Ohio Country
During 1753 Gist again returned to the Ohio Country, this time accompanying George Washington. Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, sent Washington to Fort Le Boeuf to deliver a message to the French demanding they leave the Ohio Country. (The French were constructing forts in the Ohio Country to prevent the Thirteen Colonies from expanding there; they ignored Dinwiddie's letter.) Washington took (now Lieutenant) Gist along as his guide. They traveled on the Venango Path through the Ohio Country, stopping at Logstown on their way to the fort. During the trip, Gist earned his place in history by twice saving the young Washington's life: first, from an attempted assault by a hostile Native American; and, second, by pulling Washington from the freezing Allegheny River after Washington had fallen off of a makeshift raft.