French and Indian war

Governor dispatched George Washington

Mar 15, 1753

The governor of Virginia dispatched the young George Washington t the upper Ohio to warn the French away from the valley.

Washington returns with troops

Mar 16, 1754

Washington returned with troops to seize the region's most strategic point, the Forks of the Ohio at modern Pittsburgh, defeated a French detachment, and was defeated in turn when the French and their Indians allies forced his surrender at Fort Necessity on July 3. Shortly hereafter an Indian attack wiped out the first attempted while settlement in Tygart Valley near the Monongahela headwaters.

1,400 regular troops sent to Ohio frontier

Jul 9, 1755

British authorities dispatched Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Braddock and 1,400 regular troops t Ohio frontier.

State of near-starvation and mutiny

Feb 27, 1756

Ill-disciplined, poorly supplied, and unlucky in the weather and scarcity of game they encountered, this Sandy Creek Expedition struggled forward for nearly a month in February-March 1756 before turning back in a state of near-starvation and mutiny.

Residents held their ground

Mar 16, 1756

Here a minority of residents held their ground, backed by a chain of small forts that Washington organized in 1756.

John Forbes drives the French away

Mar 17, 1758

John Forbes drove the French away from the Forks of the Ohio, present Pittsburgh, and established Fort Pitt there.

Pease in Ohio Valley

Mar 17, 1764

Finally in 1764, an uneasy peace settled over the Ohio Valley, through the basic issue of who would control the region remained unsettled.