Jumonville Glen

The Jumonville Affair

"I fortunately escaped without any wound, for the right wing, where I stood was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound." ~ George Washington

A few days after the incident, this is how George Washington described his first experience under fire. The shots at Jumonville Glen were the first in the Fort Necessity Campaign, ultimately leading the world to war. But the story of Jumonville Glen has the intrigue of a mystery thriller and contains controversy and unanswered questions.

 

An Illustration of Tanaghrisson, the Half King

Fred Threlfell

Prelude

In 1753, French soldiers began building forts from Lake Erie southwards toward the forks of the Ohio River. George Washington was sent to the Ohio country as a British emissary in the winter of 1753-54 to tell the French to leave. French officers told Washington that they were not obliged to obey his summons, and they were going to stay. Washington returned to Virginia and informed Governor Robert Dinwiddie of their refusal to leave.

The governor immediately assembled a force of men to go to the forks of the Ohio River and construct a fort. Washington, as the lieutenant colonel of the Virginia Regiment, was to gather men and supplies and build a road to the forks, reinforcing the men who were there.

By late May, Washington had reached Great Meadows, a large natural clearing. He made this his base camp as grass there could provide food for his animals, and water was readily available.

Soon after he arrived, he received word that a party of French soldiers was camped in a ravine not far from his position.

 

The Skirmish

On the stormy night of May 27, 1754, Washington and about 40 men beganan all-night march to confront the French and learn their intentions. They traveled through woods so dark the the men sometimes spent nearly a half hour just trying to find the trail.

About dawn on May 28, Washington met with an allied Indian chief, Half King, and made plans to contact the French camp. As the French commander had not posted sentries, Washington and his men easily surrounded the unsuspecting French.

A shot was fired, no one really knows by whom, and soon the peaceful glen was filled with the crash of musketry and the sulphurous smell of the powder. The skirmish lasted about 15 minutes. When it was over, 13 Frenchmen were dead, and 21 captured. One escaped and made it back to Fort Duquesne, at the forks of the Ohio. Washington's casualties were one man killed and two or three men wounded.

 

Aftermath

Washington now knew he was discovered. He sent his prisoners to Williamsburg, while he returned to Great Meadows. There he started construction of a small fortification to protect from a probable attack. About five weeks later, the attack came, as a larger force of French and Indians attacked Washington's force of 400, at his "Fort of Necessity".

Controversy surround the events that took place at Jumonville Glen, named for the dead leader of the French detachment. Soon after the smoke had cleared, French survivors claimed they had been attacked without cause by Washington.They claimed they were on the same sort of mission that Washington himself had been on the winter before. That explained, they said, why they had been surprised so easily and why they had not posted sentries. Washington asked why, if the French were on a diplomatic mission, were they hidden in a ravine, off the trail, and present in the area for perhaps a couple of days without approaching him.

The skirmish at Jumonville returned to haunt Washington sooner than he thought. One clause of the surrender document Washington signed at Fort Necessity stated that he was guilty of the assassination of a French officer, Jumonville. Washington denied this. He said the translation he had been given was not "assassination", but "death of" or "killing". In any event, the French used this propaganda to great advantage, in efforts to discredit the English.

The quote attributed to British statesman Horace Walpole captures the importance of the event. "The volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America set the world on fire." The result of the volley, the French and Indian War, had great impact on global affairs. France lost most of her influence in North America. Meanwhile, the English colonies began to pay taxes levied upon them to support and defend the large British Empire. Some people began to dream of independence.

Today the glen is a quiet reminder of things that happened over 250 years ago. It is the spot where two giant political forces started down a road neither wanted to follow. All this began with shots exchanged in the woods before you - a sound which an eager, ambitious 22-year-old found "charming".