George Croghan - Later Life

Later Life

Arriving in New York on January 10, 1767, two days later Croghan joined Samuel Wharton in urging Gen. Gage to establish an Illinois colony and when he refused, Croghan publicly resigned as Deputy Indian agent. Laid low by illness, Croghan spent February recuperating at Monckton Hall and March in visiting Johnson, who convinced him to withdraw his resignation. Sent to Fort Pitt in May, Croghan defused an Indian war over squatters and illegal trade. Governor John Penn detained Croghan in Philadelphia on his return east with questions about the Indians to accompany the Mason and Dixon survey, writing: "It would be very difficult to manage this business without his assistance." In fact the Indians halted the survey before it was completed when it began to take into Pennsylvania Croghan's 1749 grant for 200,000 acres.

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix in October, 1768 followed difficulties for Croghan's Indian diplomacy: Frederick Stump's murder and scalping of Indians on the Susquenhanna in January, the Black Boys' pledge to kill Croghan on his way to an Indian conference in Pittsburgh in March, and Lord Hillsborough's assumption of American affairs in London. A quiet retreat was Lake Otsego's outlet, headwater of the Susquehanna River, the site of Croghan's New York six chimney "hutt" and Croghan Forest, 100,000 acres (400 km2) surveyed in September, 1768.

Ahead of the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the Six Nations sold Croghan 127,000 acres (510 km2) in New York for himself and numerous tracts for his friends. Crown recognition of these and other pre-treaty sales became the first of three Iroquois demands at the conference. The second condition was that a grant of 2,500,000 acres (10,000 km2) "on the Ohio to Trent and his associates was to be part of the treaty. Third, should the Penns seize the 200,000 acres (810 km2) which the Indians had granted 'our friend Mr. Croghan long ago,' they requested the king grant Croghan as much land elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Crown did not tolerate such a visible play for land, and Croghan's private land dealings went unconfirmed Facing bankruptcy, "He drew bills payable on Samuel Wharton in London" for thousands of pounds to patent his New York land. Crippled with gout and hounded by creditors, Croghan sought refuge in Croghan Forest, now more than 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), but even its remoteness offered insufficient legal protection when the Wharton bills were returned for nonpayment in February, 1770.

Croghan Hall, reached July 2, 1770, offered George relief from law suits and debtor's prison. Croghan could do little more than watch as settlers poured into the Ohio Country on land he considered to be his. Pennsylvania appointed officials for its newly established Bedford County in 1771, which "did not come within" twenty miles (32 km) "of Pittsburgh" according to Croghan, who "looked on these officers as agents of oppression." Among those buying land from Croghan's 1749 Indian grant was George Washington through his agent William Crawford. "I am likely to sell another tract to Coll. Washington and his friends," Croghan wrote to Joseph Wharton, Jr. and to Michael Gratz, "I have sold a parcel of lands to Coll Washington,", but there were no further sales beyond 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) in today's Perryopolis, Pennsylvania. Crawford surveyed land on Chartiers Creek for Washington that Croghan claimed when the survey of one of his Indian deeds fell far short of the 100,000 acres (400 km2) called for and he had it redone. More than twenty years later, 1784, and despite presenting a questionable patent, Washington won a court case against Chartiers Creek families who had bought their land from Croghan. Washington's document was dated July 5, 1775, two years after his land dispute with Croghan began, and was from Lord Dunmore aboard a British warship on the James River, signed a few days after Washington had assumed command of the Continental army besieging Boston.

Croghan's luck appeared to change when the Crown confirmed plans to establish the inland colony of Vandalia, with Croghan as Indian agent and its largest land owner. But because Crown agents could not be involved in such ventures, Croghan resigned from the Indian Department on November 2, 1771. Alexander McKee took his place as deputy agent, with Croghan "on call when Indian affairs were critical." Cousin Thomas Smallman was taken into a fur trading partnership and Croghan "made a major effort to liquidate his debts." Although failing to sell any of his New York acres, Barnard and Michael Gratz remained Croghan's agents, creditors, primary suppliers and friends, if not as faithful as Andrew Montour whose murder in January 1772 was a major loss. Fort Pitt was abandoned that fall, but Croghan turned that loss to advantage by having McKee tell the Indians that it was done to please them. If it started grimly, 1772 ended with "the news that the Privy Council had overruled Lord Hillsborough and approved Vandalia."

A year passed with Vandalia still in limbo and Croghan, borrowing money and pawning his plate, spending Ł1,365 for provisions and presents for 400 Indians who attended his November conference regarding the proposed colony. "Convinced that the powerful Vandalia project had fallen through, Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, decided to make good his colony's western claims. Presumably, when Dunmore visited Pittsburgh in the summer of 1773, he met Croghan, for he agreed to recognize the validity of Croghan's Indian grant." Dunmore appointed an intimate associate and nephew of Croghan as his western agent. Dr. John Connolly, fully supported by Croghan, "claimed Pittsburgh for Virginia in January, 1774, and called up the militia. The first men to appear at he parade ground for the initial muster came from Croghan Hall." Virginia's claim was opposed by Pennsylvania's General Arthur St. Clair, the Penn's chief official west of the Alleghenies. "Flushed with confidence, Connolly became increasingly arbitrary and high-handed. He even presumed to treat Croghan . . . in an overbearing manner."