In 1753, the encroachments of the French awakening serious alarm, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia selected Major Washington to carry a demand, in the name of the English monarch, that the chain of forts along the Alleghany and Ohio rivers should be abandoned. The mission was both a difficult and dangerous one; and failing in its object, active preparations were begun in the colonies for the war that was now unavoidable. In 1754, Washington was appointed lieutenant-colonel of one of the Virginia regiments, and in July distinguished himself by his brave defence of Fort Necessity at Great Meadows, which he was compelled at length to surrender. In 1755, General Braddock, as commander-in-chief of the royal forces in America, invited Colonel Washington to act as aide-de-camp during an expedition having for its ultimate object the reduction of the French forts of Niagara and Crown Point. Ignorant of the modes of Indian warfare, and disregarding his aid’s warning and advice, Braddock suffered a terrible defeat, and lost his life at Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg. The chaplain of the army being also among the wounded, Washington read the burial service over Braddock at Great Meadows,--the scene of his own capitulation one year before. A second expedition in 1757 against the same fort, led by General Forbes, the advance guard being commanded by Washington, resulted in its capture and the change of name. On the 6th of January, 1759, he was married to Martha Custis, daughter of John Dandridge, and widow of a wealthy planter, John Parke Custis. The wedding ceremony was performed by Reverend John Mossum in St. Peter’s Church, Kent County, and was one of the most brilliant affairs of the kind ever celebrated in Virginia. “The groom’s suit was of blue cloth, the coat lined with red silk and ornamented with silver trimmings; his waistcoat, of embroidered white satin; his knee-buckles, of gold; his hair was tied in a queue and powdered. The bride’s costume was a quilted white satin petticoat, a rich white silk overdress with diamond buckles and pearl ornaments.”