Wild Ride with Captain Robert Stobo
We have an update on his whereabouts. He and Van Braam were given up as prisoner at Fort Necessity in 3 July 1754. He remained in captivity until he finally escaped the city of Quebec 1 May 1759. Read below of that wild escape. This man was already well known for drawing a detailed map of Fort Duquesne while held captive.
He then caught up with Wolfe and Amherst in Sept 1759 giving important information that may have led to Wolfe's scaling the Heights of Quebec to stand on the Plains of Abraham. How he got to Wolfe was no small endeavor.
"Although no independent evidence survives to corroborate Stobo's own account," writes Fred Anderson in Crucible of War, but he felt that " there is good reason to believe that it was he who told Wolfe of the footpath at L'Anse au Foulon (Fuller's Cove} [Wolfe's Cove?] --- a track that angled steeply up the bluff from the riverside to the Plains of Abraham, a couple miles west of the city [Quebec]. "
Major Andrew Lewis
We ran into this story when trying to locate the date when Major Andrew Lewis was released from Quebec. He shows up in mid April 1760 at Fort Loudoun Winchester after having been captured in Grant's Defeat Sept 1758. Andrew Lewis while captive may have seen Capt Robert Stobo in Quebec, but we have found no surviving contemporary corroboration.
Captain Robert Stobo
Captain Robert Stobo is one of the men Andrew Lewis may have seen in the city of Quebec. Andrew Lewis was first kept prisoner in Fort Duquesne, but was moved up to Quebec when the Forbes Expedition threatened annihlation of the French fort Duquesne.
From Fred Anderson's Crucible of War::
Wolfe sought the advise of only one officer, a man who knew Quebec better than anyone else on the expedtion, Captain Robert Stobo.
Stobo, on of the most vivid characters in a story that has no shortage of them, had lived in the city [Quebec] from 1755 the spring of 1759 as a prisoner of war.
He was in fact, one of the British prisoners of longest standing, for he and Jacob Van Braam had bee the officers whom Washington had given up as hostages at the surrender of Fort Necessity. Thereafter he and Van Braam had been moved from Fort Duquesene to Quebec for safe keeping,
but not before Stobo had drawn --- and, in folly or bravado, signed ----
a sketch of the fort's defences and arranged for Shingas to smuggle it out to the Pennsylvania authorities. The letter in which he described the fort turned up in Braddock's captured baggage after the Battle of Monongahela.
Before this damning document came to light, Stobo had the run of Quebec, mingling in its high society and even forming a business partnership with one of the biggest merchants. Once his role in revealing Fort Duquesne's defences became know, however, both he and Van Braam were arrested and tried as spies. The court acquitted Van Braam but found Stobo guilty and sentenced him to death ---a punishment he escaped only when the sentence was sent to Versailles for confirmation, and ordered suspended. Thereafter he enjoyed less freedom but eventually managed to move around the city and its immediate vicinity, carefully noting (as was his habit) the disposition of its defences.
ESCAPE
Twice in 1757 he tried to escape; twice he was caught.
Finally on May 1, 1759,
he led 8 other prisoners, including a woman and 3 children, in the attempt that finally succeeded. Descending the St Lawrence --- first in a stolen canoe, later in a schooner that he and his companions hijacked, complete with Captain and crew --- he had reached Louisbourg shortly after the Quebec expedition had sailed. With barely a pause, he turned around and ascended the river, joining Wolfe's army in July [1759].
Although no independent evidence survives to corroborate Stobo's own account, there is good reason to believe that it was he [Stobo] who told Wolfe of the footpath at L'Anse au Foulon (Fuller's Cove} [Wolfe's Cove?]
--- a track that angled steeply up the bluff from the riverside to the Plains of Abraham, a couple miles west of the city [Quebec].
On September 5 [1759], Wolfe ordered preparations for the move upriver, and on that or the following day met with Stobo. Then, evidently feeling he had critical secret information to communicate to Amherst, he sent Stobo off with a packet of dispatches on the seventh [7 Sept 1759].
pages 351-352
Fred Anderson in his Crucible of War The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 hardback published Feb 11, 2000
Captain Stobo, whom Wolfe had sent [to General Amherst ] with letters back on September 7 [1759], had arrived at Crown Point on October 9 [1759].
Unfortunately for Amherst, he [Stobo] arrived without the dispatches; a French privateer had overtaken the shift near Halifax and he [Stobo] had thrown Wolfe's letters overboard lest they be discovered among his possessions. He [Stobo] had therefore been able to give Amherst general information only, leaving the commander in chief intensely frustrated, "I am not a whit the wiser." he complained, "except that [Stobo] says Gen Wolfe had got with allmost his whole Army above the Town & [Wolfe] thinks he will not take it."
page 369
Fred Anderson in his Crucible of War The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 hardback published Feb 11, 2000
Alberts, Robert C. (1965). The Most Extraordinary Adventures of Major Robert Stobo. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Craig, Neville B., ed. (1854). Memoirs of Major Robert Stobo of the Virginia Regiment. Pittsburgh: John S. Davidson.
Stobo's end
In November 1771 George Washington wrote a letter to Stobo concerning land claims under Governor Dinwiddie;however Stobo killed himself on 19 June 1770. Source: Wikipedia.
We found that letter GW wrote to Stobo in the Founders Online footnote.
We also found two letters GW wrote on 22 Nov 1771 to John Adams and George Mercer about purchasing both Stobo's and Van Braam's land holdings promised in Dinwiddie's Proclamation of 1754.
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's alway more.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Compiled by Jim Moyer 9/20/2023, 9/27/2023, 10/1/23
Table of Contents
About Major Andrew Lewis
His Capture
Aftermath of Grant's Defeat
Grant's Defeat
3 Letters by GW to and about Stobo
Letter 1
From George Washington to George Mercer, 22 November 1771
To George Mercer Mount Vernon 22d Novr 1771 Dear Sir, Since my Letter of the 7th which will accompany this by Mr Adam, who I beg leave to recommend to your Notice; I have thought it advisable to purchase Stobo and Vanbraams Rights to the Land under Governor Dinwiddies Proclamation, provided they will take a trifle for it, and more than a trifle circumstanced as things are, I will not give.1
My only motive for doing this, is, that the progress of our Affairs may be less obstructed, by being more contracted—The whole trouble of late (in this Country I mean) has fallen upon me, and a good deal of expence which never has, nor indeed never can be, brought into Acct I have been Subjected to by my Activity in this matter; And, as it is very obvious that the whole Work must go on at the expence of a few, or not at all, I am Inclind to adventure a little further in order to take the chance of gaining in proportion to my loss; for no problem in Euclid is more clear than that those who do not choose to advance before hand whilst there is at least a hope of success will hardly draw their purse strings to reimburse the expences of others when even hope it departed from them.
If you can give Mr Adam any assistance towards makg these purchases, I shall acknowledge it as a singular favour—Colo. Cresap who I have seen since his return from England gave it to me as his opinion, that, some of the Shares in the New (Charter) Government on the Ohio might be bought very Cheap from some of the present Members—are you of this Opinion? Who are they that would sell? And at what price do you think a share could be bought?
I am Dr Sir Yr Most Obedt Hble Servt
Go: Washington ALB, DLC:GW.
Source:
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Letter 2
From George Washington to Robert Adam, 22 November 1771
To Robert Adam Mount Vernon 22d Novr 1771 Sir, In case of your going to England I should be obliged to you for using your Endeavours to purchase for me the Rights of Captns Robt Stobo & Jacob Vanbraam, to part of the 200,000 Acres of Land claimd by the Officers and Soldiers under Governor Dinwiddies Proclamation of the 19th of Feby 1754 which, by a late determination of the Governor and Council will be, if got at all, Nine thousd Acres to each of these Gentlemen.1
For neither of these shares would I give above an hundd pounds Sterlg at the Utmost because there is, in the first place a chance of our never getting the Land at all as it cannot yet be foreseen what difficulties we are to meet with from the Members of the Proprietary Governmt to the Westward of us; who have, it is said obtaind an actual Grant of the Country we are Surveying In2—In the next place if we do get them it is under every disadvantage and discouragement that the nature of the thing can possibly be attended with for instead of getting one half of the Land Contiguous to Pittsburg as we were entitled to do by Proclamation & where it would be valuable we are obliged to go 300 Miles below, and take the Land in large Tracts by wch means, & the Nature of the Country, we must necessarily Include a large portion of bad Land as we are confind to 20 Surveys & have made 10 of them in the most extensive bodies of good Ld we cd find & have not got near one third of our qty which besides the hardship of compellg us to receive, will be attendd with much difficulty & great discontent at a division as it is almost impossible to divide the good & the bad in eql proportn amg the differt Claimts; add to this, that we are obligd to be at a dble expence; first in Survg the whole qty & then each Man saddled with the charge of layg of his own part seperately wch by the by appears to be subjected to the Manifest Inconvenience of being held in the Nature of a joint Interest & consequently no Man ascertaind of his particulr spot till the whole are ready & willing to divide, for which reason it is, I incline to buy, in order that this Inconv[ienc]e may be lessen’d by the principal Shares getting into fewer hands, & because hitherto the principal share of the advance (which has been upwards of £200) and almost the whole trouble has fallen upon me, otherwise I must have given up every hope of my own—Under these Circumstances which are justly and truely related I think those who have contributed nothing towards bearing the trouble, or expense of this business (among whom Stobo & Vanbraam are two) cannot expect much for their Shares & therefore I would give a trifle in order to take the chance of gaining as well as loosing as I must carry on the Work—Whatever Sums you agree for (& I have no doubts of yr purchag upon the best terms you can) I have desired Robt Cary Esqr. & Co. to pay;3 & I shall be much obligd to you for any trouble you may be at & will thankfully repay all expences.
I have furthr to request the favr of yo., if it shd happen in yr way, to procure me a good Gardner; they, as well as other Tradesmen are frequently I am told to be had upon Indenture—Captn Jno. Johnstoun I know used to bring in more or less every yr in this manr, and sell them in the Country. I do not want one of yr fine fellows—a Man that can lay of a Garden, & will work hard in it afterwds, & who knows how to Sow Seeds in their proper Seasons is all that I desire. In short a good Kitchen Gardner is what I want—If he understd something of Fruit Trees & could Graft and Innoculate so much the better.4 The Gun herewith sent please to have handsomely Stockd—let the Stock be of the same Bend, & Substance at the Britch as the old one—The Barl to be sealed and properly cleansd on the Inside & to have a new Lock of a piece with the Barl—the whole to be done in a compleat mannr—with a pair of Bullet Moulds. A Neat Slip Cane, with a gold head (not expens⟨iv⟩e) with my Arms engravd thereon—Also a Plate with my Arms engravd & 4 or 500 Copies struck—A White Agate Stone fixd in the gold Socket sent with the Custis’s Arms engravd thereon for Mr Custis to whom it is to be chargd5—Heartily wishg you a pleast Voyage &ca I am with gt Esteem Dr Sr Yr Most Obedt Servt Go: Washington ALB, DLC:GW.
GW sent to London by Adam his letters to George Mercer, 7 and 22 Nov., to Robert Cary & Co., 22 Nov., to Robert Stobo and to Jacob Van Braam, both 22 Nov., and to Osgood Hanbury & Co., 14 December.
The text of the letter to Stobo and to Van Braam is printed here in note 1 and that to Cary as note 3. The text of the letter of introduction to Hanbury is: “The bearer of this Mr Robt Adam, a Mercht of Alexandria on Potomack River & a friend and Acquaintance of mine going to London I have taken the liberty of recommending him to your Notice, and shall think myself obligd in any Civilities you may shew him being Gentn Yr Most Obedt Hble Servt G. Washington” (ALB, DLC:GW).
Letter 3
GW made the following copy in his letter book of his letters to Robert Stobo and Jacob Van Braam of this date:
“Your claim to a share of the 200,000 Acres of Land under Governor Dinwiddies Proclamation has been entered, and the Governor and Council have settled the proportion’s which shall fall to each Man’s Lott (according to the Rank he enterd the Service with) by which each Field Officer is allowed 15,000 Acres—each Captain 9,000—each Subaltern 6,000—each Cadet 2,500—A Sergeant 600—a Corpol 500—and each private soldier 400 Acres a piece.
“The Solliciting this matter with some other expences that have attended the prosecuting of our Claim have cost a few Individuals upwards of £200 already and instead of getting one half the Land contiguous to the Forks of Monongahela (now Fort Pitt) where they are of some value, we are obliged to go down the Ohio near 300 Miles lower and take the Land in twenty Surveys, by which means, and the Nature of that Country which you know is very hilly and broken, we shall be obliged to include a large portion of bad Land so as not only to render the Grant of little value but will create a good deal of discontent at a division as it is absolutely impossible to make an equal distribution of the good & bad, nor divide it by Lott as differt Ranks are entitled to different quantities, and when all is done what plague and trouble we are yet to meet with from the Proprietors of the New Governmt to the Westward of us whose Grant Includes every Inch of the Land we are expecting under our Order of Council I know not time only can Reveal it.
“The expence attending this Grant of Ours, is in a manner but Just beginning as we have not Surveyed a third part of the Lands yet, and are laid under the Inconvenience & hardship of first exploring the Country, then Surveying our whole quantity in twenty Surveys, and after that each Man his particular quantity seperately—A Grievance we have labourd much to get removd, but could not, It is therefore Incumbant upon you to appoint an Agent here to attend to your Interest in these Lands; who should be enabled to contribute your proportion of the expence, for without money the business cannot go forward even if the way was Smooth much less where there are difficulties in every Stage of it.
“What I have here said will just serve to give you some Idea of this Affair; to relate the whole proceedings, with the troubles and Vexation’s that have accompanied them in Stating our Claims, drawing Petitions, presenting Memorials &ca &ca would require a Volume and afford little entertainment I shall therefore only add that I am Dr sir Yr Most Obedt Servt Go: Washington. “Note, A Letter of the same date of the above, and word for word with it, I also wrote to Captn Jacob Vanbraam—& sent them both—together with the foregoing & following by Mr Robt Adam” (ALB, DLC:GW).
2. He is referring to the Walpole Company.
3. The text of the letter to Robert Cary & Co. of this date is: “I have Commissioned the bearer of this Mr Robert Adam a friend and Acquaintance of mine and one who I beg leave to recommend to your Notice to purchase on my Acct the Rights of two Officers to certain Shares of a Tract of Land granted by Govr Dinwiddies Proclamation in 1754 to the Troops that engaged in the Service of this Colony at that time—If he does this he may possibly have a call for about One hundred and fifty pounds Sterling to pay for them which I beg the favour of you to advance him on my account, charging me Interest thereon; or, if you have any unwillingness to do this, I then request that the money may be paid out of Mr Custis’s money in your hands and I shall allow him Interest for it here. “Mr Adam has also one or two other little Commission’s to execute for me which possibly may require from Ten to Twenty Guineas—this Sum you will please to advance on my Account also—among I have requested him to get me a Gardner, if one of an orderly, and Sober behaviour can be had upon good terms your advise in procuring of one may be of Service both to him and me and will merit my thanks as I am a good deal in want of one. Captns of Ships (Johnstoun in particular) I know make a practise of engaging Tradesmen of different kinds upon Indenture for four or five years and bring them over from whence I conclude a Gardner may be had in the same way but rather than fail I would give moderate wages—I do not desire any of your fine fellows who will content themselves with Planning of work, I want a Man that will labour hard, knowing at the sametime how to keep a Garden in good order and Sow Seed in their proper Seasons in ground that he has prepard well for the reception of them” (ALB, DLC:GW). 4. Inoculation, or budding, is the process of inserting a bud from one shrub or tree under the bark of another in order to raise flowers or fruit different from those of the stock. Robert Cary & Co. were unable to secure a gardener for GW in London. See GW to Cary, 15 July 1772. See also note 3. 5. Adam sent the following invoice to GW from London, dated 28 Mar. 1772: “Sundries purchasd & sent by Mr Robert Adam in the Martha Rawlins &ca1 Cane1. 0.0Jno. PayneA gold Cane head4. 0.0a pr of gold Pipes. 4.0Engravg a Coat of Arms. 6. S. ValliscureEngravg Arms on a Plate.14.0To Strikg 300 Prints. 6. Wm WilsonIn a Case. 2. A neat fowlg ps. Londn proovd4 feet blew Barl, ¾ boreBridle lock & brass furns.4. 0.01 pr Bullet Moulds. 1. New stockg a fowling ps. & best dble bridle lock1. 8. Cleang & Repg the old Lock. 2. £12. 3. Note, The above Gun & Bullet Moulds for Mr Ld Washington” (ALB, in GW’s hand, DLC:GW). Rawlins & Barron were tobacconists at 201 Borough; Stephen Vallescure was a jeweler at 2 Change Alley, Basinghall St.; and William Wilson & Co. were gunmakers at Minories, all in London.
PERMANENT LINK What’s this
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Trade LaForce for Stobo
To George Washington from La Force, March 1759
From La Force [c.March 1759] Monsieur Comme Jespere que maintenant que vous estes en pocession du fort Duquesne que les difficultées Sont Levées qui Empéchoit mon Echange avec Le Sr stobo—Cest ce qui m’engage a vous Importuner Encore une fois; et vous Prier de Vouloir Bien Vous Employer aupres de Mr Votre Gouverneu⟨r⟩ pour me retirer du honteux Esclavage ou Je suis depuis Si longtems, et dobtenir que Je sois Envoyer a la Nouvelle york par L’epreuve Batiment qui partira;1 auquel endroit Je Serai en lieu de Travailler a me faire changer plus facilement que D’Icy. Je Crois que le Sr stobo meritte Bien que les Gentilhommes de Cette Colonie Sinteressent a Le faire revenir a sa patrie En me relachant des prisons, Vous priant en même tems Monsieur que Si ma demande vous Est accordé que Je sois ⟨en⟩ peu Elargie Sur ma parolle, affin que je reprenne un peu de forces Et que Je m’accoutume au grand air.2 dans Lesperance ou Je suis que vous avez assez de Generosité pour me rendre ce Service. Jay lhonneur destre trés respectueusement Monsieur Votre Tres humble Tres obeissant Serviteur La Force
ALS, DLC:GW.
The cover of the letter, directing it to “Monsieur Le Colonel Washington. a Williamsburg,” indicates that it was addressed to GW at a time that he was in Williamsburg, and the contents of the letter establish that La Force wrote it not long after the French gave up Fort Duquesne and while he himself was still being held in Williamsburg. GW arrived in Williamsburg after the campaign in Pennsylvania about 27 Dec. 1758 and stayed for only a few days. He also attended the session of the Virginia assembly that convened in Williamsburg on 22 Feb. 1759. La Force was himself gone from Williamsburg by mid-March 1759.
La Force (Michel Pépin) was the French commissary of stores on the upper Ohio when GW’s forces captured him and three young French officers near Fort Necessity in the spring of 1754. Lt. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie sent the other three prisoners to Britain in the summer of 1755 but kept La Force, “a most wicked Fellow,” a prisoner in Williamsburg (Dinwiddie to Thomas Robinson, 1 Oct. 1755, ViHi: Dinwiddie Papers).
After a move to exchange La Force for Capt. Robert Stobo (see Andrew Lewis to GW, 31 Oct. 1758, n.2) came to nothing in the spring of 1756, La Force broke out of the jail at Williamsburg but was recaptured two days later.
In May 1757 GW “Gave Monsr La force 4£” (General Ledger A, folio 35). Whether through GW’s intervention prompted by this letter or not, La Force was shortly sent to New York “Sur ma parolle.”
Fauquier wrote Jeffrey Amherst on 17 Mar. 1759: “We are desirous in this Colony to release Stobo; and we have accordingly sent La Force to New York to Governor [James] De Lancey, on his parole; in Order to be exchanged for him, which we earnestly desire may be insisted on” (Reese, Fauquier, 1:186–87).
1. This ship may have been one of two Virginia-owned schooners named Tryall that were on the New York to Hampton run during the spring of 1759 (P.R.O., C.O. 1448, 19).
2. Since La Force’s attempted escape in 1756 he had been closely confined. According to an early nineteenth-century historian he “was loaded with a double weight of irons, and chained to the floor of his dungeon” (Burk, History of Virginia, 3:193).
Sources:
Founders Online
March 1759 letter
.La Force captured at Jumonville, now in NYC posted Apr 30, 2023 https://jimmoyer1.wixsite.com/fortloudounva/single-post/la-force-captured-at-jumonville-now-in-nyc
French Prisoner "La Force" aka Michel Pépin posted Mar 1, 2023 https://jimmoyer1.wixsite.com/fortloudounva/single-post/french-prisoner-la-force-aka-michel-pipin
Stobo Memoirs
Memoirs of Major Robert Stobo of the Virginia regiment by Stobo, Robert, b. 1727; Craig, Neville B., 1787-1863 Publication date 1854
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The most extraordinary adventures of Major Robert Stobo by Alberts, Robert C Publication date 1965
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Sunday Word 2 posted on 10/1/2023
We came upon this story on Stobo while we were looking for something else. We were looking for when Major Andrew Lewis got out of captivity. He was often at Fort Loudoun, especially presiding over court martial trials at Fort Loudoun Winchester Virginia. We find out he was in Quebec as a prisoner around the time Stobo was still prisoner, but so far we found no corroboration of those 2 prisoners meeting. We did find out Major Andrew Lewis appears at Fort Loudoun Winchester Virginia in mid April 1760 after being captured during Grant's Defeat Sept 1758 on a hill overlooking Fort Duquesne.
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But this story is about Stobo, the longest recorded captured prisoner in this North American theatre. He was famous for his detailed drawing of Fort Duquesne while captive there. He was given up to the French July 1754 as part of surrender terms George Washington agreed to at Fort Necessity. He was there at that fort Duquesne to see prisoners and spoils captured from Braddock's Massacre of 9 July 1755.
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BTW, Braddock's chest of papers included Stobo's drawing of Fort Duquesne. And the French didn't know it. Someone did a further inventory of those captured papers and brought that to higher attention to French leadership. By that time of discovery, Stobo was living the high life as a prisoner in Quebec, even making a business deal with a big French merchant in Quebec. When that drawing came to light, Stobo and Van Braam both prisoners given up by GW in 1754 were both charged as Spies. Van Braam was exhonerated, but Stobo was found guilty. Versailles stepped in and removed the recommended death sentence on Stobo.
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Then begins the 2nd Chapter of Stobo. His escape.
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