George Croghan was born at Locust Grove, near the falls of Ohio, on
the 15th of November, 1791. His father, Major William Croghan, left
Ireland at an early period of life; was appointed an officer in our
revolutionary army, and discharged his duties to the satisfaction of
the commander-in-chief. His mother was the daughter of John Clark,
Esq., of Virginia, a gentleman of worth and respectability, who exerted
himself greatly, and contributed largely towards the support of our
just and glorious contest.
George Croghan received all the advantages of education which the
best grammar-schools in Kentucky could afford. In his seventeenth year
he entered the ancient college of William and Mary in Virginia. Both
at school and at college, he was remarked for an open manliness of
character, for elevation of sentiment, and for strength of intellect,
connected with a high and persevering ambition. In July, 1810, he
graduated at William and Mary College, and soon afterwards entered
the law school of that institution, where he remained until the
fall of 1811, when he volunteered his services as a private in the
campaign up the Wabash. A short time before the action of Tippecanoe,
he was appointed aid-de-camp to General Boyd, the second in command;
and, although from his situation, he was not enabled to evince that
activity which has since so much distinguished him, he exhibited a
soul undaunted in one of the most sanguinary conflicts of that time,
and accordingly received the thanks of the commanding general. In
consequence of his services on the Wabash expedition, he was appointed
a captain in the provincial army, directed to be raised and organized
in the spring of 1812. In August he marched with the detachment from
Kentucky, under General Winchester, destined to relieve General Hull
in Canada. During the movements of that gallant but unfortunate little
army, the caution, zeal and military capacity of Captain Croghan were
conspicuous.
Upon visiting the various encampments of the army on its march along
the Miami of the Lake, both before and after the attack on Fort Wayne,
the ground occupied by Captain Croghan was easily designated by the
judicious fortifications erected for the night. On the movement of the
army towards the Rapids, he was entrusted with the command of Fort
Winchester, at the junction of the Anglaize and Miami rivers, where
he adopted his usual military arrangements. After the defeat at the
river Raisin, he joined General Harrison at the Rapids, previous to the
erection of Fort Meigs. General Harrison has often expressed the great
confidence he had in the judicious arrangements of Captain Croghan,
during the trying, brilliant and ever memorable siege of Fort Meigs.
In the sortie under the gallant Colonel, now General Miller, on the
5th of May, the storming of the British batteries was confided to
the companies led by Captains Croghan, Langhan and Bradford. These
batteries were defended by a regular force and a body of Indians,
either of them superior in number to the assailants. Here Captain
Croghan’s gallantry was again noticed in general orders. At a critical
period in the campaign of 1813, Captain Croghan was promoted to a
majority, and appointed to the command of Fort Sandusky, at Lower
Sandusky.
On his conduct in the defence of that post, the official documents
of the time, and the applause of a grateful country, are the most
honorable commentary. The defence of the fort of Sandusky took place
on the 4th of August, 1813, and although the work of a few hours, and
of a small force, was an achievement brilliant in itself and important
in its consequences. However diminutive it may appear, when compared
with many of the military feats in the revolutionary war, it is justly
entitled to a distinguished place in the annals of our country. It
was among the first events of the last war that gave confidence
to our soldiers, and compelled the enemy to respect our arms. It
furnished, moreover, a memorable instance of what a few bold and
determined spirits can perform, when opposed even to more than fourfold
their number. It is not too much to add, that, under Providence,
it was highly instrumental in preserving from the tomahawk and the
scalping-knife, many of our defenceless frontier inhabitants.
The inclosure of Fort Sandusky, like that of most fortresses that are
suddenly erected in our new settlements, was composed of picket-work,
and surrounded by a ditch nine feet wide and six deep. The number of
its defenders, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel, then Major
Croghan, amounted to about one hundred and sixty, most of them raw,
unexperienced troops. It contained but a single piece of mounted
ordnance, and that only a six pounder.
The assailing force consisted of nearly a thousand men, one-half of
them British regulars, commanded by General Proctor in person, and the
remainder savages, led on, as we believe, by the celebrated Tecumseh.
Their means of annoyance, besides small arms, were five six pounders,
and one howitzer of considerable calibre. The fort was regularly
summoned to surrender, under the usual plea of a wish to prevent the
effusion of blood. To give to this message the greater weight, the
force of the assailants was somewhat exaggerated, and it was added
that, should the works be carried by assault, it would be impossible to
restrain the savages from massacre. Undismayed by the odds that were
against him, and the unsoldierly threat, that, should the enemy be
successful, he would receive no quarter, Colonel Croghan unhesitatingly
returned the customary answer, that he would defend his post “to the
last extremity.”
This conference being ended, the British regulars, led on by
Lieutenant-Colonel Short, an officer of high character and daring
courage, advanced to the assault in a solid column, under the discharge
of all their artillery. Notwithstanding a galling fire from the
small arms of the fort, the assailants approached with firmness and
gallantry, till, following the example of their intrepid leader, a
large portion of them had leapt into the ditch. At this moment, when
the enemy were completely within the toil he had prepared for them,
Major Croghan unmasked his piece of cannon, which had been hitherto
concealed, and poured among them a discharge of grape-shot which raked
the ditch with terrible carnage. In the number of those who fell under
this first and most destructive fire, was Lieutenant-Colonel Short.
Another discharge or two from this piece of ordnance carried confusion
into the British ranks, and forced them to retreat with the utmost
precipitation; nor had they sufficient hardihood to return the charge.
Panic-struck by this disaster of their allies, the savages also fled
in all directions, leaving our countrymen in undisturbed possession
of their well-defended fortress. The combined loss of the British and
Indians in this affair, was computed at somewhat upwards of a hundred
men; that of the Americans was one man killed and seven slightly
wounded.
Such was the dismay created among the enemy by this signal and
unexpected chastisement, that they precipitately abandoned their
position, leaving behind them a large boat loaded with clothing and
military stores. In consequence of the gallantry of this achievement,
and the important effects of which it was productive, the brave
Croghan, as yet but a major, besides being honorably mentioned in
Congress, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. An affair of
such brilliancy, achieved under such circumstances, could not fail to
endear him to his country, and to exalt his name in the ranks of honor.
Some years since Congress voted to Colonel Croghan a gold medal. (_See_
Plate VIII.)