Jul 5, 2009 3 min read

FARMINGTON – A geological process that started hundreds of thousands of years ago led to the formation of the Great Meadows that George Washington encountered when he fought the battle of Fort Necessity. On Friday, the 255th anniversary of this first battle of the French and Indian War, the National Park Service invited geologist Albert Kollar from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to give a presentation called “Geology and the French and Indian War in Western Pennsylvania.” Kollar talked about the Great Meadows, a large meadow with grasses and a receding tree line, along with geological conditions found at Jumonville Glen in 1754, the Braddock campaign in 1755 and the Forbes campaign in 1758 at a presentation in Fort Necessity’s interpretive center.

Of Great Meadows, Kollar explained, “The meadow is actually a bog that was formed during the Ice Age.”

Kollar used a PowerPoint presentation and referred to a brochure he wrote with David K. Brezinski that is on sale at Fort Necessity’s interpretive center.

With the same name as Kollar’s presentation, the brochure explained, “Remnants of bogs are found throughout western Pennsylvania but are more common in the Laurel Highlands. They owe their origins to the wet and cold climates of the Pleistocene Period (i.e. Ice Age). The increased rainfall seen during the Ice Age inundated low, poorly drained areas forming glades or shallow lakes. The cold climate prompted the growth of sphagnum moss and other acid-loving plants, which produced thick accumulations of peat that soon filled the bog. Bogs are interesting ecological features in that they support unusual acid-loving plants that are rare elsewhere. Such swampy conditions tend to inhibit tree growth and thus create a meadow.”

After the presentation, visitors left the interpretive center and walked to the fort where Brian Mast, seasonal park ranger, explained the battle that Washington fought there.

Light rain fell on the crowd during the presentation, reminiscent of the rain that fell during the actual battle.

“What starts here is a great global conflict that Winston Churchill called the first world war,” Mast said.

Washington fought with 300 men from the Virginia Regiment and 100 British soldiers from South Carolina while the French had 600 men and 100 Indians.

Washington lost the battle and 33 men died at the site: 30 British, two French and one Indian. During the anniversary program, four soldiers fired a musket salute and Mast read a roll call of their names, an anniversary tradition.

After the program, Mast talked about the importance of the battle.

“You have to remember that at one point in time, we were all loyal British subjects,” he said. “What happens here sets in motion the chain of events that leads to the American Revolution and the lessons that Washington learned during this war and this campaign helped him during the Revolution.”

For more information on Fort Necessity, visit online at www.nps.gov/fone.