Note 22 — II A Selection of George Croghan’s Letters and Journals Relating to Tours into the Western Country—November 16, 1750-November, 1765.

The commandant of this famous expedition (1749) was Pierre Joseph Céloron, Sieur de Blainville, born in 1693, and having served a long apprenticeship in the posts of the upper country. He commanded an invasion of the Chickasaw country (1739), and had charge of the post at Detroit in 1742-43, and again in 1750-54. Fort Niagara was entrusted to him in 1744-47, whence he was transferred to Crown Point, until his Ohio expedition took place. In the French and Indian War he held the rank of major, and served on the staff of the commander-in-chief. He died about 1777. In 1760, the Canadian authorities characterized him as “poor and brave.” Some question has arisen, whether the leader of this expedition might not have been a younger brother, Jean Baptiste. For Croghan’s visit to the Ohio directly after Céloron’s expedition had passed, see post; also, Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, p. 387, and Pennsylvania Archives, ii, p. 31.—Ed.