The Hero of the Monongahela: Historical Sketch. Published for the Dedication of the Monument Erected to the Memory of Major-General Edward Braddock (Collection Monongahela de Beaujeu, No. 3)

New York: Printed by William Post, 749 Third Ave. Edited by M. de Beaujeu & Co., East 48th Street, 1913. 8vo. (9 x 6 1/8 inches). First English edition. [2] [1]-28. 30 pp. Color oval vignette frontispiece portrait of Beaujeu, Title, Dedication to author's wife, Text, Three black and white photo illustrations on two leaves at p.8 and p.20, 2 folding maps of Braddock expedition at rear with keys. Publisher's brown wrappers printed black and stamped with gold and orange, stab-stitched

Rare biography of Captain Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu, leader of the victorious French forces at the Battle of Monongahela who repelled Edward Braddock's expedition with George Washington and Daniel Boone, momentarily keeping the Ohio Valley under French control during the French and Indian War, with maps of the battlefield.

During the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763, the British sent an expeditionary force under the command of General Edward Braddock (1695-1755) to seize Fort Duquesne, located at present-day Pittsburgh, from the French. Though he died almost immediately, Captain Beaujeu's (1711-1755) forces caused one of the most severe military defeats for the British Empire in the 1700s, killing Braddock and beating back his troops, which included future American president George Washington and frontiersman Daniel Boone. The victory would have great significance for the French forces, as Beaujeu's biography explains: "But the very considerable advantage that the French received from this victory, beyond the preservation of the Ohio Valley, was the complete severance from the English alliance of the tribes which were before undecided and up to this time had remained neutral. On the news of the destruction of Braddock, they threw themselves on Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, scattering everywhere desolation and ruin. On their side the Canadian bands and the other auxiliary nations did not remain inactive, and the terror was thrown in the midst of the colonies so that the frontiers were left deserted, and even in the chief centers of population the preachers found themselves obliged to reassure the people, so great was the alarm of the frightened inhabitants." [p.23] Though the French were able to hold onto the territority for sometime, they ceded all of North America east of the Mississippi to the British in the Treaty of Paris (1763), ultimately leading to British rule in Canada. Beaujeu, who had previously fought at Grand Pré (1747), was an officer famous for using Native American battle techniques, such as the use of war paint during ambushes. This short biography of Beaujeu was taken from notes by the Candian historian Paul Stevens (1830-1881), translated into English by Hawes, edited by a descendent of Beaujeu who was named after the battle, and published at the dedicatory ceremony for a monument in General Braddock's honor in 1913. Though he lost dramatically, the nearby town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, is now named for Braddock.

OCLC 774438677.