The French and Indian War was the colonial representation of the same forces and tensions that were taking place in the European Seven Years' War.
France and England claimed ownership of the Ohio Valley.
France began to build forts and trading posts in the Ohio Valley after La Salle claimed he discovered the Ohio River in 1679. Their goal was to connect Canada to Louisiana from the Ohio Valley, to the Mississippi River and to the Gulf of Mexico.
Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, was eager to expand his province; however, he needed to rid the Ohio Valley of the French first. He sought permission from King George to build a fort in the Ohio Valley. Dinwiddie received approval for the fort, but first he had to make an official request to the French to remove themselves completely from French Creek.
The Lieutenant Governor sent a young George Washington to deliver a letter requesting the French remove themselves from the Ohio Valley. As Washington and his party traveled through the Ohio Valley, he came across John Fraser’s trading post. He attempted to persuade the Shawnee, Delaware, and the Mingos Chiefs to assist him in delivering the letter to Fort LeBoeuf. Washington only had a few men to travel with him and hoped by having the Indian escort it would help convince the French to leave the Valley. On November 30, Washington and his men left for Fort LeBoeuf with three Mingos warriors and Tanachrison, a disgruntled Indian chief who earlier warned the French not to descend on the Alleghany.
French refuses to leave Ohio Valley
On December 11, Washington and his small group arrived at Fort LeBoeuf. The French Captain welcomed the bedraggled party as they approached the fort in the midst of a snowstorm. A tired George Washington presented the Captain with Dinwiddie’s letter. Legardeur looked upon the letter with amusement. The French did not intend to move out of the Ohio Valley.
When Washington arrived in Williamsburg, he went directly to Dinwiddie with the letter from Legardeur. After reading the letter, Dinwiddie realized he now faced a crisis in the west. He asked Washington to write an account of his trip and conversation with the French Captain.
Dinwiddie receives assistance from the British Crown
After reviewing Washington’s account of the trip, Dinwiddie immediately called for a meeting of his counsel. He asked permission from the council to call out two hundred militants to protect the men who would build a fort in the Ohio Valley. The House of Burgesses met on February 14 and voted to support additional troops and to press forward with Virginia’s right to the Ohio lands.
Captain William Trent and Ensign Ward with their company of volunteers arrived in the valley to begin construction of Fort Pitt. Tanaghrisson was relieved to see that the British Crown were loyal to their words by bringing an English presence into the valley.
Seeing that the English intended to stake a claim in the valley, Captain Claude-Pierre Pécaudy, Legardeur successor, approached Ward and bluntly told him he had to immediately surrender or have his post apprehended by force. Ward, seeing that he had no chance against the French decided to take his men and leave. The French continued the construction of the fort and called it Fort Duquesne.
George Washington’s Defeat
On July 3, 1754, Washington, who Dinwiddie sent to clear a path so Virginia troops can easily maneuver through the wilderness, came upon French troops. As the battle continued, Washington realized he could not sustain his position and therefore retreated. The battles raged between the English, French and Indians for twelve years before the French were defeated. The French and Indian War was the precursor to the Revolutionary War.
Sources:
Peckham, Howard H. The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1964
Anderson, Fred. The Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in Bristish North America, 1754-1766: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
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