The Young George Washington and the Skirmish of Jumonville Glen

 

Earlier this month we noted Benjamin Franklin’s mention of George Washington in the May 9, 1754 article accompanying Franklin’s famous “Join, or Die” cartoon. Franklin’s emblem, as such images were called at the time, captured the rising tensions between British and French colonists who in the 1750s were competing for land and supremacy in the Ohio River Valley. Franklin was expressing the need for British colonial unity. Today, in the second installment of our series on the events of 1754, we highlight the next major episode in the crisis: The Skirmish of Jumonville Glen. This incident came to be so-called after the wounding and killing there of Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers sieur de Jumonville.

With the arrival of spring young Washington, now promoted to lieutenant colonel, was again in the field to continue diplomatic and military efforts against the French. With him were not just British colonial troops but men serving under the Native American leader Tanaghrisson, known also as the Half King. Events climaxed on May 28, 1754 when Washington, Tanaghrisson and the men under their command clashed with French forces in rural Pennsylvania. Two hundred and seventy years later the details are still in dispute. Who fired the first shot, and from which side, are just the first issues of contention. Equally unclear are the immediate intentions of the rival parties. Were Jumonville and his men on a peaceful mission on behalf of the French cause, or did they have other, more threatening objectives? Historians still debate these issues over two and a half centuries later. What is clear is that in the fog of battle dozens were killed, wounded, and taken prisoner, especially on the French side. Among the injured was the French commander, Jumonville himself. After the skirmish the Frenchman apparently attempted to speak with Washington and the others through the parties’ translators. Then suddenly, according to some sources, Tanaghrisson killed Jumonville with a tomahawk blow to the head.

The events that took place at what came to be called Jumonville Glen lasted a mere fifteen to twenty minutes. The consequences reverberated across the globe. These were the first shots in what came to be called the French and Indian War in America, and the Seven Years War abroad. British statesman—and historian—Winston Churchill famously called this conflict the first world war, and for good reason. The French, British, and their respective allies fought not just in North America, but on the European and African continents, on the high seas, and in such far-flung places as India before the fighting ended in 1763.

 

Image / Though this sketch from Alexandre Dumas’s 1855 “La Régence et Louis Quinze” (volume one) depicts Jumonville being shot by British colonial forces, most historians believe he was killed by the Native American leader and warrior Tanaghrisson, known also as Half King. George Washington’s role, if any, in Jumonville’s killing is unclear and a matter of debate still today. Credit: Image reworked by Saibo, via Wikimedia Commons.

Keith J. Muchowski writes occasionally for Morristown National Historical Park.