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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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Copy 1
George Croghan and the
Westward Movement,
1741-1782
ALBERT T. VOLWILER
I. THE INDIAN TRADER
Reprint from "The Pennsylvania
Alagazine of History and Biography,"
Vol. xlvi, No. 4, October, 1922
George Croghan and the Westward
Movement, 1741-1782.
I. The Indian Tradee.
The mainspring which kept the Indian trade in North
America in operation during the eighteenth century
was the demand for furs and skins in western Europe.
The customs and styles of dress among European
nobles and courtiers, ecclesiastical and university of-
ficials, and wealthy burghers created the demand for
furs ; the demand for skins rested chiefly upon the needs
of the more humble classes of society. A second great
market for furs and skins was in China. Until towards
the close of the period under consideration this market
only indirectly affected the Indian trade by absorbing
the cheaper grade of Eussian furs and skins and thus
decreasing the supply available for western Europe.
By the time of the American Revolution, however, a
considerable number of American furs and skins were
sent from London to China, either through Russia or
in the ships of the East India Company, thus fore-
shadowing the trading ventures of John Jacob Astor
and Stephen Girard. 1
From the earliest days of the Greeks and Romans
until the sixteenth century the people of central Asia
and western Europe were supplied with furs and skins
from the great northern plains of Eurasia. Here the
Russian traders' frontier was gradually pushed east-
1 Chambers Papers relating to Canada, 1692-1792. (N. Y. Pub. Lib.)
2 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
ward until in the latter part of the eighteenth century
it was moving rapidly down the western coast of North
America. 2 At the time of the discovery of America,
Vienna, Danzig, Liibeck and Hamburg were the great
fur marts of Europe, and the bold voyages of English
navigators to Muscovy were based in part upon the
demand for furs. The furs and skins from the second
great region of supply — northern North America — had
to compete with those from Russia and Siberia in the
markets of Europe. So successfully was this done that
the great fur marts were shifted to London, Amster-
dam and Paris, and the quest for furs took the place of
the quest for gold, silver and precious stones in luring
the white man to penetrate into the vast unknown
regions north of Mexico.
If the trade in furs and skins is looked at from the
point of view of the uncivilized native who could
furnish peltry and hides, one finds equally strong
economic forces influencing his conduct. In his esti-
mation of values, based upon the laws of supply and
demand, the exchange of a fine beaver pelt for a sharp
knife was a great bargain and gave him as much satis-
faction as it did to the more civilized trader. The
mutual immense profits of the trade in furs and skins
and other irresistible economic forces involved, led
both savages and civilized men to desire to establish
and maintain trading relations in spite of the heavy
risks to life and property to all concerned in such
trade.
The desire to control the lucrative trade in furs and
skins with the natives in North America was one of the
numerous causes for the great rivalry of England and
2 The following quotation is suggestive for the colonizing movement
in North America: "Der Zobel (sable) hat die Erschliessung und Ero-
berung Sibiriens veranlasst; er hat auch einen grossen Teil der Kosten,
mit seiner Haut bezahlt." — Klein, Jos.: Der Sibirische Peltzhandel und
seine Bedeutung fur die Eroberung Sibiriens, p. i. — Cf . Golder, F. A. :
Russian Expansion on the Pacific, 1641-1850.
GIFT
AUfHOfi
George Croghan and the Weshvard Movement. 3
France during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies. Towards the close of the former century
they entered upon an important trade war in North
America for the control of this traffic which, unlike
their military conflicts, never ceased until after 1763.
In it the native tribes were mere tools and pawns
which both sides exploited.
The trader's frontier in this conflict was long,
wide, and constantly shifting. During the second
quarter of the eighteenth century French and English
traders met in the region between Lake Superior and
Hudson's Bay, but here there were such vast regions
to exploit that for a long time their rivalry was only
serious to those immediately involved. Similar com-
petition took place in the wilderness between New
England and Canada, but here also the rivalry was not
serious, for there were no longer rich fur fields to ex-
ploit in this region nor were there strategic lines of
communication to threaten. The Indian country be-
tween New York and New France controlled great
arteries of commerce ; here, however, the English forces
of expansion, which in earlier decades had begun to
penetrate the region around Lake Michigan, lost
vitality because of various conditions in colonial New
York. One of these was the establishment, in spite of
the opposition of both governments, of trading rela-
tions whereby Albany traders gave up their dreams of
trading directly with the far West in return for the
opportunity of exchanging English manufactured
goods for French furs near at home. In contrast to
the Indian traders of Pennsylvania, those of New York
generally did not penetrate far into the interior to seek
furs and skins at each Indian village, but utilized the
Iroquois as middlemen to bring furs and skins to them
at such posts as Albany and Oswego. In the extreme
south, Carolina traders had once planned to develop
the trans-Mississippi country and even the Ohio and
4 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
Illinois regions. By about 1725 the French had limited
the activities of the English until their trade with tribes
which bordered on the Gulf of Mexico or on the Mis-
sissippi had almost ceased. 3
During the generation preceding 1754 the most
dynamic and significant phase of the Anglo-French
rivalry in the Indian trade was in the central and upper
Ohio Valley and in the region south of Lake Erie. In
preceding decades a few Carolina, New York and per-
haps Virginia, traders had reached this region, but
their visits were sporadic and not consistently followed
up. Later, Pennsylvania traders began to develop con-
sistently its rich trading possibilities. The expansion of
the field of their activities was based upon a sufficient
supply of low-priced merchandise and it was the result
of their own initiative and resourcefulness; not until
their influence had about reached its height did their
government aid them. Meanwhile the French had been
moving eastward into this region. They shifted their
main line of communication between the Great Lakes
and the Mississippi from the Fox- Wisconsin route to
the Chicago-Illinois route and then to the Maumee-
Wabash route. To control the latter, Ft. Ouiatenon was
erected by New France, about 1720, at the head of navi-
gation for large canoes on the Wabash, and Ft. Vin-
cennes by Louisiana, in 1731, on the lower Wabash. At
times, a small fort on the Maumee was maintained
which, with Detroit, completed this line of defense
against English penetration. The region east of this
line was left open to the English. The first "Winning
of the West" by the Anglo-Saxon followed; in almost
every important Indian village in this region one or
more Pennsylvania traders were to be found.
The growth of their influence is well shown by the
8 Crane, V. W. : "The Tennessee River as the Road to Carolina," Miss.
Valley Hist. Rev., 3: 3 ff; Crane: "The Southern Frontier in Queen
Anne's War," Am. Hist. Rev., 24: 379 ff.
iL J*** *£? f 2^ 1^4/
GEORGE CROGHAN TO SECRETARY RICHARD PETERS
OF PHILADELPHIA
The original letter, of which the above facsimile is a reproduction on a smaller
scale, is the earliest document written by Crogiian that has been found. It is
preserved in the Provincial Papers in the State Library at Harrisburg.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 5
following incidents. In 1707, Governor Evans of Penn-
sylvania feared the influence of French traders even
east of the lower Susquehanna; he personally led a
party thither to capture Nicole Godin, a trader of
French birth, who was suspected of aiding the enemy.
The Governor reported to the provincial council that
after he had captured Nicole, ''having mounted Nicole
upon a horse, and tied his legs under the Belly," he
"brought him a Prisoner to Philadia, in the Common
Gaol of which he now lies." 4 Less than half a century
later, in the early fifties, Paul Pierce, a Pennsylvania
trader, had "4,000 Weight of summer skins taken at
another town on Wabasha. . . ." 5
These incidents illustrate the fact that the Pennsyl-
vania traders had assumed the aggressive and, in
spite of the Appalachian barrier, had pushed the trad-
er's frontier 500 miles westward in less than a half
century; in 1750 this line was near the Wabash and
Maumee rivers, nearly 500 miles in advance of the
settler's frontier in Pennsylvania, which was just
starting to move up the Juniata Valley and to cross the
Blue Mountains. Nor had the expansive force of this
movement been exhausted when it reached the Wabash
and Maumee ; it began to cross this line — a weak barrier
at best — and move on towards the Mississippi, bringing
anxiety into the hearts of the best French officials, who
felt the potential power of English influence even in the
distant Illinois country. 6 A contemporary map legend
4 Gov. Evans' Journal and Report, Pa. Col. Rec, 2: 385, 390.
6 Pierce's affidavit of losses, O. Co. MSS., 1 : 32.
8 In 1742 Bienville reported home that the Illinois were restless
and that some of them had gone east to meet English traders. — O 13A,
27: 81-84. (Archives Nationales, Paris.) Vaudreuil reported in
1744 and in 1745 recommending the establishment of a fort on the
lower Ohio to limit the activities of the English traders and to keep
control of the Kickapoo and Mascoutens. — C 13 A, 28: 245-250 and
C 13A, 29 : 69. In 1747 three Indian emissaries came to the Illinois
tribes to win them over to the English and were frustrated with
difficulty.— "Diary of Events in 1747," Wis. Hist. Coll. 17 : 487. An
6 George Croghan and tlie West ward Movement.
described the attitude of the Indians in Illinois as fol-
lows : ' ' Illinois mostly inclined to the French at the
Treaty of Utrecht and to the English at that of Aix-la-
Chapelle." 7
Thus by 1750 the English were ready to take con-
trol of the Wabash-Maurnee route, the best line of com-
munication between New France and Louisiana, and
they threatened French dominion in the West. When,
during King George 's War, the highest French officials
came to realize the peril of this quiet penetration of
English power, they determined at any cost to secure
sole and absolute control of the entire Ohio country.
The Pennsylvania Indian traders were thus chiefly
responsible for the immediate opening of the French
and Indian War.
Their aggressive westward push during the period of
1730-1775, was aided by the moral and financial sup-
port of the wealthy merchants and colonial officials in
Philadelphia. During this period Philadelphia had be-
come the largest town in all America. Its virile energy
and the many-sidedness of its interests were typified in
the life of its greatest citizen, Benjamin Franklin. Its
large and profitable commerce, firmly buttressed upon
a prosperous and rich agricultural region resulted
in the accumulation of surplus capital, part of which
was available for projects to exploit and develop the
vast wilderness beyond the settler's frontier.
The man who played the most prominent part in this
official of Louisiana reported in 1750 that the influence of an English
establishment on the Riviere de la Roche (Great Miami) extended
even to Illinois and that it should be broken up. — C 13A, 34: 321-323.
In 1751, thirty-three Piankashaw Indians (an important tribe living
west of the Wabash whose friendship was to play an important part
in Croghan's activities) appeared among the French settlements in
Illinois to start an Indian uprising. — Alvord, C. W. : Centennial History
of Illinois, 1: 234. In 1752 Vaudreuil reported home that deserters
from the army in Illinois had gone over to the English. — C 13 A, 36: 81.
7 Gibson, John : Map of the Middle British Colonies in America. 1758.
(N. Y. Pub. Lib.)
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 7
highly important and significant phase of the westward
movement of Anglo-Saxon civilization was George
Croghan. Of his early life and the more personal side
of his career we know but little. No portrait of him
has been discovered 8 and in the course of this investi-
gation, not a single reference to his wife was found;
the date and exact place of his birth are also unknown.
We know that his early life was spent in Dublin, Ire-
land. 9 The education which he there received was so
meager that he was pronounced illiterate by Bouquet. 10
One finds the spelling in Croghan 's letters amusing,
provided it is not necessary to decipher many of them. 11
He migrated to America in 1741. 12
8 In J. S. Walton's Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Penn-
sylvania, there is a picture of Colonel George Croghan, famous in the
War of 1812, taken in a U. S. Army uniform, which is erroneously
ascrihed to the earlier George Croghan.
•Gov. Morris to Gov. Sharpe, Jan. 7, 1754, Pa. Arch., 2: 114.
10 Bouquet to Gen. Gage, Dec. 22, 1764, Bouquet Coll. (Canadian
Archives), A 23-2, p. 464. No evidence has been found to prove
the statement that Croghan was educated at Dublin University, made
both by C. R. Williams in an article on George Croghan in the 0.
Arch, and Hist. Pub., 12: 381 and by L. E. Keeler in an article on
the Croghan Celebration in the same publication, 16: 8.
"The legibility of Croghan's letters varies greatly. The following
postscript to a letter to Peters, dated Sept. 26, 1758, suggests one
cause of such variation: "You '1 Excuse boath Writing and peper,
and guess at my Maining, fer I have this Minnitt 20 Drunken Indians
about me . . . ." — Pa. Arch., 3 : 544.
"Various dates from 1740 to 1747 are given by writers on Penn-
sylvania history. The date 1741 is incidentally established by an
affidavit which Croghan made before the Board of Trade in London
on July 27, 1764, to aid the Penns in their case against Connecticut's
land claims. C. A. Hanna in The Wilderness Trail, 2 : 30, following
the copy in the Penn MSS., Penn Land Grants 1681-1806, pages
205-209, adds that Croghan was made a Councillor of the Six Nations
at Onondago in 1746, which would be rather significant. However,
this copy of the affidavit seems to have been drafted by a third party,
for it makes many inaccurate statements about Croghan. These are
corrected in Croghan's own handwriting in a copy in the Penn. MSS.,
Wyoming Controversy, 5 : 71-75. The qualifying phrases which he
introduces beside the above statement make it appear that it was
incorrect, but that for the sake of Penn's case, it was so stated to
carrv weight in London.
8 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
Because he came from Dublin he was charged during
the French and Indian War with being a Roman
Catholic. 13 We know, however, that he was an Episco-
palian. His signature, along with those of Robert
Callender and Thomas Smallman, his close associates
in the Indian trade, was attached to a petition in 1765
from the handful of Episcopalians in the frontier town
of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to their provincial assembly.
It asked for the authorization of a lottery for the benefit
of ten Episcopal churches; the one at Carlisle was to
receive £200 to aid its building fund. 14 In 1769,
Croghan wrote Sir William Johnson to recommend an
Episcopal rector for an appointment, modestly adding,
"for tho I Love ye Church very well I know I ought
Nott to Medle with Church Matters." 15 When
Croghan died his funeral was held in St. Peter's
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. 16
These facts are significant. Evidently Croghan was
not a typical Scotch-Irishman, for he had the re-
ligion of the English Pale. The fact that he was inter-
ested in a church at once puts him on a higher plane
than most Indian traders who cared nothing for either
church or religion. Being a member of the Church of
England helped him to establish closer relations with
the Penns and with many British officials. In the
normal conduct of his business and in his official duties
Croghan was not often near any minister or church.
Even at Ft. Pitt, where he usually had his headquarters
from 1758 to 1777, there was no organized church till
after his death. 17 Army chaplains were sometimes
13 Gov. Sharpe to Gov. Morris, Dec. 27, 1754, Md. Arch., 188S : 153.
"Pa. Stat, at Large, 6: 382; Linn, J. B.: "The Butler Family of
the Pennsylvania Line." pa. mag. of hist, and biog., 7 : 2.
"Croghan to Johnson, Nov. 16, 1769, Doc. Hist, of N. Y., 4 : 419.
10 Wm. Powell's account with the Croghan Estate, 1804, MSS., Reg-
ister of Wills, County of Philadelphia.
"Dahlinger, C. W.: Pittsburgh: A Sketch of its Early Social Life,
9-10.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 9
stationed there and missionaries came to tarry a few
days. The latter were usually welcomed by Croghan,
at whose home they frequently dined. One of these in
describing his visit to Croghan in 1772, writes that the
latter presented him with "a bear's skin to sleep on,
a belt of wampum to present to the Indians, and 60
pounds of biscuit to supply me on my journey." 18
Croghan 's religion was reflected in his daily conduct in
business and in office to about the same extent as is
religion in the life of the average business man or office-
holder of today. 19
Croghan had a number of relatives in America who
had a common interest in developing the great West of
their day and to whom he was a guide and leader.
William Trent was his brother-in-law, Edward Ward
his half brother, Thomas Smallman his cousin, John
Connolly his nephew, William Powell and Daniel Clark
his kinsmen. 20 Clark emigrated from Ireland and be-
came a clerk to Croghan; after the Revolution he be-
came the most prominent American in New Orleans.
A Mohawk Indian daughter of Croghan became the
wife of the famous Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant. 21 His
only white child, Susannah, for whom he had a tender
regard, which was reciprocated by her, 22 was born in
1750 at Carlisle and died in 1790. At the age of fifteen
she was married to Lieutenant Augustine Prevost, son
of the British General of the same name, with whom he
18 Jones, Rev. D.: Diary, 21; Cf. McClure, Rev. D.: Diary, 46, 101.
19 This statement is based upon a study of Croghan's entire life.
E. W. Hassler's statement in Old Westmoreland : a History of Western
Pennsylvania during the Revolution, p. 10, that "He was an Irishman
by birth and an Episcopalian by religion, when he permitted religion
to trouble him," is probably an incorrect deduction from the general
characterization of Indian traders.
20 Croghan's will, Register of Wills, County of Philadelphia.
"Brant MSS. (Wis. Hist. Soc), 1G2, 1F24, 13F103; Thomson C:
Alienation of the Delaware and Shawnees, 178.
"Croghan's will; Trent to Mrs. Prevost, Aug. 21, 1775, Hist. Soc.
of Pa. Coll.
10 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
is sometimes confused. To them twelve children were
born at various places from Quebec to Jamaica in-
clusive, six of whom survived infancy and became the
chief heirs of Croghan. 23 Aaron Burr was related to
Prevost by marriage and served as his attorney; Burr's
interest in the West may therefore have emanated from
Croghan.
The immigrant who went west from Philadelphia
during the decade 1740 to 1750, as did Croghan, would
find that soon after he had left the Quaker city behind,
the German element became predominant and that as he
approached the frontier the hardy Scotch-Irish in turn
composed the majority of the population. The road
which he followed would take him through Lancaster,
the largest inland town in the British colonies; from it
one important road led through Paxtang Township,
which bordered the eastern bank of the Susquehanna
in the vicinity of the present city of Harrisburg. At
this place the river is not deep, but is a mile wide. John
Harris had settled here and was operating one of the
most important ferries which crossed it; Harris' Ferry
is shown on all contemporary maps of Pennsylvania.
The newcomer was now close to the settler's frontier
line. The region across the river towards Maryland
had been purchased from the Iroquois in 1736, though
squatters in this region were legally recognized since
January 14, 1734, when the first "Blunston License"
was issued to allow settlement before the Indian claims
23 Brant MSS., 16F 65, 16F 66, 16F 72; Draper MSS. (Wis. Hist. Soc),
16F 76. Dennis Crohan was an intimate friend but no relation to Cro-
ghan.— Etting Coll., Misc. MSS., 1 : 110. General Wm. Croghan of the
Revolution, who married a sister to George Rogers Clark and helped
develop the state of Kentucky, was a very intimate personal friend
of George Croghan.— Byars, Wm. V.: B. and M. Gratz, 175, 183, 185,
194. Col. George Croghan, son of Wm. Croghan and hero of the War
of 1812, is often confused with the elder George Croghan. Some of
the descendants of the Kentucky Croghans recognize a relationship
to the elder Croghan while others deny it.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 11
had been purchased. 24 The Juniata Valley with the
region south of it extending to the Maryland border
was not purchased till 1754. In the preceding decade
the most distant lands open to settlement in the
province were in the level and fertile Cumberland
Valley. This lay beyond Harris' Ferry, on either side
of the winding Condogwinet River, which empties into
the Susquehanna, and of the Conococheague River,
which flows in the opposite direction and empties into
the Potomac. South Mountain, later made famous by
Robert E. Lee, forms a wall on the southeast for this
physiographic unit. From its crest one can see on a
clear day the opposite rampart, North Mountain, also
known as the Kittatinny or the Blue Mountains. Be-
yond them in the primeval forest lay the Indian coun-
try, but to get to its most attractive regions it was
necessary to cross range after range of the mountain
barrier. This was done by the venturesome Indian
traders of the province. When the fur fields east of
the mountains had been exhausted, with no enticing
possibilities to the north or south, the traders were
presented with the alternative of either settling down
to a more prosaic life, or of somehow getting across the
barrier to the far western country. A contemporary
describes the result of their decision as follows: "Be-
tween 4 and 10 degrees of Longitude west from Phila-
delphia there is a spacious country which we call Alle-
genny from the name of a River which runs thro' it and
is the main branch of the Mississippi. ... In this
country all our Indian trade centers . . . the
most of our return is Deer Skins. The Indian traders
have had great credit with the merchants." 25
M Samuel Blunston was granted a special commission on January 11,
1734, authorizing him to issue special licenses upon which patents could
be obtained after the Indian claims had been purchased. The original
list of licenses granted, ending on October 31, 1737, has been found
recently and will soon be published in the Pennsylvania Archives.
2B Lewis Evans' Brief Account of Pa., 1753, in, Papers relating to
Pa., Carolina, etc., Du Simitiere Coll. (Library Co. of Philadelphia.)
12 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
Various routes across the mountains had been pre-
pared for the traders by nature and by the buffalo and
the Indian, and have since become great arteries of com-
merce followed by trunk line railroads. The least im-
portant and most difficult of these followed the West
Branch of the Susquehanna. Another route passed
through Shippensburg and Bedford, utilizing the Rays-
town Branch of the Juniata; from 1758, when Forbes
constructed the road which bore his name, until after
1830, when the railroad and canal became important,
this was one of the most important routes to the West ;
as a turnpike it was the great rival of the Cumberland
Road. The oldest and most important route to the
West during the decade, 1740 to 1750, followed the Juni-
ata and Conemaugh (Kishkimentas) Rivers. 26 It was
almost always followed by the traders before 1754 in
going to the West and somewhat less frequently
on their return. Shortly before 1754, Pennsylvania
traders in returning from the West were beginning to
follow the fourth great route across the mountains,
which utilized the Monongahela, Wills Creek Water
Gap and the Potomac. 27 When they had once reached
the latter near the end of Cumberland Valley they
found available a " great road" recently finished, lead-
ing through the valley and connecting at Harris' Ferry
with the great highway to Philadelphia. 28
To traverse one of the great routes from the Susque-
hanna to the Ohio required about fourteen days. Until
after the French and Indian War transportation by
26 In 1855 the traces left by thousands upon thousands of warriors
and packhorses which traveled it for years were still plainly visible.
— Jones, U. J.: History of Juniata Valley, 135.
27 Washington to Bouquet, Aug. 2, 1758, Writings of George Wash-
ington, 2 : 62; Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 607.
28 Pa. Col. Rec, 6 : 302; Evans' Map of the Middle British Colonies,
Pa. Arch., Third Series, App. to Volumes I-X ; Instructions of Gov.
Hamilton to N. Scull and T. Cookson, surveyors, Early Hist, of Car-
lisle (1841), 1 : 6.
George Croghan cmd the Westward Movement. 13
wagon stopped at the mountains; from there on only-
Indian trails were available. To the Pennsylvania
trader the packhorse took the place which the canoe
occupied among the " coureurs de bois;" even after he
was across the mountains and beyond the Ohio he pre-
ferred it to the canoe. Usually two or more men went
with a packhorse train, which seldom consisted of more
than twenty horses, each carrying about one hundred
and fifty pounds on their pack saddles. They followed
the trail in single file with one man in front and one in
the rear. At night the horses were turned loose to
secure their forage as best they could. Bells were
fastened to them to aid in finding them again. A pack-
horse equipped with saddle, surcingles and bells was
valued at from £7 to £25. From twenty to thirty per
cent was normally added to Philadelphia prices for the
cost of transporting goods by wagon and packhorse to
the Ohio. 29
The chief Indian tribes with whom the Pennsyl-
vanians traded were the Six Nations, who claimed
dominion over the entire Ohio region and several hun-
dred of whose representatives were scattered along
the Ohio and known as Mingoes; the Delawares,
living around the upper Ohio; the Shawnee, dwelling
along the Ohio and Scioto; the Wyandots or Hurons,
inhabiting the territory south of Lake Erie; and the
Miami or Twightwee, living on the Big Miami and be-
yond. 30
To them were brought rum; guns, gunpowder, lead,
flints, tomahawks and vermilion; strouds, especially
those of a "Deep Blue or Lively Red," blanketing,
matchcoating, linen and calicoes ' l of the brightest and
29 O. Co. MSS., 1:7; Md. Arch., 1888, 126; Pa. Col. Rec. 5 : 294,
295, 490, 498; ibid, 9 : 495; Evans, L. : Analysis of a Map of the Middle
British Colonies, 25.
80 Conrad Weiser's Journal, 1748, Pa. Col. Rec. 5 : 348-358; Croghan's
Journal 1751, Pa. Col. Rec. 5 : 530-539; Hutchins, T.: Topographical
Description, etc., App. III.
14 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
flourishing collours"; wampum; lace, thread, gartering,
ribbons; women's stockings, "red, yellow, and green"
preferred, and all kinds of ready-made clothing;
knives of all kinds, brass and tin kettles, traps, axes,
hoes, brass wire, files, awls, needles, buttons and combs ;
jewsharps, bells, whistles, looking glasses, rings and
silver jewelry of all kinds. 31
These goods, with the exception of rum, came princi-
pally from England. For them were bartered deer,
elk, buffalo and bear skins ; beaver, raccoon, fox, cat,
muskrat, mink, fisher and other furs; food supplies
and sometimes personal services. 32 The annual value
of this trade was probably less than £40,000. 33
This trade involved a connected chain of credits
based in the end upon English capital. The English
manufacturer or merchant sold to the Philadelphia
merchant on credit; he in turn advanced the goods to
the larger traders and they to their employees ; finally
it also became more and more customary to trust the
Indians with goods in order that they could hunt suc-
cessfully. If, therefore, something should happen to
the Indian so that he failed to bring in skins and pelts,
bankruptcy and financial stringency would follow all
along the line. 34 Certain merchants in London, Bristol,
Philadelphia and Lancaster specialized in this trade.
The firm of Shippen and Lawrence and the Jewish firm
of Levy, Franks and Simon, with whom the Gratzs were
later connected, are examples of those groups of Penn-
sylvania merchants that served as factors in the Indian
trade. They were usually composed of one or more
residents in Philadelphia and a western representative
81 Lists prepared under Croghan's supervision are found in 0. Co.
MSS., 1 : 37 and in C. 0. 5 : 61. Cf. Wis. Hist. Coll., 18 : 245; Byars:
B. and M. Oratz, 114.
» 2 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 44.
33 Pa. Gaz., Sept. 20, 1754; cf. ibid, Apr. 25, 1754.
M Cf. Gov. Wright to Bd. of Trade, Dec. 29, 1754, Bd. of Tr. Pap.,
Plan. Gen'l., 22 : 163.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 15
in Lancaster. The former often had his own ships and
imported suitable goods from England; under his
management the skins and furs for export were sorted,
examined for moth and finally packed for shipment;
the representative in Lancaster usually had charge of
warehouses where traders' supplies were kept and furs
and skins temporarily stored. Frequently these groups
were "concerned" with a prominent Indian trader in
active charge of a number of ordinary traders. Aside
from these regular partnerships and joint-stock com-
panies these men were often "concerned" together
in an "adventure;" i. e., when a particular business
opportunity presented itself they would pool a part of
their capital, goods, or personal services, sometimes
without even signing articles of agreement, and then
divide the profits or losses in proportion. Such a busi-
ness system was especially favorable to the young man
or the newcomer with little more than his personal
services to contribute. Such groups, especially when
united, were an important factor in trade, land specu-
lation and politics, particularly in relation to the
West. 35
It was into such an environment that Croghan en-
tered soon after coming to America. Shortly after
1741 we find him on the frontier in the lower Condog-
winet Valley, then organized as Pennsborough Town-
ship of Lancaster County. Here he patented in 1746,
1748 and 1749, three tracts of land totaling 474 acres.
Nearby were 354 acres which had been patented in 1744
and then conveyed to Trent and Croghan ; of this tract
Croghan became sole owner in 1746. In 1747 he added
210 acres, patented in 1742. In the same year he pur-
chased 172 acres in Paxtang Township, which had been
patented in 1738 and of which he became the fourth
owner. This was the only large tract east of the Sus-
,! Byars, Wm. V. : The First American Movement West.
16 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
quehanna which Croghan ever held. Richard Hockley,
Receiver General of Quit-rents for the Penns, Trent
and Croghan took out a warrant for 300 acres in this
region, but to it they never secured title. He also pur-
chased lots and built several houses in Shippensburg.
which was then being laid out. Altogether within four
years Croghan had acquired 1210 acres within a short
distance of Harris' Ferry.
The frequent changes in the ownership of these tracts
are indicative of the spirit of land speculation prevalent
among these early pioneers. Croghan early caught
this spirit. At the same time that he was acquiring
new lands he was mortgaging to Philadelphians who
had surplus capital to invest those lands which he had
only recently acquired. In 1747 he mortgaged two
tracts to Jeremiah Warder for £500, which he paid off
in 1749. In 1748 he mortgaged two other tracts to
Mary Plumsted for £300. In 1749 he mortgaged
four tracts to Richard Peters, Secretary to the
Provincial Council, for £1000. In 1751, after Cro-
ghan had held six tracts for only five years or
less, he conveyed them to Peters, thereby can-
celling all his mortgages and receiving £1000 besides.
His business relations with Peters and Hockley, two
influential colonial officials, are significant. 36
It was on the 354 acre tract, located but five miles
from Harris' Ferry, 37 Pennsylvania's gateway to the
West, that Croghan established his home. This he
made his headquarters during approximately his first
ten years in America. This point was strategically
located with reference to all of the routes across the
mountains; the newly-discovered and best approach
to the Juniata route passed by his home and crossed
"Deed Bk. A, I, p. 19, Register of Deeds, Carlisle, Pa.; Peters MSS.,
2 : 86, 113, 114, 120; ibid, 6 : 87; Pa. Arch., 3d ser., 2 : 180; Magaw
to Shippen, Jan. 25, 1746, Shippen Corresp., 1 : 73.
"Pa. Arch., 2 : 135; Pa. Arch., 3d ser., Appendix to Vol. 1-10.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 17
the Blue Mountains through the best gap in the vicinity.
This soon appeared on all contemporary maps as
' ' Croghan 's Gap. ' ' 38 His home, ' ' Croghan 's, ' ' likewise
appeared on these maps along with Carlisle and Ship-
pensburg, as being one of the three landmarks on the
important road through Cumberland Valley. It soon
became one of the places where traders and emissaries
often stopped on their way to and from the western
country. It also served as a convenient meeting-place
for whites and Indians. 39
Croghan made this place the eastern terminus for his
operations as an Indian trader. It served as his home
for a few weeks in each year and provided food and
shelter for employees and for his packhorses, which
could recuperate here after their hard trip over the
mountains. Log warehouses provided storage for
skins, furs, and Indian goods. On his adjacent tract
of 171 acres he had an extensive tanyard where an
additional value could be given to the deerskins which
he brought out of the West. 40
Croghan was probably able to acquire and develop
these properties through his profits from the Indian
trade. In all likelihood he came to America with little
or no capital, but fortunately for him, business methods
did not require much for the Indian trade. This trade
appealed to his restless spirit and adventurous nature.
He entered into it almost immediately upon his arrival
in 1741. 41 In 1744 and again in 1747, he was licensed as
an Indian trader. 42 His success is graphically shown
38 Today it is called Sterret's Gap and is still important, being
utilized by a state highway.
39 Prov. Pap. (State Library of Pa.), 10 : 31 and 11 : 57; Pa. Col.
Rec, 5 : 348, 358; Pa. Arch., J,th ser., 2 : 117.
40 Peters MSS., 6 : 87; C. Weiser to R. Peters, July 10, 1748, Pa.
Arch., 2 : 8.
41 Gov. Morris to Gov. Hardy, July 5, 1756, Pa. Arch., 2 : 689.
42 Pa. Arch., 2 : 14; Pa. Arch., 2nd ser., 2 : 619. This is the earliest
contemporary reference to Croghan that was found in the course of
this study.
18 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
by the fact that only five years after he had left his
European environment he was trading on the distant
borders of Lake Erie aided by servants and em-
ployees. 43
In carrying on this trade beyond the mountains,
Croghan 's packhorse trains usually passed through
Croghan 's Gap and followed the Juniata-Conemaugh
route to the Ohio. Near its forks, he soon established
secondary bases of operations. About three miles from
the forks on the northwestern side of the Allegheny at
the mouth of Pine Creek, Croghan and his partner had
a storehouse, some log houses, numbers of batteaux and
canoes, ten acres of Indian corn, and extensive fields
cleared and fenced. The latter were probably used as
pastures. In 1754 the total estimated value of his
property was £380. At Oswegle Bottom, which was
located on the Youghiogheny, twenty-five miles from the
forks of the Ohio, he had another establishment similar
to the one at Pine Creek and which was valued at £300."
Another storehouse valued at £150 he had located at
the important Indian village of Logstown, about
eighteen miles below the forks. This storehouse was
used as living quarters by Croghan when at Logstown,
by his employees, and by Englishmen who happened
to be in Logtown for a short time. Farther down the
Ohio at the mouth of the Beaver Creek, in another im-
portant Indian village, Croghan also had a "trading
house." 45 Wherever Croghan had a storehouse he
probably had at least one person stationed to take
care of it and to carry on local trading operations.
From these bases near the forks of the Ohio trading
routes spread out like the sticks of a fan. These
routes were followed by Croghan often accompanied by
43 Min. of the Prov. Council, June 8, 1747, Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 72.
** Croghan's Affidavit of Losses in 1754, made at Carlisle in 1756,
0. Co., MSS., 1 : 7.
4K Weiser's Journal to Ohio, 1748, Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 349.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 19
some employees, by men sent out by him, and by
rival traders. One route led up the Allegheny past the
present site of Venango. At this place Croghan com-
peted with another Pennsylvania trader, John Frazier,
who had here established a trading house and gun-
smith's shop. The favorite route of Croghan himself,
during his early years, followed the excellent "Great
Trail, ' ' which led towards Detroit. 46 It passed through
the Wyandot village of one hundred families near the
forks of the Muskingum, where Croghan had a promi-
nent trading house valued at £150. 47 This, however,
he regarded chiefly as a post on his trade route to Lake
Erie. To the exasperation of the French, he and his
men pressed on until Governor Jonquiere of Canada
complained to Governor Clinton of New York that the
English traders were even proceeding to within sight
of Detroit and under the very guns of Ft. Miami. Four
English traders, two of whom were Croghan 's men,
were captured here by the French in 1751, taken to
Detroit, Quebec, and then to France and were not re-
leased until the British Ambassador at Paris de-
manded it. 48
In 1747, Croghan is spoken of as "The Trader to the
Indians seated on Lake Erie, [ ' where he had a number
of storehouses. 49 He was especially fond of the region
around Sandusky Bay during this period, because of
" There is an excellent description of travel on this trail hy Croghan
in his Journal for 1761.— Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th ser., 9 : 378-379.
47 Christopher Gist's Journals, Dec. 14, 1750, 37.
48 Jonquiere to Clinton, Aug. 10, 1751, N. Y. Col. Docs., 6 : 731-733;
Pa. Arch., 2nd ser., 6 : 126; Wis. Hist. Coll., 18 : 112; John Patten's
account, Du Simitiere MSS., Pap. Pel. to Pa., Car. etc.; Raymond to
Minister, Nov. 2, 1747, Wis. Hist. Coll., 17 : 474; Vaudreuil to Minister,
Dec. 30, 1745, C 13 A 29: 89-92; Moreau, J. N.; Mtmoire contenant
le precis des faits, avec leurs pieces justifhcatives, pour servir de reponse
aux Observations envoyees par les ministres d'Angleterre, dans les
cours de VEurope, App. V, 89ff.
"Rich. Peters to C. Weiser, Sept., 1747 (?), Prov. Pap., 10 : 17;
cf. ibid, 9 : 64.
20 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
several reasons. ". . . the Northern Indians cross
the Lake here from Island to Island, . . ." wrote
Evans in 1755, 50 and Croghan himself wrote: "We sold
them goods on much better terms than the French,
which drew many Indians over the Lakes to trade
with us." 51 Thus Croghan tapped the great eastward
flowing stream of furs which went to Quebec. He made
close friends among the Ottawas, allies of the French, 52
and probably had much to do with the Indian plot of
1747, whose timely discovery by the French prevented
an uprising somewhat similar to that of Pontiac. The
failure of this plot, together with the coming of peace
in 1748 and the more aggressive hostility of the French,
seem to have caused Croghan to shift his major atten-
tion to the Miami tribes.
The route to the Miami left the Great Trail at the
forks of the Muskingum and led west towards Picka-
willani, which was located on the upper Great Miami
a little below the mouth of Loramie Creek near the
present site of Piqua. Gist visited Pickawillani in
1751 and wrote in his Journal : ' ' This Town ....
consists of about 400 Families, & daily encreasing, it is
accounted one of the strongest Indian Towns upon this
Part of the Continent." 53 A contemporary identifies
it by writing, ' ' This is the Village where George Cro-
ghan generally Trades, all the Indians of which are
firmly attached to the English, . . . " 54 Here a
stockade was erected inside of which were storehouses
and log houses. One-fourth of the white men, who were
60 Evans, Lewis: Analysis of a Map of the Middle British Colonies,
30; cf. Hutchins, Thos.: Topog. Descrip. of Va., Pa., Md. and N. C, 96.
51 Croghan's Transactions, etc., N. Y. Col. Docs., 7 : 267.
62 Croghan states in his Journals that while he was traveling along
Lake Erie to Detroit in 1760 he met several Ottawas "who received
us very kindly, they being old Acquaintances of mine." — Mass. Hist.
Coll., J)th ser., 9 : 365.
68 Gist's Journals, Feb. 17, 1751, 47.
"B. Stoddert to Sir. Wm. Johnson, July 19, 1751, N. Y. Col. Docs.,
6 : 730.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 21
captured when the French attacked this village in 1752,
were Croghan 's associates. 55 At the time of its de-
struction, Croghan was making it a new center for his
trading operations towards the Wabash.
Croghan also followed the Ohio below the forks
for several hundred miles. In 1750 we find him trading
at the large Shawnee village, Lower Shawnee Town,
near the mouth of the Scioto, where he had a storehouse
valued at £200. 56 His trading ventures probably did
not go beyond the falls of the Ohio. For this region he
used water transportation to some extent.
From Pine Creek and Lower Shawnee Town as bases,
his traders worked the region south of the Ohio in what
is today known as West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
Here the curtain is lifted but once to show us a highly
significant and interesting incident and we are left to
surmise from this what took place during the years
before 1754. In January, 1753, a party of seven Penn-
sylvania traders and one Virginia trader were attacked
by seventy French and Indians at a place about one
hundred and fifty miles below Lower Shawnee Town
on the Kentucky River. All their goods were lost. Two
of the traders escaped and six were taken prisoners to
Montreal ; two of these were sent to France, and later
made their return home after many hardships. All
except one had been associated with Croghan in busi-
ness; their loss was stated to have been £267, 18s, of
which about forty-five per cent represented the cost of
transportation. 57
It is in the report of this incident that there occurs
one of the earliest uses of the word "Kentucky;" it
66 Jour, of Capt. Wm. Trent, July 6, 1752, 86-88; 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 7.
66 Croghan 's Deposition, 1777, in Gal. of Ta. State Papers, 1 : 276;
0. Co. MSS., 1 : 7.
" O'Callaghan, E. B. : Cal. of Hist. MSS. in Office of Sec'y of State,
603; Letter of the prisoners to R. Saunders, Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 627;
Trent to Gov. Hamilton, Apr. 10, 1753, Gist's Journals, 192; 0. Co.
MSS., 1 : 7.
22 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
being spelled ' ' Kantucqui " and ' ' Cantucky. " 58 Lewis
Evans utilized information secured from members of
this party for his maps. These traders were trading
with the Cherokees in Kentucky and, according to one
statement, they had been even in Carolina trading with
the Catawbas. The friendly Indian, who was with the
party, may have guided them along Warriors' Path
into Carolina. No reasonable doubt exists, however,
that Croghan 's traders frequented Kentucky twenty
years before Daniel Boone made his famous excursions
into this region.
In a summary of Indian affairs, probably prepared
in 1754 for the new Governor of Pennsylvania, there
occurs the following unique description of Croghan 's
field of activities : "Croghan & others had Stores on ye
Lake Erie, all along ye Ohio . . ., all along ye
Miami River, & up & down all that fine country watered
by ye Branches of ye Miamis, Sioto & Muskingham
Rivers, & upon the Ohio from .... near its head,
to below ye Mouth of thee Miami River, an Extent of
500 miles, on one of the most beautiful Rivers in ye
world, . . . ," 59 With great daring and boldness
Croghan pushed out to the periphery of the English
sphere of influence where danger was greater, but
prizes richer, than in less remote regions. He did not
neglect the latter, however. His active and unceas-
ing efforts to push and develop his trade probably did
more than any other one factor to increase English in-
fluence west of the mountains. The export of furs and
skins from Philadelphia showed a marked increase dur-
ing the decades before 1754. The French came to regard
Croghan and his associates as poachers upon their
private beaver warrens.
68 Pa. Gaz., July 30, 1754; Deposition of one of the prisoners, Pa.
Col. Rec, 5 : 663.
"Detail of Indian Affairs 1752-4, Pa. Arch., 2:238; the use of
the phrase "Croghan and others" instead of "the Pennsylvania Traders"
or "the English traders" is excellent evidence of Croghan's pre-eminence.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 23
Of the number of men and packhorses employed by
Croghan we can but make an estimate. In his affidavit
of losses due to attacks by the French during the period
1749 to 1754, the names of about twenty-five employees
occur and more than one hundred packhorses are men-
tioned as having been captured. In all probability at
least a like number escaped attack. It is also probable
that on an average at least two men were stationed at
each of the half dozen or more posts maintained by
Croghan. Those of his traders who were paid a wage
received about £2 per month. 60
About half of his trading activities Croghan con-
ducted solely on his own responsibility ; about one-third
were carried on in association with William Trent, who
was Croghan 's partner from 1749 to 1754 and perhaps
even longer; in the remaining portion Croghan was
"concerned" with William Trent, Robert Callender
(Callendar) and Michael Teaffe (Taffe). These four
men were associated in trade from about 1749 to 1754. 61
Croghan 's chief competitors were the five Lowrey
brothers, who were closely associated with the Jewish
merchants, Joseph Simon and Levi Andrew Levy at
Lancaster; Callender and Teaffe; James Young and
John Fraser; the three Mitchells; Paul Pierce, John
Finley and William Bryan ; and the individual traders,
Thomas McKee, Hugh Crawford, John Galbreath, John
Owen and Joseph Neilson. 62 The field available was
large enough, however, so that cooperation rather than
competition was the rule among Pennsylvania traders.
The competition which they met from New York and
Maryland was slight and for a long time Virginia In-
dian traders had a tendency to drift southwest instead
of across the mountains. Probably a few entered the
60 O. Co. MSS., 1 : 7.
81 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 7.
« 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 85-S
24 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
Ohio country before 1754. 63 However, one of the
motives in the formation of the Ohio Company in 1749
was to secure a share of the profitable trade which was
monopolized by the Pennsylvania traders and had it
not been for the coming of the French, in all likelihood
a bitter cut-throat competition between the Virginians
and the Pennsylvanians would have ensued. 64
Croghan 's eastern factors included Quakers, Episco-
palians and Jews. Probably his chief factor was the
firm of Shippen and Lawrence; the following quotation
from Croghan 's letter to Lawrence, dated "Pensbor-
row, Sept. 18, 1747," is illustrative: "I will Send you
down the thousand weight of Sumer Skins Directly, by
first waggon I Send Down, I have Gott 200 pisterens &
som beeswax To Send down to you, as you and I was
talking of, To Send To Medera. " 65 In September, 1748,
Croghan shipped "1800 weight of fall deer skins" to
Philadelphia. 66 He also had business relations with
Jeremiah Warder and Co., S. Burge and Co., Abraham
Mitchel and Co. and probably with others. 67
It is significant to note that even the most prominent
Pennsylvania trader after he had developed a prosper-
ous business, did not furnish much of the capital he
needed, but secured it in Philadelphia and Lancaster.
By far the largest amount was supplied by Richard
Hockley, Receiver-General of Quit-rents. 68 Richard
63 No mention of such traders was encountered in this study. The
various memorials sent to the Crown between 1756 and 1775 by the
Indian traders, asking restitutions for their losses in the Ohio country
from 1749 to 1754, include no Virginia or Maryland traders; had there
been many they probably would have pooled their claims in spite of
their great rivalry.
04 Croghan to , July 3, 1749, Prov. Pap. 10 : 62.
w Prov. Pap., 10:17. Cf. Croghan to B. Gratz, Mar. 15, 1779,
McAllister Coll. (Library Co. of Philadelphia).
" Geo. Gibson to Edw. Shippen, Sept. 28, 1748, Shippen Corresp. 1 : 75.
"Original accounts, O. Co. MSS., 1 : 12, 14, and 68; Peters MSS.,
3 : 46. Etting Coll., Misc. MSS.; Votes of the Assembly, 4 : 524-525.
68 Shippen Corresp., 1:159; ra. Col. Rec, 5:743; O. Co. MSS..
1 : 15.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 25
Peters, Secretary to the Council, also invested some
capital with Croghan, 69 as did other easterners.
Croghan had probably the largest trade of all the
Pennsylvania Indian traders in an age when they were
most enterprising. He is spoken of in 1747 in the
Minutes of the Provincial Council, as a "considerable
Indian Trader" and in 1750, as "the most considerable
Indian trader. ' ' 70 Governor Morris in 1756 wrote that
"For many years he has been very largely concerned in
the Ohio trade. •. ." n The lawsuits in the Common
Pleas Court of Cumberland County in which Croghan
was involved give a side-light on his business status.
From 1751 to 1753, eleven cases involving more than
£2500 came up. 72 The long list of Croghan 's eastern
creditors and the private moratorium for ten years
which they succeeded in having passed for him and his
partner, Trent, is one measure of the size and im-
portance of his activities. The best concrete evidence
which we have of the relative size of his business is
contained in the list of losses, due to the coming of the
French, of thirty-two individuals or partnerships en-
gaged in the Pennsylvania Indian trade. The total
losses were approximately £48,000; Croghan 's indi-
vidual losses were stated to be over £8000, or twice as
large as the loss of any other individual ; Croghan and
Trent's losses were placed at more than £6500, or twice
as large as the loss of any other partnership or indi-
vidual; Croghan, Trent, Callender and Teaffe's losses
were placed at almost £2500, and were among the larger
0J Deed Bk., A, 1, p. 19, Reg. of Deeds, Carlisle, Pa. We have a
long list of Croghan's creditors in 1754, but whether they had furnished
him capital or goods, or both is not evident.
70 Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 72, 461.
71 Gov. Morris to Gov. Hardy, July 5, 1756, Pa. Arch., 2 : 689.
72 O. Co. MSS., 2:114. George Ross, who was later to become
chairman of the United Illinois and Wabash Land Co., and Joseph
Galloway, later interested in the Indiana Co., served as Croghan's
attorneys.
26 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
losses. Thus Croghan 's losses were about one-fourth
of the total losses. 73 This probably indicates the rela-
tive size of his trade. 74
That Croghan had so quickly reached such a position
of pre-eminence was due to several factors. In 1741
the Pennsylvania traders had opened up, but not yet
exploited, the rich resources of the upper Ohio country.
The French left it unoccupied for another decade and
for almost half that time war practically eliminated
them as competitors. During King George's War the
operations of the British navy made it so difficult for
the French to secure goods for the Indian trade that
prices advanced as much as one hundred and fifty per
cent. The effect of these conditions on Indian relations
is suggested in the following unusual episode reported
by Weiser in 1747. A French trader in the Ohio coun-
try offered but one charge of powder and one bullet to
an Indian in exchange for a beaver skin. Thereupon
"The Indian took up his Hatchet, and knock 'd him on
the head, and killed him upon the Spot." Several
factors made it also easy in time of peace for Croghan
and his fellow English traders to meet French competi-
tion. The English practically had a monopoly of rum
and strouds, two of the most important articles that en-
tered into the Indian trade ; other articles for this trade
could be manufactured more advantageously by the
English than by the French. Though the English trad-
ers were not directly supported by their government,
neither were they handicapped by minute regulations.
73 O. Co. MSS., 1 : 85-86; cf.. ibid, 1:7. In a letter to Sir Wm.
Johnson, May 15, 1765, Croghan estimates both his own and Trent's
losses at between £5000 and £6000, or about half of their government
claim.— Johnson MSS. (N. Y. State Library), 1 : 168. This would not
affect the relativity of his losses, however. Cf. Pa. Col. Rec., 5 : 663;
Gist's Journals, 192.
71 A modern French historian writes of the "fameux traitant George
Croghan l'adversaire acharne des Francais." — Villiers du Terrage:
Les Dernieres Annees de la Louisiane Francaise, 87 ; cf . Moreau :
Mcmoire contenant le precis des faits, etc., App. V, 89ff.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 27
The northern winter closed up the St. Lawrence for
nine months out of the year. Because of the rapids
in this river it took the French from twenty to forty
days to go from Montreal to the Niagara Portage,
whereas Pennsylvania traders could go from the Sus-
quehanna to the Ohio in less than twenty days. 75
Moreover, the character of most of the English
traders was such that it was not difficult for an able
man to surpass them. Governor Dinwiddie wrote to
Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania on May 21, 1753 :
"The Indian traders, in general, appear to me to be a
set of abandoned wretches," and the Assembly of Penn-
sylvania, in a message to the Governor, February 27,
1754, said: ". . . our Indian trade [is] carried on
(some few excepted) by the vilest of our own Inhabi-
tants and Convicts imported from Great Britain and
Ireland These trade without Controul
either beyond the Limits or at least beyond the Power
of our Laws, debauching the Indians and themselves
with spirituous Liquors. . . . " 76 Croghan, like
James Adair and Alexander Henry, was one of the few
men of ability who personally embarked in the Indian
trade. The malicious envy of his fellow traders, how-
ever, was seldom aroused by his success. Christopher
Gist, the agent of the jealous "Ohio Company, described
him as i ' a meer Idol among his Countrymen, the Irish
traders." However, when Gist was traveling in the
interests of the Ohio Company through what is now
Ohio and encountered the hostility of the Indians, he
used Croghan 's name to protect himself and was glad
" Vaudreuil to Minister, Apr. 12, 1746, C 13A, 30 : 57, 245, same
to same, Apr. 8, 1747, C 13A, 31 : 52-55; instructions to La Galis-
soniere, etc., Feb. 23, 1748, B 87 : 31; C 13A, 36 : 309; La Galissoniere
and Hocquart to Minister, Oct. 7, 1747, Wis. Hist. Coll., 17 : 470,
503; Beauharnais to Minister, Sept. 22, 1746, ibid, 17 : 450; Celeron's
Journal, ibid, 18 : 43, 57; Weiser's Report, Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 86.
76 Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 630, 749.
28 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
to avail himself of Croghan 's company and influence
during the journey. 77
Neither did Croghan arouse the enmity of the natives,
as did so many traders, but instead, he furthered his
trading operations by making intimate friends among
the Indians, particularly of their chiefs ; these friends
were to stand him in good stead at critical times in later
years. 78 At Logstown, in 1752, when the treaty was
being made between Virginia and the Ohio Indians, the
leading Iroquois chief, Half King, spoke of Croghan
as "our brother, the Buck" who "is approved of
by our Council at Onondago, for we sent to them to
let them know how he has helped us in our Councils
here : and to let you and him know that he is one of our
People and shall help us still and be one of our
Council. ' m
The friendship of the Indians for Croghan was due
to various factors. He learned the Delaware and
Iroquois languages and could express himself in the
the figurative speech so dear to the Indian. 80 He had
an intimate knowledge of their customs and traits of
character. Most important of all, however, was the
fact that he regarded the Indian, not as a dog, but as a
human being. The Indian was ready to befriend the
trader who was reliable and fair in his dealings and
who was willing to render services to the red man in
need. 81 Not once do the records examined for this
study tell us that Croghan personally killed an Indian
"Gist's Journals, Nov. 25, 1750, 35.
78 Croghan's Journals and Letters in Thwaites, R. G. : Early Western
Travels, 1 : 82, 107, 142, 150.
n "Journal of the Va. Commissioners," Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog.
13; 165; this report was made by rivals of Croghan. Thomson states
that Croghan, when in council, sometimes claimed he was an Indian: —
Alienation of the Delawares and Shawnees, 173.
80 Croghan's deposition, 1764, Penn. MSS., Wyoming Controversy,
5 : 71; N. Y. Col. Docs., 7 : 295.
61 At times Croghan cared for sick Indians in his home. — Pa. Arch.,
2 : 13.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 29
or that he gloried in their destruction. He labored to
maintain peace between the Indians and the English,
knowing well that an Indian war might mean death to
many traders and would almost certainly mean bank-
ruptcy to him, since almost the whole of his fortune was
represented in packs of skins and furs several hundred
miles from the nearest white settlements across the
mountains. That Croghan was fearless is self-evident ;
every Indian trader accepted danger as a matter of his
daily routine. The average trader's life must have
been short. If a trader survived crisis after crisis
when others were ruthlessly struck downj it was usually
due to his Indian friends and his own superior intelli-
gence. The material weapons of the white man were
of but little value as a means of defense in the heart of
the Indian country. 82
Other personal qualities which helped to make
Croghan successful were his habit of early rising and
of putting in long hours of work, 83 his vigor, and his
shrewd tactfulness in barter. George Morgan in a letter
to his wife, July 8, 1766, in describing the members of
a rather large party going down the Ohio, said of Cro-
ghan: "But above all Mr. Croghan is the most enter-
prising man, He can appear highly pleased when most
chagrined and show the greatest indifference when most
pleased. Notwithstanding my warm temper, I know
you would rather have me as I am than to practice such
deceit." 84
While a number of factors were responsible for Cro-
ghan 's success, but one factor, over which he had no
control, was responsible for his bankruptcy, viz., the
aggression of the French in the Ohio country from 1749
82 Byars : The Fur Trade, the beginning of Transcontinental High-
ways as Trails followed by Fur Traders, Gratz Pap., 1st ser. (Mo. Hist.
Soc. ) , 6 : 1-35 ; cf . ibid, 6 : 44-50.
88 Day, R. E.: Cal. of Sir. Wm. Johnson MBS., 193.
"III. Hist. Coll., 11 : 316.
30 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
to 1754. The Pennsylvania traders in a memorial ask-
ing restitution stated that the French forces and their
Indian allies "most barberously and unexpectedly at-
tacked" them in time of profound peace in Europe. 85
Croghan summarized the effect on himself as follows :
"Capt Trent & myself were deeply engaged in the In-
dian Trade. We had trusted out great quantities of
Goods to the Traders ; the chief of them were ruined by
Robberies committed on them by the French & their
Indians & those which were not quite ruined when the
French army came down as well as ours for what the
French and Indians had not robed us of, we lost by
the Indians being prevented from hunting, by which
means we lost all our debts. After this Coll. Washing-
ton pressed our Horses by which means a parcell of
Goods & Horses we had left fell into the Enemy's hands,
our whole losses amounts to between five and Six
Thousand Pounds." 86
This estimate included goods and horses taken at
Venango in 1749 and valued at approximately £1255;
goods valued at £329 taken with two traders on the
uj^per Scioto in 1749; seven horse loads of skins and
two men taken west of Muskingum in 1750 ; and three
men and their goods taken in the Miami country in 1751.
At the capture of Pickawillani, assuming that Croghan
had an equal share in those goods which belonged to
Croghan and Trent and to Croghan, Trent, Callender
and Teaffe, Croghan lost approximately £1000, or one-
third of the total loss. In 1753 goods valued at £267,
18s. were captured on the Kentucky River. The news
of other attacks by the French early in 1753 sent Cro-
ghan and some of his traders hurrying back through
the woods or up the Ohio and caused Trent to leave
Virginia with provisions for them. No longer was it
safe for an English trader to venture far beyond the
85 0. Co. MSS., 1 : s.
. *" Croghan to Sir Wm. Johnson, May 15, 1765. Johnson MSS., 1 : 168.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 31
forks of the Ohio. John Frazier, who had left Venango
and established himself fourteen miles south of the
forks, wrote on August 27, 1753: "I have not got any
Skins this Summer, for there has not been an Indian
between Weningo and the Pict Country hunting this
Summer, by reason of the French." 87 In the fall of
1753, the French occupied Venango. Callender and
Teaffe, Croghan 's associates, wrote home describing
conditions and added, "Pray, Sir, keep the News from
our wives, but let Mr. Peters know of it, . . ," 88 Cro-
ghan 's men and packhorses were near the Ohio in
1754 awaiting developments, when Washington com-
mandeered the horses to help carry his cannon and
stores on his retreat to Ft. Necessity, leaving to the
French goods of Croghan and Trent, valued at £369.
Croghan 's losses included, besides movable goods
and horses, boats, buildings, and improvements on
lands ; debts of the Indians, which made up one-half of
the total losses ; and most serious of all, the entire field
of his activities, where all of his customers lived, was
now entirely closed to him. The business which he
had built up through years of activity was ruined and
he himself was so deeply involved in debt that if he re-
turned to his home in the east -he would be imprisoned
for debt.
To a man who for years had known the freedom of
the western wilderness and to whom the sky had served
as a roof, night after night, death was preferable to
immurement in a cell of an eighteenth century debtor's
jail. .Croghan therefore kept out of the immediate
reach of the law and established a new home near the
path which he had traveled for many years. This he
located on Aughwick Creek near its confluence with the
Juniata, at the site of the present town of Shirleysburg.
87 O. Co. MSS., 1 : 7-8; Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 222; Trent to Gov. Hamilton,
Apr. 10, 1753, Gist's Journals, 192; ibid, 37; Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 660.
"Letter to Win. Buchanan, Sept. 2, 1753, Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 684.
32 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
Here, surrounded by mountains on all sides, was a
small fertile valley which still belonged to the Indians
in 1753. Croghan had erected a house here as early
as September, 1753, and his whereabouts was well
known to the authorities of Pennsylvania. 89 ' ' I Live 30
Miles back of all Inhabitance on ye f ronteers "
wrote Croghan to Sir William Johnson, on September
10, 1755, 90 while to Governor Hamilton he wrote on No-
vember 12, 1755 : ' ' From ye Misfortunes I have had in
Tread, which oblidges me to keep at a Greatt distance,
I have itt nott in my power to forward Intelegence as
soon as I could wish. . . " 91 After Braddock 's defeat,
the oncoming tide of fire and slaughter threatened to en-
velop Croghan in his exposed position ; friendly Indians
came with intelligence of raids by the French and their
Indian allies and desired that Croghan be given
"speedy Notice to remove or he would certainly be
killed, ' ' and several times rumors came to Philadelphia
that he had been cut off. 92
Life at Aughwick was not so difficult, nor was Cro-
ghan so destitute, as might be supposed. He still had
at least fifty packhorses, and like the typical frontiers-
man, he had some cattle. He also had some negro
slaves and some servants ; the latter were probably in-
dentured servants. His brother staid with him and
doubtless some of his employees remained with him.
Conrad Weiser, who visited him, reported to the Gover-
nor that Croghan had butter and milk, squashes and
pumpkins, and between "twenty-five and thirty Acres
of the best Indian Corn I ever saw;" Croghan made his
home at Aughwick from 1753 to about July, 1756. To
protect themselves, he and his men erected a stockade
SB Pa. Col. Rec, 5 : 675. 707 ; Pa. Arch., 2 : 689.
90 Johnson MSS., 2 : 212.
91 Pa. Arch. 2 : 484.
02 Pa. Arch., 2 : 452, 454.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 33
around their log buildings. It is self-evident that this
was not an ordinary squatter's improvement. After the
French and Indian War Croghan secured legal title to
the lands which he had improved and to other nearby
tracts. 93 Under the circumstances, imprisonment would
be unjust. Croghan 's services as Indian Agent to
Pennsylvania deserved consideration. If imprisoned
he could not reengage in business and thus pay his nu-
merous creditors. But most important was the need by
the government for his great knowledge of Indian af-
fairs and for his influence with the Indians during the
critical times which followed Braddock's defeat.
In other similar cases where only a few small credi-
tors were concerned, the usual method of a general let-
ter of license was employed, 94 but Croghan 's creditors
were so numerous and scattered that this method was
not feasible in his case. As early as December 2, 1754,
he had written Peters asking if the Assembly could not
pass an act of bankruptcy for himself and Trent, and
if so, how he should proceed. 95
Some of his friends evidently interested themselves
in his cause, for on November 26, 1755, a petition was
introduced into the Assembly, signed by fifteen of his
creditors, asking leave to bring in a bill granting Cro-
ghan and Trent freedom for ten years from all legal
procedure to collect debts contracted before the passage
of the act. This was granted and the bill was promptly
passed and sent to the Governor. When he considered
it in Council, Richard Hockley appeared and stated that
he had not been notified of the proposed action, though
he had been in partnership with Croghan and Trent
and was by far their largest creditor; he suggested
M James Burd to , Mar. 11, 1755, Shippen Corresp. 1 : 173;
Croghan to Gov. Morris, May 20, 1755, Pa. Col. Bee, 6 : 399; Weiser
to Gov. Hamilton, Sept. 13, 1754, ibid, 149.
"Votes of Assembly, 4 : 524; Byars: B. and M. Gratis, 31.
95 Pa. Arch., 2 : 211; ibid, 214.
34 George Croglian and the Westward Movement.
an amendment which the Governor and assembly ac-
cepted and the bill became law on December 2, 1755. 96
The charter of Pennsylvania required that all acts
be submitted to the crown for approval or disapproval
within five years of their passage. The act passed on
December 2, 1755, was not delivered by the agent of the
Penns to the Clerk of the Privy Council till January 20,
1758. On February 10, this body referred it to the
Board of Trade for examination. The Board of Trade
at once referred it to the Attorney-General, who
reported back to it on April 10, 1758, that there
was no legal objection to the act. The Board then
discussed the merits of the act, granting the Penns an
opportunity to state their attitude. On May 12, the
Board in a representation to the Privy Council
recommended that the act be disallowed. On June
16, an order in council was issued in almost the
exact words of the representation, disallowing the act.
A copy of this order was sent to the Board of Trade
on May 21, 1760, and read there on July 8. It then
informed the Governor and Colonial Agent of Penn-
sylvania of the action taken.
The order in council expressed surprise at the delay
in delivering the act, that such an extraordinary in-
dulgence should be granted on the petition of only a
portion of the creditors and that the bill should be intro-
duced one morning, read twice during the same morn-
ing, never committed, and passed on the afternoon of
the same day; it annulled the act as being unjust and
partial, irregularly passed, contrary to the rules of
justice in all cases affecting private property and a
dangerous precedent. By the time, however, that this
"Votes of Assembly, 4 : 524-527; Pa. Stat, at Large, 5 : 212-216;
Pa. Col. Rec, 6 : 743-745; Gov. Morris to Gov. Hardy, July 5, 1756,
Pa. Arch., 2 : 689; Hockley's amendment is not given. He had made
a special agreement with Croghan and Trent. — James Burd to ,
Sept. 25, 1754, Shippen Corresp., 1 : 159; 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 15.
George Croglian and the Westward Movement. 35
order reached America and came to the notice of the
various creditors, Croglian had enjoyed the benefits of
the act during about five of the ten years provided by it.
He had made some arrangements to meet his obliga-
tions and was now an imperial official performing much-
needed war services, and hence imprisonment from
debt no longer troubled him. 97
The traders who suffered losses as a result of the
French aggression, together with the eastern merchants
who were their creditors, soon began an active, well-
planned campaign to secure restitution. Efforts were
made by Croglian and Trent to collect, first from Vir-
ginia and then from Braddock, the losses incurred when
Washington impressed their horses. After these
efforts failed, Croglian, Trent, a number of their em-
ployees, and nine other traders gathered at Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, and made numerous detailed affidavits
of their losses. Croglian himself made five affidavits.
Governor Morris signed the complete document, which
listed about half of all claims made. A number of
traders also gathered at Lancaster and Philadelphia
and took similar action. 98
These thirty-two traders then authorized William
Trent to draw up a memorial in their behalf to be
presented to George II in Council. 99 It asked for reim-
bursement out of the money received from the sale of
French prizes taken before the declaration of war in
retaliation for French aggression. These prizes were
sold for £650,000 ; 10t> the total traders' claims amounted
07 Acts of the Privy Council, Col. Ser., 1745-1766, 341; Board of
Trade Pap., Prop., XX, W 14, W 20, W 49; Board of Trade Jorunal,
68; 189; Pa. Stat, at Large, 4 : 576, 577, 582, 584, 585, 592; Pa. Col.
Rec. 8 : 320. This is a good illustration of the way in which royal
disallowance of Pennsylvania laws actually worked.
88 O. Co. MSS., 1: passim, particularly 7, 85, 86.
90 O. Co. MSS., 1 : 5-7.
100 Acts of the Privy Council, Col. Ser., Unbound Pap., 353.
36 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
to £48,572, 4d. The critical situation during the war
caused this memorial to be neglected. When peace
negotiations began, another memorial was sent to the
crown asking that the French be required to indemnify
the traders and merchants. Its failure ended the at-
tempts to secure restitution in money from the French.
Thereafter all efforts were directed towards securing
restitution in the form of a large grant of land from the
Indian allies of the French ; this promised greater
speculative opportunities.
Meanwhile many traders had transferred their inter-
ests in the project to the merchants whom they owed.
Croghan and Trent had agreed with Richard Hockley
that his debt should be paid first out of any money they
received; Hockley and Thomas Penn in England be-
came their attorneys to push their cause. After 1763,
the entire project became associated with the more
promising project of the "Suff'ring Traders" of
Pontiac's uprising for which it served as a precedent
and which led to the "Indiana plan," which will be
described in a later chapter. In December, 1763, Cro-
ghan, Trent, Samuel Wharton, David Franks and eight
other traders and merchants interested in both projects
met at Indian Queen Tavern, Philadelphia, to lay plans
which would take advantage of Croghan 's proposed
journey to England. Croghan and a merchant in Lon-
don, Moses Franks, were made the agents of the group
and £410 sterling was contributed for their expenses.
They were spurred on by the guarantee of five per cent
of all money or land secured. The agents were to
present a memorial in person. They sought the aid of
Generals Amherst and Gage, Colonel Bouquet, the Gov-
ernor, Assembly and the London Agent of Pennsyl-
vania, the Penns, and all the British merchants who had
any connections with the persons involved and who
might bring influence to bear on the Board of Trade or
the Privy Council. In spite of all these efforts, no re-
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 37
suits were secured. 101 An indirect approach was now
attempted as a last resort. Sir William Johnson was
requested to secure a grant of land from the Six Na-
tions at Ft. Stanwix for the claimants of 1754 similar
to the grant secured by the claimants of 1763. He
maintained that the Six Nations were not responsible
in the former case and refused the request.
Nevertheless, when Trent and Wharton went to
England to represent the claimants of 1763, they also
planned to secure some recompense for the claimants of
1754. Trent secured a renewal of his powers of at-
torney from thirteen of the latter, of whom Croghan
was one. To secure the necessary funds, Trent turned
over his powers to Samuel Wharton, David Franks,
Benjamin Levy, Thomas Lawrence, Edward Shippen,
Jr., and Joseph Morris. These were to receive one-
half of all money or lands secured in return for financ-
ing the project. They sent Moses Franks to London,
who, on February 22, 1771, presented to the Board of
Trade a memorial in behalf of George Croghan,
William Trent, and eleven other Indian traders. In
1773 he was still in England cooperating with William
Trent to secure favorable action. 102
Some of the other claimants of 1754 refused to give
precedence to the claimants of 1763, or to cooperate
with them. They presented a separate memorial in
1769 asking that no lands be granted to the claimants of
1763 unless all traders who had suffered losses from
1750 to 1763 be granted a proportionate recompense.
This division weakened the cause of all the claimants.
Their claims were still pending when the Eevolution
101 Minutes of the Meeting in Philadelphia, Instructions to Croghan
and Franks, and the Memorial are found in the Johnson MSS., 24 : 190-
191; cf. 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 15-16.
102 The legal papers drawn up in America are found in the 0. Co.
MSS., 1 : 57-71; Trent to Moses Franks, Jan. 1, 1773, ibid, 97; Royal
Hist. MSS. Com., Fourteenth Report, Appendix, Part X, MSS. of the
Earl of Dartmouth, 2 : 74.
38 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
ended all hopes of securing restitution from Eng-
land. 103
Some of the traders who had lost so heavily in 1754
maintained that they were not bound to pay their debts
to the merchants unless they received restitution. "I
will pay them when I am reimbursed and surely that is
all they can ask of me or anybody else," wrote one of
them. 104 Croghan, however, tried to free himself of his
liabilities. As early as 1754 he had conveyed some
lands in the Cumberland Valley to Richard Peters. In
1761, Croghan and Trent paid £1000 to their creditors
and transferred to them some lands on Aughwick
Creek, receiving a full discharge from all their
creditors, even though this did not completely cover
their debts. They had, however, in addition, assigned
to their creditors a prior lien on all financial reim-
bursement which they might receive from the crown.
When it seemed as though they might be reimbursed in
land, their creditors tried to include it under the above
assignment, but to this Croghan would not submit.
The debts which Croghan did not pay in full remained
to trouble him to his last days. He felt morally bound
to pay the principal, but not the interest. On March
15, 1779, he wrote to Barnard Gratz ". . . . itt was
of my own free will I promised to pay all those old
Debts which was Nott Commonly Done by people that
failed in Trade." Some of his creditors insisted on
being paid both principal and interest and also asked
for payment in coin which during the Revolution was
very difficult to obtain ; consequently, they failed to se-
cure a settlement. 105
103 O. Co. MSS., 1 : 53, 57; Acts of the Privy Council, June 9, 1769,
2 : 114, p. 44.
101 Hugh Crawford to Trent, Dec. 10, 1768, 0. Co. MSS., 1 : 54.
105 Peters MSS., 6 : 87 ; Deed of D. Franks and J. Warder to Croghan
and Trent, July 19, 1761, Deed Bk. M, I : 402, Register of Deeds,
Huntingdon Co., Pa.; Croghan to J. Warder and D. Franks, Dec. 21,
1768, Gratz Pap. 1st ser., 8 : 105; Croghan to B. Gratz, March 15, 1779,
McAllister Coll.
George Croghan and the Westward Movement. 39
Never again after 1754 did Croghan devote his major
attention to the Indian trade. At intervals he made
a few shipments of furs and skins to London or Phila-
delphia, and in the early seventies he was associated
with Thomas Smallman in the Indian trade. He also
assisted such friends as the Gratzs to make good
connections with the Indians. His chief attention
after 1754, however, was devoted to his work as an
Indian agent and later on to land speculation and
western colonizing projects. 106 Even before the in-
roads of the French into the Ohio region became seri-
ous, his interest was being transferred to furthering
the official relations between the Ohio Indians and
Pennsylvania. Private as well as public interests
caused such men as Croghan to enter into the service of
the government to aid in saving English rule in the
West.
Croghan 's wide experience for over a decade in the
actual field work as an Indian trader was the founda-
tion upon which his later career was built. During
these years he secured an intimate first hand knowledge
of the Indian, learning how to manage the red man and
making personal friends with some of the chiefs. He
also learned to know the frontiersman and the friends
he made among his more able white associates co-
operated with him in later years. And finally, he be-
came well known to the wealthy merchants and highest
officials in Lancaster and Philadelphia; these were
the men who gave him his first opportunities to show
his value as an Indian agent and to whom Croghan was
106 These statements are based on the lack of any evidence in the
records examined to show large and consistent trading activities. For
the exceptions see, Pa. Col. Rec, 9 : 495; Pa. Mag. of Hist, and Biog.,
37; 13, 194; 0. Co. MSS., 2 : 24; Croghan to M. Gratz, July 29, 1773
and to B. and M. Gratz, Aug. 26, 1772, Simon Gratz Coll. A striking
exception is a consignment of furs valued at £1200 sterling and shipped
via Detroit and Quebec to London: — Croghan to Richard Neave and
Son, June 24, 1767, Dreer Coll.
40 George Croghan and the Westward Movement.
to bring a new interest in the great West beyond the
mountains.
During the period 1741 to 1754, Croghan left behind
him the life of Dublin and was transformed into a typi-
cal American frontiersman. He followed the roads
that led west from Philadelphia, and traveled practi-
cally every path and trail which began where the roads
left off, crossed the mountain barrier, and then spread
out over the region bounded by Lake Erie, the Maumee
and Wabash Rivers and the Cumberland Mountains.
He crossed and recrossed the mountains. His journeys
enabled him to spy out the finest lands strategically lo-
cated. As he lived day after day in the fertile valley
of the Ohio and on the Lake Plain in the primeval
forests, he unconsciously imbibed a deep-seated ap-
preciation of the vast possibilities of the region, which
was later to develop into a vision of the future great-
ness of the trans-Allegheny region. His deep love for
the western wilderness and his outlook towards the west
were to have a dynamic influence during the next two
decades upon the leaders who lived in the Delaware
Valley and whose outlook was towards the ocean. His
influence was also to be felt in Virginia, New York, New
Jersey and in London itself.
Albert T. Volwiler,
Harrison Research Fellow,
University of Pennsylvania.
(To be continued.)
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