Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Fort Necessity National Battlefield, located near Farmington, Pennsylvania, commemorates the first military engagement of the French and Indian War (known as the Seven Years' War outside of the United States). Established by an act of Congress in 1932, the park consists of three separate sections totaling about 900 acres (4 km²). Here, George Washington commanded almost 400 troops in a failed early attempt to thwart French colonial expansion. What became known as the Battle of the Great Meadows, which was fought on July 3, 1754, sparked a long struggle between British and French colonial interests in North America, and in doing so helped cause the worldwide conflict known as the Seven Years' War. It is also the location of George Washington's only military surrender. Along with the fort and battlefield, the park also contains an historic tavern from the early days of the National Road and the grave of British military commander Edward Braddock.

Fort design and construction

Built in an open clearing surrounded by dense hardwood forest, the fort was a circular palisade constructed primarily of white oak. Crude and simplistic, the fort centerpiece was a 10 by 14 foot (3 by 4 m) log cabin. The roof on the shelter was covered with animal skin for protection against the weather. The cabin was surrounded by a 7 to 8 foot (2 to 2.5 m) tall palisade fence that was 53 feet (16 m) in diameter. Earthworks were built outside the main stockade in a diamond shape. The fortification was built between two streams. The entire project took the men five days to complete.

History

After the failed attempt to build and secure a fort at the "Forks of the Ohio" (present day location of Pittsburgh) in January 1754, colonial Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent 22 year old Lt. Colonel George Washington to build a roadway through the forest (toward the Monongahela River) that would allow greater numbers of troops and equipment to enter the region. While constructing the road in May 1754, Washington and his party scouted out an area which was known as the great meadows and decided that this would be a good choice for an encampment. Told by Indian guides that an advance party of French soldiers was nearby, Washington and approximately 40 of the colonials set out to locate them. On the morning of May 28, 1754, Washington's party encountered a small group of French troops, under the leadership of Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville. In the Battle of Jumonville Glen, 10 French soldiers were killed and 21, including Jumonville, who was wounded, were captured. It has never been determined who initiated the first shots, but what has become known as the Jumonville affair has been credited as the commencement of the French and Indian War, or as it is known in Europe, the Seven Years' War.

After returning to the great meadows, Washington decided it prudent to reinforce his position. Supposedly named by Washington as Fort Necessity or Fort of Necessity, they constructed a storehouse to store supplies such as gunpowder, rum, and flour. The crude palisade they erected was built to defend supplies in the fort's storehouse from Washington's own men who he described as loose and idle. By June 12, 1754, Washington had under his command 293 colonials and nominal command of 100 additional regular British army troops from South Carolina. Washington spent the remainder of June 1754 extending the wilderness road further towards his destination for an advanced base which was Redstone Old Fort on the Monongahela River.

On July 3, 1754, in the Battle of the Great Meadows, 600 French troops led by Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers, the brother of Jumonville, along with 100 Indians, attacked the fort. Throughout the day, heavy rain swamped the low-lying fort making the use of firearms difficult and ruining much of the gunpowder and provisions. The French however also had problems. They were nearly out of supplies after having to travel light to catch Washington. Furthermore, French estimates put the numbers of their force only at 300 Indians and 100 French. To make things worse, those Indians wanted to leave the next morning.

Late in the day, Washington did not know the French situation. Feeling that their position was untenable, Washington accepted surrender terms which allowed the peaceful withdrawal of his forces which he completed on July 4, 1754. The French subsequently occupied the fort and then burned it.

Park Formation and Structure

Attempts to preserve the location of Fort Necessity were undertaken and on March 4, 1931, Congress declared the location a National Battlefield Site under management of the War Department. Transferred to the National Park Service in 1933, the park was redesignated a National Battlefield on August 10, 1961. As with all historic sites administered by the National Park Service, the battlefield was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Subsequent archaeological research helped to uncover the majority of the original fort position, shape and design. A replica of the fort was completed in the 1970s. A new visitor center, which also is home to a National Road interpretive center opened on October 8, 2005. The battlefield and fort are currently being improved, with a the fort replica being reconstructed to look more historically accurate, new informative signs being added, and the historic treelines and charge locations being outlined.

Along with the fort, the national battlefield also features two other historic sites. On a hillside adjacent to the battlefield and within the boundaries of the park is Mount Washington Tavern, a classic example of the many inns lining the National Road, America's first federally-funded highway. The land on which the tavern was built was originally owned by George Washington, who purchased the site on which he commanded his first battle just a few months before his death in 1799. In 1827, Judge Nathnial Ewing of Uniontown constructed the tavern. James Sampey acquired the land and constructed an inn along the new highway. It was operated by his family until the railroad construction boom caused the National Road to decline in popularity, rendering the inn unprofitable. In 1855, it was sold to the Fazenbakers and served as a private home for the next 75 years, until it was acquired by the National Park Service in 1933 and restored. The Mount Washington Tavern demonstrates the standard features of an early American tavern, including a simple but congenial barroom that served as a gathering place, a more fancy parlor room that was used for relaxation, and crowded bedrooms in which people would crowd in order to catch up on sleep.

In a separate unit of the park lying about one mile east of the battlefield lies the grave of General Edward Braddock. The legendary British commander oversaw many French and Indian War battles and led the construction of a useful, but inadequate wilderness road through Western Pennsylvania. Braddock was severely wounded in a failed siege on Fort Duquesne. He and his regiment fled along the wilderness road to a site near Great Meadows. Here, on July 13, 1755, the worn-out general died and was buried in an elaborate ceremony presided and officiated by George Washington. His grave was hidden by the British, hoping to keep the site's location out of the hands of the enemy. His body was discovered in 1804 by men making repairs to the wilderness road. A fitting marker was erected in 1913.

Cultural Influences

• In the episode "Bart Gets an F" of The Simpsons, after failing a history test (which would result in his repeating the fourth grade) Bart says, "Now I know how George Washington felt when he surrendered Fort Necessity to the French in 1754." In what his teacher regards as applied knowledge of an accurate and relatively obscure reference, she gives him an extra point on his exam allowing him to pass the fourth grade.

References

• Leckie, Robert (2006). A Few Acres of Snow. The Saga of the French and Indian Wars. Edison, NJ: Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-2100-7.
• Stotz, Charles Morse (2005). Outposts Of The War For Empire: The French And English In Western Pennsylvania: Their Armies, Their Forts, Their People 1749-1764. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-4262-3.

See also

• Joseph Coulon de Jumonville
• Jumonville
• Battle of Jumonville Glen
• Fort Necessity
• Battle of the Great Meadows

External links

• Fort Necessity National Battlefield. U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved on 2006-06-29..
• Battlefield History. Retrieved on 2006-06-29..
• Fort Necessity & National Battlefield Education & Interpretive Center, Christopher Chadbourne and Associates, Inc. (Exhibit Design)
• Map links
• Main unit (Fort Necessity):
• Braddock Grave unit:
• Jumonville Glen unit: