In 1753, the French began the military occupation of the Ohio Country, driving out British traders and constructing a series of
forts. British colonies, however, also claimed the Ohio Country.
Robert Dinwiddie, the
lieutenant governor of Virginia, sent a young
George Washington to travel to the French outposts and demand that the French vacate the Ohio Country. On his journey, Washington's party stopped at Logstown to ask Tanacharison to accompany them as a guide and as a "spokesman" for the Ohio Indians. Tanacharison agreed to return the symbolic
wampum he had received from French captain
Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire. Joncaire's first reaction, on learning of this double cross, was to mutter of Tanacharison, "He is more English than the English." But Joncaire masked his anger and insisted that Tanacharison join him in a series of toasts. By the time the keg was empty, Tanacharison was too drunk to hand back the wampum. Tanacharison traveled with Washington to meet with
Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, the French commander of
Fort Le Boeuf in what is now
Waterford, Pennsylvania. There he tried to return the wampum to Saint-Pierre, "who evaded taking it, & made many fair Promises of Love & Friendship; said he wanted to live in Peace & trade amicably with them; as a Proof of which, he wou’d send some Goods immediately down to the Logstown for them." The French refused to vacate, however, and to Washington's great consternation, they tried to court Tanacharison as an ally. Although fond of their brandy, he remained a strong
francophobe. Tanacharison had requested that the British construct a "strong house" at the Forks of the Ohio, and early in 1754 he placed the first log of an Ohio Company stockade there, railing against the French when they captured it. He was camped at Half King's Rock on May 27, 1754 when he learned of a nearby French encampment and sent word to Washington urging an attack at Great Meadows, about five miles (8 km) east of Chestnut Ridge in what is now
Fayette County, Pennsylvania (near Uniontown). Washington immediately ordered 40 men to join Tanacharison and at sunset followed with a second group, seven of whom got lost in heavy rain that night. It was dawn on May 28 before Washington reached Half King's Rock. After a hurried war council, the English and Tanacharison's eight or nine warriors set off to surround and attack the French in the
Battle of Jumonville Glen. The French quickly surrendered. The French commander, Ensign
Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, was among the wounded. In one of
several disputed and contradictory accounts, it is claimed that Tancharison uttered the French words, "''Tu n'es pas encore mort, mon père!'' " (Thou art not yet dead, my father), then sank his tomahawk in Jumonville's skull, washed his hands with the brains, "and scalped him", but not before eating a portion of Jumonville's brain. Tanacharison sent a messenger to Contrecœur, commander at Fort Duquesne, the following day with news that the British had shot Jumonville and, but for the Indians, would have killed all the French. Another (and more accurate) account of the Jumonville Glen encounter was told to Jumonville's half-brother, Captain
Louis Coulon de Villiers, by a deserter at the mouth of Redstone Creek during his expedition to avenge his brother's murder. Washington was without Native American allies on July 3, 1754 at the
battle of Fort Necessity, his hastily erected stockade at Great Meadows. Tanacharison scornfully called the fort "that little thing upon the meadow" and complained that Washington would not listen to advice, and that Washington treated the Indigenous like slaves. He and another Seneca leader,
Queen Aliquippa, had taken their people to
Wills Creek. Outnumbered and with supplies running low, Washington surrendered the fort, later blaming Captains
George Croghan and
Andrew Montour for "involving the country in great calamity". ==Relationship with Croghan==