Heading West: Life with the Pioneers, 21 Activities

Heading West: Life with the Pioneers, 21 Activities — page 9
problem but came to no agreement The colonies asked permission to raise armies and money in order to protect themselves King George II refused and the British officers in the colonies didn't want help from the colonists In 1752 Marquis Duquesne pronounced Du KANE became governor general of the land claimed by the French in North America He was ordered to drive all the British out of the Ohio Valley In 1753 his soldiers built two forts in western Pennsylvania This worried the British including Lt Governor Din widdie of Virginia Dinwiddie sent a young officer named George Washington with a message demand ing the French leave the area They refused To defend the area from the French the next year the British began building their own fort where the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River This is where Pittsburgh stands today They called it Fort Prince George But before they could finish the French attacked and captured it They changed its name to Fort Duquesne George Washington had orders to retake the fort but he knew it was too strong Instead he built another fort nearby Fort Necessity On July 3 1754 the French attacked Fort Necessity and captured it This was the first battle of the French and Indian War