Fort Necessity
Fort Necessity, a former earthworks fort in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. It was built in 1754 by Virginia militia under Lieutenant Colonel George Washington. (Washington had been sent to garrison a fort at what is now Pittsburgh, but the site had been seized by the French, who had built a fort of their own, Fort Duquesne.) On July 3 Washington's party was attacked by a superior French force and surrendered on condition that they be allowed to return to Virginia. This incident—the Battle of Great Meadows—was the first major engagement of the French and Indian War. The French destroyed the original fort; a reconstruction, built in 1932, is the main feature of Fort Necessity National Battlefield.