George Croghan
| George Croghan | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1718 Ireland |
| Died | August 31, 1782 Passyunk, Pennsylvania |
| Resting place | St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia |
| Other names | The Buck, Anagurunda, King of the traders |
| Occupation | Fur trader, Indian agent, Onondaga Council sachem land speculator, judge |
| Spouse(s) | 1) unknown; 2) Catharine (Takarihoga) was Mohawk Chief Nickus's daughter |
| Children | 1) Susannah, 1750-1790, from first liaison; 2) Catharine (Adonwentishon), 1759-1837 |
George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became the region's key figure earlier than his 1746 appointment to the Iroquois' Onondaga Council and remained so until his banishment from the frontier in 1777. Emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1741, he became an important trader by going to the villages of Native Americans, learning their languages and customs, and working on the frontier where previously mostly French had been trading. During and after King George's War of the 1740s, he helped negotiate new treaties and alliances with Native Americans.
Croghan was appointed in 1756 as Deputy Indian Agent with chief responsibility for the Ohio region tribes, assisting Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District, who was based in New York and had strong alliances with the Iroquois. Beginning in the 1740s and following this appointment, Croghan amassed hundreds of thousands of acres of land in today's western Pennsylvania and New York by grants from Native Americans and purchases. Beginning in 1754, he was a rival of George Washington for influence in Ohio Country and remained far more powerful there for more than 20 additional years, until 1777 during the American Revolutionary War when he was falsely accused of treason. He was acquitted the following year but patriot authorities did not allow him back in the Ohio territory. Croghan's central role in Ohio Country events finds ample evidence in his two main biographers, yet they understate it. He is irrelevant when not missing in recent George Washington biographies and the necessity of Croghan's as the through story is not yet seen in histories of the region or books on the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between Britain and France.
Ohio's recorded history begins with Croghan's actions in the mid-1740s as fur trader, Iroquois sachem, and go-between for Pennsylvania, according to historian Alfred A. Cave. Cave concludes that the treason charge that ended Croghan's career was trumped up by his enemies. Western Pennsylvania became the focal point of events in August 1749 when Croghan purchased 200,000 acres from the Seneca, exclusive of two square miles at the Forks of the Ohio for a British fort. Croghan soon learned that his three deeds would be invalidated if part of Pennsylvania, sabotaged that colony's effort to erect the fort, and led the Ohio Confederation to permit Virginia's Ohio Company to build it and settle the region. In 1754 Virginia sent George Washington to the Ohio Country, who would eventually supplant Croghan there.
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