Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur was an officer in the colonial regular troops ( troupes de la marine), seigneur, and member of the Legislative Council of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. Born on December 28, 1705 at Contrecœur, Quebec, son of Francois-Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur, a seigneur and officer in the colonial regulars, and Jeanne de Saint-Ours. Died on December 13, 1775 in Montreal, Quebec. He was active in the establishment of French power in the Ohio Country, and was the commander of

Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed a ...

(at the site of modern

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

) in 1755 when it was threatened by

Edward Braddock Major-General Edward Braddock (January 1695 – 13 July 1755) was a British officer and commander-in-chief for the Thirteen Colonies during the start of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the North American front of what is known in Europ ...

.''PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR Le Conflit Angelo - Francias Sur L' Ohio De 1745 a 1756.'' English translation of documents in the Quebec Seminary by Donald Kent, 1952
/ref> Born into a family with large landholdings in the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

valley, he stayed in North America after the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

and its fall of New France to the British. He was called "the third most influential Canadian" by the British governor of the

Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen ...

, Guy Carleton.

References

Biography of Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur
at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 1705 births 1775 deaths People of Louisiana (New France) People of New France {{Quebec-bio-stub