Happy July 3rd of 1754

Today is the 250th anniversay of what might be the most important military battle on American soil. On July 3, 1754, the French and Indians "whupped" British Colonel George Washington as he was retreating from Fort Dusquesne, now Pittsburgh. So, Julie and I packed the patriotic cooler with Coors Light and headed out to Fort Necessity for a re-enactment of sorts.

Both the British and the French were racing to present-day Pittsburgh because they knew that whoever controlled the Head of the Ohio River (Pittsburgh) controlled the interior of a whole continent. (The Ohio is the only river in the Western hemisphere that flows away from where the people lived on the coast, downriver into the interior and that the steamboat, and two-way, travel wouldn't be practical for another 100 years.) Well, Washington was disappointed to find that the French got there first, and, well, killed the French Ensign de Jumonville in a "disagreement" about each others intentions, a kind of pre-emptive strike according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. But one the Frenchmen escaped and reported the British presence to the rest of the French. The British soon found themselves outnumbered where the holed up at Fort Necessity.

It is not just that the French and Indians beat the British by the then "ungentlemanly war crime" of shooting from behind the trees (the British fired from formation out in the open meadow), but also that the British high command had little interest in hearing about the "Colonial Colonel's" report about the battle mistakes of the British.

Washington, however, remembered the lessons of his defeat and put them to very good use 23 years and one day later when he accepted command of the colonial army and joined in in declaring the colonies independence from Britain on July 4, 1776.