Some
contemporaries, and notably the chaplain of the fort, do, in fact,
speak of him as in this position; but their evidence is overborne
by more numerous and conclusive authorities, among them Vaudreuil,
governor of Canada, and Contrecoeur himself, in an official
report. Vaudreuil says of him: "Ce commandant s'occupa le 8
[_Juillet_] a former un parti pour aller au devant des Anglois;" and
adds that this party was commanded by Beaujeu and consisted of
250 French and 650 Indians (_Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Aout,
1755_). In the autumn of 1756 Vaudreuil asked the Colonial Minister
to procure a pension for Contrecoeur and Ligneris. He says:
"Le premier de ces Messieurs a commande longtemps au fort
Duquesne; c'est luy qui a ordonne et dirige tous les mouvements
qui se sont faits dans cette partie, soit pour faire abandonner le
premier etablissement des Anglois, soit pour les forcer a se
retirer du fort Necessite, et soit enfin pour aller au devant de
l'armee du General Braddock qui a ete entierement defaite" (_Vaudreuil
au Ministre, 8 Nov. 1756_.) Beaujeu, who had lately arrived with a
reinforcement, had been named to relieve Contrecoeur (_Dumas au Ministre,
24 Juillet, 1756_), but had not yet done so.
As the report of Contrecoeur has never been printed, I give an
extract from it (_Contrecceur a Vaudreuil, 14 Juillet, 1755_, in
Archives de la Marine):--
"Le meme jour [_8 Juillet_] je formai un party de tout ce que
je pouvois mettre hors du fort pour aller a leur rencontre.
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