Lieutenant-Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Militia
raises his hat to the British flag over Fort Duquesne on the Ohio River in November 1758.
Fort Duquesne was part of French defenses during the French and Indian War that stretched from Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River to New Orleans on the Mississippi River. The French were determined to contain British colonization to the east. The British were repelled from Fort Duquesne in 1755, but they attacked again in 1758. The Brits gained the fort, renamed it for British prime minister William Pitt, and broke the French chain of defense almost exactly in half.
