Gist, << gihst, >> Christopher (1706?-1759), was an American frontier guide and a friend of future United States President George Washington. Gist was the first to survey the Ohio River Valley, in 1751. In 1755, during the French and Indian War, he fought under British General Edward Braddock at Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Later, Gist served as captain of a company of scouts and as an Indian agent in Tennessee. Gist was born in Maryland. He died on July 25, 1759.
