Upon his arrival, Major Washington hastened at once to lay before Gov.
Dinwiddie, and the Virginia Legislature then in session, the French
general's letter, and the journal he had kept during the expedition.
In his letter, the French general spoke in high and flattering terms
of the character and talents of young Washington; but, in language
most decided and unmistakable, refused to withdraw his troops from the
disputed territory, or cease building forts therein, as had been
demanded of him, unless so ordered by his royal master, the King of
France, to whose wishes only he owed respect and obedience. From the
tenor of this letter, it was plainly enough to be seen (what might, in
fact, have been seen before), that the French were not in the least
inclined to give up, at the mere asking, all that they had been at so
much pains and expense at gaining. It therefore followed, that as the
title to this bit of forest land could not be written with the pen, on
fair paper, in letters of Christian ink, it must needs be written with
the sword, on the fair earth, in letters of Christian blood. By this,
the little folks are to understand their Uncle Juvinell to mean that
war alone could settle the question between them. And this
unreasonable behavior, on the part of two great nations, has already,
I doubt not, brought to your minds the story of two huge giants, who,
chancing to meet one night, fell into a long and stormy dispute with
each other about the possession of a fair bit of meadow-land they had
happened to spy out at the same moment, where it lay in the lower horn
of the moon; and who finally, like the silly monsters that they were,
began belaboring each other with their heavy malls, as if the last
hope of beating a little reason in were to beat a few brains out.
To drive and keep back the French and their Indian allies, Gov.
Dinwiddie made a call on the Virginia militia, and wrote to the
governors of some of the neighboring provinces, urging them, for their
common defence, to do the same. To strengthen their borders, and give
security to their frontier settlers, a small party of pioneers and
carpenters were sent to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, as
Washington had recommended in his journal. This journal, by the way,
throwing, as it did, so much new light on the designs of the French in
America, was thought worthy of publication, not only throughout the
Colonies, but also in the mother-country. The good sense, skill,
address, and courage shown by the young Virginian throughout the late
expedition, had drawn upon him the eyes of his countrymen; and, from
that time forward, he became the hope and promise of his native land.
As a proof of this high regard, he was offered the command of the
regiment to be raised: which, however, he refused to accept; for his
modesty told him that he was too young and inexperienced to be
intrusted with a matter of such moment to his country. To Col. Fry, an
officer of some note in the province, the command of the regiment was
therefore given; under whom he was quite willing to accept the post of
lieutenant-colonel.
Notwithstanding the pressing danger that threatened all alike, the
people were shamefully slow in answering the summons to arms.
Washington had felt confident, that, at the very first tap of the
drum, squads upon squads of active, sturdy, well-fed, well-clothed
young farmers, moved by the same spirit with himself, would come
flocking to his standard with their trusty rifles, powder-horns, and
hunting-pouches, ready and eager to do their country service. Instead
of this, however, there gathered, about him a rabble of ragamuffins
and worthless fellows, who had spent their lives in tramping up and
down the country, without settled homes or occupations.
Some were without hats and shoes; some had coats, and no shirts; some
had shirts, and no coats; and all were without arms, or any keen
desire to use them if they had them. All this disgusted and
disheartened our youthful colonel not a little; for he was young, and
had yet to learn that it is of just such stuff that the beginnings of
armies are always made. The slender pay of a soldier was not enough to
tempt the thriving yeomanry to leave their rich acres and snug
firesides to undergo the hardships and dangers of a camp life; as if,
by failing to answer their country's call, and fighting in its
defence, they were not running a still greater risk of losing all they
had.
To encourage the young men of the province to come forward, Gov.
Dinwiddie caused it to be proclaimed, that two hundred thousand acres
of the very best land on the head-waters of the Ohio should be divided
between those that should enlist and serve during the war. This
splendid offer had, in some small measure, the effect desired; so
that, in a short time, something like an army was cobbled together,
with which, poor and scantily provided as it was, they at last
resolved to take the field.
Col. Washington, in command of the main body, was ordered to go on in
advance, and cut a military road through the wilderness, in the
direction of the new fort at the Forks of the Ohio, by way of the
Monongahela; while Col. Fry was to remain behind with the rest of the
troops, to bring up the cannon and heavy stores when the road should
be opened. When the pioneers had cut their way about twenty miles
beyond the frontier town of Winchester, there came a rumor, that the
men who had been sent to build the fort at the Forks of the Ohio had
all been surprised and captured by the French. In a few days, all
doubts as to the truth of this report were set at rest by the men
themselves, who came walking leisurely into camp, with their spades
and axes on their shoulders, to every appearance quite well and
comfortable.
For several days, they said, they had been working away on the fort
quite merrily; when, early one morning, they were much surprised to
see one thousand Frenchmen, in sixty bateaux, or boats, and three
hundred canoes, with six pieces of cannon, dropping quietly down the
Alleghany. The leader of this gallant little force summoned the fort
to surrender in the short space of an hour, or else they would find
their unfinished timber-work tumbling about their heads in a way that
would not be altogether agreeable. No one with even half his wits
about him would have for a moment thought of defending an unfinished
fort with axes, spades, and augers, against a force of twenty times
their number, backed by cannon and grape-shot. These men had all their
wits about them, and, to prove it, gave up the fort without further
parley; when the French captain marched in, and took formal possession
of the wooden pen in the name of his most Christian majesty, the King
of France; after which, with that gayety and good-humor so often to
be observed among the French people, he invited the young ensign--who,
in the absence of the captain, had been left in the command of the
fort for that day--to dine and drink a glass of wine with him. He then
suffered them all to depart in peace with his good wishes, and with
their spades, carpenter's tools, and axes on their shoulders.
Col. Washington was deeply mortified at this intelligence; but, like
the manly man that he was, he put a bright face on the matter, and, to
keep up the spirits of his men, resolved to push on with the road with
more vigor than ever. And a tremendous undertaking this was, I assure
you. The tallest of trees were to be felled, the hugest of rocks to be
split and removed, the deepest of swamps to be filled, and the
swiftest of mountain torrents bridged over. With such hinderances, you
will not wonder that they made but four miles a day. Now and then, the
soldiers would be obliged to put their shoulders to the wheel, and
help the poor half-famished horses with their heavy wagons up some
rough and rocky steep. Thus over the gloomy mountains, and down the
rugged defiles, and through a dark and lonely valley since called the
Shades of Death, they forced their toilsome way. At last, after many
weary days, they reached the banks of the Youghiogeny,--a romantic
little river that went tumbling down the green hills in many a foaming
waterfall; then, like a frolicsome school-boy nearing school, put on
a demure and sober face, and quietly emptied itself into the more
tranquil Monongahela. Here, to give his worn-out men and horses some
repose after their severe and unceasing labors, Washington ordered a
halt.
Being told by some friendly Indians that the baggage could be carried
down this stream by water, he set out early one morning in a canoe,
with four or five white men, and an Indian for a guide, to see for
himself what truth there might be in this report. When they had rowed
about ten miles, their Indian guide, after sulking for a little while,
laid his oar across the canoe, and refused to go further. At first,
this behavior appeared to them a little queer; but they were not long
in discovering that it was only a way the cunning red rascal had of
higgling to get more pay for his services. After some pretty sharp
bargaining, Col. Washington promised to give him his old watch-coat
and a ruffled shirt if he would go on; upon which, without more ado,
he picked up his oar, and for the rest of the trip steered away
blithely enough. You can well imagine what an uncommon swell this
savage dandy, with his bare red legs, must have cut, a few days after,
in his civilized finery, among the copper-cheeked belles of the woods.
By the time they had rowed twenty miles further, Washington was
satisfied, that, owing to the rocks and rapids, a passage down this
river in the shallow canoes of the Indians was next to impossible.
Returning to camp, he soon afterwards received word from his old
friend and ally, the Half King, that a party of French had been seen
coming from the direction of Fort Duquesne, who were in all
likelihood, by that time, somewhere in his close neighborhood. Upon
hearing this, Washington deemed it prudent to fall back a few miles to
the Great Meadows, a beautiful little plain, situated in the midst of
woods and hills, and divided by a rivulet. Here he threw up strong
intrenchments, cleared away the undergrowth, and prepared what he
called "a charming field for an encounter." Shortly after, Mr. Gist,
whom you well remember, came into camp, from his home on the
Monongahela, with the tidings, that a party of French had been at his
house on the day before, whom, from their appearance, he believed to
be spies. Washington sent out some of his men on wagon-horses to beat
the woods; who came in about dusk, without having, however, discovered
any traces of the enemy. About nine o'clock that same night, an Indian
runner came from the Half King with word, that some of his hunters had
late that evening seen the tracks of two Frenchmen not five miles
distant; and that, if Col. Washington would join him with some of his
men, they would set out early in the morning in quest of the lurking
foe.
Taking with him about forty men, and leaving the rest to guard the
intrenchments, Washington set out forthwith for the Indian camp. Their
way led them through tall and thick woods, that were then in the full
leaf of early summer. As if to deepen their gloom, the sky was
overcast with the blackest of clouds, from which the rain poured down
in torrents; and the night, of course, was as dark as dark could be.
No wonder, then, that they were continually losing their path, which
was but a deer-track, and none of the plainest, even in broad
daylight. When any one discovered that he had lost himself, he would
shout, and set himself right again by the answering shouts of his
comrades who might be so lucky as to be in the path at that moment.
After blundering about all night through marshy thickets, slipping
upon slimy rocks, and scrambling over the oozy trunks of fallen trees,
they reached the Indian camp at daybreak in a somewhat moist and
bedabbled plight, as you may well imagine. The Half King seemed
overjoyed at seeing his young white brother once more; and, with true
Indian hospitality, set before him and his men the best his camp
afforded. After breakfasting heartily on bear's meat, venison, and
parched corn, they all set out together, much refreshed, to seek what
game might be in the wind. The Half King led the way to the spot where
the two tracks had been seen the evening before; and, having found
them, told two of his sharp-eyed hunters to follow the trail until
they could bring some tidings of the feet that had made them. Like
hounds on the scent of a fox, they started off at a long trot; only
pausing now and then to look more closely at the leaves, to make sure
they were right, and not on a cold scent. In a short time, they came
back with word that they had spied twenty-five or thirty French and
Canadians encamped in a low, narrow bottom, between high and steep
hills, who looked as if they were desirous of concealment. Whereupon
Washington proposed that the two parties should divide, and, stealing
upon the enemy from opposite directions, surprise and capture him, if
possible, without the shedding of blood. To this the Half King agreed;
and, parting, they moved off in profound silence, each on their
separate way.
A sudden turn of the hollow, down which they had been making their way
for several minutes, brought Washington and his party, ere they were
well aware, in full view of the enemy. Some were cooking their
morning's meal, some were preparing their arms for the day's
excursion, some were lounging, and all were merry. But, seeing as soon
as seen, they ran with all speed to their guns, that were leaned
against the trees hard by, and, without more ado, began firing in so
brisk and earnest a manner, that left the Virginians no choice but to
return it, which they did with spirit. About the same time, the Half
King and his warriors came down to the bottom of the hill on the
opposite side of the hollow, and, screening themselves behind a bit of
rising ground, joined the music of their rifles with the rest. For
about fifteen minutes, the skirmish was kept up with great spirit on
both sides; when the French, having lost ten of their number (among
whom was their leader, Capt. de Jumonville), surrendered, and yielded
up their arms. Washington had one man shot dead at his side, and three
men wounded; but his Indian allies, protected as they were by the
rising ground, came off without the loss of a single feather or
porcupine-quill. Unluckily, in the heat of the encounter, a
swift-footed Canadian, better, no doubt, at dodging than shooting,
managed to make his escape, and carried the news to Fort Duquesne.
The Half King and his warriors, I am sorry to tell you, would have
butchered the prisoners in cold blood, had not Washington sternly
forbidden them. They therefore consoled themselves as best they might
for this disappointment by scalping the dead; which, however, yielded
them but sorry comfort, as there were but ten scalps to be divided
among forty warriors.
The Half King was much offended by this humane interference, on the
part of his young white brother, in behalf of the prisoners; for he
seemed to think, that as they were spies, and French spies at that,
they richly deserved to be scalped alive. Such milk-and-water,
half-way measures might do for pale-faces, but were not the sort of
entertainment to be relished by a genuine Indian brave of the first
water, or, to speak more to the point, of the first blood.
Without, however, in the least heeding these muttered grumblings of
the worthy old chief, who had his failings along with the rest of
mankind, Col. Washington took the prisoners to his camp, where he
treated them with even more kindness and courtesy than they as spies
deserved. From thence he sent them under a strong guard to
Williamsburg, and wrote to Gov. Dinwiddie, begging him to treat them
with all the humanity due to prisoners of war, but to keep a strict
watch over them, as there were among them two or three very cunning
and dangerous men.
This encounter, commonly called the Jumonville affair, caused a great
sensation, not only throughout the Colonies, but also in France and
England; for it was there, as you must know, in that remote and
obscure little valley, that flowed the first blood of this long and
eventful war. It was Washington's first battle; and, being a
successful one, much inspirited him. In a letter written at this time
to his brother Augustine, after touching upon the particulars of this
skirmish, he says, "I heard the bullets whistle; and, believe me,
there is something charming in the sound."