The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, was particularly vocal in calling upon the British government, through the Privy Council, to stop French incursions into the Ohio Valley. Dinwiddie had a significant financial interest in the Ohio Company and may have seen his investment threatened. The Privy Council agreed to give the colonial governors the power to resist French incursions in America. King George II’s instructions stated that the governor was to erect forts, protect English claims and remove any Indians or Europeans from English territory. He authorized Dinwiddie to ask the House of Burgesses for money and to raise a militia.[5] However, because Dinwiddie was feuding with the Burgesses[6] who refused to vote the funds for an armed expedition against the French, he decided to send an emissary instead.[7]
Washington may have heard about the expedition from his neighbor and patron, Colonel William Fairfax. In October 1753, Washington traveled to Williamsburg to present himself to Dinwiddie and to volunteer to be Britain’s emissary to the French. [8] Washington was not explicit as to why he was willing to take on this assignment, but he may have hoped to ingratiate himself with the governor with the intension of succeeding to the Northern adjutancy. Dinwiddie accepted Washington’s services, perhaps because of his connections to the Ohio Company.[9]
