s as might be needed to hold it.
This was bringing the French altogether too close for comfort.
As long as they were content to remain in the Illinois country, nothing
much was thought of it, for that was far away; but here they were now
right at Virginia's back door, and there was no telling when they would
try to force it open and enter. So Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia,
determined to dispatch a commissioner to the officer-in-command of the
French, to summon him to leave English territory. The commissioner was
also to try to kill two birds with one stone and form an alliance with
the Indians, so that, if it came to fighting, the Indians would be with
the English. No more delicate and dangerous mission could well be
conceived, and after careful consideration, the governor selected George
Washington to undertake it.

On October 30, 1753, Washington left Williamsburg, with a journey of
more than a thousand miles before him. How that journey was
accomplished, what perils he faced, what difficulties he overcame, how,
on more than one occasion his life hung by a thread--all this he has
told, briefly and modestly, in the journal which he kept of the
expedition. Three months from the time he started, he was back again in
Williamsburg, having faced his first great responsibility, and done his
work absolutely well. He had shown a cool courage that nothing could
shake, a fine patience, and a penetration and perception which nothing
could escape. He was the hero of the hour in the little Virginia
capital; the whole colony perceived that here was a man to be depended
upon.

He had found the French very active along the Ohio, preparing
to build forts and hold the country, and laughing at Dinwiddie's summons
to vacate it. This news caused Virginia to put a military force in the
field at once, and dispatch it to the west, with Washington in virtual
command. It was hoped to build a strong fort at the junction of the
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which would prevent the French getting
to the Ohio, since all travel in that wilderness must be by water. On
May 28, 1754, while hastening forward to secure this position,
Washington's little force encountered a party of French, and the first
shots were exchanged of the great contest which, twelve years later, was
to result in the expulsion of the French from the continent. It was
Washington who gave the word to fire, little foreseeing what history he
was making.

"I heard the bullet