Everything about Joseph Coulon De Jumonville totally explained
Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville (
8 September 1718 –
May 28 1754) was a
French Canadian military officer. His defeat at the
Battle of Jumonville Glen and his
murder after surrendering to
George Washington would help spark the
French and Indian War (
Seven Years' War).
Early life
Jumonville was born in the
seigneury of
Verchères,
New France (now part of
Quebec), the son of Nicolas-Antoine Coulon de Villiers, a French military officer. He began service with the French military at age 15 in his father's unit.
He served in the army during several conflicts with native groups in the western
Great Lakes region where he was stationed with his father and several of his brothers. His father and one of his brothers were killed at Baie-des-Puants (present
Green Bay, Wisconsin) during a battle with the
Fox tribe. He was later promoted to Second Ensign and was stationed in
Acadia during
King George's War (a branch conflict of the
War of the Austrian Succession).
Battle of Jumonville Glen
In June 1754, Jumonville was posted to
Fort Duquesne with his older half-brother
Louis Coulon de Villiers. The French were building up military strength in the
Ohio Country in response to incursions by British traders and settlers.
On
May 23, 1754, Jumonville took command of a 35 man detachment from the fort and headed southwest. The exact nature of Jumonville's mission has been the subject of considerable debate both at the time and up to the present day. Officially, his mission was to scout the area south of the fort. The French would later claim that he was a diplomat on a peaceful mission to deliver a message to the British. The British contended that he was sent to spy on their garrison at
Fort Necessity and their road building project.
Half King, the leader of a band of Mingos allied to the British, believed he was planning an ambush.
On
May 27, 1754, a group of Native American scouts discovered Jumonville's party camped in a small valley (later called Jumonville Glen) near what is now
Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Half King went to Washington and pled with him to attack the French encampment, claiming it was a hostile party sent to ambush them.
Washington took a detachment of about 40 men from Fort Necessity and marched all night in a driving rain arriving at the encampment at dawn. What happened next, like so much about the incident, is a matter of controversy. The British claimed the French discovered their approach and opened fire on them. The French claimed the British
ambushed their encampment. In either event, the battle lasted little more than 15 minutes and was a complete British victory. Ten French soldiers were killed and 21, including Jumonville, who was wounded, were captured.
Washington treated Jumonville as a
prisoner of war and extended him the customary courtesies due a captured military officer. Washington attempted to interrogate Jumonville but the language barrier made communication difficult. During their conversation however, the Seneca Half King Tanaghrisson walked up to Jumonville and without warning struck him in the head with a
tomahawk killing him.
Why the Half King did this has never been clear. He had been kidnapped by the French and sold into slavery as a child. He was also a representative of the Iroquois Confederacy, which stood to lose its authority over other Indian peoples in the Ohio River Valley if the French were able to assert their control. (For a detailed discussion, see Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America 1754-1766 (2001).)
When word reached Fort Duquesne about the incident, Jumonville's half brother, Captain Coulon de Villiers, vowed revenge. He attacked Washington and the garrison at
Fort Necessity and forced them to surrender on
July 3, 1754. In the surrender document, written in
French, Coulon de Villiers inserted a clause describing Jumonville's death as an "
assassination". Washington, who didn't speak French, signed the document. The assassination of the French diplomat and revered soldier Jumonville would later be used as
propaganda by the French against the war crimes of Washington and the British, during the conflict.
Washington was heavily criticized in Britain for the incident. British statesman
Horace Walpole referred to the controversy surrounding Jumonville's death as the "Jumonville Affair" and described it as
"a volley fired by a young Virginian in the backwoods of America [that] set the world on fire."Further Information
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