Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Montreal KB (sometimes spelled Geoffrey, or Jeffrey, he himself spelled his name as Jeffery) (January 29, 1717 – August 3, 1797) served as an officer in the British Army and as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.

Biography

Military career

Born in Sevenoaks, England, Amherst became a soldier at approximately the age of 14. After service in the War of the Austrian Succession, Amherst gained fame during the Seven Years' War, particularly in the North American campaign known in the United States as the French and Indian War.

In 1758 Amherst led the British attack on Louisbourg, and as commander-in-chief of the British army in North America, helped the British seize most French territory in Canada. In 1759 he led an advance up Lake Champlain, assisting in James Wolfe's capture of Quebec City. On September 8, 1760, he captured Montreal, ending French rule in North America. He infuriated the French commanders by refusing them the "honors of war" (the ceremonial right to retain their flags); the Knight of Lévis burned the colors rather than surrendering them. Amherst held the position of military governor of Canada from 1760 to 1763.

The hostility between the British and Native Americans after the French and Indian War led to one of the first documented attempts at biological warfare in North American history. In response to the 1763 uprising known as Pontiac's Rebellion, Amherst suggested using smallpox as a weapon for ending the rebellion. In a series of letters to his subordinate Colonel Henry Bouquet, the two men discussed the possibility of infecting the attacking Native Americans with smallpox through gifts of blankets that had been exposed to the disease. Apparently unbeknownst to both Amherst and Bouquet, the commander at Fort Pitt had already attempted this very tactic. Although Amherst's name is usually connected with this incident because he was the overall commander and because of his correspondence with Bouquet, evidence appears to indicate that the attempt was made without Amherst's prior knowledge. Whether or not the attempt was successful is unclear. (See Pontiac's Rebellion for more details.)

Jeffrey Amherst by Thomas Gainsborough, circa 1789

Political career

Amherst served as the nominal Crown Governor of Virginia from 1759-1768, however Francis Fauquier continued his role as acting governor from the previous term. During this period he also served as the first Governor General of British North America from 1760-1763. This office still exists as the Canadian monarch's representative in Canada.

Amherst was raised to the peerage in 1776, as Baron Amherst of Holmesdale. During the American Revolutionary War he rejected a field command, since he had close relations with numerous personalities of the opposite side. He was promoted to Captain General in 1778, and became Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. He was replaced as Commander-in-Chief in February, 1782 by Henry Seymour Conway. Amherst again became Commander-in-Chief in 1793. He retired from that post in 1795, and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal the following year.

See also: List of Canadian Governors General

Legacy

Several places are named for him: Amherstburg, Ontario, location of General Amherst High School; Amherst, Massachusetts, location of Amherst College; Amherst, New Hampshire; Amherst, Nova Scotia; Amherst, New York; Amherst County, Virginia; and Amherst Island, Ontario. Also, The Lord Jeffrey Amherst Inn and the Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop ^[1] in Amherst, MA.

Montreal House

After the taking of Montreal in 1760, Amherst built Montreal House in his native Sevenoaks, Kent, for his seat. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the house and family hosted an annual summer picnic for the children educated at the junior school they established in the village of Riverhead; the school still bears Amherst's coat of arms. With the decline of the family's fortunes the house was demolished in the summer of 1936 to make way for a housing development. Today only a single obelisk, the octagonal gatehouse and the derelict stone summerhouse remain as a memorial. The inscription on the obelisk, which is in danger of disappearing, does not actually mention any of the protagonists of the Canadian campaigns by name, either because they were too modest, or because they arrogantly assumed everybody would know exactly to whom it referred. The inscription says:

'To commemorate the providential and happy meeting of three brothers on this their Paternal ground on 25 January 1761 after a six years glorious war in which the three were successfully engaged in various climes, seasons and services. Dedicated to that most able Statesman during whose Administration Cape Breton and Canada were conquered and from whose influence the British Arms derived a Degree of Lustre unparalleled in past ages. Louisbour surrendered and Six French Battalions Prisoners of War 26 July 1758
Du Quesne taken possession of 24 November 1758
Niagara surrendered 25 July 1759
Ticondcroga taken possession of 26 July 1759
Crown Point taken possession of 4 August 1759
Quebec capitulated 18 September 1759
Fort Levi surrendered 25 August 1760
Ile au Noix abandoned 28 August 1760
Montreal surrendered and with it all Canada and 10 French Battalions laid down their Arms 8 September 1760
St Johns Newfoundland retaken 18 September 1762
'

References

External links

• Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
• Historical Biographies: Jeffrey Amherst
• Amherst and Smallpox
• Amherst and Smallpox Blankets Excerpts from actual letters in which Lord Jeffery Amherst approves smallpox plan (dated July 16, 1763) and discusses other methods of genocide with Colonel Henry Bouquet.
• 1759 From the Warpath to the Plains of Abraham ( Virtual Exhibition)
• National Battlefields Commission (Plains of Abraham)

Bibliography

• Cappel, Constance, "The Smallpox Genocide of the Odawa Tribe at L'Arbre Croche, 1763: The History of a Native American People," Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press,2007, ISBN 0773452206.
• Long, J.C. Lord Jeffery Amherst: A Soldier of the King. New York: MacMillan, 1933.
• Amherst and the conquest of Canada : selected papers from the correspondence of Major-General Jeffrey Amherst while Commander-in-Chief in North America from September 1758 to December 1760 / edited by Richard Middleton. Stroud : Sutton Publishing for the Army Records Society, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-3142-6.

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