Maj. George Washington, portrayed by Eric Forster of Butler, and guide Christopher Gist, portrayed by Bob Shaner of Leechburg, react to a simulated musket blast during a hike along Connoquenessing Creek in Harmony Saturday marking the 260th anniversary of Washington's 1753 mission to demand French withdrawal from the Ohio Country, which helped spark the French and Indian War. The program by the Harmony Museum, the Old Stone House and Washington's Trail 1753 attracted more than 300 people.

Maj. George Washington, portrayed by Eric Forster of Butler, and guide Christopher Gist, portrayed by Bob Shaner of Leechburg, react to a musket shot fired by a French Indian, portrayed by Robin Herne of Pittsburgh obscured by smoke, in an re-enactment during hikes along the Connoquenessing Creek in Harmony during Saturday’s commemoration of the 260th anniversary of Washington’s 1753 mission to demand French withdrawal from the Ohio Country, which helped spark the French and Indian War. The program by the Harmony Museum, the Old Stone House and Washington’s Trail 1753 attracted more than 300 people. Washington’s party spent the night of Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 1753, at a Delaware Indian village near the site of today’s Harmony. Then 27 days later an Indian from a tribe allied with the French shot at Washington east of today’s Evans City, but missed.