Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (Vol 1 1904).djvu/59

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A SELECTION OF GEORGE CROGHAN'S LETTERS AND JOURNALS RELATING TO TOURS INTO THE WESTERN COUNTRY—NOVEMBER 16, 1750—NOVEMBER, 1765.

Croghan to the Governor of Pennsylvania^[1]

Logstown on Ohio,

December [November] the 16th, 1750.^[2]

Sir: Yesterday Mr. Montour and I got to this Town, where we found thirty Warriors of the Six Nations going
———

↑ The following is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 496-498; also printed in Early History of Western Pennsylvania, app., pp. 21-29. The circumstances under which it was written are as follows: In the autumn of 1750, Conrad Weiser reported to the governor of Pennsylvania that the French agent Joncaire was on his way to the Ohio with a present of goods, and orders from the governor of Canada to drive out all the English traders. Accordingly, Governor Hamilton detailed Croghan and Montour to hasten thither, and by the use of a small present, and the promise [of more, to try and counteract the intrigues of the French, and maintain the Indians in the English interest. Upon Croghan's arrival at Logstown, he sent back this reassuring letter. Proceeding westward to the Muskingum, where he had a trading house at a Wyandot village, Croghan met Christopher Gist, agent for the Ohio Company, and with him continued to the Scioto, thence to the Twigtwee town of Pickawillany (near the present Piqua, Ohio). All the way, Croghan held conferences with the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, and Twigtwees, strengthening the English alliance, and promising a large present of goods to be furnished next spring at Logstown. At Pickawillany, he made an unauthorized treaty with two new tribes who sought the English alliance—the Piankeshaws and Weas (Waughwaoughtanneys, French Ouiatonons). Unfortunately no extant document by Croghan adequately chronicles this journey. Our knowledge of it is derived from the journal of Gist (q. v.); from incidental notices in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 476, 485-488, 522-525; and from Croghan's brief account, see post.—Ed.
↑ In the original publication the month was misprinted December for November. See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, p. 498, where the governor in a message to the Assembly speaks of Croghan's letter from the Ohio of the sixteenth of November. Cf. also, Gist's Journal, November 25, 1750, where he says that Croghan had passed through Logstown about a week before.—Ed.

[1] The following is reprinted from Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 496-498; also printed in Early History of Western Pennsylvania, app., pp. 21-29. The circumstances under which it was written are as follows: In the autumn of 1750, Conrad Weiser reported to the governor of Pennsylvania that the French agent Joncaire was on his way to the Ohio with a present of goods, and orders from the governor of Canada to drive out all the English traders. Accordingly, Governor Hamilton detailed Croghan and Montour to hasten thither, and by the use of a small present, and the promise [of more, to try and counteract the intrigues of the French, and maintain the Indians in the English interest. Upon Croghan's arrival at Logstown, he sent back this reassuring letter. Proceeding westward to the Muskingum, where he had a trading house at a Wyandot village, Croghan met Christopher Gist, agent for the Ohio Company, and with him continued to the Scioto, thence to the Twigtwee town of Pickawillany (near the present Piqua, Ohio). All the way, Croghan held conferences with the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, and Twigtwees, strengthening the English alliance, and promising a large present of goods to be furnished next spring at Logstown. At Pickawillany, he made an unauthorized treaty with two new tribes who sought the English alliance—the Piankeshaws and Weas (Waughwaoughtanneys, French Ouiatonons). Unfortunately no extant document by Croghan adequately chronicles this journey. Our knowledge of it is derived from the journal of Gist (q. v.); from incidental notices in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 476, 485-488, 522-525; and from Croghan's brief account, see post.—Ed.

[2] In the original publication the month was misprinted December for November. See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, p. 498, where the governor in a message to the Assembly speaks of Croghan's letter from the Ohio of the sixteenth of November. Cf. also, Gist's Journal, November 25, 1750, where he says that Croghan had passed through Logstown about a week before.—Ed.

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