Fort Le Boeuf Fort Le Boeuf , ( often referred to as Fort de la Rivière au Bœuf ) , was a fort established by the French in 1753 on a fork of French Creek , in present - day Waterford , in northwest Pennsylvania . The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle , Fort Machault , and Fort Duquesne . The fort was located about from the shores of Lake Erie , on the banks of LeBoeuf Creek , which the fort was named for . The French portaged trade goods , materiel , and supplies from Lake Erie overland to Fort Le Boeuf . From there they traveled by raft and canoe down French Creek to the Allegheny River , the Ohio and the Mississippi . History . Captain Francois Le Mercier began construction on 11 July 1753 ; Jacques Legardeur de Saint - Pierre took command of the fort on 3 December 1753 . This fort was the second in a series of posts that the French built between spring 1753 and summer 1754 to assert their possession of the Ohio Country . These four posts Fort Presque Isle , Fort LeBoeuf , Fort Machault , and Fort Duquesne ran from Lake Erie to the Forks of the Ohio ; they represented the last links in France ' s effort to connect its dominions in Canada with those in the Illinois Country and Louisiana . The English trading post of John Frazier , at Venango at the junction of French Creek and the Allegheny River ( where Franklin is now located ) was seized and occupied . Leaving a force to garrison the new posts , the French command returned to Canada for the winter . Fort LeBoeuf ( modern Waterford , Pennsylvania ) guarded the southern end of the portage road between Lake Erie and French Creek , which ran to the Allegheny River . It served as a French trading post and garrison until 1759 , when the fall of Fort Niagara forced the French to abandon the Ohio Country . Washington ' s mission . Robert Dinwiddie , the governor of Virginia , sent the 21 - year - old George Washington to Fort Le Boeuf with seven escorts , in order to deliver a message to the French demanding that they leave the Ohio Country . Dinwiddie ' s initiative was in response to the French building forts in the Ohio Country . Washington took Christopher Gist along as his guide ; during the trip , Gist earned his place in history by saving the young Washington ' s life on two separate occasions . Washington and Gist arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on 11 December 1753 . Jacques Legardeur de Saint - Pierre , commandant at Fort Le Boeuf , a tough veteran of the west , received Washington politely , but contemptuously rejected his blustering ultimatum . Jacques Legardeur de Saint - Pierre gave Washington three days hospitality at the fort , and then gave Washington a letter for him to deliver to Dinwiddie . The letter ordered the Governor of Virginia to deliver his demand to the Major General of New France in the capital , Quebec City . During his stay , Washington noted that the fort had one hundred men , a large number of officers , 50 birch canoes and 70 pine canoes , many unfinished . He described the fort as on a south or west fork of French creek , near the water , and almost surrounded by it . Four houses composed the sides . The bastions were made of piles driven into the ground , standing more than high , and sharpened at the top . Port holes for cannon and loop - holes for small - arms were cut into the bastions . Each bastion mounted eight six - pound cannon and one four - pound cannon guarded the gate . Inside the bastions stood a guard - house , chapel , doctor ' s lodging and the commander ' s private stores . Outside the fort were several log barracks , some covered with bark , others with boards . In addition , there were stables , a smithy and other buildings . War . The French and Indian War began on 28 May 1754 with the Battle of Great Meadows . Some four years later , on 25 July 1759 , the French surrendered Fort Niagara . In August 1759 , the commander of Fort Presque Isle sent word to Fort Machault and Fort Le Boeuf to abandon their positions . After the French had complied , the British took possession of their sites . It is unclear whether the French burned down Fort Le Boeuf when they abandoned it . If so , the British rebuilt it . During Pontiac ' s Rebellion , on 18 June 1763 , a war party of Native Americans burned down Fort Le Boeuf . The survivors escaped to Fort Venango , but it too was burned , so they continued to Fort Pitt . On 1 August 1794 , Major E . Denny reported to Governor Thomas Mifflin from Le Boeuf . He described a fortification with four blockhouses , manned by riflemen . The two rear blockhouses had a six - pound cannon on the second floor , as well as swivel guns over the gates . When Judge Vincent settled in Waterford in 1797 , he wrote , " There are no remains of the old French fort excepting the traces on the ground . . . "