born 1695, Perthshire, Scot.
died July 13, 1755, Great Meadows, Pa.
British army commander in the French and Indian War .
After service in Europe, he arrived in Virginia in 1755 to command British forces in North America against the French. He undertook an expedition to attack the French-held Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pa.); his force, which included British regulars and provincial militiamen such as George Washington , cut the first road across the Allegheny Mountains and reached a point on the Monongahela River near the fort. There his army of over 1,400 men was ambushed and defeated by a group of 254 French and 600 Indians, and he was mortally wounded in the ensuing rout.