n 1754, war had not yet been declared between France and Britain but Indians allied to the French were killing and capturing British traders and colonists throughout the western edges of British settlements, especially in NY, PA, and what is now WV, and beyond, in territories the French claimed as theirs. The British colonies were not organized in rebuffing attacks, nor in figuring out how or if they were going to fight their common enemy, the French and their Indian allies.

More on Fort Duquesne

"Fort Duquesne stood on the point of land where the Alleghany and the Monongahela join to form the Ohio, and where now stands Pittsburg, with its swarming population, its restless industries, the clang of its forges, and its chimneys vomiting foul smoke into the face of heaven. At that early day a white flag fluttering over a cluster of palisades and embankments betokened the first intrusion of civilized men upon a scene which, a few months before, breathed the repose of a virgin wilderness, voiceless but for the lapping of waves upon the pebbles, or the note of some lonely bird. But now the sleep of ages was broken, and the bugle and drum told the astonished forest that its doom was pronounced and its days numbered." Montcalm and Wolfe, Francis Parkman, 1884.

Memoirs of a French Soldier at Fort Duquesne

Fort Duquesne was captured by the British in 1758 and re-named Fort Pitt.

Fall of Fort Duquesne in 1758

Virginia was more active in attempting to protect its colony and the Governor, Dinwiddie, formed a Virginia regiment for protection. A British-born professor at William and Mary was made colonel, while American-born George Washington was second in command. Early in 1754, Washington, who was about 22 at the time, found a site to build a new fortification at the point where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers join to form the Ohio River (currently the site of Pittsburgh). However, the French learned about the new fort and they with their Indians came downriver and destroyed it on April 17, before it was completed. They built their own much larger fort at that same location, which they called Fort Duquesne.

Washington and Dinwiddie took this as an act of war. Not long afterwards, when Washington heard French troops were coming down the Youghiogany River (a tributary of the Monongahela), he assumed they were coming to attack his troops. In May, 1754, Washington moved his men to an area called the Great Meadows and cleared the field in preparation for a battle.

Washington then learned that a detachment of 32 Frenchmen with several Indians were nearby, spying or perhaps approaching his own location for a battle. He and his Indian allies tracked down and on April 28 ambushed the the French, who were hiding in a secluded spot in a rocky hollow. Washington and his 40 men surrounded the hollow and fired from the rocks above. They killed ten men, including the ensign in command, Coulon de Jumonville.

The French declared that Jumonville was assassinated, that he was shot while reading a letter from his commander at Fort Duquesne. Washington and the British denied this report, which was put forward by the one escapee, a Canadian who fled at the start of the skirmish. However, the French persisted in assuming this was an unwarranted act of aggression.

Not long after Washington returned with his men and his prisoners to the Great Meadows, he began building a small fortification which he called Fort Necessity. He was joined there by his own Indian allies as well as additional regulars. During this time, he learned that his commander, Col. Fry, had died and that he, Washington, was now in command of the Virginia Regiment. Meanwhile, Jumoneville's half-brother Coulon de Villiers came down from Montreal with a handful of Canadians and Indians prepared to avenge his brother. He took command of a force from Fort Duquesne bent on the same goal and in July 3, with 500 men, attacked Fort Necessity. Washington was forced to surrender after only a matter of hours.

Although the Seven Years War did not officially begin until 1756, this series of events is largely regarded as the start of the war. It is interesting to note that George Washington was part of the beginning of it all, and at the end of the making of the US decades later.