Governor Robert Dinwiddie and his political struggle to defend colonial Virginia

Abstract

Governor Robert Dinwiddie struggled against many internal and external forces to perform his duties in securing the colony's borders against the intrusions of France and her Native American allies. Dinwiddie found himself bombarded by internal distractions and obstructions from other colonial governors, members of Virginia's House of Burgesses, the colonial militia, beside those advances against Virginia in the Ohio River Valley. He was able to overcome these issues and govern the colony at a time when the entire frontier was ablaze with war. Robert Dinwiddie's efforts as colonial governor during the French and Indian War proved his capabilities as a leader of men, and it was due much to these efforts that Virginia survived this conflict in the manner that it did.