Enlightenment · North America · War

1754

Jumonville Glen - The Spark of a World War

May 28, 1754

Washington, now a lieutenant colonel, ambushed a French diplomatic party in a western Pennsylvania glen. A French officer was killed - Washington claimed after surrendering - in cold blood. The skirmish lit a fuse that would burn through India, the Caribbean, West Africa, and the Philippines. Horace Walpole later quipped that a volley fired by a young Virginian set the world on fire.

More from 1754 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1754 (4 other events on record)

Albany Congress and Franklin's Plan of Union · North America · Politics
Washington Surrenders Fort Necessity · North America · War
King's College Founded in New York · North America · Culture
Jonathan Edwards's Freedom of the Will · North America · Religion

Before and after in North America

Before: 1753: Washington's Mission to the French
After: July 9, 1755: Braddock's Defeat on the Monongahela

Before and after in War

Before: 1751: Clive Seizes Arcot
After: July 9, 1755: Braddock's Defeat on the Monongahela

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Battle of Jumonville Glen