Robert Dinwiddie

Dinwiddie, Robert (1693–1770), lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia (1751–58), who made alliances with Native American tribes to prevent French encroachment into western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley. In 1753 forces recruited by Dinwiddie attacked the French stronghold at Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh). After quarreling with the Virginia Colonial Assembly over the appropriation of war funds, Dinwiddie gave up his post and returned to England.