Return to Milestones Vol. 4, No. 2
During the time of Washington's surveying campaigns among the mountains, a grand colonizing scheme had been set on foot, destined to enlist h1m In hardy enterprises, and in some degree to shape the course of his future fortunes.
The treaty of peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, which had put an end to the general war of Europe, had left undefined the boundaries between the British and French possessions in America. Immense regions were still claimed by both nations, and each was now eager to forestall the other by getting possession of them.
The most desirable of these regions lay west of the Allegheny Mountains, extending from the lakes to the Ohio, and embracing the valley of that river and its tributary streams. An immense territory, possessing a salubrious climate, fertile soil, fine hunting and fishing grounds, and facilities by lakes and rivers for a vast internal commerce.
The French claimed all this country quite to the Allegheny Mountains by right of discovery. In 1673, Padre Marquette, with his companion, Joliet, of Quebec, both subjects of the crown of France, had passed down the Mississippi in a canoe quite to the Arkansas, thereby, according to an alleged maxim in the law of nations, establishing the right of their soverign, not merely to the river so discovered and its adjacent lands, but to all the country drained by its tributary streams, of which the Ohio was one,- a claim, the ramifications of which might be spread over half the continent.
To this illimitable claim the English opposed a right derived, at second hand, from a traditionary Indian conquest. A treaty, they said, had been made at Lancaster, in 1744, between commissioners from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and the Iroquois, or Six Nations, whereby the latter, for four hundred pounds, gave up all right and title to the land west of the Allegheny Mountains, even to the Mississippi, which land, according to their traditions, had been conquered by their forefathers.
It is undoubtedly true that such a treaty was made and such a pretended transfer of title did take place, under the influence of spirituous liquors,- but it is equally true that the Indians in question did not, at the time, possess an acre of the land conveyed,- and that the tribes actually in possession scoffed at their pretensions, and claimed the country as their own from time immemorial.
Such were the shadowy foundations of claims which the two nations were determined to maintain to the uttermost, and which ripened into a series of wars, ending in a loss to England of a great part of her American possessions, and to France of the whole.
France, it was said, intended to connect Louisiana and Canada by a chain of military posts, and hem the English within the Allegheny Mountains.
A commissioner, Captain William Trent, was sent to expostulate with the French commander on the Ohio for his aggressions on the territory of his Britannic majesty- he bore presents also of guns, powder, shot and clothing for the friendly Indians.
Trent was not a man of the true spirit for a mission to the frontier. He stopped a short time at Logstown, though the French were one hundred and fifty miles further up the river, and directed his course to Piqua, the great town of the Twightwees, where Gist and Croghan had been so well received by the Miamis, and the French flag struck in the council-house. All now was reversed. The place had been attacked by the French and Indians-, the Miamis defeated with great loss; the English traders taken prisoners; the Piankesha chief, who had so proudly turned his back upon the Ottawa ambassadors, had been sacrificed by the hostile savages, and the French flag hoisted in triumph on the ruins of the town. The whole aspect of affairs was so threatening on the frontier that Trent lost heart, and returned home without accomplishing his errand.
Governor Dinwiddie now looked around for a person more fitted to fulfil a mission which required physical strength and moral energy; a courage to cope with savages, and a sagacity to negotiate with white men. Washington was pointed out as possessed of those requisites. It is true he was not yet twenty-two years of age, but public confidence in his judgment and abilities had been manifested a second time, by renewing his appointment of adjutant-general, and assigning him the northern division. He was accordingly chosen for the expedition, and directed to repair to Logstown, and hold a communication with Tanacharisson, Monaca-toocha, alias Scarooyadi, the next in command, and the other sachems of the mixed tribes friendly to the English-, inform them of the purport of his errand, and request an escort to the headquarters of the French commander. To that commander he was to deliver his credentials and the letter of Governor Dinwiddie, and demand an answer in the name of his Britannic majesty', but not to wait for it beyond a week. On receiving it, he was to request a sufficient escort to protect him on his return.
He was, moreover, to acquaint himself with the numbers and force of the French stationed on the Ohio and its vicinity; their capability of being reinforced from Canada-, the forts they had erected, where situated, how garrisoned-, the object of their advancing into those parts, and how they were likely to be supported.
Washington set off from Williamsburgh on October 30, 1753, the very day on which he received his credentials. Having provided himself at Alexandria with necessaries for the journey, he proceeded to Winchester, then on the frontier, where he procured horses, tents and other traveling-equipments, and then pushed on by a road newly opened to Wills' Creek (town of Cumberland), where he arrived on November 14th.
Here he met with Mr. Gist, who had explored the Ohio in the employ of the company, and whom he engaged to accompany and pilot him in the present expedition, He secured the services also of one John Davidson as Indian interpreter, and of four frontiersmen, two of whom were Indian traders. With this little band, and his swordsman and interpreter, Jacob Van Braam, he set forth on November 15th through a wild country, rendered almost impassable by recent storms of rain and snow.
As the rivers were all swollen so that the horses had to swim them, Washington sent all the baggage down the Monongahela in a canoe under care of two of the men, who had orders to meet him at the confluence of that river with the Allegheny, where their united waters form the Ohio.
"As I got down before the canoe," writes he in his journal, "I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land at the fork, which I think extremely well situated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very nearly at right angles-, Allegheny gearing northeast, and Monongahela southeast. The former of these two is a very rapid and swiftrunning water, the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall." The Ohio Company had intended to build a fort about two miles from this place, on the southeast side of the river, but Washington gave the fork the decided preference. French engineers of experience proved the accuracy of his military eye, by subsequently choosing it for the site of Fort Duquesne.
In this neighborhood lived Shingiss, the king, or chief sachem, of the Delawares. Washington visited him at his village, to invite him to the council at Logstown. He was one of the greatest warriors of his tribe, and subsequently took up the hatchet at various times against the English, though now he seemed favorably disposed, and readily accepted the, invitation. .
They arrived at Logstown after sunset on November 24th. The half-king was absent at his hunting-lodge on Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles distant-, but Washington had runners sent out to invite him and all the other chiefs to a grand talk on the following day.
About three o'clock the half-king arrived. Washington had a private conversation with him in his tent, through Davidson, the interpreter. He found him intelligent, patriotic, and proudly tenacious of his territorial rights. He stated, moreover, that the French had built two forts, differing in size, but on the same model, a plan of which he gave, of his own drawing. The largest was on Lake Erie, the other on French Creek, fifteen miles apart, with a wagon-road between them.
On the following morning, at nine o'clock, the chiefs assembled at the council-house, where Washington, according to his instructions, informed them that he was sent by their brother, the governor of Virginia to deliver to the French commandant a letter of great importance, both to their brother, the English, and themselves-, and that he was to ask their advice and assistance, and some of their young men to accompany and provide for him on the way, and be his safeguard against the "French Indians," who had taken up the hatchet. He concluded by presenting the indispensable document in Indian diplomacy, a string of wampum.
The half-king then rose and spoke in behalf of the tribes, assuring him that they considered the English and themselves brother, and one people-, and that they intended to return the French the "speech-belts," or wampums, which the latter had sent them. This in Indian diplomacy is a renunciation of all friendly relations. An escort would be furnished to Washington composed of Mingoes, Shannoahs and Delawares, in token of the love and loyalty of these several tribes-, but three days would be required to prepare for the journey.
Washington remonstrated against such delay, but was informed that an affair of such moment, where three speech-belts were to be given up, was not to be entered into without due consideration. Besides, the young men who were to form the escort were absent hunting, and the half-king could not suffer the party to go without sufficient protection. His own French speech-belt, also, was at his hunting-lodge, whither he must go in quest of it. Moreover, the Shannoah chiefs were yet absent, and must be waited for. In short, Washington had his first lesson in Indian diplomacy, which, for punctilio, ceremonial and secret maneuvering, is equal at least to that of civilized life. He soon found that to urge a more speedy departure would be offensive to Indian dignity and decorum, so he was fain to await the gathering together of the different chiefs with their speech-belts.
After further consultations in the council-house, the chiefs determined that but three of their number should accompany the mission, as a greater number might awaken the suspicions of the French. Accordingly, on November 30th, Washington set out for the French post, having his usual party augmented by an Indian hunter, and being accompanied by the half-king, an old Shennoah sachem named Jeskakake, and another chief, sometimes called Belt of Wampum, from being keeper of the speech-belts, but generally bearing the sounding appellation of White Thunder.
Although the distance to Venango by the route taken was not above seventy miles, yet such was the inclemency of the weather and the difficulty of traveling that Washington and his party did not arrive there until December 4th. The French colors were flying at a house whence John Frazier, the English trader, had been driven. Washington repaired thither, and inquired of three French officers whom he saw there, where the commandant resided. One of them promptly replied that he "had the command of the Ohio." It was, in fact, the redoubtable Captain Joncaire, the veteran intriguer of the frontier. On being apprised, however, of the nature of Washington's errand, he informed him that there was a general officer at the next fort, where he advised him to apply for an answer to the letter of which he was the bearer. In the meantime, he invited Washington and his party to a supper at headquarters.
Joncaire and his brother officers pushed the bottle briskly, "The wine," says Washington, "as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banished the restraint which at first appeared in their conversation, and gave a license to their tongues to reveal their sentiments more freely. They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio."
Washington retained his sobriety and his composure. He took careful note, however, of all their revelations, and collected a variety of information concerning the French forces; how and where they were distributed, the situations and distances of their forts, and their means and mode of obtaining supplies.
On the following day there was no traveling, on account of excessive rain. Joncaire, in the meantime, having discovered that the half-king was with the mission, expressed his surprise that he had not accompanied it to his quarters on the preceding day. Washington, in truth, had feared to trust the sachem within the reach of the politic Frenchman. Nothing would do now but Joncaire must have the sachems at headquarters. Here his diplomacy was triumphant. He received them with open arms. He was enraptured to see them. His Indian brothers! How could they be so near without coming to see him? He made them presents; but, above all, plied them so potently with liquor, that the poor half-king Jeskakake and White Thunder forgot all about their wrongs, their speeches, their speechbelts, and all the business they had come upon-, paid no heed to the repeated cautions of their English friends, and were soon in a complete state of frantic extravagance or drunken oblivion. It was not until twelve o'clock on December 7th that Washington was able to extricate the sachems out of the clutches of Joncaire and his emissaries and commence his journey.
After four days of weary travel through snow and rain, and mire and swamp, the party reached the fort. It was situated on a kind of island on the west fork of French Creek, about fifteen miles south of Lake Erie.
Having announced his errand through his interpreter, Van Braam, Washington offered his credentials and the letter of Governor Dinwiddie, and was disposed to proceed at once to business with the prompt frankness of a young man unhackneyed in diplomacy.
In this letter, Dinwiddie complained of the intrusion of French forces in the Ohio country, erecting forts and making settlements in the western parts of the colony of Virginia, so notoriously known to be the property of the crown of Great Britain. He inquired by whose authority and instructions the French commander-general had marched this force from Canada, and made this invasion; intimating that his own action would be regulated by the answer he should receive, and the tenor of the commission with which he was honored. At the same time he required of the commandant his peaceable departure, and that he would forbear to prosecute a purpose "so interruptive of the harmony and good understanding which his majesty was desirous to continue and cultivate with the most catholic king."
On the evening of the fourteenth, the Chevalier de St. Pierre delivered to Washington his sealed reply to the letter of Governor Dinwiddie. The purport of previous conversations with the chevalier, and the whole
complexion of affairs on the frontier, left no doubt of the nature of that reply. The business of his mission being accomplished, Washington prepared on the fifteenth to return to Venango; but a secret influence was at work which retarded every movement.
"The commandant," writes he, "ordered a plentiful store of liquor and provisions to be put on board our canoes, and appeared to be extremely complaisant, though he was exerting every artifice which he could invent to set our Indians at variance with us, to prevent their going until after our departure; presents, rewards and everything which could be suggested by him or his officers. I cannot say that ever in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I did in this affair. I saw that every stratagem which the most fruitful brain could invent was practised to win the half-king to their interests, and that leaving him there was giving them the opportunity they aimed at. He had promised them a present of guns if they would wait until the morning. As I was very much pressed by the Indians to wait this day for them, I consented, on the promise that nothing should hinder them in the morning."
The next morning (sixteenth) the French, in fulfillment of their promise, had to give the present of guns. They then endeavored to detain the sachems with liquor, which at any other time might have prevailed, but Washington reminded the half-king that his royal word was pledged to depart, and urged it upon him so closely that, exerting unwonted resolution and selfdenial, he turned his back upon the liquor and embarked.
It was rough and laborious navigation. French Creek was swollen and turbulent, and full of floating ice. The frail canoes were several times in danger of being staved to pieces against rocks. Often the voyagers had to leap out and remain in the water half an hour at a time, drawing the canoes over shoals, and at one place to carry them a quarter of a mile across a neck of land, the river being completely dammed by ice. It was not until the twenty-second that they reached Venango.
On December 25th, Washington and his little party set out by land from Venango on their route homeward. They had a long winter's journey before them, through a wilderness beset with dangers and difficulties. The pack-horses-, laden with tents, baggage and provisions, were completely jaded-, it was feared they would give out. Washington dismounted, gave up his saddlehorse to aid in transporting the baggage, and requested his companions to do the same.
The cold increased. There was deep snow
that froze as it fell. The horses grew less and less capable of
traveling. For three days they toiled on slowly and wearily. Washington
was impatient to accomplish his journey, and make his report to
the governor; he determined, therefore, to hasten some distance
in advance of the party, and then strike for the fork of the Ohio
by the nearest course directly through the woods. He accordingly
put the cavalcade under the command of Van Braam, and furnished
him with money for expensesthen disencumbering himself of all
superfluous clothing: buckling himself up in a watch-coat, strapping
his pack on his shoulders, containing his papers and provisions
and taking gun in hand, he left the horses to flounder on, and
struck manfully ahead, accompanied only by Mr. Gist, who was equipped
in like manner.
At night they lit a fire, and "camped" by it in the
woods. At two o'clock in the morning they were again on toot,
and pressed forward until they struck the southeast fork of Beaver
Creek, at a place bearing the sinister name of Murdering Town,-
probably the scene of some Indian massacre.
At Murdering Town he found a party of Indians, who appeared to have known of his coming, and to have been waiting for him. One of them accosted Mr. Gist, and expressed great joy at seeing him. The wary woodsman regarded him narrowly, and though he had seen him at Joncaire's. If so, he and his comrades were in the French interest, and their lying in wait boded no good. The Indian was very curious in his inquiries as to when they had left Venango; how they came to be traveling on foot-, where they had left their horses, and when it was probable the latter would reach this place. All these questions increased the distrust of Gist, and rendered him cautious in his reply.
The route hence to Shannopins Town lay through a trackless wild, of which the travelers knew nothing; after some consultation, therefore, it was deemed expedient to engage one of the Indians as a guide. After traveling briskly for eight or ten miles, Washington became fatigued, and his feet were chafed; he thought, too, they were taking a direction too much to the northeast; he came to a halt, therefore, and determined to light a fire, make a shelter of the bark and branches of trees, and encamp there for the night. The Indian demurred, he offered, as Washington was fatigued, to carry his gun, but the latter was too wary to part with his weapon.
Mr. Gist's suspicions increased, but he said nothing. Washington's also were awakened. They proceeded some distance further; the guide paused and listened. He had heard, he said, the report of a gun toward the north; it must be from his cabin-, he accordingly turned his steps in that direction.
Washington began to apprehend an ambuscade of savages.
After a little while they arrived at an opening in the woods, and found themselves in a clear meadow, rendered still more light by the glare of the snow upon the ground. Scarcely had they emerged when the Indian, who was about fifteen paces ahead, suddenly turned, leveled his gun, and fired. Washington was startled for an instant, but feeling that he was not wounded, demanded quickly of Mr. Gist if he was shot. The latter answered in the negative. The Indian in the meantime had run forward, and screened himself behind a large white oak, where he was reloading his gun. They overtook and seized him. Gist would have put him to death on the spot, but Washington humanely prevented him. They permitted him to finish loading his gun; but after he had put in the ball, took the weapon from him, and let him see that he was under guard.
Gist observed to Washington that since he would not suffer the Indian to be killed, they must manage to get him out of the way, and then decamp with all speed, and travel all night to leave this perfidious neighborhood behind them; but first it was necessary to blind the guide as to their intentions. He accordingly addressed him a friendly tone, and adverting to the late circumstance, pretended to suppose that he had lost his way, and fired his gun merely as a signal. The Indian, whether deceived or not, readily chimed in with the explanation. He said he now knew the way to his cabin, which was at no great distance. "Well, then," replied Gist, "you can go home, and as we are tired, we will remain here for the night, and follow your track at daylight. In the meantime here is a cake of bread for you, and you must give us some meat in the morning."
After the departure of the Indian, they proceeded about half a mile, built a fire, set their compass and fixed their course by the light of it; then leaving it burning, pushed forward, and traveled as fast as possible all night. Continuing on the next day, they never relaxed their speed until nightfall, when they arrived on the banks of the Allegheny River, about two miles above Shannopins Town.
Trusting that they had out-traveled pursuit, they encamped on the border of the river; still it was an anxious night, and Washington was up at daybreak to devise some means of reaching the opposite bank. No other mode presented itself than by a raft, and to construct this they had but one poor hatchet. They set resolutely to work and labored all day, but the sun went down before their raft was finished. They launched it, however, and getting on board, endeavored to propel it across with setting poles. Before they were half way over the raft became I . jammed between cakes of ice, and they were in imminent peril. Washington planted his pole on the bottom of the stream, and leaned against it with all his might, to stay the raft until the ice should pass by. The rapid current forced the ice against the pole with such violence that he was jerked into the water, where it was at least ten feet deep, and only saved himself from being swept away and drowned by catching hold of one of the raft logs.
It was now impossible with all their exertions to get to either shore- abandoning the raft, therefore, they got upon an island, near which they were drifting. Here they passed the night, exposed to intense cold, by which the hands and feet of Mr. Gist were frozen. In the morning they found the drift-ice wedged so closely together that they succeeded in getting from the island to the opposite side of the river, and before night were in comfortable quarters at the house of Frazier, the Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela.
Leaving Frazier's on January 1st, they arrived at Gist's residence on the second, sixteen miles from the Monongahela. Here they separated, and Washington, having purchased a horse, continued his homeward course.