JANUARY 1754
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- Wednesday January 2
- George Washington, returning from a long and dangerous trip
to the French Fort Le Boeuf, at Venango Creek, arrives back at
Christopher Gist's plantation which is near present day Dunbar
PA. His mission had been to deliver a message to the French asking
them to remove their forces from the Ohio Territory. The French
declined the request.
- Sunday January 6
- George Washington, on his way back to Virginia meets with "17
horses loaded with Materials and Stores for a Fort at the Forks
of the Ohio..."(George Washington).
- Monday January 7
- George Washington and his guide Christopher Gist arrive in Wills
Creek (present day Cumberland Maryland) "after as fatiguing
a journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive
bad weather: From the first day of December to the 15th there
was but one Day but it rained or snowed incessantly and throughout
the whole Journey we met with nothing but one continued Series
of cold wet Weather," (George Washington).
- Wednesday, January 16
- George Washington arrives in Williamsburg Virginia to report
back to Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie and to present him with
a letter from the French commander of Fort Le Boeuf which said
that the French refused to leave the Ohio River valley.
- Wednesday, January 30
- The Governor of New France, the Marquis Duquesne writes a letter
to the commander of the French Fort Le Boeuf, thanking him for
the receipt of Dinwiddie's summons for the French to leave the
Ohio country. "...to inform me about the deputation from
the Governor of Virginia, as well as for the care you took to
send me the letter which he wrote to you. His claims on the Belle
Riviere are sheer imagination, for it belongs to us incontestably.
Moreover the King wishes it, and that is enough for us to go forward..."
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- Sunday, February 17
- Captain Trent of the Virginia Regiment begins construction of
Fort Prince George at the Forks of the Ohio.
- Tuesday, February 19
- Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia proclaims 200,000
acres of Ohio territory set aside "For Encouraging Men to
enlist", to protect and help expand Virginia's boundaries.
This land would be divided after the land was firmly in the hands
of the Virginia Colony.
- Friday, February 22
- George Washington turns 22 years old.
- Tuesday, March 5
- Robert Stobo is given a commission as a Captain in the Virginia
Regiment. Pay is to be eight shillings a day as compared to pay
for the private soldiers at eight pence a day. He will head up
one of the companies of fifty men and will be the regimental engineer,
in charge of laying out roads and forts constructed by the Regiment.
- Saturday c. March 16
- Sieur de Contrecoeur sets out from Fort Le Boeuf with an expedition
of 600 men to take the Forks of the Ohio and begin construction
of a fort by which French claims to the area can be secured.
- Sunday March 31
- George Washington is commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the
Virginia Regiment; "with orders to take under my command
the troops which were then in quarters at Alexandria and to march
with it towards Oyo (Ohio) and aid Captain Trente in constructing
fortresses and in defending the possessions of His Majesty against
the enterprises and hostilities of the French." (Washington's
journal).
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- Tuesday April 2
- George Washington leaves Alexandria VA with two companies of
Virginians totaling 132 men. They are bound for the Forks of the
Ohio to defend a fort being constructed there by other members
of the Virginia Regiment under Captain Trent.
- Wednesday April 10
- Lt. Colonel Washington's Virginia Regiment arrives in Winchester
VA, and is joined by new recruits gathered by Captain Adam Stephen.
The regiment thus grows in size to 159 troops.
- Wednesday April 17
- The Regiment arrives at Wills Creek (known as Cumberland Maryland
today). While in Wills Creek, Washington learns that Trent's advance
party of the Regiment, who had been sent to start building the
fort at the Forks of the Ohio, had been surrounded by a 600 man
French force and forced to return to Virginia. The French immediately
destroyed the British Fort and started building their own more
sizable fort, Fort Duquesne.
- Tuesday April 23
- The officers of the Virginia Regiment decide to press on and
build their road to Redstone Creek (on the Monongahela) even though
the French now control the Forks of the Ohio.
- Thursday April 25
- Men from the Virginia Regiment begin building a road from Wills
Creek that hopefully will cross the mountains to Redstone Creek.
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- Wednesday May 1
- George Washington's Regiment sets off from Wills Creek, now
Cumberland, Maryland. Washington and his officers decide to press
on regardless of recent French advances in the area particularly
the beginnings of a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. Thus their
mission remains to construct a road to Redstone Creek (present
day Brownsville, Pennsylvania) and await sizable reinforcements.
Then the army will go by water to take the Fort Duquesne at the
Forks of the Ohio from the French.
- Thursday May 9
- The Regiment reaches the Little Meadows. This is a clear valley
in the mountains of Maryland. "The great difficulty and labour,
that it requires to amend and alter the Roads, prevents our March'g
above 2, 3, 4 Miles a Day, and I fear (tho no diligence shall
be neglected), we shall be detained some considerable time before
it can be made good for the Carriage of the Artillery with Colo.
Fry."(George Washington)
- Saturday May 18
- George Washington sends a letter to Lt. Governor Dinwiddie regarding
the possibility of finding a water route through the mountains
along the Youghiogheny river. "... I have Resolved to go
down the River to this Fall, which is at Turkey foot; to inform
myself concerning the Nature and difficulty attending this Fall,
in order thereto, I have provided a Canoe, and shall with an Officer
and 5 men, set out upon this discovery to morrow morning."
- Thursday May 23
- Washington writes to his superior officer Joshua Fry about his
attempt to investigate the Youghiogheny. "We traced the watercourse
near thirty miles, with the full expectation of succeeding in
the much desired aim; but, at length, we came to a fall, which
continued rough, rocky, and scarcely passable, for two miles,
and then fell, within the space of fifty yards, nearly fourty
feet perpendicular." Washington had come to the falls in
what is today Ohiopyle and unfortunately had to give up on this
possibility since boats could not go down the falls and the rapids
below.
- Friday May 24
- The regiment arrives at the Great Meadows and sets up camp within
an angle formed by two streams, (Great Meadow Run and Indian Run).
It took almost 4 weeks to cut the road over the mountains from
Wills Creek. By the modern highway, it takes us an hour to drive
this distance.
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- Monday May 27
- A local guide and friend of George Washington, Christopher Gist
reports that a French force was near the Great Meadows. That evening
a Native American named Silverheels brings news that his chief,
the Half King, knows the location of the French camp. Washington
gathers forty men together and sets off, guided by Silverheels
to a rendezvous with the Half King.
- Tuesday May 28
- All night, through frequent rainstorms, Washington and his men
march on a confusing trail. The Virginians lose their way several
times but finally they meet with the Half King and twelve of his
braves. Together they hike to a glen where a party of thirty-two
French have been camped for several days. About 7 AM they surround
the camp just as the French are beginning to get up. Washington's
men are spotted and someone fires a shot causing the Virginians
to respond with several volleys into the glen. The French try
to fight back but many flee directly into the Half King's men.
Ten French lie dead in the glen and the rest, realizing they are
trapped, surrender. However one man, was out in the woods before
the skirmish started and escaped to Fort Duquesne (present day
Pittsburgh), a distance of over sixty miles.
- Wednesday May 29
- The twenty-one French prisoners are sent back to Williamsburg
along with news of this first victory for the Virginia Regiment.
However, worried that the French might attack in retaliation to
the previous day's skirmish, Washington and his men spend the
next five days constructing a stockade in the middle of the valley.
His theory is that anyone coming to attack his men will have to
come into the open meadow of the valley and then can be shot.
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- Sunday June 2
- A Seneca Chief, the Half King arrives at the Great Meadows to
aid Washington's expedition with 80-100 other Native Americans;
men, women, and children. Unfortunately they require food that
the Virginia Regiment can ill afford to supply.
- Monday June 3
- The Virginians finish the stockade in the Great Meadows. Washington
writes to Lt. Governor Dinwiddie: "We have just finished
a small palisado'd fort in which, with my small numbers, I shall
not fear the attack of 500 men."
- Sunday June 9
- Two more Virginian companies arrive at the Great Meadows with
a total of 110 men and five officers. Washington is now promoted
to full Colonel in charge of the Virginia Regiment. The original
commander, Colonel Fry, had been coming with the reinforcements
but had fallen off his horse and died.
- Monday June 10
- At the Great Meadows, a ceremony takes place honoring the Half
King for the aid he and his people have given the expedition.
Wampum belts and a gorget are given to the Half King and presents
to his people.
- Wednesday June 12
- Nine French deserters arrive at Fort Necessity with the news
that 100 more men await only a favorable opportunity to come over
to the English side. They never did. The deserters also brought
the not so pleasant news that the Delaware and Shawnee Indians
were siding with the French.
- Friday June 14
- Captain James Mackay with the Independent Company of South Carolina
arrives at The Great Meadows with 100 men. These men are welcome
reinforcements as they are regular, well trained British soldiers.
Problems of rank almost arise between Mackay and Washington. Mackay's
rank is lower, but, obtained from the Crown and it takes precedence
over Washington's Colonial rank. However Washington will not agree
to turn over command of his men. The two men agree to essentially
share leadership through consensus.
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- Sunday June 16
- The Virginia Regiment leaves the Great Meadows to continue working
on the road to Redstone Creek (present day Brownsville, PA). The
South Carolina company refuses to help with the work unless paid
extra wages for the manual labor, a customary practice. Washington
did not have money to spare so the South Carolinians stay at the
Great Meadows.
- Wednesday June 19
- A council with the Half King and representatives of several
other tribes ensues at Gist's plantation(near present day Dunbar,
Pennsylvania). Washington's plan is to try and convince all the
Indian tribes in the area to aid the British expedition against
the French.
- Friday June 21
- The conference concludes unsuccessfully with the Indians not
agreeing to support the expedition of the Virginia Regiment. Washington
attributes its failure to not having enough gifts for the Indians
and that the French were stronger than the English in the area
so the Indian tribes were leery of supporting what could easily
become the losing side.
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- Sunday June 23
- The Virginia Regiment under George Washington, stationed at
Gist's Plantation (near present day Dunbar, Pennsylvania) continue
building the road to the Monongahela river. The men work slowly
due to the fact that their poor diet of unsalted beef and a bit
of flour leaves them extremely weak.
- Thursday June 27
- An Indian messenger brings news that a French army has been
gathered at Fort Duquesne and soon will be moving south towards
the British force. Washington decides to end the road building
work and also to ask Captain Mackay to bring his South Carolina
company from the Great Meadows to Gist's Plantation.
- Friday June 28
- Captain Coulon de Villiers sets out from Ft Duquesne with 600
French Marines and Canadian Militia as well as 100 Native Americans
representing seven different tribes; Algonquins, Abenakis, Delaware,
French Iroquois, Huron, Nippissing, and Ottawa. His orders were
to "to march against the British... in order to avenge ourselves
and chastise them for having violated the most sacred laws of
civilized nations."
- Saturday June 29
- Captain Mackay and his South Carolinians arrive at Gist's plantation.
With news of the French force being on the move, the officers
have a conference "to consider what was most prudent and
necessary to be done in the present situation of affairs."(George
Washington) The officers decide to evacuate the plantation and
retreat to the more defensible stockade at the Great Meadows.
That afternoon the men begin their retreat.
- Sunday June 30
- The retreat to the Great Meadows continues very slowly. The
Virginians are extremely worn down because they have to carry
their supplies and swivel cannons by hand. The wagons that Washington
had brought onto the frontier were at the Great Meadows waiting
to bring supplies down to the men at Gist's Plantation. Unfortunately
no supplies came out from Virginia for the Regiment.
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- Monday July 1
- The Virginians and the South Carolinians arrive back at the
Great Meadows after taking more than two days to march thirteen
miles. The officers hold a conference and decide the men are too
weak and exhausted to try and retreat back across the mountains
to Wills Creek (present day Cumberland Maryland). So instead the
men begin working on trenches around the stockade to improve the
protection for the men. A Virginian named John Ramsay deserts
and finds sanctuary with the French army. He tells the French
leader, Captain Coulon de Villiers, that the British army is in
very poor condition. With this report, the French decide to press
on. The Algonquins, some of the Indians with the French army,
leave the expedition and return to their homes as they are nervous
about being this close to British territory.
- Tuesday July 2
- The French force arrives at Gist's Plantation. De Villiers'
plan is to engage Washington's forces before they can either retreat
across the mountains or be reinforced. While digging their trenches,
the British troops finally receive some supplies from Virginia
in the form of several wagons filled with flour.
- Wednesday July 3
- Before dawn, de Villiers pushes his men towards the Great Meadows.
They pass the glen where Jumonville (his brother) and nine of
his men were killed on May 28. Later, in his report, he wrote,
"Here I saw some bodies still remaining." About 11 o'clock
in the morning they arrive at the Great Meadows. Fighting starts
and continues off and on until dark. According to Washington,
it was an "unequal fight, with an enemy sheltered behind
the trees, ourselves without shelter, in trenches full of water,
in a settled rain, and the enemy galding us on all sides from
the woods." De Villiers decides not to take the fort by assault
but to ask the British to surrender. After four hours of negotiation
a document is drawn up and then signed by de Villiers, Washington,
and Captain Mackay. The British army is allowed to return to Virginia
but cannot come west again for a year. Two hostages, Captains
Jacob Van Braam and Robert Stobo, also had to stay with the French
to guarantee the return of the prisoners Washington took on May
28.
- Thursday July 4
- The British army marches out of Fort Necessity dragging their
wounded with them. They destroy what supplies they can not carry
and that would be of use to the French and their Indian allies.
Around 10 a.m., Washington and Mackay start their men on the cart
track back to Wills Creek (present day Cumberland Maryland). The
French destroy any supplies that the British have left behind
and are not portable and then burn the stockade to the ground.
They then begin their march back to Fort Duquesne.
- Friday July 5
- Having left the Great Meadows in defeat, George Washington decides
to leave the badly wounded men of his army along the cart track
with a guard to be picked up later when transport can be arranged
from Wills Creek (present day Cumberland, Maryland). Several of
these men are subsequently captured by Indians who are still looking
for booty.
- Sunday July 7
- The victorious French army under Captain Louis de Villiers arrives
back at Fort Duquesne. On their return from the Great Meadows
they burned every cabin in their path, including Christopher Gist's
settlement.
- Tuesday July 9
- The Virginia Regiment reaches Wills Creek having marched for
five days from the Great Meadows. A roll call shows that out of
283 men present for duty one week previously at the Great Meadows,
only 165 remain. Walking wounded and footsore men straggle in
during the next few days.
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- Tuesday July 16
- Lt. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia returns to Williamsburg (the
capital of Virginia) from Winchester. Upon his arrival, Dinwiddie
receives the news that Washington had surrendered at Fort Necessity.
He immediately begins to write letters to the governors of the
other British colonies criticizing them for their lack of support.
- Wednesday July 17
- George Washington and James Mackay reach Williamsburg, Virginia
after their retreat from the Great Meadows. Lt. Governor Dinwiddie
receives Washington with impersonal courtesy. After giving his
report, Washington is ordered to return to his regiment in Alexandria,
Virginia.
- Thursday July 18
- The Governor's Council of the Virginia colony voted to award
Washington's Virginia Regiment and the South Carolina Independent
Company 300 pistols (coinage) "as a reward for their bravery
in the recent engagement with the French" at Fort Necessity.
- Friday July 19
- The Virginia Gazette prints a tirade aimed at the colony of
New York. New York had promised to send troops to help support
Virginia at Fort Necessity. Unfortunately, the colony's military
preparations were slow, and the New York companies did not assemble
in time to provide reinforcements for Washington at the Battle
of Great Meadows. The Gazette maintained, had New York acted more
swiftly, "our camp would have been secure from the insults
of the French, and our brave men still alive to serve their King
and country.
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- Saturday July 20
- Lt. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia grants Robert Stobo a commission
as Major in the Virginia Regiment. Stobo had fought with Washington
at Fort Necessity. He and Captain Van Braam had been given to
the French as hostages in order to secure the return of men Washington
had captured in a skirmish on May 28. Thus at this time Stobo
and Van Braam were prisoners at Fort Duquesne.
- Tuesday July 23
- A general muster is taken of Washington's Virginia Regiment
at Winchester. It includes 183 enlisted men and 10 officers fit
for duty. Another 38 enlisted men were sick or wounded and 9 were
missing. Without aid from the other British colonies and the mother
country, Lt. Governor Dinwiddie, Colonel Innes, and Colonel Washington
realized that the Virginia Regiment alone would not be able to
drive the French from the Upper Ohio River Valley.
- Wednesday July 24
- Lt. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia recommends to the British
Board of Trade that the Parliament place a poll tax of two shillings
and sixpence within the English colonies in America. Dinwiddie's
suggestion was spurred by Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity
(July 3). The money raised by this tax will be spent on another
expedition to reduce Fort Duquesne and provide an adequate fund
for waging war against the French in America.
- Sunday July 28
- Major Robert Stobo, hostage at Fort Duquesne, smuggles out a
map of the Fort and a letter. For the past week and a half, Stobo
carefully made measurements of the fort and observed every detail
which could possibly aid a British army coming to besiege the
fort. A friendly Mowhawk Indian named Moses the Song offered to
take the letter back to the English frontier post of Wills Creek.
- Monday July 29
- Stobo sends a second letter back to Virginia via a friendly
Delaware Indian, Delaware George. Like the previous letter, this
one also details the strength of Fort Duquesne. By sending these
letters, Stobo is putting his life in peril as a spy.
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- Thursday August 8
- Governor Sharpe of Maryland writes a report to Lord Baltimore,
the proprietor of the Maryland Colony. Sharpe informed Baltimore
of the incident at Fort Necessity and notified the proprietor
that he had sent a bill for supporting the Virginians with 6000
pounds to the Maryland Assembly. He also requested permission
for "raising a Company or two of Men in yr Ldp's Governt
by which we hope the Virginians will be reinforced enough to take
the Field again before Winter."
- Sunday August 11
- George Washington writes a letter to his friend William Fairfax
criticizing Lt. Governor Dinwiddie's plan to resume operations
against the French in the Ohio country and complaining of a lack
of men, supplies, and funds for the undertaking. "... you
will perceive what great deficiencies there are of Men, Arms,
Tents, Kettles, Screws (which was a fatal want before), Bayonets,
Cartouch-Boxes, &c, &c... the chief part are almost naked,
and scarcely a man has either shoes, stockings, or hat. The Lt.
Governor proposed that the Virginia Regiment destroy the corn
fields of the Indian village of Logstown. Washington wrote, "At
this question I am a little surprised, when it is known we must
pass the French fort {Ft Duquesne} and the Ohio to get to Log-town;
and how this can be done with inferior number {of men}".
- Sunday August 12
- Washington was attempting to rebuild the Virginia Regiment after
the Great Meadows campaign for renewed operations. Unfortunately,
disease and a lack of wagons hampered his effort. Washington notes
in a letter to Colonel James Innes, commander of the Regiment:
"that Waggon cou'd not be hired for 5 times the Value."
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- Friday August 16
- A Delaware Indian, Delaware George arrives at George Croghan's
trading post near Wills Creek (present day Cumberland, Maryland).
Delaware George brought with him a letter from Major Robert Stobo
imprisoned in the French Fort Duquesne. In the letter, Stobo detailed
the strength of the fort and its garrison. Croghan, a trader and
British Indian agent, made copies for officials in the colonies
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
- Tuesday August 20
- George Washington wrote to Lt. Governor Dinwiddie urging him
to provide funding for the pay and clothing of the Virginia Regiment.
Washington reported that his troops "are now Naked, and cannot
get credit even for Hatts and are Teazing the Officers every Day
to furnish them with these and other necessarys."
- Wednesday August 21
- George Washington wrote to Lt. Governor Dinwiddie complaining
that Colin Campbell had been appointed Deputy Adjutant of the
Northern Neck of the Virginia Militia. Although Washington was
the District Adjutant, he was not consulted about the appointment.
Washington complained that Campbell "by all acct's knows
nothing of the duty he has undertaken." It is ironic that
Washington complained about Campbell's inexperience. When Washington
was appointed a District Adjutant he was only twenty years old
and had no military experience.
- Sunday August 25
- While most of the officers of the Virginia Regiment were at
church, twenty-five soldiers undertook to make off, but before
they could do so, they were arrested and locked up.
- Wednesday August 28
- A Mohawk Indian, Moses the Song, brings another letter and a
map from Major Robert Stobo to George Croghan. The map detailed
the size of Fort Duquesne. The letter gave information on how
popular and important several French prisoners were that were
in prison in Williamsburg Virginia. Essentially upon Stobo's advice,
Lt. Governor Dinwiddie decided not to exchange those prisoners
for Stobo and his compatriot Captain Jacob Van Braam.
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- Sunday September 8
- The Marquis Duquesne, Governor of New France, sends a letter
to Contrecoeur, the commander of Fort Duquesne. The letter contains
a translation of George Washington's journal which he lost after
the July 3 battle at the Great Meadows. Duquesne hopes the document
will aid Contrecoeur in defending the French frontier from English
incursions. "You will see that he (Washington) is the most
impertinent of men, but that he is as clever as he is crafty with
credulous Indians. Besides, he lies a great deal in order to justify
the assassination of Sieur de Jumonville, which has recoiled upon
him, and which he was stupid enough to admit in his capitulation."
- Thursday September 12
- Troops from New York, Maryland, North and South Carolina begin
building a fort at Wills Creek, Maryland (present day Cumberland
Maryland) to prevent incursions by the French into British territory.
- Monday September 16
- Major Robert Stobo and Captain Jacob Van Braam, both hostages
of the French since the Battle of the Great Meadows, start on
their journey to Quebec from Fort Duquesne. Since Lt. Governor
Dinwiddie of Virginia refused to let twenty one French prisoners
go free, Stobo and Van Braam had to remain as prisoners. Stobo
eventually escapes while Van Braam is freed at the end of the
conflict.
- Sunday September 22
- Major General Edward Braddock is considered for the post of
commander of British soldiers in America. Sir Thomas Robinson
writes: "His Royal Highness (the Duke of Cumberland, the
King's son and Commander in Chief of the British Army) had been
with the King. He acquainted me that he had thought of Braddock
as the properest person to command the troops in North America."
Braddock is an experienced officer with more than forty years
in the British Army.
- Tuesday September 24
- Braddock is appointed Commander in Chief of British forces in
the Thirteen colonies. "His majesty has a good opinion of
Mr. Braddock's sense and bravery and has heard he has become very
stayed. His Majestey has likewise a good opinion of Colonel Dunbar
who has been thought of, as proper, to go with his regiment in
order to supply Mr. Braddock's place in case of accident."
(Sir Thomas Robinson) His orders call for the removal of the French
forces from the Ohio river valley and possibly the expulsion of
the French from North America.
OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 1754
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- Wednesday October 9
- Major General Edward Braddock is ordered back to England from
Italy to receive his orders regarding the forthcoming expedition
to America. This expedition's goal is to remove the French from
the Ohio river valley and hopefully the rest of Canada.
- Wednesday October 23
- George Washington, after having a disagreement with Governor
Dinwiddie of Virginia, resigns his commission in the Virginia
Regiment. Dinwiddie wants the Regiment divided up into separate
companies with no officer in complete command. This would demote
Washington and several other of the officers and possibly dilute
the strength of the Regiment which was the only force protecting
the Virginia frontier.
- Saturday October 26
- Major Robert Stobo and Captain Jacob Van Braam arrive in Quebec
as prisoners of the French. They had been given to the French
as hostages in return for some French prisoners held in Williamsburg
Virginia. When Governor Dinwiddie refused to return his prisoners,
Stobo and Van Braam had to be taken to Quebec for more safe keeping.
After two failed tries, Stobo will eventually escape having being
sentenced to death for being a spy, Van Braam is freed at the
end of the French and Indian war.
- Sunday November 10
- General Braddock returns to London from his travels to receive
his orders regarding the expedition to oust the French from North
America.
- Monday November 25
- General Braddock makes out his last will and testament and gives
it to George Anne Bellamy, an actress. The sole benefactors are
to be his friend Mary Yorke and a gentleman named John Calcraft,
husband of what was essentially Braddock's goddaughter, Mrs Bellamy.
DECEMBER 1754
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- Thursday December 12
- Lt. Governor Dinwiddie receives confirmation of his request
that troops be sent from England to aid the burgeoning conflict
between the Colonies of England and France. Two regiments of soldiers
along with money to raise more troops in America will be sent
early in the spring of 1755. The Commander in Chief of these troops
will be Major General Edward Braddock.
- Tuesday December 17
- George Washington sets up a rental agreement with the wife of
his late brother Lawrence for the Mount Vernon estate. The rent
will consist of 15,000 pounds of tobacco per year for use of the
lands, house, and the eighteen resident slaves. The rent is also
payable in money at the rate of twelve shillings and six pence
per hundred pounds.
- Sunday December 22
- Braddock, with several other officers, sail from Ireland for
America. The troops for Braddock's expedition will follow in January.
Twenty-two years later on July 20, 1776, as the Revolutionary
Army was about to lose the city of New York to British forces, Adam
Stephen (One of Washington's captains in 1754) wrote to Washington
recalling their experience at Fort Necessity. Washington replied
as follows:
"I did not let the anniversary of the 3rd... pass off without
a grateful remembrance of the escape we had...The same providence
that protected us...will, I hope, continue his mercies, and make
us happy instruments in restoring peace and liberty."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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- Alberts, Robert C., A Charming Field for an Encounter. Washington
D.C., Division of Publications; National Park Service, 1975.
- Alberts, Robert C., The Extraordinary Adventures of Major Robert
Stobo. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1965.
- Contrecoeur's copy of George Washington's journal for 1754.
Donald H. Kent(ed). Eastern National Parks and Monument Association,
1989.
- Freeman, Douglas Southall, Washington. New York, Macmillan Publishing
Co., 1968.
- Jennings, Francis, Empire of Fortune. New York, W.W. Norton
& Company, 1988.
- Kent, Donald H., The French Invasion of Western Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1954.
- McCardell, Lee, Ill Starred General. Pittsburgh, University
of Pittsburgh Press, 1958.
- Powell, Allan, Fort Cumberland. Parsons WV, McClain Printing
Co., 1989.
- The Journal of Major George Washington. Reprinted facsimile
Williamsburg VA.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1959.
- The Writings of George Washington. Ed. John C. Fitzpatrick.
Washington DC, 1931- 44.
COMPILED BY PETER KOCH, 1994
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