[Footnote 1:  Read T.J.  Chapman’s The, French in the Allegheny Valley, pp. 23-47; Parkman’s Montcalm and Wolfe, Vol.  I., pp. 128-161; Lodge’s George Washington, pp. 62-69.]

With that promptness which distinguished him during his whole life, Washington set out on his perilous journey the very day he received his instructions, and made his way first to Logstown, and then to Fort Le Boeuf, where he delivered Governor Dinwiddie’s letter to the French commandant.  The reply of Saint-Pierre—­for that was the name of the French commandant—­was that he would send the letter of Dinwiddie to the governor of Canada, the Marquis Duquesne (doo-kan’), and that, in the meantime, he would hold the fort.

[Illustration:  The French and the English Forts]

%79.  Fort Duquesne.%—­When Dinwiddie read the answer of Saint-Pierre, he saw clearly that the time had come to act.  The French were in force on the upper Allegheny.  Unless something was done to drive them out, they would soon be at the forks of the Ohio, and once they were there, the splendid tract of the Ohio Company would be lost forever.  Without a moment’s delay he decided to take possession of the forks of the Ohio, and raised two companies of militia of 100 men each.  A trader named William Trent was in command of one of the companies, and that no time should be lost, he, with forty men, hurried forward, and, February 17, 1754, drove the first stake of a stockade that was to surround a fort on the site of the city of Pittsburg.  While the English were still at work on their fort, April 17, 1754, a body of French and Indians came down from Le Boeuf, and bade them leave the valley.  Trent was away, and the working party was in command of an ensign named Ward, who, as resistance was useless, surrendered, and was allowed to march off with his men.  The French then finished the fort Trent had begun, and called it Fort Duquesne, after the governor of Canada.

%80.  “Join or Die."%—­Meantime the legislature of Virginia voted L10,000 for the defense of the Ohio valley, and promised a land bounty to every man who would volunteer to fight the French and Indians.  Joshua Frye was made colonel, and Washington lieutenant colonel of the troops thus to be raised.  As some time must elapse before the ranks could be filled, Washington took seventy-five men and (in March, 1754) set off to help Trent; but he had not gone far on his way when Ensign Ward met him (where Cumberland, Md., now is) and told him all about the surrender.  Accounts of the affair were at once sent to the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

[Illustration:  JOIN, or DIE.]

In publishing one of these in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin inserted the above picture at the top of the account.[1]

[Footnote 1:  There is an old superstition, then very generally believed, that if one cuts a snake in pieces and allows the pieces to touch, the snake will not die, but will live and become whole again.  By this picture Franklin meant that unless the colonies joined for defense against the French they would die; that is, be conquered.]