England and France were locked in a worldwide cold war in 1753, each trying to gain an advantage over the other. In North America, they both wanted the Ohio River Valley, an area where few Europeans had ventured.

The French reached the Ohio River Valley first, following a route that led from their Canadian colonies, across Lake Erie and then south by river. The English had not yet reached the valley, but had claimed some of its lands through the 'Ohio Company,' a business venture formed by powerful Englishmen, including the highest royal official in Virginia, Governor Robert Dinwiddie.

When Dinwiddie learned that the French were moving into the Ohio River Valley, he sought help from the King George II.  Responding with force, the King sent an envoy to tell the French to leave, then had a fort built in case force was necessary to drive out the French.

Choosing the envoy to carry the message to the French was a problem. The person had to  handle a sensitive diplomatic mission but also make his way through hundreds of miles of Indian-occupied wilderness. George Washington, only 21 at the time, rode to Williamsburg and volunteered for the mission, using his contacts with the Fairfax family (who were shareholders in the Ohio Company) as a reference and citing his surveying experience in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. Washington was appointed to the job on October 31, 1753.

He set out the same day, hiring a guide, a French interpreter and four others along the way. Three weeks later, on the 22nd of November, Washington's group reached the Forks of the Ohio, where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers came together to form the Ohio. With his surveyor's eye, Washington noted that the forks were "...extremely well situated for a Fort, as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers."  (The French built Fort Duquesne there the next year, and eventually it became the site of Pittsburgh).

Washington then went to Logtown, an Indian town, to meet with the Iroquois chief, 'Half-King.' Because of an earlier treaty between the British and the Iroquois, Half-King and several other chiefs joined Washington, traveling on to Venango, where he first encountered the French. There Washington was told to continue to Fort Le Boeuf, on the head waters of French Creek, which was the command of the highest French official in the area, Legardeur de St. Pierre. On the 12th of December, Washington met with St. Pierre, delivering a letter written by Dinwiddie, ordering the French to leave the area. St. Pierre brushed aside the order, and tried to turn the Indians against the British with a promise of guns and supplies.

With St. Pierre's answer in hand, Washington was eager to return to Dinwiddie. The return trip, undertaken in the depths of winter, became a life-or-death adventure. The horses were so weak from hunger that they were abandoned, and Washington and one guide set out on foot. Soon they encountered other Indians, allied with the French, and one shot at Washington with a rifle.

Racing through deep snow to stay ahead of Indian pursuers, they reached the Allegheny River in two days. Their attempt to raft the ice-choked river ended in disaster as Washington was knocked overboard in deep water and saved himself only by catching the raft as it swept by. The severe cold that night froze their clothes and the guide's fingers. The river also froze, however, allowing them to walk across on the ice the next morning. Soon they reached the safety of an English trader's settlement.

On January 16, 1754, after completing the return trip to Williamsburg, Washington reported to Governor Dinwiddie. Washington's written report of his remarkable journey, including the information he gathered, that the French were preparing to descend the Allegheny River to the Forks of the Ohio that spring, was published within days in Williamsburg. A London edition soon followed that included a map that was based on Washington's hand-drawn map of the Ohio River Valley.

The information set the English into action. Three months later Washington was to lead a force of 160 men back into the area, where he fought the opening battles of the French and Indian War.