ediate objective, and as he
approached it his advance-guard met a French reconnoitring party under
Jumonville, sent, it is alleged, by the commandant of Fort Duquesne to
warn the Virginians off French soil. The precise purpose served by
this handful of Frenchmen has never, however, been fully determined.
Jumonville's movements are certainly hard to reconcile with the theory
of a peaceful mission, and to Major Washington they certainly appeared
hostile. In the sharp fight which followed, Jumonville and nine others
were killed, while of the remaining twenty-three only one escaped. By
the English, the affair was described as a successful skirmish, by the
French as the "_Assassinat de Jumonville_"; for all it meant
precipitation of the death-struggle for North America.

Anticipating the French attack, Washington fell back upon Great
Meadows, and the hasty and inadequate intrenchments which he there
threw up received the name of Fort Necessity. Here he awaited an
assault with a short supply of ammunition and almost no provisions.
Nor was his patience long tried; for nine hundred Frenchmen under
Coulon de Villiers, brother of the unfortunate Jumonville, were
already marching against him through the woods. Wishing to entice them
to an immediate attack, Washington had arrayed his men on the open
meadow before the fort; but as his opponent declined to be drawn from
the cover of the surrounding hills, the Virginians also took shelter
in their shallow intrenchments. A blind fusillade now began in
torrents of rain and was maintained for nine hours, punctuated by the
booming of a few light swivel guns upon the ramparts.

At nightfall, however, the French proposed a parley, and having
weighed the chances of his little army against such overwhelming
numbers, Washington agreed to capitulate. Next day the English marched
out of Fort Necessity with beating drums and flying colours; but
heart-sick and weary they toiled back over the mountains to Virginia,
leaving the valley of the Ohio in the full possession of the enemy.
Moreover, the defeat at Fort Necessity was a double blow, for it threw
the fickle Indians back into the arms of the French, a consideration
of great weight in border warfare.

In Europe the rival powers were still maintaining the semblance of
peace, while yet secretly abetting the open enmity of their American
colonies. The despatch of Major-General Braddock with two regiments
of the line, although accounted for by th