Clash at the Confluence

This was a research paper I wrote for my history class during the summer of 2008. History has always been one of my favorite subjects and this paper was a lot of fun to write.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was known for its great steel production in the United States throughout the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. But in 1753 it was the place where the French and Indian War began, and with it, the seeds of the American Revolution. The French wanted to gain control of the Ohio territory so it could use the Ohio River to more easily utilize its trade along the Mississippi River. The British colonists viewed the territory as an important part of its expansion. Thus the stage was set for what was the first “world war” in which the French and British would battle for the rights to the North American territory, commonly known today as the French and Indian War.   

            In 1753, things began to heat up in the Ohio and Pennsylvania territory. With the French wanting to gain control of the Ohio territory to trade along the Ohio River and the colonists wanting to gain control for expansion, both sides began to take action. The French began to move southward from Lake Erie building posts at strategic points in present day Western Pennsylvania (Norton, 76). At the same time, Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie summoned Major George Washington to take a letter to Fort Le Boeuf and give it to French Officer Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre. Washington set out on October 31, 1753 to deliver the letter to Fort Le Boeuf and wouldn't return until January 16, 1754. Along the way Washington fought bitter weather, in which he noted in his journal that between December 1^st and the 15^th it snowed and rained all but one day (Washington, 28). Washington also escaped near death when he fell into the frozen waters of the Allegheny River on the 26^th of December (Washington, 26).  He also noted in his journal of a good place to build a fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in what would be present day downtown Pittsburgh (Washington, 6). The British had seemingly won the race to the Ohio River when the French troops had to retreat back to Montreal because of sickness and low water. The British then began construction of their fort on the forks. The Ohio Company began construction with desperation, sensing danger at every minute. By the middle of April reports came in that French forces were headed down the Allegheny River (O’Meara, 50). On April 17, the British finally put the finishing touches on their new fort and named it Fort Prince George. The same day, with 500 troops, the French set up within 150 yards of the small fort (O’Meara, 52). Only 36 men occupied Fort Prince George and, so it was a peaceful surrender and the British troops left their small fort and the French began the next day in construction of Fort Duquesne (O’Meara, 52).

            The French forces continued to build Fort Duquesne and on May 15, 1756, it was decided that Fort Duquesne was ready for defense (O’Meara, 73). Just one day later it was reported that the English, led by George Washington, were on their way to retake the point. Washington was forced to deal with a near mutiny of his men and several unruly ones as well, who he decided to dismiss. Washington then marched on to the Great Meadows, where he learned that the French were also marching to meet him (O’Meara, 83). The French then chose Ensign Coulon de Jumonville to march from Fort Duquesne to the Great Meadows to give Washington and the British forces a “summons” to leave the French land. Washington the learned from his Indian intelligence that the French were nearly six miles away, but it was dark and the French decided to wait until day break to continue on (O’Meara, 87). Washington, not wanting to be attacked first, gathered men and headed to meet with his Indian intelligence officer, Half-King and his forces. At daybreak, Washington and his men surrounded the French camp, which was about a mile from the trail. Nobody knows what happened after this. But either way, Washington’s troops took twenty-one prisoners, wounded one and killed ten men, among them Commander Jumonville (O’Meara, 88). It was this exchange that ultimately started the French and Indian War.

            Desperate for supplies and reinforcements, Washington wrote Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia about his supplies. He then learned that Colonel Fry had been killed when he fell from his horse and that Washington was now the full colonel and commander of the Ohio Expedition (O’Meara, 90). The French, still seeking revenge for Jumonville’s death, then marched five-hundred strong to meet Washington at Fort Necessity, which had been built in less than a month. At Fort Necessity, the French attacked Washington and his forces at about 11 AM on the morning of July 4, 1754 (O’Meara, 99). During the Battle of Great Meadows, Washington and his men failed to deal with the downpour which left their powder soaked and firearms useless. At about 8 PM that night the French asked Washington “if he would like to talk” to which he replied “no” for he was too suspicious of the French. Washington finally agreed to a parley and was forced to march back to Williamsburg, Virginia with wounded and demoralized men (O’Meara, 104). The first “world war” had begun.

            British General Edward Braddock would be the next in charge of the attempted takeover of Fort Duquesne. In 1755, the British summoned Braddock to lead forces to retake the Point. Although Braddock and Washington shared the same rank, at the time regulations that governed precedence in the army dictated that no provincial field officer should be superior in rank to any regular field officer, the provincials were organized as independent companies and included no officer above the rank of captain and with Washington eager to serve and didn’t want to take a demotion, Braddock asked him to join his officer household as a volunteer and performing the same duties as Braddock’s other aides, who were both regular army captains (Anderson, 64). Braddock then began his march toward Fort Duquesne in May of 1755. At a stop in Wills Creek (Maryland), he ordered a fort to be constructed across the Potomac River from the Ohio Company’s storehouse and named it Fort Cumberland (Anderson, 67). Braddock lost the support of his Indian allies once he proclaimed that the forks would be inhabited by English settlers after the French had been driven out, which would prove to be a fatal mistake. On the 29^th of May, Braddock and his troops left Fort Cumberland and began the march toward Fort Duquesne. The march began slowly and after the first week, Braddock ordered the forces to be split into two divisions, and proceed with a “flying column” of twelve hundred men and the other division to be in charge of moving the artillery and soon the first group was 60 miles ahead of the second group(Anderson, 69). Braddock became more and more confident as the march continued, mainly because the French allied Indians would retreat only moments into the skirmishes. On the afternoon of July 9^th, Braddock and his division of troops crossed the Monongahela River just a few miles south of Fort Duquesne. Braddock believed that the French were going to flee Fort Duquesne at any moment, but he was sadly mistaken. The French had dispatched nearly 900 men to intercept the British forces led by Braddock and about 6 miles away from the forks the “meeting engagement” took place (Anderson, 70). Among the first people killed was the French captain who had been leading the forces, leaving the troops disorganized. The Indians who had allied with the French forces, kept on fighting, and soon fled into the woods where they continued to pick off the British troops on both sides of the road which they had traveled to the Monongahela River (Anderson, 70). The British made it much easier for the Indian marksman to do their work, as the British forces became entangled on a road that was a mere 12 feet wide, after the main body of the column rushed ahead upon hearing the gun fire and collided with the retreating group of soldiers, becoming entangled and confused (Anderson, 70). In the midst of battle, General Braddock sat atop his horse with Washington by his side. Washington had three horses shot out from beneath him and his coat and hat was repeatedly pierced by bullets as the fight raged on. For all the confusion and fear, the British troops did not flee until a musket ball smashed into the back of General Braddock, knocking him from his horse after three full hours of fighting (Anderson, 71). Braddock was then carried from the battlefield on an ammunition cart and survived for days, only to die near the site of the Jumonville massacre (Anderson, 71). George Washington, who was Braddock’s lone unwound-ed aide, arranged to have him buried on the road, so that the marching soldiers would obliterate any trace of his grave. The point of this was to keep the Indians from finding the body and mutilating it. The British forces then retreated to Philadelphia, fearing the Indians may attack at any moment from the forest. The Battle of the Monongahela had come to an end with the French taking the victory and in some way gaining a little bit of revenge for the Jumonville incident.

            In the aftermath of the initial battles that took place at the forks of the Ohio River, the French would abandon Fort Duquesne in November of 1758, after General John Forbes helped to retake the point for the British (Fort Pitt Museum). Forbes would ultimately order that the remains of Fort Duqeusne be destroyed and began the construction of a much larger fort at the forks of the Ohio River named Fort Pitt, in honor of William Pitt, the British Prime Minister. The British won the war and it was from here that the first “world war” ended and the seeds of an independent nation were planted.

Works Cited

Norton, et al. A People and a Nation. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. 2007

 

Washington, George. The Journal of Major Geroge Wasington. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, Inc., 1966

 

O’Meara, Walter. Guns at the Forks. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc., 1965

 

Anderson, Fred. The War That Made America. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2005

 

Fort Pitt Museum. June 2008. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Wednesday, July 23, 2008