Show folt N IL ir e 1 as s it 0 y 7 6 S le kw md and w fol fort t fi frederick I 1 ch ct vl ads lc 0 R 94 www IP t aa 4 41 V 5 e ahe reconstructed fort ne bessi r capt george by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OT the least interesting of all the ays celebrations held during this the washington bl centennial year was the dedication last month of a fort in a mountain meadow near uniontown Union town pa as a national shrine to the father of ills country for this little fort consisting only of a log cabin circled by a log stockade was fort necessity where on july 3 17 1754 george washington began the military career which was to place ills his nime name among those or of the great captains of all time and where as the famous voltaire expressed it was fired the cannon shot in tile the woods of america which set all europe ablaze the affair at fort necessity habits origins in the clash between the british and the F rench french for tile the control of the interior of tile the north american continent to make good her claim to the mississippi and ohio valleys and to check the westward expansion of english sett settlement leme n t beyond the french had bad erect erected d 0 a fo fort r t at presque isle now erle erie pa had built fort le on french creek and had also seized the british trading post of venango Vc in 1753 gov robert dinwiddle of virg virginia gania selected george washington then only twenty one years old for the difficult task of demanding that the french cease their encroachments encroach ments upon british soll soil 11 when washing washington ton returned with the information that the french had no intention of gling giving up their forts dinwiddle decided upon more drastic action late in 1753 he sent a party of men under captain trent to build a fort at the forks of the ohio where pittsburgh now stands and to hold it against any attacks which the french might make doth north carolina and the lionie home government had promised aid to the expedition but when no troops had arrived by the last day of march 1751 1754 dinwiddle ordered washington nud and ills his virginians to proceed to the ohio there to help captain trent build forts and tu to defend the possessions of tits his majesty against tile the attempts and hostilities of the lie french meantime trents arents little company of 33 men had commenced it a stockade nt at the forks put but in april a force of french and indians arrived on the scene and made them prisoners they were promptly released and allowed to return home without harm washington coming to their aid met the returning fort builders tit at wills creek near the present city of cumberland aid by this time the french had extended trents arents work and pushed it to a rapid completion culling calling thor their stronghold fort duquesne osne here had been gathered a considerable force of Cariad canadians lans french regulars and indian allies a detachment from which led by coulon de jumonville scouted washing tons advance on may bray 28 at the head of a scouting party washington stumbled upon the small french scouting party the virginians immediately fired upon the french ten were little killed one wounded and 21 taken prisoner among the french dead was Juni jumonville onville the news of this encounter was carried to fort duquesne and its commander immediately sent hent out a force under coulon de villiers a brother of jumonville to attack the english washington withdrew to great meadows where he erected it a fort although the place was vas unfit for defense being surrounded on three sides by higher ground which was heavily forested and afforded good shelter from which the enemy could lire down upon the defenders IL of the fort force was so weakened by lack of ammunition and other supplies that he considered it impracticable to retreat further alence the name of fort necessity as indicative of tits his desperate plight A contemporary account of what followed has been discovered recently in the charleston S C public library in a copy of the south carolina gazette for august 22 1754 17 il which reads as follows williamsburg va july 10 19 ou wednesday last arrived in town col george washington end copt capt james mackay ay who gave the following account to his honor the governor of the late action between them and the french tit at the great meadows in the western part of this thia dominion the third of this instant july about 9 we received intelligence that the french having been reinforced with recruits had left monongahela and were in full march with men to attack us its upon this as our numbers were so unequal our whole force not ex ruins of fort frederick W U t A 4 as u 0 mal I 1 G gen e ri rei oc coci cockling ling we prepared for our defense in the best manner we e could by throwing up a small entrenchment which we had not time to perfect before our sentinel gave notice about 11 of their approach appio ich ly by firing his fits piece which he did tit nt tile the enemy and as we learned afterward killed three of their men on which they began to fire upon us at about GOO yards istance Ps distance tance but without effect we immediately called calle I 1 a all our men to their arms and drew up in order before our trenches tren dies but as we looked upon this distant firo of the enemy only as till an artifice to intimidate or draw draft our fire from us we acted waited alted their near nearer r approach ap before we returned their salute they then advanced in a very irregular manner to another point of woods about CO 60 yards off and from thence made a second discharge upon which finding they had bad no intention of attacking us in the open field wo we retired into our trenches and still reserved our alre as we expected front from their great superiority 0 of f numbers that they would endeavor to force our trenches but finding they did not seem to in tend this either the colonel gave orders to fire which was done with great alacrity and un we continued tills this unequal fight with an enemy sheltered behind tile the trees ourselves without shelter in trenches tren dies full of water in a settled iraln and the enemy gulling galling us on all sides incessantly from the woods till 8 at night when the french called to parley from the great improbability that such a vast ly y superior force and possessed of such an ad vantage would offer a pirley parley first we suspected a deceit rind and therefore refused to consent that they should come among us on which they desired us to send tin an officer to them and engage their parole fur for ills his safety we then sent captain van braam and mr Pei Pey ionee ronce to receive their proposals which they did and about mid night we agreed that each side should retire without molestation they badt back to their tort fort at monongahela till and we to wills creek that we should march away with all the honors of war and with all our stores effects and baggage accordingly tile the next morning with our drums beating and our colors flying we began our in good order with our stores etc in convoy but we were interrupted intel erupted by the arrival ni rival of a reinforcement of indians among the french who were hardly restrained from attacking us and did us considerable damage image by pilfering fering our baggage we then alien proceeded but soon found it necessary to leave our baggage and stores the great scarcity or of our provisions obliged us its to use lisa the utmost expedition and having neither wagons nor horses to transport them the eneny had deprived us of all our creatures by bi killing in the beginning of the our horses cattle and every ever living thing thin they could even to the very dogs tile number of killed on oil our side was 30 and TO 70 wounded among tile the former was lieutenant Mer cler of captain macknyk Mack nys independent company a gentleman of true military worth and whose bravery would not permit him to retire though dangerously wounded till a second shot disabled him and a third put tin an end to ills his life as he was being tarried carried to the surgeon our nien men behaved with singular intrepidity and we determined determine not to ask for quarter but with our bayonets baio nets fixed to sell our lives as dearly as possibly we could from the numbers of the enemy and our situation we could not hope for victory and from the character of those we had to encounter wu we expected no mercy but on that we positively resolved not to submit to the number killed and wounded of the enemy la Is uncertain in the articles of capitulation submitted by de villiers which washington signed was one word which wils to prove to be diplomatic dynamite nar alte 11 it referred to tile the prisoners taken by washington washing ton dans du bleur de jumonville tho the terms of capitulation were traus trans to washington by captain van braam a dutchman who seems to have had only a sketchy linow ledge of the french language langu nse ile he translated that passage as tile the killing or death of Juni jumonville oriville whereas the french interpretation of it was assassination immediately the french raised the hie cry of treachery on the part if 0 tho the young virginian Virgin tati asserting that jumon olle lud had been an ambassador bearing a peaceful ines sage to the english in regard to the dispute over the western estern fl country just as washington hid had been a similar ambassador to tile the posts in 1753 and that by own ma admission in the articles of capitulation jr ta 4 had assassinated this peaceful messenger As for washington lie he wit was most decidedly in bad both at home and in england because ills his unfortunate expedition had apparently put the english in a very ery bad light the result of this flasco fiasco and other indignities which he suffered led him finally to resign his commission and it seemed that the military career of this future grent great leader was ended almost at its b beginning How hocevar no weir evar ills his defeat did result in the resolution tio of the british ministry to force matters to so bu there came about the arrival of gen edward braddock in america to command the combined british and colonial forces which were to 6 eject the french from the ohio valley the result of that expedition the althe bloody business of braddock it has been aptly called Is too well known to be dwelt upon extensively even though it did result in disaster on the banks of the monongahela that july day a year later it was Dr addock who made washington an aide decamp de camp campi on his staff and who gave him his chance to win enduring fame while braddock was winning only defeat and death not far from the reconstructed fort necessity Is the place where braddock was burled buried and a part of the dedication ceremonies held at ing tons little fort last month was the visit of ft a military to the british in tile national capital to braddocks braddicks Brad docks grave there to lay a wreath in honor of the general with whom history lil story has dealt so harshly but the reconstructed fort necessity is not the only post connected with the stirring events in those far oft off times which the american of today can lilt visit near hagerstown Hagers town md is fort frederick which is also in process of reconstruction st through the efforts of the Hagers hagerstown town chamber of commerce and associated with it are the names of both braddock braddo k and washington it was in F frederick reder lek towne tow n md bid that washington first met braddock on may 2 1755 and two days later arrived with him at winchester va whence they set out for fort cumberland wills creek md on the beginning of his disastrous expedition after the defeat of braddock the indian raids along the frontier of pennsylvania maryland and virginia became so alarming that gov GOT ilor atto atlo sharpe of maryland asked the colonial legislature for nh ab appropriation for a strong to be erected in the western part of frederick county which was eventually granted upon receiving the grant according to the correspondence tice of governor sharpe 1 I am preparing to set off for tile the frontier to put this province in the best provision of defense and that tile the hill bill will permit me and construct a strong fort and block houses for the protection of the north mountain while I 1 was w is at fort frederick colonel washington paid me a visit and informed me that he was also raising a strong fort at winchester we already have men near and about fort frederick under colonel john dagworthy we face the bastions and curtains with stone and shall mount on ca each ch bastion a six during the ne next nett tt two years until the inal final capture of fort duquesne fort frederick was a base for military supplies and a refuge for the inhabitants of that region when the red terror swept down upon them during the french and indian war and again in 1703 when tho the conspiracy of threatened to drive tho the hated late english into the sen sea the fort also played a part in tho the revolution and the civil war var and now the people of maryland hope to restore it and preserve it ns as a state shrine va ia by western newspaper union |