From Farm House to the White House - 912 Freedom Library

Farm House to the White House, by William M. Thayer 68
other duties, made a large draft upon his thoughts and labors. Still, he found time to be with his brother
Lawrence during his declining moments, and was with him when he died, performing the last deeds of
fraternal love in a manner that honored his noble nature.
There was a growing excitement now about the encroachments of the French, and the Colonists began to feel
that their rights and honor were at stake. It was quite evident that the French designed to gain ascendency in
North America, while the English considered that their claim to its rule was pre-eminent. The French had
established a line of military fortified posts from Canada to the southern part of the Mississippi, and they were
fast securing a foothold in the beautiful valley of the Ohio.
The English said: "England discovered this country fifty years ago, and has a better right to it than the French
have."
France denied this claim, because "her ships were the first which entered the River St. Lawrence, and her
voyagers, ascending the magnificent stream, discovered that series of majestic lakes, whose fertile shores
presented inviting homes for countless millions. Her enterprising explorers, in the birch canoe, travelled the
solitary windings of the Ohio and the Mississippi."
At the same time the Indians justly claimed right and title to the whole country as the aboriginal inhabitants.
Both English and French might purchase it, or portions of it, of them, but in no other way could they gain
possession of it without becoming interlopers and robbers. So here was a fine opportunity for trouble. A keen,
quick-witted chief, assuming to ridicule the claims of the English and French, sarcastically said to Mr. Gist, a
representative of the Virginian Colonists:
"Whereabouts do the Indian lands lie, since the French claim all the land on one side of the Ohio River and
the English all on the other?"
Governor Dinwiddie found it necessary to send an ambassador to the French on the Ohio, to inquire into their
claims and purposes.
"It is a responsible and perilous undertaking," he said to Mr. Gist. "Who is equal to it?"
"I am sure I cannot tell," Mr. Gist replied. "There ought to be in this famous colony some spirit brave enough
to accept the mission, and fully competent to execute it."
"Yes; but who is it?"
"I am unable to answer."
"But we must find him," continued the governor. "The time has fully come for Virginia to defend the rights of
Great Britain."
"There can be no doubt about that," replied Mr. Gist; "but who will endure the hardships and risk his life on a
mission to the Ohio is more than I can tell."
A writer says of the project: "It was indeed a perilous enterprise; one from which the noblest spirit might
recoil. The first garrison which could be reached was on the Ohio River, about one hundred and twenty miles
below the point where Pittsburg now stands. Here the French were erecting a strong fortress, to which the
Indians resorted for trade. There was an intervening wilderness, from the settlements in Virginia, to be
traversed, of pathless forests, gloomy morasses, craggy mountains, and almost impenetrable thickets, of nearly
six hundred miles. Bands of savages on the war-path or engaged in the hunt were ever ranging these wilds.
Many were exasperated by wrongs which they themselves had received, and of which they had heard,