 While dining with Joncaire, Washington learned of French intentions to "take possession of the Ohio".Washington's party reached Fort LeBoeuf on December 11, in the middle of a raging snowstorm.The French commander, Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, received them with hospitality; however, in response to Dinwiddie's demands, he pointed out that the letter was more properly addressed to his superior, New France's governor the Marquis Duquesne.