{"id":465,"date":"2016-07-21T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T04:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/?p=465"},"modified":"2016-07-28T16:15:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T20:15:26","slug":"fort-necessity-national-battlefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/fort-necessity-national-battlefield\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Necessity National Battlefield: A living, evolving lab for historical research and interpretation"},"content":{"rendered":"

F<\/span>ort Necessity National Battlefield is one of the historic sites and monuments that the National Park Service began administering, in addition to natural parks, back in 1933. But history doesn\u2019t just sit idle at these sites, like an artifact in a display case. As the park service and others continue to research and interpret it, history sometimes literally changes shape. <\/p>\n

This park \u2014 just southeast of Pittsburgh along Route 40, the old National Road, in Fayette County \u2014 is important because it\u2019s the site of the first battle of the French and Indian War. That became the global Seven Years\u2019 War between the colonial powers of France and England, both of which were claiming the Ohio Valley \u2014 with their respective native allies. The Brits won that conflict, but the costs would include losing America in the Revolutionary War. <\/p>\n

As the park\u2019s chief of visitor services Brian Reedy told a crowd on a recent weekend featuring a reenactor encampment, \u201cIt\u2019s a small fort, but it has a big story.\u201d <\/p>\n

That summer of 1754, George Washington himself led a British force from Virginia toward the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers that we now know as the Point, where the French had taken over a small British fort and rebuilt it as Fort Duquesne.<\/p>\n

\"An <\/a>
An older postcard of Fort Necessity showing the fort reconstructed as a diamond rather than as a circle as archeaologists discovered was the real case. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Old <\/a>
Old postcard shows the way the reconstructed Fort Necessity used to look, until archaeologists determined that the wooden stockade actually was circular. <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The reconstructed fort at Fort Necessity National Battlefield near Farmington in Fayette County. (Bob Batz Jr.\/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Visitors <\/a>
Visitors look at the stockade at Fort Necessity. In the background is the visitor’s center. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A detail from the Fort Necessity Surrender Document, signed on July 3, 1754, by Lt. Col. George Washington, Capt. James Mackay and French commander Louis Coulon de Villiers. The surrender sparked the French and Indian War. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Artifacts <\/a>
Artifacts at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington on June 22, 2016. (Haley Nelson\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Artifacts <\/a>
Artifacts at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield Visitor Center in Farmington on June 22, 2016. (Haley Nelson\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Visitor Center at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington on June 22, 2016. (Haley Nelson\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A representation of Fort Necessity stands at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington on June 22, 2016. (Haley Nelson\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A representation of Fort Necessity and a model canon stand at the Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Farmington on June 22, 2016. (Haley Nelson\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In late May, Washington\u2019s force arrived at what\u2019s still a big grassy clearing, known as the Great Meadows, which they made their base camp. In a nearby glen, they surprised and skirmished with a French force of about 30, killing about 10 including an officer named Jumonville, then retreated to their camp. Expecting the French to attack, they quickly put up a storehouse inside a basic wooden stockade that they dubbed Fort Necessity.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t last long. On the morning of July 3, about 700 French troops and Indians attacked Washington\u2019s 400, most of whom were protected only by dirt piles and ditches they\u2019d dug outside the fort. After a day of fighting in relentless rain, Washington was forced to make what would be his only military surrender.<\/p>\n

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Fort Necessity National Battlefield<\/h2>\n

Site of the 1754 opening battle of the French and Indian War \u2014 between French forces and British led by George Washington \u2014 and one of just two NPS sites commemorating that war. <\/p>\n

One Washington Parkway, Farmington, Pa. (Fayette County) 15437<\/p>\n

724-329-5512<\/p>\n

Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n