[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1872)] and resolution." The casus belli which Virginia sought was supplied. Promptly voting £10,000, Virginia dispatched, in May, a force of one hundred and fifty men, under Washington, to the invaded territory, instructed " to make prisoners, kill or destroy all who interrupted the English settlements." Not a moment too soon did he reach the field. The French, sweeping down from Venango, had compelled the English to evacuate the trad ing post which they had established at the Fork,2 and had occu pied the place with fortifications. Warned by the Half-King, Washington hurried to the Great Meadows, where he held a conference with the friendly Lenape and Seneca chiefs. Before the rising sun of another day the French were attacked in ambush. An action of about a quarter of an hour ensued; ten of the French force were killed, including Jumonville, their commander, and twenty-<one wounded.3 Bearing tidings of the 1 On account of the number of Buffalo other to the west. Hence the name, found in its vicinity. — Sfarkis Washing-the Fork. ton, n, 436. 8 Washington was severely criticised for 2 Now the city of Pittsburg, Pa. It this attack, and was charged with the was here that the Indian path separated, murder of Jumonville. — Memoirs Hist.