French and Indian War: Fort Necessity

French and Indian War: Fort Necessity

The French and Indian war was a dispute for land between France (and its Native American allies) and England. Everything started with rival claims of land from both the French and The English in the territory along the Ohio River, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi. At the Ohio River Valley, the English had obtained an area or 200,000 acres of land, from which they extended an 80-mile wagon that covered from Wills Creek to Monongahela (present day Cumberland, Maryland). The French, however, wanted this land because they considered it a crucial link between Louisiana and New France. With this in mind, they advanced and claimed the Ohio River Valley for France (National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 2005). After obtaining the land, the French built forts in an area of the Ohio country that was claimed by Virginia. The Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, sent an expedition under George Washington during mid-winter of 1753-1754, to warn the French and make them withdrawn from his land. (National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 2005) The French, however, refused stubbornly, setting the mood for what would befall later on at Fort Necessity. The governor of Virginia had sent a group of soldiers to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio River even before he learned of the French refusal, and therefore, the soldiers were driven off the land and the French built Fort Duquesne (named after the governor of New France) instead. Washington was sent to aid the soldiers that were supposed to be building the fort at the forks of the Ohio River, but instead found Fort Duquesne. He moved to the Great Meadows, were he would build the small Fort Necessity between May 30th and June 3rd.

Fort Necessity is one of the most important forts of this war because it is where the French and Indian war actually started.

The Battle of Fort Necessity 3

The Battle

The battle of ort Necessity started in July of 1754. It is also called The Battle of Great Meadows. The morning of July 3rd, the French attacked fort necessity with a strategy planned. The French advanced downhill, in a battle line under the command of Louis Coulon de Villiers (Long, 2010). But he miscalculated the location of the fort and moved with the fort to his right. The French were forced to hide in the trees, maintaining a close range to the fort. Washington, on the other hand, focused his men at the front of the fort, trying to dislodge the French from their position (Long, 2010). Washington ordered his men to attack across the open field, but the French opened tentative fire making