Washington's dairy account of the dangers and difficulties of his journey, Published at Williamburg's on his return, may have helped win him his ensuing promotion to lieutenant colonel. Although only 22 years of age and lacking experience, he learned quickly, meeting the problems of recruitment, supply, and desertions with a combination of branches and Native ability that earned him the respect of this superiors. .
In April 1754, on his way to establish a post at the Forks of the Ohio (the current site of Pittsburgh), Washington learned that the French had already erected a fort there. Warned that the French were advancing, he quickly threw up fortifications at Great Meadows, Pa., aptly naming the entrenchment Fort Necessity, and marched to intercept advancing French troops. In the resulting skirmish the French commander the Sieur De Jumnoville was killed and most of his men were captured. George Washington pulled his small force back into Fort Necessity where he was overwhelmed (July 3) by the French in an all day battle fought in drenching rain. Surrounded by enemy troops, with his food supply almost exhausted and his dampened ammunition useless, Washington capitulated. Under the terms of the surrender signed that day, he was permitted to march his troops back to Williamsburg. .
Discouraged by his defeat and angered by discrimination between British and colonial officers in rank and pay, he resigned his commission near the end of 1754. The next year however, he volunteered to joined British general Edward Braddock's expedition against the French. When the French and their Indian allies ambushed Braddock on the Monongahela River, Washington although seriously ill, tried to rally the Virginia troops. Whatever public criticism attended the debacle, Washington's own military reputation was enhanced, and in 1755, at the age of 23. he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander in chief of the Virginia militia, with responsibility for defending the frontier.
