Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-06-30
EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY.
1IRsT DAYS OF MILITARY GLORY IN
ALEXANDRIA, 1865.
No. 20

minated the general war in Europe,
! had left all underlined and unsettled the
boundaries between the British and
French possessions in North America;
singular remissness, considering that
they had long been subject for dis
pule and cause for frequent conflicts
10 the colonies. Immense regions OF
the wilderness country were still claim.
ed by both nations and each was now
eager to fore stall the other by getting
possession of them and Strengthening
| its claim by the fact of occupancy.
The most desirable of the disputed
regions lay west of the Alleghapy mou =
aims, extending from the lakes TO the
| Ohio and embracing the valley of that
liver and its tributary which was an
immense territory, possessing q sau-
nrious climate, fertile soil, fine hunting
and fishing grounds and facilities BY
rivers and lakes for vast internal
| commerce. The French claimed ell
this country quite to the mountains by
priority of discovery. In 1873 Padi @
Marquette, with companion, Joliet OF
Quebec, both subjects of the French
own, had passed down the Mississip-
pi in canoe to the Arkansas river
thereby, according 10 an alleged maxim
| 10 the law of nations, establishing
the right of their sovereign, not merely
20 the river so discovered and its ada
cent lands, but to all the country drain
I'd ty it's tributary streams, of which the
Ohio was one A claim, the ramitca-
| lions of which might be spread
like the meshes of q web over half the
| continent. To this illimitable claim
The Eoglish opposed right derived at
second hand from traditionary con-
quest. A treaty they averred had
seen made at Lancaster in 1744 be
tween commissioners from Pennsylya-
uia, Maryland and Virginia and the
Irrcquois or Six Nations whereby the
latter for four hundred pounds re-
liuouished all right and title to the
!anu west of the Alieganies, even to
the Mississippi, which land, according
70 their tradition, had been conquered
nv their forefathers.
The French claim of sovereignty
over the Mississippi valley by right OF
discovery was persistently denied by the
English colonies whose charters gave
10 them the right of occupation wesi-
ward to the Pacific ocear; but on both
sides of the Alleganies there was SO
much unsettled land that this mountain
range formed the natural line of divlS-
on between the scope of French al
English settlements. The traders OF
he English colonies made their way
down the Allegheny and the Monon-
gahela rivers to the waters of the Ohio.
Such were the shadowy foundations
! If the claims which the two nations
eere determined to maintain to the ut
ermost, and which ripened into a Sc
ries of wars, ending in a loss to Eng
land of great part of her American
possessions and to France of the whole
IF hers.
During the years between 1746 and
1850 occurred the perious border hos
tilities between the two nations, IN
which the youthful Washington took
mis- first lessons in the art OF warfare
and laid the foundation for his subse-
onept military career. The result OF
tnese hostilities was an open declaration
of war for the final settlement of the
pending dispute. In October of '53 Col.
Washington had been dispatched oy
Gov. Diuwiddie to assert to the French
commandant of the fort near Lake Erie
the validity of the English claims, ana
to demonstrate in the name OF the
| British sovereign against the preten-
sions and intrusions of the French
traders and settlers beyond the noun
tains. But for the little effect which
this remonstrance produced upon the
commandment our young Virginia diplo-
mate might have saved himself the dan
rercus Journey of six hundred miles ne
was forced TO make through an inter-
| vening region of rugged mountains, un'
hroken for rests and unbridged streams.
In the spring OF '54 he Was again sent
by the governor on eimliar erIano OF
protest. but differing from the first IN
That he was accompanied by two COM
| nanies of provincial troopers and au.
thorized to make, if necessary, armed
| resistance to French and Indian sggres-
sion. The result of this expedition
was the capitulation of Fort Necessity
st the Great Meadows with loss 10
the companies of twelve killed ana
forty-fve wounded.
And now the little settlement OF
ReIle Haven on the wilderI e9s bank OF
the Potomac just struggling into the
rretensions of q town of few hundred
inbabitants, and henceforth to De
known as Aiexandria, was destined to
soon become the theater Of the begin
ninos Of momentuous circumstances 10
the history of the American colonies.
In the winter OF 1855 a fleet was
equipped at Gravesend, England; to to
to es'N' CO operate with the colonial
forces in their efforts to dis-
possess their French neleh oors
and established the righ; of Eneli h ii"
man. t.,m Grav,send the ii e pr
cseded TO the port of Cork, Iceland, 10
| compgete preparations, and thences Oe-