obably planned to send him to a school in England because there were few schools in Virginia, but Augustine Washington died when George was only eleven and the plans did not happen. After his father’s death George’s mother did not like to have him away from home for long. George was to inherit Ferry Farm when he reached the age of twenty-one. Meanwhile, George, his younger sister and brothers, and the farm, were left in the care of his mother.At the age of twenty, George, who had no experience or training as a soldier, applied to the governor for a commission in the militia. In February, 1753 he was commissioned as a major and put in charge of training militia in southern Virginia. Washington immediately began reading books on tactics and military affairs. In October, 1753 Washington learned that Robert Dinwiddie, the acting governor of Virginia, planned to send a message to the French military commander in the Ohio River Valley. Dinwiddie intended to warn the French that they must withdraw their troops from the region. The French wanted the Ohio River Valley for fur trading, but the British wanted it for farming. Washington volunteered to carry the message and Dinwiddie gave him the task. In November, Washington set out into the dangerous wilderness. With him went Christopher Gist, a frontier guide, an interpreter and four frontiersmen. Sometimes the men covered as much as twenty miles a day. In early December Washington reached the French headquarters at Fort Le Boeuf, just south of present day Erie, Pennsylvania. The French commander rejected Dinwiddie’s warning. He gave Washington a letter to carry back to the British. On January 16, 1754 Washington reached Williamsburg and delivered the French reply to Dinwiddie. Within a few days Dinwiddie sent a force of frontiersmen to build a fort. The governor had taken the first step toward a war that would spread to other countries, known in America as the F...
