HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 3 [Illustration: MODERN ROAD ON LAUREL HILL [_Follows track of Washington's Road; near by, on the right, Washington found Jumonville's "embassy" hidden in the Ravine_]] HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 3 Washington's Road (NEMACOLIN'S PATH) The First Chapter of the Old French War BY ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT _With Maps and Illustrations_ [Illustration] THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY CLEVELAND, OHIO 1903 COPYRIGHT, 1903 BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 11 I. WASHINGTON AND THE WEST 15 II. THE HUNTING-GROUND OF THE IROQUOIS 40 III. THE ARMS OF THE KING OF FRANCE 63 IV. THE VIRGINIAN GOVERNOR'S ENVOY 85 V. THE VIRGINIA REGIMENT 120 VI. THE CHAIN OF FEDERAL UNION 189 ILLUSTRATIONS I. MODERN ROAD ON LAUREL HILL, (Follows Track of Washington's Road) _Frontispiece_ II. WASHINGTON'S ROAD 93 III. A MAP OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN WILLS CREEK AND LAKE ERIE (showing designs of the French for erecting forts southward of the lakes; from the original in the British Museum) 109 IV. LEDGE FROM WHICH WASHINGTON OPENED FIRE UPON JUMONVILLE'S PARTY 145 V. SITE OF FORT NECESSITY 157 VI. TWO PLANS OF FORT NECESSITY (_A_, Plan of Lewis's survey; _B_, Sparks's plan) 175 VII. DIAGRAMS OF FORT NECESSITY 179 PREFACE The following pages are largely devoted to Washington and his times as seen from the standpoint of the road he opened across the Alleghanies in 1754. Portions of this volume have appeared in the _Interior_, the _Ohio State Archæological and Historical Quarterly_, and in a monograph, _Colonel Washington_, issued by Western Reserve University. The author's debt to Mr. Robert McCracken, Mr. Louis Fazenbaker, and Mr. James Hadden, all of Pennsylvania, is gratefully acknowledged. A. B. H. MARIETTA, OHIO, November 17, 1902. Washington's Road (NEMACOLIN'S PATH) The First Chapter of the Old French War CHAPTER I WASHINGTON AND THE WEST If you journey today from Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac, across the Alleghanies to Pittsburg on the Ohio, you will follow the most historic highway of America, through scenes as memorable as any on our continent.