What fort did George Washington build in 1754?

George Washington built Fort Necessity in 1754. He ordered its construction at the Great Meadows in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania, during the opening stages of the French and Indian War.

Washington and his Virginia troops had just clashed with a French party at Jumonville Glen. Expecting a French response, they built the small wooden fortification on an open meadow. Construction began in late May, and the fort was completed in early June. Its location offered room for defense but also left the defenders exposed to nearby woods and higher ground.

On July 3, 1754, French and Native American forces attacked. Heavy rain turned the fort’s trenches into muddy streams, and the surrounding terrain allowed the attackers to fire from cover. Washington eventually surrendered, signing articles of capitulation that acknowledged responsibility for the death of Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, though the wording and translation were disputed.

A common mix-up is Fort Duquesne, which the French built at the forks of the Ohio River, and the later Fort Pitt, built by the British at the same strategic location. Neither was the fort Washington built at the Great Meadows.