LeBoeuf Valley

A News and Opinion Journal ~ Published in Erie County, Pennsylvania

Mercier

Francois Marc Antoine Le Mercier was born in France to an officer in the French Army.
With No land holdings or wealth to inherit, he did as his father had done-joined the
local militia at the ripe old age of twelve. At 13 he was transferred to the regular army
with the rank of Second Lieutenant where he became involved in the War of the Polish
Succession. Taking temporary leave from the army, he studied mathematics at
Strasbourg . In 1740 he arrived in Canada as a Cadet assigned to the artillery. The
next three years he spent rebuilding the defenses of Quebec . During that time Marin
chose him to organize the defense of Louisbourg. It was called the “most
impregnable fort in the world.” (Poorly equipped Americans over-ran it in a matter of
days giving rise to the later contempt they had for European military tactics.)

In 1753 Duquesne made his move to control the Ohio Valley . He put Paul Marin in
command of the expedition, while Mercier had the dual job of engineer and transport of
rations. In these capacities, Mercier insisted the forts be built at Presque Isle and
LeBoeuf.

As engineer, Mercier laid out the Old French Road, as it was later called, and set up
the sawmill at both forts to build his bateaux and pirogues. [Ill.2] These, George
Washington referred to as canoes.

The next year, having witnessed the unpredictable nature of French Creek, he surveyed
a road to Fort Machault ( Franklin ) that stayed away from the small creeks and
streams; a road where troops could move quickly overland and drovers could move the
animals to be slaughtered to feed the army. By the end of 1754, he had driven out the
Virginians who were building a fort at “the forks of the Ohio ” and had Fort Duquesne
well under construction as well as completing Fort Machault .

In 1757 he married the daughter of a minor officer in Quebec . He was now a very
wealthy man. From what today would be called graft he profited from kickbacks, sales
to Indians, supplies to the troops, and providing hard-to-get items to the officers. He
was, after all, in charge of “transit of supplies.” The French Government expected and
even condoned this practice as it cut the cost from the treasury of the officers’ corps.

In 1759 with the fall of France in Canada , he returned to Normandy where he died forty
years later. The ship that carried him home was the Machault. (Note: Machault was a
businessman who may have been the richest man in the world-certainly in France . All
military supplies - wagons, horses, ships, food, clothing, artillery, guns, gun powder-
you name it, went through his company. French officers knew that their success or
failure depended on his timely cooperation. This civilian control of Military operations
helped cause the loss of their North American Empire.)

George Washington, Esq. (See illustration by Dan Kozy)

To the Indians dressed in furs and items of trade, well worn, mismatched, and filthy,
and to the French who were dressed casually in military attire, the appearance of the
aristocratic twenty-one year old from Virginia must have created some good-natured
side talk. His uniform was tailored especially for this trip based on his concept of what
an officer in the State Militia should wear. He had four servants to comfort him on his
journey. These servants set up his tent, made up his sleeping cot, cooked the food,
and then in the mornings they broke camp and packed the horses to continue on.

He was a presence. With dignity, he presented a letter from Governor Dinwiddie
ordering the French out of the valley and back past the summit. He kept his men in
order; he tolerated no nonsense; he left when he determined.

Today we wonder if what he represented - money, lands, farms, manufacturing,
organization, dignity, education, tailors, and above all, discipline - was lost on these
men of the frontier. These qualities would conquer the continent and the future.

Excerpts from Early History and Development of LeBoeuf Valley (2003) by Lewis Dove. Mr. Dove is a
retired history and English teacher and administrator from the Waterford area. Other books by Dove
include Where The Stones Talk (2004) and Historic Names and Places of LeBoeuf Valley (2005).
They are available at the Eagle Hotel and Serendipity. Dove's latest book will be available in June
of 2007. Mr. Dove's books are illustrated by Dan Kozy.