Jumonville Glen

Jumonville Glen. Fort Necessity National Battlefield. , The 1/2-mile loop trail ahead leads to a secluded ravine, thick with trees and boulders. Considered serene today, this wilderness landscape covered most of North America in the mid-1700s. At that time, France and England both claimed the Upper Ohio Valley as theirs - and were about to clash., Through the rainy night of May 27, 1754, George Washington - an ambitious, 22-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia - and 40 soldiers followed an Indian scout 7 miles from the main British camp in Great Meadows to this area. Camped nearby, 31 French soldiers under Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville, were unaware of the approaching British. The events that followed would eventually lead to a world war between the two most power full nations of that era. , Jumonville Glen Trail loops through the ravine where Washington's troops skirmished with Sieur de Jumonville's small party of French soldiers on May 28, 1754. Jumonville Glen evokes the isolated feeling of wilderness that dominated the western frontier of the 1750s., Timeline , April 1754 , Washington marches northwest from Alexandria, Virginia to the frontier with 132 Virginia troops under orders from Virginia Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie. Washington's mission is to occupy and defend the Upper Ohio Valley against a French force advancing south from Canada. , May 28, 1754 , Jumonville and 31 French troops skirmish with 40 Virginia militia under Washington and about 12 Indians. Ten French are killed including Jumonville; 21 are captured, including one wounded. One man escapes and reports the attack, which became known as the "Jumonville Affair." , July 3, 1754 , About 600 French and 100 Indians under Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers - Jumonville's brother - surrounded Washington's command of almost 400 British at Fort Necessity. After a day of fighting, the British surrender and are allowed to march away, the French burn Fort necessity on July 4, 1755 , Maj. General Edward Braddock leads about 2,400 British troops including 400 colonials, to expel the French from Fort Duquesne. His troops improve Washington's road of 1754 and extend it to the Monongahela River near present-day Pittsburgh., July 9, 1755 , Braddock's army is defeated by the French and their Indian allies at the Battle of the Monongahela near Fort Duquesne. Braddock is mortally wounded and dies on July 13 during the British retreat. He is buried in the middle of "Braddock's Road" about one mile west of Fort Necessity., Right Side of Kiosk: , Jumounville Glen , By following the path you will reach a secluded glen. At this spot on May 28, 1754 three cultures collided in what many historians recognize as the opening shots of the French and Indian War. The site still retains its remoteness and one can easily be transported back in time to the fifteen minute skirmish that changed the world. , This glen was where a young George Washington, his Virginia troops, and Native allies, ambushed a small number of French, under the command of Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. While the exact events are unknown, the British killed or captured all but one of the French soldiers, including their commander. That lone survivor fled to Fort Duquesne, modern day Pittsburgh, to get reinforcements and retaliate against the British. This retaliation took place at Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754. These events culminated in the outbreak of the French and Indian War.