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OUT OF NECESSITY

Written by

RAYMOND C. WILSON

Author of:

Commander in Chief Martyr of the Race Course The Men Who Saved West Point Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence European Royal Bloodlines of the American Presidents in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume One) in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Two) in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Three) in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Four)

Out of Necessity

Published by Raymond C. Wilson at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Raymond C. Wilson

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Table of Contents Out of Necessity

Introduction

George Washington

Robert Bell, Sr.

Skirmish at Jumonville Glen

Battle of Fort Necessity

Major General Braddock’s Defeat

Afterword

Bibliography

About Raymond C. Wilson

Introduction

While researching the Bell branch of my family’s tree, I came across an interesting tidbit of information posted on one of the popular genealogical websites that briefly mentioned my seventh great-grandfather (Robert Bell, Sr.) serving in the Virginia militia in the 1750s. Further research uncovered the fact that the commander of the Virginia militia at that time was a 22-year-old lieutenant colonel by the name of George Washington. Being a military retiree and amateur historian, this snippet of information about Robert Bell, Sr. sparked my curiosity and I set out to learn more about my little-known relative. My research soon revealed that Robert Bell, Sr. and George Washington were related to each other through marriage. Robert Bell, Sr.’s wife (Agnes Fleming) and George Washington were cousins. Their relationship is outlined in the family tree chart below:

It is unclear whether or not Robert Bell, Sr. and George Washington knew that they were related to each other through marriage. However, it is clear that these two colonial gentlemen were ‘brothers in arms’ at the Battle of Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754. The Battle of Fort Necessity was a ‘tit-for-tat’ response from the French to retaliate for the British victory at Jumonville Glen and was the prelude to the war fought by England and for control of the North American continent. The struggle was known in North America as the French and Indian War and spread around the world as the Seven Years' War. It finally ended in 1763 with the removal of French power from North America and India. The Battle of Fort Necessity was also the first major event in the military career of George Washington. It was the first and only time Washington ever surrendered to an enemy. History celebrates George Washington as the leader of the American Revolution and the father of his country. But what is rarely mentioned is Washington's life as a twenty-two-year-old colonel that led four hundred Virginia militiamen against a bigger, more experienced French army and paid a high price. Not only did Washington lose over a third of his men, but the Battle of Fort Necessity was also the spark that ignited the French and Indian War. As a result of this incident, Washington was denied an appropriate commission in the British regular army during the French and Indian War that followed. Washington’s humiliation from his defeat at Fort Necessity in 1754 would not be vindicated until his decisive victory at Yorktown in the American Revolutionary War in 1783.

Washington’s victory at Yorktown in 1783

After serving as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington was unanimously elected president of the United States in 1789. With 69 electoral votes, Washington won the of each participating elector. No other president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.

George Washington

George Washington (son of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball) was born on 22 February 1732 in the colony of Virginia. George grew up on farms as a young boy. Augustine Washington was a prosperous farmer and owned several plantations in Virginia, and his marriage to Mary Ball after the death of his first wife (Jane Butler) enlarged the size of his land holdings. From his first marriage, Augustine had two sons (Lawrence and Augustine). George was the first child born to Augustine’s second wife, Mary Ball. At the time, the family was living at Wakefield Farm in Westmoreland County, Virginia. When George was three years old, his family moved to Little Hunting Creek Plantation (later called Mount Vernon). At the age of six, George moved with his parents and step-siblings from one of the father's farms on the Potomac River to a farm later known as Ferry Farm, located beside the Rappahannock River. Ferry Farm would become home for the young George Washington as he grew up in the Virginia countryside.

Ferry Farm beside the Rappahannock River

On 24 December 1740, a fire started in the Washington's home. Although this experience was undoubtedly traumatic for George, the fire was fortunately contained to a small corner of the house. Tragically, George’s father died in 1743 when George was only eleven years old. Although Augustine was fairly wealthy, George received none of his father’s money or property. As the eldest son, Lawrence received the majority of their father's inheritance including Little Hunting Creek Plantation. Augustine Jr. also received some inheritance while the rest was given to Mary Washington to help take care of herself and her remaining children. After his father died, George moved in with Lawrence who became a surrogate father to him. Although he was born into the Virginia gentry, Washington did not travel abroad for the private education that was provided to his older half-brothers (Lawrence and Augustine, Jr.). So he was acutely aware of his perceived shortcomings and took pains to mold himself into a dignified gentleman. This involved the memorization of The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation, a guide written by Jesuit priests 150 years earlier. George Washington not only used this book to supplement his lackluster education and enable him to later be able to correspond with the wealthy in colonial society, but also he stringently applied the handbook's moral code to his personal life. This early attention to morality led to George Washington's later emulation as an honest and upright man.

George Washington as a Surveyor

When young George was 15, Lawrence Washington and Colonel Fairfax endeavored to have him the British Navy. However, Mary Ball Washington disapproved of a military career for her eldest son and George became a land surveyor. From a young age and for the rest of his life, George Washington immersed himself in the land business. Washington’s father had been a surveyor and George received some rudimentary education in surveying as a youth. His first practical experience in backcountry surveying came in the spring of 1748. The sixteen-year-old was invited to tag along with a surveying party as a traveling companion for his friend and neighbor George William Fairfax, the twenty-fouryear-old nephew of Lord Thomas Fairfax. Washington worked as an apprentice to James Genn, a licensed surveyor. Thanks to the connection by marriage of his half-brother Lawrence to the wealthy Fairfax family, George was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County in July 1749 at the age of 17. George's half-brother had purchased an interest in the Ohio Company, a land acquisition and settlement company whose objective was the settlement of Virginia's frontier areas, including the Ohio Country, territory north and west of the Ohio River. George continued to work as a surveyor for the next two years. In between surveying trips, George studied fencing and military science with his half-brother Lawrence who was a major in the militia of Northern Virginia. Upon Lawrence Washington’s death from tuberculosis in July 1752, Robert Dinwiddie (Lieutenant Governor of Virginia) appointed George to take his stepbrother’s place as a district adjutant general of the militia with the rank of major. Washington’s duties as adjutant general included raising, organizing, and training the local militia when called up by the colonial government. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie recognized that even though George Washington was young he had the ability to handle the job. Dinwiddie observed that George Washington was efficient, dependable, and courageous.

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie

Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie chose Major George Washington, then 21 years old, for the trek into the Ohio Country to assess the French military situation, and to deliver the British demands. He was a good choice despite his youth because he was familiar with the frontier from survey work, had good health, and both government and Ohio Company leaders trusted George Washington. Although he had no frontier warfare experience, neither did most other Virginians. Washington departed from Williamsburg at the end of October 1753. In Fredericksburg, he picked up Jacob Van Braam, a family friend who spoke French, before heading into the Virginia highlands. There Major Washington was ed by Christopher Gist, an Ohio Company agent who was familiar with the territory, and a few backwoodsmen to assist with expedition logistics. When the expedition arrived at the site of the proposed fort, Washington noted that the site was well chosen, having "the entire Command of the Monongahela". The expedition then proceeded on to Logstown, a large Indian settlement a short way down the Ohio River. After parleying with the Indians, "Half King" Tanaghrisson and three of his men agreed to accompany the British expedition to meet with the French. It should be noted that Onondaga, the central council of the Iroquois Confederacy, designated emissaries known as “half kings” to represent its interests in Indian towns outside Iroquoia. Half kings could speak and negotiate for the Confederacy but could not make binding decisions without approval from Onondaga. “It is not at all clear,” notes the historian Richard White, that the half kings “obeyed any instructions from Onondaga that they did not want to obey.” This was certainly true for “Half King” Tanaghrisson who exerted enormous influence on the life of young George Washington. During his expedition, Major Washington learned that many of the Ohio tribes were as unhappy about the British plans for settling the area as they were about the French plans to fortify it. Leaving Logstown on 30 November 1753, they arrived at Fort Machault on 4 December 1753. The commander there, Captain Philippe-Thomas de Joncaire, directed Washington to his superior officer, stationed at Fort LeBoeuf, further north. While dining with Captain Joncaire,

Major Washington learned of French intentions to "take possession of the Ohio".

Major Washington met Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint Pierre at Fort LeBoeuf

Major Washington's party reached Fort LeBoeuf on 11 December 1753, in the middle of a raging snowstorm. The French commander, Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre (Knight of the Military Order of St. Louis), received them with hospitality; however, in response to Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie's demands, he pointed out that the letter was more properly addressed to his superior, New 's governor the Marquis Duquesne. The letter Legardeur drafted in response to Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie was clear and to the point: "as to the summons you send me to retire, I do not think myself obliged to obey it." Major Washington took careful notes of the military arrangements at Fort Machault and Fort LeBoeuf before departing on 16 December 1753. Washington was somewhat concerned by the fact that Tanaghrisson and his men remained behind for further discussions with the French; he wrote, "I saw that every stratagem which the most fruitful brain could invent, was practiced to win Half King to their interest". On the return trip to Williamsburg, progress on horseback was so slow that Major Washington and Christopher Gist struck out on foot by the most direct route home. During the trip, Gist earned his place in history by twice saving the young Washington's life. Before the two travelers crossed the Allegheny River, they had invited an Indian to guide them through a difficult stretch of woods. After the threesome traveled a fast ten miles, the athletic Tidewater horseman (Washington) acutely grasped the difference between covering distance on a horse and traveling quickly on foot in the exhausting cold carrying one’s own baggage. In response to Washington’s weariness and urgings to stop, the Indian guide began to act strangely. The Indian guide eventually worked his way forward about fifteen steps away and then suddenly turned and shot at Major Washington.

Indian guide shot at Washington but missed

Fortunately, the Indian missed and before the Indian could reload Gist threw him to the ground. “I would have killed him,” Gist wrote, “but the Major would not suffer me to kill him.” At Washington’s insistence, the Indian was allowed to go free. In an attempt to quickly distance themselves from their former Indian guide, Washington and Gist walked nonstop for nearly two days as they made their way toward “The Forks” at present-day Pittsburgh. When Major Washington and Christopher Gist reached the shore of the Allegheny River, they used a dull hatchet to build a makeshift raft to cross. Before they were even halfway across, Washington later wrote in his journal, " [W]e were jammed in the ice in such a manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might by; when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water. & notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it." Gist pulled Washington from the freezing river, found a small island in the stream, and somehow managed to light a fire in order to survive the night. “The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist, had all his fingers, and some of his toes frozen,” recorded Washington. By morning the river had frozen solid which enabled Washington and Gist to walk over to the other side.

George Washington and Christopher Gist crossing the Allegheny River

For many years, it has been reported that Washington and Gist spent the night on Herr’s Island (later called Washington’s Landing). However, in The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress, author Sara Killikelly identifies the island as "Wainwright's Island," which even when her book was published in 1906 had "long since washed away." Indeed, the historical consensus seems to be that Wainwright's Island -- located just upriver from and closer to the Allegheny's southern shore than Washington's Landing -- is the more likely landing place. The island, however, was not likely "washed away" but absorbed into Lawrenceville when a river channel between the mainland and the island filled in. Herr's Island -- the original name of "Washington's Landing" -- had history of its own. Herr's Island was once most famous for its stockyards and animal rendering plants. Yet when it came time to redevelop the island with new business and residential development, developers were reluctant to capitalize on that history. Most suburban housing developments are named after what had to be destroyed to create them, but apparently no one thought suburbanites would relocate from their homes on Shady Trees Terrace or Fox Run Road to live on "Horse Hoof Boulevard" or "Rendered Animal Fat Circle." A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but not so a former slaughterhouse. So the name "Washington's Landing" suggested itself for the new development. It's only a minor geographic inaccuracy, and Pittsburgh isn't the first city to try to cover up the stink by appropriating the sophistication of a more respectable -- if trumpedup -- history. When Washington and Gist finally arrived back in Virginia’s capital of Williamsburg on 16 January 1754, Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie had Major Washington's of the 900-mile journey published in both Williamsburg and London to emphasize the French threat. With his journal printed on both sides of the Atlantic, George Washington soon gained an international reputation at the young age of 22.

Journal of Major George Washington

Robert Bell, Sr.

The history of the Bell family dates back to the early part of the 18th century. Robert Bell Sr. was born in circa 1715 in Ulster, Ireland. He married Agnes Fleming of Edinburgh, Scotland (daughter of William Fleming and Jane Clark) in circa 1734 in Belfast, Antrim County, Ireland. Robert Bell, Sr. was a Protestant. He and Agnes Fleming resided near Belfast, Antrim County, Ireland, circa 1738. Robert Bell, Sr. was a farmer. Robert Bell, Sr. and Agnes Fleming migrated to the “new world” in circa 1744 with several young children. This was during the Scots religious and political persecutions. Tradition is that Robert Bell, Sr. arrived at the port of Philadelphia with two brothers. One of the brothers went south and the other to Pennsylvania. William Bell of Chester County, Pennsylvania, born about 1700, could be a brother. Robert Bell, Sr. was the offspring of Scottish Presbyterians who eventually moved to the British colony of Ulster (including county Tyrone). Due to high rents, short leases, and insecure tenure under English landlord rule, an estimated 250,000 "Scotch-Irish" settled in the American colonies during the colonial period, about 90% of the “Scotch-Irish” settlers spent some time in servitude as the only way to afford age across the sea.

It was in the hills of what is known today as the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia that Robert and Agnes Bell cleared the dense forest and built their first log cabin. By act of the General Assembly of Virginia on 13 December 1753, the western part of what was then known as Frederick County was formed in Hampshire County with the courthouse in Romney. Thus Romney became West Virginia's first town and Hampshire became its first county, both having existed long before the state did. Robert and Agnes Bell settled four miles from the present town of Romney. This was an area known as the Manor of Patterson Creek. There, they engaged in farming and stock-raising on their 330 acre farm.

Lot #11 of Patterson Creek Manor was owned by Robert Bell, Sr.

Lot #11 of Patterson Creek Manor was owned by Robert Bell, Sr.

The first families to settle in this valley were lured by traversing Indian traders and hunters telling of the fertile valleys, spreading forests, and navigable waters. The editor of Historic Hampshire reported that nearly 200 persons had moved into the Romney area by 1748. "Besides being off the direct path of the warrior tribes on the Ohio, the surrounding territory offered many natural advantages; the fertile soil, grass and pea vine covered terraces were well adapted to tobacco growing and stock raising - a consideration of primary importance to the pioneers". A book on the pioneers of Capon Valley (a valley in Hampshire County) describes this county's land as three classes: first, smooth upland (suited to general farm crops, orchards, and pastures). Second, river bottom lands that are very productive (suited to corn, wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, and gardening). Third, mountain acres, more or less stony and too steep for cultivation, that are forested but some of this land is cleared and used for orchards or summer sheep pasture. All of the larger area was referred to as the "Northern Neck" of Virginia. It was owned by Lord Thomas Fairfax and those settled there usually had to pay "quit rents" to Lord Fairfax, meaning the payments quit any other obligations such as servitude of labor. Pioneers flocked into the region, some pushing their way across the wilderness from Pennsylvania, and others coming by way of the Shenandoah Valley. Historic Hampshire says that Lord Fairfax saw the growth in this area as an "opportunity to recoup his depleted fortune and build for himself a perpetual income". As his surveys were made (a surveying party which included young George Washington), those living on the land were forced to take up the properties they occupied by lease or actual purchase. In either case, his lordship required a fixed rental to be paid annually on the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel. From the renters he also extracted a small down payment which he termed “composition money". He stipulated in the deeds that the buyers should never kill elk, deer, buffalo, beaver, or other game without consent of his majesty, Lord Fairfax or his heirs.

Hampshire County was named in honor of several prize hogs. The story goes that Lord Fairfax, who owned the Royal Grant to the area, came upon some very large hogs in Winchester and asked where they had been raised. He was told that they were from the South Branch of the Potomac Valley (now Hampshire County). He remarked that when a county was formed west of Frederick that he would name it in honor of Hampshire County, England, famous for its very fat hogs. Agnes M. Justus (granddaughter of James Bell) tells the following story: “This [Bell] family and their neighbors had to endure many hardships and had many narrow escapes from death at the hands of the Indians. One day Robert Bell, Sr. and two other young men named Vaughn and Scisson went out to look for some horses which had wandered away. The three men were caught in an Indian ambush on a branch of Flaugherty's Run and Vaughn was killed outright. An Indian threw his tomahawk at Bell, cutting a severe gash in his thigh and ing through his horse’s saddle girth. Scisson and Bell turned their horses and fled.”

Robert Bell, Sr. turned his horse and fled from the Indians The story continues: “They had gone no more than a mile when Bell's saddle slipped and he fell from his horse. Scisson, thinking Bell was dead, rode off and left him. Bell's frightened horse reached home before Scisson and the neighbors, realizing what had happened, formed a party to pursue the Indians. Several days later this party overtook the Indians as they were crossing the Ohio River and the white men completely routed the marauders. To return to Bell, it seems that after the first attack, the Indians did not follow the two white men but fled themselves in the opposite direction. After falling from his horse, Bell crawled some distance in the bed of a stream and then hid for the night. In the morning he was unable to walk so he was obliged to crawl again and in this fashion he finally reached Fort Pitt, where his wound was dressed by Dr. Knight”. Flaugherty Run, mentioned in the above , is a creek in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, north of what is now the Greater Pittsburgh airport. It flows into the Ohio River at a point 12 to 14 miles west of the point of three rivers in Pittsburgh where Fort Pitt was located. If Robert Bell, Sr. indeed had to crawl the entire distance, suffering from pain and blood loss, it seems a miracle that he survived. What was Robert Bell, Sr. doing so far away from his Hampshire County home and his family? And what was it that motivated the Indians to ambush a small search party? There is one answer for both questions: the French and British dispute over who was to control this new America. In the Ohio Valley, the French were in such a strong position they had driven away the English traders. The Indians of this area had two options: either accept the French rule and their military cause, or nobly starve to death. As Francis Jennings writes in Empire of Fortune: "It is quite evident that they (the Ohio Indians) would have preferred to sit out a war between Britain and . But the "nobility of such starvation was not clear to them, so they accommodated and fought French battles. Raiding parties were organized and with a Frenchman or two at the head of each, they brought fire and slaughter to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.”

Raiding parties brought fire and slaughter to inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia Robert Bell, Sr. and Agnes (Fleming) Bell had ten children: eight sons and two daughters. In an era of smallpox, deadly influenza, pneumonia without antibiotics, a paucity of hospitals and doctors, and many pioneer dangers, it is remarkable that all of these children survived to adulthood. Their children were: Joseph, James, Margaret, Samuel, John, Jane, William, Charles, David, and Robert Bell, Jr. In 1753, when James Bell was 13 years old, he and one of his brothers accompanied their father on a trip to Fort Patterson for a wagon load of wood. On the way home, Robert Bell, Sr. wanted his sons to gather more wood while he was hauling some home. The two boys were busy gathering wood when the Indians attacked them. They caught James but his brother ran and the Indians shot at him and he fell under a log. The Indians thought he was dead. He was not hurt, however, and later went home and reported that James had been captured.

Undoubtedly anxious about the growing military might and trade control of the French, Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent a young major by the name of George Washington to "The Forks" (of the Ohio River) in the winter of 1753-54. This was the first of Washington's six trips across the Allegheny Mountains. Upon the French refusal of Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie's demand to leave the area, Virginia recruited a force of about 400 colonials to drive them out. I can only speculate, but I believe that Robert Bell, Sr. volunteered to the Virginia Militia in 1754 because his son James was still a captive of the Indians at that time. It wasn’t until 1757, when James was released from the Delaware Indians by treaty, that Robert and Agnes Bell’s son returned home to his family in Virginia. When James arrived home it was at night. His mother, hearing the wooden latch lift with a string, called: “Is that you, James?” and his father answered, “yes.” It was a joyful meeting. James had many stories to relate of his capture. Among them, was that when the Indians took him the Ohio River they made a canoe and put him in it and they had nothing to eat save what they called 'cush meat.' James always claimed they crossed into Pennsylvania and came through Chartiers Valley, near Chartiers Creek. He told how they would have two lines of Indians and would make him run between the lines. And of an old Indian squaw who would be angry if they struck him, but he was a fast runner and did not get struck often. They pulled all his hair out of the top of his head and put rings in his ears. After James had been with them awhile the Indians got very friendly with him and when he left in 1757 the old Indian squaw cried. James Bell married Mary Newkirk in 1771 at Chartiers Creek, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The Indians were quite numerous in the area. His wife would hang blankets around the wood fire place and then she would sit and mold the bullets, while James would shoot out of a small window, whenever the horses would come running from the spring near the oak tree. Many an Indian rested in its shade. James Bell always carried his gun on his shoulder to church.

James Bell and his wife protected their home from Indian attacks

In 1772, James Bell built a stone house. In that house he used to relate his stories of his captivity by the Indians to his grandchildren. One day he and his youngest son, James Bell, Jr., were in Pittsburgh. They met some friendly Indians and some he knew. They presented James Bell with a bead belt and a small trunk. The bead belt and small trunk are in the possession of one of his descendants. James Bell served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Joseph Cisna's Company, 2nd Battalion, Washington County Militia. He received a patent for 405 acres on 25 February 1788 at Robinson Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. James Bell died on 5 December 1836 at Robinson Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was buried at Chartiers Cemetery, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Margaret Bell (daughter of Robert Bell, Sr.) is said to have had “hair like sunsets filled with gold and red.” She married Daniel Shawhan, Jr. in 1762 at Hampshire County, Virginia. The couple later moved to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Daniel Shawhan, Jr. was a farmer and whiskey distiller. His "Monongahela Red" whiskey was soon a success, but Daniel became worried about the value of his Virginia land warrant in the dispute with Pennsylvania, and the increasing burden of the whiskey taxes that the newly established American government had instituted for revenue. The history books call it "The Whiskey Rebellion" and it is an ugly chapter in the first difficult years of the newly formed United States. The presenting problem was the call by some legislators for an excise tax to be placed upon the sale of whiskey. The western states, particularly western Pennsylvania and the Allegheny region of Virginia, did not take kindly to what they considered unfair taxation. However, as is always the case with volatile issues of this sort, much deeper problems lay beneath the surface. For these westerners, life on the edge of the frontier was, at best, dangerous and, at worst, a matter of sheer survival. For us today, it is difficult to imagine the terrible conditions under which the early settlers endured. It is easy to understand why average Pennsylvanian had little sympathy for the new government's need to collect revenue. From his perspective, the government was doing little to protect its citizens on the frontier and, to add insult to injury, it sought to tax one of the

few profitable commodities produced in the wilderness. It was during President George Washington's istration that the noted Whiskey Rebellion of Pennsylvania took place in 1794. The Whiskey Rebellion threatened the stability of the nascent United States and forced President Washington to personally lead the United States militia westward to stop the rebels. It is ironic that the husband of Margaret Bell (daughter of Robert Bell, Sr. who served with George Washington at Fort Necessity) was one of the rebels in the Whiskey Rebellion that President Washington personally pursued.

President Washington personally led the U.S. militia during Whiskey Rebellion

Daniel Shawhan, Jr., tired of being harassed by the government, packed everything moveable (including his still) into a wagon and journeyed with his family across the mountains. Soon the Shawhan family was busily engaged in distilling whiskey in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Daniel Shawhan, Jr. called the whisky manufactured by him after the county in which his new home was situated, "Bourbon." After Daniel ed away, his son Joseph took over the distilling business and eventually “Kentucky Bourbon” became a household word.

Shawhan Bourbon Whiskey

Skirmish at Jumonville Glen

Jumonville Glen

George Washington is one of the best known and recognizable figures in American history because of the role he played in the Revolutionary War and establishing a new federal government. Sometimes overlooked, however, is the responsibility George Washington may have had in starting another conflict fought on five continents in the 18th century. The controversial event known as Jumonville Glen involving the future president is directly connected to the start of the French and Indian War (1756-1763), a major conflict involving Britain, , and the native population of North America. George Washington was obviously not responsible for the BritishFrench rivalry that existed for centuries. The French and Indian War is one of those conflicts we learned about in history classes, but we tend to be hazy on the details. That’s partly because it all took place a generation before the Revolutionary War, a time most Americans don’t think much about. It’s also because the name is a bit confusing: It was a conflict between British and French colonists, with Indian nations as allies on both sides. Back then, the colonists on the Atlantic seaboard were still loyal to Britain. French influence extended far inland, and it was starting to expand into the Ohio Valley, edging into Pennsylvania. The British had more people and resources, but the French had access to important waterways, including the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. As the French philosopher Voltaire wrote around the time of the Jumonville affair: “So complicated are the political interests of the present times that a shot fired in America shall be the signal for setting all Europe together by the ears.” The conflict was based on long standing European disputes, including the Hundred Years that placed the two kingdoms at odds and created lingering resentments. With the exploration of North America in the 17th century, the British-French rivalry once again exploded into armed conflict with what the British called King William’s War (1688-1697). It was a time when settlements were subjected to raids and the native population forced to take sides. King William’s War did not settle the colonial disputes in North America, as the two colonial powers confronted each other again on the western frontier.

Britain and experienced major disagreements over the Ohio Valley by 1750. English settlements had been expanding for decades from the eastern seaboard toward the Ohio Valley, while French settlers were acting similarly as they moved south from Canada. The conflicts over commercial and political interests in the region increased when the two sides clashed over territorial claims. A key figure in the economic and political intrigue was Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and a primary investor in the Ohio Company, a private land speculation company. The Ohio Company received a land grant from the British crown to a large part of the Ohio Valley, thereby entwining the British government with colonial authorities and private investors. Additional western land companies were chartered which increased political pressures to ensure that Ohio remained under friendly control. Native Americans became victims in the territorial disputes since their occupation of the land predated both French and English settlements. By the mid eighteenth century, the three parties drew closer to armed conflict as negotiations continued to fail. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie recognized the threat that a French presence would pose to the Ohio Company, so he sought powerful . After Dinwiddie’s plea to the British Privy Council, the government offered assurances by authorizing the building of forts in strategic locations in the Ohio Valley and other measures. The government in London did not, however, provide funding to carry out all that was authorized and Virginia’s legislative assembly, called the House of Burgesses, refused to finance the initiatives. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie was forced to try a less expensive alternative - sending an emissary to speak with the French. Dinwiddie’s decision to send 21-year-old George Washington on this diplomatic mission would have important implications. Upon Major Washington’s return to Virginia from his diplomatic mission on 16 January 1754, Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie requested that Washington prepare a written report of the expedition that was later published and widely read in the American colonies and in Europe. Major Washington’s report thrust the young military leader into the public spotlight for the first time. Washington’s report on the mission not only included the rejection of British demands, but also a survey of French forces and allies that he observed in the region. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie and the colonial legislature interpreted the

French presence in the Ohio Valley and the more recent rejection of demands as unfriendly acts. Dinwiddie subsequently promoted George Washington to the rank of lieutenant colonel and ordered a militia force be raised with orders to destroy or make prisoners of anyone who was obstructing British interests in the Ohio Valley. As hostilities grew closer, the colonial powers increased their efforts to curry favor with Native Americans. Unfortunately for the native population, Britain and usually considered Indian interests only within the context of European concerns. Bargains were forged and broken depending on circumstances and misunderstandings.

Lieutenant Colonel Washington and “Half King” Tanaghrisson

Like their European counterparts, native peoples were diverse and exploiting the differences was typically practiced by both colonial powers. Britain’s primary allies among Native Americans belonged to the Iroquois Confederation and an Indian leader named Tanaghrisson, but commonly called by the title “Half King.” Not all groups within the confederation trusted the British or Half King; Indians continued to see their lands encroached upon despite the presence of their leader. Many Indians, therefore, rejected Half King’s authority, opposed the British, and viewed the French as a lesser threat. Lieutenant Colonel Washington became part of the newly formed Virginia Regiment under the leadership of Colonel Joshua Fry that was dispatched with specific orders to hold the land at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, the same area claimed by the French. After arriving at Fort Cumberland in April 1754, Washington learned that 1,000 French forces had already captured their intended destination, known as Trent’s Fort. Not waiting for the arrival of Colonel Fry, Washington ordered his men to depart Fort Cumberland and make their way into southwestern Pennsylvania where French forces and their allies awaited. By 24 May 1754, Washington had encamped at the Great Meadows, one of the few open clearings amid the dark Appalachian woods. He made this his base camp. Grass there could provide food for his animals and water was readily available. Although Britain and were not technically at war, tensions continued to mount after word was received that the French had attempted to burn the plantation of Christopher Gist, a member of Washington’s party. Washington was aware that French forces would be present in southwest Pennsylvania, but on 27 May 1754, Indian allies presented him with specific information about a camp 15 miles from his position. After consulting with a messenger sent by Half King, Washington selected approximately 40 militiamen (perhaps including my seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell, Sr.) to seek out the French. At midnight they set out on foot up the

narrow forest path toward the spot where the Half King waited, leaving behind a contingent of militiamen to guard the Great Meadows camp and ammunition should that be the French target. As they marched, a heavy rain began to fall. The night, Washington reported, was “black as pitch.” Washington and his men marched five miles and climbed 700 feet up the steep eastern face of Chestnut Ridge. Seven soldiers got lost as they stumbled in the rain over the ridgeline’s many rocks, spurs and draws. By the time the remaining 33 men crested the ridge, they were exhausted and soaked. Walking single file through darkness, the small group finally located the French encampment of 35 soldiers in a glen on the morning of May 28th about half a mile from the main trail. It is at this point in time the encounter became a controversial issue with international consequences.

Washington spotted French encampment in Jumonville Glen

Washington’s Indian allies circled behind the French while Washington and the colonials walked straight into the glen. No one is sure which side fired first, but it is uncontested that a volley of gun fire occurred that morning. Washington wrote: “"I fortunately escaped without any wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me there is something charming in the sound." The fighting continued for about 15 minutes and took the lives of 10 Frenchmen and one militiaman. Unfortunately for Washington, one Frenchman (named Monceau) escaped the glen and made his way back to Fort Duquesne (present day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) where news of the encounter quickly became known and disseminated. If the attack was not controversial enough, subsequent events further escalated tensions and tarnished Washington’s reputation as a military leader. The controversial and tragic incident allegedly occurred after the French surrendered and when Washington was trying to communicate with a French officer, Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, who had been dispatched to warn the British about occupying French claimed territory. As Ensign Jumonville and Lieutenant Colonel Washington conversed while attempting to overcome the language barrier, Half King reportedly stepped into their presence and killed Ensign Jumonville. One telling of that story, by a British deserter named Denis Kaninguen, added an especially brutal twist: As Ensign Jumonville lay wounded after the battle, Half King approached him and remarked, “Tu n’es pas encore mort, mon père” --“You are not yet dead, my father.” Half King then lifted his tomahawk and planted the blade in Jumonville’s skull.

Half King tomahawked Ensign Jumonville’s head

Half King’s motivation was based in previous war experiences involving the French. This personal act of revenge against an unarmed and in-custody officer elevated what had been a backwoods skirmish into a brutal murder event. The historical accuracy of the encounter was later disputed by several s that did not include Half King’s violent act. Other undisputed behavior involved the scalping of French casualties by Half King’s men. It was even reported that a Frenchman’s decapitated head was stuck upon a pole. Regardless of differing s, the French who fought at what became known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen believed the British and their allies had acted inappropriately on the morning of May 28th. As word of the skirmish became known to the outside world, so did questions about it. Were the French secretly stalking the British militia and waiting for an opportunity to ambush them? Did Washington open fire on sleeping men who were engaged in a diplomatic mission? Was the young Washington influenced by Half King to commit a reckless act? These and other questions continue to be debated by those interested in the French and Indian War and what became known as the “Battle of Jumonville Glen.” The 18th century British commentator Horace Walpole would famously remark, “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the back woods of America set the world on fire.” Lieutenant Colonel Washington consistently stated that of the French party were going for their weapons when he fired in self defense. The French, however, maintained most of them learned of Washington’s presence only after he opened fire. According to an Iroquois’s recollection, Washington not only ordered the attack that killed Jumonville and several of his men but quite literally fired the first shot of what became a global conflict. The French also argued that the violent encounter constituted an act of war on a diplomatic mission and that armed retaliation was justified. Washington expected French retaliation, so he retreated a short distance to a base camp known as Fort Necessity located in Great Meadows.

Location of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity

Battle of Fort Necessity

As Lieutenant Colonel Washington sorted out the chaos, it was discovered that at least one French soldier had gotten away clean. The British mission was now compromised and options were limited. Attacking “The Forks” was out of the question without reinforcements, including artillery. That meant finishing the road. Going back to Virginia meant leaving the entire area and beyond open to French incursions. Washington probably had concerns about the ability of his men to carry out an orderly retreat, possibly under fire. They were inexperienced, sick and exhausted. Washington sent his 21 French prisoners to Williamsburg (Virginia) while he returned to the Great Meadows to prepare for the French attack he knew would soon come. To make matters worse, Tanaghrisson and his Native American allies abandoned Washington. This would set a trend for the entire war. The French had much more from the Native Americans than the British did, a factor that would put British forces at a serious disadvantage in many wilderness engagements.

Washington’s troops building Fort Necessity

Out of necessity, Colonel Washington undertook to fortify his position at the Great Meadows. During the last two days of May and the first three days of June, he built a circular palisaded fort, which he called Fort Necessity. The fort consisted of a circular stockade a little over fifty feet in diameter constructed of ten-inch-thick oak logs that had been split in half, sharpened to a point, and planted vertically in the earth, like a picket fence twelve feet high. At the center stood a shack about fourteen by fourteen feet roofed with a crude covering of bark and animal pelts to keep food and ammunition dry. A ditch and earthworks surrounded the stockade. In this tiny, ramshackle fort, Colonel Washington had convinced himself that he and his small body of men could stave off half a thousand French troops. In the meantime, the French built their own fort at The Forks - Fort Duquesne. It anchored a line of forts that stretched north to Lake Erie, giving them a solid foothold in the Ohio Valley. This gave the French a strong base from which to operate along the frontier - which they did very effectively with their Native American allies. The first order of business was payback for killing Ensign Jumonville. A French force of 700 men would soon set out from Fort Duquesne to do just that. They would be led by Ensign Jumonville's brother, Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers. The stage was set for the Battle of Fort Necessity (also called the Battle of Great Meadows). Washington assumed command of the regiment and was promoted to colonel when Joshua Fry fell off of his horse and died at Wills Creek, in present day Cumberland, Maryland, on 31 May 1754. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie sent a congratulatory letter to Colonel Washington for his success in killing and capturing the French party and showing the Indians that the French could be defeated. To further encourage his young officer, Dinwiddie sent Washington a special medal he had minted to commemorate the “success’ over Jumonville, along with a gift of rum from the Dinwiddie’s personal stock. The rest of the Virginia Regiment arrived at the Great Meadows on June 9, along with supplies and nine swivel guns (small cannons that fired loads of small pellets called “grapeshot”). Colonel Washington's command now totaled 293

officers and men. Robert Bell, Sr. (my seventh great-grandfather) was on the rolls of Captain Jacob Van Braam's Company.

Payroll of Captain Van Braam’s Company showing Robert Bell, Sr.

Colonel Washington was reinforced several days later by about 100 men of Captain James Mackay's Independent Company of regular British troops from South Carolina. The arrival of Captain Mackay presented a problem for Colonel Washington because officers in the regular British army generally did not follow commands from officers in the colonial forces. The issue of authority reared its stubborn head on the very first night of Captain Mackay’s arrival. The two officers met and discussed the matter cordially but ended where they began -deadlocked. While the South Carolinians remained at the Great Meadows, Colonel Washington and his Virginians spent most of June opening a road from Fort Necessity to Gist's Plantation, a frontier settlement in the direction of the forks of the Ohio. Reports that a large force of French and Indians was advancing from Fort Duquesne, however, caused him to withdraw his men to the Great Meadows, where they arrived July 1st. The next day, Washington’s men strengthened Fort Necessity by improving the trenches outside the stockade.

The French and Indians attacked Fort Necessity

On the morning of 3 July 1754, a force of about 600 French and 100 Indians approached the fort. After the French took up positions in the woods, Washington withdrew his men to the entrenchments. Instead of behaving predictably and approaching the fort in orderly columns in the style of warfare conducted on the battlefields of Europe, the French troops suddenly broke from their columns along the edge of the woods, ed by scores of Indian warriors. With bloodcurdling Indian death screams and French battle cries, they surged forward. As rain fell throughout the day, the fighting continued sporadically over the marshy ground until about 8 p.m. Then Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers, commander of the French force and brother of the slain Ensign Jumonville, requested a truce to discuss the surrender of Washington's command. Unlike the Jumonville affair, the Battle of Fort Necessity was a military and diplomatic disaster for Colonel Washington. The Virginia Regiment was outnumbered and underprotected behind the small, flimsy Fort Necessity, which looked like a tall, circular fence and was situated in an open field.

Colonel Washington and Captain Mackay signed the surrender document

Near midnight, after several hours of negotiation, the were reduced to writing. Colonel Washington and Captain Mackay signed the multi-part document. Ultimately, Colonel Washington surrendered to that included -unbeknownst to him, because of a poor French translation -- taking responsibility for the “assassination” of Ensign Jumonville. The British were allowed to withdraw with the honors of war, retaining their baggage and weapons, but having to surrender their swivel guns. Under those , Colonel Washington surrendered his command to the French. Both sides suffered casualties, but the British losses were much greater than French and Indian losses. The one-day action exacted a heavy toll on Colonel Washington’s command. He had lost 30 men killed and 70 wounded (including my seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell, Sr.). By contrast, Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers had lost only two Frenchmen and one Indian killed and 17 wounded. Washington and his men stayed the night and began marching home the next morning, carrying the wounded (including Robert Bell, Sr.) on their backs.

Colonel Washington’s troops left Fort Necessity and marched home

The British troops left Fort Necessity for Wills Creek on the morning of July 4. From there they marched back to Virginia. The French burned Fort Necessity and afterwards returned to Fort Duquesne (taking with them Captain Robert Stobo and Captain Jacob Van Braam as hostages). It is worth noting that Captain Stobo was eventually able to smuggle out valuable intelligence from Fort Duquesne that assisted in the capture of Quebec.

The British troops marched back to Virginia

After Colonel George Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity, he decided to leave the badly wounded men of his army along the cart track with a guard to be picked up later when transport can be arranged from Wills Creek (present day Cumberland, Maryland). Several of these men are subsequently captured by Indians who are still looking for booty. The Virginia Regiment reached Wills Creek on 9 July 1754 having marched for five days from the Great Meadows. A roll call showed that out of 283 men present for duty one week previously at the Great Meadows, only 165 remain. Walking wounded and footsore men straggle in during the next few days. Colonel George Washington and Captain James Mackay reached Williamsburg, Virginia on 17 July 1754 after their retreat from the Great Meadows. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie received Colonel Washington with impersonal courtesy. Dinwiddie was angered by the loss, outraged at French pretensions in the Ohio, and determined to strike back. After giving his report in which he falsely stated that there was no capitulation or surrender by the British, Washington was ordered to return to his regiment in Alexandria, Virginia. Soon Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie decided to reorganize the Virginia Regiment into ten independent companies of one hundred men each under his command and all headed by captains. One of these captains would be George Washington. Humiliated by the prospect of being demoted from Colonel to Captain, Washington resigned his commission in the Virginia Regiment and returned to Mount Vernon.

George Washington returned to Mount Vernon in 1754

On 9 December 2016, Christian E. Fearer wrote an article for Foreign Policy Magazine entitled “Historians missed the mark in assessing Washington’s location of Ft. Necessity.” Fearer states that George Washington’s 1754 decisions concerning Fort Necessity have often been portrayed as the unfortunate result of an amateur’s poor decisions. He believes that many historians misunderstand the circumstances and the site. Christian Fearer (a government historian who used to work at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield) points out that it is important to that Colonel Washington’s focus was on building the road. Fort Necessity was to serve as his supply depot. Men and supplies would be forwarded from Alexandria and Winchester to the Great Meadows. From there, they would be forwarded to the men who were working on building the road toward Redstone, site of present-day Brownsville, Pennsylvania. At the end of June 1754, Colonel Washington learned that a large French force with Indian allies had left Fort Duquesne and were moving on his position. Away from Great Meadows with the road building crews, Colonel Washington ordered the Virginians remaining at the fort to him at Christopher Gist’s settlement and requested that the South Carolinians under British Captain James Mackay do the same. There, Colonel Washington held a council of war to determine the best course. Colonel Washington and his fellow officers determined that they needed to fall back to a defensive position. Ideally, given the unfavorable circumstances, they would have withdrawn to Wills Creek; however, the men had become too weak to risk such a move for fear of being overtaken. If there was to be a fight, then Colonel Washington and his officers were determined to at least have some say where that fight would occur, and they chose Fort Necessity. At 11:00 a.m. on 3 July 1754, the French appeared in Great Meadows about six hundred yards from Fort Necessity and advanced in what Washington described as an “irregular manner.” He had drawn his men out in a line of battle, prepared to engage the enemy in the field. As Washington’s line gave way, the men fell back to the cover of the earthworks and stream beds while the French surrounded the fort.

In the chaotic opening moments, the French-allied Indians rushed the fort and were repulsed. That is the only attempt they would make to take the fort by force. It then began to rain, making fighting a difficult affair. By evening, the rain had slacked if not stopped, and Captain Louis de Villiers noted that the defenders began firing from the fort “with more fury than ever.” De Villiers, who had served his French king almost as long as Washington had been alive and was a veteran of warfare in North America, also commented that the fort was “advantageously situated.” Having attempted to storm the fort once and failed, he had determined not to make a second attempt. Captain de Villiers faced a dilemma. By 8:00pm, he had surrounded and fired into little Fort Necessity for nearly nine hours. He had attempted to take it once and failed. His men, while superior in number, were running out of ammunition. His Indian allies threatened to leave the following morning, and he remained concerned about rumored British reinforcements. And then, in Christian Fearer’s assessment, Captain de Villiers bluffed, calling out to Colonel Washington to see if he was interested in talking. Colonel Washington, unaware of Captain de Villiers’ concerns, seeing his command surrounded, and having lost a quarter of his command killed and wounded, at first thought the French commander’s offer was a ploy. After being asked a second and third time if he wished to talk, Colonel Washington sent an interpreter [Captain Jacob van Braam] to the French lines to discuss of surrender. After four hours, Colonel Washington and Captain Mackay signed articles of capitulation and the British flag was lowered from above the fort. Colonel Washington and his men began their retreat the following morning, and the French burned Fort Necessity before returning to Fort Duquesne. It is Christian Fearer’s assessment, based on his extensive knowledge of the Battle of Fort Necessity, that Colonel Washington chose to build Fort Necessity in the Great Meadows as a supply depot for his road building mission. This fort was never intended to house troops - only supplies. Colonel Washington was forced to use Fort Necessity as a defensive position ‘out of necessity’ when he was being attacked by the French forces and their Indian allies. Having trekked through the rugged wilderness in the vicinity of Great Meadows, I wholeheartedly agree with Christian Fearer’s assessment. I truly believe that Colonel Washington and his troops (including my seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell, Sr.) made a gallant stand against overwhelming odds during the

Battle for Fort Necessity. On 18 July 1754, the Governor's Council of the Virginia colony voted to award Colonel Washington's Virginia Regiment and Captain Mackay’s South Carolina Independent Company 300 pistoles (coinage) "as a reward for their bravery in the recent engagement with the French" at Fort Necessity. The pistole was a common coin in Virginia until the 1760s. Each pistole was worth about 18 shillings. Each private (including Robert Bell, Sr.) was awarded one pistole.

One pistole was worth 18 shillings

The House of Burgesses further awarded a one-time disability pension of 50 shillings to Robert Bell, Sr. for several bruises (wounds) received during the engagement with the French at the Great Meadows which had rendered him incapable of getting a livelihood.

Petition of Robert Bell for disability payment

List of military pensioners (including Robert Bell, Sr.) for disabilities caused by wounds

Major General Braddock’s Defeat

Battle of the Monongahela

News of Colonel Washington’s defeat at Fort Necessity broke like a thunderclap when it reached imperial officials in London in August 1754. The British government intervened by sending Major General Edward Braddock with two regiments of regular troops to accomplish what the colonists could not. But Major General Braddock requested that Washington serve as an aide-de-camp. Although only a volunteer, Washington played an instrumental role in saving Braddock’s army from utter annihilation during the French and Indian War.

Washington served as an aide-de-camp to Major General Edward Braddock

In July 1755, Washington had the chance to reclaim his reputation when Braddock’s expedition met with disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela. After leading his army on an epic 290-mile march from Virginia’s Tidewater region to within striking distance of its objective (Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio about ten miles east of what is now Pittsburgh), Major General Braddock and his men were attacked by an alliance of French and Indian warriors. Not heeding Washington’s warnings about irregular fighting in the wilderness, the British column quickly fell into confusion as the Indian warriors formed a half moon around it. Bunched together on a forest trail, Braddock’s 1,450-man column offered an unmissable target for the 900-strong force that surprised and outflanked it. The Native-American forces were essentially an army of skilled light infantry and were unquestionably the most disciplined military units on the field. Experienced war captains led their men along the flanks of Braddock’s column with great efficacy. The result was accurate fire from a mostly hidden and moving force. Two out of three British soldiers were wounded or killed during the three-hour battle. Amidst the fighting, Major General Braddock realized retreat was his only option and issued orders to that effect. Moments later, a bullet struck Braddock's right arm and pierced his lung.

Major General Braddock was shot in battle

With Braddock lying on the ground, conscious but incapable of directing the retreat in person, it was left to aide-de-camp Washington to effectively carry out Braddock's orders and coordinate the retreat. With several Indians shooting at him at point blank range and officers dying all around him Washington inexplicably survived the hailstorm of bullets for two hours to rally his surviving men and escape the slaughter. Washington had two horses shot from underneath him and his jacket had four bullet holes in it. Eighty years later, a gold seal was found on the field of battle bearing his initials that had been shot off his body. Washington, by all s, behaved with extraordinary poise under fire as he rallied the remaining troops after Braddock was wounded.

Washington rallied the British troops after Braddock was wounded

On 13 July 1755, the British camped about one mile west of the Great Meadows, site of Fort Necessity, and in the evening Major General Braddock died. Washington officiated at the ceremony the next day. The general was buried in the road his men had built. The army then marched over the grave to obliterate any traces of it and continued to eastern Pennsylvania. Before Braddock died, he gave Washington his ceremonial sash and two pistols as keepsakes.

Burial of Major General Braddock

For the remainder of the retreat, Washington spent time caring for and comforting fellow staff-officers, Roger Morris and Robert Orme, who were being carried along on horse-litters. The sight of Morris and Orme served as a reminder to Washington of the absolute defeat Braddock's army suffered at Monongahela. Of the 1,459 men in Major General Braddock's expedition, 977 were wounded or killed (including sixty-three officers). Washington reported: "The shocking scenes which presented themselves in this nights march are not to be described. The dead, the dying, the groans, lamentations, and cries of the wounded for help were enough to pierce a heart of adamant". Although technically not in command, Washington earned hero status for saving the British army from complete destruction. Washington’s heroism at the Battle of the Monongahela eclipsed his earlier failures. Indeed, the military experiences that he gained during the French and Indian War, along with his integrity, were the reasons the Continental Congress selected him as commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775. By that time, memory of Washington’s culpability in the Jumonville affair had waned significantly. The British had emerged victorious from the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years’ War as it was known in a global context: When the two countries signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763, surrendered all of its North American territories east of the Mississippi. But the peace between and Britain didn’t last long. In 1778, the French signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States, which pitted them against Britain in the American War for Independence. Ironically, this meant the French were now ing their old foe, George Washington -apparently willing to overlook the fact that he had once unintentionally confessed to the assassination of Ensign Jumonville.

Afterword

During the summer of 1985, my brother (Kevin) and I planned to hike a 55-mile section of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in the 13,625-acre Laurel Ridge State Park (which stretches along Laurel Mountain from the Conemaugh Gorge near Johnstown, Pennsylvania to the picturesque Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania). This large park spans Cambria, Fayette, Somerset, and Westmoreland counties. Kevin and I had no idea at the time that our 55-mile journey would take us within seven miles of Great Meadows where our seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell, Sr. (who was unknown to us at the time) was wounded while serving under Colonel George Washington during the Battle of Fort Necessity in 1754.

Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania

The first day of our hike went fairly well despite an afternoon shower and we easily accomplished our 10 mile goal. Our good night’s sleep ended in the middle of the first night when a black bear visited our campsite and began sniffing around our tent.

1st day hike = 10 miles west (Route 271 Parking to Route 30 Shelter)

The second day, however, proved to be extremely difficult because we hiked in a steady downpour (with thunder and lightning) all day long. On the trail, I tripped on a tree root and fell down face first … bending my glasses and cutting my forehead. Although we did hike for 20 miles on the second day as planned, the rainy conditions took a toll on our physical stamina.

2nd day hike = 20 miles west (Route 30 Shelter to Grindle Ridge Shelter)

When we awoke the next morning and it was still raining with no clear weather in sight, Kevin and I decided to hike to the nearby Ranger Station and ask for a ride into Ohiopyle.

Planned 3rd day hike = 25 miles west (Grindle Ridge Shelter to Ohiopyle)

After Kevin and I changed into dry clothes and ate a hearty breakfast at a diner in Ohiopyle, we set up our tent in a nearby campground. We didn’t venture far from camp for the remainder of the day. The next morning we awoke to overcast skies but it wasn’t raining, so we decided to continue with our plans to go whitewater rafting. The Youghiogheny River has exciting whitewater rafting for all experience levels. The famous Lower Yough begins after the Ohiopyle Falls and flows seven miles downstream to the Bruner Run Take-out. This is the busiest section of whitewater east of the Mississippi River. The numerous class III and IV rapids make for exciting rafting that should only be attempted by experienced whitewater boaters. The natural river environment contains undercut rocks, ledges and swift currents. Somehow Kevin and I managed to raft the Lower Yough without falling in the water.

Rafting on the Youghiogheny River

When Colonel George Washington arrived along the banks of the Youghiogheny River in 1754, he saw a formidable sight. Stretching across the river was a large waterfall, with countless rapids continuing away from the river. Today, we know this place as Ohiopyle Falls in the heart of Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands. Deciding that he can't risk taking a boat along the Youghiogheny River to his destination, Colonel Washington and his 40 troops (perhaps including my seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell Sr.) return to the main road to continue west by land. Had Ohiopyle Falls not been along the Youghiogheny River, it is entirely possible that Colonel Washington and his troops would have gone by boat to Pittsburgh, bying the French troops, and altering the entire history of American Independence. When I began researching the Bell branch of my family tree in 2015, I soon learned that Robert Bell, Sr. was my seventh great-grandfather and that his wife (Agnes Fleming) was George Washington’s cousin. That would make George Washington my cousin also (several times removed). Armed with that information, I set out to learn more about George’s early life before he gained fame as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and then as the first President of the United States. It was during my research that I learned George Washington, as a young officer in the Virginia militia, fired the first shot at French troops during a skirmish at Jumonville Glen in Pennsylvania that had international repercussions. The 18th century British commentator Horace Walpole famously remarked, “The volley fired by a young Virginian in the back woods of America set the world on fire.” The Battle of Fort Necessity was the French retaliatory response for the British victory at Jumonville Glen and was the prelude to the war fought by England and for control of the North American continent. The struggle was known in North America as the French and Indian War and spread around the world as the Seven Years' War. I also learned that George Washington, as aide-de-camp to Major General Edward Braddock, played an instrumental role in saving Braddock’s army from

utter annihilation during the French and Indian War. Washington’s heroism at the Battle of the Monongahela eclipsed his earlier failures at Jumonville Glen and at the Battle of Fort Necessity. Although Washington was a young man, his reputation quickly grew in the colonies and among many he was called "The American Achilles" as the general feeling was God had protected him during that slaughter and it was obvious to at least the Indians who fought him that no mortal could kill him.

George Washington miraculously was not hit by bullets during Battle of the Monongahela

Many years later in October 1770, Washington met the Indian Chief Guyasuta who had been personally attacking him who said: "I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes, and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior [George Washington], from the day he had horses shot out from underneath him at the Great Battle. It was on the day when the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forest, that I first beheld this chief. I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the redcoat tribe - he hath an Indian's wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do himself is alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for him, knew not how to miss - 'twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded him from harm. He cannot die in battle. I am old, and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy. Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man, and guides his destinies he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire." Guyasuta arrived at Washington's camp with a generous portion of meat from a bison shot earlier that day. Although they had an amiable meeting, Washington was well-aware that the Seneca chief had been a fierce enemy of the British during the French & Indian War. In fact, they had encountered each other in battle. It was at this meeting in October 1770 that Chief Guyasuta told George Washington about his prophecy that “he [Washington] will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire."

Chief Guyasuta and George Washington statue in Pittsburgh

The unique statue of George Washington and Seneca leader Guyasuta on Mt. Washington, overlooking Pittsburgh is based on a face-to-face meeting in October 1770, when the two men met while Washington was in the area examining land for future settlement along the Ohio River. George Washington undertook this survey mission with several associates including Robert Bell, Jr. (son of my seventh great-grandfather Robert Bell, Sr. who had served with Colonel Washington in the Virginia militia at Fort Necessity). Colonel Washington made a note in one of his diaries (shown below) of those who accompanied him in his canoe. The diary entry reads: October 20th (1770): We embarked in a large canoe, with sufficient store of provisions and necessaries, and the following persons, besides Dr. Craik and myself, to wit: Capt. Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, William Harrison, Charles Morgan and Daniel Rendon, a boy of Capt. Crawford’s, and the Indians, who were in a canoe by themselves.

George Washington diary entry listing Robert Bell in his canoe

Some genealogists believe that it was Robert Bell, Sr. who accompanied Colonel George Washington on his trip on the Kanawha River in 1770. However, the preponderance of evidence points to Robert Bell, Jr. (my sixth great-grandfather) since his father was wounded during the French and Indian War, retired from the Virginia militia with a disability payment in 1754, and died in Virginia after falling off his horse in 1766. The Kanawha River is located in Virginia (now West Virginia) where Robert Bell, Jr. lived until after 1770. The following article about ‘Gallia County history’ may explain why Robert Bell, Jr. (eldest son of Robert Bell, Sr.) accompanied George Washington on his trip to the Kanawha River in 1770. George Washington was a strong believer that the surest and safest way to build his fortune was by acquiring property at a low price and then profit by its increase in value over time. To this end he became interested in the bounty land that had been promised to veterans of the French and Indian War. The colonial lieutenant governor of Virginia, Dinwiddie, had promised 200,000 acres to the soldiers who had participated in the Fort Necessity campaign. In 1769 Washington petitioned Dinwiddie’s successor, Lord Botetourt, to have this land made available. The governor and council made available a tract of land at the confluence of the Great Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, but stipulated that the entire tract would have to be surveyed before any individual claimants could obtain any land. Since Washington had considerable experience as a surveyor prior to his entry into the military, he accepted complete responsibility for getting the job done. He turned to a surveyor, William Crawford, who was already in his employ, to accompany him on an expedition to visit the designated land and to do a preliminary survey. In October 1770, they set out from Mount Vernon and followed the road marked out by Washington when he was with Major General Braddock in 1755. Then from the Forks of the Ohio (present day Pittsburgh) they floated down the Ohio River in canoes until they reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha River where it empties into the Ohio. Washington remarks in his journal about several peaceful encounters with Indians he met along the way.

Robert Bell, Jr. (son of Robert Bell, Sr.) accompanied Colonel Washington in his canoe

Washington encamped on the Virginia side on 1 November 1770, and had proceeded up the Great Kanawha about ten miles when his journal reads: “Proceeded up the river with the canoe about 4 miles farther, and then encamped, and went hunting; killed 5 buffaloes and wounded some others, and three deer. This country abounds in buffalo and wild game of all kinds, and also in all kinds of wild fowl, there being in the bottom a great many small grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese, and ducks of different kinds.” On descending towards the Ohio River again, Washington describes finding a sycamore tree about sixty yards from the river that measures forty-four feet and ten inches in circumference three feet above the ground. This corresponds to a diameter of close to fourteen feet. Fifty feet away is another sycamore measuring thirty-one feet around. Then at the mouth of the Great Kanawha he is marking favorable tracts of land for the soldiers, and he makes this observation: “I also marked at the mouth of another run lower down on the west side, at the lower end of the long bottom, an ash and hoopwood (tree) for the beginning of another of the soldiers surveys, to extend up so as to include all the bottom in a body of the west side.” The “run” referred to may have been the Chickamauga Creek that runs through the town site of Gallipolis, or possibly Raccoon Creek further south in present day Clay Township, although the latter might be considered too big to be a run. Washington is impressed by much of the land along the river bottoms because of its potential for growing crops, but dismisses much of the hilly landscape further away from the river, as being mostly suitable for grazing. Gallia County is as far as Washington went. From there his party paddled their way back upstream to Pittsburgh, up the Monongahela, and then overland back to Mount Vernon, which he reached on 1December 1770. When Washington made these observations the land was, as yet, completely untouched by Western civilization. The breaking out of hostilities with the Indians again, a few years later, would forestall any attempt at early settlement. Eventually Washington was able to secure title to 30,000 acres of land in the region. Most of this was along the Ohio River between the Great and Little

Kanawha Rivers, and along the banks of the Great Kanawha. However, he was never able to get the land settled. There was a stipulation that a certain number of settlers would have to inhabit the land within three years but, because of renewed hostilities with the Indians, this never happened. All during the years leading up to the Revolution and during the Revolutionary War the area was not safe. It was only after General “Mad” Anthony Wayne routed a large Indian army in northwest Ohio in 1795 that the Ohio Valley was considered safe for settlement and at that time George Washington was serving his second term as president. Since Robert Bell, Sr. served with Colonel George Washington in the Fort Necessity campaign in 1754, he was entitled to a portion of the 200,000 acres promised by Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie to soldiers who participated in this military campaign. After his father died in 1766, it would have been in Robert Bell, Jr’s best interest (as the eldest son) to accompany Colonel Washington on this land surveying expedition. There was a stipulation that a certain number of settlers would have to inhabit the land within three years but, because of renewed hostilities with the Indians, this never happened. This might explain why the Bell family moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania shortly after 1770.

Bibliography

Introduction

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George Washington

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Potter, Chris. “Is Washington's Landing so named because "Old Wooden Teeth" really landed there?” Pittsburgh City Paper, 17 January 2001.

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Kercheval, Samuel. A History of the Valley of Virginia. (Strasburg: Shenandoah

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Morrison, Charles. “Early Land Grants and Settlers Along Patterson Creek.” West Virginia Archives and History, 1979.”

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Skirmish at Jumonville Glen

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Major General Braddock’s Defeat

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Afterword

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About Raymond C. Wilson

Raymond C. Wilson is an amateur genealogist and military historian. During his military career as an enlisted soldier, warrant officer, and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for twenty-one years, Wilson served in a number of interesting assignments both stateside and overseas. He had the honor of serving as istrative Assistant to Brigadier General George S. Patton (son of famed WWII general) at the Armor School; istrative Assistant to General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley at the Pentagon; and Military Assistant to the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon. In 1985, Wilson was nominated by the Adjutant General Branch to serve as a White House Fellow for one year in Washington, D.C.

While on active duty, Wilson authored numerous Army regulations as well as articles for professional journals including 1775 (Adjutant General Corps Regimental Association magazine) and Program Manager (Journal of the Defense Systems Management College). He also wrote, directed, and produced three training films for Army-wide distribution. Following his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1992, Wilson made a career change to the education field. He served as Vice President of issions and Development at Florida Air Academy; Vice President of issions and Community Relations at Oak Ridge Military Academy; Adjunct Professor of Corresponding Studies at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and Senior Academic Advisor at Eastern Florida State College. While working at Florida Air Academy, Wilson wrote articles for several popular publications including the Vincent Curtis Educational and the South Florida Parenting Magazine. At Oak Ridge Military Academy, Wilson cowrote and co-directed two teen reality shows that appeared on national television (Nickelodeon & ABC Family Channel). As an Adjunct Professor at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Wilson taught effective communications and military history for eighteen years. At Eastern Florida State College, Wilson wrote, directed, and produced a documentary entitled “Wounded Warriors Their Struggle for Independence” that earned a 5-star rating from Phi Theta Kappa.