University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLI

DINWIDDIE'S ADMINISTRATION—THE FRENCH
FORTS

Dinwiddie, the new executive, arrived in Virginia in 1752.[1]
He was acting as the deputy of Lord Albemarle, the successor
of Orkney in the governor-generalship. A zealous Presbyterian
like Gooch, he won his first official promotion by detecting,
while a clerk in a West Indian custom-house, proof of
defalcations on the part of his principal. In consequence of
this act of honesty and vigilance, he was appointed surveyor
of customs for all the colonies; and so satisfactory was his
conduct in this responsible position that he was selected to
serve as deputy-governor of Virginia, which, at this time, was
the most important office in the colonial dominions of England.

Dinwiddie recognized, so soon as he arrived at Williamsburg,
that the advance of the French beyond the Alleghanies
was the most menacing condition then facing the administration
at Williamsburg. One of the very first measures of his
incumbency was suggested by this threatening outlook, namely,
the division of Virginia into four military districts. Already,
the French forts, like links in a formidable chain, extended all
the way from Lake Erie to Louisiana. The French Government
asserted a legal claim to all this vast and incomparably
fertile territory on the ground that the entire region had been
first explored by La Salle; and in harmony with this claim,
that government had gone so far as to bury in the earth at
the mouth of each of the larger streams flowing into the Ohio

Governor Robert Dinwiddie

River a tablet as a permanent memorial of its title to the whole
country up to the very fountain head of that tributary. As
most of the springs were situated in the valleys of the Alleghanies,
such a claim, if just, would bring the back of the
French possessions almost in view of the Blue Ridge
Mountains.

The English scouted the validity of this asserted proprietorship
in the region of the Ohio because all the territory had
been formally conveyed to them under the provisions of the
Treaty of Lancaster. No reliance seems to have been placed
by them on the terms of the charters granted in the time of
the London Company, which carried the English dominion as
far as the shore of the Pacific Ocean.[2] To acknowledge the
right of another nation to occupy this great principality was
to raise a mighty natural wall against the further extension
of the English settlements, which had already reached the
Valley of Virginia.

Dinwiddie had received specific instructions to put a permanent
stop to the intrusion of the French. Having first, by
a treaty with the Indians in 1753, acquired the right to build
a fort on the Monongahela River at the point of its confluence
with the Alleghany, he next selected young George Washington
to bear to the French commander at Vincennes a letter of
remonstrance against the erection of fortifications and settlements
in a region belonging to the English. The messenger
had already won such a high reputation for skill, prudence,
and experience, that he had, at the age of nineteen, been
appointed adjutant-general of Virginia, with the rank of
major; but, above all, as a surveyor in Lord Fairfax's employment,
he had obtained an intimate knowledge of all this wild
western country, through which most of his projected journey
would lie. His frame had been hardened by a life in the open
air from childhood; and he had learned to endure without
shrinking every vicissitude of weather at every season of the

year. Vigorous in frame, calm in soul, deliberate in thought,
he had all the characteristics required for the enterprise which
he was now called upon to carry through. The rugged mountains
to be crossed, the somber forests to be traversed, the
treacherous Indians to be outwitted,—not one for a moment
intimidated his serene and courageous spirit.

Washington was accompanied by Jacob Van Braam as
interpreter. They stopped for a short time at Winchester in
order to purchase the horses needed for the transportation of
themselves and their baggage. On the banks of the Cumberland,
which were reached by November 14th, they were joined
by Christopher Gist and an escort of four men. Snow now
began to fall in great flakes, and the streams, swelled by the
recent rains, were pouring over their banks into the adjacent
low grounds. At every step, the difficulties and dangers of the
journey grew more formidable, but the undaunted travelers
pushed on their way through the cold and silent woods. Halting
for a brief interval at the confluence of the Monongahela
and Alleghany Rivers, Washington and his companions
inspected the spot with a view to reporting upon the advantages
which it had to offer as the site of the fort which Dinwiddie
had been authorized by a treaty with the Indians to
erect there. But before the necessary steps could be taken to
carry out this design, the French came in and built a strong
fortification on the same ground, which they named Fort
Duquesne. But the place at the time of Washington's visit
was in its original state of nature.

Leaving it behind, he and his companions resumed their
journey northward along the valley of the Alleghany until he
arrived at a creek situated not far from the shores of Lake
Erie. On the banks of this stream, the French had constructed
a stronghold, which, at the hour of the Virginians' arrival
there, was under the command of De St. Pierre. While this
officer was laboriously drafting a reply to Dinwiddie's communication,
his subordinates were corrupting the loyalty of

an influential Indian chief who had been enrolled among
Washington's followers in course of the western trail.

As soon as the letters to the governor at Williamsburg had
been received, the little party set out on their return to that
town. At first, all traveled on foot, which exposed them to
many hardships from the extreme roughness of that primæval
region; and it was not until they reached Venango that they
rejoined their horses; but the country traversed afterwards
continued so full of all sorts of obstructions that the men dismounted
and used the animals, thereafter, only for the transportation
of their baggage. So slow was the progress that
Washington grew impatient, and taking only Gist with him as
a companion, he pushed on ahead, in the hope of reaching the
settlements in Virginia many days earlier than he would do
should he remain with the other persons in his escort. He
was now dressed in an Indian matchcoat, buck-skin trousers,
and moccasins,—which were the garments most suitable for
the wild scenes through which he was passing,—and he had
his pack slung to his back and carried his trusted rifle in his
hand. In short, his clothes and equipment were those which
were characteristic of the men of that day who spent their lives
in the woods of the frontier.

The vigilance which Washington had learned to exercise in
previous excursions did not now save him from an incident
that might have been fatal to either himself or his companion.
Having run upon a party of French Indians, he employed one
of them to serve as his guide, and as the three were forcing
their way through the recesses of the woods, this savage turned
in his tracks and fired his rifle at either Gist or Washington
point blank, but the bullet went wild. It was with difficulty
that Washington could prevent Gist from shooting the treacherous
Indian on the spot. The latter was held a prisoner until
night came on, and then was permitted to vanish in the forests.
The two white men quickly broke camp, and in the darkness,
pressed on southward until they reached the banks of the
Alleghany.

This stream was now in flood and could only be crossed on
a log raft. Washington and Gist were in possession of only
one hatchet, and this they used in turn in constructing such a
craft, which at once sank to the bottom when they leaped on
board to make the passage. A second raft was built in the
same laborious way. This they were able to mount and push
away from shore, but thick masses of ice were now running
with the rapid current, and Washington, having stuck his pole
in one of these floes, was, in the effort to extricate it, thrown
into the water, and would inevitably have been drowned had
he not been able to seize one of the logs of the raft, to which he
held on until the rough vessel ran aground on an island in the
stream. Wet to the skin and unable to make a fire, the two
men passed the night in a frigid atmosphere, aggravated by a
high wind that blew down the river. So severe, indeed, was the
cold that, by the morning, Gist's feet and hands were chilled
to the bone; but they managed after dawn to cross over to the
eastern bank and to travel safely to a small English trading
post which was situated in that region. Recuperating quickly
from the fatigue of their recent adventures, the two men left
the post and succeeded, without further incident, in making the
Virginia frontier settlements.

By January 15th, 1754, Washington had delivered the letters
of the French commander to Dinwiddie, at that time residing
in Williamsburg. The journey, which had extended to
and fro over fifteen hundred miles through a roadless forest,
had been completed in a period that fell little short of three
months altogether.