RIVAL CLAIMS OF THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH.--PREPARATIONS FOR
HOSTILITIES.
During the time of Washington's surveying campaigns among the
mountains, a grand colonizing scheme had been set on foot, destined to
enlist him in hardy enterprises, and in some degree to shape the
course of his future fortunes. The treaty of peace concluded at
Aix-la-Chapelle, which had put an end to the general war of Europe,
had left undefined the boundaries between the British and French
possessions in America. Immense regions were still claimed by both
nations, and each was now eager to forestall the other by getting
possession of them, and strengthening its claim by occupancy.
The most desirable of these regions lay west of the Alleghany
Mountains, extending from the lakes to the Ohio, and embracing the
valley of that river and its tributary streams. The French claimed all
this country quite to the Alleghany Mountains by the right of
discovery. In 1673, Padre Marquette, with his companion, Joliet, of
Quebec, both subjects of the crown of France, had passed down the
Mississippi in a canoe quite to the Arkansas, thereby, according to an
alleged maxim in the law of nations, establishing the right of their
sovereign, not merely to the river so discovered and its adjacent
lands, but to all the country drained by its tributary streams, of
which the Ohio was one; a claim, the ramifications of which might be
spread, like the meshes of a web, over half the continent.
To this illimitable claim the English opposed a right derived, at
second hand, from a traditionary Indian conquest. A treaty, they said,
had been made at Lancaster, in 1744, between commissioners from
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and the Iroquois, or Six Nations,
whereby the latter, for four hundred pounds, gave up all right and
title to the land west of the Alleghany Mountains, even to the
Mississippi, which land, _according to their traditions_, had been
conquered by their forefathers. It is undoubtedly true that such a
treaty was made, and such a pretended transfer of title did take
place, under the influence of spirituous liquors; but it is equally
true that the Indians in question did not, at the time, possess an
acre of the land conveyed; and that the tribes actually in possession
scoffed at their pretensions, and claimed the country as their own
from time immemorial.
Such were the shadowy foundations of claims which the two nations were
determined to maintain to the uttermost, and which ripened into a
series of wars, ending in a loss to England of a great part of her
American possessions, and to France of the whole.
As yet in the region in question there was not a single white
settlement. Mixed Iroquois tribes of Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes,
had migrated into it early in the century from the French settlements
in Canada, and taken up their abodes about the Ohio and its branches.
The French pretended to hold them under their protection; but their
allegiance, if ever acknowledged, had been sapped of late years by the
influx of fur traders from Pennsylvania. These were often rough,
lawless men, generally in the employ of some trader, who, at the head
of his retainers and a string of pack-horses, would make his way over
mountains and through forests to the banks of the Ohio, establish his
head-quarters in some Indian town, and disperse his followers to
traffic among the hamlets, hunting-camps, and wigwams, exchanging
blankets, gaudy colored cloth, trinketry, powder, shot, and rum, for
valuable furs and peltry. In this way a lucrative trade with these
western tribes was springing up and becoming monopolized by the
Pennsylvanians.
To secure a participation in this trade, and to gain a foothold in
this desirable region, became now the wish of some of the most
intelligent and enterprising men of Virginia and Maryland, among whom
were Lawrence and Augustine Washington. With these views they
projected a scheme, in connection with John Hanbury, a wealthy London
merchant, to obtain a grant of land from the British government, for
the purpose of forming settlements or colonies beyond the Alleghanies.
Government readily countenanced a scheme by which French encroachments
might be forestalled, and prompt and quiet possession secured of the
great Ohio valley. An association was accordingly chartered in 1749,
by the name of "the Ohio Company," and five hundred thousand acres of
land was granted to it west of the Alleghanies; between the
Monongahela and Kanawha rivers; though part of the land might be taken
up north of the Ohio, should it be deemed expedient. The company were
to pay no quit-rent for ten years; but they were to select two-fifths
of their lands immediately; to settle one hundred families upon them
within seven years; to build a fort at their own expense, and maintain
a sufficient garrison in it for defence against the Indians. Mr.
Thomas Lee, president of the council of Virginia, took the lead in the
concerns of the company at the outset, and by many has been considered
its founder. On his death, which soon took place, Lawrence Washington
had the chief management. His enlightened mind and liberal spirit
shone forth in his earliest arrangements.
Before the company had received its charter, the French were in the
field. Early in 1749, the Marquis de la Galisionniere, governor of
Canada, despatched Celeron de Bienville, an intelligent officer, at
the head of three hundred men, to the banks of the Ohio, to make
peace, as he said, between the tribes that had become embroiled with
each other during the late war, and to renew the French possession of
the country. Celeron de Bienville distributed presents among the
Indians, made speeches reminding them of former friendship, and warned
them not to trade with the English. He furthermore nailed leaden
plates to trees, and buried others in the earth, at the confluence of
the Ohio and its tributaries, bearing inscriptions purporting that all
the lands on both sides of the rivers to their sources appertained, as
in foregone times, to the crown of France. The Indians gazed at these
mysterious plates with wondering eyes, but surmised their purport.
"They mean to steal our country from us," murmured they; and they
determined to seek protection from the English.
Celeron finding some traders from Pennsylvania trafficking among the
Indians, he summoned them to depart, and wrote by them to James
Hamilton, governor of Pennsylvania, telling him the object of his
errand to those parts, and his surprise at meeting with English
traders in a country to which England had no pretensions; intimating
that, in future, any intruders of the kind would be rigorously dealt
with. His letter, and a report of his proceedings on the Ohio, roused
the solicitude of the governor and council of Pennsylvania, for the
protection of their Indian trade. Shortly afterwards, one Hugh
Crawford, who had been trading with the Miami tribes on the Wabash,
brought a message from them, speaking of the promises and threats with
which the French were endeavoring to shake their faith, but assuring
the governor that their friendship for the English "would last while
the sun and moon ran round the world."
Governor Hamilton knew the value of Indian friendship, and suggested
to the assembly that it would be better to clinch it with presents,
and that as soon as possible. An envoy accordingly was sent off early
in October, who was supposed to have great influence among the western
tribes. This was one George Croghan, a veteran trader, shrewd and
sagacious, who had been frequently to the Ohio country with
pack-horses and followers, and made himself popular among the Indians
by dispensing presents with a lavish hand. He was accompanied by
Andrew Montour, a Canadian of half Indian descent, who was to act as
interpreter. They were provided with a small present for the
emergency; but were to convoke a meeting of all the tribes at
Logstown, on the Ohio, early in the ensuing spring, to receive an
ample present which would be provided by the assembly.
It was some time later in the same autumn that the Ohio company
brought their plans into operation, and despatched an agent to explore
the lands upon the Ohio and its branches as low as the Great Falls.
The man chosen for the purpose was Christopher Gist, a hardy pioneer,
experienced in woodcraft and Indian life. He was allowed a woodsman or
two for the service of the expedition. He set out on the 31st of
October, crossed the ridges of the Alleghany, arrived at Shannopin, a
Delaware village on the Alleghany, swam his horses across that river,
and descending along its valley arrived at Logstown, an important
Indian village a little below the site of the present city of
Pittsburg. Here usually resided Tanacharisson, a Seneca chief of great
note, being head sachem of the mixed tribes which had migrated to the
Ohio and its branches. He was generally surnamed the half-king, being
subordinate to the Iroquois confederacy. The chief was absent at this
time, as were most of his people, it being the hunting season. George
Croghan, the envoy from Pennsylvania, with Montour his interpreter,
had passed through Logstown a week previously, on his way to the
Twightwees and other tribes, on the Miami branch of the Ohio. Scarce
any one was to be seen about the village but some of Croghan's rough
people, whom he had left behind--"reprobate Indian traders," as Gist
terms them. He took his departure from Logstown, and at Beaver Creek,
a few miles below the village, he left the river and struck into the
interior of the present State of Ohio. Here he overtook George Croghan
at Muskingum, a town of Wyandots and Mingoes. He had ordered all the
traders in his employ who were scattered among the Indian villages, to
rally at this town, where he had hoisted the English flag over his
residence, and over that of the sachem. This was in consequence of the
hostility of the French, who had recently captured, in the
neighborhood, three white men in the employ of Frazier, an Indian
trader, and had carried them away prisoners to Canada.
Gist was well received by the people of Muskingum. They were indignant
at the French violation of their territories, and the capture of their
"English brothers." They had not forgotten the conduct of Celeron de
Bienville in the previous year, and the mysterious plates which he had
nailed against trees and sunk in the ground. A council of the nation
was now held, in which Gist invited them, in the name of the governor
of Virginia, to visit that province, where a large present of goods
awaited them, sent by their father, the great king, over the water to
his Ohio children. The invitation was graciously received, but no
answer could be given until a grand council of the western tribes had
been held, which was to take place at Logstown in the ensuing spring.
Similar results attended visits made by Gist and Croghan to the
Delawares and the Shawnees at their villages about the Scioto River;
all promised to be at the gathering at Logstown. From the Shawnee
village, near the mouth of the Scioto, the two emissaries shaped their
course north two hundred miles, crossed the Great Moneami, or Miami
River, on a raft, swimming their horses; and, on the 17th of February,
arrived at Piqua, the principal town of the Twightwees or Miamis; the
most powerful confederacy of the West, combining four tribes, and
extending its influence even beyond the Mississippi. A king or sachem
of one or other of the different tribes presided over the whole. The
head chief at present was the king of the Piankeshas. At this town
Croghan formed a treaty of alliance in the name of the governor of
Pennsylvania with two of the Miami tribes. And Gist was promised by
the king of the Piankeshas that the chiefs of the various tribes would
attend the meeting at Logstown to make a treaty with Virginia. [In the
height of these demonstrations of friendship, two envoys from the
French governor of Canada entered the council-house and sought a
renewal of the ancient alliance. But the Piankesha chief turned his
back upon the ambassadors, and left the council-house.]
When Gist returned to the Shawnee town, near the mouth of the Scioto,
and reported to his Indian friends there the alliance he had formed
with the Miami confederacy, there was great feasting and
speech-making, and firing of guns. He had now happily accomplished the
chief object of his mission--nothing remained but to descend the Ohio
to the Great Falls. This, however, he was cautioned not to do. A large
party of Indians, allies of the French, were hunting in that
neighborhood, who might kill or capture him. He crossed the river
attended only by a lad as a travelling companion and aide, and
proceeded cautiously down the east side until within fifteen miles of
the Falls. Here he came upon traps newly set, and Indian footprints
not a day old; and heard the distant report of guns. The story of
Indian hunters then was true. Abandoning all idea, therefore, of
visiting the Falls, and contenting himself with the information
concerning them which he had received from others, he shaped his
course homeward.
While Gist had been making his painful way homeward, the two Ottawa
ambassadors had returned to Fort Sandusky, bringing word to the French
that their friendship had been rejected and their hostility defied by
the Miamis. They informed them also of the gathering of the western
tribes that was to take place at Logstown, to conclude a treaty with
the Virginians.
It was a great object with the French to prevent this treaty, and to
spirit up the Ohio Indians against the English. This they hoped to
effect through the agency of one Captain Joncaire, a veteran of the
wilderness, who had grown gray in Indian diplomacy, and was now sent
to maintain French sovereignty over the valley of the Ohio. He
appeared at Logstown accompanied by another Frenchman, and forty
Iroquois warriors. He found an assemblage of the western tribes,
feasting and rejoicing, and firing off guns, for George Croghan, and
Montour, the interpreter, were there, and had been distributing
presents on behalf of the governor of Pennsylvania.
Joncaire was said to have the wit of a Frenchman, and the eloquence of
an Iroquois. He made an animated speech to the chiefs in their own
tongue, the gist of which was that their father Onontio (that is to
say, the governor of Canada) desired his children of the Ohio to turn
away the Indian traders, and never to deal with them again on pain of
his displeasure; so saying, he laid down a wampum belt of uncommon
size, by way of emphasis to his message. For once his eloquence was of
no avail; a chief rose indignantly, shook his finger in his face, and
stamping on the ground, "This is our land," said he. "What right has
Onontio here? The English are our brothers. They shall live among us
as long as one of us is alive. We will trade with them, and not with
you;" and, so saying, he rejected the belt of wampum.
Joncaire returned to an advanced post recently established on the
upper part of the river, whence he wrote to the governor of
Pennsylvania: "The Marquis de la Jonquiere, governor of New France,
having ordered me to watch that the English make no treaty in the Ohio
country, I have signified to the traders of your government to retire.
You are not ignorant that all these lands belong to the King of
France, and that the English have no right to trade in them." He
concluded by reiterating the threat made two years previously by
Celeron de Bienville against all intruding fur traders. In the
meantime, in the face of all these protests and menaces, Mr. Gist,
under sanction of the Virginia Legislature, proceeded in the same year
to survey the lands within the grant of the Ohio company, lying on the
south side of the Ohio river, as far down as the great Kanawha.
The French now prepared for hostile contingencies. They launched an
armed vessel of unusual size on Lake Ontario; fortified their
trading-house at Niagara; strengthened their outposts, and advanced
others on the upper waters of the Ohio. A stir of warlike preparation
was likewise to be observed among the British colonies. It was evident
that the adverse claims to the disputed territories, if pushed home,
could only be settled by the stern arbitrament of the sword.
In Virginia, especially, the war spirit was manifest. The province was
divided into military districts, each having an adjutant-general, with
the rank of major, and the pay of one hundred and fifty pounds a year,
whose duty was to attend to the organization and equipment of the
militia. Such an appointment was sought by Lawrence Washington for his
brother George, who set about preparing himself, with his usual method
and assiduity, for his new duties. Virginia had among its floating
population some military relics of the late Spanish war. Among these
was a certain Adjutant Muse, a Westmoreland volunteer, who had served
with Lawrence Washington in the campaigns in the West Indies. He now
undertook to instruct his brother George in the art of war; lent him
treatises on military tactics; put him through the manual exercise,
and gave him some idea of evolutions in the field. Another of
Lawrence's campaigning comrades was Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman by
birth, who had been in the British army, but was now out of service,
and, professing to be a complete master of fence, recruited his
slender purse in this time of military excitement, by giving the
Virginian youth lessons in the sword exercise. Under the instructions
of these veterans Mount Vernon, from being a quiet rural retreat, was
suddenly transformed into a school of arms.
Washington's martial studies, however, were interrupted for a time by
the critical state of his brother's health. The constitution of
Lawrence had always been delicate, and he had been obliged repeatedly
to travel for a change of air. There were now pulmonary symptoms of a
threatening nature, and, by advice of his physicians, he determined to
pass a winter in the West Indies, taking with him his favorite brother
George as a companion. They accordingly sailed for Barbadoes on the
28th of September, 1751. George kept a journal of the voyage with
log-book brevity, recording the wind and weather, but no events worth
citation. They landed at Barbadoes on the 3d of November. The resident
physician of the place gave a favorable report of Lawrence's case, and
held out hopes of a cure.
The brothers had scarcely been a fortnight at the island when George
was taken down by a severe attack of small-pox. Skilful medical
treatment, with the kind attentions of friends, and especially of his
brother, restored him to health in about three weeks; but his face
always remained slightly marked.
The residence at Barbadoes failed to have the anticipated effect on
the health of Lawrence, and he determined to seek the sweet climate of
Bermuda in the spring. He felt the absence from his wife, and it was
arranged that George should return to Virginia, and bring her out to
meet him at that island. Accordingly, on the 22d of December, George
set sail in the "Industry," bound to Virginia, where he arrived on the
1st of February, 1752, after five weeks of stormy winter seafaring.
Lawrence remained through the winter at Barbadoes; but the very
mildness of the climate relaxed and enervated him. He felt the want of
the bracing winter weather to which he had been accustomed. Even the
invariable beauty of the climate, the perpetual summer, wearied the
restless invalid. Still some of the worst symptoms of his disorder had
disappeared, and he seemed to be slowly recovering; but the nervous
restlessness and desire of change, often incidental to his malady, had
taken hold of him, and early in March he hastened to Bermuda. He had
come too soon. The keen air of early spring brought on an aggravated
return of his worst symptoms. He was now afflicted with painful
indecision, and his letters perplexed his family, leaving them
uncertain as to his movements, and at a loss how to act. At one time
he talked of remaining at Bermuda, the next letter, written shortly
afterwards, in a moment of despondency, talks of the possibility of
"hurrying home to his grave!" The last was no empty foreboding. He did
indeed hasten back, and just reached Mount Vernon in time to die under
his own roof. His death took place on the 26th of July, 1752, when but
thirty-four years of age.
Lawrence left a wife and an infant daughter to inherit his ample
estates. In case his daughter should die without issue, the estate of
Mount Vernon, and other lands specified in his will, were to be
enjoyed by her mother during her lifetime, and at her death to be
inherited by his brother George. The latter was appointed one of the
executors of the will; but such was the implicit confidence reposed in
his judgment and integrity, that, although he was but twenty years of
age, the management of the affairs of the deceased was soon devolved
upon him almost entirely.