George Washington
Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
In December, 1753, George Washington came here with notice from the Governor of Virginia to the French that they were trespassing on British soil. The statue shows Washington carrying out his first public mission.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In December 1753 a 21-year-old George Washington reached this remote frontier carrying a message from Virginia's governor demanding that the French withdraw from lands Britain claimed. The French politely refused, and Washington's dangerous winter journey home carried the warning that war was coming. The mission was his first appearance on the public stage, and a statue here honors that formative errand into the wilderness.
Why it matters
Washington's frontier mission helped ignite the French and Indian War and launched the public career of the man who would become the nation's first president.
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Related people
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Nearby & related markers
Fort Le Boeuf - PLAQUE
Waterford, PA · est. 1922
Here the French built Fort Le Boeuf in 1752 as one link in a chain of posts meant to seal their claim to the Ohio country. In 1753 a 21-year-old Major George Washington arrived carrying a letter from Virginia's governor demanding the French withdraw from lands Britain also claimed. The French politely refused, and the collision of empires that followed erupted into the French and Indian War.
Fort LeBoeuf
Waterford, PA · est. 1946
This ground guarded the portage route linking Lake Erie to the Ohio Valley, and three successive forts rose here as empires contested the region. The French built the first in 1753 to secure their road south, abandoning it as their fortunes collapsed in 1759. A British fort followed in 1760 but was burned during Pontiac's uprising in 1763, and finally an American fort went up in 1794 to shield settlers moving west.
Fort LeBoeuf Memorial
Waterford, PA · est. 1951
Here once stood the French Fort LeBoeuf, part of the chain of outposts France built to hold the Ohio Country in the 1750s. It was to this fort in 1753 that a 21-year-old George Washington carried a message from Virginia's governor demanding the French withdraw—his first public mission, and one of the sparks that helped ignite the French and Indian War. The Judson House, built in 1820, now occupies the historic ground.
French Creek
LeBoeuf Township, PA · est. 1946
The French knew this stream as the Riviere aux Boeufs, part of their chain of waterways linking Lake Erie to the Ohio. When young George Washington passed through in 1753 on his mission to the French, he gave it the English name French Creek. The waterway became a corridor for troops and traders during the French and Indian War and later for the settlers who opened northwestern Pennsylvania.