Description
The first edition of Washington and “The Murder of Jumonville,” signed by the author, Gilbert F. Leduc.
Octavo, iii, [11]-235pp, [5pp]. Green pebbled cloth, title stamped in gilt on the front cover. No additional printings noted. Complete with frontispiece and four illustrated plates. Faint offsetting to endpapers, internally clean. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $2.25 on the front flap, sunning to spine, solid binding, a very good example.
Signed on the front free endpaper: “Best Wishes, Fr. G. Leduc / Dec. 25, 1951.”
On May 28, 1754, French Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville was killed during a skirmish with British colonial forces led by Lieutenant Colonel George Washington near present-day Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The engagement, known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen, involved Washington’s Virginia militia and Native American allies under Mingo leader Tanacharison. After the French party was surrounded, Jumonville was either killed during the battle or after being captured; some reports state that Tanacharison struck Jumonville with a tomahawk while he was wounded. The French considered Jumonville’s death an assassination during a diplomatic mission, while the British regarded it as a military action. This incident escalated tensions between France and Britain, directly leading to the French and Indian War in North America, which in turn became part of the global Seven Years’ War.
