Date: July 3-4, 1754 This was one of the opening battles of the French and Indian war, and it's important that opening battles are quite exciting, otherwise everyone just sort of loses interest. In 1754, George Washington was sent to the head of the Ohio River valley with a group of Virginia militia. The land there was contested territory between the British Colonists and the French. Washington's mission was to retake Fort Duquesne, and drive French forces out of the area.