During the French & Indian War, soldiers under George Washington's command built one of two fortified outposts on the Virginia frontier at this site. In July 1755, Washington accompanied General Edward Braddock in the failed British attempt to take Fort Duquesne at the site of modern-day Pittsburgh. That defeat emboldened French, Shawnee, and Delaware raiding parties to terrorize British colonists along the Virginia frontier and force them to flee eastward. In response, the newly appointed colonel of the Virginia Regiment, 23-year-old George Washington, ordered the immediate construction of two forts to defend the frontier. Captain John Ashby's 2nd Company of Rangers built and occupied the fort here under the supervision of Lt. John Bacon of Maryland. Washington placed the other outpost, Cockes' Fort, on George Parker's plantation twelve miles south on Patterson's Creek. Ashby's men completed their fortified position less than six weeks after receiving Washington's order, and by early December Ashby's Fort had become an active, essential stronghold on the frontier.