Early Western Travels, 1748-1846/Volume 1/Introductory Note (2)
II
Sources: Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 496-498, 530-536, 539, 540, 731-735; vi, pp. 642, 643, 781, 782; vii, pp. 267-271. Massachusetts Historical Collections, 4 series, ix, pp. 362-379. Butler's History of Kentucky (Cincinnati and Louisville, 1836), appendix, with variations from other sources. New York Colonial Documents, vii, pp. 781-788.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Next to Sir William Johnson, George Croghan was the most prominent figure among British Indian agents during the period of the later French wars, and the conspiracy of Pontiac. A history of his life is therefore an epitome of Indian relations with the whites, especially on the borders of Virginia and Pennsylvania and in the Ohio Valley. A pioneer trader and traveller, and a government agent, no other man of his time better knew the West and the counter currents that went to make up its history. Not even the indefatigable Gist, or the self-sacrificing Post, travelled over so large a portion of the Western country, knew better the different routes, or was more welcome in the Indian villages. Among his own class he was the "mere idol of the Irish traders." Sir William Johnson appreciated his services, made him his deputy for the Ohio Indians, and entrusted him with the most delicate and difficult negotiations, such as those at Fort Pitt and Detroit in 1758-61; and those in the Illinois (1765) by which Pontiac was brought to terms.
Born in Ireland and educated at Dublin, Croghan emigrated to Pennsylvania at an early age and settled just west of Harris's Ferry in the township of Pennsboro, then on the border of Western settlement. The opportunities of the Indian trade appealed to his fondness for journeying and sense of adventure. His daring soon carried him beyond the bounds of the province, and among the "far Indians" of Sandusky and the Lake Erie region, where he won adherents for the English among the wavering allies of the French. His abilities and his influence over the Indians soon attracted the attention of the hard-headed German, Conrad Weiser, who in 1747 recommended him to the Council of Pennsylvania. In this manner he entered the public service, and continued therein throughout the active years of his life.
Croghan was first employed by the province in assisting Weiser to convey a present to the Ohio, whither he preceded him in the spring of 1748.[1] The following year he was sent out to report on the French expedition whose passage down the Ohio had alarmed the Allegheny Indians, and arrived at Logstown just after Céloron had passed, thus neutralizing the latter's influence in that region.[2]
The jealousy of the Indians over the encroachments of the settlers upon their lands west of the mountains on the Juniata, and in the central valleys of Pennsylvania, determined the government to expel the settlers rather than risk a breach with the Indians. In this task, which must have been uncongenial to him, Croghan, as justice of the peace for Cumberland County, was employed during the spring of 1750.[3] The autumn of the same year, found him beginning one of his most extensive journeys throughout the Ohio Valley, as far as the Miamis and Pickawillany, where he made an advantageous treaty with new envoys of the Western tribes who sought his alliance. To Croghan's annoyance, the Pennsylvania government in an access of caution repudiated this treaty as having been unauthorized. In 1751 Croghan was again upon the Allegheny, encouraging the Indians in their English alliance, and defeating Joncaire, the shrewdest of the French agents in this region, by means of his own tactics. The next year, he was pursuing his traffic in furs among the Shawnees, but without forgetting the public interest;[4] and the following year finds him assisting the governor and Council at the important negotiations at Carlisle.[5] This same year (1753) Croghan removed his home some distance west, and settled on Aughwick Creek upon land granted him by the Province. His public services were continued early in the next year by a journey with the official present to the Ohio, where he arrived soon after Washington had passed upon the return from the famous embassy to the French officers at Fort Le Bœuf.
The outbreak of the French and Indian War ruined Croghan's prosperous trading business, and brought him to the verge of bankruptcy. While at the same time a large number of Indian refugees, desiring to remain under British protection, sought his home at Aughwick, where he felt obliged to provision them, with but meagre assistance from the Province. To add to his troubles, the Irish traders, because of their Romanist proclivities, fell under suspicion of acting as French spies, and Croghan was unjustly eyed askance by many in authority.[6] Although he was granted a captain's commission to command the Indian contingent during Braddock's campaign, he resigned this office early in 1756, and retired from the Pennsylvania service.
About this time he paid a visit to New York, where his distant relative, Sir William Johnson, appreciating his abilities, chose him deputy Indian agent, and appointed him to manage the Susquehanna and Allegheny tribes.[7] From this time forward he was engaged in important dealings with the natives, swaying them to the British interest, making possible the success of Forbes (1758), and the victory of Prideaux and Johnson (1759). After the capitulation of Montreal, he accompanied Major Rogers to Detroit. All of 1761 and 1762 were occupied with Indian conferences and negotiations, in the course of which he again visited Detroit, meeting Sir William Johnson en route.[8]
Late in 1763, Croghan went to England on private business, and was shipwrecked upon the coast of France;[9] but finally reached London, where he presented to the lords of trade an important memorial on Indian affairs.[10]
Upon his return to America (1765), he was at once dispatched to the Illinois. Proceeding by the Ohio River, he was made prisoner near the mouth of the Wabash, and carried to the Indian towns upon that river, where he not only secured his own release, but conducted negotiations which put an end to Pontiac's War, and opened the Illinois to the British.
A second journey to the Illinois, in the following year, resulted in his reaching Fort Chartres, and proceeding thence to New Orleans. No journal of this voyage has to our knowledge been preserved.
Croghan's part in the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) was rewarded by a grant of land in Cherry Valley, New York. Previous to this he had purchased a tract on the Allegheny about four miles above Pittsburg, where in 1770 he entertained Washington. At the beginning of the Revolution he appears to have embarked in the patriot cause,[10] but later was an object of suspicion; and in 1778 was proclaimed by Pennsylvania as a public enemy, his place as Indian agent being conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued, however, to reside in Pennsylvania, and died at Passyunk in 1782.[11]
In our selection of material from the large amount of Croghan's published work, we have chosen that which exemplifies Western conditions under three aspects: First, the period of English ascendency on the Ohio, which is illustrated by three documents of 1750 and 1751. Secondly, the period of French ascendency, hostility toward the English, and war on the frontiers; for this epoch we publish four documents, ranging from 1754 to 1757. The third period, after the downfall of Canada, is concerned with the surrender of the French posts, and the renewed hostility of the Indians; the two journals we publish for this period present interesting material for the study of Western history. Each deals with a pioneer voyage, for Rogers and Croghan were the first Englishmen (except wandering traders or prisoners) to penetrate the Lake Erie region and reach Detroit. The voyage down the Ohio (1765), with its circumstantial account of the appearance of the country, and its description of Indian conditions and relations, is noteworthy.
Croghan was a voluminous writer. In addition to the official reports of his journeys, he evidently had the habit of noting down the events of the day in a simple, straightforward manner, so that many manuscripts of his were long extant, presenting often different versions of the same journey. 'The earlier antiquaries published these as chance brought them to their notice.[12] The official reports themselves were preserved in the colonial archives, and are published in the Pennsylvania and New York collections. It is believed that this is the first attempt to bring together a selection of Croghan material that in any adequate manner outlines his interesting career. The chronological extent of these journals (from 1750- 1765) makes those which follow—Post's of 1758; and Morris's of 1764—interludes in the events which Croghan describes, thus throwing additional light upon the same period and the same range of territory.
- ↑ See Weiser's Journal, ante; and Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 287, 295.
- ↑ Ibid., v, p. 387; Pennsylvania Archives, ii, p. 31.
- ↑ Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 432-449.
- ↑ See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, p. 568
- ↑ Ibid., p. 665.
- ↑ Pennsylvania Archives, ii, pp. 114, 689.
- ↑ Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vii, p. 355; New York Colonial Documents, vii, pp. 136, 174, 196, 211.
- ↑ Stone, Life of Johnson, ii, app., p. 457.
- ↑ New York Colonial Documents, vii, p. 624.
- ↑ Egle, Notes and Queries (Harrisburg, 1896) 3d series, ii, p. 348.
- ↑ For his descendants see Egle, Notes and Queries, 3d series, ii, p. 349.
- ↑ See Craig, The Olden Time, and the heterogeneous mass of Croghan's writings therein printed.