Pictureof
uncovered Fort Necessity's log foundation.
Pictureof
re-constructed Fort Necessity on original foundation Circa 1954
Pictureof
George Washington surrendering Fort Necessity to the French.
Pictureof
George Washington's signature on surrender document.
"George Washington arrived at the Great Meadows, as the Fort Necessity
area was than called, on May 24, 1754. Although the meadow was nearly all marsh,
he believed it "a charming field for an encounter" and ordered his men
to set up an encampment. Three days later, after hearing that a group of French
soldiers had been spotted about seven miles away on Chestnut Ridge, Washington
and 40 men set out to find them. At dawn on May 28, the Virginians reached the
camp of Tanacharison, a friendly Seneca chief known as the Half King. His scouts
then led them to the ravine about two miles to the north where the French were
encamped.
The French, commanded by Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville,
were taken by surprise. Ten were killed, including Jumonville, one was wounded,
and 21 were made prisoner. One man escaped to carry the news back to Fort
Duquesne. Washington's command suffered only one man killed and two wounded.
Fearing "we might be attacked by considerable forces,"
Washington undertook to fortify his position at the Great Meadows. During the
last two days of May and the first three days of June, he
built a circular palisaded fort, which he called Fort Necessity.
The rest of the Virginia regiment arrived at the Great Meadows on June 9,
along with supplies and nine swivel guns. Washington's command now totaled 293
officers and men. He was reinforce several days later by about 100 men of
Capt. James Mackay's independent Company of regular British troops from South
Carolina. Washington's attempts to retain his Indian allies were not successful.
While the South Carolinians remained at the Great Meadows. Washington and
his Virginians spent most of June opening a road from Fort Necessity to Gist's
Plantation, a frontier settlement in the direction of the forks of the Ohio.
Reports that a large force of French and Indians was advancing from Fort
Duquesne, however, caused him to withdraw his men to the Great Meadows, where
they arrived July 1.
The next day, they strengthened Fort Necessity by improving the trenches
outside the stockade. On the morning of July 3, a force of about 600 French and
100 Indians approached the fort. After the French took up positions in the
woods, Washington withdrew his men to the entrenchments. Rain fell throughout
the day, flooding the marshy ground. Both sides suffered casualties, but the
British losses were greater than French and Indian losses.
The fighting continued sporadically until about 8 p.m. Then Capt. Louis
Coulon de Villiers, commander of the French force and brother of Jumonville,
requested a truce to discuss the surrender of Washington's command. Near
midnight, after several hours of negotiation, the
terms were reduced to writing and signed by Washington and Mackay. The
British were allowed to withdraw with the honors of war, retaining their baggage
and weapons, but having to surrender their swivel guns. The British troops left
Fort Necessity for Wills Creek on the morning of July 4, From there they marched
back to Virginia. The French burned Fort Necessity and afterwards returned to
Fort Duquesne."
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