Washington’s mission from the Governor of Virginia to the French
commandant, at the age of twenty-one――narrowly escapes being killed by
an Indian――came near being drowned in the Allegany river――visits Queen
Aliquippa.
Information had been received, from time to time, that the French were
making encroachments on what was deemed British territory, beyond
the Allegany mountains, and that a French army was approaching from
Canada to build forts on the Ohio river and to take possession of
the whole country. As this territory was supposed to be within the
limits of Virginia, the Governor of that colony[6] resolved to send a
messenger with a letter to the French commandant on the Ohio, to demand
of him an answer, to ascertain important facts, and to make useful
observations. Major George Washington was selected for this arduous
undertaking. His knowledge of the Indians, his habits of living and
travelling in the woods acquired on his surveying expeditions, and
certain traits in his character, well fitted him for this delicate and
important mission, though he was not yet twenty-two years of age.――He
was commissioned by the Governor on the 30th of October, 1753, and the
same day set out upon his dangerous journey.――On the 14th of November
he arrived at the mouth of Wills Creek, now Cumberland, on the river
Potomac, having engaged a French interpreter and procured the necessary
supply of provisions, horses, &c., on the way. Here he engaged Mr.
Gist, an experienced Indian trader, to accompany him; also, an Indian
interpreter, and four other men as attendants; and with these men, left
the place the next day. The excessive rains and the vast quantities of
snow which had fallen, prevented their reaching the river Monongahela
till the 22d of November.――Here they learned that expresses had been
sent down the river a few days before, with information of the French
General’s death, and the return of the greater part of the French
troops into winter quarters.
[6] Dinwiddie.
As the late rains had rendered the rivers impassable without swimming
their horses, Washington sent two of his men, with the baggage, in a
canoe, about ten miles down the river Monongahela, to meet the rest of
the party at the fork of the Ohio, now Pittsburg. As young Washington
arrived at the fork before the canoe, he spent some time in viewing the
two rivers, Monongahela and Allegany, at and near their junction which
forms the Ohio, and examining the land in the fork, which, having the
command of both rivers, he thought well situated for a fort.
On the Allegany river, about two miles above the fork, lived Shingiss,
King of the Delawares, an Indian chief friendly to the English.
Washington, with his attendants, called upon this chief, and invited
him to attend a council at a place called Logstown, about twenty miles
west of his residence. He accepted the invitation, and accompanied
Washington and his men to Logstown.――They arrived about sunset.
Washington found that the friendly chief, called the Half-King, whom
he particularly wished to see, was out at his hunting cabin on little
Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles distant. Washington, by his Indian
interpreter, informed the Half-King’s principal man at Logstown that
he was a messenger to the French commandant, and was ordered to call
upon the Sachems of the Six Nations and inform them of the fact. He
then gave him a string of wampum and a twist of tobacco, and desired
him to send for the Half-King. The man promised to dispatch a runner
for him the next morning. Washington invited him and other chief men
to his tent in the evening. They came and staid about an hour. About
three o’clock in the afternoon of the next day, the Half-King arrived.
He told Washington that the French had lately built two forts about
fifteen miles apart, one on Lake Erie, and the other on French Creek,
which falls into the Allegany from the north, and near a small lake.
He gave Washington a plan of both these forts, of his own drawing. He
said the present French commandant was at the fort on French Creek,
and that he could not reach in less than five or six nights sleep,
in good travelling. The next day, Washington met several chiefs in
council, and delivered a friendly speech to them, in which he briefly
stated the object of his visit, and requested an escort of warriors to
the French commandant. This was replied to in the same spirit by the
Half-King.――Runners were dispatched very early the next morning, for
the purpose of assembling a more full council, but not many came.――It
was, however, agreed to furnish Washington and his men a convoy,
to consist of three chiefs, namely, Half-King, Jeskakake and White
Thunder, and one of their best hunters.
They all set out from Logstown on the 30th of November, and travelled
in continual bad weather till the 4th of December, when they reached
Venango, a settlement at the place where French Creek falls into the
Allegany river. This place is now the town of Franklin, the capital
of Venango county. They saw the French colors flying at a house in
Venango. Washington went immediately to the house to inquire where
the commandant resided. Here he found a Captain and three other
French officers.――The Captain informed him that he, himself, had the
immediate command on the river, but that there was a general officer
at the first fort above, to which he advised him to proceed with his
dispatches. He invited Washington and his party to sup with him and his
officers, and treated them with great complaisance. The badness of the
weather and the winning treatment which the Indians received from the
French, combined to detain Washington and his party at Venango three
days. Monsieur La Force, commissary of the French stores, with three
soldiers, accompanied them up the Creek. The travelling was so bad they
did not reach the fort on French Creek till the 12th of December.
The French commandant was the Chevalier de Saint Pierre, a knight of
the military order of St. Louis. Washington waited on him soon after
his arrival, and was received and conducted to him by the second
officer in command. Washington acquainted the Chevalier with his
business, and presented his commission and letter. While the commandant
was in consultation with his officers upon the communication from the
Governor of Virginia, in a private apartment, Washington embraced the
opportunity of examining the strength and taking the dimensions of
the fort, and of making other observations. He was satisfied that the
garrison contained upwards of a hundred soldiers. One of his people,
by his direction, took an account of upwards of two hundred canoes,
hauled up and prepared to convey the French forces down the river at
the proper season.
On the 14th, the snow was so deep that Washington sent off his horses
very lightly loaded, in the care of four of his men, to Venango, having
determined to go down himself, with the remainder of his party, in
a canoe. Young Washington had to contend with a variety of mild and
artful means used to detain his convoy of Indians, and to draw them
away from the English interests. He was at length obliged to assume
a tone of remonstrance before he could induce the French and Indians
to part.――The French commandant, at last, ordered a plentiful store
of provisions to be put on board Washington’s boat, and appeared very
friendly and complaisant. They had a tedious passage down the Creek.
They found it extremely crooked. Several times they came near being
staved against the rocks. At times they were all hands obliged to get
out, and remain in the water half an hour or more, getting over the
shoals. At one place, the ice had lodged and blocked up the passage by
water, so that they were obliged to carry their boat a quarter of a
mile across a neck of land. They did not reach Venango till the 22d.
Here they found their horses.
The next day, when Washington was prepared to leave Venango, he
inquired of the Half-King whether he intended to go down with him by
land or to go by water. He replied that White Thunder had hurt himself
badly, and was sick and unable to walk, and that he must carry him
down in a canoe. As Washington found that the Half-King intended to
stay behind a few days, he cautioned him against the flatteries of
the French. He desired Washington not to be concerned, for he knew
the French too well to be influenced by them against the English. He
offered to order the young hunter to attend Washington and his party,
and procure provisions for them on their journey. He said he should
soon be at the forks, and there deliver a speech, to be carried to
his Honor the Governor of Virginia. Washington then took leave of the
Half-King, and with his party left Venango.
They had not proceeded far, before the horses seemed to be so feeble,
and the baggage so heavy for them, that Washington and his party,
except the drivers, dismounted and went on foot with packs on their
backs to help forward the baggage. Washington, in an Indian walking
dress, continued with his men three days under this arrangement, till
he found there was no probability of his reaching home in this manner,
in any reasonable season. He then committed the party to the charge of
his French interpreter with proper directions, tied himself up in a
watch coat, put his necessary papers into his pack with his provisions,
took his gun in his hand, and set forward with Mr. Gist, fitted in the
same manner, the nearest way home through the woods. The day following,
just after they had passed a place called _Murdering Town_, they fell
in with a party of Indians in the French interest, who had been lying
in wait for them. One of the Indians fired at Washington, not fifteen
steps from him, but providentially missed him. They instantly took the
fellow into custody, and kept him with them till about nine o’clock in
the evening, when they let him go, and walked all night without making
any stop, that they might get so far the start of the Indians as to be
out of the reach of their pursuit the next day, having no doubt their
tracks would be followed as soon as it was light.
The next day they continued travelling till it was quite dark, when
they reached the Allegany river about two miles above the forks of
the Ohio. There was no way for them to get over the river but upon a
raft. The next morning they set about making one, with the assistance
of but one poor hatchet, and finished it just after sunset.――The next
day they launched it, went on board and pushed off; but before they
were half across the river, they were so wedged in between flakes of
ice running forcibly down stream, that they expected every moment their
raft would sink and themselves perish. Young Washington put out his
setting pole to stop the raft, that the ice might pass by it, when the
rapidity of the stream threw the ice with so much violence against his
pole that it jerked him into the river. He instantly seized hold of
one of the raft logs and saved himself from the dashing flakes of ice,
by springing to his former station on the raft. In spite of all their
efforts they could not get to either shore; but were obliged to quit
their raft and pass from one mass of ice to another, till they reached
a small island in the river. Here they spent the night. The cold was
so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and part of his
toes frozen. They left the island the next morning, on the ice, without
difficulty, and went to the house of a trader, on the Monongahela, a
few miles distant. About three miles from this house, there was an
Indian settlement on the spot where the Monongahela and Youghiogany
rivers unite, where the Indian Queen Alliquippa held her rude court.
She had expressed great concern that Washington and his party had
passed her by without attention, on his way to the French fort; and, as
he was now waiting for horses, (which, by the by, he failed to obtain,)
he took this opportunity to make a visit to her majesty. Though it is
evident that Queen Alliquippa, like persons of similar rank and birth
in Europe, was very tenacious of the respect due to royalty, we are not
informed by Washington, with what particular marks of attention she
received him. We may, however, form some idea of the style which he
found prevalent at court, from the nature of the present which he made
her. He presented her with a box coat.
About thirty miles from this Indian settlement, Washington bought a
fresh horse, rode on to Wills Creek, and reached Williamsburg on the
16th of January, 1754.――He immediately waited upon the Governor,
delivered his letter from the French commandant, together with a
journal of his proceedings and observations during the tour. This
journal was published in England, and has been several times reprinted
in this country. Major Washington thus completed his perilous
expedition, and accomplished the objects of it in such a faithful and
able manner as gave entire satisfaction.