George Washington’s Diaries: Volume I
[The following entries are from The Diaries of George Washington Volume 1: 1748-1799. These excerpts were written in May 1754 during General Washington’s march to the Ohio River Valley. Washington describes his Native American allies and the capturing of a spying French force.]
(Portrait drawing of George Washington | Source: Library of Congress)
May 24th. This morning an Indian arrived in company with one whom I had sent to the Half-King and brought me the following letter from him.
To any of his Majesty’s officers whom this may Concern. As ‘tis reported that the French army is set out to meet M. George Washington, I exhort you my brethren, to guard against them, for they intend to fall on the first English they meet; They have been on their march these two days, the Half-King and other chiefs will join you within five days, to hold a council, though we know not the number we shall be. I shall say no more; but remember me to my brethren the English. Signed The Half King…
May 25th. Detached a scouting party on horseback to go along the roads, and sent other small parties to scour the woods. I gave the Horse-men orders to examine the country well, and endeavor to get some view of the French, of their forces, of their movements, etc. In the evening all these parties returned without having discovered anything, though they had been pretty far towards the plane whence it was said the party was coming…
May 27th… The French had made many inquiries at Mr. Gist’s, as to what had become of the Half-King? I did not fail to let several young Indians who were in our camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half-King; and it had its desired effect. They immediately offered to accompany our people to go after the French, and if they found it was true that he had been killded, or even insulted by them, one of them would promptly carry the news thereof to the Mingo village, in order to incite their warriors to fall upon them… About eight in the evening I received an express from the Half-King, who informed me, that, as he was coming to join us, he had seen along the road, the tracks of two men, which he had followed, till he was brought thereby to a low obscure place; that he was of opinion the whole party of the French was there. That very moment I sent out forty men and ordered my ammunition to be put in a place of safety, fearing it to be a stratagem of the French to attack our camp; I left a guard to defend it, and with the rest of my men set out in a heavy rain, and in a night as dark as pitch, along a path scarce broad enough for one man; we were sometimes fifteen or twenty minutes out of the path before we could come to it again, and we would often strike against each other in the darkness: All night long we continued our route, and on the 28th about sun-rise we arrived at the Indian camp, where after having held a council with the Half-King, we concluded to attack them together; so we sent out two men to discover where they were, as also their position and what sort of ground was therabout, after which we prepared to surround them marching one after the other Indian fashion: We had advanced pretty near to them, as we thought, when they discovered us; I ordered my company to fire; my fire was supported by that of Mr. Wagoner and my company and his received the whole fire of the French, during the greater part of the action, which only lasted a quarter of an hour before the enemy were routed… After this I marched on with the prisoners. They informed me that they had been sent with a summons to order me to retire. A plausible pretence to discover our camp and to obtain knowledge of our forces and our situation! It was so clear that they had come to reconnoiter what we were, that I admired their assurance, when they told me they were come as an Embassy; their instructions were to get what knowledge they could of the roads, rivers, and all the country as far as the Potowmack; and instead of coming as an Embassador, publicly and in an open manner, they came secretly, and sought the most hidden retreats more suitable for deserters than for Embassadors; they encamped there and remained hidden for whole days together, at a distance of not more than five miles from us; they sent spies to reconnoiter our camp; the whole body turned back 2 miles; they sent the two messengers mentioned in the instructions, to inform M. de Contrecoeur of the place where we were, and of our disposition, that he might send his detachments to enforce the summons as soon as it should be given. Besides, an Embassador has princely attendants, whereas this was only a simple petty French officer, an Embassador has no need for spies, his person being always sacred: and seeing their intention was so good, why did they tarry two days at five miles’ distance from us without acquainting me with the summons, or at least, with something that related to the Embassy? That alone would be sufficient to excite the strongest suspicions, and we must do them the justice to say, that, as they wanted to hide themselves, they could not have picked out better places than they had done…
It was the opinion of the Half-King in this case that their intentions were evil and that it was pure pretence; that they had never intended to come to us otherwise than as enemies, and if we had been such fools as to let them go they would never have helped us to take any other Frenchmen. They say they called to us as soon as they had discovered us; which is an absolute falsehood, for I was then marching at the head of the company going towards them, and can positively affirm, that, when they first saw us, they ran to their arms, without calling, as I must have hear them had they so done.