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UPON one point, on the return of Major Washington to Virginia from his visit to Fort Le Boeuf, the governor of the province could not possibly be mistaken the firm determination of the French to take possession of the Ohio valley and hold it, if necessary, throughout its whole extent, by force of arms. There was, therefore, no more time to be wasted in remonstrating. There must be immediate action, or the Alleghanies would become the western limit of English possessions.

Washington and Gist, when homeward bound and just before reaching Wills creek, met seventeen horses loaded with materials and stores "for a fort at the forks of Ohio," and afterwards some families going out to settle. From this it will be seen that the Ohio company was not

idle. However, these employés and colonists went no farther than the mouth of Redstone (now Brownsville, Pennsylvania,) in their progress toward locating and building the proposed fort for the protection of their own and the company's interests. With the opening of spring, they would descend the Monongahela.

The first action taken by Dinwiddie toward an aggressive movement to repel the French was the issuing of instructions to Major Washington to take charge of one hundred men from the militia of Augusta and Frederick counties, and one to William Trent to enlist a like number among the traders and others of the province. To Major Washington and Captain Trent the governor looked, therefore, to protect the Ohio company in building a fort at the

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