Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Joseph Coulon de Villiers

Sieur de Jumonville

Jumonville, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de (1718-1754), soldier, was born at Verchères, New France, on September 8, 1718, the son of Nicolas Antoine Coulon de Villiers and Angélique Jarret de Verchères. At an early age he went west with his father to the Illinois country, and in 1739 he was sent on an expedition against the Indians of Louisiana. He became one of the French officers employed particularly with the Indians; and after some years spent in Acadia he was sent with Contrecoeur to the Ohio. After the capture of Fort Duquesne by the French, he was sent with a small party to watch the Virginians under George Washington, and on the morning of May 27, 1754, he and his party were surprised by Washington's force. Jumonville, with 9 of his men, was killed; and the rest of his men, with one exception, were taken prisoners. See G. Robitaille, Washington et Jumonville: Etude critique (Montreal, 1933).

[Note from Claude Bélanger: There is controversy surrounding the role of Washington in the death of Jumonville. This controversy is not apparent here. For a discussion of the events involving Washington and Jumonville, see the article at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.]

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Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 317.