La Force captured at Jumonville, now in NYC
French prisoner, LaForce (Michel Pépin) pops up again April 21, 1759. He's in New York City now. But his English guardians need some money. If no funds, LaForce is going to be returned back to Virginia. Virginia got what it wanted out of him. Now he's just a burden. They don't want him back.
A young Major George Washington first met him at Venango (the English name for the French Fort Machault) 7 Dec 1753.
The second time?
He was captured by Washington at Jumonville Glen, 28 May 1754.
He was lucky.
His commander, Ensign Joseph Couloun de Villiers de Jumonville, and others were not so lucky.
Fred Anderson in his Crucible of War speaks of how Chief Half King scooped out that commander's brains in the Prologue, page 6, of that book.
Writing, like fishing is teasing with a wiggle and a hook, and like fishing, writers like Whoppers, including me. May the writer ever be fortified by a scout's mentality to find the truth, no matter how boring or contradictory of the writer's desires and bias. Did that happen to La Force's commander, Ensign Jumonville? We brashly leave that mystery for you to pursue.
But back to LaForce.
Letters by John Carlyle and George Washington testify to his abilities and importance to the French. He is a skilled interpreter. He had many connections to the Indians. He is also expert at logistics and organizing for an Army, which are the tasks of a Quartermaster.
But now after 5 years out of pocket, what importance can he have now?
He was released from Virginia to NY in March 1759.
Michel was making his way to Canada with Pouchot’s party in 1759 when, near Saratoga on November 29, General Amherst “stopd Mons La Force whom Capt Wheelock had sent until I can learn whether Mr. Van Braham may be exchanged for him.”
No exchange arrangements had been made by the time of the capitulation of Montreal, and Michel probably returned home only in the autumn of 1760. See source. and this source.
Note on animated picture: That's Bill Hunt, a living historian interpreter.
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Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 4/29/23, update 4/30/2023
Table of Contents
Virginia Executive Council held April 21st 1759
November 30, 1753
December 7, 1753
19 February 1754
23 February 1754
May 28, 1754
29 May 1754
. See more on La Force's name and biography.
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Virginia Executive Council
held April 21st 1759
The Executive Council who reads the following letters is a sort of upper house to the House of Burgesses. It also serves as advisory council to the Governor. And it is the highest court before going to London.
Present
President John Blair
William Nelson
Thomas Nelson
The Governor [Lt Gov Francis Fauquier]
Richard Corbin
Philip Ludwell
John Tayloe Esqrs .
Mr. Commissary
The Governor was pleas'd to communicate the following Letters .
A Letter from General Amherst dated New York , March 30th
signifying he is glad to find that the Command of the Virginia Forces is offer'd to Col. Byrd ; that upon a strong Presumption it would , and a Certainty of his accepting the same , he sent him to us about a Fortnight before , to be assisting in expediting the Levies , also immediately to order a Detachment of his Regiment to Fort Ligonier - renewing his Request to his Honor to correspond and cooperate with Brigr . - General Stanwix in every Measure that can tend to the Good of the Service .
Also another Letter from his Excellency dated the 31st of March,
informing that La Force is now upon Long Island , where he was sent by Governor De Lancey , after having taken his Parole — that what his Honor recommends in Relation to him and the two Gentlemen of Virginia , shall be punctually observed upon the first Occasion which shall offer in treating for an Exchange of Prisoners
#154 (p.136)
Executive Journals , Council of Colonial Virginia 137
Also a Letter from Mr. Beverley Robinson dated New York April 6th
signifying that no Fund being there for maintaining the french Prisoners, that La Force might not be sent back to Virginia , which he thought would not be agreeable to his Honor, he had become answerable for his Maintenance , which will be about two Dollars per Week .
Also a Letter from Col. Byrd , dated Philadelphia , March 26th signifying he had employ'd Mr. David Franks to provide the Cloath ing for his Regiment according to his Honor's Order — that as he was obliged to advance a Great Deal of Money for that Purpose , he had taken the Liberty of drawing a Bill on him in his Favor for £ 5000 Pensylvania Currency .
#155 (p.137)
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TIMELINE
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November 30, 1753
Logstown
GW's diary
30th: Last Night the great Men assembled to their Council House to consult further about this Journey, & who were to go; the result of which was, that only three of their Chiefs, with one of their best Hunters shou’d be our Convoy: the reason they gave for not sending more, after what had been propos’d in Council the 26th. was, that a greater Number might give the French Suspicion of some bad Design, & cause them to be treated rudely; but I rather think they cou’d not get their Hunters in.
We set out about 9 o’Clock, with the Half King, Jeskakake, White Thunder, & the Hunter;49 & travel’d on the road to Venango, where we arriv’d the 4th: of December, without any Thing remarkably happening, but a continued Series of bad Weather.50 This is an old Indian Town, situated on the Mouth of French Creek on Ohio, & lies near No. about 60 Miles from the Logstown, but more than 70 the Way we were oblig’d to come. We found the French Colours hoisted at a House where they drove Mr. John Frazer an English Subject from: I immediately repair’d to it, to know where the Commander resided: There was three Officers, one of which, Capt. Joncaire, inform’d me, that he had the Command of the Ohio, but that there was a General Officer at the next Fort, which he advis’d me to for an Answer.
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December 7, 1753
Venango 60 miles north of Logstown
GW's diary
7th: Monsieur La Force, Commissary of the French Stores,52 & three other Soldiers came over to accompany us up. We found it extreamly difficult getting the Indians off to Day; as every Stratagem had been used to prevent their going up with me. I had last Night left John Davison (the Indian Interpreter that I brought from Logstown with me) strictly charg’d not to be out of their Company, as I cou’d not get them over to my Tent (they having some Business with Custaloga, to know the reason why he did not deliver up the French Belt, which he had in keeping,) but was oblig’d to send Mr. Gist over to Day to fetch them, which he did with great Perswasion.
Footnote 52
52. Michel Pépin, called La Force, was captured by the British near Great Meadows in the spring of 1754 and sent to Williamsburg as a hostage after the surrender of Fort Necessity. His abilities were as respected by the British as by the French: “looseing La Force, I really think, w’d tend more to our disservice, than 50 other Men, as he is a Person whose active Spirit, leads him into all parlys, and brought him acquainted with all parts, add to this a perfect use of the Indian Tongue, and g’t influence with the Indians” (GW to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754, DLC:GW).
Footnote 52
4. Michel Pépin, called La Force, was French commissary of stores on the upper Ohio. Because of his skill as an interpreter and diplomat he was sent down the Ohio in the winter of 1753–54 to prepare the Indians for the French occupation. In the spring of 1754 he was captured by the British forces near Fort Necessity, and a number of British observers noted how serious the loss of his services was to the French. See GW to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754.
GW had encountered La Force in Dec. 1753 while he was carrying Dinwiddie’s letter to the French commandant (Diariesdescription beginsDonald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79.description ends, 1:146–47). For a report of this speech, see Pa. Arch. Col. Rec., 6:21–22.
Footnote 4
To George Washington from William Trent,
19 February 1754
Letter not found: from William Trent, Forks of the Ohio, 19 Feb. 1754.
A newspaper account of this letter reads:
“Letters from Messieurs Trent, and Gist,1
to Major Washington, of Virginia, give some Account of their Situation near the Ohio. The first Letter is dated Feb. 19, at Yaughyaughgany big Bottom. The 17th Mr. Trent arrived at the Forks of Monongohella2
(from the Mouth of Red Stone Creek, where he has built a strong Store House), and met Mr. Gist, and several Others:3
In 2 or 3 Days they expected down all the People, and as soon as they came were to lay the Foundation of the Fort, expecting to make out for that Purpose about 70 or 80 Men. The Indians were to join them and make them strong. They requested him (Major Washington) to march out to them with all possible Expedition. They acquaint him, that Monsieur La Force (ou, La Farce)4
had made a Speech to some of our Indians and told them, that neither they nor the English there, would see the Sun above 20 Days longer; 13 of the Days being then5
to come: By what Mr. Croghan6
could learn from an Indian in the French Interest, they might expect 400 French down in that Time: A Messenger sent from the French Fort had Letters for the Commanders of the other Forts to march immediately and join them, in order to cut off our Indians and Whites, and some French Indians were likewise expected to join them: When La Force had made his speech to the Indians, they sent a String of Wampum to Mr. Croghan, to desire him to hurry the English to come, for that they expected soon to be attack’d, and pressed hard to come and join them; for they wanted Necessaries and Assistance, and then would strike: They further write, that 600 French and Indians were gone against the lower Shawneese-Town,7
to cut off the Shawneese; 200 Ottaways and Chipawas came to Mushingum8 and demanded the White People there, and shewed them the French Hatchet; the Wayondotts, tho’ not above 30 Men, refused to let them kill them in their Town; but they expected every Day to hear they had cut off the Whites and likewise the Wayondotts.”
Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 14 Mar. 1754.
Trent was engaged in constructing a storehouse for the Ohio Company at the mouth of Redstone Creek when he received his instructions from Dinwiddie to go to the Forks of the Ohio to begin work on the fort at that site. See Robert Dinwiddie to GW, Jan. 1754. Trent then proceeded immediately to the Forks where he was joined by Christopher Gist and other Ohio Company employees and began the process of recruiting men and supplies for the fort.
Founders Online Footnotes 1. For the newspaper description of Gist’s letter, see Gist to GW, 23 Feb. 1754. By the early 1750s Gist (c.1706–1759), a native of Maryland, had become a leading explorer, surveyor, and Indian trader. He was living in North Carolina when he was employed by the Ohio Company in 1750 to explore as far west as the Scioto River, and between 1751 and 1753 he carried out further explorations for the company on the Great Kanawha and Ohio rivers. Gist had accompanied GW on his journey to the French commandant. See Diaries, 1:130–61. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1754 Gist moved his family from his plantation (Gist’s Settlement) in the Monongahela Valley near Redstone Old Fort back to Opeckon, his place across the Potomac River from the Ohio Company’s trading post at Wills Creek. Gist later served as a guide in Braddock’s expedition and beginning in 1755 acted as a captain of scouts in the Virginia Regiment commanded by GW.
2. The Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet at the site of present-day Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River. The confluence was generally called the Forks of the Ohio or the Forks.
3. The Ohio Company storehouse on the right bank of Redstone Creek near present Brownsville, Pa., was erected by the company in late 1753 and early 1754 and soon became known as Redstone Old Fort. Ens. Edward Ward described it later as “a strong square Log house with Loop Holes sufficient to have made a good Defence with a few men and very convenient for a Store House, where stores might be lodged in order to be transported by water to the place where Fort Du Quesne now stands” (Darlington, Bouquet, 42).
4. Michel Pépin, called La Force, was French commissary of stores on the upper Ohio. Because of his skill as an interpreter and diplomat he was sent down the Ohio in the winter of 1753–54 to prepare the Indians for the French occupation. In the spring of 1754 he was captured by the British forces near Fort Necessity, and a number of British observers noted how serious the loss of his services was to the French. See GW to Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754. GW had encountered La Force in Dec. 1753 while he was carrying Dinwiddie’s letter to the French commandant (Diaries, 1:146–47). For a report of this speech, see Pa. Arch. Col. Rec.description beginsColonial Records of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Harrisburg, 1840–53.description ends, 6:21–22.
5. In MS this word reads “them.”
6. Before 1754 George Croghan (d. 1782) was one of Pennsylvania’s leading Indian traders, land speculators, and Indian agents. His trade was virtually destroyed during the French and Indian War, but he continued to serve Pennsylvania during the war as commander of scouts and in supplying provisions to British forces. Trent and Croghan had been business partners since around 1745. By 1754 Croghan had moved his operations to a 4,000–acre tract on the banks of Aughwick Creek and to his plantation on Pine Creek 4 miles above the Forks of the Ohio. At the time this letter was written Croghan was at the Forks acting as an interpreter for Trent, who spoke no Indian languages.
7. Lower Shawnee Town lay on both sides of the Ohio at its confluence with the Scioto River. Although a major Shawnee town, it was inhabited by Indians of other tribes as well.
8. Muskingum, on Tuscarawas River, was about 5 miles east of present-day Coshocton, Ohio.
Source:
To George Washington from Christopher Gist,
23 February 1754
Letter not found: from Christopher Gist, Monongahela, Pa., 23 Feb. 1754.
A newspaper quotation of this letter reads:
“An Indian who was taken Prisoner from the Chickasaws by the Six Nations some Years ago, has been this Year to see his Friends there; in his Passage up the Ohio, fell in with a Body of near 400 French coming up the River; he parted with them below the Falls,1
and then came, in Company with 10 of them that were sent up to treat with the Shawneese at the lower Town;
on their Arrival there, the English Traders had agreed to make Prisoners of them, but the French getting a Hint from some Indians, they fled away in the Night without discovering their Business:
We have also News of 600 French and Indians gone down to fall on the Shawneese if they will not admit the lower Army to pass up the River to join that above; it would therefore be prudent to let the Governor know this, perhaps he might send a Number of Cherokees to join the Shawneese at the lower Town, and defeat them, or prevent their joining those above. Pray send a Line by Mr. Steuart,2
and let us know the exact Time you will be here, that we may Speak Truth in all we say to our Friends.”
Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 14 Mar. 1754.
Founders Online Footnotes
1. This was the Falls of the Ohio, about 600 miles below the Forks of the Ohio. Louisville, Ky., was later established opposite the Falls.
2. Gist is probably referring to Henry Steward, who accompanied GW on his journey to the French commandant and performed courier duty in 1754.
Source
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May 28, 1754
These Officers pretend they were coming on an Embassy, but the absurdity of this pretext is too glaring as your Honour will see by the Instructions and summons inclos’d:12 There Instructions were to reconnoitre the Country, Roads, Creeks &ca to Potomack; which they were abt to do, These Enterpriseing Men were purposely choose out to get intelligence, which they were to send Back by some brisk dispatches with mention of the Day that they were to serve the Summon’s; which could be through no other view, than to get sufficient Reinforcements to fall upon us imediately after.
12. Joseph Coulon de Villiers, sieur de Jumonville (1718–1754), a 16–year veteran of the French army in America, held the rank of ensign and in 1754 was assigned to Fort Duquesne. Ordered by the sieur de Contrecoeur to carry a “summons” to the English to vacate the Ohio country, he left the fort on 23 May in command of approximately 35 men. Among his officers was Pierre Jacques Drouillon (Druillon), sieur de Macé (b. 1725), also an ensign, who returned to Canada after he was freed and became a lieutenant in the French army in 1759.
For La Force, see William Trent to GW, 19 Feb. 1754, n.5.
Footnote 12
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From George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie,
29 May 1754
From our Camp at the Great Meadows [Pa.]
he Sense of the Half King on this Subject is, that they have bad Hearts, and that this is a mere pretence, they never designd to have come to us but in a hostile manner, and if we were so foolish as to let them go again, he never would assist us in taking another of them[.] Besides, looseing La Force I really think wd tend more to our disservice than 50 other Men, as he is a person whose active Spirit, leads him into all parlys, and brought him acquainted with all parts, add to this a perfect use of the Indian Tongue, and gt influence with the Indian He Ingenuously enough confessd that as soon as he saw the commission & Instructions that he believd and then said he expected some such tendency tho he pretends to say he does not believe the Commander had any other but a good design.
Founders Online Footnote
12. Joseph Coulon de Villiers, sieur de Jumonville (1718–1754), a 16–year veteran of the French army in America, held the rank of ensign and in 1754 was assigned to Fort Duquesne. Ordered by the sieur de Contrecoeur to carry a “summons” to the English to vacate the Ohio country, he left the fort on 23 May in command of approximately 35 men. Among his officers was Pierre Jacques Drouillon (Druillon), sieur de Macé (b. 1725), also an ensign, who returned to Canada after he was freed and became a lieutenant in the French army in 1759. For La Force, see William Trent to GW, 19 Feb. 1754, n.5. The two cadets were named de Boucherville and Dusablé. The controversy concerning GW’s engagement with Jumonville has persisted until recent times. The French claimed that Jumonville’s role was that of ambassador and that while on a peaceful mission, similar to GW’s own mission to the French commandant a few months before, he and his party were ambushed by the Virginia troops. Contrecoeur recounted what was to become the French version of the affair in a letter to Duquesne, 2 June 1754:
“I expected Mr. de Jumonville, within four Days; the Indians have just now informed me, that that Party is taken and defeated; they were Eight in Number, one whereof was Mr. de Jumonville.
One of that Party, Monceau by Name, a Canadian, made his Escape, and tells us that they had built themselves Cabbins, in a low Bottom, where they sheltered themselves, as it rained hard.
About seven o’Clock the next Morning, they saw themselves surrounded by the English on one Side and the Indians on the Other.
The English gave them two Volleys, but the Indians did not fire. Mr. de Jumonville, by his Interpreter, told them to desist, that he had something to tell them. Upon which they ceased firing. Then Mr. de Jumonville ordered the Summons which I had sent them to retire, to be read. . . .
The aforesaid Monceau, saw all our Frenchmen coming up close to Mr. de Jumonville, whilst they were reading the Summons, so that they were all in Platoons, between the English and the Indians, during which Time, said Monceau made the best of his Way to us, partly by Land through the Woods, and partly along the River Monaungahela, in a small Canoe.
This is all, Sir, I could learn from said Monceau.
The Misfortune is, that our People were surprized; the English had incircled them, and came upon them unseen. . . . The Indians who were present when the Thing was done, say, that Mr. de Jumonville was killed by a Musket-Shot in the Head, whilst they were reading the Summons;
and that the English would afterwards have killed all our Men,
had not the Indians who were present, by rushing in between them and the English, prevented their Design” (Memorial Containing a Summary View of Facts, 69).
Source
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The first fort on the Forks of the Ohio
Pages 49- 80, Pittsburgh's Lost Outpost, Captain Trent's Fort by Jason A Cherry, with Foreword by David L Preston, published 2019 by the History Press, Charleston SC.
The French
French Prisoner "La Force" aka Michel Pépin
See more on La Force's name and biography
Charles Bonin (Jolicoeur—“happy man”)
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