"WAS NECESSITY NECESSARY?"
by
Francis H. Straus II
Delivered to The Chicago Literary Club
May l, l995
Was Necessity Necessary?
This title sounds quite philosophical, but as I know there
are several members of this club who are trained philosophers I would
not dare encroach upon their expertise. Rather my subject tonight is
historical and refers to the temporary Fort Necessity, built quickly
and defended briefly in the Great Meadow in southern Pennsylvania.
Picture for yourselves the North American continent in the
middle l700's. The French and their followers had settled and
controlled the St Lawrence River valley, the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi River, forming a large crescent. The British had settled
and controlled the eastern seaboard from New England to Georgia.
These two powers were not comfortable with each other on either side
of the English Channel or in the New World. The French colonies in
new France were set up and run in a fashion which sent young French
men over to new France where they employed Indians and a few
voyageurs to collect furs or fish which were then returned to Europe
for a profit. The French traders came back to France and French
culture when they had amassed enough wealth. The English on the
other hand sent settlers who left for religious or economic reasons
and intended to stay in the New World, to make their living, have
families, and spread into the unoccupied territories. As the New
Englanders spread north and west they came into contact and conflict
with the French and their loyal Indian followers. Later when the
Virginia settlers began to move inland over the Alleghany mountains
they came in conflict with French who believed the Ohio valley was
their's as a part of the Mississippi basin.
In l749 the Ohio Company was organized by a group of Virginia
planters and prominent Englishmen. They obtained a grant of 500,000
acres on the upper Ohio River. The Cumberland Gap was established as
a route between the Potomac and a branch of the Monongahela River
opening up the Ohio territory. The French could not sit back and
watch their Mississippi basin lands come under the control of the
English so they started building a string of forts extending from the
St. Lawrence down to the Ohio. These were at Ogdensberg, Roulle
(Toronto), and Niagara. In l753 Marquis Duquesne sent l500 soldiers
to continue to build this line of forts. The next one built was Fort
Presque Isle on the south shore of Lake Erie, then they built a road
down to French Creek where they erected Fort LeBoeuf and then were
planning a large fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and
Monongahela rivers where the two combine to form the Ohio River.
This was to be Fort Duquesne, named after the Marquis.
Now I wish to leave the French here and pick up on their
neighbors in Virginia. One hundred years before, in l643, an
Anglican minister, Lawrence Washington, a former fellow of Brasenose
College, Oxford, was deposed from his parish by the Puritan take over
and faced ten years of financial hardship before he died on his manor
in Northamptonshire, England. His son decided to make a fresh start
in Virginia: John came as a ship's officer and married the daughter
of a land owner, becoming a land owner himself, then Justice of the
Peace and finally a burgess in the Virginia General Assembly. John's
eldest son Lawrence carried on in the same way, leaving two boys who
were left fatherless when Lawrence died at age 29 years. The boys
went to England for schooling, and came back to Virginia in l7l5.
One of them, named Augustine, married Jane Butler and had two sons,
one named Lawrence. Fourteen years later Jane died and Augustine
married Mary Ball. Six children issued from this second marriage,
the first being George, named after his mother's guardian George
Eskridge. Augustine owned about 50 slaves and moved about between
several Virginia plantations. He was a member of upper Virginia
gentry, although not at the top level.
Augustine, George's father, died when George was just eleven
years old. Almost all of his father's property, over l0,000 acres,
was left to George's older half brothers; he and his mother received
Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock. George
Washington's education started at home carried out by a convict
indentured servant and continued in Fredericksburg at Reverend James
Marye's school. He learned some Latin, mathematics, and English
literature, but never went to college and was not highly educated.
Compared to some of his contemporaries such as John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, and James Madison, he was practically illiterate and was
always ill at ease in set debates or abstract discussions. One of
the reasons cited for why Washington did not leave home to go to
William and Mary, school in England, or even into the navy as a
midshipman was that his unimaginative mother wanted him at home.
Fortunately he was befriended by his l4 year older half brother
Lawrence who married into Virginia's upper crust when he took Anne
Fairfax as his bride. Lawrence had joined a Virginia regiment under
Admiral Vernon on an expedition against the Spanish at Cartagena.
There was no military glory as the expedition failed, but Lawrence
came home after this adventure and named his plantation Mount Vernon
after his admiral.
Washington often visited and later came to live in Lawrence's home at
Mount Vernon. He learned the social graces, but remained somewhat
dense and humorless.
George Washington was not penniless yet he needed a life's
work. Land was an important influence which all Virginia gentlemen
respected. It was the required element for financial and social well
being. In the middle of the previous century the exiled Charles II
had granted a large tract of land in the New World to a faithful
follower. By l744 this tract between the Potomac and the
Rappahannock rivers, extending west to the Pacific Ocean, was
inherited by Lord Fairfax, a cousin once removed of Lawrence's wife.
In l748 he came from England to view his property. A development
company was then formed to bring the lands of the upper Potomac into
use.
It was clear to young George that to realize his ambitions he
must get in on this business venture and the best way to do that was
to become a surveyor. First he "ran lines" accompanying the
Fairfaxes across the Blue Ridge into the Shenandoah Valley. He was
the assistant surveyor in laying out Alexandria, Virginia. He then
was appointed surveyor of Culpepper County and his career was off and
running. When he was l8 years of age, in l750, he had already
managed to lay his own claim on three tracts of land equaling l450
acres in the lower Shenandoah valley. He was energetic, reliable,
and canny.
The following year Lawrence became ill and in an effort to
restore his health George accompanied him to Barbados. But Lawrence
did not improve and died in l752 of tuberculosis. George inherited
much of Lawrence's land holdings, including Mount Vernon. More over,
George applied for and received Lawrence's rank in the Virginia
militia. In many ways George stepped into the shoes of his elder
half brother who had been his role model. He loved Mount Vernon and
for many years focused his attention on this small corner of Virginia
developing its plantings and improving its buildings.
Now in l753 at the age of 2l years George Washington's
military career was about to begin. George was 6 feet 4 inches with
broad shoulders, gray blue eyes, a craggy face and a stubborn,
reserved, and ambitious nature. When the Lieutenant Governor of
Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, wished to deliver an ultimatum to the
French who were, as you recall, building their line of forts down to
the Ohio River, George Washington was chosen to carry this message.
In Fredericksburg he collected a frontiersman name Gist, a fellow
Mason and French interpreter named Van Braam and with four other men
they started up the Potomac River following a trail being developed
by Fairfax's Ohio Company. This carried them to the Cumberland Gap
where they transferred to the Youghiogheny watershed, thence to the
Monongahela and an Indian settlement near the forks of the Ohio and
then north to Fort Le Boeuf.
Washington learned a lot about traversing the wilderness and
dealing with the devious ways of the Indians on this trip.
Unfortunately the French were not in agreement with Dinwiddie's
ultimatum to remain out of the Ohio territory and formulated a polite
but firm negative response for Washington to carry back to Virginia.
The trip back was very arduous which included being shot at by
Indians, having to travel day and night to stay ahead of Indian
pursuers, a fall off a raft into the nearly frozen Allegheny River,
and finally reaching the Potomac for the trip down to settled
Virginia. Washington wrote a report for Dinwiddie at Williamsburg
which received wide distribution, even to London, and the now Major
Washington was quite highly regarded.
Dinwiddie now had to back up his ultimatum with a military
expedition into the Ohio country and Washington was again promoted,
now to lieutenant colonel, and made second-in-command, behind Joshua
Fry, a mathematics professor at William and Mary. Recruiting a
sufficient number of soldiers was difficult. Dinwiddie envisioned
sending a force of l00 frontiersmen to the forks of the Ohio to build
a stockade fort, followed by a 300 man force of Virginia militia to
secure the fort. This was to be followed by an unknown force of
promised British regulars who could deal with any French reaction to
the first two military thrusts. Unfortunately the fort building
group only numbered 40 even when promised triple wages by William
Trent, the leader of this group. Washington was able to offer land
in the Ohio territory free of taxes for fifteen years, but even so he
was only able to recruit l20 men and these were the saddest
representation of the dregs of society, men without homes or clothes.
On the morning of April 2, l754, Washington led l38 rag tag
officers and men out of Alexandria, Virginia, representing the
advanced group of Virginia militia, with orders to restrain and make
prisoners or kill anyone obstructing the settlement of the Ohio
territory by the Virginians. Washington had two captains: Jacob Van
Braam, his interpreter from the previous trip, and Peter Hogg, each
in charge of a company of infantry. Several weeks behind was a third
captain, Robert Stobo, who had the title of regimental engineer.
Stobo was a 27 year old Scotsman from Glasgow who had immigrated to
Virginia at age l6 after his mother and father died. He set himself
up in business selling dry goods and hardware in Petersburg,
Virginia. He was a cheerful young man who enjoyed parties and the
race track; his company was much sought after by wealthy planters.
Stobo often visited Williamsburg and was known by the Scot Lieutenant
Governor Dinwiddie. They shared some common ancestry. When the
military expedition was being formed, Robert Stobo was given a
captain's rank and hired as the engineer at eight shillings a day.
Stobo followed Washington into the wilderness four weeks
later with a junior officer and fifty men. Washington had reached
Winchester in the Shenandoah valley; Governor Dinwiddie came soon
after in his new regimentals purchased for the occasion of meeting
with the Indian chiefs to urge them to join the military thrust to
seize and protect the Ohio territory. While in Winchester, Ensign
Ward, Trent's second-in-command of the first force sent to build a
stockade fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela
rivers, came back with the information that he had just erected the
stockade gate when a superior French force of 90 bateaux and canoes
with 500 men came down the Alleghany River. They disembarked,
positioned three nine pound cannon aimed at the weak fort and
demanded surrender. Ensign Ward tried to stall saying he had to
confer with his commander back at Cumberland. Captain Coutrecoeur,
commander of the French force, would have none of this and Ensign
Ward surrendered the Fort and returned back to Virginia meeting the
reserve forces at Winchester.
Washington was now sent forward stopping 50 miles west of
Cumberland in the Great Meadow. From here he put his troops to
building a road to the Monongahela River, but it was slow going. He
was about sixty five miles south east of the Forks and kept asking
for more supplies and better food. Colonel Fry was bringing his
larger force to Washington's aid when he had a mortal fall from his
horse and died a few days later at Cumberland. At this same time
Washington received a message from the friendly Indian chief
Monocatootha called Half King reporting that there was a small French
force near the Indian camp site. Washington assembled three officers
and forty men, marched at night reaching Half King's camp in the
early morning. From here they marched to the nearby valley
encampment of the French. The French were just eating breakfast when
Washington attacked. Fifteen minutes later the French surrendered
but the Indians continued to scalp the dead and wounded. Ten French
were dead and 2l were taken prisoner. One man escaped back to Fort
Duquesne to tell what had happened. Unfortunately one of the dead
was the French Commander, Ensign de Villiers, the Sieur de
Jumonville. The people at Fort Duquesne were told that the young
French commander had tried to show a letter he was carrying, but the
Virginians did not want to become involved with negotiations so
opened fire. The French were deeply upset, particularly the dead
commander's older brother Louis Coulon de Villiers. At council the
French decided to mount a large force to attack Washington and avenge
the loss of their advanced patrol. Things did not move rapidly on
the frontier and it took one month before the French started towards
the Great Meadow.
Washington meanwhile had sent his 2l prisoners back to
Virginia and started building a fort, Fort Necessity, in the Great
Meadow. The prisoners claimed that they had been on a peaceful
mission carrying a message to the English to leave the Ohio
territory. The letter found on Ensign de Villiers bore this out to a
large part, but also included some reference to espionage activity.
Washington took great pains to counter the French charge in letters
to Dinwiddie where he said "the absurdity of the pretext is too
glaring". In his journal he wrote that the French camp was a camp of
concealment, not an ambassador's camp, and that on first realizing
the English were upon them, they ran for their rifles without calling
out their peaceful intentions. The French won the war of publicity
in Europe saying the English had started the aggression on the Ohio
and that Washington was an assassin. Current history using all the
pertinent documents concludes that both Jumonville and Washington
were out scouting each other in the woods and aggressive conflict was
the expected behavior on each side.
Dinwiddie realized that the French would soon retaliate and
ordered all the rest of his forces from Winchester and Cumberland up
to the Great Meadow under the command of Major Muse who had fought
with Lawrence Washington in the siege of Cartagena. Major Muse was
somewhat lackadaisical about mobilizing his force and only Captain
Stobo with his staff and men marched out on the track recently cut
through virgin timber coursing up and down mountainous ridges and
fording cold spring rivers. Stobo reached the Great Meadow on June 9
bringing Colonel Washington's whole force to 5 companies (250 men),
some Indians, volunteers and civilian boat builders. The Great
Meadow lay between two ridges five miles apart. Just beyond the
western ridge was the northward flowing Monongahela River at Red
Stone, 37 miles upstream from the confluence and the Ohio River. A
small l0 foot wide stream meandered through the Great Meadow.
After the Jumonville skirmish Washington had pulled in his
road builders to construct a circular stockade 50 feet in diameter
made from l0 inch white oak logs. Inside was a fourteen foot square
storehouse made from bark and hides in which provisions and gun
powder were stored. This stockade might hold 50 soldiers when quite
crowded. Washington, it is said, was proud of his little Fort
Necessity observing that "the Great Meadow was a charming field for
an encounter" and in his palisade he could withstand an attack of 500
men.
Provisions were very dear, flour had run out, and ammunition
was limited. Of all the officers Washington, the regimental
commander, was the second to the youngest and had had no experience
under fire. Artillery was limited to a few swivel guns of small
caliber. A further political problem for the commander developed
with the arrival of Captain Mackay and his South Carolina regulars.
They were British army not militia and therefore were not supposed to
take orders from a provincial colonel or do common labor like road
building without extra pay. They camped separately and had brought
only a few head of beef and no flour.
Intelligence reported that
reinforcements and provisions had recently reached Fort Duquesne and
a large French attack force of 600 French and Canadians plus l00
Indians were starting south from the confluence towards the Great
Meadow.
After a further attempt at road-building Washington staggered
into Fort Necessity with tired and hungry troops. He found that no
further reinforcements or provisions had arrived and found that the
Indian camp had decamped. He had a momentous decision to make,
either forge ahead with his exhausted ill-fed troops back 50 miles to
Cumberland or stop and make a stand at Fort Necessity. Washington
and his officers decided that the men could never make the further
march and so determined to defend the Fort at the Great Meadow. How
much of this decision was made by a young ambitious officer who may
not have had a full notion of how many French were marching against
him, we will not ever know. There was always the hope that
reinforcements would soon arrive. Captains Mackay and Stobo had
their companies dig trenches and throw up breastworks outside the
stockade fence. These formed a large diamond shape with the circular
stockade in one of the acute angles. A trench was dug to the brook
to assure a water supply in case of a siege.
Villiers was still marching east from the Monongehela River
when he suddenly began to worry that the English had set up an ambush
into which he was marching. Fortuitously his Indian scouts came in
with an English deserter who under some pressure revealed that
Washington had returned with all his men back to Fort Necessity.
Thus reassured the French started for Fort Necessity the following
morning. When within a few miles of the Great Meadow he ordered his
men to rest and then formed them into three columns for the final
push towards the English.
At 9 a.m. July 3rd, l754, Washington's scouts noted the near
presence of the French force. It was raining and the troops were
working valiantly to complete the entrenchments around the stockade.
At eleven a.m. a wounded scout was brought in and Washington ordered
his men into rows before the incomplete trenches. He had 284
effective fighting men against 600 French and Canadians plus a large
force of Indians. He should never have been caught by such a
superior force, but here he was with little choice but to fight and
hope for the best.
The French emerged from the woods in their three columns.
They lined up in a skirmish line and advanced across the meadow. No
shots were fired until one of Washington's officers ordered several
swivel guns mounted inside the stockade to be discharged. Then the
French fired two rifle volleys with little effect before dispersing
behind trees on the the north. Washington ordered his men into the
half deep trenches and to fire at will. The French and Indians using
every protection such as trees, stumps, rocks, bushes and hillocks,
kept up a continuing fire. The English force began to suffer
casualties both wounded and dead. They were knee deep in mud and
water in their trenches. Then a real downpour began which soaked all
their powder and their guns refused to fire. The French shooting
diminished as well. The English prepared for a charge by fixing
their bayonets. Also at this point some of the troops found several
barrels of rum and began to imbibe diminishing Washington's effective
fighting force even further.
As nightfall was approaching, much to the English surprise
the French called for a parley. Washington shouted that no French
would be allowed within the defenses. They replied that they would
accept a delegation to their lines and would guarantee that they
would be safe. In fact the French were in the best position, but
their powder was also very wet and almost gone, the soldiers were
tired not being used to hard conditions, and their provisions were
limited because they had elected to travel light. They could put
Fort Necessity under siege, bring up some artillery to finish the
job, but what if English reinforcements were to arrive?
Washington had only two men who understood French, Ensign
LaPeyroney who had been seriously wounded, and Captain Van Braam.
These two were sent out to meet Villiers and LeMercier and returned
with the message that France and England were not at war so the
French commander could show mercy towards the English and let them
retire to their homes and not be taken prisoner. Washington felt
that he was lucky to be able to end this battle with some honor but
refused to accept a verbal agreement. LaPeyroney had now collapsed
so Van Braam went back across and returned a long time later with two
sheets on which the terms were written in duplicate. Unfortunately
the wet weather and poor penmanship out in the field made reading the
terms quite uncertain. Mostly Van Braam gave a verbal accounting
from memory of what the terms were. In essence it said capitulation
was granted to the English troops. The only reason there was a
troubling of the peace was "to avenge the assassination (reported as
killing by Van Braam) of one of our officers (Jumonville) and to
hinder the English settlement on the French King's lands". Some
articles followed this in the written French proposal. The first six
related to the English withdrawal and the declaration not to return
for at least one year and the seventh required the English to provide
two officers to be taken hostage and held until the 2l prisoners the
English had taken in the Jumonville affair were returned to the
French. This document was agreed to by Washington and his staff and
Van Braam took it back to the French where it was agreed to as well.
The method of choice of which two officers were to be given
over to the French as hostages is not recorded but Captain VanBraam
and Captain Stobo were the two chosen. Neither was married or had
families in Virginia and this has been suggested as the reason they
were selected. Probably Stobo volunteered and Van Braam was assigned.
Stobo formally took off his sword and presented it to the
next inferior officer in his company. Van Braam thought his uniform
not elegant enough and purchased Washington's coat and waistcoat in
order to make a better impression. During the night they took a few
belongings and transferred over to the French lines. In the morning
the English marched out of Fort Necessity, buried their 31 dead and
prepared to move out with their 70 wounded and a small proportion of
their possessions. They left a pile of possessions to be picked up
later. The French marched in, raised the Fleur de Lis flag, dumped
what was left of the rum, and burned the stockade. The Indians broke
into and started stealing the English possessions. The French were
unable or unwilling to stop them. Washington lost his regimental
papers and his daily journal.
It took 5 days to march to Cumberland leaving small groups of
wounded with a few able soldiers all along the route. Washington
reported to Colonel Innes and then was sent to Williamsburg to report
to Governor Dinwiddie. His traveling companion described Washington
as "very sad company"
One summer later we know Washington was back in this same
territory a few miles south of Fort Duquesne advising General
Braddock who had been sent to clear the Ohio territory of French.
This sizable regular army with some Virginia militia was surprised,
while climbing a gully up a hillock, by French and Indians at the top
who ran to either side firing from behind trees. The battle had
raged for five hours when the English column collapsed and many were
massacred. Washington somehow survived this encounter though two
horses were shot out from under him, and his clothes were torn by
flying bullets. More significantly for our story, all of General
Braddock's baggage was captured by the French.
It would seem to be a logical place to end this historical
exposition with the simple thought that Fort Necessity was not
necessary and no commander in his right mind would have tried to
defend it against such superior forces. It was only a combination of
ambition and inexperience that led our hero, George, to attempt it.
Certainly if the defensive works had been built atop a rise instead
of down in a meadow with a wooded elevation on the north side, the
defense could have been better. But the story is not yet over. We
must follow the adventures of our young Scotsman, Captain Stobo, in
order to get further understanding of these times and his character.
Robert Stobo and Jacob Van Braam were escorted back to Fort
Duquesne with the victorious French and Indian forces. They were
billeted in the French officers quarters and had complete freedom of
the camp until they were exchanged which was expected in a few weeks'
time.
Van Braam spent his time playing cards with the French
officers but Stobo prowled and explored the whole camp learning all
its strengths and weaknesses. Stobo felt he was relieved of his
obligations as a hostage because he had seen that his possessions had
been pilfered and also because he found that soldiers of his company
had been captured by French Indians as they retreated from Fort
Necessity, which in his eyes had broken the capitulation agreement.
He tried to get the French to buy or take these English soldiers from
the Indians but they refused. After this Stobo intensified his
efforts to carefully diagram Fort Duquesne and get copies sent back
to Virginia to be used by future military expeditions against the
French. On the back of his map-diagram he wrote about which Indians
were friendly to the English, how much the French wanted the English
prisoner LaForce returned, how easily the Fort could be taken with
its minimal defensive troops (most had been returned to Canada), and
finally a caution to keep this document private because any
realization by the French that he was providing intelligence
information back to Virginia would go hard on him. Two copies of the
map and letter were successfully smuggled out of Fort Duquesne to the
English. Unfortunately the letters were delivered to a Indian trader
who opened them, copied them and talked about them before sending
them on to Cumberland and Dinwiddie in Williamsburg.
After this the captivity became more routine and Stobo worked
on his French and talked with Indians. He learned that in absentia
he had been promoted to major, given a bonus, and commended by the
House of Burgesses "for his gallant and brave behavior in defense of
his country". Van Braam had been excluded from
these honors because he was charged with treacherously translating
the capitulation agreement which had led to Colonel Washington's
signing it and saying the English had confessed to assassinating
Jumonville.
Dinwiddie responded to Stobo's smuggled letters by blocking
the ordered exchange of the French prisoner LaForce and ordering an
attempt to exchange another French officer and two cadets for Stobo
and Van Bramm. This offer was summarily refused by the French
commander at Fort Duquesne and the two Virginians were started north
under guard in canoes up the Allegheny River towards Quebec.
These important prisoners had to be delivered directly to
Governor Duquesne. They arrived in Quebec 35 days and 790 miles from
Fort Duquesne. The Governor was courteous and unhurried. He asked
about the affairs of the English colonies and learned only that the
hostages were discomforted at having been abandoned by their Governor
of Virginia. The French Governor had no knowledge of the Stobo
spying and the letters that had gotten back to Virginia. The
hostages were lodged in rooms in the citadel, given freedom to walk
the city on "parole", and were given an allowance for subsistence.
Little is known of Van Braam's activities, but Stobo with
both carried funds and credit bought clothes, jewelry, otter mittens
and a beaver great coat. So equipped Stobo soon became involved in
Quebec society. His open cheerful nature and his desire to learn
French made him appealing to scores of attractive spirited young
women in the town. He even became engaged in trading activities in
an effort to increase his wealth. He was allowed total freedom to
pass back and forth between Quebec and Montreal and to visit the many
Indian camps in that part of French Canada.
The French Intendant who had been in charge of all commerce
since l748 was a totally corrupt official stealing immense sums from
the King and Canadian traders. Life in French Canada was
complicated, and Major Stobo entered into these dealings, doing quite
well for himself until some telltale paragraphs in the London press
about Fort Duquesne were picked up by French intelligence, reported
to Paris and subsequently brought to the attention of the new French
Canadian governor, Marquis de Vandreuil. He immediately confined the
two English hostages, but still had no hard evidence of their spying activity.
This lack of proof was soon changed by General Braddock's
defeat near Fort Duquesne and the capture of his chest containing
Stobo's map and letter which had been given to Braddock at
Cumberland. This hard evidence in the hands of Governor Vandreuil
sent Stobo and VanBraam into separate dungeon cells, and later after
authorization from Paris to trial in Montreal.
Both Stobo and Van Braam were charged with high treason
before a war council of French officers and the Governor. Stobo
would not admit that the map and damming letter were written by him
despite several handwriting "experts" who were brought in as
witnesses saying that comparison with recent letters verified that
the map and letter were Stobo's. The French case was that Stobo, a
hostage, translated as guest, violated his status when he sent
intelligence information back to Virginia and thus was guilty of high
treason. The issue was clouded by the fact that France and England
were still technically at peace and by Stobo's insistence that his
obligation as a hostage were negated by the actions of the Indians
when they raided and stole his personal property at the Meadow and
when they captured and enslaved his enlisted men as they marched away
from Fort Necessity, all this in defiance of the capitulation
agreement. The case was further complicated by the fact that
Virginia did not recognize the capitulation agreement which
Washington signed because the French prisoners including LaForce were
under the Virginia Governor's jurisdiction not Washington's control,
so Stobo and Van Braam were not hostages for the return of the French
prisoners, but in reality prisoners of war who had no obligation to
their captors and could spy and escape if they wished.
All these factors were brought out in the trial including the
fact that Van Braam had no knowledge of Stobo's writing his map and
letter. The judgment was quick and unanimous that Van Braam was to
be acquitted and Stobo was guilty and was to be beheaded on the
scaffold in Montreal. This punishment could not be carried out until
a transcript of the trial was sent to France and signed by the King.
Both men were returned to prison in Quebec. Interestingly the
ministers in Paris felt that the validity of a trial of a British
subject under these circumstances was uncertain and so Stobo's death
sentence was suspended. Van Braam and Stobo were moved from the
dungeon to an apartment from which they both escaped on May lst,
l757, by placing the beaver coat in Stobo's bed and a suitcase in Van
Braam's bed mimicking sleeping prisoners. They were recaptured five
days later on the southside of the St Lawrence. Two months later
Stobo again escaped, by jumping out of his second-story window. The
guards outside had taken shelter in a storm. He was again
recaptured, on a road 75 miles down the St Lawrence.
Now both prisoners were held in a dungeon until a kindly
young lady in Governor Vandreuil's family asked that Stobo be given
greater freedom for his health was suffering. He was moved to a
residence on the ramparts and regained his health.
From l755 to l757 the French military succeeded in all they
attempted. Montcalm captured Forts Oswego on Lake Ontario and
William Henry on Lake George. Indians laid waste to British frontier
settlements from New England to Virginia. There were French
victories in Europe and the Mediterranean. The British were badly
mauled in an attempt to capture Fort Ticonderoga from Montcalm but a
short time later were successful in capturing Louisbourg on Cape
Breton Island under the direction of Generals Amherst and young
Wolfe. The tide was beginning to turn. In the summer of l758
General Forbes led 6000 men over the Pennsylvania mountains towards
Fort Duquesne. Forbes was captured during the march but Colonel
Washington and Major Lewis carried on and raised the English flag
over Fort Duquesne in November l758. It had taken five years of his
life but Washington finally succeeded in changing Fort Duquesne to
Fort Pitt, the forerunner of Pittsburgh.
A number of English prisoners were now held in Quebec. A
small group of these prisoners slowly identified each other as a
potential group for an escape plan. Major Stobo was the highest
ranked and became the leader and main financier of the plan.
Lieutenant Stevens, a member of Roger's Rangers, had been captured
near Fort Ticonderoga and took the role of second-in-command.
Others were Larkin, a prisoner taken by French Indians, and Clark,
with his wife and three children. Calark was a shipwright captured
by French Indians, who now worked for the French in a boatyard. The
last was Denbo, a prisoner from the New Jersey regiment. They all
collected food and guns. The first plan was to cut out a sloop at
the boat yard where Clark worked, but the boats were too heavily
guarded so a second plan was developed, to steal a large birch bark
canoe and paddle it down river to Louisbourg which was now in the
hands of the British.
After several frights and difficulties this group of nine
souls got into their stolen canoe in the night of May lst l759, two
years after Stobo's first attempt, and 236 years ago tonight, and
started down river. Next morning their escape was noted with a
sounding of the alarm and a price equivalent to $3000 was placed on
Stobo's head. Traveling mostly at night, after three days the
escapees were 70 miles down river when they ran into a storm, nearly
overturning and all becoming soaked. They landed to build a fire and
warm up. Nothing was dry enough to start the fire except a dry
handkerchief that Mrs. Clark pulled from her bosom. Much of their
provisions were wet and unusable. Several days later, l20 miles
below Quebec, while camped on a small island in the river, a two
masted shallop rowed in to a nearby creek mouth. Stobo and party
captured this boat from a French plantation owner and his 3 workers.
Putting their own things aboard they headed down river. After
staying awake for two nights guarding the prisoners, they were put
ashore with one gun and some provisions. The shallop proceeded down
the St Lawrence estuary to the mouth of the river, 350 miles from
Quebec. On day l6 another storm blew up and while trying to beach
the shallop it hit a rock and holed the hull. During the next few
days the escape party tried to repair the boat, but at best it now
required two men to bail constantly.
Their provisions were again low and they had only cod fish to
eat. Fortunately for them, at this point a French sloop and a
two-masted schooner came and anchored nearby. In the leaky shallop
they rowed out and captured the French ships; they burned the sloop
and proceeded in the schooner south fifteen miles before putting
their prisoners ashore with a musket, fishing line, and 3 days
provisions. These French immediately went to a nearby French post,
told their tale, and the officer in charge set out with an armed
vessel to recapture the fugitives. Unfortunately for the French this
vessel went north of St Jean Island (now Prince Edward Island) and
ran right into General Wolfe's convoy of 200 ships heading towards
the mouth of the St Lawrence. Stobo had gone south of St Jean Island
and landed at La Joie, a British-held harbor. After formalities they
again set sail, now with a thirteen man ships guard, for Louisbourg
which they reached 36 days after starting from Quebec.
Governor Whitmore carried out formal interrogation and soon
realized Stobo's fund of intelligence which would be of great value
to General Wolfe in his invasion of French Canada. So in less than a
week Stobo sold their schooner and other valuable spoils of war,
bought uniforms and went back up the St Lawrence to be special staff
to General Wolfe standing before Quebec. The Siege of Quebec went on
for several months. Major Stobo's advice was used on numerous
occasions and may have helped Wolfe choose the up-river landing site
used in the final successful assault on Quebec.
Several days before the final assault Stobo was ordered to
carry dispatches from Wolfe to General Amherst via Boston. This trip
was interrupted by a French privateer several leagues out of Halifax
which caused Stobo to send his uniform and papers to the bottom of
the ocean to prevent identification. The Governor in Boston believed
him, loaned him some money, and sent him on to Amherst on Lake
Champlain. Here he joined that army in its move up the Lake until
General Amherst heard that the British had taken Quebec and so called
his troops into winter quarters.
Major Stobo took off south for Williamsburg where he was
received with great acclaim. The House of Burgesses voted him a
bonus of l000 pounds and double back pay for his hostage time. His
return to Petersburg, Virginia, proved to be boring and Stobo waited
for a preferment, meaning a commission in the British Army. After
six weeks at home he returned to General Amherst in New York, went to
London, was interviewed by William Pitt, and came back to Amherst
with a letter from Pitt suggesting that Stobo be commissioned as a
captain in Amherst's regiment. This was done and Stobo marched with
his new company of British regulars out of Quebec as part of the
three part pincer offensive against Montreal in l760. The campaign
was successful because the English mounted a l7,000 man offensive
against a 2500 French defensive force. The French capitulated without
a shot fired and lost their entire claim to the St Lawrence, the
Great Lakes, and the Mississippi, to say nothing of the Ohio
territory which started the confrontation in the first place. Canada
was designated as bilingual, with freedom of religion so Catholicism
remained unaffected and the only real change was that all commerce in
furs and grain now was carried out by British firms, not French ones.
In France Voltaire held a party to celebrate the loss of l5,000 acres
of snow and Madame de Pompadour said "now at last the King can get
some rest".
The French and Indian War had ended but the Seven Years War
did continue in Europe, India, and the West Indies. Captain Stobo
now as a British officer in the Fifteenth Foot sailed from New York
to Barbados and in January was part of a successful assault on
Martinique followed by occupations of St Lucia, Grenada, and St
Vincent which fell without resistance. King George the Second died,
William Pitt was replaced, but the British government continuing the
grand design sent an ultimatum to Spain which resulted in a
declaration of war so the Barbados troops were ordered to Cuba in
l762. The siege of El Moro castle was long and costly in lives with
5000 deaths mostly from disease, but eventually the sappers blew a
hole in the wall and El Moro fell after 46 days. In the time between
when the castle capitulated, but before Havana succumbed, a Spanish
artillery shell hit the castle parapet wall. Part of it collapsed on
Stobo who suffered a severe skull fracture. He was returned to New
York.
After more than a year of recovery time Captain Stobo again
reported for duty with his company in Quebec. In l765 the regiment
was moved to Montreal and in l768 it was returned to England. Ever
since his head injury Stobo had not been quite the same and by l770
he was drinking heavily and seemed depressed. On June l9, l770,
Captain Robert Stobo raised his service revolver to his head in the
barracks and pulled the trigger. The coroner's report attributed the
death to lunacy. Because of this immoral and illegal suicide act
Stobo was buried secretly in an unmarked grave. Why this master of
l8th century adventure ended his life so ignominiously is not clear
from the records. One can only suppose that the brain damage
following his head trauma in Havana left much more of a permanent
scar than was realized.
Thus played out the interesting affairs of Colonel Washington
and Major Stobo in the war that brought much of Eastern North America
into the hands of England, and away from France and Spain. As we now
know England fumbled its leadership responsibilities and the American
Revolution resulted with some of these same characters in new roles.