A Map of the Western parts of the Colony of Virginia.
Top margin: For the London Magazine 1754. Lower margin: Printed for R. Baldwin, in Pater Noster Row. Lower left: J. Gibson Sculp’t. Published in London by R. Baldwin, 1754.
This map covers the region from Lakes Erie and Ontario south to New River and Williamsburg in Virginia. Forts, colonial settlements, Indian villages and Indian territories are shown. It shows a road and distances from Williamsburg to Winchester to “Gist’s Settlem’t” on the Mononguhela to Shanopin’s T. to Log T. on the Ohio to Vinango on the Ohio to Fr. Fort on Beef R. to Fr. Fort on Lake Erie. This route was traveled by George Washington in his negotiations with the French in 1753/54 prior to the French and Indian War. The decorative cartouche portrays dark-skinned people (probably Blacks) engaged in tobacco production.
Washington’s report first appeared in an obscure pamphlet published in Williamsburg early in 1754. Phillips indicates “This map was afterward enlarged and published in the London ed. 1744 (sic, actually 1754), of Washington’s journal”. That edition is titled: Some Extracts from the Journal of Major George Washington, sent by Robert Dinwiddie, Esq.; Governor of Virginia, to the Commandant of the French Forces on the River Ohio; with the Governor’s letter and the French Officer’s Answer.
References:
Colonial Williamsburg, facsimile pamphlet: The Journal of Major George Washington sent by the, Hon. Robert Dinwiddie Esq; ….To the Commandant of the French Forces…. Williamsburg, 1995.
Phillips Maps, page 981;
Sellers & van Ee, Maps and Charts of North America, 1426.
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