Fort Necessity National Battlefield
This is Jumonville Glen, part of Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Pennsylvania.
On May 28, 1754, a young George Washington, then a lieutenant colonel with the Virginia Regiment, along with Native American allies, surprised a small French scouting party camped in this ravine. In the brief skirmish that followed, several French soldiers were killed, including their commander, Ensign Joseph Couton de Jumonville.
What happened here was more than a small frontier encounter. This moment helped ignite the larger conflict that became the French and Indian War, drawing European powers more deeply into the struggle for control of North America.
Recognizing the importance of this early chapter in American history, the site was preserved and later established as Fort Necessity National Battlefield in 1931, authorized by Congress and signed by President Herbert Hoover. Jumonville Glen is not protected as part of the large park, ensuring that what happened here is not forgotten.
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