Robert Stobo
Major Robert Stobo (1726/27–1770) was an 18th-century Scottish-born colonial American frontiersman and soldier. Stobo was an officer in the Virginia militia who, during the French and Indian War, acted as a spy while a prisoner-of-war at Fort Duquesne. He was later convicted as a spy in Quebec and, while a prisoner there, was able to gain invaluable knowledge of the local area which was later used by British forces during the capture of Quebec. Biography The only son of merchant William Stobo, Robert Stobo was born in Glasgow, Scotland and sent off to the Colony of Virginia when his parents died. In the care of Glasgow merchants, he worked in their store for much of his early childhood. When he came of age, he sold the property left to him by his parents and used the money to open his own business in Virginia although the venture ultimately proved unsuccessful. A favorite of colonial Lieutenant-Governor Robert Dinwiddie, he was appointed a captain in the Virginia militia shortly before the French and Indian War. In order to ensure the compliance of the surrender terms agreed to by Major George Washington following the Battle of the Great Meadows, he and Captain Jacob