The Coolidge examiner., 1932-08-19

VAEEEW uonal Shrine TO the Father or his
~EW Country. For this little fort, con-
slsting only Of a log cabin circled
by log stockade, was Fort Necessity, where
July 3, 1854, George Washington began the
military career which was to place his name
among those of the great captains of all time
and where, the famous Voltaire expressed
It, fired the cannon shot in the woods of
America which set all Europe ablaze"
The affair at Fort Necessity had its origins
in the clash between the British and the French
for the control Of the interior of the North
American continent. To make good her claim to
the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and to check
the westward expansion of English settlement
beyond the Alleghenies. the French had erected
a fort at Presque Isle, Erie, Pa. had built
Fort lie Boeuf on French creek and had also
seized the British trading post of venango.
In 1853 Gov. Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia
selected George Washington then only twenty
years old, for the difficult task of demand
ing that the French cease their encroachments
upon British SOIL" When Washington returned
with the information that the French had no
intention Of giving up their forts, Dinwiddie
decided upon more drastic action. Late in
1853 he sent a party of men under Captain
Trent TO build fort at the Forks of the Ohio
where Pittsburgh now stands and to hold 1t
against any attacks which the French might
make.
Both North Carolina and the home govern
ment had promised aid to the expedition but
when no troops had arrived by the last day
OF March, 1854, Dinwiddie ordered Washington
and his 800 Virglnians to proceed to the Ohio,
there to help Captain Trent build forts and
to defend the possessions Of his majesty against
the attempts and hostilities of the French"
Meantime Trent's little company of 33 men
had commenced a stockade at the Forks. But
in April, force of French and Indians arrived
on the scene and made them prisoners. They
promptly released and allowed to return
home without harm. Washington, coming to
their aid. met the returning fort builders at
Wills Creek, near the present city of Cumber-
land, Md.
BY this time the French had extended Trent's
work and pushed it to rapid completion call
ing their stronghold Fort Duquesne. Here had
been gathered a considerable force of Canadians,
French regulars and Indian allies detach-
ment from which. led by Coulon de Jumon-
vile, secuted Washington's advance On May
2S at the head of scouting party, Washington
stumbled upon the small French scouting party.
The Virginans Immediately fired upon the
French. Ten were killed. one wounded and q
taken prisoner. Among the French dead was
Jumonvlle.
The news Of this encounter was carried to
Fort Duquesne and its commander Immediately
brother Of Jumonville, to attack the English.
Washington withdrew to Great Meadows,
where he erected a fort. Although the place
was unfit for defense being surrounded on
three sides by higher ground, which heavi-
" forested and afforded good shelter from
which the enemy could fire down upon the de-
tenders of the fort, Washingtons force was so
weakened by lack of ammunition and other sup
plies that he considered ii impracticable to
retreat further. Hence the name of Fort Ne
cessity as indicative of his desperate plight
contemporary account of what followed has
been discovered recently in the Charleston
Is. CO. public library in a copy of the South
Carolina Gazette for August. -. 1854, which
reads as follows:
williamsburg, Va, July 19-On Wednesday
last arrived in town. Col. George Washington
and Capt. James Mackay, who gave the follow
ing account TO his honor the governor, of the
late action between them and the French at
the Great Meadows in the western part of this
dominion.
"The third of this instant July. about 8
o'clock, received intelligence that the French.
having been reinforced with 700 recruits, had
left MOnOngahea and were in full march with
900 men TO attack us. Upon this, our num-
bers were so unequal (our whole force not ex-