s founded.

[Sidenote: The French on the Ohio, 1749. _McMaster_, 82-86.]

[Sidenote: The English Ohio Company, 1750.]

96. Struggle for the Ohio Valley.--At the close of King George's
War the French set to work to connect the settlements in Louisiana with
those on the St. Lawrence. In 1749 French explorers gained the Alleghany
River from Lake Erie and went down the Ohio as far as the Miami. The
next year (1750) King George gave a great tract of land on the Ohio
River to an association of Virginians, who formed the Ohio Company. The
struggle for the Ohio Valley had fairly begun. Governor Dinwiddie of
Virginia learned that the French were building forts on the Ohio, and
sent them a letter protesting against their so doing. The bearer of this
letter was George Washington, a young Virginia surveyor.

[Sidenote: George Washington. Scudder's _Washington; Hero Tales_ 1-15.]

[Sidenote: He warns the French to leave the Ohio.]

97. George Washington.--Of an old Virginia family, George
Washington grew up with the idea that he must earn his own living. His
father was a well-to-do planter. But Augustine Washington was the eldest
son, and, as was the custom then in Virginia, he inherited most of the
property. Augustine Washington was very kind to his younger brother, and
gave him a good practical education as a land surveyor. The younger man
was a bold athlete and fond of studying military campaigns. He was full
of courage, industrious, honest, and of great common sense. Before he
was twenty he had surveyed large tracts of wilderness, and had done his
work well amidst great difficulties. When Dinwiddie wanted a messenger
to take his letter to the French commander on the Ohio, George
Washington's employer at once suggested him as the best person to send
on the dangerous journey.

[Sidenote: The French build Fort Duquesne.]

[Sidenote: Washington's first military expedition, 1754.]

98. Fort Duquesne.--Instead of heeding Dinwiddie's warning, the
French set to work to build Fort Duquesne (Due-kan') at the spot where
the Alleghany and Monongahela join to form the Ohio,--on the site of
the present city of Pittsburg. Dinwiddie therefore sent Washington with
a small force of soldiers to drive them away. But the French were too
strong for Washington. They besieged him in Fort Necessity and compelled
him to surrender (July 4, 1754).

[Illustration: BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN.]

[Sidenote: Braddock's expedition, 1755. _Higginson_, 152-15