Colonel James Gabriel Montresor (19 November 1704 – 6 January 1776) was a British Army officer who served in the French and Indian War.
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Early life and the western Mediterranean
Montresor was born on Broad Street or St. James's in London on 19 November 1704, the son of James Gabriel le Trésor and Nanon de Hauteville. His father, who belonged to a Huguenot refugee family, joined the English Army and was naturalized, taking the name of Montresor. He would later become Lieutenant Governor of Fort William where he died 22 January 1723/4. Montresor was commissioned into the British Army's Royal Artillery in 1727 and was alleged present at the thirteenth siege of Gibraltar, but more credible accounts place him in Menorca, as a matross. He was later a bombardier at Gibraltar, and was there commissioned as an engineer in 1731. He continued to serve at Gibraltar, with a brief interlude in Menorca, until in 1747 he was named chief engineer of Gibraltar. He had also held a commission as lieutenant in the 14th Regiment of Foot since 23 July 1737.
America
In 1754, he was appointed chief engineer for General Edward Braddock and went to British North America with the troops. He is frequently said to have been present at the defeat of the Braddock Expedition in 1755, but this appears to confuse him with his son John Montresor, who was wounded in the battle (some accounts suggest illness prevented the father's presence). He spent most of the remainder of the French and Indian War in and around Albany, New York, where his activities included the design and construction of numerous military fortifications, including a new fort on the site previously occupied by Fort William Henry, named Fort George. Montresor was promoted to major on 14 May 1757 and again to lieutenant colonel on 4 January 1758.