Croghan, George 1746-1782
Indian agent; born in Ireland; was educated in Dublin; emigrated to Pennsylvania; and in 1746 was engaged in trade with the Indians. Acquiring their language and friendship, Pennsylvania made him Indian agent. Captain in Braddock's expedition in 1755, he showed such excellence in military matters that in 1756 he was intrusted with the defence of the western frontier of Pennsylvania, and was made by Sir William Johnson his deputy, who, in 1763, [425] sent him to England to confer with the ministry about an Indian boundary-line. On that voyage he was wrecked on the coast of France. In May, 1776, Croghan founded a settlement 4 miles above Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg). He was active in securing the attachment of the Indians to the British interest until 1776, but took no active part in the events of the Revolution. He died in Passayunk, Pa., in August, 1782.
Military officer; born near Louisville, Ky., Nov. 15, 1791; educated at the College of William and Mary, which he left in 1810; was aide to Colonel Boyd in the battle of Tippecanoe (q. v.) in 1811, and made captain of infantry in March, 1812. In March, 1813, he became an aide of General Harrison, and in August of the same year sustained the siege of Fort Stephenson (q. v.) against a force of British and Indians, for which he was brevetted a captain and awarded a gold medal by Congress. He was made lieutenant-colonel early in 1814, and resigned in 1817. Colonel Croghan was postmaster at New Orleans in 1824, and late in the next year was appointed inspector-general of the army, with the rank of colonel. He served under Taylor at the beginning of the war with Mexico. He died in New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1849.
