OHIO
Archaeological and Historical
PUBLICATIONS
WASHINGTON'S CAMP SITES ON THE OHIO
RIVER
BY GUY-HAROLD SMITH
Ohio State University
In the autumn of 1770 George Washington
made a
journey into the interior of North
America in the
interest of the Virginia soldiers who
had fought in
the Indian wars, and had been promised
western lands
as reward for their services. Also
Washington had
personal reasons for making this
reconnaissance of the
lands along the Ohio River. He had the
foresight to
envision the development of the
trans-Appalachian
country and characteristically he was
interested in ac-
quiring some of the choice lands before
they were pre-
empted by others. The story of
Washington and the
Ohio valley has been told elsewhere,1
therefore we will
be content to follow him down the Ohio
River and
back again to Fort Pitt at the junction
of the Alle-
gheny and Monongahela Rivers.
Washington began his journey to the
Ohio River on
October 5, 1770, but he did not begin
the actual de-
scent of the river until the 20th of
the month. The
intervening fifteen days were consumed
in the journey
to the junction of the two rivers which
jointly become
the Ohio, and by certain other journeys
and stop-
overs which delayed him somewhat. He
spent some
time with Captain William Crawford who
was Wash-
1 Archer B. Hulbert, Washington and
the West, New York, 1905.
(1)