Washington's Mission to the French

1753

Virginia's governor sent a twenty-one-year-old militia major named George Washington into the Ohio wilderness to warn French forts off British-claimed land. He crossed frozen rivers, nearly drowned, met hostile Indians, and delivered a polite refusal. The journal he wrote was published - and a colonial unknown became famous. It was printed in London and Williamsburg alike, making Washington a minor celebrity before his twenty-third birthday.