Editing Fort Prince George (section)

== Construction ==

[[File:Captain Snow's sketch. LOC gm71000593.jpg|thumb|right|Captain Snow's map of western Pennsylvania, showing the site of Fort Prince George, with the notation "Trent drove out by ye French 1754."]]According to the 1756 deposition of Ensign Edward Ward, on February 17 Trent met [[Christopher Gist]] and Seneca leader [[Tanacharison]] and his followers, at the Forks of the Ohio.<ref name = "Cherry/>{{rp|54}} After clearing the ground, Tanacharison "laid the first log and said that the fort belonged to the English & them and whoever offered to prevent the building of it, they, the Indians, would make war against them."<ref name = "Hunter"/>{{rp|46-47}} Construction was initiated by 33 Virginia militia, with 8 fur traders and trappers recruited by Trent with the assistance of his friend, Indian trader [[John Fraser (frontiersman)|John Fraser]], to whom Trent gave a lieutenant's commission.<ref name = "MacGregor"/> Trent accepted on condition that he be permitted to remain at his plantation, where he was engaged in fur trading, and come to the fort only once a week or whenever necessary.<ref name = "Clark1">[https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/2495/2328 Clark, Howard Glenn. "John Fraser, Western Pennsylvania Frontiersman, Parts 1 & 2" ''Western Pennsylvania History Magazine,'' Vol. 38, No 3-4, Fall-Winter 1955; pp 83-93]</ref>{{rp|90}} Within 10 days they had "finished a Store House, and a large quantity of timber hew'd, boards saw'd, and shingles made."<ref name = "Hunter"/>{{rp|47}} The fort was referred to as "Trent's Fort," and the title of Fort Prince George, (named for the [[crown prince]] and later [[George III of Great Britain|King George III]]), was not attached to the fort until September 1754, when Governor Dinwiddie proposed it in a letter to his London superiors.<ref name = "Marker">[https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-8C "Fort Prince George," historical marker placed May 8, 1959, explorepahistory.com]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9vm070SV2_gC Spencer Tucker, ''The Encyclopedia of North American Colonial Conflicts to 1775: A-K,'' ABC-CLIO, 2008]</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Stotz, Charles Morse |author-link=Charles Morse Stotz| title=Outposts Of The War For Empire: The French and English In Western Pennsylvania: Their Armies, Their Forts, Their People 1749-1764 | location=Pittsburgh | publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqZAPgAACAAJ | year=2005 | isbn=0-8229-4262-3}} </ref>