George Washington's Lie

Reflections on history while writing my book, American Hero.

The Liar

Young George Washington, 22, still recovering from the death of his beloved brother Lawrence, no formal education beyond grade school, and only appointed a major in the Virginia Militia because of family connections, led his British Rangers through the Ohio Valley, along the Allegheny River. They were beyond the formal boundaries of British North America and marching through a dense wilderness filled with hostile Indian tribes and under a relentless deluge of bad weather. Perspiring not from the humid dankness of this late spring afternoon of 1754, but with anxiety, Washington trembled with fear as he marched his raw recruits into French Territory. He feared not death, but cowardice.

His mission was to determine the intentions of the French in the area.

The Seneca chief, Tannaghrisson, encouraged Washington to venture even further towards the French, promising the support of his braves.

That night a horrific thunderstorm shook the forest. Lightning dissected trees. Flash floods ripped the undergrowth. Washington, hungry for heroism, pressed on. At first light, he came upon a few Frenchmen hunting rabbits.

Surprised, confused, frightened, Washington fired his gun, blindly. By chance, his bullet found the heart of a Frenchmen. Both sides opened fire. The wet field thickened with sulfuric smoke and the cries of the wounded. Within minutes, a dozen French lay dead in the mud, another score wounded.

The volley brought the entire French regiment, a hundred men, upon the much smaller British band. Washington and his Rangers were captured and tied, forced to march back to Fort Duquesne. The French Commander, Joseph de Jumonville slogged through the mud to slap Washington in the face. “You idiot,” he screeched. “We are not at war.”

France and England hadn’t been officially at war, but now, thanks to Washington, they almost certainly would be.

“Your men attacked,” stuttered Washington.

“Menteur!” charged de Jumonville. Liar!

As Washington’s face reddened with shame, the Seneca attacked. Tannaghrisson, had used Washington to draw out the French so he could massacre them. His braves fell upon the startled Frenchmen with no mercy. Some of the British prisoners begged to be unbound to help in the fighting, but the Indians left them unscathed. It was French blood they desired and French blood gushed from torn limbs.

Tannaghrisson had de Jumonville by the throat, ignoring his pleas for mercy. “You have lied to us for a hundred years,” he shouted. “Pas plus! Enough.”

Washington tried to stop him, but the chief swept him away as if he were a cobweb and proceeded to tomahawk de Jumonville’s skull in an explosion of bone, blood, and brains.

While Washington’s British fled into the forest, the Seneca scalped the wounded French as they died.

De Jumonville was more right than he could have known. As a result of Washington’s blunder, France and England went to war. It was known as the French Indian War in colonial America and the Seven Years War in Europe, but the two superpowers fought furiously across the globe, including the Caribbean, Africa, and India in what was truly the first World War. In the end, England won, but both countries had taken on so much debt that their efforts to raise taxes to pay for their armies resulted in the American and French Revolutions.

Washington never forgot or forgave himself for that night in the Ohio Valley.