For their part, the British officers saw their American counterparts as inadequately trained amateurs at best, and a reckless rabble at worst. This was not an easy thing regular British Army commissions took precedence over colonial ones, making the colonists always subordinate regardless of rank. In North America the conflict was dubbed the French and Indian War.įrom the start, conducting a war in America required the British to cooperate with the colo-nists. The French and English fought across several continents in what would become known as the Seven Years’ War. This incident, among others, would provide the sparks necessary to begin what was for the time a world war. Young Washington had a difficult time on his first martial foray, but the war would prove a crucible, teaching and preparing him for the future. France and England soon went to war, a conflict which spanned much of the world including North America. In the event, Washington’s mission did not end peaceably. It was a fateful mission for the young man, the first in what would be a long and distinguished military career. George Washington, volunteered to lead an expedition to warn the French to depart or be forcibly removed. This group soon took control of a small British outpost, sending its occupants back to the English colonies.

It was a large military force, one of the largest yet seen on the North American continent. Six hundred men with artillery and supplies set out in canoes and bateaux. In April 1754 the French sent an impressive host down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers.

The Roughest Riders by Jerome Tuccille