With George Washington in the Wilderness: The Frontier Life of Christopher Gist

234 Pages·2022·13.515 MB·English

by  Paul R. Misencik, Sally E. Misencik

With George Washington
in the Wilderness
Also by Paul R. Misencik and Sally E. Misencik
and from McFarland
American Indians of the Ohio Country
in the 18th Century (2020)
Also by Paul R. Misencik
and from McFarland
Sally Townsend, George Washington’s Teenage Spy (2016)
The Original American Spies: Seven Covert
Agents of the Revolutionary War (2014)
George Washington and the Half-King Chief Tanacharison:
An Alliance That Began the French and Indian War (2014)
With George Washington
in the Wilderness
The Frontier Life
of Christopher Gist
Paul R. Misencik and
Sally E. Misencik
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
Unless otherwise noted, photographs and maps
are from the authors’ collection.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Misencik, Paul R., 1940– author. | Misencik, Sally E., 1939– author.
Title: With George Washington in the wilderness : the frontier life
of Christopher Gist / Paul R. Misencik, and Sally E. Misencik.
Other titles: Frontier life of Christopher Gist
Description: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
♾
Identifiers: LCCN 2022009112 | ISBN 9781476688497 (paperback : acid free paper)
ISBN 9781476645872 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Gist, Christopher, -1759. | Ohio Company (1747-1779)—
History. | Soldiers—Virginia—Biography. | Washington, George, 1732-1799—
Friends and associates. | Scouts (Reconnaissance)—Ohio River Valley—
Biography. | Explorers—Ohio River Valley—Biography. | Northwest,
Old—Discovery and exploration. | United States—History—French and
Indian War, 1754-1763. | BISAC: HISTORY / United States / Revolutionary
Period (1775-1800) | HISTORY / Military / United States
Classification: LCC F517.G54 M67 2022 | DDC 977/.02092 [B]—dc23/eng/20220223
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022009112
British Library cataloguing data are available
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-8849-7
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-4587-2
© 2022 Paul R. Misencik and Sally E. Misencik. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: Frontiersman with Pipe, artwork by David Wright
Printed in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To our intrepid pioneering ancestors and today’s
immigrants who exhibit much the same courage and
resourcefulness of the earlier people who came to
America and added to its greatness.
v

Table of Contents
Preface 1
1. The Origin of a Frontiersman 5
2. Christopher Gist and the Ohio Company of Virginia 15
3. Gist’s First Trek for the Ohio Company, 1750–1751 22
4. Toward the Falls of the Ohio 45
5. Prelude to Another Journey for the Ohio Company 50
6. Gist’s Second Trek for the Ohio Company 53
7. The Logstown Conference 63
8. Gist’s Move to Western Pennsylvania 68
9. The French Invasion of Western Pennsylvania 76
10. Mission to Evict the French 84
11. The Perilous Return 96
12. Fleur-de-Lis at the Forks 109
13. The World on Fire 117
14. Surrender on the Fourth of July 127
15. Fort Cumberland at Will’s Creek 137
16. March to the Monongahela 147
17. Death in the Forest 151
18. Captain of Scouts and Indian Agent 155
19. The Forbes Campaign against Fort Duquesne 164
20. The Last Trail 171
Epilogue 175
Chapter Notes 201
Bibliography 211
Index 215
vii

Preface
“Gold is tried by fire, brave men by adversity.”
—Seneca
The Seven Years’ War, 1756–1763, is considered by most historians
as the “real first world war,” and that is not hyperbole. Despite its name,
it lasted nine long years, and its battles were fought in South America,
Europe, Africa, India, and as far as the Philippine Archipelago. Before it
ended, it had claimed the lives of over one and a half million souls, one
out of every 533 people on earth.1 The war was historically significant
and caused monumental changes, but most people don’t realize that
it was started as a result of a relatively minor land speculation venture
concocted in 1748 by a group of wealthy Virginians who called them-
selves the Ohio Company of Virginia.
They wanted to develop and settle a tract of land in the area of
the Forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers
come together to form the Ohio River at present Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania. The land they sought to exploit was a 500, 000-acre tract, which
equated to 781.25 square miles or a block of land about twenty-eight
miles square. The problem was that the land in question lay on the west
side of the Allegheny Mountains, which despite the fact that it was pop-
ulated by thousands of Shawnee, Lenni Lenape (Delaware), and Mingo
Indians, was claimed by France and acknowledged as French territory
by England in three separate treaties, the last of which was signed in
1748, that very same year.
In spite of the treaties, French ownership of the area was rejected
by the Ohio Company, who made their own rather tenuous claim of
English ownership. In 1750, the Ohio Company contracted Christo-
pher Gist, who came from an aristocratic Maryland family, to explore
the trans-Allegheny for the purpose of determining the best area to
establish their speculative settlements. Gist completed two expedi-
tions that covered present western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and
1