Battle of Jumonville Glen
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Jumonville Glen, also known as the Jumonville affair, was the opening battle of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 fought on May 28, 1754 near what is present-day Uniontown
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...

 in Fayette County
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the2010 census, the population was 136,606. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. A company of colonial militia from Virginia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

, and a small number of Mingo
Mingo
The Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...

 warriors led by Tanacharison
Tanacharison
Tanacharison or Tanaghrisson was an American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War. He was known to European-Americans as the Half King, a title also used to describe several other historically important American Indian leaders...

 (also known as "Half King"), ambushed a force of 35 Canadiens under the command of Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville.

The British colonial force had been sent to protect a fort under construction under the auspices of the Ohio Company
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...

 at the location of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

. A larger Canadien force had driven off the small construction crew, and sent Jumonville to warn Washington about encroaching on French-claimed territory. Washington was alerted to Jumonville's presence by Tanacharison, and they joined forces to surround the Canadian camp. Some of the Canadians were killed in the ambush, and most of the others were captured. Jumonville was among the slain, although the exact circumstances of his death are a subject of historical controversy and debate.

Since Britain and France were not then at war, the event had international repercussions, and was a contributing factor in the start of the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

 in 1756. After the action, Washington retreated to Fort Necessity, where Canadian forces from Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....

 compelled his surrender. The terms of Washington's surrender included a statement (written in French, a language Washington did not read) admitting that Jumonville was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

. This document and others were used by the French and Canadiens to level accusations that Washington had ordered Jumonville's slaying.

Background

Throughout the 1740s and early 1750s, British and Canadian traders had increasingly come into contact in the Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...

, including the upper watershed of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 in what is now western Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. Authorities in New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

 became more aggressive in their efforts to expel British traders and colonists from this area, and in 1753 began construction of a series of fortifications in the area.

The French action drew the attention of not just the British, but also the Indian tribes of the area. Despite good Franco-Indian relations, British traders had become highly successful in convincing the Indians to trade with them in preference to the Canadiens, and the planned large-scale advance was not well received by all. In particular, Tanacharison
Tanacharison
Tanacharison or Tanaghrisson was an American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War. He was known to European-Americans as the Half King, a title also used to describe several other historically important American Indian leaders...

, a Mingo
Mingo
The Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...

 chief also known as the "Half King", became decidedly anti-French as a consequence. In a meeting with Paul Marin de la Malgue
Paul Marin de la Malgue
Paul Marin de la Malgue was the eldest son of Charles-Paul Marin de la Malgue and Catherine Niquet. He was born in Montreal and, as many of the prominent historical figures of his time, had a military career in the colonial regular troops...

, commander of the French and Canadien construction force, the latter reportedly lost his temper, and shouted at the Indian chief, "I tell you, down the river I will go. If the river is blocked up, I have the forces to burst it open and tread under my feet all that oppose me. I despise all the stupid things you have said." He then threw down some wampum
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...

 that Tanacharison had offered as a good will gesture. Marin died not long after, and command of the operations was turned over to Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was a Canadien colonial military commander and explorer. who held posts throughout North America in the 18th century.-Life:...

.

Virginia Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie was a British colonial administrator who served as lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 to January 1758, as deputy for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun...

 sent militia Major George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 to the Ohio Country (a territory that was claimed by several of the British colonies, including Virginia) as an emissary in December of 1753, to tell the French to leave. Saint-Pierre politely informed Washington that he was there pursuant to orders, that Washington's letter should have been addressed to his commanding officer in Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...

, and that he had no intention of leaving.

Washington returned to Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...

 and informed Governor Dinwiddie that the French refused to leave. Dinwiddie commissioned Washington a lieutenant colonel, and ordered him to begin raising a militia regiment to hold the Forks of the Ohio
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, a site Washington had identified as a fine location for a fortress. The governor also issued a captain's commission to Ohio Company
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...

 employee William Trent, with instructions to raise a small force and immediately begin construction of the fort. Dinwiddie issued these instructions on his own authority, without even asking for funding from the Virginia House of Burgesses until after the fact. Trent's company arrived on site in February 1754, and began construction of a storehouse and stockade with the assistance of Tanacharison and the Mingos. That same month a force of 800 Canadien militia and French troupes de la marine
Troupes de la marine
See also Troupes de Marine for later history of same Corps.The Troupes de la Marine , also known as independent companies of the navy and colonial regulars, were under the authority of the French Minister of Marine, who was also responsible for the French navy, overseas trade, and French...

 departed Montreal for the Ohio River valley under the command of the Canadien Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur
Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur
Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur was an officer in the colonial regular troops , seigneur, and member of the Legislative Council of New France. Born on December 28, 1705 at Contrecœur, Quebec, son of Francois-Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecoeur, a seigneur and officer in the colonial regulars, and...

, who took over command from Saint-Pierre. When Contrecœur learned of Trent's activity, he led a force of about 500 men (troupes de la marine, militia, and Indians) to drive them off (rumors reaching Trent's men put its size at 1,000). On April 16, Contrecœur's force arrived at the forks; the next day, Trent's force of 36 men, led by Ensign Edward Ward in Trent's absence, agreed to leave the site. The French then began construction of the fort they called Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....

.

Prelude

In March 1754, Governor Dinwiddie ordered Washington back to the frontier with instructions to "act on the [defensive], but in Case any Attempts are made to obstruct the Works or interrupt our [settlements] by any Persons whatsoever, You are to restrain all such Offenders, & in Case of resistance to make Prisoners of or kill & destroy them." Historian Fred Anderson describes Dinwiddie's instructions, which were issued without the knowledge or direction of the British government in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, as "an invitation to start a war." Washington was ordered to gather up as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way. By the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had recruited fewer than 160 men.

Along their march through the forests of the frontier, Washington was joined by more men at Winchester
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...

. At this point he learned from Captain Trent of the French advance. Trent also brought a message from Tanacharison, who promised warriors to assist the British. To keep Tanacharison's support, Washington decided not to turn back, choosing instead to advance. He reached a place known as the Great Meadows (now in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the2010 census, the population was 136,606. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area....

), about 37 miles (59.5 km) south of the forks, began construction of a small fort and awaited further news or instructions.

Contrecœur operated under orders that forbade attacks by his force unless they were provoked. On May 23, he sent Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville with 35 soldiers (principally Canadien recruits, but also including French recruits and officers) to see if Washington had entered French territory, and with a summons to order Washington's troops out; this summons was similar in nature to the one Washington had delivered to them four months earlier.

On May 27, Washington was informed by Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist was an accomplished American explorer, surveyor and frontiersman. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country . He is credited with providing the first detailed description of the Ohio Country to Great Britain and her colonists...

, a settler who had accompanied him on the 1753 expedition, that a Canadian party numbering about 50 was in the area. In response, Washington sent 75 men with Gist to find them. That evening, Washington received a message from Tanacharison, informing him that he had found the Canadien camp, and that the two of them should meet. Despite the fact that he had just sent another group in pursuit of the Canadians, Washington went with a detachment of 40 men to meet with Tanacharison. The Mingo leader had with him 12 warriors, two of whom were boys. After discussing the matter, the two leaders agreed to make an attack on the Canadians. The attackers took up positions behind rocks around the Canadian camp, counting not more than 40 Canadiens.

Battle

Exactly what happened next has been a subject of controversy and debate. The few primary accounts of the affair agree on a number of facts, and disagree on others. They agree that the battle lasted about 15 minutes, that Jumonville was killed, and that most of his party were either killed or taken prisoner. According to French records, most of the dead were colonials: Desroussel and Caron from Québec City, Charles Bois from Pointe-Claire, Jérôme from La Prairie, L'Enfant from Montréal, Paris from Mille-Isles, Languedoc and Martin from Boucherville, and LaBatterie from Trois-Rivières.

Washington's accounts of the battle exist in several versions; they are consistent with each other, but short on details. He wrote in his diary, "We were advanced pretty near to them ... when they discovered us; whereupon I ordered my company to fire ... [Wagonner's] Company ... received the whole Fire of the French, during the greatest Part of the Action, which only lasted a Quarter of an Hour, before the Enemy was routed. We killed Mr. de Jumonville, the commander ... also nine others; we wounded one, and made Twenty-one Prisoners".

Contrecœur prepared an official report of the action that was based on two sources. Most of it came from a Canadien named Monceau who escaped the action but apparently did not witness Jumonville's slaying: "[Jumonville's party] saw themselves surrounded by the English on one side and the Indians on the Other. The English gave them two volleys, but the Indians did not fire. Mr. de Jumonville, by his interpreter, told them to desist, that he had something to tell them. Upon which they ceased firing. Then Mr. de Jumonville ordered the Summons which I had sent them to retire, to be read ... Monceau saw all our Frenchmen coming up close to Mr. de Jumonville, whilst they were reading the Summons ... during which Time, said Monceau made the best of his Way to us". Contrecœur's second source was an Indian from Tanacharison's camp, who reported that "Mr. de Jumonville was killed by a Musket-Shot in the Head, whilst they were reading the Summons". The same Indian claimed that the Indians then rushed in to prevent the Englishmen from slaughtering the Frenchmen.

A third account was made by a private named John Shaw who was in Washington's regiment, but not present at the affair. His account, based on detailed accounts from others who were present, was made in a sworn statement on August 21; the details on Tanacharison's role in the affair are confirmed in a newspaper account printed on June 27. In his account, the French were surrounded while some still slept. Alerted by a noise, one of the Frenchmen "fired a Gun upon which Col. Washington gave the Word for all his Men to fire. Several of them being killed, the rest betook themselves to flight, but our Indians haveing gone round the French ... they fled back to the English and delivered up their Arms ... Some Time after[,] the Indians came up[,] the Half King took his Tomahawk and split the Head of the French Captain haveing first asked if he was an Englishman and haveing been told he was a French Man. He then took his Brains and washed his Hands with them and then scalped him. All this ... [Shaw] has heard and never heard it contradicted but knows nothing of it from his own Knowledge". Shaw's narrative is substantially correct on a number of other details, including the size and composition of both forces. Shaw also claimed to have seen and counted the dead, numbering 13 or 14.

Historian Fred Anderson documents a fourth account, by a deserter from the British-Indian camp named Denis Kaninguen; Anderson speculates that he was one of Tanacharison's followers. His report to the French commanders echoed that of Shaw: "notwithstanding the discharge of musket fire that [Washington] had made upon him, he [Washington] intended to read [the summons] and had withdrawn himself to his people, whom he had [previously] ordered to fire upon the French[. T]hat [Tanacharison], a savage, came up to [the wounded Jumonville] and had said, Thou are not yet dead, my father, and struck several hatchet blows with which he killed him." Anderson notes that Kaninguen apparently understood what Tanacharison said, and understood it to be a ritual slaying. Kaninguen reported that 30 men were taken prisoner, and 10 to 12 had been killed. The British colonists suffered only one killed and two or three wounded.

Aftermath

Washington wrote a letter to his brother after the battle, in which he said "I can with truth assure you, I heard bullets whistle and believe me, there was something charming in the sound." Following the battle, Washington returned to the Great Meadows and pushed onward the construction of a fort, which was called Fort Necessity. The dead were left on the field or buried in shallow graves, where they were later found by the French.

On June 28, 1754, a combined force of 600 French, Canadien and Indian soldiers under the command of Jumonville's brother, Louis Coulon de Villiers
Louis Coulon de Villiers
Sieur Louis Coulon de Villiers was a French Canadian military officer during the French and Indian War . Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is the fact that he is the only military opponent to force George Washington to surrender.Coulon was born into a prominent French Canadian family...

, left Fort Duquesne. On July 3, they captured Fort Necessity in the Battle of the Great Meadows
Battle of the Great Meadows
The Battle of Fort Necessity, or the Battle of the Great Meadows took place on July 3, 1754 in what is now the mountaintop hamlet of Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement was one of the first battles of the French and Indian War and George Washington's only military surrender...

, forcing Washington to negotiate a withdrawal under arms. The capitulation document Washington signed, which was written in French (a language Washington did not know how to read, and may have been poorly translated for him), included language claiming that Jumonville and his men were assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

.

Escalation

When news of the two battles reached England in August, the government of the Duke of Newcastle
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle.A protégé of Sir Robert Walpole, he served...

, after several months of negotiations, decided to send an army expedition the following year to dislodge the French. Major General Edward Braddock
Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for the 13 colonies during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War...

 was chosen to lead the expedition. He was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela
Battle of the Monongahela
The Battle of the Monongahela, also known as the Battle of the Wilderness, took place on 9 July 1755, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, at Braddock's Field in what is now Braddock, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh...

, and the French remained in control of Fort Duquesne until 1758, when an expedition under General John Forbes finally succeeded in taking the fort.

Word of the British military plans leaked to France well before Braddock's departure for North America, and King Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

 dispatched a much larger body of troops to Canada
Canada, New France
Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...

 in 1755. Although they arrived too late to participate in Braddock's defeat, the French troop presence led to a string of French victories in the following years. In a second British act of aggression, Admiral Edward Boscawen
Edward Boscawen
Admiral Edward Boscawen, PC was an Admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament for the borough of Truro, Cornwall. He is known principally for his various naval commands throughout the 18th Century and the engagements that he won, including the Siege of Louisburg in 1758 and Battle of Lagos...

 fired on the French ship Alcide
French ship Alcide (1742)
Alcide was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1742.The captain of the vessel was Toussaint Hocquart, for the re-enforcement campaign that was sent to Canada in May of 1755....

 in a naval action
Action of 8 June 1755
The Action of 8 June 1755 was a naval battle between France and Great Britain early in the French and Indian War. The British captured the third-rate French ships Alcide and Lys off Cape Race, Newfoundland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence...

 on June 8, 1755, capturing her and two troop ships carrying some of those troops. Military matters escalated on both North American soil and at sea until France and Britain declared war on each other in spring 1756, marking the formal start of the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

.

Propaganda and analysis

Because of the inconsistent nature of the record of the action, contemporary and historical coverage of it has been easily colored by preferences for one account over another. Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman was an American historian, best known as author of The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life and his monumental seven-volume France and England in North America. These works are still valued as history and especially as literature, although the biases of his...

, for example, accepted Washington's account, and was highly dismissive of the accounts by Monceau and the Indian.

French authorities assembled a dossier of documents to counter British accounts of the affair. Entitled "Mémoire contenant le précis des faits, avec leurs pièces justificatives, pour servir de réponse aux 'Observations' envoyées par les Ministres d'Angleterre, dans les cours de l'Europe", a copy was intercepted in 1756, translated, and published as "A memorial containing a summary view of facts, with their authorities, in answer to observations sent by the English ministry to the courts of Europe". It used Washington's capitulation statement and other documents, including extracts of Washington's journal taken at Fort Necessity, to suggest that Washington had actually ordered the assassination of Jumonville. But not all Frenchmen agreed with the story: the Chevalier de Lévis called it a "pretended assassination". The French story contrasted with that of the British account. Based on Washington's report, the British suggested that Jumonville, rather than being engaged on a diplomatic mission, was spying on them. Jumonville's orders included specific instructions to notify Contrecœur if the summons was read, so that additional forces might be sent if needed.

Historian Fred Anderson theorizes about the reasons for Tanacharison's action in the killing, and provides a possible explanation for why one of Tanacharison's men reports the event as a British killing of a Frenchman. Tanacharison had lost influence over some of the local tribes (specifically the Delawares), and may have thought that conflict between the British and French would bring them back under his influence as allies of the British. According to Parkman, after the Indians scalped the French, they sent a scalp to the Delawares, in essence offering them the opportunity to "take up the hatchet" with the British and against the French.

Legacy

A portion of the battlefield, along with the Great Meadows where Fort Necessity was located, has been preserved as a part of Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield Site in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves elements of the Battle of Fort Necessity...

. Jumonville's name has been given to a Christian retreat center near the site. The non-profit Braddock Road Preservation Association, named for the road General Braddock constructed to reach Fort Duquesne, sponsors research and promotes the French and Indian War history of the area.

Further reading

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