"Indians Coming
From War"

George Washington
Diary entry for March 23, 1748
Manuscript Division
State Department transfer, 1909 ( November 21, 2002 )

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.