Oil on canvas; 12' x 18' (144 in × 216 in). U.S. Capitol Rotunda, Washington, DC.
The first of four paintings completed by Trumbull following a commission by Congress. Trumbull exhibited it to large crowds in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore before it went to Washington. It was his greatest popular success.
Perhaps the most important element in Washington’s military education during the French and Indian War was his development of a strategic sense. The struggle for the Forks of the Ohio had started as a Virginia affair, but it quickly took on an international prominence. Washington became one of the men at the center of the conflict. Although he had a limited understanding of the European politics and diplomacy that helped to fuel the war, he nevertheless sensed the crucial importance of Indian affairs. He also perceived the strategic value of the different regions of North America — such as the Middle Atlantic, the Ohio, and the Hudson Valley — and learned how British ministers thought of conquering or defending a continent. Most of all, he learned how war could become a battleground for the competing ambitions and interests of the various colonies.