[40] This letter is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vi, pp. 642, 643. In the interval between this and the preceding document, momentous events, in which Croghan had a full share, had occurred on the Ohio. The governor of Virginia had engaged him to act as interpreter in Colonel Washington’s army—see “Dinwiddie Papers,” Virginia Historical Collections (Richmond, 1883-84), i, p. 187—and he had been present at the affair of the Great Meadows. During the period between this and Braddock’s expedition, Croghan had been busily employed in bringing over as many Indians as possible to the English cause, and he had led the Indian contingent to Braddock’s aid (see [post]). After the battle of the Monongahela, Croghan returned to his home at Aughwick Creek, caring at his own expense for the few Indians who remained firm in the English interest, and planning to defend his settlement by a stockade fort. A bill for his relief (he had lost all of his trading equipment) passed the Pennsylvania Assembly. Although holding no provincial office, his knowledge of the frontier situation was much relied on in this extremity.—Ed.
[41] This stockade fort was built on Aughwick Creek, where stands the present town of Shirleysburg. It was known first as Fort Croghan, then a private enterprise; but later in the same year (1755), a fort was built on this site by order of the government and named for General Shirley, commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America. Governor Morris wrote, after a visit to this fort in January, 1756, that seventy-five men were garrisoned therein (Pennsylvania Archives, ii, p. 556). It was appointed as the rendezvous for Armstrong’s expedition against Kittanning in August of this same year; but by October 15 the site had grown so dangerous that the governor ordered it abandoned.—Ed.
[42] This account of the situation on the Ohio, obtained from the journey of a Delaware Indian, is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vi, pp. 781, 782. Since the last letter written by Croghan, the Assembly had passed a militia bill (November, 1755), and Franklin had been commissioned to take charge of the erection of a series of frontier forts. Croghan was commissioned captain, and promptly raising a company, entered with zeal upon the work. For his instructions, see Pennsylvania Archives, ii, p. 536.—Ed.
[43] Robert Hunter Morris, son of Lewis Morris, prominent colonial statesman and governor of New Jersey, was born at Morrisania, New York, about 1700. Having been educated for the law, he became chief-justice of New Jersey (1738), a position held until his death in 1764. The Pennsylvania proprietors chose him as lieutenant-governor to succeed Hamilton in 1754; during his term of office he vigorously defended the province, but engaged in constant disputes with the Quaker party in the Assembly. The annoyance arising from this caused him to resign in 1756.—Ed.
[44] King Beaver (Tamaque) was head chief of the Delaware Indians on the Ohio, with headquarters at the mouth of Beaver Creek. He was somewhat half-hearted in the English service, but protested his desire to preserve the alliance until after Braddock’s defeat, when he openly took the hatchet against the English settlements. Post met him upon the Ohio in 1758, and secured a conditional agreement to remain neutral; but after the English occupation of the Forks of the Ohio, he retreated to the Muskingum, where a town was named for him. He took part in the treaties with the English in 1760 and 1762; but was one of the ring-leaders in the conspiracy of Pontiac (1763). After Bouquet’s advance into his territory, he reluctantly made peace, and delivered up his English prisoners. He died about 1770, having in his later years passed under the influence of the Moravian missionaries, and become one of their most eminent disciples.—Ed.
[45] Fort Duquesne, built at the Forks of the Ohio in 1754, was first commanded by Contrecœur; but in the September following the battle of the Monongahela, Captain Dumas, who had distinguished himself at that engagement, was made commandant. He was an officer of great ability, and while he sent out parties against the frontier, his instructions to one subordinate (Donville, captured in 1756) were to use measures “consistent with honor and humanity.” Dumas was superseded in 1756 by De Ligneris, who remained in command at Fort Duquesne until ordered to demolish the post, and retire before Forbes’s advancing army (1758).—Ed.
[46] The Caghnawagos (Caughnawagas) were the Iroquois of the mission village of that name, about six miles above Montreal.—Ed.
[47] This reference is to the massacre of the Moravian settlers at Gnadenhütten, in November, 1755.—Ed.
[48] This paper is reprinted from New York Colonial Documents, vii, pp. 267-271. It accompanied a letter from Croghan to Sir William Johnson, in which he says, “Inclosed you have a copy of some extracts from my old journals relating to Indian Affairs, from the time of Mr. Hamilton’s arrival as Governour of this Province till the defeat of General Braddock; all which you may depend upon are facts, and will appear upon the records of Indian Affairs in ye several Governments.”
After Croghan had been commissioned captain by the Pennsylvania authorities, “he continued in Command of one of the Companies he had raised, and of Fort Shirley on the Western frontier about three months, during which time he sent, by my direction, Indian Messengers to the Ohio for Intelligence, but never procured me any that was very material, and having a dispute with the Commissʳˢ about some accounts between them, in which he thought himself ill-used; he resigned his commission, and about a month ago informed me that he had not received pay upon Genˡ Braddock’s warrant, and desired my recommendation to Genˡ Shirley, which I gave him, and he set off directly for Albany, & I hear is now at Onondago with Sʳ Wᵐ Johnson.”—(Letter of Governor Morris, July 5, 1756, in Pennsylvania Archives, ii, pp. 689, 690.)