Venango Path: Difference between revisions

In December of 1753, George Washington, together with Christopher Gist ([[Gist's Trace|Gist's Trace]]) traveled the trail to deliver a message to the French living near Venango Village at Fort Le Boeuf. Because of the bitterly cold weather, the travelers were forced to leave the trail at the Forks of the Ohio to find shelter in the Indian village of Logstown (near what is now known as Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Washington and his small group of men left the village a few days later and proceeded northeast along the Connoquenessing Creek to find the French. On their return trip home from Fort Le Boeuf, Washington and Gist found a Native who agreed to act as their guide to lead them down a different trail to the Forks. After several miles the Native turned on Washington and Gist and fired his gun at them. They were unharmed. Although they captured their would-be killer, they turned him loose to return to his village. From that point, they used a compass traveling across country through the forest and returned safely to Williamsburg, Virginia on January 16, 1754.