by Rob Harper
Owens and John Williams, deposition, 10 sept. 1769, enclosed in edmonstone to gage, 10
sept. 1769, as 87, tgp. david Owens was a veteran trader and delaware interpreter: Jones 18,
26, 33– 34; James h. merrel , Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Fron-
tier (new york: W. W. norton, 1999), 93. charles martin may also have been a trader: dgW
2:301; edmonstone, speech, 14 mar. 1772, enclosed in edmonstone to gage, 23 mar. 1772, as
109, tgp.
38. richard Brown, deposition, 7 sept., guyasuta and edmonstone, speeches, 10 sept., and
edmonstone to penn, 11 sept. 1771, pa 4:430– 34 (quotations on 431, 433– 34); gerald h. smith,
ed., Bedford County, Pennsylvania: Quarter Sessions, 1771– 1801 (Westminster, md: heritage,
2010), 16 (“gaol fees”); st. clair to shippen, 24 sept. 1771, scp 1:261; croghan, journal, 3 sept.
1771. similarly, in early 1770, William crawford agreed to procure evidence against his servant
John ingman, the alleged murderer of “indian stephen,” but there is no evidence that ingman
came to trial: Botetourt to penn, 20 mar. 1770, pa 4:365– 66; Vaughan, “Frontier
Banditti,” 12– 13.
192
notes to pages 43–47
39. murray to gage, 16 may 1767, as 65, tgp (“Whole people”); Minutes of Conferences, 17
(“rum”).
40. croghan, journal, apr.– sept. 1771 (“not a Vil age,” 1 sept. 1771); edmonstone to gage, 24
sept. 1770, as 96, tgp (“Unexperienced lad”); croghan to gage, 13 July 1770, as 93, tgp;
edmonstone to gage, 16 July, 11 aug., and 27 dec. 1770, as 93, 94, and 99 tgp; croghan, pro-
ceedings, 8 and 17 July 1770, enclosed in croghan to gage, 8 aug. 1770, as 94, tgp; White,
Middle Ground, 343; peter c. mancal , Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America
(ithaca, ny: cornell University press, 1995).
41. croghan, proceedings, 12, 21, and 24 July and 1 aug. 1770, enclosed in croghan to gage,
8 aug. 1770, as 94, tgp; croghan to gage, 13 July 1770, as 93, tgp; croghan to gage, 8 aug.
1770, as 94, tgp. croghan initial y confused the cheat river and redstone events, but a closer
examination of his journal shows that they were separate incidents.
42. croghan to gage, 8 aug. 1770, as 94, tgp (“cal ’d in,” “attacking”); croghan, proceed-
ings, 24– 26 July and 1– 2 aug. 1770, enclosed in croghan to gage, 8 aug. 1770, as 94, tgp
(“revenging,” 1 aug.)
43. For the two creeks migration, see croghan, journal, 4 sept. 1770; mcKee, report, 6 may
1771, enclosed in edmonstone to gage, 24 aug. 1771, as 105, tgp; morgan to congress, 8 nov.
1776, aa5 3:600; mmd 92. For militancy, see stephen Forrester to [John stuart], 7 sept. 1772,
enclosed in stuart to gage, 30 sept. 1772, as 114, tgp. For the evacuation of Fort pitt, see mc-
clure 40, 85; downes, Council Fires, 132. For the killing of the woman and children, see mcKee,
report, 18 may 1771, enclosed in edmonstone to gage, 24 aug. 1771, as 105, tgp; guyasuta and
edmonstone, speeches, 10 sept. 1771, pa 4:434. mcKee’s informant blamed haudenosaunees;
guyasuta blamed delawares. edmonstone placed the attack near the greenbrier river in west-
ern Virginia; mcKee placed it close to the Kanawha. The victims were likely part of the stroud
family, whose deaths were mentioned (and exaggerated) in earl of dunmore to earl of dart-
mouth, 24 dec. 1774, dhdW 374; and in alexander scott Withers, Chronicles of Border Warfare,
annotated ed., ed. reuben gold Thwaites (1895; parsons, WV: mcclain printing company,
1975), 136– 37. Both dunmore and Withers are highly unreliable. Thwaites, who edited both, as-
serts that shawnees killed the strouds on elk river, a tributary of the Kanawha whose headwa-
ters lie close to the greenbrier. But the evidence is too fragmentary to support a firm
conclusion.
chapter 2
1. Journal of James mcafee, 13 June and 9– 13 July 1773, in The Woods- McAfee Memorial, ed.
neander m. Woods (louisville, Ky: courier- Journal, 1905), 429– 34 (“first [came],” 430);
Thomas Bullitt and cornstalk, speeches, and richard Butler, letter, 9– 10 June 1773, Woods-
McAfee Memorial, 439– 40; shawnees, speech, 28 June 1773, pWJ 8:834– 35; Minutes of Confer-
ences, Held at Fort Pitt, in April and May, 1768 (philadelphia: William goddard, 1769), 12– 13,
19– 20; Jones 52– 54; mmd 147– 48; Thomas perkins abernethy, Western Lands and the American
Revolution (new york: russell and russel , 1959), 84– 87; sami lakomäki, Gathering Together:
The Shawnee People Through Diaspora and Nationhood, 1600– 1870 (new haven, ct: yale Uni-
versity press, 2014), 78– 80.
2. Butler, letter, 10 June 1773, Woods- McAfee Memorial, 439.
3. For critical assessments, see richard White, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and
Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650– 1815 (new york: cambridge University press,
1991), 364; michael n. mcconnel , A Country Between: The Upper Ohio Val ey and Its Peoples,
notes to pages 48–50
193
1724– 1774 (lincoln: University of nebraska press, 1992), 274– 75. For more positive interpreta-
tions, see patrick griffin, American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier (new
york: hill and Wang, 2007), 99; James corbett david, Dunmore’s New World: The Extraordinary
Life of a Royal Governor in Revolutionary America (charlottesville: University of Virginia press,
2013), 91– 92. For a more nuanced account, see eric hinderaker, Elusive Empires: Constructing
Colonialism in the Ohio Val ey, 1673– 1800 (new york: cambridge University press, 1997),
189– 93.
4. advertisement, Pennsylvania Journal, no. 1565, 2 dec. 1772, [3]; nicholas B. Wainwright,
George Croghan: Wilderness Diplomat (chapel hill: University of north carolina press,
1959), 287 (“intimately”); george croghan to John Jennings, 1 June 1767, box 2, folder 36, daF;
george morgan to John Baynton and samuel Wharton, 5 apr. 1768, in george morgan, letter-
book and journal, 131– 33, hsp; isaac hamilton to Thomas gage, 8 aug. 1772, as 113, tgp; mc-
clure 47; george croghan, return of employees, 15 apr. 1767, The New Régime, 1765– 1767, ed.
clarence Walworth alvord, collections of the illinois state historical library, vol. 11 (spring-
field, il, 1916), 557; John connol y, “a narrative of the transactions, imprisonment, and suffer-
ings of John connol y, an american loyalist,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography 12, no. 3, 4 (1888): 310– 11; margaret pearson Bothwel , “edward Ward: trail Blazing
pioneer,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 43, no. 2 (1960): 102, 111– 12.
5. William crawford to george Washington, 15 mar. and 1 may 1772, ser. 4, general corre-
spondence, gWp (“as soon as,” 15 mar.); John connol y to Washington, 18 sept. 1772, gWp;
petitions, 1769– 1772, Vsp 1:260– 66; dgW 2:293– 94, 304, 310, 317– 18, 322– 23; Woody holton,
Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia
(chapel hill: University of north carolina press, 1999), 7– 9, 27; david l. preston, The Texture of
Contact: European and Indian Settler Communities on the Frontiers of Iroquoia, 1667– 1783 (lin-
coln: University of nebraska press, 2009), ch. 6.
6. “a friend to the true interest of Britain in america,” Virginia Gazette (rind), no. 349, 14
Jan. 1773, [3
] (“chinese wal ”); Washington to lord dunmore, 15 June 1771, 13 apr. 1773, and 2
nov. 1773, account book 2, pp. 142, 168, and 210, gWp; connol y to Washington, 29 June 1773,
gWp; Washington to William crawford, 25 sept. 1773, account book 2, p. 169, gWp; William
crawford to Washington, 12 nov. 1773, gWp; abernethy, Western Lands, 84, 87– 88; david, Dun-
more’s New World, 63.
7. mmd 166 (“to deceive”); conference with Kayaghshota, [5 Jan. 1774], pWJ 12:1052
(“hemmed”); extract of a letter from pittsburgh, 17 aug. 1773, Virginia Gazette, no. 387, 7 Oct.
1773, [2]; John armstrong to Washington, 17 aug. 1773, gWp.
8. cornstalk, speech, 25 sept. 1773, pWJ 12:1032– 33; indian conference, 9 Oct. 1773, pWJ
12:1034 (“hatched”); conference with Kayaghshota, [5 Jan. 1774], pWJ 12:1048 (“double tongue”);
William Johnson to the earl of dartmouth, 22 sept. 1773, pWJ 8:890 (“most attentive”); Johnson
to Frederick haldimand, 19 mar. 1774, pWJ 8:1085 (“disaffected people”); croghan to Barnard
gratz, 11 may 1773, draper 7J:136; croghan to Wharton, 15 Oct. and 9 dec. 1773, “letters of col-
onel george croghan,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 15, no. 4 (1891): 434– 37;
meeting with the six nations, Wyandots, Ottawas, and delawares, 7 Oct. 1773, folder 30, box 6,
gcp; alexander mcKee to Johnson, 16 Oct. 1773, pWJ 12:1038– 39.
9. mcKee, journal, 8 mar. 1774, pWJ 12:1085 (“red Flaggs,” “constant assembling”); devereux
smith to [William] smith, 10 June 1774, aa4 1:468 (“warlike appearance”); arthur st. clair to
John penn, 2 Feb. 1774, scp 1:280 (“drunkenness”); “remarks on the proceedings of dr. con-
nol y,” 25 June 1774, scp 1:282n1.
194
notes to pages 50–54
10. advertisement, 1 Jan. 1774, scp 1:272n2; William crawford to penn, 8 apr. 1774, scp
1:294 (“insulted”); aeneas mackay to penn, 4 apr. 1774, pa 4:485 (“armed men”); Thomas smith
to Joseph shippen, 7 apr. 1775 [1774], pa 4:618 (“colours”); connol y to Washington, 29 aug.
1773, gWp; mackay to st. clair, 11 Jan. 1774, scp 1:271– 73; Joseph spear to st. clair, 23 Feb. 1774,
scp 1:284; st. clair to shippen, 25 Feb. 1774, scp 1:284– 85; connol y, declaration, [6 apr. 1774],
scp 1:293n1; mackay to James Wilson, 9 apr. 1774, box 4, folder 63, daF; andrew mcFarlane to
penn, 9 apr. 1774, pa 4:487– 88; Thomas smith to shippen, 13 apr. 1774, pa 4:488– 89; george
Wilson, deposition, 25 apr. 1774, pa 4:492– 93; mackay to penn, 5 may 1774, pa 4:494– 95; de-
vereux smith to [William] smith, 10 June 1774, aa4 1:469– 70; david, Dunmore’s New World, 70.
11. William crawford to penn, 8 apr. 1774, scp 1:292 (“equal y averse”); Washington to
William crawford, 25 sept. 1773, account book 2, gWp; William crawford to Washington, 12
nov. 1773, 29 dec. 1773, and 10 Jan. 1774, gWp; William preston to Washington, 7 mar. 1774,
gWp; mackay to penn, 4 apr. 1774, pa 4:484– 86; abernethy, Western Lands, 87– 89; Wain-
wright, George Croghan, 286– 87; James patrick mcclure, “The ends of the american earth:
pittsburgh and the Upper Ohio Valley to 1795” (ph.d. diss., University of michigan,
1983), 275– 93.
12. mcKee, journal, 27 Feb.– 8 mar. 1774, pWJ 12:1080– 81 (“White people,” “put a stop”) and
1084 (“great numbers”); William Ogilvy to haldimand, 8 June and 18 July 1774 and enclosures,
as 119 and 121, tgp; John mack Faragher, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American
Pioneer (new york: holt, 1992), 92– 96.
13. John Floyd to preston, 26 apr. 1774, dhdW 7 (“to kill all the Virginians”); campbell to
alexander cameron, 20 June 1774, enclosed in John stuart to gage, 14 sept. 1774, as 123, tgp
(“much encouraged”); campbel to preston, n.d., dhdW 39 (“every ones mouth”); dunmore to
stuart, 5 apr. 1774, enclosed in Ogilvy to haldimand, 8 June 1774, as 119, tgp (“Vengeance”);
cameron, pass to Ogayoolah, 20 sept. 1773, enclosed in stuart to gage, 14 sept. 1774, as 123,
tgp. 14. cameron to [stuart], 18 June 1774, enclosed in stuart to gage, 3 July 1774, as 120, tgp
(“unite and oppose”); John caldwell to [gage], 29 sept. 1774, as 123, tgp (“sang Blanc”);
mcKee, journal, [16 and 25 apr. 1774], pWJ 12:1088 (“good speeches,” “those people”), 1092– 94;
Johnson to gage, 4 July 1774, pWJ 12:1114– 15; campbell to preston, 16 Oct. 1774, dhdW 278;
mmd 183.
15. mcKee, journal, 17 and 24 apr. and 1 may 1774, pWJ 12:1090, 1096; shawnee speech, 20
may 1774, pa 4:497; “The cosh” [schebosch], letter, 24 may 1774, pa 4:499; devereux smith to
[William] smith, 10 June 1774, aa4 1:468; ebenezer Zane to John Brown, 3 Feb. 1800, Thomas
Jefferson papers at the library of congress, series 1: general correspondence, 1651– 1827, https://
www.loc.gov/collections/thomas- jefferson- papers/; John gibson, deposition, 4 apr. 1800, Jefferson papers; george rogers clark to samuel Brown, 17 June 1798, grc 8:5– 7.
16. Washington to William crawford, 25 sept. 1773, account book 2, gWp (“no time”);
William preston, advertisement, Virginia Gazette (purdie and dixon), no. 1168, 24 Feb. 1774, [3]
(“prevent insults”); mmd 189 (“would attack”); Floyd to preston, 26 apr. 1774, dhdW 7– 8
(“Orderd,” “almost daily”); John Floyd, deposition, 28 Oct. 1778, Vsp 1:310; John gibson, depo-
sition, n.d., Jefferson papers; abernethy, Western Lands, 102– 5. a rumor reached the upper
Ohio Valley that some of the surveyors attacked a party of indians, killed several, and took
thirty horseloads of deerskins: William crawford to Washington, 8 may 1774, gWp. such an
attack could have happened, but the lack of any corroborating evidence, and its absence from
shawnees’ subsequent lists of grievances, suggests that it did not. michael cresap or one of his
notes to pages 54–59
195
associates could have invented the story to deflect blame for the outbreak of hostilities. The
preponderance of the evidence suggests that no one died in the confrontations in Kentucky and
that cresap and his gang started the killing on 26 apr.
17. mcKee, journal, [16– 17 apr. 1774], pWJ 12:1087– 90 (“strik[e]”); connol y 2 (“guard
against,” “towards such”); “The cosh” [schebosch], letter, 24 may 1774, pa 4:499; Butler, “ac-
count of the rise of the indian War,” 23 aug. 1774, pa 4:569.
18. connol y 1– 2; mcKee, journal, 24 apr. 1774, pWJ 12:1090; intelligence received at pitts-
burgh, 3 may 1774, prevost 148– 49; James chambers et al., declarations, 1798– 1800, Jefferson’s
Notes, on the State of Virginia; with the Appendixes— Complete, appendix 4 (Baltimore: W.
pechin, 1800), 39– 53, eighteenth century collections Online, gale group.
19. david, Dunmore’s New World, 78 (“inevitability”); John heckewelder, declaration, n.d.,
Jefferson’s Notes, Appendix 4, 46 (“friend to the white people”); gd 8– 14 may 1774 (“wherever
they might”; “begin no war”); connol y 3, 13 (“his heart,” 13); gilbert simpson to Washington,
may 4, 1774, gWp; “indian intelligence,” 5 June 1774, pa 4:508– 9; mcKee 7– 16, 22; mmd 195–
96; W. m. Beauchamp, “shikellimy and his son logan,” in Twenty- First Annual Report of the
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society (new york, 1916), 599– 611.
20. croghan to connol y and mcKee, 4 may 1774, and croghan to dunmore, [may 1774],
p
revost 149 (“all other nations”), 151 (“some few”); connol y, “Journal of my proceedings,” 3– 4
(“immediate danger”); dunmore, answer to the six nations and delawares, 29 may 1774, pre-
vost 155 (“aggressors”); mcKee 5– 6, 9– 10 (“killed on both sides,” “their settling,” 9– 10); Johnson
to gage, 4 July 1774, pWJ 12:1114– 15.
21. shawnee answer to condolence speeches, n.d., aa4 1:479 (quotations). White eyes
heard connol y’s speech of 5 may in pittsburgh and promised to deliver it personal y to the
Ohio indian towns: mcKee 9– 10. On 9 may he reached the moravian mission of schönbrunn
and likely presented the speech to the delaware council soon thereafter. campbell was killed
around 15 may. see david Zeisberger and “The cosh” [schebosch], letters, 28 and 24 may 1774,
pa 4:498– 99; devereux smith to William smith, 10 June 1774, aa4 1:468– 69; extract of a letter
from Fort pitt, 12 June 1774, dhdW 36; William crawford to Washington, 8 June 1774, gWp;
connol y 17; mmd 191– 99.
22. mcKee, extract of letter, 10 June 1774, pa 4:511; mcKee 13, 16– 17, 23, 27– 29, 32– 33, 35– 36,
48– 49 (“great trouble,” 28; “crazy people,” 32; “rash inconsiderate men,” 35); John montgomery
to penn, 30 June 1774, pa 4:533 (“sit stil ”); “The cosh” [schebosch], letter, 24 may 1774, pa
4:500; “indian intelligence,” 5 June 1774, pa 4:508– 9; mmd 191– 92, 199– 202, 204, 215.
23. connol y 3, 4, 7– 8, 11[a], 11[b], 13, 17 (“as enemies,” 17); dunmore to county lieutenants,
10 June 1774, dhdW 34 (“own country”); mcKee 5, 27, 32, 36– 37, 63– 64 (“imprudent young
men,” 36– 37); st. clair to penn, 22 and 26 June 1774, pa 4:523– 24, 530; letter from carlisle, 4 July
1774, dhdW 66– 67; mmd 210– 11; prevost 127; William Wilson, deposition, 13 July 1774, pa
4:543– 44; connol y, advertisement, 18 June 1774, pa 4:521; david, Dunmore’s New World, 84. For
cresap, see an extract of a letter from redstone, 18 aug. 1774, aa4 1:723; pittsburgh payrol s,
1775, accession 41, rg #1, Virginia colonial government records, library of Virginia, fols. 5–
10, miscel aneous reel 78, microfilm.