Virginia Militia

History
?}	Connellsville's First Settler The first white man in what is now Connellsville, PA was Colonel William Crawford. He was a farmer/surveyor/soldier who was a friend of George Washington and had served with him in the Virginia Militia. In the fall of 1765, he came over the mountains on horseback with his half-brother Hugh Stephenson. When they saw the beautiful meadow lands in the bend of the Youghiogheny River, Crawford decided to build his home there. The two men surveyed a tract of little over 376 acres and put up a log cabin (Crawford's Cabin). The next year, he moved his family into the cabin after a very hazardous trip over the mountains. Hannah Crawford, his wife, and their four children, had to follow what was little better than a path that was exceedingly rough and dangerous in places. As they had just pack horses to carry their possessions, only the essentials could be brought along.
?}	The first known religious service to have been conducted in Fayette County, PA was by George Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754. He led his army of Virginia Militia in daily prayers in a Church of England ritual.