"Indians Coming
From War"
George Washington
Diary entry for March 23, 1748
Manuscript Division
State Department transfer, 1909 (
November 21, 2002
)
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In George Washington's earliest known diary, the young man of sixteen
records his encounter in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with
a party of thirty "Indians coming from War with only one Scalp."
Washington would later build his military career on a foundation
of warfare against Native Americans, but in this encounter on a
surveying expedition the Virginian and his companions shared their
liquor with the warriors and joined them in a "War Daunce." Washington
became an inveterate diary writer, but his entries became less informative
as his public fame increased.
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