On Campaign Against Fort Duquesne

The Braddock and Forbes Expeditions, 1755-1758, through the Experiences of Quartermaster Sir John St. Clair

During the Seven Years’ War, Sir John St. Clair served as Deputy Quartermaster General with British General Edward Braddock’s disastrous campaign to capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio in 1755. St. Clair had great responsibilities during the campaign and was the first Deputy Quartermaster General in North America’s history. History has laid a litany of blame at Braddock’s feet: he was old, slow, logistically naïve, a martinet poorly versed in tactics, uninterested in his soldiers’ welfare and unwilling to cooperate with the colonists. Based on a new transcription of St. Clair’s correspondence, this comprehensive study of Braddock’s logistics offers a radical reinterpretation of the general and his campaign. The author also presents an examination of St. Clair’s role as quartermaster during Brigadier General John Forbes’ subsequent and successful campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1758.