Page "George Washington" Paragraph 19

In 1758, Washington participated in the Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne.

He was embarrassed by a friendly fire episode in which his unit and another British unit thought the other was the French enemy and opened fire, with 14 dead and 26 wounded in the mishap.

Washington was not involved in any other major fighting on the expedition, and the British scored a major strategic victory, gaining control of the Ohio Valley, when the French abandoned the fort.

Following the expedition, Washington retired from his Virginia Regiment commission in December 1758.

He did not return to military life until the outbreak of the revolution in 1775.