To George Washington from Robert Dinwiddie, 2 June 1754
From Robert Dinwiddie
Winr 2d June [1754]
Sir
I heartily wish that YrSelf & Officers had not at this Time discover’d an Uneasiness on Acct of Yr Pay especially as the long Delay of Colo. Fry’s Detachmt in not yet joining Yrs gives me too much Concern. You must all be sensible that if Yr present Establishmt is less than the first Estimate made; it was from a Calculatn of the 10,000 only granted to support the Expedition which if it had been greater my good Inclinatn wd have readily enlarged Yr Encouragemt1—The Difficulties You have undergone are obvious, the prudent Measures taken approv’d, & Yr Success in taking Monsr. Le Force & the other Prisoners highly pleasing—As soon as I was acquainted therewith I engag’d Colo. Cresap then here to take a Guard & my Letter for the delivery of them, supposing You cd not spare a sufficient Number, but as they are already advanc’d under Lieut. West’s Care, Colo. Cresap may meet & receive them this Day, & Mr West sooner return. I have sent strict Orders to Majr Muse to hasten his March by leaving the Waggons, & carrying the most necessary Provisions &ca on horseback.2 Mr Croghan has undertaken to deliver You 10,000 of Flour immediately,3 & as the Half King Monacatoocha &ca intend to secure their Families with You. I shall take care to have You supplied with Provisions for their Sustenance; Those Chiefs having taken up & dispers’d the Hatchet will soon bring a good Number of Inds. to sustain You, & wn joined by the other of our Forces now on their March, You will be enabled to improve Your Success. I doubt not Yr continuing to act with Prudence & resolution, & You may depend on my duely representing Yr Merit, that of Yr Officers & faithful Soldiers, to His M[ajest]y & our next Genl Assembly to consider of. I have sent You some Medals for YrSelf, Colo. Fry, the Half King Monacatoocha, the Chiefs of the Delawars & Shawnesse to wear as Tokens of His Majesty’s Favo. Colo. Fairfax, Colo. Corbin, Colo. Ludwell & myself being alike adorn’d. You will also receive from Capt. Montour a Belt & String of Wampum—4000 Black & 4000 white Wampum to be dispos’d as You may have occasion to make Speeches.4 The Goods You desire for the Inds. & three barrels of rum will be sent off Tomorrow & order’d to be carried with the utmost dispatch. I have likewise sent a Present of 4000 Wampum for, & a Speech to the Half King, whose reasons for not meeting me here at this Time are very allowable & I must hope for on some more favourable Occasion for I am most desirous of taking him by the Hand & assuring Him of my grateful Thanks for his firm & unshaken Friendship to the faithful Subjects of the British King his gracious Father & good Ally.5 I wish You the Officers & Soldiers perfect Health to overcome all Obstacles & the Honr of vanquishing all opponent Enemies & am Sir Yr assur’d humble Servt
P.S. The Speech is as enclos’d which You will deliver.
LB, ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers.
1. For the controversy over pay, see GW to Dinwiddie, 18, 29 May 1754, and Dinwiddie to GW, 25 May 1754. For Fry’s delay, see Dinwiddie to GW, 4 May 1754, n.3. For the grant of £10,000 from the assembly, see the editorial note to Dinwiddie to GW, Jan. 1754.
2. Dinwiddie’s instructions to George Muse, 2 June 1754, informing him that the governor was “not well pleas’d at the tediousness of Yr March at a Time wn You shd not have lost a Moment,” are in ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers.
3. Croghan undoubtedly intended to deliver this flour partly out of the supplies he had assembled to distribute to the Indians on the Ohio. See Dinwiddie to GW, 1 June 1754, n.3. He had signed a contract with John Carlyle on 31 May to deliver the flour. See Carlyle to GW, 17 June 1754.
4. Andrew Montour (died c.1775), a French and Indian fur trader, was the son of Madam Montour (c.1680–c.1760), a noted interpreter for the British, and, probably, of Roland Montour, a Seneca. By 1754 Andrew Montour had already served Pennsylvania on a number of occasions as interpreter and adviser on Indian affairs, and at the Logstown Treaty in 1752 he acted as interpreter for Virginia. In June 1754 Dinwiddie gave Montour “a Capts Como. to head a select Compa. of friendly Ind’s as Scouts” (Dinwiddie to James Hamilton, 18 June 1754, ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers). Although GW expressed his disappointment at Montour’s failure to bring more Indians to his aid before the capitulation at Fort Necessity in July, he thought well of him and in the fall of 1755 tried, unsuccessfully, to get Montour to join the new Virginia Regiment.
5. This speech, 2 June 1754, to be delivered to the Half-King by Montour, is in , 1 : 188.