The enterprise before the young Virginian was one that needed the energies of youth and the unyielding perseverance of an indefatigable spirit.  A wilderness extended far and wide before him, partly broken in Virginia, but farther on untouched by the hand of civilization.  Much of his route lay over rugged mountains, pathless save by the narrow and difficult Indian trails.  The whole distance to be traversed was not less than five hundred and sixty miles, with an equal distance to return.  The season was winter.  It was a task calculated to try the powers and test the endurance of the strongest and most energetic man.

The contest between France and England for American soil was about to begin.  Hitherto the colonists of those nations had kept far asunder,—­the French in Canada and on the great lakes; the English on the Atlantic coast.  Now the English were feeling their way westward, the French southward,—­lines of movement which would touch each other on the Ohio.  The touch, when made, was sure to be a hostile one.

England had established an “Ohio Company,”—­ostensibly for trade, really for conquest.  The French had built forts,—­one at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie; one on French Creek, near its head-waters; a third at the junction of French Creek with the Alleghany.  This was a bold push inland.  They had done more than this.  A party of French and Indians had made their way as far as the point where Pittsburgh now stands.  Here they found some English traders, took them prisoners, and conveyed them to Presque Isle.  In response to this, some French traders were seized by the Twightwee Indians, a tribe friendly to the English, and sent to Pennsylvania.  The touch had taken place, and it was a hostile one.

[Illustration:  Washington’s home at Mt.  Vernon.]

Major Washington—­he had been a Virginian adjutant-general, with the rank of major, since the age of nineteen—­was chosen for the next step, that of visiting the French forts and demanding the withdrawal of their garrisons from what was claimed to be English territory.  The mission was a delicate one.  It demanded courage, discretion, and energy.  Washington had them all.  No better choice could have been made than of this young officer of militia.

The youthful pioneer proceeded alone as far as Fredericksburg.  Here he engaged two companions, one as French, the other as Indian, interpreter, and proceeded.  Civilization had touched the region before him, but not subdued it.  At the junction of Will’s Creek with the Potomac (now Cumberland, Maryland), he reached the extreme outpost of civilization.  Before him stretched more than four hundred miles of unbroken wilderness.  The snow-covered Alleghanies were just in advance.  The chill of the coming winter already was making itself felt.  Recent rains had swollen the streams.  They could be crossed only on log-rafts, or by the more primitive methods of wading or swimming,—­expedients none too agreeable in freezing weather.  But youth and a lofty spirit halt not for obstacles.  Washington pushed on.