13 Facts About Christopher Gist

Christopher Gist was an explorer, surveyor, and frontiersman active in Colonial America.

Christopher Gist was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country.

At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, Christopher Gist accompanied Colonel George Washington on missions into this wilderness and saved Washington's life on two occasions.

Historians believe that he received training as a surveyor, more than likely from his father Richard Christopher Gist, who helped plot the city of Baltimore.

Christopher Gist married Sarah Howard, a daughter of Joshua Howard of Manchester.

Christopher's brother Nathaniel Gist married Sarah's sister Mary Howard, and partnered with Washington and two other veteran soldiers on a prospective land deal during the mid-1750s.

Christopher Gist was in Muskingum on Christmas Day of 1750 where he celebrated with some local indigenous people a religious ceremony with readings from the Church of England.

That winter Christopher Gist mapped the Ohio countryside between the Lenape village of Shannopin's Town, site of present-day Pittsburgh, to the Great Miami River in present-day western Ohio.

When Christopher Gist returned to North Carolina, he found that his family had fled to Roanoke, Virginia, because of Indian attacks.

Christopher Gist owned land near the present city of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Christopher Gist named it Gist's Plantation and began to build a town there.

Christopher Gist was a member of the Braddock Expedition during 1755 when it was defeated by the French and their Native American allies.

Christopher Gist's pay for military service with the First Virginia Regiment was paid to his heir, Nathaniel Christopher Gist, by 1766.