Perhaps more than any other leader of the Revolutionary Era, George Washington was shaped by his experiences in western lands. Washington came away from his early ventures in the American West with a conviction that the future of Virginia, and later of the United States itself, would be one of expansion. In his youth, Washington began surveying in the Shenandoah Valley. He was only twenty-one when he made a perilous journey across the Allegheny Mountains to command the French to withdraw from the Ohio region claimed by King George II.1 Beyond French settlers there, the western borders of Virginia and the Ohio River Valley were controlled by various Indigenous groups such as the Cherokee, members of the Iroquois Confederacy, Shawnee, Oneida, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Algonquians. The findings of his expedition led Washington west again to fortify British claims in the region with the assistance of troops.
When Washington's band of soldiers fired the shots at Jumonville Glen Skirmish that that triggered the Seven Years' War in North America in 1754, they did so to enforce Britain's claim to the entire Ohio Valley.2 Enlisting men to fight in such a war was no easy matter. Accordingly, Governor Robert Dinwiddie issued his Proclamation of 1754, promising 200,000 acres to all who would join the Virginia forces in an expedition to capture control of the Ohio from the French.3 Given his experiences, Washington saw this proclamation as an opportunity to establish landownership, and then begin to speculate land to the west that he found valuable.
Victory in the war, however, was followed closely by another royal proclamation forbidding settlement in the Native American territories west of the Alleghenies. George Washington described the Proclamation of 1763 as a temporary means to placate Native Americans. By 1769 new treaties were negotiated with the Iroquois and Cherokee that opened the Ohio Valley to settlers once again.4 George Washington began his quest to settle the land promised by Dinwiddie fifteen years earlier.5
Washington started his push westwards at the fall 1769 session of the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg by having the text of the Proclamation of 1754 read into the record as evidence. On November 29, the House passed the resolution calling on the Governor to make known all land grants applied for in the Ohio. A few days later Washington wrote directly to Virginia Governor Botetourt voicing his concern that given the amount of land already granted, little would remain for the veterans of 1754.6 Having prepared his case, on December 15 Washington presented a formal petition on behalf of the officers and men of his old command, requesting that the 200,000 acres be set aside in several specific areas along the Ohio River. The Governor was quickly granted his request.7
George Washington had the responsibility of representing the entire group of veterans in surveying and claiming the land. However, many veterans developed the uncertainty of ever realizing a profit from property so far removed from existing settlements, so many eligible ex-soldiers sold their rights in exchange for ready cash. Frequently it was Washington himself who was the purchaser, buying the rights to a little more than 5,000 acres of land. This was in addition to the 15,000 acres that had been established as the bounty for field officers, giving George Washington a total of more than 20,000 acres to be located, surveyed, and registered in the Ohio Valley.8
In October of 1770 Washington crossed into the Ohio country again, accompanied by his friend Dr. James Craik and a few guides and servants.9 The two veterans intended to survey their bounty land in the region where the Great Kanawha emptied into the Ohio River. Along the way Washington revisited the scenes of his battles against the French, recording his observations with the eye of a land speculator rather than an old soldier. In late 1772, the Governor gave final approval to Washington's application for four patents on the Ohio and Great Kanawha River containing over 20,000 acres in what is now the state of West Virginia.10 He continued to amass western land for the rest of his life. The schedule of property he appended to his will in the summer of 1799 listed over 50,000 acres of property, exclusive of the 8,000 he also held at Mount Vernon.11
Prior to Washington’s presidency, the Confederation Congress opened up the Ohio Valley to American settlement, despite numerous Indigenous nations still controlling the territory per previous agreements with the British and colonies. Various nations resisted the influx of settlers, and Washington responded with various policies as president. Under Washington’s presidency, Congress approved a treaty with the Shawnee, Miami, Ottoawa, Chippewa, Iroquois, and Fox. However, their lands were not protected from encroachment and they continued to resist.12 After several armies attempted to end the resistance in the Northwest, the U.S. defeated the warring nations in 1794 and the Treaty of Greenville offered some stability for settlers in the region, but no protection of Indigenous land.13 To the south, the Creek Nation did not agree with the state of Georgia’s interpretation of various land cessions and agreements that concluded in the favor of the latter.14 These borders were formally approved by Creek chiefs at the Treaty of New York in 1790.15 However, the U.S. did not prevent future encroachment on Creek land.
Washington desired the west to be settled by Americans and incorporated into domestic trade. He feared the imperial influence of Britain and Spain as well as Indigenous nations they allied with on American settlers. Washington understood the violence instigated by American encroachment. 16 He subsequently recognized this warfare was adversely affecting the population of Indigenous people in North America.17 As for nations that the U.S. had peace agreements with, Washington expressed interest that they would assimilate to American notions of culture, government, and society.18
While Washington’s relationship with the west began as a solider and surveyor, he had great influence over early political policy that would affect the settlement of the west by Americans, and the displacement of Native Americans. Washington's hopes for great wealth from his western lands and business ventures therein such as the Potomac Company were never realized in his lifetime despite his large landholdings. Nevertheless, Washington's recognition of the promise of the American West would have a profound influence on his country, and he predicted the rapid expansion of American borders westwards that would occur during the following century.
Revised by Zoie Horecny, 11 March 2025.
Notes:
1. “Journey to the French Commandant: Narrative,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. “Expedition to the Ohio, 1754,” The Papers of George Washington Digital Edition. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008. Original source: Diaries (11 March 1748–13 December 1799), Volume 1 (11 March 1748–13 November 1765).
3. “From George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie, 8 September 1756,” Founders Online, National Archives.
4. “From George Washington to Charles Washington, 31 January 1770,” Founders Online, National Archives.
5. “From George Washington to Botetourt, 8 December 1769,” Founders Online, National Archives.
6. Ibid.
7. “Petition to Botetourt, 15 December 1769,” Founders Online, National Archives
8. "Enclosure: Schedule of Property, 9 July 1799," Founders Online, National Archives
9. “Remarks & Occurrs. in October [1770],” Founders Online, National Archives.
10. “[November 1771],” Founders Online, National Archives; “Resolutions of Officers regarding the Royal Proclamation of 1763, 15 September 1772,” Founders Online, National Archives.
11. "Enclosure: Schedule of Property, 9 July 1799," Founders Online, National Archives
12.“To George Washington from Thomas Mifflin, 5 September 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives.
13. “To George Washington from William Darke, 9–10 November 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives.
14. “From George Washington to the Commissioners to the Southern Indians, 29 August 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives.
15. “From George Washington to the United States Senate, 4 August 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives; “From George Washington to the U.S. Senate, 9 December 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives.
16. “From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 1 July 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives.
17. “To George Washington from Henry Knox, 7 July 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives.
18. “From George Washington to Lafayette, 10 January 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives; “From George Washington to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 December 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Abbot, W.W. "George Washington, the West, and the Union." Indiana Magazine of History 84 (March 1988): 3-14.
Achenbach, Joel. The Grand Idea: George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002.
Cleland, Hugh. George Washington in the Ohio Valley. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955.
Cook, Roy Bird. Washington’s Western Lands. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1930.
Ferling, John. The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.
McDonnell, Michael A. Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America. New York: Hill and Wang, 2015.
