French and their Indian allies, it was necessary
to place the work in the hands of a military leader.

George Washington was at this time only nineteen years old, but fully
grown--a man of powerful physique, hardened and seasoned by his outdoor
life. Despite his youth and lack of military experience, the Ohio
Company secured for him the appointment of adjutant general of this
district. Washington at once placed himself under several military
officers of his acquaintance, among them a Major Muse, and soon
acquired at least the rudiments of warfare, the manual of arms. The
broader school of tactics he was to acquire for himself in the field of
experience.

An interruption to his military career came in the illness of his
brother Lawrence. A voyage to the West Indies was determined upon, for
the invalid, and George accompanied him--on the young man's first sea
voyage, and of which he has left us entertaining glimpses in his
ever-faithful diary. But after a winter in the South Seas, Lawrence
grew worse and was brought home to die. George, though only twenty,
was made one of the executors to the estate, Mount Vernon, which became
henceforth his home.

Shortly afterward, we find George Washington given still higher office,
but one which entailed heavy responsibilities. The newly appointed
governor of the state, Robert Dinwiddie, growing uneasy at the constant
reports of alliances between the French and Indians, determined to send
a commissioner to the French commander, to ask by what right he was
building forts in English dominions; and also to treat with the
Indians, in the way of counter proposals against the French.

It was a hazardous mission, and one which also involved tact,
diplomacy, and a first-hand knowledge of the wilderness. But we are
not much surprised to find Washington, at twenty-one, given the
commission of major and sent on this undertaking.

Leaving Williamsburg with a little company of six, he set out on a
cross-country trip by horseback, of more than a thousand miles. The
details of this adventurous journey make interesting reading, but
cannot find place in this necessarily brief story. They reached an
Indian village near where the city of Pittsburgh now stands, then
turned south to the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers
where dwelt a friendly tribe of Indians. Thence they went to Fort le
Boeuf, where the French commander received the Virginia major politely,
entertained him