Fort Necessity

George Washington was a great general, but he did not win every battle. He lost one, and it happened in Western Pennsylvania.

It was 1754. There were four distinct armed forces in America: English, French, Colonists, Indians. Lt. Colonel George Washington has just been given the job of building a road through the wilderness. The object was to create a supply line so they could establish a fort in the area around Pittsburgh.

Young Washington was 22. He had about 400 men under his command. Approximately, 100 of them were English soldiers. The rest were poorly trained colonists.

On May 28, 1754, Washington's men came upon some French soldiers. There was a skirmish. Ten French soldiers died. Twenty-one were captured. That was the first battle of the French and Indian War. It is known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen.

After that encounter, Washington went back to building his road, but he also decided to build a fort for security and for storage of their supplies. Legend has it that Washington named it Fort Necessity. Nobody is sure of that, but we do know that it was a hastily constructed structure that sure seemed like a necessity less than two months later.

On July 3, 1754, 700 French troops and Indians attacked the small fort. This became known as the Battle of Fort Necessity or the Battle of Great Meadows. Luckily for young Washington, it rained steadily throughout the day. The gunpowder on both sides became damp and unreliable. Consequently, although both sides fought fiercely, neither side could fight effectively.

Late that same day, the French proffered surrender terms to Washington. He considered his situation. He had about 400 troops of one kind or another. They French had 700. He didn't have dry gunpowder. He didn't have enough food to last out a siege.

Washington accepted the surrender terms. He was allowed to march his men out of the fort. They left the next day, July 4, 1754. The French burned the fort to the ground, and that was the end of it.

On a curious note, Washington may have surrendered too fast. The French records show that they did not have nearly the 600 troops that Washington thought. They had the same 400 as Washington, but only 100 of them were French. The French had the same trouble as Washington with wet gunpowder. Also, their Indian force was not attached permanently to them and may have left by the next morning.

By present estimates, the French could not have sustained any type of attack for more than two days. By then, they would be out of gunpowder and food, and they would have been outnumbered by Washington's men. But the young 22-year-old Washington did not know any of that, and so he surrendered.

Who knows what would have happened if he had fought on.
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