ASSASSIN
Assassin.
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Most of April and May of 1757 was about implementing the decisions made by Lord Loudoun with the Governors of PA, VA, MD and NC in Philly in March 1757.
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We will document that story of April and May of implementing those decisions made in March of 1757.
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But during all that?
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That word appeared in print in a publication GW noticed while in Philly.
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Assassin.
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Again.
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It was about George Washington who signed a surrender document agreeing that he was responsible for killing (assassinating) a peaceful French officer 3 years ago in 1754.
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GW most likely wrote this in March of 1757 while in Philly responding to the publication:
"That we were wilfully, or ignorently, deceived by our interpreter in regard to the word assassination, I do aver, and will to my dying moment; so will every officer that was present. The interpreter was a Dutchman, little acquainted with the English tongue, therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning of the word in English; but, whatever his motives were for so doing, certain it is, he called it the death, or the loss, of the Sieur Jumonville. So we received and so we understood it, until, to our great surprise and mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal translation."
Source:
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George Washington admits to knowing that word, Assassin. Could he not see the word in the document?
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This rules out he may have not known the word.
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Origin of Assassin in English:
We wondered how prevalent that word was in the English world at the time. After all not until Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, there was no standard dictionary of the English language until 1755.
That word Assassin first appears to be of Muslim origin according to the Oxford English Dictionary, OED.
The word first appears in a more recognizable English in the early 1600s. The word is associated with a group of Muslims who would eat Hashish to help them implement a killing of a special person.
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More looks at this story on the word Assassin:
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3 Years later GW finds out he's an Assassin?
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More on GW the Assassin, the cause of this war
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The publication GW saw in Philly in March 1757
"On 3 Mar. 1757, while GW was in Philadelphia to attend Loudoun’s meeting with the southern governors, the printer James Chattin announced in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) his intention to publish within two months “A MEMORIAL, containing a summary Account of Facts, in Answer to the Observations of the English Ministry, addressed to the Courts of Europe.” "
Why is this important to GW?
Why was this James Chattin's announcement in the PA Gazette so interesting to GW? "Among other things, the Memorial included GW’s journal of his 1754 campaign and “The Journal of M. de Villiers,” . . ." Source: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0070
The publication itself:
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The French version:
Mémoire contenant le précis des faits, avec leurs pièces justificatives pour servir de réponse aux Observations envoyées par les ministres d'Angleterre, dans les cours de l'Europe. This publication contains: Réponse à Observations sur le mémoire de la France.
Renferme 30 pièces justificatives en date de 1749 à 1755 et portant sur les hostilités anglo-françaises en Amérique: correspondance entre la Jonquiè re, Cornwallis, Albermale et Roüille, Journal de George Washington, Journal de Villiers, correspondance de Braddock et de W. Johnson
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More on that time of Lord Loudoun's Philadelphia Conference with the Governors:
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GW's time in Philly 1757
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Also in Philly in March of 1757, a secret investigation of GW as a traitor is concluded:
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Loudoun wonders if GW is a Traitor?
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