River Neman Profile picture
May 26 5 tweets 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
#OTD #Onthisday 26 May, 1754, Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington receives a letter from Colonel William Fairfax sent by Colonel Joshua Fry, that Governor Robert Dinwiddie has arrived at Winchester, and was "desirous to see the Half King," a Seneca leader.
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Three days ago, Tanaghrisson or the Half-King, whose childhood spent in French captivity sustained his aversion to the French expansion into the Forks of the Ohio, had offered to guide Washington and his 'English brethren' to the French encampment in the Great Meadows.
(2/4)
He personally wrote to the 22-year-old officer:
"...I exhort you, therefore, my English brethren, to be on your guard against them, for they intend to strike the first English, whom they see. They have been on the march for two days. I know not their number.
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The Half-King and the rest of the Chiefs will be with you in five days to hold a council. No more at present, but my remembrance to my brothers the English."
The alliance, however, would depend on the competence of Washington perceived by the 54-year-old chief.
(4/4)
(The Diaries of George Washington, LoC; Washington to Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754, The Writings of George Washington: Part. I)

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More from @2econd_crossing

May 28
#OTD #Onthisday 28 May, 1754, Major Washington of the Virginia Regiment fought his first battle at Jumonville Glen, which ended in the murder of Ensign Jumonville. In Voltaire's words, it was a "torch lighted in the forests of America" that "set all Europe in conflagration.”
1/🧵 Image
At 10 p.m. on the 27th, Washington set out from his camp in the Great Meadows, Pennsylvania with a party of about 40 Virginia militiamen. They had no idea where they were headed for, and what catastrophic liability their would come to bear.
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The only intelligence available to them was the unexpected Express from the Half-King, received by Washington two hours ago-that "he was coming to join us, they had seen along the road the tracks of two [Frenchmen] which went down into a gloomy hollow, and that he imagined
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May 27
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Yesterday, "a small light partys of Horse (wagon Horses)to reconnoitre the Enemy, and discover [the enemy's] strength and motion" had returned "without seeing anything."
But early in the morning of the 27th, Gist returned to the camp with a frightening intelligence.
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On the 26th, his plantation was nearly sacked by fifty Frenchmen under La Force until the two Indians scouts "persuaded them from their design." The French were said to have asked Gist, "what was become of the Half-King?"
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May 2
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