#OTD#Onthisday 27 May, 1754, Christopher Gist and the Half-King confirmed that the French were advancing from the Crossing of Youghiogany.
Washington, overflowing with confidence that he had prepared "a charming field for encounter," set off for the French camp.
(1/9)
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.
(2/9)
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?"
(3/9)
Alarmed that the French might be within five miles from his bivouac, Washington immediately detached another party composed of "65 Men, under the Command of Captain Hog, Lieut. Mercer, Ensign Peronie, three Sergeants, and three Corporals, with Instructions."
(4/9)
He also let his Mingo scouts know "that the French wanted to kill the Half King; and that had its desired Effect," and had one of them look for the Half-King. The braves readily offered "to go after the French" and "incite their Warriors to fall upon [the French."
(5/9)
Enclosing the previous letter from the Half-King promising his aid, Washington reported to Dinwiddie that his militiamen, "with nature's assistance, made a good entrenchment, and, by clearing the bushes out of the meadows, prepared a charming field for encounter."
(6/9)
At 8 p.m., he finally received an Express from the Half-King, that "as he was coming to join us, he had seen along the Road, the Tracts of two Men, which he had followed,till he was brought thereby to a low obscure Place;
(7/9)
that he was of Opinion the whole Party of theFrench was hidden there."
Without hesitation, Washington sent out forty men as the vanguard and led the rest of his militia to follow the Half-King to the unknown destination.
(8/9)
They "set out in a heavy Rain, and in a Night as dark as Pitch, along a Path scarce broad enough for one Man." Before sunrise, they would repeatedly stray off for "fifteen or twenty Minutes out of the Path" and "often strike one against another."
(9/9)
(Sources: Diary of Washington, U.S. Library of Congress; Washington to Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754, Writings of George Washington)
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#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.”
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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.
(Wa. to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1755)
(2/46)
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
(3/46)
#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.
(1/4)
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.
(3/4)
On 1 May, 1813, Wintzingerode delayed the French advance on Lützen at the Battle of Poserna, during which Napoleon witnessed the death of Bessières. Thanks to this, Diebitsch issued a plan of action for the Allied army to cross the Elster at dawn and offer a battle at Lützen.
Between one and two o'clock in the morning, Napoleon prepared to transfer the bulk of his army to Lützen via Merseburg. By five, the Divisions Durutte and Bonet would leave Weißenfels for Eugene's headquarter in Merseburg, where the former would join Eugene and the latter
Reynier, also on his way. Roguet was assigned the opposite course from Merseburg to Weißenfels, where he would integrate all the Guard detachments, eighteen in total, into his Old Guard Divison. All of the Guard cavalry, however, would join Bessières at Weißenfels.
#OTD 30 April, 1813, Frimont withdrew the Austrian auxiliary to the right bank of the Vistula, allowing Sacken's entry.
To Metternich, Lebzeltern reported the escalating tensions between the Allies and the Saxons over the levies demanded by the Committee in Dresden.
Langenau, arriving from Dresden, was the first to inform Poniatowski that the new relations between Austria and Russia has become irreversible, and that he must comply with the procedure of evacuation stipulated by the convention terminating the armistice.
(Senfft)
No longer eligible for protection in Cracow, Poniatowski and Bignon, along with the other Polish ministers, were temporarily moved to "the radius of Podgorze." Frimont, who "did not yet find [Poniatowski] complacent enough," demanded that his army leave on 3 May,
#OTD 30 April, 1813, the Allied army began to arrive at the Elster, but the fords of Halle and Merseburg were again lost to Lauriston and Macdonald.
Napoleon reached Weissenfels, confident that every ford was in his hands-until he realized that Eugene had almost no cavalry left.
Around midnight in Köthen, Bülow received the fifth dispatch from Yorck in Skeuditz, that Merseburg had already fallen to Macdonald. At dawn, the same dispatch reached Kleist in Halle. On the previous day, both of them had planned for an expedition to Merseburg;
now, they had no choice but to hurry to the main army marching on the Elster, while leaving the fate of the two fords to their detachments. Bülow wrote to Oppen, ordering him to run for Halle immediately. Lobenthal, as instructed by Yorck on the 29th, was on the way to Merseburg.
#OTD 29 April, 1813, Alexander and Frederick William moved their headquarters from Dresden to Grimma.
To eliminate their lingering doubts about Austria's commitment, Metternich instructed Lebzeltern to disclose Count Stadion's project to assemble the Austrian army.
In the morning, Senfft returned to Frederick Augustus in Prague. In contrast to the resurgence of suspicion towards him among the Allies in Dresden, the citizens greeted him with "the greatest solemnity and a lively eagerness."
(Senfft)
The sentiment was reflected in the ever-impatient attitude of the provisional government. Stein, Schön, and Rhediger presented an ultimatum to the Saxon authorities, who had become increasingly intractable: either hand over 200,000 Thaler or face allegations of disloyalty.