May 28, 1754

251 years ago today, the first engagment of the French and Indian War happened right here in southwestern Pennsylvania, in the place we know know as Jumonville (just outside Uniontown) in Fayette County. The following article is from the History Channel's daily e-mail newsletter, This Day in History.

In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, a Virginia militia under
22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeats a French reconnaissance
party in southwestern Pennsylvania. In a surprise attack, the Virginians killed
10 French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, including the French commander, Coulon de
Jumonville, and took 21 prisoners. Only one of Washington's men was killed.The
French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial
conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the
French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other. Fighting
began in the spring of 1754, but Britain and France did not officially declare
war against each other until May 1756 and the outbreak of the Seven Years War in
Europe.In November 1752, at the age of 20, George Washington was appointed
adjutant in the Virginia colonial militia, which involved the inspection,
mustering, and regulation of various militia companies. In November 1753, he
first gained public notice when he volunteered to carry a message from Virginia
Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the French moving into the Ohio Valley, warning
them to leave the territory, which was claimed by the British crown. Washington
succeeded in the perilous wilderness journey and brought back an alarming
message: The French intended to stay.In 1754, Dinwiddie appointed Washington a
lieutenant colonel and sent him out with 160 men to reinforce a colonial post at
what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before Washington could reach it, however,
it was given up without bloodshed to the French, who renamed it Fort Duquesne.
Washington moved within about 40 miles of the French position and set about
building a new post at Great Meadows, which he named Fort Necessity. From this
base, he ambushed an advance detachment of about 30 French, striking the first
blow of the French and Indian War. For the victory, Washington was appointed a
full colonel and reinforced with several hundred Virginia and North Carolina
troops.On July 3, the French descended on Fort Necessity with their full force,
and after an all-day fight Washington surrendered to their superior numbers. The
disarmed colonials were allowed to march back to Virginia, and Washington was
hailed as a hero despite his surrender of the fort. The story of the campaign
was written up in a London gazette, and Washington was quoted as saying, "I have
heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the
sound." Reading this, King George II remarked, "He would not say so if he had
been used to hear many." In October 1754, Washington resigned his commission in
protest of the British underpayment of colonial offices and policy of making
them subordinate to all British officers, regardless of rank. In early 1755,
however, British General Edward Braddock and his army arrived to Virginia, and
Washington agreed to serve as Braddock's personal aide-de-camp, with the
courtesy title of colonel. The subsequent expedition against Fort Duquesne was a
disaster, but Washington fought bravely and succeeded in bringing the survivors
back after Braddock and 1,000 others were killed.With the western frontier of
Virginia now dangerously exposed, Governor Dinwiddie appointed Washington
commander in chief of all Virginia forces in August 1755. During the next three
years, Washington struggled with the problems of frontier defense but
participated in no major engagements until he was put in command of a Virginia
regiment participating in a large British campaign against Fort Duquesne in
1758. The French burned and abandoned the fort before the British and Americans
arrived, and Fort Pitt was raised on its site. With Virginia's strategic
objective attained, Washington resigned his commission with the honorary rank of
brigadier general. He returned to a planter's life and took a seat in Virginia's
House of Burgesses.The French and Indian War raged on elsewhere in North America
for several years. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763,
France lost all claims to the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi
and gave up Louisiana, including New Orleans, to Spain. Fifteen years later,
French bitterness over the loss of their North American empire contributed to
their intervention in the American Revolution on the side of the Patriots,
despite the fact that the Patriots were led by one of France's old enemies,
George Washington.