In this column, Cecil says that George Washington was “an inexperienced militia officer in 1754” when he was officer in charge of a group of sodiers who killed a small French military detachment in Ohio.
My question … he was a militia officer in *what * militia?
Virginia Colonial Militia. Under the Crown, of course.
The Virginia Militia, unsurprisingly.
I assume that Cecil is likely talking about Jumonville here, which is in Fayette County, Pennsylvania (which would be quite close to Ohio, and was not under crown control at the time…keep in mind that Fayette County is on the state line with West Virginia, which was not a separate state until the time of the Civil War).
I’ve taken the trip out to Jumonville Glen where the “ambush” took place. I don’t remember a lot about what happened (went on an internship day with a history buff, and the French and Indian War IS the big history in Southwestern PA), but IIRC, the French were riding to serve notice that part of their colonies was off-limits to the British. Perhaps the situation could have been resolved a bit more diplomatically, but the French were almost in the colony of Virginia and it seems that it would be considered more self-defense than murder.
Incidentally, the camp where the French ended up staying was below a sizable ridge, so it’s probably partially the commander’s incompetance that led to the slaughter (gave the British a perfect high ground to fire down upon…shooting fish in a barrel).
I don’t have my copy available at the moment, but in the most-excellent history “Crucible of War : The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766” by Fred Anderson, the scene is decsribed in ferocious detail. According to Anderson, it was the Indians, marching with Washington’s command who went berserk, and started killing the French captives after Washington and his men surprised the French. Anderson has a shocked Washington using his own troops to surround the captives to protect them from his own Indian scouts.
Given the situation as described was roughly equivalent to an intruder murdering a householder “in self defense”, I think this is the understatement of the year! They weren’t even at war at the time.