Washington at Turkeyfoot

George Washington camped here on May 20, 1754, while seeking for the British a navigable water route to the Forks of the Ohio, where the French were building Fort Duquesne. The young lieutenant colonel from Virginia had orders to proceed to the mouth of Redstone Creek, wait for reinforcements, and then strike the French. After canoeing to the falls at Ohiopyle, he turned back and marched his troops westward over the mountain. Indian scouts told him of a nearby French party, and Washington's men ambushed and killed Ensign Coulon de Jumonville and nine of his men. This brief skirmish on May 28, 1754, at what is now Jumonville Glen, opened the French and Indian War.

Pennsylvania · United States