Seven Years' War in America: Manuscript relating... - Lot 130 - Iegor

Seven Years' War in America: Manuscript relating to the defeat of George Washington near Fort Duquesne in 1754 Copy of Robert Stobo's (1726-1770) July 28, 1754 letter to Robert Dinwiddie (1693-1770), governor of the Virginia colony between 1751 and 1758, inviting the Indians to take Fort Duquesne. Letter in duplicate of the period certified by the principal leaders of New France Vaudreuil, Bigot and Perthuis. Autograph signed by Joseph PERTHUIS (Québec 1714-1782), merchant, counselor to the Superior Council of Québec and commissioner of the royal prisons: also signed by Pierre de Rigaud de VAUDREUIL (1698-1778), last governor of New France and François BIGOT (1703-1778), intendant of New France. 4 pp. in-folio. Quebec, 30 September 1755. In early April 1754, Governor Dinwiddie, faced with the advance of the French, dispatched Colonel George Washington to the Forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburgh) to guard it. Stobo, who had been promoted to captain on March 5, followed the small army about a month later, leading a company of Virginia troops. In mid-April a party of French, Canadians and Indian allies, under the command of Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecoeur, had canoed down the Alleghany River and, after dislodging a few dozen English from a fort they were erecting at the forks of the river, began the construction of Fort Duquesne. The regiment then advanced south, and surrounded Washington's army at Fort Necessity. Upon surrendering to the French, Washington handed over two of his captains as a guarantee that the 21 French prisoners he had taken several weeks earlier would be released. The two hostages were Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman by birth, and Robert Stobo. Stobo found eight members of his regiment at Fort Duquesne whom the Indians had taken prisoner after the battle. He felt that this act violated the terms of the surrender and that he was thus relieved of his obligations as a hostage. He wrote a long letter to Dinwiddie on July 28, 1754, advising him not to return the French prisoners and even urging him to take the fort in question that fall. It is this famous letter that is discussed here. This letter was given to General Braddock, but after his defeat at the Battle of Monongahela in July 1755, it fell into the hands of the French. Strobo was tried by a military court presided over by Governor General Vaudreuil, who sentenced him to be beheaded. However, the court in Versailles suspended the sentence. This is a strictly contemporary duplicate of Strobo's famous letter - since it dates from the very moment of its discovery by the French after the battle of Monongahela, drawn up by the French authorities and certified by Governor General Vaudreuil. Indeed, the following authentication mentions appear: "I, the undersigned councilor at the Superior Council of Quebec, certify that I have copied in English word for word the above letter, the original of which has been deposited at the secretariat of the Governor General of New France, made in Quebec on 30 September 1755. Perthuis". Then, underneath: "We, the Governor General and Intendant of New France, certify that Mr. Perthuis, advisor to the Superior Council of Quebec, has copied the above letter in English, and that we have heard from all the Englishmen who came to this city that the said Sr. Perthuis spoke English, and that he translated it perfectly. At Quebec City, 30 September 1755. Vaudreuil. Bigot". Transcription, translation and references on request.