On Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: The Braddock and Forbes Expeditions, 1755-1758, through the Experiences of Quartermaster Sir John St. Clair

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Sir John St. Clair served as the Deputy Quartermaster General for General Edward Braddock during his campaign to capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio in 1755. St. Clair had great responsibilities for the Braddock Campaign, and he was the first British Deputy Quartermaster General to serve in North America in its history.

The traditional interpretation of the campaign is that Braddock was old, slow, conservative, a martinet, focused upon discipline of his soldiers, poorly versed in tactics, uninterested in his soldiers or their welfare, logistically naive, unwilling to cooperate with the colonists, and disdainful of the specific conditions on the Virginia frontier. A virtual litany of logistical, military and leadership crimes has been laid at Braddock’s feet.

The St. Clair correspondence that comprises the core of this study of the Braddock Campaign presents a radically different interpretation of General Braddock. This study further presents a study of St. Clair’s role as Quartermaster on the subsequent, and successful, 1758 Campaign by Brigadier General John Forbes against Fort Duquesne. This new transcription of St. Clair’s correspondence offers, for the first time, the possibility to perform a comprehensive study of the logistics that facilitated both the Braddock and Forbes Campaign.