MUSEUM
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PARKING:
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RESTROOMS:
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Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. The site also includes the Mount Washington Tavern, once one of the inns along the National Road, and in two separate units the grave of British General Edward Braddock, killed in 1755, and the site of the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
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The Battle of Fort Necessity, also known as the Battle of the Great Meadows, took place on July 3, 1754, in present-day Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement, along with a May 28 skirmish known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen, was the first military combat experience for George Washington and began the French and Indian War, which later spiraled into the global conflict known as the Seven Years' War.
ROAD
EST. 1753
FORTIFICATION
BATTLEFIELD
July 3, 1754
At Fort Necessity, the provision hut was depleted, and there was little shelter from the heavy rain that started to fall on the 2nd. With the rain, the trenches that Washington had ordered to be dug had turned into streams. Washington realized that he would have to defend against a frontal assault and also realized that it would be difficult because the woods were less than 100 yards away, within musket range, making it possible for a besieging attacker to pick off the defenders. To improve the defense, Washington ordered his men to cut trees down and to make them into makeshift breastworks.
Coulon arrived at Jumonville's Glen early on the morning of July 3. Horrified to find several scalped French bodies, he immediately ordered them to be buried. By 11:00 am on the 3rd of July 1754, Louis Coulon de Villiers came within sight of Fort Necessity. At this time, the Virginians were digging a trench in the mud. The pickets fired their muskets and fell back to the fort, whereupon three columns of Canadian soldiers and Indians advanced downhill towards the fort. As Coulon halted and then redeployed his troops, Washington began to prepare for an attack.
Coulon ordered his soldiers, led by Indians, to charge directly at Washington's line. Washington ordered the men to hold their ground and fire a volley. The Virginians, however, fled back to the fort, leaving Washington and the British regulars greatly outnumbered. Washington ordered a retreat back to the fort. Heavy rain began to fall that afternoon, and Washington's troops were unable to continue the firefight because their gunpowder was wet. As negotiations began, the Virginians, against Washington's orders, broke into the fort's liquor supply and got drunk.
HISTORIC PEOPLE
George Washington
Commander-in-Chief