George Washington’s Journey to Fort LeBoeuf

I wrote this paper over fifty years ago. It was studying this piece of local history that awaken in me my life long love of studying history. I grew up in Venango County in Western Pennsylvania and knew many of the places that were visited by Washington on his mission. I went to high school in Franklin where French Creek joins the Allegheny River and were Washington met the French for the first time. 

The opening of the year 1753 saw an increasing tension between the French and British colonies in North America. When word reached the English colonies that the French had advanced into the Ohio River valley it was decided that some action must be taken. Virginia, who was anxious to stake out her claim to this area and to protect the interests of the Ohio Company, which was developing the fur trade in the Ohio valley, was the first colony to act. Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, thus acted with all possible speed when he received the information that the French were actually constructing forts in the valley. He chose to carry his message of warning a young man who was an Adjutant General of the Virginia Militia with the rank of Major. Major George Washington was only twenty-one years old when he received the Governor’s orders and commission to carry a letter to the French in the Ohio valley.

Major Washington left the same day, October 31, 1753, that he received the commission and traveled to Fredericksburg. Arriving there on November first he engaged as an Indian interpreter, a Hollander by the name of Mr. Jacob Vanbraan. Travelling on they arrived at Wills-Creek (Cumberland, Maryland) on the 14^th of November. Here Washington hired a Mr. Gist to act as guide, Barnaby Currin and John Mac quire as servants, Henry Steward and Willian Jenkins as Indian traders, and John Davidson as interpreter for the French.

Major Washington and his party secured their supplies and horses and started out in very bad weather for the Ohio Valley and the French. The bad rains and snow delayed them and it was not until November 22^nd that they arrived at Mr. Frazier’s. Mr. Frazier was an Indian trader who as early as 1745 had a post at the mouth of French Creek on the Allegheny River (Franklin, Pennsylvania). He had been forced out of it by the arrival of the French when the advanced down the river in the spring of 1753. He now had a post at the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monongahela River. They found the river to high to cross without swimming the horses. So they got the loan of a canoe to take their baggage down the Monongahela. Currin and Steward went with the canoe and were to meet Washington at the Forks of the Ohio and there cross the Alleghany (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

Washington arrived early at the Forks and took the opportunity to survey the point. He decided that this would be the best place to build a fort. A fort located in the point of land between the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers where they joined to form the Ohio River would have command of all three rivers. While near the forks Washington visited Shingiss, King of the Delawares and invited him to a Council at the Loggs-town. Washington visited the site where the Ohio Company proposed to build a fort and expressed the opinion that it would be much better to build it as the forks. When they left for Loggs-town Shingiss traveled with them. Shingiss was at this time friendly with the English but later he was to go over to the French.

On November 25^th the Half King arrived at Loggs-town. Half King Tanacharlson was an Oneida Chieftain sent by the Iroquois in 1747 to rule the Delawares in the Ohio Valley. He had just returned from visiting the French and had much information for Washington.

The Half King reported that the shortest road to LeBoeuf was closed by the bad weather. They would have to go way of Venango (Franklin Pennsylvania). When questioned as to how he had been received by the French he reported that he had been received in a very stern way by the French Commander. He reported that the French had built two forts: one on Lake Erie, Fort Presque Isle (Erie, Pennsylvania) and one on French Creek, Fort LeBoeuf (LeBoeuf, Pennsylvania). He reported that the two forts were 15miles apart and were connected by a large wagon road. The fort on the lake was the larger of the two.

On November 26^th Washington spoke in the Council in the Log House. He acquainted them with the purpose of his mission and the desire of the English to guard them against the French. He asked them for guides and provisions for the remainder of his trip. The next day the Council decided to send three Chiefs and one of their best hunters with them. The Chiefs were Tanacharison, Jeskakake and White Thunder. The hunter was Guissita.

With the Indians as guides and for protection Major Washington and his men set out for Venango on the morning of November 31^st. The journey was hampered by bad weather and the flooded condition of the land. However, they made fairly good time and arrived at Venango on the evening of December 4^th. They were well received by the French. As Washington explains Venango in his journal of the trip the French camp was located around the house of John Frazier. The French had yet to erect Fort Machault (the first of four forts eventually erected here) at Venango. At Venango they met three Captains who held various positions in the French Army. As to who was Commander there seems to be some disagreement. One reference says that a Captain Jancaire was commander of the French troops; yet another source says that the famous French-Indian leader Jean Couer commanded at Venango in 1753. Jean Couer was famous in the French frontier and had become a member of the Indian Nations and did much to win their support for the French against the English. He and Washington were to meet again when Couer played an important role in defeating the English under the English General Braddock when they attempted to dislodge the French from their fort at the forks forming the Ohio River (Pittsburgh). Washington served under Braddock in this unsuccessful campaign.

The French refused to accept Washington’s letter and commission saying that he should go on to the next fort where there was a General Officer. Washington ate supper with them and enjoyed their company very much. After supper they talked and French told him of their plans to take all of the Ohio Valley from the English. They said that the English would never be able to act fast enough to stop them. They said their claims were based on the explorations of a man named LaSalle.

The day of December 5^th was spent trying to get the Delawares encamped there to give the French back their Wampum treaty belt and end friendly relations with the French. These Indians refused to do this and ignored the arguments of the Half King. On December 6^th the French, English and Indians set in Council together. The Half King in the Council and returned the French speck belt to the Commander. He refused it desiring the Half King to take it to the General Officer at Fort LeBoeuf.

Finally on December 7^th the Indians were ready to move on to Fort LeBoeuf. Monsieur LaForce, Commissary of French Stores and three soldiers accompanied Washington to Fort LeBoeuf. The Indians were very reluctant to leave since the French has promised them many things if they would stay behind. However, Washington finally prevailed and they left about eleven o’clock in the morning. They traveled about five miles and camped on Sugar Creek. Here they crossed the creek. The next day they traveled about twenty-five miles and camped at the old Indian town of Cussevago (Meadville). On Sunday the ninth they again traveled abut twenty –vie miles and lost their first horse. It was a very tired party that came up to Fort LeBoeuf on the evening of December 11^th.

On the morning of the twelfth Washington met the Commander and offered his letter and commission to him. The commander refused them and asked him to wait until the Captain of the fort on the lake should arrive. Washington learned that the French General Officer in charge of the Ohio Valley was the Knight of the Order of St. Louis, Legardeur de St. Pierre. About two in the afternoon the Captain from Fort Presque Isle (Erie Pa.) arrived and the letter was accepted and the French went to have it translated. They soon invited Washington and his interpreter to translate it and verify their translation.

On the fourteenth the French held a council of war and wrote a reply to the Governor’s letter. Washington was anxious to leave because he feared that the French would influence the Indians too much and win them away from him. He found the horses so weak that he sent them on ahead to Venango and if possible they were to go on to the forks of the Ohio. Washington had the loan of several canoes and planned to use them to travel down French Creek. The French were plotting constantly to win over the Indians. Washington wanted to leave on the fifteenth but the Indians refused. The French were putting constant pressure on them to stay and leave the English go back alone. Washington finally discovered that the French had promised the Indians guns if they would stay on until the morning of the sixteenth. Washington was forced to agree to this but he made them promise to let the Indians leave on the morning of the sixteenth. On the morning of the sixteenth the French sought to delay the Indians with liquor but Washington prevailed on Half King and the finally set out. The French loaded the canoes with liquor and provisions for the journey. As Washington wrote in his journal, “I can’t say that ever in life I surrer’d so much anxiety as I did in the affair; I saw that every stratagem which the fruitful brain could invent was practiced to win the Half King to their interest and that leaving him here was giving them the opportunity they aimed at…”

The journey down French Creek to Venango was very bad and caused them much trouble. Several times they had to get out into the icy waters and drag their canoes over shoals. They finally reached Venango on the twenty-second of December.

There they found their horses in very poor condition. Washington and the others gave up their mounts for baggage and carried packs on their backs. As soon as they started for the forks of the Ohio they discovered that they were too weak to make any kind of speed and the roads were getting worse. The deep snow and constant freezing caused them to be nearly impassable. Finally on the twenty-sixth Washington decided to take a pack, his rifle and papers and with John Gist set out through the woods for the forks. It was on this part of the journey that Washington was supposedly attacked by Indians supporting the French. The Indians fired on Washington and Gist and missed both. Gist managed to capture one of them and later that night they let him go. They traveled night and all the next day in order to escape from them.

When they reached the river that they needed to cross and which they had expected to find frozen they found it was open and full of floating pieces of ice. They were forced to spend a whole day building a raft to cross on. The next day they set out to cross the river. They were soon swept away by the current and found it impossible to control the raft. Washington in attempting to stop its head-long rush down the river was thrown from the raft and saved only when he managed to grab a log as the raft went by.  They were forced to land on an island where they spent the night. Gist had his fingers and toes frozen by the extremely low temperatures. The next morning they managed to cross on the ice and managed to reach Mr. Frazier’s post. The next day they traveled on to Mr. Gist’s place and there Washington secured fresh horses and equipment for the rest of the journey. Major Washington arrived in Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia on the sixteenth of January. There he reported to Governor Dinwiddie all he had seen and heard and delivered the letter from the French Commander.

In the letter Governor Dinwiddie sent to the French we find this statement, “However, sir, in obedience to my instructions it becomes my duty to require your peaceable departure: and that you forgeare prosecuting a purpose so interruptive of the harmony and good understanding which His Majesty is desirous to continue and cultivate with the most Christian King.” In reply to this we find in the French letter the following, “As to the summons you sent me to retire. I do not think myself obliged to obey it. Whatever may be your instructions, mine bring me here by my General’s orders and I entreat you, sir, to be assured that I shall attempt to follow them with all the exactness and determination which can be expected from a good officer.”

Thus we see that even before Washington went on his mission both sides were ready to use force to gain the upper hand in the Ohio valley. Washington’s mission set the stage for what was to be called the French and Indian War in North America and was part of the world wide Seven Years War from 1754 until 1763. This mission and the experiences Washington had served him in good stead when he was called to serve under the British commander who was charged with capturing the French fort at the forks of the Ohio. The English never succeeded in capturing Fort Duquesne but events to the north in Canada forced the French to retreat north burning their forts as they went. This mission at the age of twenty-one was the beginning of the Washington’s life in military and political affairs.