'Major Washington on his Mission to the French Commander', (1877). George Washington (1732-1799), first president of the United States, was a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia, and fought in the French and Indian War of 1754-1763. In 1753, Washington was sent to deliver British demands to French commander Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre at Fort LeBoeuf (in present-day Waterford, northwest Pennsylvania). From "Our Country: a Household History for All Readers, from the Discovery of America to the Present Time", Volume 1, by Benson J. Lossing. [Johnson & Miles, New York, 1877]