Washington as Captain in the French and Indian War

In this painting, a young George Washington directs the fighting from his horse during the Battle of the Monongahela, on July 9, 1755, during the Seven Years’ War. Washington held the rank of major at the time of the battle. A column of British regulars and colonial militia were marching toward the French-held Fort Duquesne on the Forks of the Ohio River when they were ambushed by French soldiers and their Indigenous allies. A rout of the British ensued. Washington later wrote, “We have been most scandalously beaten by a trifling body of men.”

Among those killed in the fighting was British general Edward Braddock.