General John Forbes
| John Forbes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 September 1707 Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland |
| Died | 11 March 1759 (aged 51) Philadelphia, British America |
| Buried at | Christ Church, Philadelphia |
| Allegiance |
 Kingdom of Great Britain
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1735–1759 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars |
War of the Austrian Succession Jacobite rising of 1745 Seven Years' War |
John Forbes (5 September 1707 – 11 March 1759) was a British general in the French and Indian War. He is best known for leading the Forbes Expedition that captured the French outpost at Fort Duquesne and for naming the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder.
Forbes was born on his family's Pittencrieff Estate in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland in 1707, the son of an army officer. After beginning to study medicine, he decided in his second year as a student to become a soldier and was accepted and commissioned as a lieutenant in the Scots Greys in 1735. He saw action in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the Jacobite rising of 1745, serving under the Duke of Cumberland as acting quartermaster-general. He was promoted to a Lieutenant-colonelcy in the Scots Greys in 1750 and in 1757 made Colonel of the 17th Regiment of Foot.
When the French and Indian War (called the Seven Years' War in Europe) broke out, Forbes was sent to the fighting in the New World. His first action in North America came in 1757 when he was dispatched to reinforce an attack on the French fortress of Louisburg in what is now Nova Scotia.
In December 1757, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command an expedition to capture Fort Duquesne, which guarded the vital forks of the Ohio River. General Edward Braddock had tried and failed to capture the fort in 1755, with disastrous consequences for both the British army and Braddock himself, who was mortally wounded in a bloody engagement nine miles short of the objective. Lt. Colonel George Washington, who had been a member of Braddock’s campaign, accompanied the expedition, serving at the fore of one of the Virginia provincial regiments. A Swiss-born colonel of the Royal American Regiment, Henry Bouquet, served as Forbes' second-in-command.
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