sion in 1743, and two years later, following
the onset of the War of the Austrian Succes-
sion, he rose to second ensign. Throughout
the ensuing King George’s War against New
England he saw minor action in a contest of
frontier outposts.
No sooner had King George’s War con-
cluded in 1748 than the stage was set for the
final contest between France and England for
control of North America. Immediately, En-
glish fur traders and land speculators began
drifting into the Ohio Valley, dispossessing the
Indians living there. The French, given their
vested interest in the region, strongly con-
tested these claims. In 1753, they commenced
building numerous forts along the frontier
wilderness to underscore their determination.
Sir John Murray(Lord Dunmore), the gover-
nor of Virginia, then dispatched Lt. Col.
George Washington of the state militia to
order the French off the lands. Washington
was received politely, but was rebuffed. Fur-
thermore, the French then constructed Fort
Duquesne at the confluence of the Allegheny
and Monongahela Rivers (Pittsburgh) to con-
solidate their hold. At this juncture, compet-
ing national interests and an equally stubborn
unwillingness to compromise or to honor pre-
vious agreements meant that a showdown
was inevitable.
In the spring of 1754, Washington returned
to the frontier as the head of 400 militia with
orders to assert British sovereignty. Further-
more, even though the two countries were of-
ficially at peace, Washington was granted full
discretionary powers to use force as neces-
sary. Back at Fort Duquesne, Capt. Claude-
Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeurbecame
apprised of Washington’s intentions and was
equally determined to stop him. On May 23,
1754, he dispatched young Jumonville and an
escort of 30 men to locate the Americans and
issue a formal summons to evict them. His
small force was in fact an armed diplomatic
mission, not dissimilar to the one Washington
undertook the previous year. For this reason
Jumonville had no reason to anticipate hostil-
ity or military action against him.
Washington, when alerted by his Indian
scouts of Jumonville’s approach, decided to
take the initiative rather than be attacked.
Taking 40 men, he stole upon Jumonville’s
camp during the night of May 27, 1754, sur-
rounding it. Shortly after dawn the following
day, the Americans opened fire upon the
Canadians as they prepared breakfast. Ac-
cording to some French sources, Jumonville
ran toward American lines, desperately trying
to read his official summons, and was shot
down. When the firing stopped, the Canadians
had suffered 10 killed, one wounded, and 18
captured. Only one man escaped back to Fort
Duquesne to tell the tale. Washington’s men
then looted the camp while his Indians
scalped Jumonville and the other corpses.
These grisly trophies were then relayed to the
Miami Indians, with an invitation to join En-
gland and the Iroquois in a war against
France. The Americans, meanwhile, withdrew
from the battlefield, leaving the bodies of Ju-
monville and his slain compatriots to be de-
voured by wolves.
A wave of anger swept the French garrison
at Fort Duquesne. They regarded Washing-
ton’s attack upon a diplomatic mission as a
gross violation of international law, and a
counterstroke was prepared. Pecaudy him-
self was preparing to lead it save for the
timely appearance of Louis Coulon de Vil-
liers, Jumonville’s older brother. His force
subsequently attacked Washington in his
ramshackle redoubt dubbed Fort Necessity
and forced the American to surrender. The
death of young Jumonville and the ensuing
humiliation of the Virginia militia only
widened the rift between England and
France, which would explode the following
year as the French and Indian War. In many
respects young Jumonville was the first of
many to fall in that conflict.Bibliography
Alberts, Robert C. A Charming Field for an Encounter:
The Story of George Washington’s Fort Necessity.
Washington, DC: Office of Publications, National ParkCOULONDEVILLIERSDEJUMONVILLE, JOSEPH