1148 by a london merchant and several prominent men in virginia had obtained a grant of acres on the ohio river but when the company attempted to make good its claim to these lands the french who were determined to dominate the interior of north america broke up their trading posts and carried their traders away to canada as prisoners moreover marquis duquesne the new governor general of canada ordered forts built in the ohio country to hold it for the french by 27 1753 2753 53 they had established posts at a t presque isle the present erie pa and le boeuf near waterford pa and an outpost at venango at the junction of F reach french creek and the allegheny late la in the year governor dinwiddle DinwId Jle of 0 virginia sent washington to warn the french off of the lands claimed by the english washington engaged christopher galst who had surveyed the ohio companas comp anys lands in 1750 as his guide and four others as servitors later they were joined by a party ot of friendly indians who accompanied compa comp nied them to Veri venango Vc ango the expedition made in ID the dead of winter was a perilous as well as a futile one both the french commanders at venango and le boest were irm firm in their refusal to quit their posts until ordered to do so BO by the governor of canada so washington washingto started back to report to during this trip washington ton visited for the first aluie the forks of 0 th the e ohio and recorded in his bis journal 1 I spent some som e time in viewing the rivers and the land in the fork which I 1 think extremely well situated tor for a fort washington could not dot have realized at the time how important to his future career this spot was to be for within a year captain trent with a party of backwoodsmen backwoodsman backwoods men was building a fort at this extremely well situated place and W washington ashington as a lieutenant colonel of virginia militia was marching with a small force of raw troops under orders from governor dinwiddle to garrison it when he readied reached wills creek now cumberland md he learned that the french had swooped down driven trents arents men away and were themselves building fort duquesne there washington pushed on and R party of french under came out from duquesne to repel force with force on may 28 in what Is 13 now fayette county pennsylvania the two tiny forces met the volleys exchanged opened the war that was to be waged until on the battle fields of europe I 1 the be plains of india and around the islands of the sea as well as lo in the woods of the new world thus george first fight on tile the frontier made him an international figure vor for jumonville was killed in the encounter assassinated sina ted the french declared and after that the great conflict was inevitable washington fell back to the great meadows where he be built a crude breastwork which he named fort necessity there he was attacked by coulon de VII ailers llers Jumon vIlles brother and all day long his troops weary half starved soaked to the skin by the constant rain and depleted by the musketry fire from the heights which commanded them fought oft off their assailants that night washington was waa forced to capitulate A year later washington again rode west this time as an aide to gen edward braddocks braddicks Brad docks fine british army which was certain to capture fort duquesne from the french then came the fatal july 9 on the monongahela and a few days later washington was writing to hla his brother augustine by the all powerful dispensations of providence I 1 have been protected beyond human probability and expectation for I 1 had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt although death was levell leveling ng my companions on every side of me the next two years found washington now a colonel and commander ln in calef of all the mill in virginia guarding her frontier against the indians who encouraged by braddocks braddicks Brad docks defeat repeatedly attacked the outlying settle 1 W s mission to the ohio wilmo ments most host of this time was spent at fort cumberland and fort loudoun winchester with occasional trips to williamsburg to alexandria and to mount vernon and longer journeys to philadelphia new york and boston but at last in the fall of 1758 lie he set out for the west again this time he was in command of vir virginia enla troops accompanying the expedition of gen john forbes against fort duquesne and on november 28 he be wrote to governor fauquier baui tiler fort duquesne or the ground rather on which it stood was possessed by his maje troops on the octh instant victory at bastl so the career of george washington as a frontier fighter ended in january 1769 he married the widow custis and prepared to settle down at mount vernon as a virginia gentleman farmer but ills his experience during the french and indian war had given him an intimate knowledge of the land across the mountains and he realized fully its future importance and the opportunities which it would afford for a laud land speculator la in 1754 when governor dinwiddle issued a proclamation giving acres of western land to men who had served in the war washington as a major received acres on the ohio HI although though hp he lid did not succeed in having it surveyed and patented until seven years later by the royal proclamation of at the close of the french and indian war he received acres more in his own right and from other officers and men who held their claims lightly he purchased 2500 acres more in 1770 acting as ag agent and attorney to locate the western lands granted to officers of the F first arst virginia regiment by governor dinwiddle washington himself journeyed to fort pitt the former fort duquesne there he be held conferences feren ces with george Cro croggin Crogh ghin nn indian agent and with the chiefs of the six nations and then accompanied compa compan nied led by doctor chalk his friend and three servants started down the ohio by boat boal this expedition which took him down to the mouth of the kanawha river and up that stream for a considerable distance was for pleasure as well as business and his diary Is full of references to the hunting which he enjoyed in that region in addition to looking after the land interests of his brother officers he was also inspecting the lands which william crawford had marked out for him for lund land washington and for his own brothers samuel and john crawford Craw tord washington was especially concerned with establishing his title to these lands one of the results of this journey Is seen in an advertisement signed by washington which appeared in the maryland journal and baltimore advertiser for august 22 1773 and which offered for sale acres of land on the great Ka kanawha and the ohio rivers in this advertisement washington states that it if the scheme for establishing a new government on the ohio in the manner talked of should ever be effected these must be among the most valuable lands eventually a new government was established there but not the one perhaps which washington had in mind soon after the struggle for liberty began mind was occupied with a greater problem than that of his western lands and it kept his mind occupied for the next seven or eight years at the close of the revolution washington owned land in what Is now new york pennsylvania maryland virginia west virginia ohio and kentucky even as far west as louisville besides owning all this land washington was also interested in developing routes of communication and travel between the east and the west because lie knew that the west could not be developed rapidly without them in 1784 he set out on another journey to the west to obtain information of the nearest and best communication between the eastern and western waters this information lie he secured by traveling on horseback across ten mount mountain aln ranges and covering a distance of csc miles in 34 days upon his return he wrote 1 I nm am well pleased with my journey as it has been the means of my obtaining a knowledge of facts coming at the temper and disposition of the and making reflections thereon which otherwise must have been as wild incoherent or perhaps as foreign from the truth as the inconsistency of the reports which I 1 had received even from those to whom roost most credit seemed due generally were one result of ills journey was the founding of the potomac company incorporated in I 1 fiso asa by the legislatures of both maryland and vir virginia enla for constructing a canal to connect the james and potomac rivers alto ito the ohio A part of the canal was du dug but it was never carried to completion washington was given 50 shares in the potomac Io tomac company and lie he left these in his will to the founding of a university to be established in n the district of columbia when washington died lie he owned in more ore than acres of land valued at nearly half a million dollars the greater part of this was in the west or at lea least st what was regarded as the west at that time 4 they included acres in virginia VIrgin la n on tile the great kanawha river on the ohio river on rough creek in kentucky on the little miami river in ohio 1119 in maryland 1000 on the mohawk river in new york and last but not least in pennsylvania not least because these acres included the great ble meadows adois where a young frontier fighter had built fort necessity and embarked upon the military career even though it was alth ith a defeat that made the name of george washington washing ton forever famous I 1 0 western newspaper union |