%81.  Albany Plan of Union.%—­The picture was apt for the following reason.  The Lords of Trade in London had ordered the colonies to send delegates to Albany to make a treaty with the Iroquois Indians, and to this congress Franklin purposed to submit a plan for union against the French.  The plan drawn up by the congress was not approved by the colonies, so the scheme of union came to naught.

%82.  Washington’s Expedition.%—­Meanwhile great events were happening in the west.  When Washington met Ensign Ward at Cumberland and heard the story of the surrender, he was at a loss just what to do; but knowing that he was expected to do something, he decided to go to a storehouse which the Ohio Company had built at the mouth of a stream called Redstone Creek in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Pushing along, cutting as he went the first road that ever led down to the valley of the Mississippi from the Atlantic slope, he reached a narrow glade called the Great Meadows and there began to put up a breastwork which he named Fort Necessity.  While so engaged news came that the French were near.  Washington thereupon took a few men, and, coming suddenly on the French, killed or captured them all save one.  Among the dead was Jumonville, the leader of the party.  Well satisfied with this exploit, Washington pushed on with his entire force towards the Ohio.  But, hearing that the French were advancing, he fell back to Fort Necessity, and there awaited them.  He did not wait long; for the French and Indians came down in great force, and on July 4, 1754, forced him, after a brave resistance, to surrender.  He was allowed to march out with drums beating and flags flying.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Lodge’s George Washington, pp. 69-74; Winsor’s The Mississippi Basin, pp. 294-315.]

%83.  The French and Indian War.%—­Thus was begun what the colonists called the French and Indian War, but what was really a struggle between the French and the British for the possession of America.  Knowing it to be such, both sides made great preparations for the contest.  The French stood on the defensive.  The British made the attack, and early in 1755 sent over one of their ablest officers, Major General Edward Braddock, to be commander in chief in America.  He summoned the colonial governors to meet him at Alexandria, Va., where a plan for a campaign was agreed on.

%84.  Plan for the War.%—­Vast stretches of dense and almost impenetrable forest then separated the colonies of the two nations, but through this forest were three natural highways of communication:  1.  Lake George, Lake Champlain, and the St. Lawrence River. 2.  The Hudson, the Mohawk, Lake Ontario, and the Niagara River. 3.  The Potomac to Fort Cumberland, and through the forest to Fort Duquesne.

It was decided, therefore, to have four expeditions.

1.  One was to go north from New York to Lake Champlain, take the French fort at Crown Point, and move against Quebec.