Bibliography
Boudriot, Jean. John Paul Jones and the Bonhomme
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1978.PECAUDYDECONTRECOEUR, CLAUDE-PIERRE
Pecaudy de Contrecoeur, Claude-Pierre
(December 28, 1705–December 13, 1775)
French Army Officer
P
ecaudy was a significant military offi-
cial in and around the Ohio Valley dur-
ing events immediately preceding the
French and Indian War. He was a capable ser-
vant of the French Crown and afterward func-
tioned as the third most important Canadian
in Lower Canada.
Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeur
was born in Contrecoeur, Quebec, on Decem-
ber 28, 1705, the son of a French officer serv-
ing in the colonial regulars. In 1722, at the age
of 16, he followed into his father’s profession
by becoming a cadet, and within seven years
he had advanced to second ensign. Pecaudy
proved himself a capable, reliable military fig-
ure, so in 1742 he gained a promotion to lieu-
tenant and transferred to a detachment at
Fort Frederic (now Crown Point), New York,
under his father. In 1748, the rank of captain
was conferred, and the following year he was
selected to accompany Pierre-Joseph
Celoron de Blaineville on an important expe-
dition into the Ohio Valley. In the course of
this work Pecaudy assumed command of
Fort Niagara (now Youngstown, New York),
an important link in the chain of French fron-
tier fortifications. It was his duty to help
maintain communications and trade between
distant New France along the St. Lawrence
River and other forts and settlements farther
west.
These were auspicious times for New
France, as it was extending its boundaries
westward to the Mississippi River and down-
ward to Louisiana. This entire region,
sparsely settled save for indigenous tribes of
Native Americans, was also a source of con-
siderable English interest. American colonials
had been crossing the Appalachian Mountains
in increasing numbers, surveying the land,
and building settlements of their own on land
previously claimed by France. It was such a
dispute in 1754 that sparked the internecine
French and Indian War, and Pecaudy bore an
indirect role.
In the autumn of 1752, Governor-General
Ange de Menneville, Comte de Duquesne,
alerted Pecaudy of his intention to mount a
2,000-man expedition into the Ohio Valley for
the purpose of building forts and shoring up
French claims in that area. A succession of
delays and commanders followed, but in Jan-
uary 1754 Duquesne appointed Pecaudy to
leave Fort Niagara and head south to the con-
fluence of the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers.
Once there he was to construct a major new