rnment was
military; and the inhabitants could readily be called into the field,
when their service should be required. Great reliance too was placed
on the Indians. These savages, with the exception of the Five Nations,
were generally attached to France, and were well trained to war. To
these advantages was added a perfect knowledge of the country about to
become the theatre of action.

The British colonies, on the other hand, were divided into distinct
governments, unaccustomed, except those of New England, to act in
concert; were jealous of the power of the crown; and were spread over
a large extent of territory, the soil of which, in all the middle
colonies, was cultivated by men unused to arms.

The governors of Canada, who were generally military men, had, for
several preceding years, judiciously selected and fortified such
situations as would give them most influence over the Indians, and
facilitate incursions into the northern provinces. The command of Lake
Champlain had been acquired by the erection of a strong fort at Crown
Point; and a connected chain of posts was maintained from Quebec, up
the St. Lawrence, and along the great lakes. It was intended to unite
these posts with the Mississippi by taking positions which would
favour the design of circumscribing and annoying the frontier
settlements of the English.

[Illustration: Great Meadows and the Site of Fort Necessity

_On this battleground in the western Pennsylvania wilderness, which
marked the beginning of the French and Indian War, July 3, 1754, a
force of 400 men under young Major Washington was defeated by 900
French and Indian allies, and for the first and last time in his
military career Washington surrendered. He stipulated, however, that
he and his troops were to have safe conduct back to civilization, and
agreed not to build a fort west of the Allegheny Mountains for a year.
Washington was then twenty-two years old._]

{1750}

The execution of this plan was, probably, accelerated by an act of the
British government. The year after the conclusion of the war, several
individuals both in England and Virginia who were associated under the
name of the Ohio company, obtained from the crown a grant of six
hundred thousand acres of land, lying in the country claimed by both
nations. The objects of this company being commercial as well as
territorial, measures were taken to derive all the advantages expected
from their grant, in both these respec