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.
Frankfort, Kentucky
July 22, 1814
Sir:
Upon receiving the letter which you addressed to me, I immediately took
such measures as were necessary to procure the information you
requested. I now transmit to you the result of my inquiries, regretting
that it was not in my power to do it sooner.
At the time when Colonel Croghan and I were inmates of the same house,
he was in his fourteenth year. No incident occurred during that early
period sufficiently interesting to find a place in his history; yet even
then, his conduct exhibited a happy combination of those talents and
principles which have already procured for him the admiration and
gratitude of his country.
Though ingenuous in his disposition and unassuming and conciliating in
his manner, he was remarkable for discretion and steadiness. His
opinions, when once formed, were maintained with modest but persevering
firmness; and the propriety of his decisions generally justified the
spirit with which they were defended. Yet, though rigid in his adherence
to principle and in his estimate of what was right or improper, in cases
of minor importance he was all compliance. I never met a youth who would
so cheerfully sacrifice every personal gratification for the wishes or
accommodations of his friends. In sickness and disappointment he evinced
patience and fortitude which could not have been exceeded by any veteran
in the schools of misfortune or philosophy. If I were asked to name the
most prominent features of his character, or, rather, the prevailing
dispositions of his mind at this period, I should answer, decision and
urbanity; the former resulted from the uncommon and estimable qualities
of his understanding, and the latter came from the concentration of all
the “sweet charities of life” in his heart.
I have seldom seen Colonel Croghan during the last eight years; but I
subjoin the testimony of those who have observed him during that whole
period. An intelligent young gentleman who was his associate in study
and in arms has given me the following brief sketch of Colonel Croghan’s
military career. I am transmitting his account together with such
corroborative and additional facts as I have collected from other
sources.
“Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan was born at Locust Grove, Kentucky,
near the Falls of the Ohio, on November 15, 1791. His father, Major
William Croghan, left Ireland at an early period of his life; he was
appointed an officer in the Revolutionary Army and discharged his duties
to the satisfaction of the commander in chief. His mother is the
daughter of John Clark, Esq., of Virginia. His maternal grandfather was
a gentleman of worth and respectability; he exerted himself and
contributed towards the support of our just and glorious contest with
Great Britain. John Clark had five sons, four of whom were officers in
the Revolutionary Army. William, together with Captain Lewis, explored
the Louisiana Purchase lands and is at present governor of the Missouri
Territory. He was too young to participate with his brothers in the
achievement of our liberties. His conduct since has been a sufficient
demonstration of the part he would have taken had he been riper in
years. The military talents of another son, George R. Clark, have
obtained for him the flattering appellation of ‘the Father of the
Western Country.’
[Illustration: ·····_ADMIRER OF THE WRITINGS OF SHAKESPEARE_·····]
“Colonel Croghan has always been esteemed generous and humane. When he
was a boy, his manly appearance and independence of thought and action
commanded the attention and admiration of all who knew him. The
selection of his speeches for scholastic exercises tended in some
measure to mark his peculiar talent and were of an entirely military
nature. He read with delight whatever pertained to military affairs and
listened for hours to conversations dealing with battles. His principal
amusements were gunning and fox hunting. He would frequently rise at
twelve o’clock at night and would repair to the woods alone (or
accompanied only by his little servant), either to give chase to the fox
or to battle with the wildcat and the raccoon. Nothing offended him more
than for anyone, even in jest, to say a word disrespectful of
Washington.
“While in Kentucky, his time was principally occupied with the studies
of his native tongue, geography, the elements of geometry, and the Latin
and Greek languages. In these different branches of knowledge he made a
respectable progress.
“In 1808, he left Locust Grove for the purpose of prosecuting his
studies in William and Mary College. He graduated from this institution
with a Bachelor of Arts degree on July 4, 1810; on that day he delivered
an oration on the subject of expatriation. This oration was deemed by
the audience to be concise, ingenious, and argumentative, and it was
delivered in a manner which did great credit to his oratorical powers.
During the ensuing summer he attended a course of lectures on law, and
upon the termination of the course, he returned to his father’s home.
Here he prosecuted the study of law and occasionally indulged in
miscellaneous reading. Biography and history have always occupied much
of his attention. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the writings of
Shakespeare and can recite most of the noted passages of that great poet
and philosopher. He admires tragedy but not comedy. He has (as his
countenance indicates) a serious mind; yet no one admires a pleasant
anecdote or an unaffected sally of wit more than he. With his friends he
is affable and free from reserve. His manners are prepossessing, he
dislikes ostentation, and he has never been heard to utter a word in
praise of himself.
[Illustration: ··_HE LEFT HIS FATHER’S HOUSE AS A VOLUNTEER_··]
“In the autumn of 1811, the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought; it was the
first opportunity offered for the display of his military talents. He
embraced it with avidity—he left his father’s house as a volunteer and
was appointed aid-de-camp to General Harrison. On November 7, an attack
was made on General Harrison’s troops; the enemy were repulsed with
valor, and during the engagement young Croghan evinced great courage,
activity, and military skill. His services were acknowledged by all; he
exhibited such proofs of genius for war that many of his
companions-in-arms remarked that ‘he was born a soldier.’ A cant phrase
among the troops was ‘to do a main business’; during the battle, Croghan
rode from post to post exciting the courage of the men by exclaiming,
‘Now, my brave fellows, now is the time to do a main business!’ On the
return march of the troops following the battle, the army was frequently
met by persons inquiring of the soldiers the fates of their children or
friends. Among these was a very poor and aged man whose son had been
slain in battle. Croghan learned of the old man’s plight, observed his
inability to perform much bodily labor, regularly made fires for him
every morning, and supplied him with provisions, clothes, and money.
Many accounts of similar acts of kindness are related by the soldiers
and officers of this campaign.
[Illustration: ·····_HAVING WADED THROUGH MUD_·····]
“After the Battle of Tippecanoe his military ardor was even more
increased, and, upon hearing that a speedy declaration of war was
forthcoming, he expressed a desire to join the regular army.
Recommendatory letters of the most flattering kind were written by
Generals Harrison and Boyd to the Secretary of War; at the commencement
of hostilities against Great Britain, he was appointed a captain in the
Seventeenth Regiment of Infantry. He was in command for some time at
Clark Cantonment [Clarksville, Indiana], near the Falls of the Ohio; but
after a brief period there he was ordered to march with his few regulars
to the headquarters of the Northwestern Army at Detroit. His countenance
beamed with delight upon receiving this order. Soon large bodies of
militia and volunteers were marching to Detroit; but before they had
proceeded far they heard of Hull’s surrender.
“Shortly afterwards the command of the Northwestern Army was given to
General Harrison. For a short time, Captain Croghan commanded Fort
Defiance on the Maumee River; after the defeat of General Winchester, he
was ordered to Fort Meigs. His conduct during the unforgettable siege of
that fort was handsomely noted in General Harrison’s official report,
and afterwards he was promoted to a majority and stationed with his
battalion at Upper Sandusky. Late one afternoon information reached him
by express of an attack upon Fort Stephenson [Fremont]. The distance
between the two places was thirty-six miles, and the road was extremely
bad. Because of the pitch darkness he and his men were obliged to lie
down in the road and wait for the return of light in order to avoid the
risk of losing their way.
“He arrived at Fort Ball before sunrise the next morning, having waded
waist deep through mud and mire and having been exposed to a heavy rain
during the whole night. There he was informed that the report of an
attack upon Fort Stephenson was unfounded; after remaining a few days,
he proceeded to Fort Stephenson, after receiving orders to take command
of that post. He arrived there about the fifteenth of July.
“A few days later, Fort Meigs was besieged by large British and Indian
forces. No doubt was entertained that the enemy would visit Fort
Stephenson; accordingly, Major Croghan labored day and night to place
the hastily built fort in a state of readiness. The necessity of cutting
a ditch around the fort became apparent to him immediately. In order to
foil the enemy if they should succeed in leaping the ditch, which was
nine feet wide and six feet deep, he had large logs placed on the tops
of the walls. The logs were adjusted so that a slight weight would cause
them to fall from their position and crush to death all below. This
improvement in the art of fortification took place only a few days
before the attack. It is a novel idea and it originated with Croghan.
“A short time before the action, he wrote the following concise and
impressive letter to a friend: ‘The enemy are not far distant—I expect
an attack—I will defend this post to the last extremity. I have just
sent away the women and children with the sick of the garrison that I
may be able to act without encumbrances. Be satisfied; I shall, I hope,
do my duty. The example set me by my revolutionary kindred is before me;
let me die rather than prove unworthy of their name.’
“In the afternoon of the first day of August, the attack upon Fort
Stephenson was commenced. The particulars of that memorable and
brilliant action can be found in General Harrison’s official account of
this period. A lucid statement of the honorable motives which influenced
Colonel Croghan’s conduct on that occasion is contained in an ‘extract
of a letter from himself to his friend in Seneca Town, dated August 27,
1813.’ These accounts and other interesting particulars will be found in
public prints issued between August 14 and September 16.
“Major Croghan’s conduct after the battle was as noble as it had been
during the hardest fighting. The wounded were treated by him with the
greatest tenderness; with considerable peril, he gave them water by
means of buckets let down by ropes to the outside of the pickets. During
the night, when he could not safely open the fort, he had a tunnel dug
under the wall and through it the wounded were conveyed into the fort.
“Major Croghan accompanied General Harrison to Malden, but, as the
brigade to which he was attached was stationed there, he did not
participate in the Battle of the Thames. He is remarkable as a
disciplinarian, and his orders are given with more promptness,
precision, and energy than are usually found in the orders of older and
more experienced commanders.”
I have appended the following extract of a letter written by one of
Colonel Croghan’s fellow students and fellow soldiers. It will throw
additional light on the military character of that distinguished young
officer.
Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan is a native of Kentucky; he is the
second son of Major William Croghan of near Louisville. He is the nephew
of the gallant hero and accomplished general, George Rogers Clark, the
Father of the Western Country, and of General William Clark, the present
enterprising governor of the Missouri Territory. His father, a native of
Ireland who early embarked to seek his fortune in America, was a
distinguished officer in the War of the Revolution.
Lieutenant Colonel Croghan was born on November 15, 1791, and received
all the advantages of education which the best grammar schools in
Kentucky could afford; in his seventeenth year he commenced a scientific
course at William and Mary College in Virginia. In school and college he
was known for his manliness of character, his elevation of sentiment,
and his strength of intellect; all these virtues were connected with a
high and persevering ambition.
[Illustration: ··_THE WOUNDED WERE TREATED BY HIM WITH THE GREATEST
TENDERNESS_··]
In July, 1810, he graduated at William and Mary College, and soon
afterwards he commenced the study of law. He continued to visit that
institution until the fall of 1811, when he volunteered his services for
a campaign up the Wabash. A short time before the action at Tippecanoe,
he was appointed aid-de-camp in General Harrison’s headquarters.
Although in his situation he was unable to evince that activity which
later distinguished him, he exhibited an undaunted soul in one of the
most sanguinary conflicts of the present day and received the thanks of
the commanding general.
In consequence of his services on the Wabash expedition, he was
appointed a captain in the provisional army which was directed to be
raised and organized in the spring of 1812. In August of that year he
marched with General Winchester’s Kentucky detachment, which was to
relieve General Hull in Canada. In the movements of that gallant but
unfortunate little army, the caution, zeal, and military capacity of
Captain Croghan were conspicuous. Both before and after the attack on
Fort Wayne, the ground occupied by Captain Croghan was easily noticed
because of the judicious fortifications erected in his areas. On the
march of the army toward Detroit, he was entrusted with the command of
Fort Defiance, at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers. There
he manifested his usual excellent military arrangements. After the
defeat at Raisin River, he joined General Harrison at Maumee Rapids
before the erection of Fort Meigs.
It is a credit to the discernment of General Harrison that he relied
with the utmost confidence on Captain Croghan’s judicious defenses
during the difficult siege of Fort Meigs by the British. In a sortie
under the gallant Colonel Millar on May 5, the companies led by Captains
Croghan, Laghan, and Bradford were given the task of storming the
British batteries. These positions were defended by an English force and
a body of Indians; both were superior in number to the assailants. Here
Captain Croghan’s gallantry was again noticed in general orders.
At a very critical period in the last campaign of 1813, young Croghan,
now a major, was appointed to the command of Fort Stephenson, at Lower
Sandusky. The official documents of the time and the applause of a
grateful country are the most honorable commentaries available
concerning his conduct in the defense of that post. The entire campaign
was changed from a defensive to an offensive operation. The eventual
outcome of the war was very materially influenced by the achievements of
that single battle. For his valor and good conduct on this occasion,
Major Croghan was breveted a lieutenant colonel.