Student Resource
George Washington’s and Christopher Gist’s Journals of the Trip to Fort LeBoeuf

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Both George Washington and Christopher Gist kept journals in which they wrote about their journey to the French Fort LeBoeuf in 1753. Sometime the old-fashioned writing is hard for us to read today. So this time line of both the journals has paraphrased the journal entries.

Date	Christopher Gist	George Washington
October 31, 1753		I was commissioned to deliver a letter to the French on the Ohio River. I left Williamsburg, VA the same day.
November 1		Rode to Fredericksburg, VA and hired Jacob Van Braam as my French interpreter
November 2-13		Rode to Alexandria to buy supplies. Next Van Braam and I went to Wincherster and bought additional supplies. Then on to Will’s Creek.
November 14	Will’s Creek. Washington arrived at my house with a letter asking me to go to the French fort	Arrived at Will’s Creek and hired Gist to guide us. Also hired four helpers.
November 15	We left Will’s Creek. A messenger brought me a letter that said my son is sick, but I continued with the group. Rode 8 miles.	Left Will’s Creek
November 16	We rode 10 miles.
November 17	Rested the horses.
November 18	We rode 21 miles to my frontier cabin. The snow about ankle deep.
November 19	The horses straggled away and we did not start until 11:00. Rode 21 miles.
November 20	Rained. I killed a deer. Rode 7 miles.
November 21	Continued to rain. Did not travel.
November 22	Rode 12 miles to John Frazier’s cabin. He lent us canoes to carry the luggage down river to the Forks of the Ohio.	Extreme quantities of rain and vast quantities of snow prevented us from arriving at Frazier’s until today
November 23	Rode to the Forks of the Ohio.	Rode 10 miles to the Forks of the Ohio. We met our luggage there which two of our men canoed down the river.
November 24	Rode to King Shingas village. We met with King Shingas, who joined the group as they went to Logstown. That night at Logstown we met with the chiefs there.	Rode two miles to where chief Shingas lives and invited him to a council at Logstown. Shingas came with us to Logstown where we arrive before dark. As soon as I arrived I spoke with Scarouady, by way of my Indian interpreter. I told him I was delivering a message to the French and was ordered to stop and let the chiefs know.
November 25	Logstown. Waited for other chiefs to arrive. In the afternoon the Half King arrived.	Three o’clock in the afternoon the Half King arrived. I invited him and the interpreter to my tent. I asked him about his recent journey to the French and to tell me about the route and distance. The Half King told me. The Half King also told me how poorly he had been treated by the French. And about the French forts
November 26	Logstown. Delivered our message to the Half King. He promised we would leave in 3 nights.	Met with the Indians in the council at the Long house. I told them I was to deliver a letter to the French. I was to ask for advice and assistance from the Indians. The Half King replied that he would be ready to go in 3 days.
November 27	Logstown. Scarouady gave us food. Waiting for the warriors to come.	Logstown. Runners were sent out to call the Shawnee chief. The Half King went to get a wampum belt from his cabin 15 miles away.
November 28		Logstown. The Half King returned today. He and 3 other chief came to my tent and wanted to know why I was visiting the French. I answered them as best I could.
November 29		Logstown. The Half King and Scarouady asked me to stay one more day. At night the chiefs met in the council house. It was decided the Half King, two other chiefs and a hunter would go on the journey.
November 30	Left Logstown with the Half King, two other old chiefs and a young warrior.	Left Logstown around 9:00.
December 1	Rode 30 miles. Camped across from Kuskuskies, an Indian village.
December 2	Rain. Indians killed two deer.
December 3	Rode all day about 22 miles.
December 4	Rode 15 miles to Venango, a French camp. The French officer Joncaire treated us kindly.	Our group had bad weather during the journey and traveled about 70 miles. We arrived at Venango and I immediately went to the French. I was told that the commander of the next fort would give me an answer to the governor’s letter. The French commander invited us to dinner and treated us very nicely.
December 5	Rain all day. The Indians with our group met with a local Delaware Indians. The Half King met with the French.	Rained heavily this day, which prevented us from traveling. The Half King met with the French.
December 6	Left Venango for the French fort. French soldiers accompanied us.	Set out for the French fort with 4 French soldiers.
December 7	Rode 5 miles. Sugar Creek was so high we sent our supplies over on a tree and swam the horsed across the creek.
December 8	Rode 25 miles.
December 9	Rode 15 miles. The water is very high. Left one horse that was too weak to travel.
December 10	Rode 8 miles. Crossed a creek on a log. The Indians with us killed a bear.
December 11	Rode 15 miles to the French fort. Arrived at sunset.	We arrived at the French fort after heavy rain, snow and bad traveling. The group was forced to cross many swamps.
December 12	Washington showed the French the letter, but they asked him to wait until tomorrow when the French commander arrived from their other fort at Lake Erie.	I showed the letter from the governor to the commander of the fort. He is elderly and very professional. He asked me to wait until the other commander came from the next fort. The other commander arrived at 2:00 and I showed both of them the letter again.
December 13	The French commander arrived. Washington showed him the letter and asked for a speedy answer. The French had a council with the Indians who came with us and gave them presents.	The French officers held a council. This gave me an opportunity to look around the fort.
December 14		The French offered to loan us two canoes, so I sent the horses with three of the helpers off to Venango. They were not carrying any luggage. The Half King and other chiefs traveling with us met with the French. The French tried to persuade them to trade with them and not travel with us. This evening I received an answer to the governor’s letter.
December 15		The French commander was very nice and gave us food and supplies. The French tried very hard to get the Indians traveling with us to stay behind and turn against us. The Half King did not want to leave. I soon found out the French offered the Indians a present of a gun if they stayed until morning. I told the Half King I would wait until morning.
December 16	The French loaned us two canoes to go as far as Venango. One for us and one for the Indians with us. Our horses had been sent ahead and we would meet them there. We went 16 miles by canoe.	The French gave the Indians their presents and tried very hard to keep the Indians another day. However, the Indians kept their promise to me and we left.
December 17	The Indians with us killed 3 bears.
December 18	Traveled by canoe down river.
December 19	Traveled about 8 miles.
December 20	Traveled about 20 miles where we were stopped by ice in the river.
December 21	Ice blocked the river and we could not break it. We were forced to carry our canoe and all our supplies over land and put the canoes in again down river. Three French canoes and the Indians with us passed us.
December 22	The river was getting low. We were forced to get out of the canoe and walk in the water. The water froze to our clothes. One French canoe tipped. We went by without helping. We arrived at Venango and met with our horses. Traveled about 20 miles.	We did not reach Venango until today. We met our horses here. We had a very difficult journey down the river. Several times we were almost smashed into rock. Many times the water was so low we were forced to get out and walk in water for ½ hour or more. Once we had to carry our canoe over land to get around ice
December 23	Left Venango. Rode about 5 miles.	The Half King decided to stay at Venango for a few days. The horses were so weak and had so much luggage to carry I decided to walk, so my horse could carry some of the luggage.
December 24	It snowed all day. Our horses are weak. We walked instead of riding a horse. This gave each horse less weight to carry. Traveled about 5 miles.
December 25	We walked instead of riding today.
December 26	GW asked me to go with him on foot ahead of the horses, since they were so slow. I did not think this was wise, since he was not used to walking, but since he insisted we set out with packs on our backs. We walked 18 miles. Washington was very tired. It was very cold. This made it hard to get water since the creeks were frozen.	I was anxious to get back and make my report to the governor. The horses were going slower each day. It was cold and there was deep snow. I decide to go ahead on foot. I got my necessary papers, my gun and a backpack. I set out with Mr. Gist.
December 27	We started out at 2:00 in the morning and walked to an Indian village. Here we met an Indian who called me by name. He pretended to be glad to see me. At this pint GW insisted on following the shortest route to the Forks of the Ohio. It would be much shorter than going back to Logstown and then up river as they had done on the way up. We asked the Indian if he could show us the shortest route. The Indian seemed glad to go. He carried Washington’s pack. We traveled about 8 to 10 more miles. The Indian seemed to be steering us too much to the north. The Indian became disagreeable and I mistrusted him. We traveled 2 more miles when GW said we would camp at the next creek. Before we got to creek we came to an open meadow. The Indian stopped, turned around, pointed his gun at us and fired. He ran to a tree to reload, but we caught him. Soon we let him go. We set our compasses, fixed our course and walked all night to get away from him.	We walked to an Indian town where we intended to leave the path and go across country to the Forks of the Ohio. We were joined by French Indians. One of them fired on us from only 15 feet away. Fortunately he missed. We caught him and held him until 9:00 when we let him go. We walked all night without stopping to get as far away as possible.
December 28	In the morning we arrived at Piney Creek. We followed the creek towards the river. We walked all day. We saw the tracks of hunting Indians and decide to split up and meet each other up ahead at a place we decided on. That night we camped and thought it was safe enough to sleep.	We continued walking until dark. We got to the Allegheny river. We expected the river to be frozen, but it was not.
December 29	We got to the Allegheny River and found it was not frozen. We made a raft. While on the raft GW fell in. We managed to get to an island. The water is very deep between us and the shore. My fingers frost bitten. It is very cold.	After a whole day’s work with one poor hatchet we built a raft, which we finished right after sunset. We launched it, but before we were half way over we jammed in ice. We expected the raft to sink at any minute and both of us to be killed. I was jerked off the raft when I set my pole. I fortunately caught the raft. We couldn’t get to either shore and were forced to land the raft on an island. Mr. gist got frostbite.
December 30	The cold did us a favor. The river froze over hard enough to walk across. We walked 10 miles to Frazier’s cabin and rested.	It was so cold we found it easy to get off the island in the morning by walking on the ice. We walked to Mr. Frazier’s.
December 31	During the day we went to Queen Alliquippa.’s village and spoke with her.	It took some time to get horses here, so we went three miles to Queen Alliquippa’s village. She was upset that we had not stopped on the way up to the French fort.
January 1, 1754	We left Frazier’s cabin and rode as far as Jacob’s cabin.	We left Mr. Frazier’s.
January 2	Crossed the Youghiogheny on ice. Rode as far as my frontier cabin.	Arrived at Mr. Gist’s frontier cabin where I bought a horse, saddle, etc.
January 3	Rain.
January 4	Left my frontier cabin.
January 5
January 6	Arrived at Will’s Creek	Meet 17 horsed loaded with material for a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. We arrived at Will’s Creek today.
January 7-10
January 11		I arrived at Alexandria, VA
January 12		I stopped one day to rest.
January 13 - 15
January 16		I arrived at Williamsburg, VA. I gave the governor the letter from the French commander.