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Rank : Colonel

Unit : 17th Foot

Biography :

Originally trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, John Forbes was commissioned Surgeon in The Scots Greys in 1729. He changed course and bought a commission as Cornet in that Regiment in 1735, bought a Lieutenant's commission in 1742 and became a Captain in 1744 and a Major in 1746. He saw action in Germany and Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession, and was at Dettingen (1743), Fontenoy (1745), Rocoux (1746) and Lauffeldt (1747). He was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army and Deputy Quartermaster General in Flanders at the end of 1745. but the latter post lapsed with the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the Scots Greys in 1750. Appointed Colonel of the 17th Regiment on 25.2.1757. When the French and Indian War (in Europe called the Seven Years' War) broke out, Forbes was sent to the fighting in the New World. His first action in North America came in 1757 when he was dispatched as Adjutant-General of the force which seized the French fortress of Louisburg in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada.

In December 1757, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command an expedition to capture Fort Duquesne, which guarded the vital forks of the Ohio River. After an long campaign, Forbes occupied the burnt fort on 25 November 1758. He immediately ordered the construction of a new fortification to be named Fort Pitt, after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. He also named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsburgh", which is the location of modern Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Forbes’s health, which had been poor for much of the campaign, began a rapid decline during his occupation of Fort Pitt. On 3.12.1758, now gravely ill, Forbes began the arduous journey back to Philadelphia, where he died on 11.3.1759, aged 51. He was buried with military honours in the chancel of Christ Church, Philadelphia.

Forbes Field, which served as the home field for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pitt Panthers football team, was named after John Forbes, and also Forbes Avenue running from the Ohio River in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Date of Birth : 5.9.1707

Place of Birth : Edinburgh, Scotland

Date of Death : 11.3.1759

Place of Death : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Period of Service : 1735-59

Conflicts : Jacobite Rebellion, Seven Years' War

Places Served : Scotland, England, Nova Scotia, North America