About this time, a company was formed, called the Ohio Company, for the
purpose of opening a trade route through northern Virginia and
Maryland. George Washington's two elder brothers, Lawrence and
Augustine, were interested in the 'enterprise'; and they naturally
called in their young surveyor brother to consultation. The project
sounded fascinating, but presented many elements of danger. The French
were becoming more and more active, and making warlike preparations to
seize and hold all the western frontier. In order to develop and hold
this land against the French and their Indian allies, it was necessary
to place the work in the hands of a military leader.
George Washington was at this time only nineteen years old, but fully
grown--a man of powerful physique, hardened and seasoned by his outdoor
life. Despite his youth and lack of military experience, the Ohio
Company secured for him the appointment of adjutant general of this
district. Washington at once placed himself under several military
officers of his acquaintance, among them a Major Muse, and soon
acquired at least the rudiments of warfare, the manual of arms. The
broader school of tactics he was to acquire for himself in the field of
experience.
An interruption to his military career came in the illness of his
brother Lawrence.
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