Note 40 — II A Selection of George Croghan’s Letters and Journals Relating to Tours into the Western Country—November 16, 1750-November, 1765.

This letter is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vi, pp. 642, 643. In the interval between this and the preceding document, momentous events, in which Croghan had a full share, had occurred on the Ohio. The governor of Virginia had engaged him to act as interpreter in Colonel Washington’s army—see “Dinwiddie Papers,” Virginia Historical Collections (Richmond, 1883-84), i, p. 187—and he had been present at the affair of the Great Meadows. During the period between this and Braddock’s expedition, Croghan had been busily employed in bringing over as many Indians as possible to the English cause, and he had led the Indian contingent to Braddock’s aid (see post). After the battle of the Monongahela, Croghan returned to his home at Aughwick Creek, caring at his own expense for the few Indians who remained firm in the English interest, and planning to defend his settlement by a stockade fort. A bill for his relief (he had lost all of his trading equipment) passed the Pennsylvania Assembly. Although holding no provincial office, his knowledge of the frontier situation was much relied on in this extremity.—Ed.