George Washington represented Virginia as a militia officer in 1754. Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Robert Dinwiddie, placed him in command during the colony’s effort to challenge French expansion in the Ohio Country.
In February 1754, Washington became lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the Virginia Regiment. He led roughly part of the regiment westward toward the Forks of the Ohio, a strategically important meeting point of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. The French were building Fort Duquesne there, threatening Virginia’s territorial claims and trade ambitions.
On May 28, Washington and his Indigenous allies attacked a French detachment at Jumonville Glen. The encounter helped trigger the French and Indian War. Washington later built Fort Necessity, but French forces captured it in July after the Battle of Great Meadows, forcing him to surrender.
The answer is Virginia, not Pennsylvania or Maryland, even though the fighting occurred in a contested region near those colonies and Virginia’s claims extended into the Ohio Country. Washington’s service also continued in 1755, when he volunteered as an aide to British general Edward Braddock. His early military experiences helped make him a prominent colonial figure long before the American Revolution.