Approaching Storm
Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Pennsylvania
This is worth the time to read it.
- It's peacetime, but a storm is approaching.
- You are only 21 years old, you have never seen military action, but find yourself in command of 250+ regular troops and militia.
- You are ordered to build a road into wilderness, and it's French territory.
- You make a pact with the local indigenous tribe, whose chief informs you a French patrol is nearby.
- You take tribe members and some of your troops to surprise the French.
- They surrender, but the tribal chief has an axe to grind with the French...literally...and kills the patrol commander...after he had surrendered.
- Not good.
- You know the French will be furious and come at you with far more troops than you have in your command.
- Your indigenous friends, including the tribal chief, now abandon you.
- You build a fort, and name it Fort Necessity.
- The French and their Indian allies come storming at you...using the very same road you had just built.
- The French commander happens to be the brother of the French patrol leader who was murdered after he had surrendered.
- You screwed up and built your trenches within musket range of the surrounding tree line.
- Which fills up with French and Indians taking shots at you.
- It pours rain, filling your trenches with water and causing all your gunpowder to become useless.
- It's looking grim, but suddenly the French want to parlay, and offer what seems like an honorable treaty in exchange for your immediate withdrawal.
- But they make you sign a document in French...and you can't read French.
- Congratulations, you just signed an official document that states you assassinated the French commander of the patrol and the entire thing is your fault.
- Clever French.
- You return to Virginia thinking your career is finished in dismal shame.
- But the Governor and the state assembly thank you and reward you instead.
- Unfortunately, your actions lead to the start of the French and Indian War, which spreads to Europe in what is eventually known as the Seven Years War.
~ Your name? ~
- George Washington...yes that George Washington, famous adventurer, winning commanding general of the American Revolutionary War, and First US President, "the father of our country".
- A war he won against the British, whom he served here at Fort Necessity.
- The day George Washington was forced to leave Fort Necessity?
- July 4th, 1754. JULY 4th, what is now celebrated as US Independence Day.
True story. Better than the plots of most movies made these days. You might be wondering though why the US National Park Service, in its recreation of the stockade at Fort Necessity, has that very British-looking Red Ensign flag flying in front of the fort. It is because the American flag did not exist in 1754. It would take another 22 years before that storm burst upon North America.
*Press L or left click on the photo for best viewing.
Link to ~My best photos~
*** All my photos are © All Rights Reserved. ***
Approaching Storm
Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Pennsylvania
This is worth the time to read it.
- It's peacetime, but a storm is approaching.
- You are only 21 years old, you have never seen military action, but find yourself in command of 250+ regular troops and militia.
- You are ordered to build a road into wilderness, and it's French territory.
- You make a pact with the local indigenous tribe, whose chief informs you a French patrol is nearby.
- You take tribe members and some of your troops to surprise the French.
- They surrender, but the tribal chief has an axe to grind with the French...literally...and kills the patrol commander...after he had surrendered.
- Not good.
- You know the French will be furious and come at you with far more troops than you have in your command.
- Your indigenous friends, including the tribal chief, now abandon you.
- You build a fort, and name it Fort Necessity.
- The French and their Indian allies come storming at you...using the very same road you had just built.
- The French commander happens to be the brother of the French patrol leader who was murdered after he had surrendered.
- You screwed up and built your trenches within musket range of the surrounding tree line.
- Which fills up with French and Indians taking shots at you.
- It pours rain, filling your trenches with water and causing all your gunpowder to become useless.
- It's looking grim, but suddenly the French want to parlay, and offer what seems like an honorable treaty in exchange for your immediate withdrawal.
- But they make you sign a document in French...and you can't read French.
- Congratulations, you just signed an official document that states you assassinated the French commander of the patrol and the entire thing is your fault.
- Clever French.
- You return to Virginia thinking your career is finished in dismal shame.
- But the Governor and the state assembly thank you and reward you instead.
- Unfortunately, your actions lead to the start of the French and Indian War, which spreads to Europe in what is eventually known as the Seven Years War.
~ Your name? ~
- George Washington...yes that George Washington, famous adventurer, winning commanding general of the American Revolutionary War, and First US President, "the father of our country".
- A war he won against the British, whom he served here at Fort Necessity.
- The day George Washington was forced to leave Fort Necessity?
- July 4th, 1754. JULY 4th, what is now celebrated as US Independence Day.
True story. Better than the plots of most movies made these days. You might be wondering though why the US National Park Service, in its recreation of the stockade at Fort Necessity, has that very British-looking Red Ensign flag flying in front of the fort. It is because the American flag did not exist in 1754. It would take another 22 years before that storm burst upon North America.
*Press L or left click on the photo for best viewing.
Link to ~My best photos~
*** All my photos are © All Rights Reserved. ***