Editing French and Indian War (section)

===Céloron's expedition===
New France's Governor-General [[Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière]] was concerned about the incursion and expanding influence in the Ohio Country of British colonial traders such as [[George Croghan]].  In June 1747, he ordered [[Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville|Pierre-Joseph Céloron]] to lead a military expedition through the area. Its objectives were:
[[File:La Galissonière-French school 18th century img 3172.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière]], Governor of New France, sent an expedition in 1749 into the Ohio Country in an attempt to assert French sovereignty.]]
* to reaffirm to New France's Indian allies that their trading arrangements with colonists were exclusive to those authorized by New France
* to confirm Indian assistance in asserting and maintaining the French claim to the territories which French explorers had claimed
* to discourage any alliances between Britain and local Indian tribes
* to impress the Indians with a French show of force against British colonial settler incursion, unauthorized trading expeditions, and general trespass against French claims<ref name=A2K_26>Anderson (2000), p. 26.</ref>

Céloron's expedition force consisted of about 200 [[Troupes de la marine]] and 30 Indians, and they covered about {{convert|3000|mi|km}} between June and November 1749. They went up the St. Lawrence, continued along the northern shore of [[Lake Ontario]], crossed the portage at Niagara, and followed the southern shore of [[Lake Erie]]. At the [[French Portage Road|Chautauqua Portage]] near [[Barcelona, New York]], the expedition moved inland to the [[Allegheny River]], which it followed to the site of [[Pittsburgh]]. There Céloron buried lead plates engraved with the French claim to the Ohio Country.<ref name=A2K_26/> Whenever he encountered British colonial merchants or fur-traders, he informed them of the French claims on the territory and told them to leave.<ref name=A2K_26/>

Céloron's expedition arrived at [[Logstown]] where the Indians in the area informed him that they owned the Ohio Country and that they would trade with the British colonists regardless of the French.<ref name="fowler 14">Fowler, p. 14.</ref> He continued south until his expedition reached the confluence of the Ohio and the [[Great Miami River|Miami]] rivers, which lay just south of the village of [[Pickawillany]], the home of the [[Miami tribe|Miami]] chief known as "[[Old Briton]]". Céloron threatened Old Briton with severe consequences if he continued to trade with British colonists, but Old Briton ignored the warning. Céloron returned disappointedly to Montreal in November 1749.<ref name="ParkLoram">[http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/magazinehome/magazine/sprsum2006/parkspotlight/tabid/310/Default.aspx "Park Spotlight: Lake Loramie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017104252/http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/magazinehome/magazine/sprsum2006/parkspotlight/tabid/310/Default.aspx |date=2013-10-17 }}, ''Ohio State Parks Magazine'', Spring 2006</ref>

Céloron wrote an extensively detailed report. "All I can say is that the Natives of these localities are very badly disposed towards the French," he wrote, "and are entirely devoted to the English. I don't know in what way they could be brought back."<ref name="fowler 14"/> Even before his return to Montreal, reports on the situation in the Ohio Country were making their way to London and Paris, each side proposing that action be taken. [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] governor [[William Shirley]] was particularly forceful, stating that British colonists would not be safe as long as the French were present.<ref name="fowler 15">Fowler, p. 15.</ref>