Headquarters Papers of Brigadier-General John Forbes Relating to the Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758 1729-1759

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
170 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Special Collections Public Services & Reference Staff
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred citation:

Headquarters Papers of Brigadier-General John Forbes Relating to the Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758, 1729-1759, Accession #10034, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Summary

Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Headquarters Papers of Brigadier-General John Forbes Relating to the Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758, 1729-1759, Accession #10034, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Background

Biographical / historical:

Biographical sketch

John Forbes, the son of Colonel John Forbes of Pittencrief, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, and Elizabeth Graham, was probably born in 1707. He was trained in medicine, and on September 25, 1729, received his commission as surgeon in the Royal Regiment of North British Dragoons (Scots Greys). In July, 1735, he purchased a cornetcy in a troop of the Regiment. With faithful service in the Scots Greys during the War of Austrian Succession, he was promoted rapidly, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel in December, 1750 (he had been given that rank in the Army in December, 1745). In Februaryruary, 1757, Forbes was given the colonelcy of the 17th Foot and shortly thereafter departed for North America, where he served the Earl of Loudoun as adjutant general.

Forbes was made a brigadier by William Pitt in December, 1757, with the responsibility of directing a campaign in 1758 the objective of which was the capture of Fort Duquesne and the clearing of the French from the Ohio River Valley. He proceeded to Philadelphia in April, 1758, to assume direct command of operations and planning for the expedition. After months of building a new road through the wilderness and rugged terrain of western Pennsylvania, of building forts along the way to hold territory and protect his army and its supply posts, Fort Duquesne was finally taken on November 25th, after the French had evacuated and blown it up. General Forbes was a very sick man during the campaign and he died in Philadelphia on March 11, 1759, and was buried there in the chancel of Christ Church.

Acquisition information:

In the foreword to his Writings of General John Forbes(Menasha, Wisconsin: Collegiate Press, 1938), Alfred Proctor James discussed the fate of the Forbes office copies relating to the Duquesne expedition. He speculated that the archive may have been turned over to James Glen, Forbes' cousin and executor, a former royal governor of South Carolina, but suggested that there are Forbes papers in the possession of relatives in Scotland.

More than a third of a century later, on October 15, 1974, Sotheby's in London offered for sale at auction, a group of some 530 manuscripts from the headquarters papers of General Forbes, virtually all of which related to the Duquesne expedition. Sotheby was able to say only that the owners descended from James Glen through his niece and heir, Elizabeth Glen, who married George Ramsay, the Eighth Earl of Dalhousie. These papers were purchased for the Tracy W. McGregor Library with funds provided by the Trustees of the McGregor Fund, who have made annual grants for the purchase of additions to the collection since 1939.

It will be immediately apparent that the present archive contains virtually no material after August 1758. This suggests that there is an additional group of papers that has been lost or is in the possession of some other descendant and may be discovered in the future.

Physical location: