Major George Washington Meets French Commander Joncaire at Logstown, November 30, 1753

The contention between Great Britain and France for the possession of what is now Western Pennsylvania began about the middle of the eighteenth century. The Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, signed October 18, 1748, while it nominally closed the war between those two countries, failed to establish the boundaries between their respective colonies in America, and this failure, together with the hostile and conflicting attitude of the colonists in America, was the cause of another long and bloody war.

An association was formed in Virginia about 1748, called the Ohio Company, which was given a royal grant. The object of the company, 840according to its charter, was to trade with the Indians, but its actual purpose was to settle the region about the forks of the Ohio, now Pittsburgh, with English colonists from Virginia and Maryland.

All the vast territory from the Mississippi to the Alleghany Mountains, south of the Great Lakes, had been explored and partly occupied by the French. They had forts, trading posts and missions at various points and they made every endeavor to conciliate the Indians. It was apparent they intended to extend their occupancy to the extreme tributaries of the Ohio, which they claimed by virtue of prior discovery.

So it was but natural when the English sought to gain a permanent occupancy of the Ohio Valley that the French should begin actively to assert their claims to the same region.

The Governor-General of Canada, the Marquis de la Galissoniere, sent Captain Bienville de Celeron in 1749 down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers to take possession in the name of the King of France. His command consisted of two hundred and fifteen French and Canadian soldiers and fifty-five Indians. The principal officers under him were Captain Contrecœur, who afterwards built Fort Duquesne, Coulon de Villiers, and Joncaire-Chabet.

They planted leaden plates, properly inscribed, at different points, beginning at the present town of Warren, and then along the Allegheny River, then along the Ohio, and up the Miami, and they reached Lake Erie, October 19, 1749.

The French affairs were actively pushed by Joncaire-Chabet, who occupied the house at the mouth of French Creek, or Venango, which had been built by John Frazer, a Pennsylvania trader, whom Celeron drove off when he found him there.

Early in January, 1753, a French expedition consisting of 300 men under command of Monsieur Babier set out from Quebec. Traveling over land and ice, they reached Fort Niagara in April, then pushed on to the southeastern shore of Lake Erie, at the mouth of Chautauqua Creek. In May Monsieur Morin arrived with an additional force of 500 men, and he assumed command.

It was intended to build a fort here, but the water was found to be too shallow and the expedition moved to a place which, from the peculiar formation of the lake shore, they named Presqu’ Isle, or the Peninsula. This is now the City of Erie.

Here the first fort was built and named Fort la Presqu’ Isle. It was constructed of square logs, was about 120 feet square and fifteen feet high. It was finished in June, 1753 and garrisoned by about 100 men under command of Captain Depontency.

The remainder of the forces cut a road southward about fifteen miles to Le Boeuf River, or French Creek. Here they built a second fort, which they called Fort Le Boeuf, similar to the first, but smaller. This is the site of the present Borough of Waterford, Erie County, Pa.

841In 1752 a treaty had been entered into with the Indians which secured the right of occupancy, and twelve families, headed by Captain Christopher Gist, established themselves on the Monongahela, and subsequently commenced the erection of a fort where the City of Pittsburgh now stands.

The activity of the French alarmed these settlers, and soon all their proceedings were reported to Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia. He determined to send an official communication to the commander of the French, who had established his headquarters at Fort Le Boeuf, protesting against the forcible interference with their chartered rights, granted by the Crown of Britain, pointing to the late treaties of peace entered into between the English and French, whereby it was agreed that each should respect the colonial possessions of the other.

George Washington, then only twenty-three years old, was selected for this mission by Governor Dinwiddie. He performed his duty with the greatest tact and to the satisfaction of his Government.

With a party of seven besides himself, among whom was Christopher Gist, he set out November 15, 1753, from Wills Creek, the site of Fort Cumberland, in Maryland, which was the limit of the road that had been opened by the Ohio Company.

The first place of importance was Logstown, where they arrived on November 30. This important Indian village was on the right bank of the Ohio River, about fourteen miles below the present Pittsburgh. It was at Logstown where the Treaty of 1752 was made. Here Washington enlisted the services of the chief Indians and proceeded on his mission.

Washington writes in his journal that they set out from Logstown for Venango about 9 o’clock in the morning, with Tanacharison, the Half-King, Jeskakake, White Thunder and the Hunter, and arrived at Venango on December 4.

Soon as Captain Joncaire had finished his greetings wine was passed and after much drinking all restraint was banished, which gave license to their tongues and their true sentiments were revealed.

The French officers told young Washington that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, to which they had undoubted right from a discovery made by LaSalle sixty years since. They also told him they had raised an expedition to prevent the English from settling on the river.

Joncaire endeavored by every means to win the Half-King from the English, but the chief remained true to his mission, and accompanied Washington to Le Boeuf, to which place he was referred, as the commanding officer of the French had his headquarters there.

The party arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on December 11. Washington was received with courtesy by the commandant, Legardeur de Saint-Pierre.

842In regard to the message of Governor Dinwiddie, Saint-PierreSaint-Pierre replied that he would forward it to the Governor-General of Canada, but that in the meantime, his orders were to hold possession of the country, and this he would do to the best of his ability.

With this answer Washington retraced his steps, enduring many hardships and passing through many perils, until he presented his report to the Governor at Williamsburg, Va., January 16, 1754.

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