| Collections | Curator's Corner
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Portrait of leader of first French military expedition in region highlighted in Clash of Empires exhibit
By R.S. Stephenson, Ph.D.
Curator
The History Center's upcoming exhibition Clash of Empires: The British, French and Indian War, 1754-1763 will showcase, in addition to original artifacts, costumes, and weaponry, a total of 32 18th century portraits and historical paintings from lenders in Britain, Canada, and the United States.
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This unprecedented gathering of fine art related to the first global conflict includes a portrait with special interest to students of French influence on early Western Pennsylvania history.
Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil, 2nd Baron de Longueuil (1687-1755) was born into a distinguished Canadian family renowned for its contributions to the development and defense of New France.
Arriving in Canada in 1641 at the age of 15, Le Moyne's grandfather settled near Montreal and served as an interpreter of Indian languages, clerk, soldier, and colonial official.
Nearly all of Le Moyne's 12 sons served as military officers and officials in the French colonies of Canada and Louisiana. The eldest, from whom Charles Le Moyne acquired the title and barony of Longueuil in 1729, was the only Canadian to be elevated to the nobility during the French regime.
During Le Moyne's lifetime, military service became firmly entrenched in Canadian society as a source of patronage for the sons of prominent families.
Many young Canadians, including Le Moyne, entered the officer corps of the compagnies franche de la Marine, a unit composed of French soldiers and led by mostly Canadian officers. These colonial regulars developed expertise in forest warfare through service with and against American Indian peoples from Acadia to the Mississippi Valley.
After stints in the French navy and at military posts in the Great Lakes region, Le Moyne was appointed town major of Montreal in 1733, a promotion that may have been commemorated by this portrait. The following year, Louis XV recognized Le Moyne's 31 years of service by making him a knight of the Order of Saint-Louis.
Le Moyne led the first French military expedition past the future site of Pittsburgh in 1739, a decade before the better-known expedition of Captain Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville.
Le Moyne's corps, comprised of French soldiers and Canadian militiamen with more than 300 Indian warriors from mission villages in the St. Lawrence Valley, set out from Montreal on an expedition against the Chickesaw Indians of the Mississippi Valley. Le Moyne's men passed the future site of Pittsburgh, discovered fossilized Mastadon bones in Kentucky, and compiled valuable geographic information about the Ohio Valley.
The corps included a number of young Canadian officers who would play leading roles in the struggle with Great Britain in the 1750s. Le Moyne served briefly as acting governor of Canada before he was relived in 1752 by Ange Duquesne de Menneville, Marquis Duquesne.
The aged veteran died in January 1755, not long after tales of the defeat of a young Virginia officer named George Washington circulated through Montreal society.
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