The Battle of Jumonville Glen, also known as the Jumonville affair, was the opening battle of the French and Indian War fought on May 28, 1754 near what is present-day Uniontown in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. George Washington had been sent to the Ohio Country, an area then under dispute between British and French colonists, as a British emissary in the winter of 1753-54 to tell the French, who had been building forts in the area, to leave. French officers politely told Washington they were not obliged to obey his summons, and they were going to stay.

Washington returned to Virginia and informed Governor Robert Dinwiddie that the French refused to leave. The governor immediately assembled a force of men to go to the Ohio River and construct a fort. Washington, as the lieutenant colonel of the Virginia Regiment, was to gather men and supplies and build a road to the forks, reinforcing the men who were there. His orders also included instructions that stated that if he was to come upon a foreign force he was to "send them to retire" and he was given the permission to match "Force by Force" only if the foreign force prevented their building of forts. On his way, Washington received word that a French party of 50 soldiers was in the area. Fearing they may be a raiding party, Washington ambushed them, and nearly every Frenchmen was killed or captured. This skirmish was the opening of hostilities that widened in 1756 to the conflict now known as the Seven Years' War.

Prelude

In March 1754, Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered Lieutenant Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Militia, out to the frontier of the Ohio Valley, where he would reinforce a fort that had been built at the fork of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. Washington was ordered to gather up as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way. By the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had gathered 186 men.Lengel p.32
Along their march through the forests of the frontier, Washington received a few more men from another regiment that they met at Winchester. At this point news was received from Captain William Trent, who had gone out ahead with two companies of frontiersmen. Along with him was the Seneca chief Tanacharison also known as "Half King", who had promised warriors to the colonists. Trent had arrived at the fork of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers on February 17. Trent had only 40 men, and the French were approaching him with 800. As Washington rode ahead to try and reach Trent, he received news that the French had forced him to evacuate the area, and had torn down the British fort.Lengel p.33 In order to keep support from the Iroquois, Washington decided not to turn back, choosing instead to build a fortification south of the forks and wait for further instructions.
At the forks, the French had begun to construct Fort Duquesne. The French governor forbade anyone to attack the colonial force unless they were provoked, and on May 23, he sent out forces under Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville to order Washington's troops out of French territory.

After receiving intelligence that French troops were approaching, Washington ordered his troops to dig in and prepare for an attack. They dug ditches, and flipped over wagons in front of them.Lengel p.35 During the night 6 men deserted. While waiting for an attack on May 27, Christopher Gist arrived at camp and told Washington that 50 French soldiers had stopped at his cabin and threatened to kill his cow and break everything in his house. Washington ordered a detachment of 75 men in pursuit of the French. After they had left, Washington called together some Native Americans and convinced them to go after the French as well.
At 8 pm, Washington received a message from Tanacharison. Tanacharison found the French encampment, and wanted to meet up with Washington. Despite the fact that he had just sent two other groups in pursuit of the French, Washington took a detachment of 40 men and met with Tanacharison. Tanacharison had with him 12 warriors, 2 of them being boys. Both men agreed to attack the French.

Battle

The attackers took up positions behind rocks around the French camp, spotting a total of less than 40 Frenchmen. At 6 am, Washington gave the order to attack. A French soldier noticed them, and sounded the alarm. The battle was very brief, lasting only 15 minutes. Ten to twelve Frenchmen were killed and two were wounded, including Jumonville; and twenty-one were captured. The British colonists suffered only one killed and three wounded.Fowler, p. 42

Photo of the battle site in 2007.

Aftermath

After the firing stopped, Jumonville handed Washington some papers and insisted that he read them. While Washington did so, an Indian, reportedly Tanacharison, came up and smashed Jumonville's skull with a tomahawk, killing him.
Washington wrote a letter to his brother after the battle, in which he said "I can with truth assure you, I heard bullets whistle and believe me, there was something charming in the sound." Following the battle, Washington returned to Great Meadows and began to construct a fort called Fort Necessity. On July 3, the French captured the fort in the Battle of the Great Meadows, forcing Washington to negotiate a withdrawal under arms. The document Washington signed when agreeing to those terms, which was written in French (which Washington did not know how to read, and was poorly translated for him), included language claiming that Jumonville was assassinated.

In the weeks after the battle had ended, several wounded French soldiers died due to infection of their wounds.

A portion of the battlefield is preserved as a part of Fort Necessity National Battlefield.

Footnotes