Early Western Travels, 1748-1846/Volume 1/Croghan to the Governor of Pennsylvania
Croghan to the Governor of Pennsylvania[1]
Logstown on Ohio,
December [November] the 16th, 1750.[2]
Sir: Yesterday Mr. Montour and I got to this Town, where we found thirty Warriors of the Six Nations going to War against the Catawba Indians; they told us that
they saw John Coeur about one hundred and fifty miles
up this River at an Indian Town, where he intends to
build a Fort if he can get Liberty from the Ohio Indians;
he has five canoes loaded with Goods, and is very generous
in making Presents to all the Chiefs of the Indians
that he meets with; he has sent two Messages to this
Town desiring the Indians here to go and meet him and
clear the Road for him to come down the River, but they
have had so little Regard to his Message that they have
not thought it worth while to send him an answer as yet.[3]
We have seen but very few of the Chiefs of the Indians
they being all out a hunting, but those we have seen are of
opinion that their Brothers the English ought to have a Fort on this River to secure the Trade, for they think
it will be dangerous for the Traders to travel the Roads
for fear of being surprised by some of the French and
French Indians, as they expect nothing else but a War
with the French next Spring. At a Town about three
hundred miles down this River, where the Chief of the
Shawonese live,[4] a Party of French and French Indians surprised some of the Shawonese and killed a man and took a woman and two children Prisoners; the Shawonese pursued them and took five French Men and some Indians Prisoners; the Twightwees likewise have sent word to the French that if they can find any of their People, either French or French Indians, on their hunting Ground, that they will make them Prisoners, so I expect nothing else but a War this Spring; the Twightwees want to settle themselves some where up this River in order to be nearer their Brothers the English, for they are determined never to hold a Treaty of Peace with the French. Mr. Montour and I intend as soon as we can get the Chiefs of the Six Nations that are Settled here together, to sollicit them to appoint a Piece of Ground up this River to seat the Twightwees on and kindle a Fire for them, and if possible to remove the Shawonese up the River, which we think will be securing those Nations more steady to the English Interest. I hope the Present of Goods that is preparing for those Indians will be at this Town some time in March next, for the Indians, as they are now acquainted that there is a Present coming, will be impatient to receive it, as they intend to meet the French next Spring between this and Fort De Troit, for they are certain the French intend an Expedition against them next Spring from Fort De Troit.[5] I hear the Owendaets [Wyandots] are as steady and well attached to the English Interest as ever they were, so that I believe the French will make but a poor hand of those Indians. Mr. Montour takes a great deal of Pains to promote the English Interest amongst those Indians, and has a great sway amongst all those Nations; if your Honour has any Instructions to send to Mr. Montour, Mr. Trent will forward it to me.[6] I will see it delivered to the Indians in the best manner, that your Honour's Commands may have their full Force with the Indians.
I am, with due respects,
Your Honour's most humble Servant,
The Honoble. James Hamilton,[7] Esq.
- ↑ The following is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 496-498; also printed in Early History of Western Pennsylvania, app., pp. 21-29. The circumstances under which it was written are as follows: In the autumn of 1750, Conrad Weiser reported to the governor of Pennsylvania that the French agent Joncaire was on his way to the Ohio with a present of goods, and orders from the governor of Canada to drive out all the English traders. Accordingly, Governor Hamilton detailed Croghan and Montour to hasten thither, and by the use of a small present, and the promise [of more, to try and counteract the intrigues of the French, and maintain the Indians in the English interest. Upon Croghan's arrival at Logstown, he sent back this reassuring letter. Proceeding westward to the Muskingum, where he had a trading house at a Wyandot village, Croghan met Christopher Gist, agent for the Ohio Company, and with him continued to the Scioto, thence to the Twigtwee town of Pickawillany (near the present Piqua, Ohio). All the way, Croghan held conferences with the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, and Twigtwees, strengthening the English alliance, and promising a large present of goods to be furnished next spring at Logstown. At Pickawillany, he made an unauthorized treaty with two new tribes who sought the English alliance—the Piankeshaws and Weas (Waughwaoughtanneys, French Ouiatonons). Unfortunately no extant document by Croghan adequately chronicles this journey. Our knowledge of it is derived from the journal of Gist (q. v.); from incidental notices in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 476, 485-488, 522-525; and from Croghan's brief account, see post.—Ed.
- ↑ In the original publication the month was misprinted December for November. See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, p. 498, where the governor in a message to the Assembly speaks of Croghan's letter from the Ohio of the sixteenth of November. Cf. also, Gist's Journal, November 25, 1750, where he says that Croghan had passed through Logstown about a week before.—Ed.
- ↑ Philippe Thomas Joncaire (John Coeur), Sieur de Chabert, was a French officer resident among the Seneca Indians, to whose tribe his mother was said to belong. Born in 1707, on the death of his father (1740) he succeeded to the latter's influence and authority among the Iroquois, and made constant efforts to neutralize the influence of Sir William Johnson, the English agent. Joncaire had a trading house at Niagara, and his profits from the portage of goods at that place were great. He accompanied Céloron's expedition in 1749; and in 1753 met Washington at Venango. It was chiefly due to his influence that the Ohio Indians deserted the English at the outbreak of the French and Indian war. Joncaire led the Iroquois contingent in all the campaigns on the Allegheny and in Western New York; and when Prideaux and Johnson advanced against Niagara, he commanded an outpost at the upper end of the portage. He signed the capitulation of Fort Niagara (1759), but after that nothing further is known of him.— Ed.
- ↑ The town mentioned here was at the mouth of the Scioto River, and was known as "the lower Shawnee town."—Ed.
- ↑ Detroit was considered an important station by La Salle; but no permanent post was established there until 1701, when De la Mothe Cadillac built a fort named Pontchartrain, and established the nucleus of a French colony. Bands of Indians were induced to settle at the strait; and here (1712) took place the battle of the Foxes with the Hurons and Ottawas. Detroit continued to be one of the most important French posts in the West until in 1760, when it was transferred to an English detachment under command of Major Rogers. See Croghan's Journal, post.
The siege of Detroit during Pontiac's War is one of the best known incidents in its history. During the Revolution, the British officials here were accused of sending scalping parties against the frontier settlements; and in 1779 George Rogers Clark captured at Vincennes its "hair-buying" commandant, General Henry Hamilton. In 1780, an expedition against Detroit was projected by Clark, but failed of organization. Throughout the Indian wars of the Northwest, Detroit was regarded with suspicion by the Americans, and its surrender in 1796 secured a respite for the frontier. Its capitulation to the British by Hull (1812) was a blow to the American cause, which was not repaired until after Perry's victory on Lake Erie, when Proctor evacuated Detroit, which was regained by an American force (September 29, 1813). Cass was then made governor. As American settlement came in, the importance of Detroit as a centre for the fur-trade declined, and its career as a Western commercial city began.—Ed.]
- ↑ Captain William Trent was a noted Indian trader, brother-in-law and at this time partner of Croghan. Although born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1715), he served the colony of Virginia as Indian agent; and in 1752 its governor dispatched him to the Miamis with a present. See Journal of Captain Trent (Cincinnati, 1871). The following year he was sent out by the Ohio Company to begin a fortification at the Forks of the Ohio, from which in Trent's absence (April, 1754), the garrison was expelled by a French force under Contrecœur. Trent was with Forbes in 1758, and the following year was made deputy Indian agent, assistant to Croghan, and aided at the conferences at Fort Pitt in 1760. His trade was ruined by the uprising of Pontiac's forces, but he received reparation at the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) by a large grant of land between the Kanawha and Monongahela rivers, where he made a settlement. At the outbreak of the Revolution he joined the patriot cause, and was major of troops raised in Western Pennsylvania.—Ed.
- ↑ Governor James Hamilton was the son of a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, and being himself educated for the legal profession, held several offices in the colony before he was appointed lieutenant-governor in 1748. His administration was a vigorous one, but owing to difficulties with the Quaker party he resigned in 1754. Five years later he was reinstated in the office, and served until the proprietor John Penn came over as governor (1763). His death occurred at New York during the British occupation (1783).—Ed.