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,[11] 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.[12]
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.