[Footnote: The streams were swollen. The snow was falling and freezing as it fell. The horses gave out, and he was forced to proceed on foot. With only one companion, he quitted the usual path, and, with the compass as his guide, struck boldly out through the forest. An Indian, lying in wait, fired at him only a few paces off, but missing, was captured. Attempting to cross the Alleghany on a rude raft, they were caught between large masses of ice floating down the rapid current of the mid-channel. Washington thrust out his pole to check the speed, but was jerked into the foaming water. Swimming to an island, he barely saved his life. Fortunately, in the morning the river was frozen over, and he escaped on the ice.] WAR OPENS.--Early the next spring, the French, at the fork of the Monongahela and Alleghany, drove off a party of English traders and erected a fort, which was called Du Quesne (doo-kane). Soon, among the blackened stumps, corn and barley were growing on the present site of Pittsburg. In the meantime, a regiment of Virginia troops, under Colonel Frye, Washington being second in command, had been sent out to occupy this important point. Learning that the French had anticipated them, Washington hastened forward with a reconnoitering party. Jumonville (zhoo-mong-veel), who was hiding among the rocks with a company of French troops, waiting an opportunity to attack him, was himself surprised and defeated. [Footnote: Washington's word of command to "fire!" upon that skulking foe, on the night of May 28, 1754, was the opening of the campaign. Washington himself, it is said, fired the first gun of that long and bloody war.] On the death of Colonel Frye, soon after, Washington assumed command. Collecting the troops at the Great Meadows, he erected a stockade, which he aptly named _Fort Necessity_. Here he was attacked by a large force of French and Indians, and after a severe conflict was compelled to capitulate. THE FIVE OBJECTIVE POINTS OF THE WAR. 1. Fort du Quesne was the key to the region west of the Alleghanies, and as long as the French held it, Virginia and Pennsylvania were exposed to Indian attacks. 2. The possession of Louisburg and Acadia threatened New England, while it gave control over the Newfoundland fisheries. French privateers harbored there, darted out and captured English ships, and then returned where they were safe from pursuit. 3. Crown Point and Ticonderoga controlled the route to Canada by the way of Lake George and Lake Champlain, and also offered a safe starting-point for French expeditions against New York and New England. 4. Niagara lay on the portage between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and thus protected the great fur trade of the upper lakes and the West. 5. Quebec being the strongest fortification in Canada, gave control of the St. Lawrence, and largely decided the possession of that province.