That Dark and Bloody River

by Allan Eckert

  Dinwiddie set wheels in motion on October 13, 1753. The man he selected to carry the eviction order to the French commander on the Allegheny was a promising individual only 21 years old whom he had recently appointed adjutant of Virginia’s Southern Military District—a tall, intelligent young major named George Washington.81

  Overcoming a great many difficulties and distinct hazards on his way, young Washington performed his mission well, aided by Christopher Gist as his guide. In a brief visit at Logstown, he was able to acquire Chief Monakaduto and some of his warriors as escorts; Monakaduto was far more in favor of the British than the French, especially since some of his own men had been among those injured in the French destruction of Pickawillany.82 In a very dangerous winter trek through 500 miles of wilderness, Washington delivered the message to the French officer holding the Fraser Trading Post at Venango, Capt. Daniel Joncaire. That officer sent him farther up the Rivière aux Boeufs to address himself to Joncaire’s superior, Capt. Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre, and it was to him that Washington presented the letter from Gov. Dinwiddie, who had written:

  To the Commander of the Western

  Forts of the French

  Sir:

  As Governor of the Province of Virginia, it has come to me to my astonishment that French troops have built forts upon lands so notoriously known to be the property of the Crown of Great Britain. I must desire you to acquaint me by whose authority and instructions you have lately marched from Canada with an armed force, and invaded the King of Great Britain’s territories. It becomes my duty to require your peaceable departure; and that you would forbear prosecuting a purpose so disruptive and interruptive of the harmony and good understanding which His Majesty is desirous to continue and cultivate with the Most Christian King. I persuade myself you will receive and entertain Major Washington with the candor and politeness natural to your nation; and it will give me the greatest satisfaction if you return him with an answer suitable to my wishes for a very long and lasting peace between us.

  Robert Dinwiddie

  St. Pierre conferred with fellow officers for three days before handing Washington a written reply for Dinwiddie, which was short and disappointing:

  It is not for me to set forth the Evidence and Reality of the Rights of the King [of France] and to contest the pretensions of the King of Great Britain there. I would have preferred to have Major Washington proceed to the main French headquarters in Montreal, but since his instructions are to go no farther than here, I will transmit your letter to the Marquis Duquesne, Governor of New France, for his orders. Meanwhile, I will remain at my post, according to the commands of my general.

  Washington and his party accepted the message and returned at once to Venango. There, because of the urgency Dinwiddie stressed in regard to the mission, he proposed that he and Gist continue the journey overland on foot while the other members of the party made their own way back, following the river at a slower pace. Gist thought it a bad idea and said so, but Washington was adamant. Monakaduto was very upset, as there were chiefs waiting back at Logstown to hear the results of the mission.

  On January 6, 1754, Washington and Gist arrived back at Will’s Creek Station on the Potomac, after much difficulty and suffering. Here they encountered a number of families on their way to settle in the Monongahela Valley. It was at Will’s Creek Station that Washington left Gist, continued to Williamsburg and delivered the written French response into the hands of the much-impressed Gov. Dinwiddie at Williamsburg, who soon had Washington’s journal published.83 Word of the young major’s rather incredible feat spread throughout the colony, and quite soon his name was on everyone’s tongue. As for Washington himself, his brief taste of the upper Ohio had inspired an appetite for much more. Already connected with the Ohio Land Company, he was now determined to involve himself deeply and personally in the claiming, settlement and development of the Ohio River Valley, quite well aware that fortunes in both land and money awaited those astute enough to take advantage of the opportunity just beginning to open there. He also, in the strongest possible terms, advocated construction of a fort at the Forks of the Ohio.

  Gov. Dinwiddie was not slow in reacting to the French response. He wrote out instructions for young Washington, giving him another task of considerable responsibility:

  I am giving you a new command. You are to go to Frederick city and take command of the militia of that county. I am also appointing the trader, William Trent, as your lieutenant, with the rank of captain. I have already sent him to Augusta County to recruit fifty more and to go with them at once to the Forks of the Ohio to build a strong fort. I don’t think it is necessary for me to tell you the urgency of this step and how essential it is that no one is permitted to stand in the way of its execution. The remainder of the force is to assemble at Alexandria, where it will be equipped. There, you are to train and discipline them in the best manner possible. Having all things in readiness there, you are to use all expedition in proceeding to the Forks of the Ohio with the men under your command, and there you are to finish and complete in the best manner and as soon as you possibly can, the fort which I expect will already be begun by then by Captain Trent. You are to act on the defensive, but in case any attempts are made to obstruct the work or interrupt our settlements by any persons whatsoever, to make prisoners of, or kill and destroy them.

  With these matters in motion, Dinwiddie’s task then became one of convincing the other colonies—and their respective Assemblies—to help quash the French claims and secure the Ohio for Britain. It was difficult in the extreme and occupied his entire time during February and March 1754. Often he had to exhort them in passionate terms to get even the least compliance. “Think!” he cried in his address to the Virginia House of Burgesses. “You see the infant torn from the unavailing struggles of the distracted mother, the daughters ravished before the eyes of their wretched parents and then, with cruelty and insult, butchered and scalped. We must prevent this. We must vote funds enough to raise troops and clear the French from the area and safeguard British interests!”

  Gradually he got some of the help he sought, both in manpower and funds, though nowhere near what he considered the minimum needed.84 Yet he forged ahead, still working on that problem while endeavoring to attend to others no less pressing. Among these was selecting a commander to go to Alexandria and lead the varied force that would gradually come together. He considered Washington for that post but realized in the same thought that, capable though he had proven himself to be, he was still too young and inexperienced for the job. Eventually he decided upon an old friend, Col. Joshua Fry, who had formerly been professor of mathematics at William and Mary College. Washington was named second-in-command and, on March 2, 1754, only a short time after his twenty-second birthday, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia.85

  Col. Fry arrived at Alexandria and began to mold into military shape the 300 men already assembled who were being called the Virginia Regiment. Soon half of these men were placed under Washington’s command, and he marched them to Will’s Creek Station, which was to form their base of operations. It was discovered that the French were preparing their own force to secure the Forks of the Ohio, and so it now became a race to see who would arrive first and with the best. Will’s Creek Station was 140 miles away from the Forks, and there were now two chief concerns: whether Capt. Trent would be able to fortify himself at the Forks before the French arrived, and whether Washington and Fry would arrive in time with their force to secure the position.

  At Fort Le Boeuf, Capt. St. Pierre had been stricken with fever, and the Marquis Duquesne had no recourse but to regretfully replace him with a new commander. He selected for that post his own aide-de-camp, Capt. Pierre de Contrecoeur, who, though younger and less experienced than St. Pierre, was nonetheless a good soldier who combined imagination and daring with solid dependability. With 1,100 combined regulars and Canadian volunteers, he moved at once to Venango—dropping off reinforcements
at both Fort Presque Isle and Fort Le Boeuf—and began construction of a substantial fort there. By April 12 it was nearly completed and had already been named Fort Machault.86

  Impressed with the number of French soldiers flooding into the country and knowing that a great confrontation between the French and the British was now very close, most of the tribes had elected to support the French, and great numbers of warriors hovered nearby, waiting and very ready. The wait was not long. Informed by the Indians that a small British force had already begun constructing a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, Contrecoeur left a small body of men behind to complete the works and led 500 men down the Allegheny in 60 bateaux and 300 canoes.

  On April 17 they took the incomplete works at the Forks of the Ohio without firing a shot. Capt. William Trent was away with a small detachment at the time, having gone back toward Will’s Creek Station to get food, as supplies were all but gone. He had left Ens. Edward Ward in command of the 41 men still at the Forks, but when they saw the size of Contrecoeur’s force they capitulated without resistance. They were treated well and allowed to leave but were given orders never to return. Within moments after their departure, the poor works they had already completed were being torn down and construction had begun on a much larger and better fort that Contrecoeur was already calling Fort Duquesne.

  Pucksinwah was among the Indians who had witnessed the bloodless taking of the Forks of the Ohio by the French, and had there been any doubt in his mind of his decision to back the French instead of the British, it was now dispelled. Indian runners had raced off to spread the word at various villages, and Pucksinwah knew what the general reaction would be: The French are men, and the British are weaker than women!

  Washington, heading for the Forks of the Ohio, had led an advance detachment of two infantry companies out of Alexandria on April 2. Three weeks later he arrived at Will’s Creek Station and learned of the French capture of the unfinished works at the Forks of the Ohio. He decided to move his small force to the mouth of Redstone Creek and build a fort there, then await further orders. Just after crossing the upper Youghiogheny, Washington was joined by Chief Monakaduto and 150 warriors. The chief informed him that a French detachment of 32 men was on a spying mission in the area under command of Ens. Coulon de Jumonville. The Indians having tracked the French detachment to where they had camped in a well-hidden place at Great Meadows, about six miles distant, Washington took a detachment of 40 men and set out to strike them under cover of darkness. The surprise was complete, and a fierce attack was made about dawn on April 28. Ten of the French soldiers were slain, including Ens. Jumonville, who was killed by Monakaduto with a tomahawk blow. Another 21 of the French were captured, and only one escaped. Washington had one man killed and three wounded. All the French dead were scalped, and Washington gave Jumonville’s scalp to Monakaduto to take to the Delawares as an encouragement for them to side with the British.

  The following day, Col. Fry, who had advanced with his force to Will’s Creek Station, was killed when he was thrown from his horse. Washington was building an entrenchment at Great Meadows when Christopher Gist brought word of it, and Washington immediately assumed command. It was on June 5 that Fry’s army reached him, raising his total force to 360, exclusive of Indians.87

  Just about this same time, Pucksinwah was a member of Kishkalwa’s deputation representing the Shawnees in the council of tribes called by Contrecoeur at the Forks. Fort Duquesne was almost completed, and it was an imposing structure. There was little doubt in the minds of the Indians attending, despite the defeat of the Jumonville detachment, that the French were here to stay. Pierre de Contrecoeur had given a rousing address, pausing every few moments to let the various interpreters catch up in relaying his message. He told them that the French and English were now at war and, with the force of his speech, his logic and his directness, convinced them all—Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes, Wyandots, Senecas—to take up the hatchet against the English.88 Since the Shawnees were already predisposed to do exactly that, their agreement came quickly; the other chiefs, impressed that the ferocious Shawnees should so swiftly make alliance with the French, fell in line with alacrity.

  Washington had decided to improve the road leading to Redstone Old Fort. He pushed on in that effort on June 16 and reached Gist’s settlement at the west foot of Chestnut Hill on June 26. The following day he learned that a force of 500 French, under the command of Coulon de Villiers, half-brother of the slain Coulon de Jumonville, were on the march to attack him. He at once ordered a retreat to the Great Meadows entrenchment and dug in, naming the rude defensive works Fort Necessity. It was here, on July 3, that the French attacked, and the nine-hour Battle of Fort Necessity was fought. When Washington’s casualties numbered about 100, he surrendered, signed the capitulation and was allowed to lead his battered survivors back to Virginia.89 Capt. Villiers, leading his force back to Fort Duquesne, burned Gist’s settlement, the Ohio Company’s storehouse and whatever other cabins could be found.

  The French and Indian War had begun, and the Indians—with the exception of Monakaduto and his followers—were jubilant with the first results. With Contrecoeur’s blessing they dispersed, some back to their villages but the majority on raids against outlying settlements. All were ready in an instant to return when he should issue a call.

  Those Indians who set out on raids had ample targets, especially in the valley of the upper New River. In addition to the Draper’s Meadows settlement, a new one called Ingles’ Ferry was established right on the New River, and the ensuing settlement was scattered on both sides of the stream. Close to Ingles’ Ferry a Dunkard family named McCorkle settled on a fine bottom, and their community immediately became known as Dunkard Bottom. Just a little over five miles west of the New River, the James Reed family established a settlement and named it after their former home in Ireland, calling it Dublin. Perhaps the boldest of the new settlers in this area of southwestern Virginia, however, was James Burke. He struck out westward from the Dublin settlement and finally stopped 35 miles later to sink his roots on the west bank of the headwaters of a sparkling-clear little stream that he named after the first animal he saw on its bank as he approached—a large gray wolf. Wolf Creek flowed somewhat north of east and emptied into the New River some 40 miles below Draper’s Meadows.90 Burke poetically called his new settlement Burke’s Garden, and soon half a dozen others who had heard of it came, saw and settled. It did not take too long, however, for Burke to pay the ultimate price for tempting fate. In October, while riding his horse on a little exploratory trip down Wolf Creek, he had not traveled more than a mile when he suddenly felt a thud on his chest and looked down to see a feathered shaft protruding, already stained scarlet from his blood. He wheeled his horse around and galloped back to his cabin. When his horse stopped, he tried to dismount but found he could not move. A moment later he tilted to one side and fell heavily, dead before he struck the ground at his doorstep.

  Far to the north and slightly east, the families of David Tygart and Thomas Files, unlike other families that turned downstream when they came to the Monongahela, made their way upstream. They felt they would be much safer from Indian incursions there than would those who were settling farther downstream. They followed the river until they came to a fine stream emptying into the Monongahela from an exceptionally pretty valley. Tygart promptly named it Tygart Valley and, not terribly imaginative, named the stream Tygart Valley River.91 The two families paddled up the lovely tributary, and soon Files saw the place he liked, a fine meadow area at the mouth of a small creek, and decided he would make his claim there. He put ashore at once with his wife and four children. Tygart continued a few miles more and settled in a place he thought even prettier than the selection Files had made. Both families built their cabins and were doing quite well, but being so isolated, they began to get nervous. They finally decided to leave and settle somewhat closer to other border settlements. Before they could get their goods together and packed, however, Indians ascen
ded the creek and struck the Files place. The 12-year-old son, William, was some distance away from the cabin when the attack came, but he was close enough to witness everything. He ran all the way to the Tygart cabin to get help. Heavily armed, the Tygarts came to the still-burning cabin and found Tom Files, his wife and three children close to the house, all five dead and scalped. They buried them quickly, and that same day, bringing William Files with them, they departed for good, leaving behind only an empty cabin and a stream and valley that were named.

  In early November 1754, troops bivouacked high up the Potomac at Will’s Creek Station and began to build a fort that would be the launching post for the new army that would move against the French the following summer—an army that would have as its commander a seasoned officer of high repute from England. King George, in appointing him, was certain that he was the man who would bring the French in America to their knees. He was a 65-year-old major general who sailed from England on January 15 with 1,000 top-quality regulars—the 44th and 48th regiments. His name was Edward Braddock. He would rendezvous his army at Alexandria and then follow the Potomac upstream to Will’s Creek Station for final preparations at the fort there, assuming its construction was completed by then. In fact, it was only 16 days after Braddock’s departure from England that the fort in question was completed. It was named Fort Cumberland.