Battle of Fort Necessity

Battle of Fort Necessity
Part of the French and Indian War

A modern-day reconstruction of Fort Necessity
DateJuly 3, 1754
Location39°48′51″N 79°35′14″W / 39.81417°N 79.58722°W / 39.81417; -79.58722
Result French-Indian victory
Belligerents
 Kingdom of France
 New France
Algonquin
Odawa
Huron[1]
 Kingdom of Great Britain
Virginia
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of France Louis Coulon George Washington Surrendered
Kingdom of Great Britain James Mackay Surrendered
Strength
600 regulars and militia
100 Indians[2][3]
100 regulars
293 provincials[4][3]
Casualties and losses
3 killed
19 wounded
31 killed
70 wounded
369 captured[5]
Battle of Fort Necessity is located in Pennsylvania
Battle of Fort Necessity
Location within Pennsylvania

The Battle of Fort Necessity, also known as the Battle of the Great Meadows, took place on July 3, 1754, in present-day Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement, along with a May 28 skirmish known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen, was the first military combat experience for George Washington, who was later selected as commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.[6]

The Battle of Fort Necessity began the French and Indian War, which later spiraled into the global conflict known as the Seven Years' War. Washington built Fort Necessity on an alpine meadow west of the summit of a pass through the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains. Another pass nearby leads to Confluence, Pennsylvania; to the west, Nemacolin's Trail begins its descent to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and other parts of Fayette County along the relatively low altitudes of the Allegheny Plateau.

  1. ^ Dixon, David (Summer 2007). "A High Wind Rising: George Washington, Fort Necessity, and the Ohio Country Indians". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 74 (3): 333–353. doi:10.2307/27778785. JSTOR 27778785. S2CID 248875228.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference lengel42 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b "help Necessity". NPS.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference lengel40 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Sheppard, p. 48
  6. ^ "Ten Facts About George Washington and the French & Indian War". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved July 3, 2018.