Copyright
© 2018 John
F. Oyler
June 28, 2018
Fort Necessity
The Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s June “Second
Tuesday” workshop focused on George Washington’s adventures in western
Pennsylvania in 1754. It was the second of a series of seven workshops
dedicated to Washington’s seven visits to this area, in support of the
Society’s proposed permanent exhibit on that subject.
As we get deeper into this project its potential
as a resource opportunity becomes even more obvious. The history of this area
in the latter half of the eighteenth century is as exciting as the Harry Potter
or Stars Wars epics and in addition is based on things that actually occurred.
One of our challenges is to present this
information in a multi-tiered format so that it can be attractive to the full
spectrum of potential users, from elementary school students to adult history
buffs. One concept proposed to meet this challenge is to subdivide the exhibit
into a a series of seven individual exhibits, one for each of Washington’s
visits.
To exemplify this approach the facilitator
showed a four-minute video dealing with the first visit, the Mission to Fort
LeBoeuf, the subject of our April workshop. It consisted of a series of relevant
pictures, maps, and bulleted text, with a voice-over summarizing the adventure.
It also set the scene for this month’s workshop.
When we ended our previous workshop, it was the
middle of January, 1754, and Washington was back in Williamsburg reporting to
Governor Dinwiddie. The governor had already dispatched Captain William Trent
and a small force to the Forks of the Ohio to build Fort Prince George as a
deterrent to further French aggression. Half King (Tanarichison) demonstrated
his loyalty to the Virginians by laying the first log in the construction of
the fort.
Governor Dinwiddie authorized the organization
of the Virginia Regiment, about 750 men organized into eight companies, with
Colonel Joshua Fry as its commander. Washington had been promoted to Lieutenant
Colonel as his second-in-command and instructed to return to the Ohio Country
with two of the companies.
In April the long anticipated French invasion
began. A force of about one thousand French, Canadian, and Indian warriors came
down the Allegheny River in three hundred canoes and eighty bateaux. Captain
Trent left Ensign Edward Ward in command at Fort Prince George and hurried back
to Winchester to inform Washington.
When the French armada reached the Forks, Ensign
Ward wisely surrendered and was allowed to retreat to Wills Creek (Cumberland,
Maryland) with his three dozen troops. Led by Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeur,
the French began the construction of a significant fortification which they
named Fort DuQuesne in honor of the Governor of New France.
On April 19 Washington left Winchester with
about 200 men and proceeded west, confident that the remainder of the regiment
would soon reinforce him. From Wills Creek they followed the Nemacolin Trail,
building a crude wagon road as they progressed. They found a good camp site at
Great Meadows, close to the location where the village of Farmington is located
today.
Learning of Washington’s advance, on May 23 Contrecoeur
ordered Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville to take thirty French
soldiers and locate the enemy, and (according to the French version) to deliver
a summons to them to withdraw. When
Washington learned they were coming, he dispatched Christopher Gist with a
small force to determine their whereabouts.
Shortly after Gist left, Tanarichison showed up
and told Washington he knew where Jumonville’s troop was camped. Accompanied by
forty Virginians and twelve Mingos, led by Tanarichison, Washington surprised
them on the morning of May 28. After a short skirmish that left ten of the
French contingent dead, including Jumonville, the remainder surrendered.
Washington’s
journal merely reports that Jumonville was killed; the French version said that
he was wounded and that Tanarichison tomahawked and scalped him while he was
trying to give Washington the summons. Washington
later told his brother, "I can with truth assure you, I heard bullets
whistle and believe me, there was something charming in the sound”.
The
French prisoners were taken back to Virginia. Washington returned to Great
Meadows where he was pleased to find another company of soldiers had arrived.
His forces continued to move westward, continuing their road-building mission.
By the time they reached Gist’s Plantation (halfway between Uniontown and
Connellsville) his small army had grown to nearly four hundred, thanks to the
arrival of an independent company of British soldiers led by Captain James
Mackay.
More
significantly, Washington learned that Colonel Fry had died at Wills Creek, the
result of a fall from a horse, and that he had been promoted to Colonel and
commander of the full Virginia Regiment. In less than a year he had gone from
private citizen applying for a job in the military to its highest rank.
He
made a decision to fortify Gist’s Plantation, a decision that he reconsidered
when he learned that Contrecoeur had sent a massive force of French, Canadians,
and Indians east, to take revenge for the death of Jumonville. Their commander
was Louis Coulon de Villiers, Jumonville’s half-brother. Washington’s scouts
estimated the force to be one thousand men; it turned out to be about six
hundred, still far too many for the poorly supplied Virginians.
After
a council with his officers, Washington decided it would be judicious for his
army to fall back to Wills Creek where they could be properly supplied. On July1
he learned that Villiers was at Redstone Creek (Brownsville) and moving so
quickly his forces would soon overtake the Virginians. Washington determined to
make a stand at Great Meadows, where he had erected a modest stockade which was
dubbed “Fort Necessity”.
Two
days later the French and Indians arrived. According to one account there was a
conventional encounter in the open field. The Virginians fled back to the fort
when the Indians came pouring out of the woods. Mackay’s regulars held their
ground and allowed the entire contingent to retreat to their embattlements.
When the enemy realized that the fort was within musket range of their position
in the woods, they also fell back and maintained a heavy fire on Fort Necessity
despite a heavy rainstorm in the afternoon.
The
rain was disastrous to Washington’s troops. Their fortification became a swamp,
their gunpowder became too damp to fire, and most of their remaining food
supplies were destroyed. By evening thirty of them were dead and another seventy
severely wounded.
Unbeknownst
to them, Villiers also had problems. His Indian allies, easily his most
effective warriors, announced that they were leaving in the morning. They
greatly enjoyed a fight, but had no interest in a siege. There were rumors that
a huge Virginian army was en route, sufficient to turn the tide of battle.
Villiers
sent envoys under a flag of truce, offering conditions for surrender.
Washington sent his translator, Captain Jacob van Braam, to meet with them.
After several hours he decided to accept their terms. He and his troops could
march out in the morning and return to Wills Creek without a battle. The
Virginians would release the twenty one French captives from the battle with
Jumonville; in return van Braam and Captain Robert Stobo would be held as
French hostages until the exchange was made.
The
surrender document was in French and Washington had to rely on van Braam to
translate it. It acknowledged that the Virginians had been responsible for
Jumonville’s death, as translated by van Braam. The word he translated as
“death” was “assassinat”, which the French meant to mean “murder” or
“assassination”. In effect Washington’s signature on the document amounted to a
confession of responsibility for a totally dishonorable act.
The
next morning the defeated Virginians staggered out of the fort and began the
trek back to Wills Creek on foot, abandoning their baggage and carrying the
wounded. The Indians scalped the dead soldiers and disappeared into the forest
with all the loot they could carry. Villiers returned to Fort DuQuesne with
proof he had avenged the death of Jumonville.
Washington’s
return to Williamsburg was a stark contrast to his previous triumphal entry.
Dinwiddie dissolved the Virginia Regiment and replaced it with ten independent
companies. Washington was offered a commission as a Captain in command of one
of them, an opportunity he turned down in favor of a resignation. The cycle was
complete; he was back where he was a year earlier – an out-of-work surveyor.
During
the presentation several members of the audience made constructive comments.
Paul Katrincik reported that half breed Peter Chartier, the namesake for
Chartiers Creek, was among the Indians fighting on the French side at Fort
Necessity. He also said that McKees Rocks had been a potential site for what
eventually became Fort Pitt. Our sources confirmed this and credited Gist with
that suggestion.
Our
next workshop, on August 14, 2018, will focus on an even more disastrous
campaign, General Braddock’s Expedition in 1755, one that will give Washington
an opportunity to redeem himself.
