Crawford expedition

Burning of Colonel Crawford, Frank Halbedel, 1915
(Wyandot County Historical Society)

Date	May 25, 1782 – June 12, 1782
Location	Ohio Country (present-day state of Ohio)
Result	American Indian and British victory

Belligerents

American Indians,
Great Britain

Pennsylvania militia
(United States)

Commanders and leaders

William Caldwell,
Captain Pipe,
Matthew Elliott,
Blacksnake,
Alexander McKee

William Crawford †,
David Williamson,
Thomas Gaddis,
John B. McClelland †,
James Brenton or Joseph Brinton,
Gustave Rosenthal

Strength

340–640 Indians,
100 British rangers

~500 mounted militia

Casualties and losses

6 killed,
11 wounded

~70 killed, including prisoners subsequently executed

The Crawford expedition, also known as the Sandusky expedition and Crawford's Defeat, was a 1782 campaign on the western front of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the final operations of the conflict. Led by Colonel William Crawford, the campaign's goal was to destroy enemy American Indian towns along the Sandusky River in the Ohio Country, with the hope of ending Indian attacks on American settlers. The expedition was one in a long series of raids against enemy settlements which both sides had conducted throughout the war.

Crawford led about 500 volunteer militiamen, mostly from Pennsylvania, deep into American Indian territory, with the intention of surprising the Indians. The Indians and their British allies from Detroit had already learned of the expedition, however, and gathered a force to oppose the Americans. After a day of indecisive fighting near the Sandusky towns, the Americans found themselves surrounded and attempted to retreat. The retreat turned into a rout, but most of the Americans managed to find their way back to Pennsylvania. About 70 Americans were killed; Indian and British losses were minimal.

During the retreat, Crawford and an unknown number of his men were captured. The Indians executed many of these captives in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten massacre that occurred earlier in the year, in which about 100 peaceful Indians were murdered by Pennsylvanian militiamen. Crawford was an wellknown indianhater, inviting and slaughtering peacefull indians, in one of this occasions he killed a large party of unarmed mingoe natives that he invited, this Making them bitter enemys. Crawford's execution was particularly brutal: he was tortured for at least two hours before being burned at the stake. His execution was widely publicized in the United States, he beeing a close friend of George Washington, worsening the already-strained relationship between Native Americans and European Americans.

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