George Croghan

For other people named George Croghan, see George Croghan (disambiguation).

George Croghan
Born	c. 1718[1] Ireland
Died	August 31, 1782 Passyunk, Pennsylvania
Resting place	St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia[2]
Other names	The Buck, Anagurunda, King of the traders[3]
Occupation	Fur trader, Indian agent, Onondaga Council sachem[4] land speculator, judge
Religion	Anglican[5]
Spouse	Susannah's mother unknown, Catharine (Takarihoga) was Mohawk Chief Nickus's daughter[6]
Children	Susannah, 1750-1790; Catharine (Adonwentishon), 1759-1837[7]

George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) 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.^[8] 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,^[9]"Yet, historians have all but forgotten the life of Croghan."^[9]

Early life and career

Little is known of Croghan's early life, including the names of his parents ^[10] 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.^[11] 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,^[12] a Dublin merchant, and Grandfather Edmund Croghan, whose landed property George claimed by inheritance.^[13] 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.” ^[14]

Within a few years after arriving in British America, Croghan became one of Pennsylvania's leading fur traders. A key to his success was establishing trading posts in Native American villages, like French traders did, rather than wait for Indian customers to come to him, which was the usual British practice.^[15] He also learned at least two Native languages, Delaware and probably Mohawk.^[15]

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.^[16]

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 Seneca 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.^[17] 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 ^[18] 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.^[19] It was first led by Wyandot Chief Nicholas Orontony, then Memeskia or "Old Briton" as Croghan named him,^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22]

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.^[23] Days before Celeron reached Logstown, Croghan alleges that its Mingo chiefs sold him 200,000 acres (810 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."^[24]

Virginia's Ohio Company agents Col. Thomas Cresap and Hugh Parker made overtures to the Indians at Picawillany that Croghan opposed in November, 1749,^[8] 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 200,000 acres (810 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.^[25] 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."^[26]

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 500,000 acres (2,000 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."^[27] 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.^[28] 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.^[29] The Half King and Queen Aliquippa took their people to Croghan's plantation on Aughwick Creek, both dying that winter.^[30]

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^[31] 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,^[32] 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.^[33] 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.^[34] 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.^[35] 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.^[36]

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.^[37] 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,")^[38] 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.

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."^[39] If the Lords of Trade declined Croghan's request to transfer his 200,000 acres (810 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.^[40] 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 Country^[41]

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.^[42] 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."^[43]. 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.^[44] 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 Conestogas 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 knifes 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."^[45] Unless "severeely punished," Croghan wrote to Bouquet, the militant frontiersmen would bring "an End to Sivil & Military power."^[46]

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.^[47] 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."^[48]

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 10,000 acres (40 km²) grant in New York.

George Croghan's Otsego Patents

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.^[49] His August conferences at Fort Chartres he negotiated with 22 tribes, soon augmented by three Indian nations under French influence.^[50] 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,^[50]

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.^[51] 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 Penn 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."^[52]

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,^[53] the Black Boys' pledge to kill Croghan on his way to an Indian conference in Pittsburgh in March,^[54] and Lord Hillsborough's assumption of American affairs in London.^[55] 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, 100,000 acres (400 km²) surveyed in September, 1768.^[56]

Ahead of the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the Six Nations sold Croghan 127,000 acres (510 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 2,500,000 acres (10,000 km²) grant "on the Ohio to Trent and his associates was to be part of the treaty. Third, should the Penns seize the 200,000 acres (810 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^[57] Facing bankruptcy, "He drew bills payable on Samuel Wharton in London"^[58] 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 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), but even its remoteness offered insufficient legal protection when the Wharton bills were returned for nonpayment in February. 1770.^[59]

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^[60] 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 1,500 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 100,000 acres (400 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.^[61] Alexander McKee took his place as deputy agent, with Croghan "on call when Indian affairs were critical."^[62] Cousin Thomas Smallman was taken into a fur trading partnership and Croghan "made a major effort to liquidate his debts."^[62] 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.".^[63]

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."^[64] 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."^[65] 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."^[66]

Dunmore's War

Dunmore's War 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."^[67]

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 50,000 acres (200 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 1,500,000 acres (6,100 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.^[68]

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."^[69] 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."^[70]

On July 10, 1775 Croghan purchased 6,000,000 acres (24,000 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."^[71]

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."^[72]

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.^[73] In a valiant effort to pay old debts, Croghan mortgaged Croghan Hall to Joseph Simon and deeded 74,000 acres (300 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.^[74]

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.^[75] A new marker was added by the Sons of the American Revolution in 2008.^[76]

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.^[77] 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."^[78]

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."^[79] 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.'"^[80] James Fennimore Cooper presented the Cooper side of the dispute in 1838 Chronicles of Cooperstown.^[81]

References

Notes

1. ^ Frederic, 73
2. ^ Wainwright, 310.
3. ^ Wainwright, 49, 310, 29.
4. ^ Wainwright, 13.
5. ^ Wainwright, 113.
6. ^ Wainwright, 34, 138.
7. ^ Wainwright, 34, 264.
8. ^ ^{a b} Wainwright, 30
9. ^ ^{a b} Campbell, 134
10. ^ Wainwright, 3.
11. ^ Wainwright, 107.
12. ^ Wainwright, 260
13. ^ Wainwright, 207.
14. ^ Sylvester Stevens and Donald Kent, eds. Wilderness Chronicles of Northwestern Pennsylvania (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1941), 94. For a more detailed explanation refer to R.G. Crist “George Croghan of Pennsboro,” A paper presented before the Cumberland County Historical Society and Hamilton Library Association, May 7, 1964 (Dauphin Deposit Trust Company: Harrisburg, 1965), 3.
15. ^ ^{a b} Michael J. Mullin, "Croghan, George", American National Biography Online, February 2000.
16. ^ Wainwright, 8–13.
17. ^ Wainwright, 8.
18. ^ Wainwright, 13
19. ^ Wainwright, 3
20. ^ Anderson, 28-29
21. ^ Wainwright, 14–15.
22. ^ Wainwright, 18–21.
23. ^ Wainwright, 27
24. ^ Wainwright, 28
25. ^ Anderson, 30
26. ^ Wainwright, 41-44
27. ^ Wainwright, 49-50
28. ^ Wainwright, 55
29. ^ Wainwright, 65
30. ^ Wainwright, 75-78
31. ^ Wainwright, 93
32. ^ Flexner, 129-130
33. ^ Wainwright, 145
34. ^ Wainwright, 151
35. ^ Wainwright, 153
36. ^ Wainwright, 165
37. ^ Wainwright, 182
38. ^ Wainwright, 195
39. ^ Wainwright, 206
40. ^ Wainwright, 207-208
41. ^ Campbell, New York History, pp? date?
42. ^ Wainwright, 210-211
43. ^ Wainwright, 120
44. ^ Volwiler, 177
45. ^ Volwiler, 179
46. ^ George Croghan's Journal, 18-19
47. ^ Volwiler, 185-186
48. ^ Volwiler, 188
49. ^ Volwiler, 195
50. ^ ^{a b} Volwiler, 197
51. ^ Wainwright, 239
52. ^ Wainwright, 244
53. ^ Wainwright, 248
54. ^ Wainwright, 251
55. ^ Wainwright, 253
56. ^ Wainwright, 256
57. ^ Wainwright, 257
58. ^ Wainwright, 267
59. ^ Wainwright, 271
60. ^ Wainwright, 277
61. ^ Wainwright, 281
62. ^ ^{a b} Wainwright, 282
63. ^ Wainwright, 283-284
64. ^ Wainwright, 286
65. ^ Wainwright, 287
66. ^ Wainwright, 283
67. ^ Wainwright, 189-191
68. ^ Wainwright, 292-293
69. ^ Wainwright, 294
70. ^ Wainwright, 295
71. ^ Wainwright, 296-299
72. ^ Wainwright, 300-301
73. ^ Wainwright, 302-303
74. ^ Wainwright, 305-305
75. ^ Wainwright, 310; Volwiler, 334. Volwiler, writing in 1926, did not know where Croghan was buried.
76. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=1990077&GRid=22970811&
77. ^ Wainwright, 307-307
78. ^ Wainwright, 310
79. ^ Volwiler, 329-330
80. ^ Volwiler, 331
81. ^ Wolwiler, 331

Bibliography

• Anderson, Fred. !The Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Face of Empire in British America, 1754-1766." New York: Knopf, 2000.
• Aquila, Richard.  !The Iroquois Restoration:Iroquois Diplomacy on the Colonial Frontier, 1701-1754.! Lincoln, NE: U. of Nebraska Press, 1997.
• Bothwell, Margaret Pearson. "The Astonishing Croghans," Western Pennsylvania History Magazine, 48(2), April 1965: 119-144.
• Campbell, William J. "An Adverse Patron: Land, Trade, and George Croghan," !Pennsylvania History,! 76(2), 2009: 117-140.
• Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington; The Forge of Experience, 1732-1775. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1965.
• Frederic, Harold & William C. Frederick III. "The Westsylvania Pioneers, 1774-1776." Butler, PA: H.R. Frederic, 2001.
• George Croghan's Journal April 1763 to December 1764 and Comments, Jim Greenwood, editor. Washington, PA: Monongahela Press, 2008.
• Greenwood, Jim. George Croghan, a Reappraisal. Washington, PA:Monongahela Press, 2009.
• Merrell, James H. Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier. New York: Norton, 1999. ISBN 0-393-04676-1.
• Volwiler, Albert T. George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741–1782. Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1926.
• Wainwright, Nicholas B. George Croghan: Wilderness Diplomat. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959.

External links

• George Croghan and the Development of Central New York, 1763-1800

Persondata
Name	Croghan, George
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Date of death	August 31, 1782
Place of death	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania