The Lead Plate that Started a World War

This is the only intact example of the six plaques that French Captain Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville placed along tributaries of the Ohio River in 1749. By this act, France laid claim to the Ohio Valley. But the British had already claimed the region. In 1754, Virginia's governor sent soldiers—led by a 21-year-old George Washington—to confront the French in present-day western Pennsylvania. The skirmish that ensued helped spark a global conflict involving most European powers and their colonies. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) ultimately expelled France from mainland North America.

Transcription: "In the year of 1749, of the reign of Louis the 15th, King of France, we Céloron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Gallissonieré, Governor General of New France, to reestablish tranquility in some Indian villages in these provinces, have buried this plate at the mouth of the River Chinodahichiltha on the 18th of August near the River Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of said rivers, as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the kings of France preceding, and as they have there maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix la Chapelle."