Early life Born during 1706 in
Baltimore, Maryland, Gist is thought to have had little formal
education. Historians believe that he received training as a surveyor, more than likely from his father Richard Gist, who helped plot the city of Baltimore. Gist's nephew
Mordecai Gist served as a general commanded by Washington during the Revolution.
Family Gist married Sarah Howard, a daughter of Joshua Howard of
Manchester. Howard served with
King James II of England's forces as an officer during the
Monmouth Rebellion during 1685, before settling in
Baltimore, Maryland. The couple had three sons, Richard (1727–1780) who was killed at the
Battle of King's Mountain,
Nathaniel who commanded
Gist's Additional Continental Regiment of the
Continental Army, and Thomas. Christopher's brother Nathaniel Gist married Sarah's sister Mary Howard, and also partnered with Washington and two other veteran soldiers on a prospective land deal during the mid-1750s. The couple also had two daughters, Anne and Violet. Nathaniel might have been the father of
Sequoyah, the creator of the
Cherokee syllabary.
Frontiersman career , mid 19th century. (1847), depicting Washington (standing) and Gist (far right, with rifle) meeting with
Shingas,
Scarouady,
Tanacharison, and other Native American leaders at
Logstown in November, 1753. By 1750 Gist had settled in northern
North Carolina, near the
Yadkin River. One of his neighbors was the noted frontiersman
Daniel Boone. During that same year, the
Ohio Company hired Gist, for £150, to explore the country of the
Ohio River as far as the Falls of the Ohio, and endear himself to the Native Americans along the way. He was in Muskingum on Christmas Day of 1750 where he celebrated with some local indigenous people a religious ceremony with readings from the Church of England. This is believed to be the first Protestant religious service in the present state of Ohio. That winter Gist mapped the Ohio countryside between the
Lenape (Delaware) village of
Shannopin's Town, site of present-day
Pittsburgh, to the
Great Miami River in present-day western
Ohio. Gist was received well at
Pickawillany when he arrived during February 1751, and strengthened the alliance between the Native American chief
Memeskia and British interests against the expanding French colonies. From there he crossed into Kentucky accompanied by a black servant and returned to his home along the Yadkin. When Gist returned to North Carolina, he found that his family had fled to
Roanoke, Virginia, because of Indian attacks. He rejoined them. During the summer of 1751 he again went west to explore the
Pennsylvania and western Virginia (present day
West Virginia), country south of the
Ohio River. During 1753 Gist again returned to the Ohio Country, this time accompanying George Washington.
Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, sent Washington to
Fort Le Boeuf to deliver a message to the
French demanding they leave the Ohio Country. (The French were constructing forts in the Ohio Country to prevent the
Thirteen Colonies from expanding there; they ignored Dinwiddie's letter.) Washington took (now Lieutenant) Gist along as his guide. They traveled on the
Venango Path through the Ohio Country, stopping at
Logstown on their way to the fort. During the trip, Gist earned his place in history by twice saving the young Washington's life: first, from an attempted assault by a hostile Native American; and, second, by pulling Washington from the freezing
Allegheny River after Washington had fallen off of a makeshift raft.
French and Indian War service During 1754, Washington, Gist, and a detachment of the
Virginia Regiment attempted to drive the French from the region. At the
Battle of Fort Necessity on July 3, 1754, the French army routed the
Virginia militia. This was the beginning of the French and Indian War, a part of the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. Gist owned land near the present city of
Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He named it Gist's Plantation and began to build a town there. At the outset of the war, the French burned all the buildings. Gist was a member of the
Braddock Expedition during 1755 when it was defeated by the French and their Native American allies.
Death During the summer of 1759, Gist contracted
smallpox and died in
South Carolina or
Georgia. Gist's pay for military service with the First Virginia Regiment was paid to his heir, Nathaniel Gist, by 1766. Other reports have him surviving until 1794 and dying in Cumberland,
North Carolina, although this narrative may confuse him with a nephew also named Christopher Gist, one of Richard Gist's grandsons through Nathaniel Gist and Mary Howard. ==In popular culture==