Note 51 — Chapter IX

The original owner of the farm from which McKee’s Rocks took their name was the notorious Tory Indian agent, Alexander McKee. This tract he bought of Bouquet in 1764, and lived upon his property until the outbreak of the Revolution. McKee had (1772) been appointed by Sir William Johnson, deputy for Indian affairs, and was listed by Lord Dunmore (1775) as one whose loyalty to the British could be relied upon. He became, therefore, an object of suspicion to his neighbors, and General Hand, commandant at Fort Pitt, placed him upon parole. The night of March 28, 1778, McKee with Matthew Elliot and Simon Girty, broke his parole and fled to the British at Detroit. There he was rewarded with a captaincy, and employed in leading Indian raiding parties against the American settlements. After Hamilton’s capture (1778) he was made Indian agent for the Western department, and throughout the Revolution, and the entire period of Indian wars, his influence with the savages was exerted to maintain their enmity to the Americans. After the battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), Wayne burned the store-house and goods of McKee at the Maumee Rapids, the renegade having himself retired to Detroit, where he received a letter of commendation from the governor-general of Canada, and promotion in the British service. When the latter evacuated Detroit (1796), McKee retired to Sandwich, where he continued his official duties until his death (January 14, 1799). His services had been rewarded by large grants of land on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, upon which his descendants established themselves. His Pittsburg property passed into the hands of a brother, whose descendants were living thereon in 1847.—Ed.