Washington cites the "commercial and political importance" of the project to Virginia Gov. Benjamin Harrison. The Virginia assembly subsequently appoints Washington and Horatio Gates to visit Annapolis to seek Maryland's assent for the project, since the cooperation of both states will be needed. The Potomac Company is subsequently chartered in Maryland (1784).
"The Potomac Company (spelled variously as Patowmack, Potowmack, Potowmac, and Compony) ...eventually built five skirting canals around the major falls. When completed it allowed boats and rafts to float downstream towards Georgetown, a major port of the time on the Potomac River, now in the District of Columbia. George Washington was its first president, as well as an investor in the company. Tobias Lear, Washington's personal secretary, was its chairman for a period. Other principals of the company included Thomas Johnson of Maryland."(WP)
1783 Sept. Treaty of Paris. Britain agrees to recognize American independence with territory to the Mississippi River (Sept. 3)
1782 British rangers and Indians rout Kentucky militia at Blue Licks. Americans lose control of the Ohio Country.
1779 George Rogers Clark leads a winter attack on Vincennes, capturing it as well as the British commander, and giving Amercians effective control of the Ohio Country. "The winter expedition was Clark's most significant military achievement and became the source of his reputation as an early American military hero." (WP)
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1778 The Illinois Campaign. George Rogers Clark leads a force of Americans to capture British forts on the Mississippi River. "In July 1778, Clark and about 175 men crossed the Ohio River at Fort Massac and marched to Kaskaskia, taking it on the night of July 4. Cahokia...and several other villages and forts in British territory were subsequently captured without firing a shot, because most of the French-speaking and American Indian inhabitants were unwilling to take up arms on behalf of the British." (WP)
1777 Turning Point of the War. British Army under Burgoyne surrenders to the Americans under Horatio Gates at Saratoga (Oct. 17). "the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a large invasion army up the Champlain Valley from Canada, hoping to meet a similar force marching northward from New York City; the southern force never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York. Burgoyne fought two small battles to break out. They took place eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles (14 km) south of Saratoga, New York. They both failed. Trapped by superior American forces, with no relief in sight, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army on October 17. His surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, "was a great turning point of the war, because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory.
1776 Battle of Long Island. First engagement of the war between American and British armies in the field. The British under Howe rout Washington's troops in Brooklyn.
1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord (Apr. 19).
1763 Treaty of Paris. France relinquishes all claims on North America.
1758 The Forbes Expedition by the British against Fort Duquesne resuls in capture of the French Fort. The British build much larger Fort Pitt on its ruins.
1755 Disastrous Braddock Expedition by the British against Fort Duquesne launched from the Ft. Cumberland on the Potomac over the Allegheny Ridge. Braddock builds a military road along the way as he crosses the ridges. He is killed before reaching the French fort. "The expedition progressed slowly because Braddock considered making a road to Fort Duquesne a priority in order to effectively supply the position he expected to capture and hold at the Forks of the Ohio, and because of a shortage of healthy draft animals. In some cases, the column was only able to progress at a rate of two miles (about 3 km) a day, creating Braddock's Road—an important legacy of the march...They passed the ruins of Fort Necessity along the way, where the French and Canadians had defeated Washington the previous summer. Small French and Indian war bands skirmished with Braddock's men during the march."
"...Braddock had received important assistance from Benjamin Franklin, who helped procure wagons and supplies for the expedition. Among the wagoners were two young men who would later become legends of American history: Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan. Other members of the expedition included Ensign William Crawford and Charles Scott.Among the British troops were Thomas Gage; Charles Lee, future American president George Washington, and Horatio Gates."
1755 A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina.
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| Drawn by Joshua Fry & Peter Jefferson in 1751, published by Thos. Jefferys, London, . This landmark map, unusual in that it relied on firsthand surveys, is the first correct depiction of the Allegheny Mountains, complete with 'The Great Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455 Miles' - an accurate survey of what would come to be styled the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. (source) |
1754 George Washington leads British expedition into the Ohio Country. He builds Fort Necessity at the summit of the pass of the Alleghenies, but is forced to surrender to the French (Jul 4), who burn it after the British withdrawal.
1754 The British build Fort Cumberland on the upper Potomac River.
1754 The French build Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio River.
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