WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799) Autograph document signed (''Go Washington''), n.p., 3 February 1754.

WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799) Autograph document signed ("Go Washington"), n.p., 3 February 1754.
One page, 162 x 208mm, docked on verso by Washington (tear at left margin, rough bottom margin affects bottom of Washington's signature).

As Washington raises troops for his fateful expedition to Fort Necessity, he purchases the indenture of "a servant man named Jean Baptiste Macau". An early Washington document: a promissory note for the sum of "fifteen Pistoles" drafted by Washington and signed by himself together with his translator, Jacob Van Braam (1729-1792) with his younger brother John Augustine Washington (1737-1787) signing as one of the witnesses. Washington and Braam purchased the indenture from Phillip Ludwell Lee (1727-1775), the elder brother of Richard and Francis Lightfoot and Arthur Lee. On the verso, Lee transfers the note to Anthony Strother. Washington had only returned to Virginia from the forks of the Ohio in December 1753 where he had attempted to deliver a letter from Governor Dinwiddie to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf (which was refused). By this time, Washington was raising forces to march against the French which would result in his surrender at Fort Necessity in July 1754 which sparked the French and Indian War. Interestingly, Van Braam, who served as a translator on both the 1753 and 1754 expeditions, is largely blamed for the start of that war. At the surrender of Fort Necessity in July 1754, Washington signed a document which implied he had assassinated a French officer without cause, an error caused by Van Braam who had mistranslated the original French.