| This study considers the early years (1756--1759) of the North American military career of Swiss emigrant Henri Bouquet. With European battlefield experience, Bouquet was recruited into the Royal American Regiment, serving the British Crown "in America only," where he commanded troops in northern New York, Philadelphia, in the South, and onto the borderlands separating British America from the French, Spanish, and Native American groups. In 1758, his army dislodged the French from The Forks of the Ohio and he conducted the first British-sponsored Indian Conference there. Though he was involved in critical military and diplomatic events affecting the Ohio Valley, historians have neglected Bouquet. This work analyzes his manifold role in the military as battlefield officer, Indian diplomat, and frontier administrator. It considers Bouquet's "apprenticeship" in North America, as he learned the subtle nuances of British military command, royal and colonial government, and Native American relations.;Along with his military career, this work explores three additional themes in Henri Bouquet's life. First, he was an emigrant who exchanged military experience for rank and command opportunity in North America, as his career coalesced with British military strategies evolving in London. Second, Bouquet moved among British American cities, settlements, and forts, and onto the borderlands separating Ohio Valley Indian Country from British America. Third, though initially viewing his stay in North America as temporary, Bouquet gradually considered remaining longer. He learned how to use colonial politics to benefit his command, came to appreciate British American society, purchased land near Philadelphia, and attained British citizenship. Bouquet defeated an all-Indian army in 1763, negotiated a return of captives in 1764, received promotion to Brigadier General, and was made Governor General of Florida. Bouquet died in 1765. |
