to converse in private with Pondiac, & several of the Chiefs of the
different Nations, as often as oppertunity served, in order to find out
the sentiments they have of the French & English, Pondiac is a shrewd
sensible Indian of few words, & commands more respect amongst those
Nations, than any Indian I ever saw could do amongst his own Tribe.
He and all his principal men of those Nations seem at present to be
convinced that the French had a view of interest in stirring up the
late differance between his Majesties Subjects & them & call it a Bever
War, for neither Pondiac nor any of the Indians which I met with, ever
pretended to deny but the French were at the bottom of the whole, &
constantly supplyed them with every necessary they wanted, as far as in
their power, every where through that Country & notwithstanding they
are at present convinced, that it was for their own Interest, yet it
has not changed the Indians affections to them, they have been bred up
together like Children in that Country, & the French have always adopted
the Indians customs & manners, treated them civily & supplyed their
wants generously, by which means they gained the hearts of the Indians
& commanded their services, & enjoyed the benefit of a very large Furr
Trade, as they well knew if they had not taken this measure they could
not enjoy any of those Advantages. The French have in a manner taught
the Indians in that Country to hate the English, by representing them
in the worst light they could on all occasion, in particular they have
made the Indians there believe lately, that the English would take their
Country from them & bring the _Cherokees_ there to settle & to enslave
them, which report they easily gave credit to, as the Southern Indˢ had
lately commenced war against them. I had great difficulty in removeing
this suspicion and convincing them of the falsity of this report, which I
flatter myself I have done in a great measure, yet it will require some
time, a very even Conduct in those that are to reside in their Country,
before we can expect to rival the French in their affection, all Indians
are jealous & from their high notion of liberty hate power, those Nations
are jealous and prejudiced against us, so that the greatest care will
be necessary to convince them of our honest Intention by our Actions.
The French sold them goods much dearer than the English Traders do at
present, in that point we have the advantage of the French, but they
made that up in large presents to them for their services, which they
wanted to support their Interest in the Country, & tho’ we want none of
their services, yet they will expect favours, & if refused look on it
in a bad light, & very likely think it done to distress them for some
particular Advantages we want to gain over them. They are by no means so
sensible a People as the Six Nations or other Tribes this way, & the
French have learned them for their own advantage a bad custom, for by
all I could learn, they seldom made them any general presents, but as it
were fed them with Necessaries just as they wanted them Tribe by Tribe,
& never sent them away empty, which will make it difficult & troublesome
to the Gentlemen that are to command in their Country for some time, to
please them & preserve Peace, as they are a rash inconsiderate People
and don’t look on themselves under any obligations to us, but rather
think we are obliged to them for letting us reside in their Country. As
far as I can judge of their Sentiments by the several Conversations I
have had with them, they will expect some satisfaction made them by Us,
for any Posts that should be established in their Country for Trade.
But you will be informed better by themselves next Spring, as Pondiac &
some Chiefs of every Nation in that Country intend to pay you a visit.
The several Nations on the Ouiabache, & towards the _Ilinois_, _St.
Josephs_, _Chicago_, _Labaye_, _Sagina_ & other places have applyed for
Traders to be sent to their settlements, but as it is not in the power of
any Officer to permit Traders to go from Detroit or _Michillimackinac_,
either English or French, I am of opinion the Indˢ will be supplyed
this year chiefly from the _Ilinois_, which is all French property & if
Trading Posts are not established at proper Places in that Country soon
the French will carry the best part of the Trade over the _Missisipi_
which they are determined to do if they can, for I have been well
informed that the French are preparing to build a strong trading Fort
on the other side Missisipi, about 60 miles above _Fort Chartres_,[134]
and have this Summer in a private manner transported 26 pieces of small
canon up the River for that purpose.
G. CROGHAN.
November, 1765.
FOOTNOTES
[1] See Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_; and _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 287, 295.
[2] _Ibid._, v, p. 387; _Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 31.
[3] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 432-449.
[4] See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 568.
[5] _Ibid._, p. 665.
[6] _Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, pp. 114, 689.
[7] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vii, p. 355; _New York Colonial
Documents_, vii, pp. 136, 174, 196, 211.
[8] Stone, _Life of Johnson_, ii, app., p. 457.
[9] _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 624.
[10] _Ibid._, p. 603.
[11] Egle, _Notes and Queries_ (Harrisburg, 1896) 3d series, ii, p. 348.
[12] For his descendants see Egle, _Notes and Queries_, 3d series, ii, p.
349.
[13] See Craig, _The Olden Time_, and the heterogeneous mass of Croghan’s
writings therein printed.
[14] 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.
[15] 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.
[16] Philippe Thomas Joncaire (John Cœur), 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.
[17] The town mentioned here was at the mouth of the Scioto River, and
was known as “the lower Shawnee town.”—ED.
[18] 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.
[19] 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.
[20] 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.
[21] This document is reprinted from _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 530-536; a portion of it is also to be found in Craig, _The
Olden Time_ (Pittsburg, 1846), i, p. 136, and a reprint in _Early
History of Western Pennsylvania_, app., pp. 26-34. As the result of
Croghan’s Western journey during the winter of 1750-51, and the desire
of Pennsylvania to maintain its trade relations with the Ohio Indians,
the Assembly voted £700 to be employed in presents; and the governor
instructed Croghan and Montour to deliver the goods.—See _Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, v, pp. 487, 518, 525, and Croghan’s account, _post_.
The adroitness with which Croghan outwitted the French officer and
interpreter Joncaire, and his influence over the chiefs on the Ohio,
as well as the susceptibility of the Indian nature to the influence of
material goods, are all exemplified in this narrative. It did not result,
however, as Croghan and the governor wished, in inducing the Pennsylvania
authorities to construct a fort on the Ohio. The beginnings of that
enterprise were left to the Virginians, but too late to secure the Forks
of the Ohio from being seized by the French.—ED.
[22] The commandant of this famous expedition (1749) was Pierre Joseph
Céloron, Sieur de Blainville, born in 1693, and having served a long
apprenticeship in the posts of the upper country. He commanded an
invasion of the Chickasaw country (1739), and had charge of the post at
Detroit in 1742-43, and again in 1750-54. Fort Niagara was entrusted to
him in 1744-47, whence he was transferred to Crown Point, until his Ohio
expedition took place. In the French and Indian War he held the rank of
major, and served on the staff of the commander-in-chief. He died about
1777. In 1760, the Canadian authorities characterized him as “poor and
brave.” Some question has arisen, whether the leader of this expedition
might not have been a younger brother, Jean Baptiste. For Croghan’s visit
to the Ohio directly after Céloron’s expedition had passed, see _post_;
also, _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 387, and _Pennsylvania
Archives_, ii, p. 31.—ED.
[23] The Onondaga Council was the chief governing body of the Six
Nations, or Iroquois, and since this confederacy assumed supremacy over
the Ohio Indians, it was the chief centre of Indian diplomacy. The
council house was situated on the site of the present town of Onondaga,
New York, and was about eighty feet long, with broad seats arranged on
each side. For an early description see Bartram, _Observations, etc._
(London, 1751), pp. 40, 41.—ED.
[24] Galissonière, the governor of Canada, who planned Céloron’s
expedition to the Ohio, was superseded in the autumn of 1749 by Jacques
Pierre de Taffanel, Marquis de la Jonquière, who continued the policy of
the former; he sent orders to the commandants of the Western posts to
arrest all British subjects found in the Ohio Valley. La Jonquière, who
was born in 1686, had served in the French navy with distinction, and
after his first commission as governor of New France was captured by an
English vessel (1747), and kept a prisoner for more than a year, so that
he did not reach his post until 1749. His term of service was but two
years and a half, being terminated by his death in May, 1752.—ED.
[25] This Dunkar (or Dunker) was doubtless Samuel Eckerlin one of three
brothers who migrated from Ephrata about 1745, and ultimately settled
on the Monongahela about ten miles below Morgantown, West Virginia. The
Dunkers were a sect of German Baptists that arose in the Palatine about
1708, and migrated to Pennsylvania in 1719. Their formal organization
took place at a baptism on the banks of Wissahickon Creek (near
Philadelphia) in 1723. There were several divisions of this sect, one
of which founded the community of Ephrata. Their tenets were baptism
by immersion, a celibate community life, and refusal to bear arms. The
Eckerlin brothers sought a solitary wilderness life, and at first were
regarded with favor by the Ohio Indians. A massacre, however, demolished
their settlement in 1757. Three of the party were captured, and sent as
prisoners to Canada, and later to France. For details see Sachse, _German
Sectarians of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1900), ii, pp. 340-359.—ED.
[26] For an account of this chief see Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_.—ED.
[27] Indians receive a speech with grunts of approval, which the French
annalists spelled “ho-ho.” Croghan is apparently giving the English
rendering of this term.—ED.
[28] This letter accompanied the preceding journal, and was written
on Croghan’s return to the settlements. Pennsboro was the district in
Cumberland County west of the Susquehanna, in which Croghan’s home was at
this time situated.—ED.
[29] The letter from Joncaire here referred to, is printed in French
in _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 540. It consists merely of a
statement of the French right to the Ohio Valley, and of the orders of
the governor of Canada to permit no English to trade therein.—ED.
[30] This journal is reprinted from the _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 731-735 (also found in _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_,
app., pp. 50-53), and chronicles a material change of affairs on the Ohio
since the last account written by Croghan. Then the English interests
were in the ascendency, and the French were being flouted and driven
from the headwaters of the Ohio. But the division in English councils,
the supineness of the colonial assemblies, and the active preparation
and determined advance of the French into the upper Ohio Valley had had
its effect upon the Indian tribes. Two years before, Trent had reported
all the Ohio tribes secure in the English interest; but the same year
an expedition from Detroit had moved against the recalcitrant Miamis
(Twigtwees), and after inflicting a severe chastisement had secured
them again to the French control, as Croghan herein reports. Early
the following year the French expedition under Marin had advanced to
take forcible possession of the Ohio country, and begin the chain of
posts necessary to its defense. Presqu’isle and Le Bœuf had been built,
while a deputation under Joncaire had seized the English trader’s house
at Venango, and placed a French flag above it. A large number of the
Indians, frightened at this show of force, yielded to the threatenings
and cajoleries of the French officers. A small party, hoping to obtain
aid from the English colonists, had sent off a deputation in the autumn
of 1753 to meet the Virginia authorities at Winchester, and those of
Pennsylvania at Carlisle, at both of which conferences Croghan was in
attendance. The present which the Assembly of Pennsylvania had voted
the preceding May (_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 617) was
cautiously given out, most of it consisting of powder and lead; it was
feared with reason, that it might be used to the disadvantage of the back
settlements. Croghan himself, although using every endeavor to fortify
the Indians in the English alliance, lost heart at the dilatoriness of
the Pennsylvania Assembly, some of whose members even doubted whether
the land invaded did not rightfully belong to the French. He could wish
with all his “hart Some gentleman who is an Artist in Philadelphia, and
whos Acount wold be Depended on, whould have ye Curiosety to take a
Journay in those parts,” in order to prove to the province (by means of
a map) that the lands on which the French were building lay within their
jurisdiction—(_Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 132). Meanwhile, Washington
had been sent out by Dinwiddie to summon the French to retire. Croghan,
who reached this territory soon after Washington’s return, reports in the
following journal the conditions on the Ohio.—ED.
[31] A year and a half after this visit of Croghan’s, Turtle Creek was
the site of Braddock’s defeat. For a description of the battle, and the
present appearance of the site, see Thwaites, _How George Rogers Clark
won the Northwest and other Essays in Western History_ (Chicago, 1903),
pp. 184, 185.
John Frazier, who had his house at the mouth of Turtle Creek, was a
Pennsylvania trader, gunsmith, and interpreter, who had lived twelve
years at Venango, whence he was driven by the invading French expedition
the summer previous. He assisted Washington on his journey, and the next
year (1754) was commissioned lieutenant of the militia forces under
Trent’s command, that were to fortify the Forks of the Ohio.—ED.
[32] The journal of Washington on this journey was on his return printed
in Winchester (only two copies of which edition are known to be extant),
also in London (1754). Frequent reprints have been made, and the journal
has been edited by Sparks, Rupp, Craig, Shea, and Ford. The journal of
Gist, who accompanied Washington, is found in Darlington’s _Gist_, pp.
80-87. Croghan gives a concise summary of Washington’s mission and its
results.—ED.
[33] John Patten was a Pennsylvania Indian trader, who was captured in
the Miami towns by the order of the French governor (1750). He and two
companions were carried to Canada, and afterwards sent to France, being
imprisoned at La Rochelle, whence they appealed to the English ambassador
who secured their release. See _New York Colonial Documents_, x, p. 241.
Patten had at this time been sent to the Ohio with the Shawnee prisoners
from South Carolina. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 730,
731.—ED.
[34] Six Shawnee Indians had been arrested on suspicion of being
concerned in a raid, and confined in the Charleston, South Carolina,
jail. On the request of Governor Hamilton, two were released and sent to
Philadelphia to be delivered to their kinsfolk. The other four made their
escape. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 696-700.—ED.
[35] The Half-King was a prominent Seneca or Mingo chief, whose home was
at Logstown. He was faithful to the English interest, and accompanied
Washington both on his journey of 1753 and his expedition of 1754; upon
the latter, he claimed to have slain Jumonville with his own hand. He was
decorated by the governor of Virginia in recognition of his services, and
given the honorary name of “Dinwiddie” in which he took great pride. When
the French secured the Ohio region, he removed under Croghan’s protection
to Aughwick Creek, where he died in October, 1756.—ED.
[36] The Chickasaws were a tribe of Southern Indians, domiciled in
Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi, who were traditional allies
of the English and enemies of the French. After the Natchez War in
Louisiana, the remnant of that tribe took refuge with the Chickasaws, who
inflicted a severe defeat upon the French (1736), capturing and burning a
Jesuit priest and several well-known officers.—ED.
[37] The Ottawas were an Algonquian tribe, domiciled in Michigan about
the posts of Mackinac and Detroit. Faithful to the French interests,
they were doubtless acting under the directions of their commandants in
gathering to attack the Shawnees on the Scioto—ED.
[38] Lewis Montour, a brother of Andrew, had come the previous autumn to
the governor of Pennsylvania, with a message purporting to have been sent
by the Ohio Indians; they were represented as requesting help against the
French, and the building of forts on the river, and as offering all the
lands east of the river to pay the debts of the traders. As the character
of those who claimed to have obtained this treaty was open to suspicion,
the governor had sent Croghan and Andrew Montour to ascertain the truth
of the matter. The unauthorized insertion of so great a land grant, is a
good specimen of the methods by which the unprincipled traders sought to
take advantage of the Indians. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v,
pp. 691-696.—ED.
[39] Shingas, brother of King Beaver, was one of the principal leaders
of the Delaware Indians on the Ohio, where he had a town at the mouth
of Beaver Creek. Shortly after this meeting with Croghan, he deserted
to the French, and his braves were a terror to the border settlers.
Governor Denny of Pennsylvania set a price of £200 upon his head. Post
had a conference with Shingas (1758), and persuaded him to return to
the English alliance; nevertheless, at the occupation of the Forks
of the Ohio by the English, Shingas with his band retreated to the
Muskingum. The last mention of him seems to be in 1762 (_Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, viii, p. 690), and he appears to have died before the
conspiracy of Pontiac (1763), in which his tribe took part.—ED.