Jumonville Glen

During the early 1750s, both the British and French sought to strengthen their claims to the Ohio River Valley by occupying the “Forks of the Ohio,” the future site of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In early 1754, Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered Lt. Colonel George Washington to drive the French, who traditionally claimed the area, from the forks. Dinwiddie’s orders—issued without the knowledge or direction of the British government in London—allowed Washington to “kill & destroy” any French “Offenders” he discovered. These orders, according to historian Fred Anderson, were “an invitation to start a war.” While Washington’s forty-man company marched west, a much-larger French force of 500 men reached the Forks of the Ohio where they started building a fort named for Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville, the governor general of New France.

Aware of Washington’s mission, the French sent a thirty-man expedition under Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville with instructions to meet the Virginians and explain they were trespassing on French soil. Having reached Great Meadows, over fifty miles from the forks, Washington met with Tanacharison, known to the English as “Half King.” The aged Seneca chief agreed to lead the Virginians to the French camp.

Controversy surrounds what happened that early May morning. The French claimed they were ambushed while making their breakfast; Washington maintained his men responded only in self-defense. The ten-minute skirmish left fourteen Frenchmen, including Jumonville, wounded; Washington’s company suffered one dead and several wounded. One Frenchman escaped capture. As Jumonville explained through an interpreter that his mission was peaceful, Half King raised his tomahawk and brought it down on the unsuspecting Frenchman’s skull. Instantly, the Seneca warriors set about killing the other wounded Frenchmen; within minutes only one wounded French soldier was still alive. As the Indians scalped and stripped the French dead, Washington regained his composure and ordered his men to protect the French survivors. After the lop-sided affair, the Virginians, who left the dead French soldiers unburied, returned to Great Meadows where they built a fort dubbed “Necessity.”