The French, surprised and surrounded, sprang to arms, the Virginians fired, there was a sharp exchange of shots, and all was over.

Ten of the French were killed and twenty-one were taken prisoners, only one of the party escaping to carry back the news.
This little skirmish made a prodigious noise in its day, and was much heralded in France.

The French declared that Jumonville, the leader, who fell at the first fire, was foully assassinated, and that he and his party were ambassadors and sacred characters.

Paris rang with this fresh instance of British perfidy, and a M.Thomas celebrated the luckless Jumonville in a solemn epic poem in four books.

French historians, relying on the account of the Canadian who escaped, adopted the same tone, and at a later day mourned over this black spot on Washington's character.