Potomac. In 1747, George took up his residence at 1 7 4 7 Mount Vernon with his brother Lawrence who had mar 1 750 ried Anne, the daughter of Sir William Fairfax, manager of the great estate of his cousin, Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax.

Lord Fairfax, a grandson of Lord Culpeper, had inherited more than five million acres in Virginia. He was a graduate of Oxford and had written for Addison's Spectator. To a somewhat eccentric disposition, disappointment in love had added a desire for seclusion, so that, in 1745, he had left England for his Virginia domain. Lord Fairfax soon made the acquaintance of George Washington and was so well impressed by the boy of sixteen that, in 1748, he sent him to survey certain of his lands beyond the Blue Ridge. On the favorable report of the young surveyor, Lord Fairfax took up his residence at Greenway Court, a manor of ten thousand acres on the Shenandoah River, about twelve miles southeast of the present town of Winchester. Washington was a frequent visitor at Greenway Court and, from its owner and those about him, gained a knowledge of men and manners that was to exercise a profound influence upon his character and career. Through Fairfax's favor he obtained a commission as a public surveyor of Culpeper County. This entitled his surveys to a place in the county office; they are still held in high esteem for their completeness and accuracy.

For three years, the young man "roughed it" on the Major border, strengthening his physique against stress of days Washington to come, learning much of Indian and of Indian trader,

1 7 5 0 and becoming familiar with the varying phases of frontier 1 7 5 3 life. When nineteen years of age, he was appointed an

adjutant-gen

eral of militia with the rank of major Before he had fairly entered upon the duties of his

office, he was

called to ac

The Envoy

lever way for the thin dinary, the rebid and no company his

brother Law

rence to the West Indies on a voyage undertaken for the health of the latter. In this four months' ab

sence, and in consequence

of his punctilious regard for the re

quirements of courtesy, he experienced an attack of smallpox and

thus secured an immunity that was to be of priceless value, Meantime, a new executive had renewed his commission and assigned him to the command of one of the four military divisions of the province. Then came his selection as the bearer of Governor Dinwiddie's message to the French-the flood in the tide of his affairs that was to lead him on to fortune.

I 753 On the Way

November I

ness.

At the end of October, 1753, Washington set out from Williamsburg on his journey of six hundred miles, much of which was over mountains and through a wilder"Faith, you're a brave lad and, if you play your cards well, you shall have no cause to repent your bargain," exclaimed the old Scotch governor. The next day at Fredericksburg, he engaged as his French interpreter Jacob Van Braam, who had been his fencing-master and had served under Lawrence Washington in the Cartagena expedition. Thence he went by way of Alexandria to Winchester where he got baggage, horses, etc. From

Winchester he followed the "new Road" used by the Ohio company to Wills Creek, the last Virginian outpost. November 14 At Wills Creek (now Cumberland), he engaged Christopher Gist, who had lately established a plantation near the Youghiogheny, as guide " to pilot us out." On the following day, Gist led the party of seven horsemen along the main trail to the Ohio, later known as the Nemacolin path from the name of the Delaware Indian who blazed its course under the direction of Thomas Cresap who was acting for the Ohio company.

At Venango

December 4

The winter came on fierce and early; rain and snow made the way difficult of passage; it took a week to reach the Monongahela. At the mouth of Turtle Creek, Washington met Frazier, the trader whom Joncaire had driven from his cabin at Venango a few weeks before. At the Forks of the Ohio, the wise young strategist chose the site for a fort. At Logstown, fifteen miles down the river, he lingered several days and, diplomat as well as strategist, held a friendly council with the Indians. From Logstown, he was accompanied northward by Half King and three other Indian guides and guards. At Venango, the messenger saw the French flag floating over the English trader's house that had been seized as an outpost Fort Le Bœuf. Joncaire, the French commander of the outpost, received Washington "with the greatest Complaisance" and, over the wine, disclosed the purpose of his government. In his journal Washington wrote: "The Wine, as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully

for

with it, soon banished the Restraint which at first 1 7 5 3 appeared in their Conversation; and gave a Licence to their Tongues to reveal their Sentiments more freely. They told me, That it was their absolute Design to take Possession of the Ohio, and by G- they would do it: For that altho' they were sensible the English could raise two Men for their one; yet they knew their Motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any Undertaking of theirs." A brave, shrewd, observant English youth in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from home; tipsy Frenchmen with oaths and boasts; the blazing log fire within and the December cold withoutit will be easy for each reader of this page to fill in the picture for himself.

French Fort

After sunset of the eleventh of December, Washington At the arrived at Fort Le Boeuf and, on the following day, delivered to the newly arrived commandant, Legardeur de Saint Pierre, Dinwiddie's protest against the building of French forts on English territory. On the fourteenth, Saint Pierre delivered his answer which was to the effect that he must obey orders and hold the fort while the protest was forwarded to the Marquis Duquesne at Quebec. While the reply was being prepared, the envoy made good use of his "Opportunity of taking the Dimensions of the Fort, and making what observations I could." Because of the snow and the weakened condition of his horses, Washington sent them off unloaded to Venango, "intending_myself to go down by Water as I had the Offer of a Canoe or two.' The wily French made every effort to win over the Indians, and Washington wrote in his journal: "I can't say that ever in my Life I suffered so much Anxiety as I did in this Affair. I saw that every Stratagem which the most fruitful Brain could. invent, was practised, to win the Half-King to their Interest; and that leaving him here was giving them the Opportunity they aimed at." But Half King kept his word and, on the sixteenth, Washington began the terrible homeward march.

After a strenuous six days' voyage, they arrived at The Return