VISIT FORT NECESSITY
 

The Fort Necessity Campaign In January 1754, even before he learned of the French refusal to abandon the Ohio Valley, Governor Dinwiddie sent a small force of Virginia soldiers to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio, where Pittsburgh now stands. The stockade was barely finished when a French force drove off the Virginians and built a larger fort on the site. The French called it Fort Duquesne in honor of the Marquis de Duquesne, the new governor of New France. In early April, George Washington , newly commissioned lieutenant colonel, started westward from Alexandria with part of a regiment of Virginia frontiersmen to build a road to Redstone Creek, present day Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela. He was then to help defend the English fort on the Ohio. When Washington reached Wills Creek, he learned the fort was in French hands. He resolved to push on to Redstone Creek and await further instructions.   By the end of May, his force was well beyond Wills Creek when the commander of the expedition, Col. Joshua Fry, arrived there with the rest of the Virginia Regiment

Fort Necessity	Fort Necessity
Visitor Center with theater	Mount Washington Tavern

 

	Did You Know? As a young man in the 1750’s, George Washington made four trips over the Allegheny Mountains . He was shot at by the Indians or French during each of these trips. Despite having four holes shot through his coat and two horse shot out from under him, he escaped being hit by any musket balls
	Did You Know? George Washington’s ally, Seneca chief Tanacharison-also known as The Half King, complained that Washington “was a good-natured man but had no experience.” When referring to the fort the Half King said Washington “made no Fortifications at all, but that little thing upon the Meadow.”

Photos provided from the National Park Service
Visit their web site at:  www.nps.gov/fone/prelude.htm

Photos from the Western PA Region Founders Tour Test Run

Web Editor:  Mark DeFloria