On May 28, 1754, Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, commanding a company of forty Virginia militia and assisted by the Half King Tenacharisson and a company of Indians, surprised the engaged French force under Ensign Coulon de Jumonville, which was hidden below this ledge of rocks since known as Washington's Rocks, and killed, wounded, or captured the entire force. Francis Parkman called this obscure skirmish the beginning of the war that set the world on fire.
