{"id":93,"date":"2010-07-16T19:41:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T19:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/infj.net\/smith\/?page_id=93"},"modified":"2011-06-30T01:23:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T01:23:20","slug":"george-croghan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/?page_id=93","title":{"rendered":"George Croghan"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Croghan<\/strong> was a man of many talents.\u00a0 He was an Indian agent and trader, and he was a land speculator with a grand vision of how westward expansion should evolve.\u00a0 His dreams exceeded the real and practical yet in the end he died a pauper after he amassed and lost several fortunes.<\/p>\n

Croghan immigrated to America from Dublin Ireland in 1741 where he settled in Pennsboro west of Harris\u2019s Ferry near present day Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Croghan was first employed by Conrad Weiser, Indian agent and later Lancaster County magistrate to help him carry a present to the Indians in Ohio in 1748.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter, Croghan assisted the Pennsylvania government in expelling Scotch-Irish settlers from the Cumberland Valley.<\/p>\n

The outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1755 destroyed Croghan\u2019s prosperous trading business.\u00a0 He was given a captain\u2019s commission to command the Indian contingent during Braddock\u2019s campaign, but he quickly retired from the service.\u00a0 At this juncture Sir William Johnson to whom he was distantly related appointed him deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs.<\/p>\n

In 1763 Croghan traveled to England on unspecified private business and did not return to the American colonies until 1765.<\/p>\n

Upon his return he was immediately dispatched to Illinois.\u00a0 After seeing this country Croghan believed Illinois should be opened for settlement as quickly as possible.\u00a0 He devised a grand scheme and\u00a0believed he could convince Col. Henry Bouquet that trade with the Indians should be opened up whether there was a new treaty or not.\u00a0 He noted this was to keep the French from regaining their lost influence.\u00a0 He thought\u00a0he would profit immensely from this design of his as a trader and a land speculator because he was the first to see the value of Illinois.\u00a0 These plans of Croghan\u2019s had some urgency because he was deeply in debt.\u00a0 Some placed his debts from the French and Indian War at about \u00a38,000 sterling or about one quarter of the entire debt of all the traders combined.<\/p>\n

Croghan\u2019s financial state provided the motivation for his trade and land schemes which brought him into direct conflict with William and James Smith.\u00a0 The goods he transported on Col. Henry Bouquet\u2019s military pass in violation of the Proclamation of 1763 were intended to help his negotiations for much of Illinois.\u00a0 The Sideling Hill affair markedly affected these negotiations.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the Revolution he was a supporter of the Patriot\u2019s cause but later became an object of suspicion.\u00a0 In 1778 Croghan was proclaimed a public enemy by the state of Pennsylvania and his place as an Indian agent was given to George Morgan of Baynton, Wharton & Morgan.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the end he never paid his debts in full and continued to reside in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Croghan died at Passyunk in 1782.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Selection of George Croghan\u2019s Letters and Journals Relating to Tours into the Western Country. <\/em>\u00a0November 16, 1750 – November 1765.\u00a0 Bancroft Library http:\/\/www.archive.org\/details\/selectionofgeorg00crogrich<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

George Croghan and the Westward Movement 1741 – 1742, <\/em>Volwiler, Albert T.\u00a0 Pennsylvania Magazine of History <\/em>and biography # 4 October 1922<\/span><\/p>\n

Benjamin Franklin Papers <\/em>online, 1765 http:\/\/franklinpapers.org\/franklin\/framedVolumes.jsp<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter V: \u00a0Race:\u00a0 The Permanent Pennsylvania Frontier, 1763 – 1768 in Creating Pennsylvania: \u00a0The Politics of the Frontier and the State, 1682 – 1800.\u00a0<\/em> Spero, Patrick.\u00a0 Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylania.\u00a0 2009<\/span><\/p>\n

The New Regime 1765 – 1767. \u00a0<\/em>Illinois State Historical Library. \u00a0Edited by Clarence Walworth Alvord, University of Illinois Volume XI Springfield, Illinois.\u00a0 1916<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Croghan was a man of many talents.\u00a0 He was an Indian agent and trader, and he was a land speculator with a grand vision of how westward expansion should evolve.\u00a0 His dreams exceeded the real and practical yet in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-93","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1080,"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions\/1080"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithrebellion1765.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}