18. The date of the commission’s receipt as given here is in error. Dinwiddie wrote to GW 15 Mar. enclosing the commission as lieutenant colonel of the Virginia Regiment, “pay, 12s. 6d. per day” (ViHi), and GW acknowledged its receipt 20 Mar. (WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:35–36).

19. In Alexandria, GW was facing the perennial problems of recruiting and supply. On 9 Mar. he wrote to Dinwiddie: “I have increased my number of Men to abt. 25, and dare venture to say, I should have had several more if the excessive bad weather did not prevent their meeting agreeable to their Officer’s Commands. We daily Experience the great necessity for Cloathing the Men, as we find the generality of those, who are to be Enlisted, are of those loose, Idle Persons, that are quite destitute of House, and Home, and, I may truly say, many of them of Cloaths; which last, renders them very incapable of the necessary Service, as they must unavoidably be expos’d to inclement weather in their Marches, &c., and can expect no other than to encounter almost every difficulty, that’s incident to a Soldiers Life. There is many of them without Shoes, others want Stockings, some are without Shirts, and not a few that have Scarce a Coat, or Waistcoat to their Backs; in short, they are as illy provided as can well be conceiv’d” (ViHi).

20. Peter Hog (1703–1782), a native of Edinburgh, settled in Augusta County about 1745. He was commissioned a captain in the Virginia Regiment 9 Mar. 1754. In July 1756 he was chosen to erect a line of frontier forts commissioned by the Virginia Assembly. Hog was licensed to practice law on 10 May 1759, and in 1772 Lord Dunmore appointed him prosecuting attorney for Dunmore County. He eventually became a landowner of considerable importance with extensive holdings in Kentucky and western Virginia.

21. Jacob Van Braam had accompanied GW on his journey to the French commandant in 1753. According to a memorial Van Braam presented to Lord George Germain 31 July 1777, he was “formerly a Lieutenant in the Dutch Service—that having some connections in America, he went to that Country in the Year 1752. In 1753 he was sent with Mr. Washington to the French who were at that time erecting Forts on the Ohio—that the Year after (the French still pursuing their incroachments) the Virginians raised a Regiment of which your Memorialist had the sole disciplining—that Mr. Washington who was Colonel of the said Regiment being compelled by a superior force of Canadians and Indians to surrender Fort Necessity, your Memoralist was sent as an Hostage to Canada, where he was kept in a Gaol for several years ’till the reduction of that Country” (P.R.O., C.O.5/116, ff. 2–24). Van Braam’s role in translating the articles of capitulation of Fort Necessity aroused so much criticism in Virginia that his name was omitted from the list of officers thanked by the Assembly for their participation in the campaign. By 1761, however, tempers had cooled and Van Braam was specifically recommended by Gov. Francis Fauquier for a commission in the British army (Fauquier to William Pitt, 3 April 1761, P.R.O., C.O.30/8/32, ff. 17–18). He was also granted 9,000 acres of land as an officer in the Virginia Regiment (VA. EXEC. JLS. description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. 6 vols. Richmond, 1925–66. description ends , 6:440, 549). He subsequently received a commission in the Royal American Regiment. At the end of the war he went on half pay and settled on “a considerable farm” in Wales. In 1775 he was again appointed to a company in one of the battalions of the Royal American Regiment and sent to Saint Augustine in East Florida (P.R.O., C.O.5/116, ff. 21–24). He served as captain in the British army in the Georgia campaign and sold his commission in 1779. After the war he apparently settled in France (see Van Braam to GW, 20 Dec. 1783, DLC:GW).

22. The surgeon who accompanied the expedition was Dr. James Craik (1730–1814), a native of Arbigland, Scot. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he emigrated in 1750, first to the West Indies and then to Virginia, opening a practice in Norfolk, where he was living when commissioned in the Virginia Regiment 7 Mar. 1754. During the French and Indian War he was stationed at Winchester and served in the Braddock campaign. At the close of the war he settled on a plantation at Port Tobacco, Charles County, Md. During the Revolution, Craik held, among other posts, that of chief physician and surgeon of the Continental Army. He was a frequent visitor to Mount Vernon, especially when there was illness in the family and among the slaves, accompanied GW on his journey to the Ohio and Kanawha rivers in 1770 and 1784, and attended him in his last illness.

23. Carolus Gustavus de Spiltdorf was commissioned an ensign in the Virginia Regiment 21 July 1754 and promoted to lieutenant 29 Oct. 1754. He was killed during Braddock’s Defeat 9 July 1755.

24. Cameron was located at the head of Hunting Creek, Fairfax County. Although only the site of an inn or ordinary, it gained some importance from its site at the junction of several roads and as a mustering place for militia meetings (see HARRISON [1] description begins Fairfax Harrison. Landmarks of Old Prince William: A Study of Origins in Northern Virginia. Berryville, Va., 1964. description ends , 414–15).

Although the printed diary does not indicate the route taken by the expedition from Cameron, it can be partially reconstructed from the account of GW’s expenses submitted to the colony of Virginia in Oct. 1754 (DLC:GW). It appears likely that after leaving Cameron he proceeded through Loudoun County to the establishment of the Quaker Edward Thompson at the later site of Hillsboro (“To Expences of the Regimt. at Edward Thompsons in Marching up 2.16.6”). The regiment crossed the Blue Ridge at Vestal’s Gap 8 April and proceeded across the Shenandoah by ferry (“To Bacon for [the regiment] of John Vestal at Shanandoah & Ferriages over 1.9.0”) and on to Winchester. The next stage was to Joseph Edwards’s fort on Cacapon Creek (“To an Express at Edwards’s 2.6”), then to Job Pearsal’s on the right bank of the South Branch of the Potomac, then to Thomas Cresap’s establishment near the mouth of the South Branch, and on to Wills Creek.

In the Contrecoeur version the following entry appears for 17 April: “About noon I met Mr. Gist who had been sent from Oyo on express by the Half King in order to find out when the English could be expected there. He informed me that the Indians are very angry at our delay, and that they threaten to abandon the country; that the French are expected every day at the lower part of the river; that the fort is begun, but hardly advanced; and several other particulars” (CONTRECOEUR DIARY description begins Donald H. Kent, ed. Contrecoeur’s Copy of George Washington’s Journal for 1754. Harrisburg, Pa., 1952. description ends , 12).

25. Adam Stephen (c.1718–1791) was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After briefly pursuing a career in the British navy, Stephen settled down to the practice of medicine in Virginia. He joined the Virginia Regiment in 1754 as a captain and was later promoted to lieutenant colonel. He took part in the Braddock campaign in 1755 and in 1756 was among the forces sent against the Creeks in South Carolina, serving with the Virginia troops until 1758. During Pontiac’s rebellion he again joined the army and faced charges in 1764 that he used militia to guard wagons carrying his own property. The charges were dismissed, but he was censured for sending Virginia troops out of the colony (JHB description begins H. R. McIlwaine and John Pendleton Kennedy, eds. Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. 13 vols. Richmond, 1905–15. description ends , 1761–65, 296–98). In Feb. 1776 he was appointed colonel of the 4th Virginia Regiment and in Sept. 1776 a brigadier general in the Continental Army. In Oct. 1777 he was charged with “Acting unlike an officer” at Germantown. He was dismissed from the service in Nov. 1777. After the war he lived on his farm in Berkeley County (now West Virginia) and in 1788 served as a member of the Virginia Convention to ratify the Constitution.

26. Job Pearsal was “one of the first settlers on the south branch of the Potomac, at or near the site of the present town of Romney. His cabin, on the right bank of the stream, was surrounded by a stockade. . . . This was on the line of the main road between Winchester, the forts on Patterson creek, Oldtown and Fort Cumberland” (TONER [3] description begins J. M. Toner, ed. Journal of Colonel George Washington, Commanding a Detachment of Virginia Troops, Sent by Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, across the Alleghany Mountains, in 1754, to Build Forts at the Head of the Ohio. Albany, 1893. description ends , 30). See also KOONTZ, 138.

27. Trent had left Ens. Edward Ward in charge of the construction of the proposed fort at the mouth of the Monongahela while he returned to Wills Creek for provisions. Shortly after Trent’s departure, Ward received word that a body of French were marching on the fort. Upon the advice of the Half-King, Ward hastily threw up a stockade at the Forks. On 17 April the French forces appeared with a summons to surrender. Since the French had some 1,000 men to Ward’s 41 he was forced to comply. For Ward’s deposition on his surrender, see GIST description begins William M. Darlington, ed. Christopher Gist’s Journals with Historical, Geographical and Ethnological Notes and Biographies of his Contemporaries. Pittsburgh, 1893. description ends , 275–78.

28. Claude Pierre Pécaudy, sieur de Contrecoeur (1706–1775), had begun his military career in the French army as an ensign in 1729. He advanced to the rank of lieutenant in 1742 and to captain in 1748, and in 1754 was ordered to construct a fort at the Forks of the Ohio and put in command of French forces in the Ohio country. He retired from the army in 1759 and established residence in Canada, where, in 1774, he was appointed to the legislative council of the Province of Quebec.

Contrecoeur’s “Summons” to Ward to surrender the stockade is in PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR description begins Fernand Grenier, ed. Papiers Contrecœur et autres documents concernant le conflit anglo-français sur l’Ohio de 1745 à 1756. Quebec, 1952. description ends , 117–19. In it he warned the English that the French government would not tolerate expansion into the Ohio country.

29. Venango (now Franklin, Pa.) was at the junction of the Allegheny River and French Creek. “Peninsula” is a translation, not of Venango, but of Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.), on Lake Erie.

30. Ward noted in his deposition the strong support given to his detachment by the Half-King, who had helped him to erect the fort. The chief “stormed greatly at the French at the Time they were oblieged to march out of the Fort and told them it was he Order’d that Fort and laid the first Log of it himself, but the French paid no Regard to what he said” (GIST description begins William M. Darlington, ed. Christopher Gist’s Journals with Historical, Geographical and Ethnological Notes and Biographies of his Contemporaries. Pittsburgh, 1893. description ends , 278).

31. The Ohio Company had erected a store on the right bank of Red Stone Creek (Brownsville, Pa.) in Jan. 1754.

32. Ward was in Williamsburg by 4 May. On that day Dinwiddie informed the council of Ward’s surrender and presented it a copy of “the Resolve of a Council of War held thereupon.” The council requested “that his Honour would Signifie by a Letter to Col. Washington that his Conduct in General has been approved of, more particularly the Caution he has taken in halting at Red Stone Creek, til they have Assembled a Sufficient Body to secure themselves & Cannon and then to proceed to Monongahela” (VA. EXEC. JLS. description begins H. R. McIlwaine et al., eds. Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia. 6 vols. Richmond, 1925–66. description ends , 5:468–69).

GW’s letter to Gov. Horatio Sharpe of Maryland is printed, under 27 April, in WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:43–44. The letter to Gov. James Hamilton of Pennsylvania, dated 24 April, is in the University of Pittsburgh libraries.

33. For GW’s letter to Dinwiddie, dated 25 April 1754, see P.R.O., C.O.5/14, f. 191. It is entirely possible that a copy of the letter was not included in the original diary but was found among GW’s papers by the French after the capture of Fort Necessity.

34. Dinwiddie relayed GW’s plan regarding the southern Indians to South Carolina Gov. James Glen. Glen, unenthusiastic about the proposal, replied, 1 June 1754, that “the Catawbas, the Cherokees, Creeks, and Chickesaws . . . are not only in perfect Peace and Friendship with one another, but were never more strongly attached to the British Interest. If this were to be disputed, let Facts speak; they come when we send for them, they go when they are bid and they do whatever is desired of them. . . . What Benefit then do you propose by sending so many pressing Messages to prevail with these Four Nations or with the Five Nations in New York to come to Virginia. . . . I will answer for their good Behavior with my Life, if your Province does not interfere” (S.C. IND. AFF. DOCS. description begins William L. McDowell, Jr., ed. Documents relating to Indian Affairs. 2 vols. Columbia, S.C., 1958-70. In Colonial Records of South Carolina, 2d ser., vols. 2–3. description ends , 21 May 1750–7 Aug. 1754, 524–28).

35. In recruiting men to construct the fort at the Forks, Trent had apparently promised them pay of 2s. per day, the amount commonly allowed volunteers; however, he had enlisted the men in the militia, where the rate allowed private soldiers was 8d. per day (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:117). Although Dinwiddie’s instructions to Trent are not specific on this point, he may have intended Trent’s men to be enlisted for a brief period as volunteers (see DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:55–56). GW had additional reason to fear unrest among his men since four of them had been detected in a plan to desert when the company had arrived in Winchester. An entry in GW’s account book notes: “April 10. To Cash to B: Hamilton for discovering the Plot of 4 Soldrs. to Desert. 1.4” (DLC:GW). GW continued to have trouble with Trent’s soldiers until, against his orders, they finally dispersed (GW to Dinwiddie, 18 May 1754, ViHi).

36. “Brother Bucks” was the Indian name of the trader George Croghan, Ens. Edward Ward’s half brother; however, it was Ward who brought the Half-King’s speech to GW in company with two young men of the Mingoes.

37. GW inherited the Indian name given to his great-grandfather, John Washington. The name signified “town taker” or “devourer of villages.” In his “Biographical Memoranda,” comments written in 1786 on a projected biography of him by David Humphreys, GW stated that during the 1753 journey to the French commandant he “was named by the half-King (as he was called) and the tribes of Nations with whom he treated, Caunotaucarius (in English) the Town taker; which name being registered in their Manner and communicated to other Nations of Indians, has been remembered by them ever since in all their transactions with him during the late War” (anonymous donor).

38. The version of GW’s diary found among Contrecoeur’s papers contains the following entries for some of the missing days:

“May 4. We met Captain Trente’s factor who informed us that 400 more French had certainly arrived at the fort and that the same number were expected in a short time. He also informed us that they were busy building two strong houses, one upon the Oyo, and the other upon the River Mal engueulée [Monongahela], both of them about three hundred rods from their junction; and that they are setting up a battery on an islet between them.

“May 5. We were joined by another trader coming from Aliganie who confirmed the same news, and who added that the French were building in the place where the Oyo Company had at first intended to build a fort, at the mouth of the small River Shuttiés [Chartiers Creek].

“May 7. We met a trader who informed us that the French had come to the mouth of the River Rouge [Red Stone Creek], and that they had taken possession of it with about four hundred men.

“May 8. This report was contradicted by some other traders who came directly from there.

“May 10. A trader arrived from the Wyendot country, having passed by the Mal engueulé forks where he had seen the Half King and the other chiefs of the Six Nations who had just received the speech I had sent them. The Half King showed the pleasure it had given him and, before the trader left, a detachment of 50 men was sent to meet us. He informs me that the French are working with all their might to build a fort on the point which I had indicated to the government. On the way this same merchant met M. La Force at Mr. Gist’s new plantation with three other Frenchmen and two Indians who had come to reconnoiter the country of the River Rouge and the vicinity under the specious pretense of hunting deserters” (CONTRECOEUR DIARY description begins Donald H. Kent, ed. Contrecoeur’s Copy of George Washington’s Journal for 1754. Harrisburg, Pa., 1952. description ends , 18–20).

Some of GW’s activities for the missing period can be reconstructed from his letter written from the Little Meadows to Robert Dinwiddie 9 May (ViHi). During these days his command began the slow push from Wills Creek. The initial problem was transportation. William Trent had been ordered to have packhorses waiting at Wills Creek to convey troops and supplies, but when GW arrived “there was none in readiness, nor any in expectation, that I could perceive.” The troops were therefore compelled to wait until wagons could be procured from the South Branch of the Potomac some 40 miles away. The wagons probably did not arrive until 29 April. For the party to reach the Ohio Company’s new store at Red Stone Creek, it was necessary to improve and widen the existing road; GW detached a body of 60 men for the work, “which party since the 25th. of Apl., and the main body since the 1st. Instt. have been laboriously employ’d, and have got no further than these Meadows abt. 20 Miles from the new Store, where we have been two Days making a Bridge across and are not done yet.” The pace slowed to as little as four miles a day, and reports poured into camp that the French were on the march.

39. William La Péronie (Peyroney), a native of France who settled in Virginia about 1750, had apparently had previous military experience and was appointed an ensign in the Virginia Regiment. He was wounded in the engagement at Fort Necessity. In a letter of 12 June 1754 to Dinwiddie, GW warmly recommended him for promotion to adjutant, noting that he had been “sensibly chagrined, when I acquainted him with your pleasure, of giving him an ensigncy. This he had twelve years ago, and long since commanded a company” (WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:76–84). He received the appointment of adjutant and was killed at Braddock’s Defeat.

40. Christopher Gist’s new settlement was in central Fayette County, Pa., near present-day Mount Braddock.

Adam Stephen described this incident in his “Autobiography”: “On the 11th of May 1754 he [Stephen] was detached by Col. Washington from the Little Meadows, an Encampment about 20 miles above Fort Cumberland, with Monsieur Perony an Ensign, & 25 men; to apprehend Monsieur Jumonville, La Force & other Frenchmen, detached from Fort du Quesne to Reconnoitre the Country.

“Stephens Carried only four days provision with him; & there fell such a heavy rain, that it raisd all the Rivers in the Mountains; he sent out Hunters to kill provisions; employd the Rest in making Rafts, & with labour & difficulty crossd all the Rivers.

“He at last arrivd with his detachmt. on the Monongahela near Redstone, & was informed by Some Indian Traders, whom the French had permitted to Retire; that Joumonville & his party finding the Weather unsuitable for Reconnoitering had returnd down the River to Fort du Quesne the day before. Stephens unwilling to Return to Washington without Some thing to Say, bethought himself of sending a Spy to Fort du Quesne for Intelligence. It was distant about 37 miles.

“He pitched upon a person that in five days brought him the most Satisfactory & Accurate Acct of every thing at Fort du Quesne. . . .

“Stephens was amazed at so great an Accuracy, & it immediately enterd into his head; that the fellow had got five pounds of him for the Scout, & that probably he had Recevd. as much of the French for informing them of his Strength & Situation. This occasiond as Quick a Return to Meet Washington as possible” (PPL: Benjamin Rush Papers).

41. James Innes (d. 1759) was born in Scotland and emigrated to North Carolina some time after 1733. He settled in Wilmington and in 1740–41 commanded the Cape Fear Company in the campaign against Cartagena. After his return to North Carolina, he became a planter and served as colonel of the New Hanover County militia. In 1750 he was appointed to the North Carolina Council. At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, he was named commander of the North Carolina forces and, after Joshua Fry’s death, was appointed by his friend Governor Dinwiddie to overall command of the combined colonial forces for the expedition against the French in the Ohio Valley (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:194–95). He held various posts during the war—among them campmaster general and governor of Fort Cumberland.

42. Although these estimates were optimistic, similar information was sent by Dinwiddie to Capel Hanbury of London 10 May 1754 (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:153–55).

The Contrecoeur version of the diary has the following entry: “May 15. I learned by letter, among other things, that Governor Charlay [William Shirley of Massachusetts] had sent six hundred men to harass the French in Canada. I hope that that will give them something to do, and will hinder them from sending so many forces to the River Oyo” (CONTRECOEUR DIARY description begins Donald H. Kent, ed. Contrecoeur’s Copy of George Washington’s Journal for 1754. Harrisburg, Pa., 1952. description ends , 20). As the information is similar to that contained in the entry for 12 May, the date may be in error.

43. Dinwiddie’s letter to GW is dated 4 May 1754 (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:148–49). Capt. James Mackay and his company from South Carolina did not catch up with the Virginians until 14 June. The South Carolina force and its captain were part of the regular British army establishment, a fact which raised the delicate question of rank between Mackay, who held the king’s commission, and GW, whose commission was provincial. Officers holding royal commissions had proved reluctant on other occasions to take orders from officers of higher rank in the provincial forces. Dinwiddie himself may have had misgivings about possible friction; in his letter of 4 May to GW he noted that Mackay “appears to be an Officer of some Experience and Importance, You will . . . so well agree as not to let some Punctillios ab’t Com’d render the Service You are all engag’d in, perplexed or obstructed” (ViHi).

James Mackay (d. 1785) had been appointed an ensign in a Georgia independent company of foot in 1737 and had served at Fort Diego, Fla., where he was promoted to lieutenant in May 1740. In Feb. 1741/42 he was promoted to captain lieutenant and in July 1745 to captain in Oglethorpe’s Regiment. After the disbandment of this regiment in 1749, he was made captain of one of the newly organized independent companies in South Carolina. He apparently resigned his commission in 1755 and returned to Georgia, where he was an active politician, an extensive landowner, and proprietor of Strathy Hall. In 1785 he went to Rhode Island for his health and died at Alexandria, Va., on his return journey to Georgia (GW to Robert Sinclair, 6 May 1792, DLC:GW). For the friction of command between GW and Mackay, see also HARDEN description begins William Harden. “James Mackay, of Strathy Hall, Comrade in Arms of George Washington.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 1 (1917): 77–98. description ends .

44. The question of the discrepancy between the pay of British officers and that of provincial officers had rankled with GW’s troops throughout the campaign. By 18 May the irritation of GW and the officers of his command reached the boiling point. At the beginning of the campaign the question was not definitely decided, but the estimate was 15s. per day for a lieutenant colonel and 12s. 6d. for a major. GW had objected to the sums at the time as being lower than the pay of corresponding ranks in the British regular army (GW to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754, ViHi). Dinwiddie, however, had assured him that subsistence for the officers would be provided. When GW’s commission was sent to him, the pay had been reduced to 12s. 6d. for a lieutenant colonel and 10s. for a major, with a corresponding reduction for lesser ranks (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:106–7, 112–15). Ward had presumably brought word to GW’s camp that the committee of the General Assembly overseeing expenditure had refused an increase. GW wrote to Dinwiddie 18 May, transmitting a written memorial from his officers protesting pay and rations: “I am heartily concerned, that the officers have such real cause to complain of the Committee’s resolves; and still more to find my inclinations prone to second their just grievances.” Although GW was reluctant to surrender his commission, “I would rather prefer the great toil of a daily laborer, and dig for a maintenance . . . than serve upon such ignoble terms; for I really do not see why the lives of his Majesty’s subjects in Virginia should be of less value, than of those in other parts of his American dominions. . . . Upon the whole, I find so many clogs upon the expedition, that I quite despair of success” (ViHi). Dinwiddie responded angrily 25 May, expressing surprise at “Such ill timed Complaints. . . . The Gent. very well knew the Terms on w’ch they were to serve. . . . Thus much, in answer to the paper signed by Capt. Stephen and others. Now, Colo. W., I shall more particularly answer w’t relates to Y’rself, and I must begin with expressing both Concern and Surprize to find a Gent. . . . from whom I had so great Expectat’s and Hopes . . . concuring with Complaints in general so ill-founded” (ViHi). The importance of this pay issue to GW and his officers during the campaign is indicated by the fact that before giving Dinwiddie a detailed account of his defeat of Jumonville’s forces he prefaced his report with a lengthy refutation of the governor’s letter of 25 May (GW to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754, ViHi).

45. John West, Jr. (d. 1777), of Fairfax County was commissioned a lieutenant in the Virginia Regiment 27 Feb. 1754 and served until August, when the regiment was disbanded (VA. TROOPS description begins “Virginia Troops in French and Indian Wars.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1 (1893–94): 278–87, 378–90. description ends , 284; GW to Robert Dinwiddie, 20 Aug. 1754, ViHi). His resignation may have been prompted by the death about this time of his father, Hugh West (Hugh West’s will, 9 Feb. 1754, Fairfax County Wills, Book B–1, 74–75, Vi Microfilm). John West, Jr., like GW, was a trained surveyor, and during the previous year had been appointed surveyor for Fairfax County (John West, Jr.’s bond, Fairfax County Deeds, Book C–1, 546, Vi Microfilm). He was Fairfax County sheriff 1759–61, justice of the Fairfax County court 1757–76, and clerk of Truro Parish 1758–63.

The Indian who accompanied the party refused to proceed beyond the Forks until GW “promised him a ruffled shirt, which I must take from my own, and a match-coat” (GW to Joshua Fry, 23 May 1754, WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:52–53).

46. John C. Fitzpatrick suggests that the name Peter Suver was a French interpretation of Philip Sute, “among . . . the earliest settlers in the Red Stone Creek region” (Fitzpatrick, Diaries description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Diaries of George Washington, 1748–1799. 4 vols. Boston and New York, 1925. description ends , 1:83 n.2). A more likely suggestion is Peter Shaver (Shafer), a licensed trader in Pennsylvania in 1744 who lived “four miles from the Susquehanna River” in 1750 (HANNA description begins Charles A. Hanna. The Wilderness Trail: Or The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path: With Some New Annals of the Old West, and the Records of Some Strong Men and Some Bad Ones. 2 vols. New York and London, 1911. description ends , 2:340). Shaver was killed by Indians in the fall of 1755.

47. “Washington’s journal shows that the time spent at the task would have sufficed only for the building of a raft” (FREEMAN description begins Douglas Southall Freeman. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York, 1948–57. description ends , 1:364n).

48. Turkey Foot, present-day Confluence, Pa., is at the confluence of Laurel Creek, Casselman’s River, and the Youghiogheny.

49. The plan of Turkey Foot has not been located.

50. On 23 May GW wrote to Joshua Fry that he has “returned from my discoveries down the Youghiogany, which I am sorry to say, can never be made navigable.” The group had traveled some 30 miles in a fruitless search for a water route. GW had been pessimistic about the possibility of finding the Youghiogheny navigable and had ordered the soldiers on by land in the direction of Red Stone Creek. “By concurring intelligence, which we received from the Indians, the French are not above seven or eight hundred strong, and by a late account we are informed, that one half of them were detached in the night, without even the Indians knowledge, on some secret expedition; but the truth of this, though it is affirmed by an Indian lately from their fort, I cannot yet vouch for, not tell where they are bound” (WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:52–53). Upon his return to the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny, GW met Adam Stephen and his party (see note 40).

51. This letter was written for the Half-King by his interpreter, John Davison. GW copied the letter verbatim in his letter to Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754, retaining Davison’s highly original spelling and punctuation. In GW’s version the letter reads: “To the forist his Majesties Commander Offeverses to hom this meay concern: On acct of a french armey to meat Miger Georg Wassiontton therfor my Brotheres I deesir you to be awar of them for deisin’d to strik the forist Englsh they see tow deays since they marchd I cannot tell what nomber the half King and the rest of the Chiefes will be with you in five dayes to consel, no more at present but give my serves to my Brother’s the English” (ViHi).

52. GW is referring to Great Meadows, near Laurel Hill (approximately 11 miles southeast of present-day Uniontown, Pa.). It was here that he erected Fort Necessity. In 1771 GW acquired ownership of more than 200 acres in the area of Great Meadows, including the site of Fort Necessity.

On the evening of 24 May, GW received another report that the French were at the crossing of the Youghiogheny some 18 miles away; he decided upon Great Meadows as a convenient place to make a stand. “We have, with Natures assistance made a good Intrenchment and by clearing the Bushes out of these Meadows prepar’d a charming field for an Encounter” (GW to Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754, ViHi).

53. William Fairfax was at this time lieutenant colonel of the Fairfax County militia. The letter has not been found.

54. Dinwiddie was preparing for a conference at Winchester with chiefs of both northern and southern tribes. He hoped to settle the differences between these traditional enemies and to hold them to the British interest. The governor left for Winchester 13 May 1754, and as he reported to Sir Thomas Robinson 18 June, “I waited in that Town 16 days, in expectation of the Ind’s, agreeable to their Promise. I rec’d a Message from the Chiefs of some of their Tribes, acquaint’g me that they could not come to W. at that Time, because the French had invaded and taken Possession of their Lands, and that they c’d not properly leave their People, but that they had joined our Forces under the Com’d of Colo. Geo. Washington, but desir’d me to send them some of the Present sent them from their Father, the King of G. B., w’ch I accordingly did to Colo. W—” (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:201–5).

Richard Corbin and Philip Ludwell, both members of the governor’s council, accompanied Dinwiddie to the Winchester council.

55. Upon GW’s arrival at Great Meadows he had sent out “small light partys of Horse (Wagn. Horses) to reconnoitre the Enemy, and discover their strength & motion, who return’d Yesterday with’t seeing any thing of them nevertheless, we were alarm’d at Night and remaind under Arms from two oClock till near Sun rise. We conceive it was our own Men, as 6 of them Deserted, but can’t be certain whether it was them or other Enemy’s. Be it as it will, they were fired at by the Centrys, but I believe without damage” (GW to Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754, ViHi).

56. According to GW’s letter of 27 May to Dinwiddie (ViHi) and Adam Stephen’s “Autobiography” (PPL: Benjamin Rush Papers), he dispatched 75 men.

57. George Mercer (1733–1784) was educated at William and Mary and served in the 1st and 2nd Virginia regiments from 1754 to 1760. For a period he was GW’s aide. When the Ohio Company renewed its activities after the French and Indian War, Mercer was an active promoter of its interests, serving as its London agent 1763–70. He was a burgess from Frederick County from 1761 to 1765, although he missed some sessions when he was on Ohio Company business in London. He returned to Virginia in the autumn of 1765 for a brief but stormy career as stamp officer for the colony under the Stamp Act and went back to London at the end of the year. By 1776 his personal finances were in serious disorder, and he moved from London to Paris, although he apparently retained some nebulous connection with the British government (see JAMES description begins Alfred Procter James. George Mercer of the Ohio Company: A Study in Frustration. Pittsburgh, 1963. description ends , 78–80).

58. Thomas Waggener held the rank of lieutenant in Jacob Van Braam’s company and was slightly wounded during the skirmish with Jumonville.

59. The site of the French camp is present-day Jumonville’s Rocks, three miles north of Summit, Pa. (CLELAND description begins Hugh Cleland. George Washington in the Ohio Valley. Pittsburgh, 1955. description ends , 80 n.30). The officers were Michel Pépin, called La Force, and Pierre Jacques Drouillon de Macé (b. 1725). Drouillon had been commissioned in 1750 and had served with Marin in constructing forts in the Ohio country. The cadets were Boucherville and Dusablé (PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR description begins Fernand Grenier, ed. Papiers Contrecœur et autres documents concernant le conflit anglo-français sur l’Ohio de 1745 à 1756. Quebec, 1952. description ends , 204 n.3). See also DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 2:227–28.

The historical controversy over this engagement has continued to recent times. The French claimed that Jumonville’s mission was that of an ambassador, similar to GW’s own journey to the French forts a few months earlier, and that the English opened fire on the French without warning. Joseph Coulon de Villiers, sieur de Jumonville (1718–1754), had joined the French army in 1738 and served in the French campaign against the Chickasaw in 1739. After further service in Canada he was appointed in 1754 by Contrecoeur to carry an ultimatum to the English forces to leave the Ohio country. According to the French, he was on this peaceful mission when he was attacked by the English early on the morning of 28 May 1754. What was to become the French version of the engagement is contained in a letter from Contrecoeur to Duquesne, 2 June 1754: “I expected Mr. de Jumonville, within four Days; the Indians have just now informed me, that that Party is taken and defeated; they were Eight in Number, one whereof was Mr. de Jumonville. One of that Party, Monceau by Name, a Canadian, made his Escape, and tells us that they had built themselves Cabbins, in a low Bottom, where they sheltered themselves, as it rained hard. About seven o’Clock the next Morning, they saw themselves surrounded by the English on one Side and the Indians on the Other. The English gave them two Volleys, but the Indians did not fire. Mr. de Jumonville, by his Interpreter, told them to desist, that he had something to tell them. Upon which they ceased firing. Then Mr. de Jumonville ordered the Summons which I had sent them to retire, to be read. . . . The aforesaid Monceau, saw all our Frenchmen coming up close Mr. de Jumonville, whilst they were reading the Summons, so that they were all in Platoons, between the English and the Indians, during which Time, said Monceau made the best of his Way to us, partly by Land through the Woods, and partly along the River Monaungahela, in a small Canoe.

“This is all, Sir, I could learn from said Monceau. The Misfortune is, that our People were surprized; the English had incircled them, and came upon them unseen. . . .

“The Indians who were present when the Thing was done, say, that Mr. de Jumonville was killed by a Musket-Shot in the Head, whilst they were reading the Summons; and that the English would afterwards have killed all our Men, had not the Indians who were present, by rushing in between them and the English, prevented their Design” (MEMOIR description begins [Jacob Nicolas Moreau]. A Memorial Containing a Summary View of Facts, with Their Authorities. In Answer to the Observations Sent by the English Ministry to the Courts of Europe. Translated from the French. New York, 1757. description ends , 69; see also ROBITAILLE description begins Georges Robitaille. Washington et Jumonville: Étude Critique. Montreal, 1933. description ends ; FAŸ description begins Bernard Faÿ. George Washington: Republican Aristocrat. Boston and New York, 1931. description ends , 73–75).

The British version of the engagement follows closely GW’s own account sent to Dinwiddie on 29 May: “I set out with 40 Men before 10, and was from that time till near Sun rise before we reach’d the Indian’s Camp, hav’g March’d in [a] small path, a heavy Rain, and a Night as Dark as it is possible to concieve. We were frequently tumbling one over another, and often so lost, that 15 or 20 Minutes’ search would not find the path again.

“When we came to the Half King, I council’d with him, and got his assent to go hand in hand and strike the French. Accordingly, himself, Monacatoocha, and a few other Indians set out with us, and when we came to the place where the Tracts were, the Half King sent Two Indians to follow their Tract, and discover their lodgment, which they did abt. half a mile from the Road in a very obscure place surrounded with Rocks. I thereupon in conjunction with the Half King and Monacatoocha, form’d a disposition to attack them on all sides, which we accordingly did and after an Engagement of abt. 15 Minutes we killed 10, wounded one, and took 21 Prisoner’s. . . . [The] Officers pretend they were coming on an Embassy, but the absurdity of this pretext is too glaring as your Honour will see by the Instructions and Summons inclos’d. . . . These Enterprising Men were purposely choose out to get intelligence. . . . This with several other Reasons, induc’d all the Officers to believe firmly that they were sent as spys, rather than any thing else, and has occasiond my sending them as prisoners, tho’ they expected (or at least had some faint hope, of being continued as ambassadors)” (ViHi).

See also LEDUC description begins Gilbert F. Leduc. Washington and “The Murder of Jumonville.” Boston, 1943. description ends . Accounts of the engagement by Adam Stephen appeared in the Md. Gaz., 29 Aug. 1754, the Pa. Gaz., 19 Sept. 1754, and in his “Autobiography” (PPL: Benjamin Rush Papers). Photostats of a deposition by Pvt. John Shaw are in PPiU.

In a letter to his brother, John Augustine, 31 May 1754, GW wrote a brief description of the engagement and its aftermath, which was printed in the London Magazine, Aug. 1754. According to this letter there were 12 Frenchmen killed. “We had but one man killed, and two or three wounded. . . . We expect every hour to be attacked by superior force, but, if they forbear one day longer, we shall be prepared for them. We have already got entrenchments, are about a pallisado which I hope will be finished to-day. . . . I fortunately escaped without any wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy’s fire. . . . I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound” (WRITINGS description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799. 39 vols. Washington, D.C., 1931–44. description ends , 1:70). It was the latter observation which prompted George II’s wry remark: “He would not say so, if he had been used to hear many” (WALPOLE description begins Horace Walpole. Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second. 2d ed. 3 vols. London, 1847. description ends , 1:400). Another account by GW of the engagement is in his “Biographical Memoranda” (anonymous donor).

60. A translation of the summons is in MEMOIR description begins [Jacob Nicolas Moreau]. A Memorial Containing a Summary View of Facts, with Their Authorities. In Answer to the Observations Sent by the English Ministry to the Courts of Europe. Translated from the French. New York, 1757. description ends , 68. A copy of the French version found among the Contrecoeur Papers is in PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR description begins Fernand Grenier, ed. Papiers Contrecœur et autres documents concernant le conflit anglo-français sur l’Ohio de 1745 à 1756. Quebec, 1952. description ends , 130–31. Contrecoeur’s orders to Jumonville are in MEMOIR description begins [Jacob Nicolas Moreau]. A Memorial Containing a Summary View of Facts, with Their Authorities. In Answer to the Observations Sent by the English Ministry to the Courts of Europe. Translated from the French. New York, 1757. description ends , 67.

61. Ens. James Towers, of Capt. Peter Hog’s company, resigned from the Virginia Regiment at the end of 1754.

62. Big Kettle (Canajachrera) was a Seneca chief living in the Ohio country. The Pennsylvanians referred to him as Broken Kettle (HANNA description begins Charles A. Hanna. The Wilderness Trail: Or The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path: With Some New Annals of the Old West, and the Records of Some Strong Men and Some Bad Ones. 2 vols. New York and London, 1911. description ends , 1:344–46).

63. Contrecoeur identified the fugitive as a Canadian called Monceau (see note 59).

64. Fry had died on 31 May (see note 8). On 4 June Dinwiddie wrote to GW, appointing him to the command of the Virginia Regiment (DINWIDDIE description begins R. Alonzo Brock, ed. The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751–1758. 2 vols. Richmond, 1883–84. description ends , 1:193–94).

65. Andrew Montour, a French and Indian fur trader, was the son of Madam Montour, a prominent frontier figure who frequently acted as interpreter, and of Roland Montour, a Seneca. He attended the councils at Logstown in 1750 and 1752 and was at various times Indian agent and interpreter for both Virginia and Pennsylvania. For his service he received a grant of land on Sherman’s Creek in Perry County, Pa. Montour served in Braddock’s campaign in 1755 and was present at the battle on the Monongahela. He continued his service throughout the French and Indian War and during Pontiac’s rebellion in 1763. In 1769 he was given a grant of 300 acres below the mouth of the Monongahela and was probably living there when his death occurred some time before 1775. In 1754 Montour held a commission from Dinwiddie to organize scouts for the English forces. GW had requested 3 June that Montour join him since “he would be of singular use to me here at this present, in conversing with the Indians” (GW to Dinwiddie, 3 June 1754, PHi: Dreer Collection).

66. George Muse (1720–1790), was born in England, had served in the campaign against Cartegena, and in 1752 had been appointed adjutant of the Middle Neck. He served in the Virginia Regiment as captain, major, and lieutenant colonel. Muse apparently behaved badly at the Fort Necessity engagement during the 1754 campaign. According to Landon Carter, “instead of bringing up the 2d division to make the Attack with the first, he marched them or rather frightened them back into the trenches” (CARTER [3] description begins Jack P. Greene, ed. The Diary of Colonel Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, 1752–1778. 2 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1965. description ends , 1:110). His name was specifically omitted from the list of officers thanked by the House of Burgesses after the campaign (JHB description begins H. R. McIlwaine and John Pendleton Kennedy, eds. Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. 13 vols. Richmond, 1905–15. description ends , 1752–58, 198).

67. Stewart’s Crossing was on the Youghiogheny River below present-day Connellsville in Fayette County, Pa.

68. This letter was omitted from the published diary, and no copy has been found. However, GW apparently dispatched a Delaware carrying the letter into Contrecoeur’s headquarters at the Forks. On 8 Sept. Duquesne wrote to Contrecoeur concerning GW’s action: “You see how treacherous he is, having expected he could, in trusting our nine vile deserters, make your garrison revolt, by which means they flattered themselves they could take the fort. Inform yourself, without seeming to do so, if this Delaware, who is said to have transmitted the letter to the Soldiers of your garrison, again frequents the fort” (PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR description begins Fernand Grenier, ed. Papiers Contrecœur et autres documents concernant le conflit anglo-français sur l’Ohio de 1745 à 1756. Quebec, 1952. description ends , 249–53).

69. At the Logstown council in 1752, Shingas had been made head chief of the Delaware Nation by the Half-King (see SIPE description begins C. Hale Sipe. The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania: Or, A Story of the Part Played by the American Indian in the History of Pennsylvania, Based Primarily on the Pennsylvania Archives and Colonial Records, and Built Around the Outstanding Chiefs. 1927. Reprint. New York, 1971. description ends , 287–88). For Shingas, see 25 Nov. 1753, n.27.

70. This is probably a reference to Kekeuscung, “the healer,” who later became a Delaware chief. Like most of his tribe, he eventually supported the French. See n. 68.

71. Delaware George later became a chief and went over to the French.

72. George Croghan (d. 1782) was probably the best-known Indian trader on the Pennsylvania frontier. He was born in Ireland and emigrated to Pennsylvania around 1741, settling near Carlisle. In the years before the French and Indian War he established a network of trading posts on the frontier and became Pennsylvania’s chief agent to the Indians. During the war he served with Washington and Braddock in their campaigns and in 1756 was appointed deputy superintendent of Indian affairs by Sir William Johnson. Like most of the traders, his business had been destroyed by the war, and after 1763 he turned his attention to western lands. From Croghan Hall, his estate near Pittsburgh, where he had moved in 1758, he engaged in extensive speculation in Ohio and Illinois lands, participating in the Illinois Company and the Grand Ohio Company. The Revolution wrecked most of these western land schemes, and Croghan died near Philadelphia in comparative poverty.

73. This was probably Canachquasy, also known as Captain New Castle (d. 1756), an important agent of the Pennsylvania government in its relations with the Indians (see SIPE description begins C. Hale Sipe. The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania: Or, A Story of the Part Played by the American Indian in the History of Pennsylvania, Based Primarily on the Pennsylvania Archives and Colonial Records, and Built Around the Outstanding Chiefs. 1927. Reprint. New York, 1971. description ends , 258–66).

74. Letter from George Croghan not found.

75. Andrew Lewis (1720–1781) was a native of Ulster, Ireland, came to Virginia in 1732, and settled in what is now Augusta County. He served in the Augusta militia, received a commission as captain in the Virginia Regiment in 1754, and was present at the capitulation of Fort Necessity. During the French and Indian War he served as commissioner to the Cherokee and to the Six Nations. Lewis was captured by the French during James Grant’s ill-fated attack on Fort Duquesne in Sept. 1758 and was taken to Montreal. He had settled near present-day Salem, Va., and after the war served as justice of the peace for the newly formed Botetourt County. He represented the county in the House of Burgesses and participated in the Virginia conventions of Mar. and Dec. 1775. In 1774 he led the Virginia forces that defeated the Indians under Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant. During the Revolution he held the rank of brigadier general and took part in the campaign against Dunmore. He resigned his commission in 1777 but continued to maintain an active interest in military affairs.

76. John Fenton Mercer (1735–1756), a son of John Mercer (1704–1768), served successively as ensign, lieutenant, and captain in the Virginia Regiment. He was killed by Indians while on scouting duty for GW in Apr. 1756.