[2] The Treaty of Logstown was intended to open up land for settlement so that the Ohio Company could meet the seven-year deadline, and to obtain explicit permission to construct a fort.

[3]: 123–144 On 29 May 1751, at a council meeting at Logstown between George Croghan, Andrew Montour and representatives of the Six Nations, Croghan reported the following statement from Iroquois speaker Toanahiso: Governor Hamilton used this statement as evidence to the Pennsylvania Provincial Council that they should pay for the construction of a fort at a site selected by the sachems at Logstown, arguing that unless the fort were built, the English might lose not only Indian support, but control over the fur trade in Ohio.

[5] However, the Provincial Council decided not to provide funding for a fort, arguing that fair dealings and occasional presents would hold the Indians as allies.

[6]: 45  At a meeting in Winchester, Virginia in September 1753, Native American leaders expressed willingness to cooperate with the British and repeated their request that a fort be built on the Ohio.

He assigned the 21-year-old Major George Washington to carry the message to French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre at Fort Le Boeuf.

[7]: 365 [6]: 36 On January 26, Governor Dinwiddie issued a captain's commission in the Virginia militia to fur trader William Trent,[6]: 44  with orders to raise one hundred men who would "keep possession of his Majesty's land on the Ohio, and waters thereof, and to dislodge and drive away, and...to kill and destroy, or take prisoners, all and every person and persons whatsoever, not subjects of the King of Great Britain, who now are, or shall hereafter come to settle, and take possession of any lands on the said Ohio."

[7]: 366 According to the 1756 deposition of Ensign Edward Ward, on February 17 Trent met Christopher Gist and Seneca leader Tanacharison and his followers, at the Forks of the Ohio.

Chauvignerie immediately reported to Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur at Venango,[13]: 129 [14] that "The scouts...took notice [of] an advanced house almost made, which is to serve as a Magazine, but because of the distance they could not know in what manner they were constructing their fort, since it was still only marked out.

"[6]: 54  Governor-General Duquesne wrote immediately to Contrecœur: "From the letter from Sieur La Chauvignerie of March 11, it appears that the English are planning to settle at the mouth of [the Allegheny River], since there is already a storehouse built there.

You must hasten, Sir, to interrupt and even destroy their work from the start, because their consolidation would lead us to a siege...which it would be wise to avoid, considering the bad state of the finances of the King.

"[8]: 52 In April, a force of more than 600 men[Note 1] under the command of Captain Contrecœur traveled in pirogues and batteaux down the Allegheny River from Venango, landing at Shannopin's Town.

"[18] Washington regarded the capture of Trent's Fort as an act of war, and prepared to advance, writing on April 20 to Governor Dinwiddie to request artillery.

When Ensign Ward returned from Williamsburg, he brought letters dated May 4, expressing anger with Trent and Fraser to Colonel Joshua Fry: "I am advis’d that Capt.

Trent, and his Lieut., Fraser have been long absent from their duty...Which Conduct & Behaviour I require & expect You will enquire into at a Court Martial, & give Sentence accordingly.