John Duff (counterfeiter)

John Duff
In the 1790s, John Duff and his criminal associate, Philip Alston, carried out their counterfeiting operation, in the relative seclusion of the wilderness, at Cave-in-Rock
Born	John Michael McElduff September 1759 - August 1760 Province of South Carolina, (British Royal Colony), British North America, British Empire, present-day South Carolina, US
Died	June 4, 1799 or 1805 (aged 40-46) Battery Rock, Illinois Country, Northwest Territory, US, present-day Gallatin County, Illinois, Saline River Salt Springs, Illinois Country, Northwest Territory, US, present-day Gallatin County, Illinois, or Caseyville, Livingston County, Kentucky, present-day Crittenden County, Kentucky, US
Resting place	unknown
Nationality	American
Other names	Duff, John McDuff, Jean Duff, Jean Michel Duff, John Michael Duff, Michael Duff, Sergeant Duff, Duff the Counterfeiter
Occupation	frontiersman, hunter, horse thief, cattle thief, hog thief, soldier, salt maker, criminal gang leader, counterfeiter
Known for	Being a brave, Revolutionary War soldier, serving under George Rogers Clark, on the American western frontier and a notorious counterfeit money, on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers
Spouse(s)	Letticia "Letty" or "Seddy" Smith, Native American woman, name unknown
Children	1 child, name unknown, by Native American woman
Parent(s)	Thomas McElduff
Relatives	Daniel Duff (brother), Henry Smith (father-in-law), Margaret Smith (mother-in-law), Jean Baptiste St. Ange (brother-in-law), Sarah Smith St. Ange (sister-in-law), John Doyle (brother-in-law), Chloe Smith Doyle (sister-in-law)

John Duff, born John McElduff, or possibly John Michael McElduff, because early court records referred to him as John Michael Duff (September 1759 or August 1760 – June 4, 1799 or 1805), was a counterfeiter, criminal gang leader, horse thief, cattle thief, hog thief, salt maker, longhunter, scout, and soldier who assisted in George Rogers Clark's campaign to capture the Illinois country, for the American rebel side, during the Revolutionary War. Duff also, was frontiersman, hunter, horse thief, cattle thief, soldier, salt maker, criminal gang leader, counterfeiter

John Michael McElduff was born, sometime, between September 1759 and August 1760 in South Carolina, according to his court testimony in August 1781, when he was 21 years old. His father died and his mother remarried. John's father may have been the Thomas McElduff murdered by Philip McElduff, a brother, of Thomas, some time prior to November 1761. His stepfather moved the family to the Natchez, Mississippi region of the colony of British West Florida, on the Mississippi River, prior to the start of the American Revolutionary War. McElduff is believed to be a grandson of a Thomas McElduff, Sr., who received two land grants, for military service in the French and Indian War, on the south side of the Tyger River, in Union County, South Carolina on February 7, 1754.

Around 1778, Duff was living in the Illinois Country or later, referred to as, the "American Bottom." While leading a group of longhunters returning to Kaskaskia, John Duff, John Saunders, and the rest of the hunting party were intercepted, by Colonel George Rogers Clark's soldiers and his Virginia frontiersmen soldiers, near the ruins of Fort Massac. Suspected of being British spies, they immediately, took an American oath of allegiance, where Duff and his men joined Clark's Illinois Regiment, Virginia State Forces. Duff enlisted into Captain John Williams' Company in Cahokia and rose to the rank of sergeant in the Illinois Regiment.