Though rarely remembered today, Pierre Gibault was a crucial figure in the American Revolution in the West.  A native of New France, Gibault was ordained to the priesthood in Quebec and assigned to the Illinois Country.  Settling in Kaskaskia, Illinois, he served it and other French settlements, Cahokia, Illinois, St. Louis and New Madrid, Missouri and Vincennes, Indiana thereby earning the trust of the habitants.

Gibault’s rendezvous with destiny occurred on July 4, 1778 with the arrival of militia under the command of George Rogers Clark.  In response to British instigated Indian raids, Clark persuaded Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia to approve an expedition to seize what came to be known as the Old Northwest in January 1778.  Though authorized to raise seven companies of 50 men each for the defense of Kentucky, Clark only recruited 150 men that grew to 175 as he moved down the Ohio.  While camped at the Falls of the Ohio, Clark learned of ther French Alliance with America.  Aware of rumors of American forces in the area, the British commander at Kaskaskia, Philippe Francois Rocheblave, alternatively ordered local militia to mobilize and stand down.  Slipping into Kaskaskia at night placed Clark in occupation of a town of 1,000 with a military capacity exceeding his own.  Clark’s role morphed from soldier to diplomat.  After allowing the habitants to expect expulsion and worse, Clark granted an audience to the villagers’ spokesman, Father Gibault.to request that families to be allowed to leave together.  In the second interview, Clark informed Gibault that he was no savage who would make war on the citizens, would not interfere with their church and that the King of France had allied with the Americans.

Returning to his flock, Gibault, though under instructions from his superior, the bishop of Quebec, to support the British, persuaded them to join the American cause.    Upon learning of Clark’s plan to attack the neighboring village of Cahokia, Gibault and the villagers offered to accompany Clark’s troops under Major Joseph Bowman to encourage the Cahokians to follow their example in joining cause with the Americans.  Having secured the Mississippi Valley, Clark turned his sights on Vincennes, and sought the help of Gibault in acquiring it.  Setting out on July 14, 1778, Gibault and Clark’s official emissary to Vincennes, Dr. Jean Baptiste Laffont, and their party effected oaths of loyalty to the American cause from the habitants of that village on July 20.

The British commander at Detroit, Lt. Governor. Henry Hamilton, recaptured Vincennes on December 17, 1778.  Having heard of Gibault’s role in the operation in July, Hamilton’s wrath forced Gibault into exile on the Spanish west bank of the Mississippi.  Possession of Vincennes reverted to the Americans through Clark’s daring winter raid in February 24, 1779.

Gibault’s motives can only be guessed at.  Was he driven by a patriotic attachment to the Americans and their ideals, or did he pick the side with the guns in his area?  In the absence of Gibault’s actions, what would have been the outcome of Clark’s mission? Without Clark’s conquest, where would the American-Canadian border have been drawn? Whatever the answer to these questions, elimination of Gibault’s role is a chance American interests would not wisely prefer.  Author Joseph P. Donnelly, S. J.  has crafted a brief biography that documents Gibault’s ecclesiastical career and his place in the American Revolution.  Though not the type of book ordinarily thought of as a war book, Pierre Gibault, Missionary 1737-1802 provides War History Network members with insights into the Revolutionary War in the West rarely found in other works.