George Croghan

GEORGE CROGHAN A SKETCH OF AN ILLUSTRATION IN THE PAGEANT OF AMERICA. COPYRIGHT AND BY PERMISSION YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Prepared by the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County 1953
One of a historical series, this pamphlet is published under the direction of the governing Boards of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County.
BOARD·OF·TRUSTEES·OF·THE·SCHOOL·CITY·OF·FORT·WAYNE
Mrs. Sadie Fulk Roehrs Joseph E. Kramer, Secretary B.F. Geyer, President W. Page Yarnelle, Treasurer Willard Shambaugh
PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD FOR ALLEN COUNTY
The members of this Board include the members of the Board of Trustees of the School City of Fort Wayne (with the same officers) together with the following citizens chosen from Allen County outside the corporate City of Fort Wayne.
James E. Graham Arthur Niemeier Mrs. Glenn Henderson Mrs. Charles Reynolds
George Croghan, an officer in the War of 1812, typifies the patriotism, the bravery, and the gallantry of the young American of that period. At the age of twenty-one, he was in temporary command of the garrison at Fort Wayne for a brief time.
His excellent record in the defense of Fort Defiance and Fort Meigs earned him the command of Fort Stephenson (the present site of Fremont, Ohio). His intelligent and valorous defense of the fort against overwhelming odds touched the imaginations and thrilled the hearts of the American people. His later life was uneventful; he served as United States postmaster at New Orleans and as inspector general in the regular army. He saw action under General Taylor in the Mexican War and died of cholera in New Orleans in 1849.
The following account of Croghan’s early life, compiled by a woman who had known him as a boy, appeared in the supplement appended to Volume VII of the NILES’ WEEKLY REGISTER. The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County reprint this biographical sketch in the hope that it will prove interesting and entertaining to students of local history. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation have been changed to conform to current usage.