George Croghan
Encyclopedia
George Croghan was an Irish-born
Pennsylvania fur trader, Onondaga Council sachem, land speculator, British Indian agent in colonial America
and, until accused of treason in 1777, Pittsburgh's president judge and Committee of Safety Chairman keeping the Ohio Indians neutral. For fifteen years Deputy Indian agent under the "Mohawk Baron", Sir William Johnson
, Croghan resigned in 1771 to establish Vandalia
, a fourteenth colony, continuing on emeritus status his work as a borderland negotiator. He was the Ohio Country's key figure for thirty years, twenty-five years before the Revolution wrote William M. Darlington in 1893,"Yet, historians have all but forgotten the life of Croghan."
Within a few years after arriving in British America, Croghan became one of Pennsylvania's leading fur trade
rs. A key to his success was establishing trading post
s in Native American villages, like French traders did, rather than wait for Indian customers to come to him, which was the usual British practice. He also learned at least two Native languages, Delaware
and probably Mohawk
.
During this time, Croghan's primary business partner was William Trent, a trader and son of the founder of Trenton, New Jersey
. Their partnership was temporarily suspended when Trent joined the military to serve in King George's War
(1744–48). The two men bought property on Conedogwinet Creek in Pennsborough Township. Croghan built a plantation there, which served as his home and base of operations from about 1745 until 1751.
village on the Cuyahoga River
, present-day Cleveland, Ohio
. As he expanded his trade westwards towards Detroit, French officials urged French-allied Indians to attack him. In April 1745, Senecas protected Croghan from capture, but elsewhere a canoe-load of Croghan's furs were robbed by French-allied Natives. As they had William Johnson a few years earlier and French fur trader Louis-Thomas Joncaire de Chabert (1670–1740) decades before that, in 1746 the Iroquois allowed Croghan a voice in their Grand Council Joncaire's son, Philippe-Thomas, was Croghan's and Johnson's principal French opponent, but beginning in 1746 even Johnson and the Grand Council acquiesced to Croghan's dominant role in Ohio Country affairs.
Croghan evidently played a role in the outbreak of violence in the Ohio Country. In early 1747, five French traders were murdered by Senecas and Wyandots at the Wyandot village of Sandusky
on Lake Erie
, beginning an Indian revolt against the French fomented by Croghan. It was first led by Wyandot Chief Nicholas Orontony
, then Memeskia or "Old Briton" as Croghan named him, formerly "La Demoiselle", a Piankeshaw Miami
chief. The uprising was unsuccessful in driving out the French, and the Indians involved moved closer to the British. Reports claimed that Croghan had encouraged the uprising so that the Natives would trade with him and not the French. Old Briton relocated to Pickawillany
on the Great Miami River
, where Croghan built a stockade and trading post.
With the help of Mingo Chiefs Tanacharison
or Half King and Scarouady
, Croghan helped bring the Miamis into an alliance with Great Britain, which was formalized at a treaty conference that he attended in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
, in July 1748. One of the interpreters, Andrew Montour
became an associate of Croghan's, but a disagreement over a translation involving a play of Indian land in the early 1750s led to Montour's mistrust of Croghan land dealings thereafter. The other interpreter, Conrad Weiser
, Pennsylvania's Indian agent, subsequently held an Indian conference at Logstown
on the Ohio River at which Pennsylvania acknowledged the independence of the Ohio nations, and appointed Croghan to negotiate with the region's Indians.
Weiser informed the recently allied western tribes at the 1748 Logstown conference that Britain had signed a peace treaty with France, therefore he had no war supplies for them, distributing a present instead. Rumor of Celeron de Bienville
's 1749 expedition to claim the Ohio Valley for France and to drive out the English traders prompted Governor James Hamilton (Pennsylvania)
to dispatch Croghan to Logstown to investigate. Days before Celeron reached Logstown, Croghan alleges that its Mingo chiefs sold him 200000 acres (809.4 km²) excluding 2 square miles (5.2 km²) at the Forks of the Ohio for a British fort. Biographer Wainwright notes this was "a momentous event in his life."
Virginia's Ohio Company agents Col. Thomas Cresap
and Hugh Parker made overtures to the Indians at Picawillany that Croghan opposed in November, 1749, yet a year later he and Montour began aiding Virginia by guiding its scout Christopher Gist
on a tour of Ohio Indian villages. Croghan's 200000 acres (809.4 km²) in unconfirmed Indian deeds motivated his shift in allegiance. Sometime in 1750 he realized that such large grants were against Pennsylvania statutes, but permitted in Virginia. Having alerted Governor Hamilton to the Indian plea for a strong house at the Forks of the Ohio, then backtracking, Croghan reversed himself a final time and during a conference at the end of May, 1751 formally recorded the Mingo chiefs' request for the fort, but when Andrew Montour was called before the Pennsylvania Assembly for confirmation, he denied that the Indians wanted it and Pennsylvania "defaulted its leadership in the West to Virginia's Ohio Company."
A year later, in a June, 1752 conference at Logstown with Croghan in attendance and Andrew Montour translating, Virginia's Ohio Company was given permission to build the fort and settle one hundred families on 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) in today's Western Pennsylvania. At the same time Pickawillany was attacked by a French force led by Charles Langlade. Old Britain was killed, boiled, and eaten. For Croghan, "the year 1753 was far worse, for it saw the virtual end of the Indian trade. Early in the spring, Duquesne opened his campaign to drive the English out of the Ohio Valley." Scarouady made Croghan's role in Ohio Country affairs more prominent during a conference held at Carlisle in October, 1753. From then on Croghan would represent the Indians in communications to and from Pennsylvania and receive its presents. By the time the twenty-one-year-old George Washington's embassy to the French at Fort Le Boeuf in 1753 had ended, Croghan had already spent more than a decade in the Ohio Country.
During the ill-fated Braddock Expedition
in 1755, Croghan once again assisted by Captain Montour, led eight Indian scouts, the same group led by the Half King at Jumonville Glen. Like Washington, General Braddock alienated friendly Indians, yet Montour and the eight under Croghan attended the gravely wounded general while teamsters Daniel Boone
and Daniel Morgan
fled on horseback. Croghan pressed Braddock to relinquish command and when he would not, apparently took charge, taking Braddock off the battlefield assisted by Braddock's twenty-three year old aide, Washington. Washington's account differs by implication and biographer James Flexner in presenting it does not mention Croghan being present, but Captains Croghan and Montour were there, outranked the General's Aide, and recalled being Washington's subordinates the year before. They worked together to save Braddock and someone took charge.
In 1755, friendly Indians again sought refuge at Aughwick, where Croghan built Fort Shirley and three other forts on the frontier. He relocated to the New York frontier in 1756 and began his career as Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs under Sir William Johnson.
With Montour at his side and in command of 100 Indians on an overlooking hilltop, Croghan witnessed in July, 1758 General James Abercrombie's calamitous frontal assault on Fort Ticonderoga. Afterwards Croghan wrote Johnson that he feared a similar "thrashing" for Gen. John Forbes
advance forces nearing Fort Duquesne, unaware of Major James Grant
's bloody defeat five days earlier. Before joining Forbes on November 20 with fifteen Indian scouts, Croghan's management of the Indians at Easton, where he acknowledged being an Indian himself, produced a peace treaty that forced the French to burn Fort Duquesne. Forbes assigned Croghan and Montour the dangerous task of bringing in recalcitrant regional Delaware, something Edward Shippen
said not even Sir William Johnson could handle better. Placed under Col. Henry Bouquet's command early in 1759, Croghan gathered intelligence about the French force at Venango. The "700 troops and about 950 Indians" there on the eve of overwhelming Pittsburgh in July were instead ordered to relieve Fort Niagara, where they were ambushed and defeated by Johnson.
Preliminary treaties that Croghan negotiated with thirteen western tribes during the next two years were formalized in the September, 1761 conference at Detroit presided over by Johnson. Croghan's diplomacy countered Seneca efforts to enlist the western Indiana in an anti-British alliance by organizing them into a confederacy independent of the Six Nations. General Jeffrey Amherst considered the cost of maintaining peace with the Indians exorbitant, cutting Indian Department expenses to the bone (Croghan wrote that he served "the King for nothing,") and more seriously, Amherst severely limited the gunpowder and lead the Indians needed to feed their families and acquire necessities through the fur trade. Amherst ignored Croghan's intelligence that an Indian war was imminent. The last straw for the Indians and for Croghan was the news that the French had ceded all Indian territory to the British in the Treaty of Paris
, prompting Pontiac's Rebellion
and Croghan's timely journey to London seeking confirmation of his Indian deeds and reparations for trade losses.
Ordered by Johnson to accompany Col. Bouquet's expedition against the Ohio tribes, Croghan bought and lavishly furnished Monckton hall near Philadelphia instead, leaving the negotiations to his assistant, Alexander McKee
. Col. Bouquet, returning victorious from his 1764 Ohio campaign, became alarmed when he crossed paths with Croghan's letter informing Alexander McKee
in Pittsburgh that the Indian Department would soon be independent of military control. Croghan also began selling land patents to settlers for land the Crown had yet to formally clear. Unfortunately for Croghan, the independence Indian Department and his claims to huge tracts of land would never be confirmed by the Crown. When Bouquent learned of Croghan's actions, he called the recently re-instated Indian agent "illiterate, imprudent, and ill bred" in a letter to General Gage complaining of Croghan's "ridiculous display of his own importance.". Ironically, Croghan may have been "impudent" for "imprudent," but Bouquet needed his services. Soon after he wrote that Croghan was the best person to pacify Illinois Country
. From 1764 until 1777, when military control of Ohio Country Indian affairs resumed, Croghan tried to position himself as to best cash-out on his Ohio Country land claims.
Pontiac's Rebellion and earlier Indian raids were avenged by the Paxton Boys
, who massacred the Conestoga
s and marched on Philadelphia to kill the friendly Indians taking refuge there in January, 1764, as Croghan floundered in the English Channel. A year later in a prelude to the Revolutionary War, Croghan's first shipment of Indian presents and trade goods to Pittsburgh provoked armed rebellion. This was because he was shipping thousands of knives and gallons of rum to Indians recently considered to be enemy's by frontier settlers. Not to mention, as a Crown Indian agent, Croghan was prohibited from engaging in Indian trade. Led by James Smith
, a young captive at Fort Duquesne when captured Braddock soldiers were tortured to death within hearing distance, "the 'Black Boys
' had attacked his convoy, burned most of his presents and threatened his life if he ever returned to Cumberland County." Unless "severeely punished," Croghan wrote to Bouquet, the militant frontiersmen would bring "an End to Sivil & Military power."
Despite Black Boy opposition, Croghan accumulated enough goods to open up trade relations with the Ohio Indians in Pittsburgh and set off for Illinois Country
. The party was attacked at the mouth of the Wabash River
by eighty Kickapoo
and Mascouten
warriors. Two of Croghan's men and three Indians were killed, Croghan tomahawked, the camp plundered and the survivors hurriedly marched to Vincennes
and eventually Ouiatenon
. There in a conference on July 13, Croghan reconciled the Ottawa
, Piankashaw, Miami, Ouiatenon, Mascouten, and Kickapoo Indians to British rule, a peace confirmed shortly afterward in a grand council that included Pontiac. The principals journeyed to Detroit where Croghan conducted an even larger conference that brought the Potawatomi
, Ojibway, Wyandot, and Wea
tribes into the British economic orbit, with Pontiac "playing an important part in the proceedings."
Croghan led a group of speculators, including Benjamin Franklin
and his son William Franklin
in land schemes in the Ohio Country, the Illinois Country and New York. On September 6, 1765, Croghan was awarded a 10000 acres (40.5 km²) grant in New York.
Spring, 1766 found Croghan resuming his mission to the Illinois tribes on the Mississippi. Seventeen bateaux left Pittsburgh on June 18, one carrying Croghan and his party, another carrying Captain Harry Gordon
and Ensign Thomas Hutchins
on a river mapping expedition, two carrying provisions for Fort Chartres, and thirteen carrying Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan trade goods. His August conferences at Fort Chartres he negotiated with 22 tribes, soon augmented by three Indian nations under French influence. Weak from malaria, Croghan accompanied Gordon and Hutchins to New Orleans, where he sailed for New York with stops at Mobile, Pensacola, Havana, and Charleston,
detained Croghan in Philadelphia on his return east with questions about the Indians to accompany the Mason and Dixon survey, writing: "It would be very difficult to manage this business without his assistance."
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix
in October, 1768 followed difficulties for Croghan's Indian diplomacy: Frederick Stump's murder and scalping of Indians on the Susquenhanna in January, the Black Boys' pledge to kill Croghan on his way to an Indian conference in Pittsburgh in March, and Lord Hillsborough's assumption of American affairs in London. A quiet retreat was Lake Otsego's outlet, headwater of the Susquehanna River, the site of Croghan's New York six chimney "hutt" and Croghan Forest, 100000 acres (404.7 km²) surveyed in September, 1768.
Ahead of the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the Six Nations sold Croghan 127000 acres (514 km²) for himself and numerous tracts for his friends. Despite the fact that the land was in the Ohio Country, to which the Iroquois had questionable claim to at best, Croghan did not hesitate to accept the terms. Not surprisingly, Crown recognition of these and other pre-treaty sales became the first of three Indian demands at the conference. The second condition was that a 2500000 acres (10,117.2 km²) grant "on the Ohio to Trent and his associates was to be part of the treaty. Third, should the Penns seize the 200000 acres (809.4 km²) which the Indians had granted 'our friend Mr. Croghan long ago,' they requested the king grant Croghn as much land elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Crown did not tolerate such a visible play for land, and Croghan's private land dealings went unconfirmed Facing bankruptcy, "He drew bills payable on Samuel Wharton in London" for thousands of pounds to patent his New York land to cover debt. Crippled with gout and hounded by creditors, Croghan sought refuge in Croghan Forest, now more than 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²), but even its remoteness offered insufficient legal protection when the Wharton bills were returned for nonpayment in February. 1770.
Croghan Hall, reached July 2, 1770, offered George relief from law suits and debtor's prison. Croghan could do little more than watch as settlers poured into the Ohio Country on land he considered to be his. Pennsylvania appointed officials for its newly established Bedford County in 1771, which "did not come within" twenty miles (32 km) "of Pittsburgh" according to Croghan, who "looked on these officers as agents of oppression Among those buying land from Croghan's 1749 Indian grant was George Washington through his agent William Crawford.[13] "I am likely to sell another tract to Coll. Washington and his friends," Croghan wrote to Joseph Wharton, Jr. and to Michael Gratz, "I have sold a parcel of lands to Coll Washington,"[14], but there were no further sales beyond 1500 acres (6.1 km²) in today's Perryopolis, Pennsylvania. Crawford surveyed land on Chartiers Creek for Washington that Croghan claimed when the survey of one of his Indian deeds fell far short of the 100000 acres (404.7 km²) called for and he had it redone. More than twenty years later, 1784, and despite presenting a questionable patent, Washington won a court case against Chartiers Creek families who had bought their land from Croghan. Washington's document was dated July 5, 1775,[15] two years after his land dispute with Croghan began, and was from Lord Dunmore aboard a British warship on the James River, signed a few days after Washington had assumed command of the Continental army besieging Boston.[16]
Croghan's luck appeared to change when the Crown confirmed plans to establish the inland colony of Vandalia, a land scheme Croghan stood to make money on. But because Crown agents could not be involved in such ventures, Croghan again conveniently resigned from the Indian Department on November 2, 1771. Alexander McKee took his place as deputy agent, with Croghan "on call when Indian affairs were critical." Cousin Thomas Smallman was taken into a fur trading partnership and Croghan "made a major effort to liquidate his debts." Although failing to sell any of his New York acres, Barnard and Michael Gratz remained Croghan's agents, creditors, primary suppliers and friends, if not as faithful as Andrew Montour whose murder in January 1772 was a major loss. Fort Pitt was abandoned that fall, but Croghan turned that loss to advantage by having McKee tell the Indians that it was done to please them. If it started grimly, 1772 ended with "the news that the Privy Council had overruled Lord Hillsborough and approved Vandalia.".
A year passed with Vandalia still in limbo and Croghan, borrowing money and pawning his plate, spending Ł1,365 for provisions and presents for 400 Indians who attended his November conference regarding the proposed colony. "Convinced that the powerful Vandalia project had fallen through, Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, decided to make good his colony's western claims. Presumably, when Dunmore visited Pittsburgh in the summer of 1773, he met Croghan, for he agreed to recognize the validity of Croghan's Indian grant." Dunmore appointed an intimate associate and perhaps nephew of Croghan as his western agent. Dr. John Connolly
, fully supported by Croghan, "claimed Pittsburgh for Virginia in January, 1774, and called up the militia. The first men to appear at he parade ground for the initial muster came from Croghan Hall." Virginia's claim was opposed by Pennsylvania's General Arthur St. Clair, the Penn's chief official west of the Alleghenies. "Flushed with confidence, Connolly became increasingly arbitrary and high-handed. He even presumed to treat Croghan . . . in an overbearing manner."
broke out when frontiersmen led by Michael Cresap
killed two Shawnees and others under Daniel Greathouse
slaughtered Logan
's family in the spring of 1774. Croghan kept the Senecas and Delawares neutral. His cooperation with St. Clair in defending the frontier prompted Connolly to accuse him of deserting Virginia. Shawnee chief Cornstalk, also not wanting war, sent the traders in his villages to Croghan Hall escorted by three chiefs. Connolly ordered forty militiamen to capture or kill the Indians and succeeded in shooting one of the Shawnee chiefs after they had escaped across the Allegheny. St. Clair, echoing other Pennsylvanians, said that Croghan was "indefatigable in endeavoring to make up the breeches."
That August Six Nation deputies brought the news of William Johnson's death. He had died in July, the day before a sheriff's sale put over 50000 acres (202.3 km²) of Croghan's New York land on the auction block. Bids totaled Ł4,840 despite the pall Johnson's demise cast over the proceedings, unfortunately much of it was never paid and the sheriff absconded with some of the money, leaving only Ł900 for Croghan. He raised $6,000 in Virginia and purchased directly from the Indians 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) on the eastern bank of the upper Allegheny River. Samuel Wharton sent encouraging news about Vandalia, including the arrival of a large shipment of goods for Indian presents and land payments, temporarily stored at Georgetown because of Dunmore's War.
Dunmore reached Pittsburgh in September, pausing in his campaign against the Shawnees to grill Croghan concerning "Connolly's accusations about inciting the Shawnees to attack Virginia and siding with Pennsylvania against Virginia. Croghan easily disproved the charges and was reinstated in Dunmore's good graces." After bringing his war to a successful close that fall and leaving seventy-five men under Connolly to garrison Fort Pitt, renamed Fort Dunmore, the Virginia governor adjourned the Augusta country court from Staunton to Pittsburgh, with Croghan serving as president judge.
On July 10, 1775 Croghan purchased 6000000 acres (24,281.2 km²) between the Allegheny and Beaver Rivers from the Six Nations. Two days later Congress established an Indian Department with trader Richard Butler
as its Pittsburgh agent. When Butler retired in April, 1776, Croghan lobbied for his position, but George Morgan was chosen as Indian agent and he "had absolutely no use for Croghan."
During the summer of 1777, Croghan visited Williamsburg with and at the expense of the Gratz brothers to obtain a clear title to land he had sold them. He conferred with Governor Patrick Henry
about frontier defenses and returned to Pittsburgh with dispatches for General Edward Hand
, who greeted him with suspicion. A Loyalist conspiracy had been uncovered. Colonel George Morgan the Indian agent, Alexander McKee, Simon Girty and others were under arrest. General Hand examined Thomas Smallman's papers and although there was nothing to indicate Croghan was disloyal, he was ordered to Philadelphia. Two weeks after his arrival the city was captured by the British and Croghan, too ill with gout to escape, was hauled before General Howe and castigated for chairing Pittsburgh's Committee of Safety and keeping the Lake Indians neutral. Ordered to take lodgings in town where he was kept under constant supervision by two British officers, Croghan learned that Monckton Hall was burnt after the battle of Germantown, "another severe financial blow."
When the British evacuated Philadelphia in June, 1778, Croghan was left behind on parole. Returning Pennsylvania officials accused him of collaborating with the enemy, but Croghan easily cleared himself in a November 12, 1778 trial. General Hand refused to let him return to Croghan Hall and Croghan spent the next two winters in Lancaster. In a valiant effort to pay old debts, Croghan mortgaged Croghan Hall to Joseph Simon and deeded 74000 acres (299.5 km²) of his Indian grant to the Gratzes, who paid his bills and financed another futile trip to Williamsburg to have his Indian titles recognized. Bedridden with gout upon his return to Lancaster, he wrote few letters to family and friends and in May, 1780 moved to Philadelphia, where he learned his western property were within Pennsylvania's boundaries.
Croghan died at his home in Passyunk Township, Pennsylvania
, on August 31, 1782. He was obscure by then, and his death was not reported in newspapers. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church
in Philadelphia. The marker on his grave succumbed to the elements, and the location was unmarked for many years. A new marker was added by the Sons of the American Revolution
in 2008.
Although the total value of his personal estate was reduced to Ł50 13s.6d, the value of his properties was "conservatively estimated at Ł140,000. Except for some specific bequests, his June 12, 1782 will left his entire estate to his daughter, Susannah. Susannah Croghan Prevost died in 1790, survived by six of her twelve children. who for decades pursued their claims to Croghan's often clouded deeds in lawsuits. "For some years, the hopeless involvements of his estate kept courtrooms abuss, and, when that ceased and his contemporaries died off, the man's name and fame faded away into the obscurity from which he had emerged."
Native American history continues to be made by Croghan descendants. To this day the female line of Croghan's Mohawk daughter Catherine, Croghan's son-in-law was Joseph Brant, are inheritors of her position and power. "Catharine Adonwentishon was head of the Turtle clan, the first in rank in the Mohawk Nation. Her birthright was to name the Tekarihoga, the principal sachem of the Mohawk nation."[80]
In 1786 the father of the novelist James Fennimore Cooper, William Cooper
, and partner Andrew Craig "by questionable methods . . . purchased the Otsego lands [40,000 of Croghan's acres] for only Ł2,700." William Cooper laid out the town of Cooperstown and built his mansion, Otsego Hall, on the site of Croghan's residence. William Franklin and the Prevost heirs watched bitterly as the property increased in value twentyfold. "Andrew Prevost, Jr., wrote Franklin on December 12, 1812: 'We have lost an immense property from the infamous advantage taken by Cooper and others without your knowledge by a forced Sale under your Title.'" James Fennimore Cooper presented the Cooper side of the dispute in 1838 Chronicles of Cooperstown.
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
Pennsylvania fur trader, Onondaga Council sachem, land speculator, British Indian agent in colonial America
British America
For American people of British descent, see British American.British America is the anachronistic term used to refer to the territories under the control of the Crown or Parliament in present day North America , Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana...
and, until accused of treason in 1777, Pittsburgh's president judge and Committee of Safety Chairman keeping the Ohio Indians neutral. For fifteen years Deputy Indian agent under the "Mohawk Baron", Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League...
, Croghan resigned in 1771 to establish Vandalia
Vandalia (colony)
Vandalia was the name of a proposed British colony in North America . The colony was located south of the Ohio River, primarily in what is now the U.S...
, a fourteenth colony, continuing on emeritus status his work as a borderland negotiator. He was the Ohio Country's key figure for thirty years, twenty-five years before the Revolution wrote William M. Darlington in 1893,"Yet, historians have all but forgotten the life of Croghan."
Early life and career
Little is known of Croghan's early life, including the names of his parents He was born in Ireland, around 1718. The best evidence for Croghan's age is found in the Filius Gallicae letters written early in 1756 by an anonymous author who claimed to be nearly thirty-eight years old in at attempt to cast suspicion on Croghan. He emigrated from Dublin to the province of Pennsylvania in 1741, likely as a result of hardships. His father apparently died young and Croghan's mother married Thomas Ward, family including half-brother Edward that also emigrated. Relatives remaining in Dublin included cousin Thomas Smallman's mother, probable brother Nicholas Croghan, a Dublin merchant, and Grandfather Edmund Croghan, whose landed property George claimed by inheritance. As for the pronunciation of "Croghan," Robert G. Crist concludes that given the Gaelic origins of the surname it was most likely pronounced “Crone.” This is confirmed in a letter from the Governor of Canada marquis de Vaudreuil to the Minister, August 8, 1756. Vaudriel refers to “George Craon’s fort.”Within a few years after arriving in British America, Croghan became one of Pennsylvania's leading fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
rs. A key to his success was establishing trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
s in Native American villages, like French traders did, rather than wait for Indian customers to come to him, which was the usual British practice. He also learned at least two Native languages, Delaware
Unami language
Unami is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken by Lenape people in what is now the lower Hudson Valley area and New York Harbor area, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, but later in Ontario and Oklahoma. It is one of the two Delaware languages, the other being Munsee...
and probably Mohawk
Mohawk language
Mohawk is an Iroquoian language spoken by around 2,000 people of the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada . Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining...
.
During this time, Croghan's primary business partner was William Trent, a trader and son of the founder of Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
. Their partnership was temporarily suspended when Trent joined the military to serve in King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
(1744–48). The two men bought property on Conedogwinet Creek in Pennsborough Township. Croghan built a plantation there, which served as his home and base of operations from about 1745 until 1751.
King George's War, 1744-1748
Britain's blockade of French ports made the few French trade goods reaching Ohio Country prohibitively expensive, a bonanza for the Pennsylvania traders that alarmed the French. Indian trade and diplomacy were closely linked, and Croghan's activities threatened French influence among the natives of the region. Croghan's first headquarters in the Ohio County was a SenecaSeneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
village on the Cuyahoga River
Cuyahoga River
The Cuyahoga River is located in Northeast Ohio in the United States. Outside of Ohio, the river is most famous for being "the river that caught fire", helping to spur the environmental movement in the late 1960s...
, present-day Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. As he expanded his trade westwards towards Detroit, French officials urged French-allied Indians to attack him. In April 1745, Senecas protected Croghan from capture, but elsewhere a canoe-load of Croghan's furs were robbed by French-allied Natives. As they had William Johnson a few years earlier and French fur trader Louis-Thomas Joncaire de Chabert (1670–1740) decades before that, in 1746 the Iroquois allowed Croghan a voice in their Grand Council Joncaire's son, Philippe-Thomas, was Croghan's and Johnson's principal French opponent, but beginning in 1746 even Johnson and the Grand Council acquiesced to Croghan's dominant role in Ohio Country affairs.
Croghan evidently played a role in the outbreak of violence in the Ohio Country. In early 1747, five French traders were murdered by Senecas and Wyandots at the Wyandot village of Sandusky
Sandusky
-Cities and towns:* Sandusky, Indiana* Sandusky, Michigan* Sandusky, Ohio* Sandusky, Wisconsin-Townships:* Sandusky Township, Crawford County, Ohio* Sandusky Township, Richland County, Ohio* Sandusky Township, Sandusky County, Ohio-People:...
on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, beginning an Indian revolt against the French fomented by Croghan. It was first led by Wyandot Chief Nicholas Orontony
Nicholas Orontony
Nicholas Orontony was an 18th century Wyandot leader who, in the years before the French and Indian War, tried to escape the domination of New France over Native people in the Detroit region by resettling in the Ohio country and forming an anti-French tribal coalition...
, then Memeskia or "Old Briton" as Croghan named him, formerly "La Demoiselle", a Piankeshaw Miami
Piankeshaw
The Piankeshaw Indians were Native Americans, and members of the Miami Indians who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation. They lived in an area that now includes western Indiana and Ohio, and were closely allied with the Wea Indians...
chief. The uprising was unsuccessful in driving out the French, and the Indians involved moved closer to the British. Reports claimed that Croghan had encouraged the uprising so that the Natives would trade with him and not the French. Old Briton relocated to Pickawillany
Pickawillany
Pickawillany was a Miami Indian village located on the current site of the city of Piqua, Ohio, in the United States.It was created in 1748 by La Demoiselle, a Miami chief, and was destroyed by the French and their Indian allies under Charles Langlade in June 1752...
on the Great Miami River
Great Miami River
The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southwestern Ohio in the United States...
, where Croghan built a stockade and trading post.
With the help of Mingo Chiefs Tanacharison
Tanacharison
Tanacharison or Tanaghrisson was an American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War. He was known to European-Americans as the Half King, a title also used to describe several other historically important American Indian leaders...
or Half King and Scarouady
Scarouady
Scarouady was an Oneida leader at Logstown. He was called Monacatuatha or Monakaduto by the Lenape.Scarouady was half-king, along with Tanacharison, over Iroquois and Iroquois allies in the Ohio-valley region...
, Croghan helped bring the Miamis into an alliance with Great Britain, which was formalized at a treaty conference that he attended in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, in July 1748. One of the interpreters, Andrew Montour
Andrew Montour
Andrew Montour , also known as Henry Montour, Sattelihu, and Eghnisara, was an important métis interpreter and negotiator in the Virginia and Pennsylvania backcountry in the 1750s and 1760s....
became an associate of Croghan's, but a disagreement over a translation involving a play of Indian land in the early 1750s led to Montour's mistrust of Croghan land dealings thereafter. The other interpreter, Conrad Weiser
Conrad Weiser
Weiser's colonial service began in 1731. The Iroquois sent Shikellamy, an Oneida chief, as an emissary to other tribes and the British. Shikellamy lived on the Susquehanna River at Shamokin village, near present-day Sunbury, Pennsylvania. An oral tradition holds that Weiser met Shikellamy while...
, Pennsylvania's Indian agent, subsequently held an Indian conference at Logstown
Logstown
The riverside village of Logstown was a significant Native American settlement in Western Pennsylvania and the site of the 1752 signing of the treaty of friendship between the Ohio Company and the Amerindians occupying the region in the years leading up to the...
on the Ohio River at which Pennsylvania acknowledged the independence of the Ohio nations, and appointed Croghan to negotiate with the region's Indians.
Weiser informed the recently allied western tribes at the 1748 Logstown conference that Britain had signed a peace treaty with France, therefore he had no war supplies for them, distributing a present instead. Rumor of Celeron de Bienville
Celeron de Bienville
Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville was aFrench Canadian Officer of Marine. In 1739-1740 he led a detachment to Louisiana to fight the Chickasaw in the abortive Chickasaw Campaign of 1739...
's 1749 expedition to claim the Ohio Valley for France and to drive out the English traders prompted Governor James Hamilton (Pennsylvania)
James Hamilton (Pennsylvania)
James Hamilton , son of the well-known Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, was a prominent lawyer and governmental figure in colonial Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.-Life:...
to dispatch Croghan to Logstown to investigate. Days before Celeron reached Logstown, Croghan alleges that its Mingo chiefs sold him 200000 acres (809.4 km²) excluding 2 square miles (5.2 km²) at the Forks of the Ohio for a British fort. Biographer Wainwright notes this was "a momentous event in his life."
Virginia's Ohio Company agents Col. Thomas Cresap
Thomas Cresap
Colonel Thomas Cresap was an English-born pioneer settler in the state of Maryland, and an agent of Lord Baltimore in the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary dispute. During the dispute, Cresap became a notorious figure in the Conejohela Flats areathe Susquehanna Valley in the area south of Wright's...
and Hugh Parker made overtures to the Indians at Picawillany that Croghan opposed in November, 1749, yet a year later he and Montour began aiding Virginia by guiding its scout Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist was an accomplished American explorer, surveyor and frontiersman. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country . He is credited with providing the first detailed description of the Ohio Country to Great Britain and her colonists...
on a tour of Ohio Indian villages. Croghan's 200000 acres (809.4 km²) in unconfirmed Indian deeds motivated his shift in allegiance. Sometime in 1750 he realized that such large grants were against Pennsylvania statutes, but permitted in Virginia. Having alerted Governor Hamilton to the Indian plea for a strong house at the Forks of the Ohio, then backtracking, Croghan reversed himself a final time and during a conference at the end of May, 1751 formally recorded the Mingo chiefs' request for the fort, but when Andrew Montour was called before the Pennsylvania Assembly for confirmation, he denied that the Indians wanted it and Pennsylvania "defaulted its leadership in the West to Virginia's Ohio Company."
A year later, in a June, 1752 conference at Logstown with Croghan in attendance and Andrew Montour translating, Virginia's Ohio Company was given permission to build the fort and settle one hundred families on 500000 acres (2,023.4 km²) in today's Western Pennsylvania. At the same time Pickawillany was attacked by a French force led by Charles Langlade. Old Britain was killed, boiled, and eaten. For Croghan, "the year 1753 was far worse, for it saw the virtual end of the Indian trade. Early in the spring, Duquesne opened his campaign to drive the English out of the Ohio Valley." Scarouady made Croghan's role in Ohio Country affairs more prominent during a conference held at Carlisle in October, 1753. From then on Croghan would represent the Indians in communications to and from Pennsylvania and receive its presents. By the time the twenty-one-year-old George Washington's embassy to the French at Fort Le Boeuf in 1753 had ended, Croghan had already spent more than a decade in the Ohio Country.
The Seven Years' War
At the outset of the Seven years' War in North America (also referred to as the French and Indian War, 1754–1763), French forces were occupying the Ohio Country and expelling or arresting British fur traders. Soon after Washington returned from delivering Virginia Governor Dinwiddie's summons to the French, Croghan was in Ohio Country gathering intelligence, helping build the Ohio Company stockade commanded by William Trent, and supplying the Indians with food, rum, and weapons. He and Montour were in Winchester at the end of May when Governor Dinwiddie commissioned them captains under Col. Washington, with Croghan in charge of flour supply and Indian allies. By that time the French had captured the Ohio Company fort at the Forks of the Ohio, surrendered by Croghan's half-brother Edward Ward, and Jumonville had been murdered by the Half King. Washington alienated his Indian allies and blamed Croghan for his defeat at Fort Necessity. The Half King and Queen Aliquippa took their people to Croghan's plantation on Aughwick Creek, both dying that winter.During the ill-fated Braddock Expedition
Braddock expedition
The Braddock expedition, also called Braddock's campaign or, more commonly, Braddock's Defeat, was a failed British military expedition which attempted to capture the French Fort Duquesne in the summer of 1755 during the French and Indian War. It was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on...
in 1755, Croghan once again assisted by Captain Montour, led eight Indian scouts, the same group led by the Half King at Jumonville Glen. Like Washington, General Braddock alienated friendly Indians, yet Montour and the eight under Croghan attended the gravely wounded general while teamsters Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
and Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...
fled on horseback. Croghan pressed Braddock to relinquish command and when he would not, apparently took charge, taking Braddock off the battlefield assisted by Braddock's twenty-three year old aide, Washington. Washington's account differs by implication and biographer James Flexner in presenting it does not mention Croghan being present, but Captains Croghan and Montour were there, outranked the General's Aide, and recalled being Washington's subordinates the year before. They worked together to save Braddock and someone took charge.
In 1755, friendly Indians again sought refuge at Aughwick, where Croghan built Fort Shirley and three other forts on the frontier. He relocated to the New York frontier in 1756 and began his career as Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs under Sir William Johnson.
With Montour at his side and in command of 100 Indians on an overlooking hilltop, Croghan witnessed in July, 1758 General James Abercrombie's calamitous frontal assault on Fort Ticonderoga. Afterwards Croghan wrote Johnson that he feared a similar "thrashing" for Gen. John Forbes
John Forbes
John Forbes may refer to:*John Forbes *John Forbes *John Forbes , Scottish theologian; one of the six "Aberdeen doctors"...
advance forces nearing Fort Duquesne, unaware of Major James Grant
James Grant
James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...
's bloody defeat five days earlier. Before joining Forbes on November 20 with fifteen Indian scouts, Croghan's management of the Indians at Easton, where he acknowledged being an Indian himself, produced a peace treaty that forced the French to burn Fort Duquesne. Forbes assigned Croghan and Montour the dangerous task of bringing in recalcitrant regional Delaware, something Edward Shippen
Edward Shippen
Edward Shippen was the second mayor of Philadelphia. He was appointed to a one year term by William Penn in 1701. In 1702, he was elected to a second one year term, making him the first elected mayor of Philadelphia...
said not even Sir William Johnson could handle better. Placed under Col. Henry Bouquet's command early in 1759, Croghan gathered intelligence about the French force at Venango. The "700 troops and about 950 Indians" there on the eve of overwhelming Pittsburgh in July were instead ordered to relieve Fort Niagara, where they were ambushed and defeated by Johnson.
Preliminary treaties that Croghan negotiated with thirteen western tribes during the next two years were formalized in the September, 1761 conference at Detroit presided over by Johnson. Croghan's diplomacy countered Seneca efforts to enlist the western Indiana in an anti-British alliance by organizing them into a confederacy independent of the Six Nations. General Jeffrey Amherst considered the cost of maintaining peace with the Indians exorbitant, cutting Indian Department expenses to the bone (Croghan wrote that he served "the King for nothing,") and more seriously, Amherst severely limited the gunpowder and lead the Indians needed to feed their families and acquire necessities through the fur trade. Amherst ignored Croghan's intelligence that an Indian war was imminent. The last straw for the Indians and for Croghan was the news that the French had ceded all Indian territory to the British in the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris could refer to a number of treaties which have been negotiated and signed in Paris, France, including:*Treaty of Paris , ended the Albigensian Crusade*Treaty of Paris , between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France...
, prompting Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the...
and Croghan's timely journey to London seeking confirmation of his Indian deeds and reparations for trade losses.
Pontiac's Rebellion
Interestingly, as Indian rebellion engulfed the Ohio Country, Croghan was nowhere to be seen. Instead of following the orders of his superior, Sir William Johnson, to tend to Indian matters along the frontier, Croghan resigned as Deputy Indian agent and packed his bags for London. Two officers recently besieged in Ft. Detroit and recalled to testify about the Indian rebellion were on the Britannia, the ship Croghan sailed to England aboard until wrecking off the Normandy coast in January, 1764. Traveling to Le Havre, Croghan visited the tomb of William the Conqueror. In London "he was the personification of wealth and power." If the Lords of Trade declined Croghan's request to transfer his 200000 acres (809.4 km²) Indian purchase from the Ohio to the Mohawk River valley, repay the suffering traders from treasury funds, or permit an Illinois colony, the Board did free the Indian Department from military control and would consider moving the Proclamation Line of 1763 to the Ohio River. Croghan had speculated extensively in the Ohio Country, and stood to gain a fortune if his Indian deeds were confirmed by the Crown, allowing for clear title to be held. Willing to turn his back on his long-time Indian allies in order to confirm his land grants, Croghan began to tout the authority of Iroquois, who claimed the right to cede the Ohio CountryOrdered by Johnson to accompany Col. Bouquet's expedition against the Ohio tribes, Croghan bought and lavishly furnished Monckton hall near Philadelphia instead, leaving the negotiations to his assistant, Alexander McKee
Alexander McKee
Colonel Alexander McKee was an agent in the British Indian Department during the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the Northwest Indian War....
. Col. Bouquet, returning victorious from his 1764 Ohio campaign, became alarmed when he crossed paths with Croghan's letter informing Alexander McKee
Alexander McKee
Colonel Alexander McKee was an agent in the British Indian Department during the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the Northwest Indian War....
in Pittsburgh that the Indian Department would soon be independent of military control. Croghan also began selling land patents to settlers for land the Crown had yet to formally clear. Unfortunately for Croghan, the independence Indian Department and his claims to huge tracts of land would never be confirmed by the Crown. When Bouquent learned of Croghan's actions, he called the recently re-instated Indian agent "illiterate, imprudent, and ill bred" in a letter to General Gage complaining of Croghan's "ridiculous display of his own importance.". Ironically, Croghan may have been "impudent" for "imprudent," but Bouquet needed his services. Soon after he wrote that Croghan was the best person to pacify Illinois Country
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
. From 1764 until 1777, when military control of Ohio Country Indian affairs resumed, Croghan tried to position himself as to best cash-out on his Ohio Country land claims.
Pontiac's Rebellion and earlier Indian raids were avenged by the Paxton Boys
Paxton Boys
The Paxton Boys were a vigilante group who murdered 20 Susquehannock in events collectively called the Conestoga Massacre. Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River formed a vigilante group to retaliate against local American Indians in the aftermath of the...
, who massacred the Conestoga
Conestoga
Conestoga originally referred to the Conestoga , an English name for the Susquehannock people of Pennsylvania.It may also refer to: simply people from the Pennsylvania in 1856 Year, refereed to this named and eventually they scattered in different area of North America in Canada and USA and then...
s and marched on Philadelphia to kill the friendly Indians taking refuge there in January, 1764, as Croghan floundered in the English Channel. A year later in a prelude to the Revolutionary War, Croghan's first shipment of Indian presents and trade goods to Pittsburgh provoked armed rebellion. This was because he was shipping thousands of knives and gallons of rum to Indians recently considered to be enemy's by frontier settlers. Not to mention, as a Crown Indian agent, Croghan was prohibited from engaging in Indian trade. Led by James Smith
James Smith
-Sports figures:*James Smith *James Smith , American boxer, nicknamed "Bonecrusher"*James Smith , footballer...
, a young captive at Fort Duquesne when captured Braddock soldiers were tortured to death within hearing distance, "the 'Black Boys
Black Boys
The Black Boys, also known as the Brave Fellows and the Loyal Volunteers, were members of a white settler movement in the Conococheague Valley of colonial Pennsylvania sometimes known as the Black Boys Rebellion...
' had attacked his convoy, burned most of his presents and threatened his life if he ever returned to Cumberland County." Unless "severeely punished," Croghan wrote to Bouquet, the militant frontiersmen would bring "an End to Sivil & Military power."
Despite Black Boy opposition, Croghan accumulated enough goods to open up trade relations with the Ohio Indians in Pittsburgh and set off for Illinois Country
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
. The party was attacked at the mouth of the Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
by eighty Kickapoo
Kickapoo
The Kickapoo are an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe. According to the Anishinaabeg, the name "Kickapoo" means "Stands here and there". It referred to the tribe's migratory patterns. The name can also mean "wanderer"...
and Mascouten
Mascouten
The Mascouten were a tribe of Algonquian-speaking native Americans who are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi River adjacent to the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border....
warriors. Two of Croghan's men and three Indians were killed, Croghan tomahawked, the camp plundered and the survivors hurriedly marched to Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...
and eventually Ouiatenon
Ouiatenon
Ouiatenon is a name that refers to a dwelling place of members of the Wea tribe of Native Americans. The name Ouiatenon, also variously given as Ouiatanon, Oujatanon, Ouiatano or other similar forms, is a French rendering of a term from the Wea dialect of the Miami-Illinois language which means...
. There in a conference on July 13, Croghan reconciled the Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Piankashaw, Miami, Ouiatenon, Mascouten, and Kickapoo Indians to British rule, a peace confirmed shortly afterward in a grand council that included Pontiac. The principals journeyed to Detroit where Croghan conducted an even larger conference that brought the Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
, Ojibway, Wyandot, and Wea
Wea
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe originally located in western Indiana, closely related to the Miami. The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their many recorded names...
tribes into the British economic orbit, with Pontiac "playing an important part in the proceedings."
Croghan led a group of speculators, including Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and his son William Franklin
William Franklin
William Franklin was an American soldier and colonial administrator. He served as the last Colonial Governor of New Jersey. Franklin was a steadfast Loyalist throughout the American War of Independence, despite his father Benjamin Franklin's role as one of the most prominent Patriots during the...
in land schemes in the Ohio Country, the Illinois Country and New York. On September 6, 1765, Croghan was awarded a 10000 acres (40.5 km²) grant in New York.
Harry Gordon
Harry Gordon was a popular Scottish entertainer, comedian and impressionist, touring throughout Scotland and further afield. From the 1920s through the 1950s Gordon also produced a large number of recordings, including several under assumed names...
and Ensign Thomas Hutchins
Thomas Hutchins
Thomas Hutchins was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor.He joined the militia during the French and Indian War and later took a regular commission with British forces...
on a river mapping expedition, two carrying provisions for Fort Chartres, and thirteen carrying Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan trade goods. His August conferences at Fort Chartres he negotiated with 22 tribes, soon augmented by three Indian nations under French influence. Weak from malaria, Croghan accompanied Gordon and Hutchins to New Orleans, where he sailed for New York with stops at Mobile, Pensacola, Havana, and Charleston,
Later life
Arriving in New York on January 10, 1767, two days later Croghan joined Wharton in urging Gen. Gage to establish an Illinois colony and when he refused, Croghan publicly resigned as Deputy Indian agent. Laid low by illness, Croghan spent February recuperating at Monckton Hall and March in visiting Johnson, who convinced him to withdraw his resignation. Sent to Fort Pitt in May, Croghan defused an Indian war over squatters and illegal trade. Governor John PennJohn Penn
John Penn is the name of:* John Penn , Pennsylvania proprietor, only son of William Penn born in America* John Penn , colonial governor of Pennsylvania, grandson of William Penn, son of Richard Penn, Sr....
detained Croghan in Philadelphia on his return east with questions about the Indians to accompany the Mason and Dixon survey, writing: "It would be very difficult to manage this business without his assistance."
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York...
in October, 1768 followed difficulties for Croghan's Indian diplomacy: Frederick Stump's murder and scalping of Indians on the Susquenhanna in January, the Black Boys' pledge to kill Croghan on his way to an Indian conference in Pittsburgh in March, and Lord Hillsborough's assumption of American affairs in London. A quiet retreat was Lake Otsego's outlet, headwater of the Susquehanna River, the site of Croghan's New York six chimney "hutt" and Croghan Forest, 100000 acres (404.7 km²) surveyed in September, 1768.
Ahead of the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the Six Nations sold Croghan 127000 acres (514 km²) for himself and numerous tracts for his friends. Despite the fact that the land was in the Ohio Country, to which the Iroquois had questionable claim to at best, Croghan did not hesitate to accept the terms. Not surprisingly, Crown recognition of these and other pre-treaty sales became the first of three Indian demands at the conference. The second condition was that a 2500000 acres (10,117.2 km²) grant "on the Ohio to Trent and his associates was to be part of the treaty. Third, should the Penns seize the 200000 acres (809.4 km²) which the Indians had granted 'our friend Mr. Croghan long ago,' they requested the king grant Croghn as much land elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Crown did not tolerate such a visible play for land, and Croghan's private land dealings went unconfirmed Facing bankruptcy, "He drew bills payable on Samuel Wharton in London" for thousands of pounds to patent his New York land to cover debt. Crippled with gout and hounded by creditors, Croghan sought refuge in Croghan Forest, now more than 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²), but even its remoteness offered insufficient legal protection when the Wharton bills were returned for nonpayment in February. 1770.
Croghan Hall, reached July 2, 1770, offered George relief from law suits and debtor's prison. Croghan could do little more than watch as settlers poured into the Ohio Country on land he considered to be his. Pennsylvania appointed officials for its newly established Bedford County in 1771, which "did not come within" twenty miles (32 km) "of Pittsburgh" according to Croghan, who "looked on these officers as agents of oppression Among those buying land from Croghan's 1749 Indian grant was George Washington through his agent William Crawford.[13] "I am likely to sell another tract to Coll. Washington and his friends," Croghan wrote to Joseph Wharton, Jr. and to Michael Gratz, "I have sold a parcel of lands to Coll Washington,"[14], but there were no further sales beyond 1500 acres (6.1 km²) in today's Perryopolis, Pennsylvania. Crawford surveyed land on Chartiers Creek for Washington that Croghan claimed when the survey of one of his Indian deeds fell far short of the 100000 acres (404.7 km²) called for and he had it redone. More than twenty years later, 1784, and despite presenting a questionable patent, Washington won a court case against Chartiers Creek families who had bought their land from Croghan. Washington's document was dated July 5, 1775,[15] two years after his land dispute with Croghan began, and was from Lord Dunmore aboard a British warship on the James River, signed a few days after Washington had assumed command of the Continental army besieging Boston.[16]
Croghan's luck appeared to change when the Crown confirmed plans to establish the inland colony of Vandalia, a land scheme Croghan stood to make money on. But because Crown agents could not be involved in such ventures, Croghan again conveniently resigned from the Indian Department on November 2, 1771. Alexander McKee took his place as deputy agent, with Croghan "on call when Indian affairs were critical." Cousin Thomas Smallman was taken into a fur trading partnership and Croghan "made a major effort to liquidate his debts." Although failing to sell any of his New York acres, Barnard and Michael Gratz remained Croghan's agents, creditors, primary suppliers and friends, if not as faithful as Andrew Montour whose murder in January 1772 was a major loss. Fort Pitt was abandoned that fall, but Croghan turned that loss to advantage by having McKee tell the Indians that it was done to please them. If it started grimly, 1772 ended with "the news that the Privy Council had overruled Lord Hillsborough and approved Vandalia.".
A year passed with Vandalia still in limbo and Croghan, borrowing money and pawning his plate, spending Ł1,365 for provisions and presents for 400 Indians who attended his November conference regarding the proposed colony. "Convinced that the powerful Vandalia project had fallen through, Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, decided to make good his colony's western claims. Presumably, when Dunmore visited Pittsburgh in the summer of 1773, he met Croghan, for he agreed to recognize the validity of Croghan's Indian grant." Dunmore appointed an intimate associate and perhaps nephew of Croghan as his western agent. Dr. John Connolly
John Connolly
John Connolly may refer to:*John Connolly *John P. Connolly , actor*John Connolly , Irish author whose best-known novels revolve around former policeman Charlie Parker...
, fully supported by Croghan, "claimed Pittsburgh for Virginia in January, 1774, and called up the militia. The first men to appear at he parade ground for the initial muster came from Croghan Hall." Virginia's claim was opposed by Pennsylvania's General Arthur St. Clair, the Penn's chief official west of the Alleghenies. "Flushed with confidence, Connolly became increasingly arbitrary and high-handed. He even presumed to treat Croghan . . . in an overbearing manner."
Dunmore's War
Dunmore's WarDunmore's War
Dunmore's War was a war in 1774 between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations....
broke out when frontiersmen led by Michael Cresap
Michael Cresap
Michael Cresap was a frontiersman born in Maryland. He was the son of the pioneer Thomas Cresap. He spent part of his adult years in the Ohio Country as a trader and land developer. He led several raids against Indians whom he believed were hostile to white settlement. Logan of the Mingo Indians...
killed two Shawnees and others under Daniel Greathouse
Daniel Greathouse
Daniel Greathouse was a settler in colonial Virginia. His role in the Yellow Creek massacre in 1774 was instrumental in starting Dunmore's War....
slaughtered Logan
Logan
Logan was a Native American leader.Logan may also refer to:- Australia :* Logan City, a local government area in Queensland* Electoral district of Logan, an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly...
's family in the spring of 1774. Croghan kept the Senecas and Delawares neutral. His cooperation with St. Clair in defending the frontier prompted Connolly to accuse him of deserting Virginia. Shawnee chief Cornstalk, also not wanting war, sent the traders in his villages to Croghan Hall escorted by three chiefs. Connolly ordered forty militiamen to capture or kill the Indians and succeeded in shooting one of the Shawnee chiefs after they had escaped across the Allegheny. St. Clair, echoing other Pennsylvanians, said that Croghan was "indefatigable in endeavoring to make up the breeches."
That August Six Nation deputies brought the news of William Johnson's death. He had died in July, the day before a sheriff's sale put over 50000 acres (202.3 km²) of Croghan's New York land on the auction block. Bids totaled Ł4,840 despite the pall Johnson's demise cast over the proceedings, unfortunately much of it was never paid and the sheriff absconded with some of the money, leaving only Ł900 for Croghan. He raised $6,000 in Virginia and purchased directly from the Indians 1500000 acres (6,070.3 km²) on the eastern bank of the upper Allegheny River. Samuel Wharton sent encouraging news about Vandalia, including the arrival of a large shipment of goods for Indian presents and land payments, temporarily stored at Georgetown because of Dunmore's War.
Dunmore reached Pittsburgh in September, pausing in his campaign against the Shawnees to grill Croghan concerning "Connolly's accusations about inciting the Shawnees to attack Virginia and siding with Pennsylvania against Virginia. Croghan easily disproved the charges and was reinstated in Dunmore's good graces." After bringing his war to a successful close that fall and leaving seventy-five men under Connolly to garrison Fort Pitt, renamed Fort Dunmore, the Virginia governor adjourned the Augusta country court from Staunton to Pittsburgh, with Croghan serving as president judge.
American Revolution
Croghan chaired Pittsburgh's committee of correspondence formed in May of 1775 after the battles of Lexington and Concord. The following month he hosted an Indian conference to ratify Dunmore's treaty of peace when Connolly was arrested by Pennsylvanians and carried off to prison at Hannastown. Croghan and his committee objected and Connolly was released, only to join Lord Dunmore aboard a British man-of-war and "dream of returning to Pittsburgh at the head of invincible British legions."On July 10, 1775 Croghan purchased 6000000 acres (24,281.2 km²) between the Allegheny and Beaver Rivers from the Six Nations. Two days later Congress established an Indian Department with trader Richard Butler
Richard Butler
- Military :*Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran , 1st Earl of Arran, marshal of the army in Ireland, lord deputy of Ireland*Richard Butler , American Revolutionary War General, later killed fighting Native Americans in Ohio...
as its Pittsburgh agent. When Butler retired in April, 1776, Croghan lobbied for his position, but George Morgan was chosen as Indian agent and he "had absolutely no use for Croghan."
During the summer of 1777, Croghan visited Williamsburg with and at the expense of the Gratz brothers to obtain a clear title to land he had sold them. He conferred with Governor Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
about frontier defenses and returned to Pittsburgh with dispatches for General Edward Hand
Edward Hand
-Early life and career:Hand was born in Clyduff, King's County, Ireland January 10, 1742, and was baptised in Shinrone. His father was John Hand. Among his immediate neighbours were the Kearney family, ancestors of U.S. President Barack Obamba [1]...
, who greeted him with suspicion. A Loyalist conspiracy had been uncovered. Colonel George Morgan the Indian agent, Alexander McKee, Simon Girty and others were under arrest. General Hand examined Thomas Smallman's papers and although there was nothing to indicate Croghan was disloyal, he was ordered to Philadelphia. Two weeks after his arrival the city was captured by the British and Croghan, too ill with gout to escape, was hauled before General Howe and castigated for chairing Pittsburgh's Committee of Safety and keeping the Lake Indians neutral. Ordered to take lodgings in town where he was kept under constant supervision by two British officers, Croghan learned that Monckton Hall was burnt after the battle of Germantown, "another severe financial blow."
When the British evacuated Philadelphia in June, 1778, Croghan was left behind on parole. Returning Pennsylvania officials accused him of collaborating with the enemy, but Croghan easily cleared himself in a November 12, 1778 trial. General Hand refused to let him return to Croghan Hall and Croghan spent the next two winters in Lancaster. In a valiant effort to pay old debts, Croghan mortgaged Croghan Hall to Joseph Simon and deeded 74000 acres (299.5 km²) of his Indian grant to the Gratzes, who paid his bills and financed another futile trip to Williamsburg to have his Indian titles recognized. Bedridden with gout upon his return to Lancaster, he wrote few letters to family and friends and in May, 1780 moved to Philadelphia, where he learned his western property were within Pennsylvania's boundaries.
Croghan died at his home in Passyunk Township, Pennsylvania
Passyunk Township, Pennsylvania
Passyunk Township is a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The township ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854.-History:...
, on August 31, 1782. He was obscure by then, and his death was not reported in newspapers. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia
St. Peter's Church is a historic church located on the corner of Third and Pine Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened for worship on September 4, 1761 and served as a place of worship for many of the United States Founding Fathers during the period of the Continental Congresses. The...
in Philadelphia. The marker on his grave succumbed to the elements, and the location was unmarked for many years. A new marker was added by the Sons of the American Revolution
Sons of the American Revolution
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...
in 2008.
Although the total value of his personal estate was reduced to Ł50 13s.6d, the value of his properties was "conservatively estimated at Ł140,000. Except for some specific bequests, his June 12, 1782 will left his entire estate to his daughter, Susannah. Susannah Croghan Prevost died in 1790, survived by six of her twelve children. who for decades pursued their claims to Croghan's often clouded deeds in lawsuits. "For some years, the hopeless involvements of his estate kept courtrooms abuss, and, when that ceased and his contemporaries died off, the man's name and fame faded away into the obscurity from which he had emerged."
Native American history continues to be made by Croghan descendants. To this day the female line of Croghan's Mohawk daughter Catherine, Croghan's son-in-law was Joseph Brant, are inheritors of her position and power. "Catharine Adonwentishon was head of the Turtle clan, the first in rank in the Mohawk Nation. Her birthright was to name the Tekarihoga, the principal sachem of the Mohawk nation."[80]
In 1786 the father of the novelist James Fennimore Cooper, William Cooper
William Cooper
-Business:*William Cooper , founder of Cooper Brothers*William Cooper , Canadian businessman*William E. Cooper , prominent businessman in Dallas, Texas-Government:...
, and partner Andrew Craig "by questionable methods . . . purchased the Otsego lands [40,000 of Croghan's acres] for only Ł2,700." William Cooper laid out the town of Cooperstown and built his mansion, Otsego Hall, on the site of Croghan's residence. William Franklin and the Prevost heirs watched bitterly as the property increased in value twentyfold. "Andrew Prevost, Jr., wrote Franklin on December 12, 1812: 'We have lost an immense property from the infamous advantage taken by Cooper and others without your knowledge by a forced Sale under your Title.'" James Fennimore Cooper presented the Cooper side of the dispute in 1838 Chronicles of Cooperstown.