William Pepperrell

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Sir William Pepperrell, 1746, by John Smybert

Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (June 27, 1696 – July 6, 1759) was a merchant and soldier in Colonial Massachusetts. He is most remembered for organising, financing, and leading the expedition that captured the French establishment at Fortress Louisbourg during King George's War.

William was a native of Kittery, Maine, then part of Massachusetts, and lived there all his life. Born to an English settler, William Pepperrell, and Margery Bray, daughter of a Kittery merchant, he studied surveying and navigation before joining his father (a ship-builder and fishing boat owner) in business. He expanded their enterprise to become one of the most properous mercantile houses in New England. He also joined the militia, becoming a captain (1717), major, lieutenant-colonel, and in 1726 colonel of militia.

Pepperrell served in the Massachusetts General Court (1726-1727), and in the Governor's Council (1727-1759), of which for eighteen years he was president. Although not a trained lawyer, he was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1730 until his death.

During the War of the Austrian Succession, known in America as King George's War (the third part of the French and Indian Wars), he proposed the Massachusetts plan for an expedition against the French colony in Nova Scotia. He gathered volunteers, financed and trained the land forces in that campaign. When they sailed in April 1745, he was commander-in-chief of the expedition, supported by a British naval squadron under Captain Peter Warren, appointed Commodore on a temporary basis at the time. They attacked what was then the strongest coastal fortification in America, Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton . They captured it on June 16 after a six week siege.

He was made a baronet for his exploits in 1746, the first New Englander so honoured, and ultimately promoted to Lieutenant General.

In 1755, during the Seven Years' War, known in America as the French and Indian War (the fourth part of the French and Indian Wars), he was made a Major General responsible for the defence of the Maine and New Hampshire frontier. Throughout that war he was instrumental in raising and training troops for the Massachusetts colony. Two regiments were raised locally with funds supplied by the British Crown, entering the army list as the 50th (Shirley's) and 51st (Pepperrell's) Regiments of Foot. Both regiments took part in the disastrous British campaign of 1755/56. Overwintering near Lake Ontario, the force occupied three forts, Oswego , Ontario and George, collectively known as Fort Pepperrell. Surrounded and besieged by a French force under Montcalm, both regiments surrendered after the local commander was killed. A fair number of the prisoners were massacred by the Indian allies of the French before they reached Montreal. Both regiments were subsequently removed from the army list.

Between March and August 1757, he was acting governor of Massachusetts. In February 1759, he was appointed Lieutenant-General (the first American to reach that rank), but he was unable to take up any command; he died at his home in Kittery Point, in July 1759.

The town of Pepperell, Massachusetts is named for him.

[edit] Book

He published: Conference with the Penobscot Tribe, (Boston, 1753)

[edit] References

Usher Parsons, Life of Sir William Pepperell, (Boston, 1855)
Francis Parkman, A Half-Century of Conflict, (Boston, 1892)
Byron Fairchild, Messrs. William Pepperrell: Merchants at Piscataqua, (Cornell UP, 1954)
Neil Rolde, Sir William Pepperrell, (Tilbury House Pub, 1982)
Daniel Marston, The French-Indian War 1754-60, (Essential Histories, Osprey Publishing, 2002)