Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/227

 ST. CLAIR

ST. CLAIR

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school in Washington, Conn., and studied in France and Germany, 1881-95. He was employed in the railroad and banking business, and in 1897 adopted literature as a profession, beginning by writing sliort stories for magazines and news- papers. He is the author of : Robert Tournay (1900), and The Clayhornes (1902).

ST.CLAIR, Arthur, soldier,was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, in 1734 ; a descendant of William de St. Clair of Normandy, who settled in Scotland in the eleventh century, and from wliom was also descended the Earl of Roslin, (7-'>>^^'>v^^_^^^^ generally, but erro-

-,'^>^ i-,QQygly^ supposed to have been the grand- ^^'~' father of Arthur St. / ^ Clair. At an early

^^, age he entered the

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^ / li burgh, and in 1755

'^^ r ' ^ was indentured to

Dr. William Hunter, the celebrated Lon- don physician. On the death of his mother in the winter of 1756-57, he pur- chased his time, ob- tained an ensign's commission (dated May 13, 1757) in the Royal American regiment of foot, under Maj.-Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, and came to America, arriving before Louisburg in 1758. He took part in the capture of tliat city, July 26, 1758 ; was com- missioned lieutenant, April 17, 1759 ; assigned to the command of General Wolfe, and took a conspicuous part in the attack on Quebec, and in the siege of Montreal and the capitulation of the French posts in Canada, Sept. 8, 1760. St. Clair was married in Boston in 1759, while on a fur- lough, to Phoebe, da.ugliter of Belthazar Baj'ard, and Mary Bowdoin, his wife, who was a half sister of Governor James Bowdoin (q.v.). By his marriage St. Clair received £40,000, a legacy to his wife from her grandfather, and this, added to his own fortune, made him a wealthy man. He resigned his commission, April 16, 1762, and resided first in Boston and later in western Pennsylvania, in the Ligonier Valley, where he is said to have commanded Fort Ligonier, receiv- ing the title of captain. He became a large land owner ; was prominent in the military and civil life of that section, and erected the first, and for many years the only, grist mill in that section. He was appointed surveyor for the district of Cumberland, April 5, 1770 ; justice of the court of quarter sessions and common pleas in May, 1770, and was a member of the governor's council for Cumberland county, 1770-71, On the erec-

tion of Bedford county in 1771, he was appointed by the governor a justice of the court, recorder of deeds, clerk of the Orphans' court and prothon- otary of the court of common pleas, and in the same year, with Moses McLean, lie ran a meridian line, nine and a half miles west of tiie meridian of Pittsburgii. In May, 1775, he participated in a meeting of the Scotch residents of Westmore- land, lield to protest against British aggressions, and later in the same year, wliile acting as secre- tary to the commissioners sent to treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt, St. Clair suggested a volun- teer expedition to surprise Detroit, and engaged between 400 aiad 500 young men, who agreed to undertake the project, which, however, although strongly recommended to congress by the com- missioners, was disapproved by that body on the ground that Arnold's forthcoming expedition would result in the fall not only of Quebec, but of Detroit. In December, 1775, St. Clair was com- missioned colonel of militia, and reported for duty at Philadelphia. On Jan. 22, 1776, he received orders to raise a regiment to serve in Canada, and on March 12, it left Philadelphia for the North, fully equipped, reaching Quebec, May 11, just in time to cover the retreat of General Thomas's army, which proceeded from that place to the mouth of the Sorel, having halted for a few days at Point Deschambault. Meantime St. Clair went to Montreal to consult with the committee of congress, and on May 15 he left for Sorel. On June 2, General Thomas died at Chambly. and the command devolved on General Thompson. On arriving at Sorel, St. Clair advised Thompson to occupy Three Rivers, and accordingly, on June 5, was despatched from the camp at Sorel to Nicolet, whence he was to cross the St. Lawrence. When Sullivan reached Sorel the same day and learned of the movement of St. Clair, he ordered Thomp-

son to follow him with three regi- ments, and on •iving at Nicolet, Thompson assumed command. The

British, however, had been informed of the approach of the Americans, and had laid a trap to mislead them, through tlie aid of a guide, into a morass, in which the army of Thompson was nearly mired. In this dilemma