Col. William Henry Crawford

  General Notes:

There are many web stories on William Crawford. Many give the year of his birth as 1732, it is doubtful this is correct, as his father died in 1726 when William was only 4 years old. It is more accurate to say that Crawford was born 22 August 1722 Westmoreland Co., Virginia.

He was massacred by Indians 11 June 1782 at Sandusky, Wynadott Co., Ohio. William was the son of William Valentine Crawford and Honora Grimes. William was a youthful companion of John Vance, an early settler and surveyor in the Valley of the Shenandoah. It was through John Vance that William learned the trade of Surveyor and became aquainted with and subsequently married John Vance's daughter Hanna Vance.

William Crawford was a farmer, a Soldier, surveyor and a pioneer on the frontier. He was also a leader in civil affairs, serving as Justice of the Peace in Cumberland, Bedford, and Westmoreland Counties. Crawford's military career, however, claimed much of his life and eventually, his tragic death.

William Crawford was a good friend of George Washington. They were both surveyor's from Virginia. Washington took lodging with the Crawford's family in Virginia in 1749. It claims both were the same age, but that claim is based on the year of Crawford's birth being 1732, 10 years later then it should have been given as. Crawford surveyed seven tracts of land in Fayette County, over 2000 acres.

William Crawford was commissioned ensign by the governor of Virginia in the military service beginning in 1755. Crawford faught in the French and Indian War, participation in both General Edward Braddock's campaign in 1755 and came out of the battle with honor and was recommended by Washington for promotion. He was commissioned captain and accompanied the Forbes Expedition in the capture of Fort Duquesne in 1758 under Washington. After a brief peaceful time he also served in Pontiac's Rebellion.

The Crawford Cabin that William Crawford built on the banks of the Youghiogheny, what is now known as Connellsville, Pennsylvania has been authentically reconstructed in honor of Colonel William Crawford. It was then known as Stewart's Crossings from the fact that William Stewart had lived there in 1753. He first traveled over the mountains in 1758 as an officer in the Army of General Forbes. Crawford was impressed with the western country & resolved to make it his home. However Hostile Indians prevented him from homesteading until 1765.
In that year Crawford and his half-brother, Hugh Stephonson, came over the mountains via Braddock's Road. Coming to the Youghiogheny River, they surveyed a tract of land and erected a log cabin. The following year, Crawford, his wife and four children moved into the one-room cabin. It was a humble dwelling, fourteen by sixteen feet in size, yet many illustrious men were entertained within, including George Washington, Crawford's life-long friend. During the next several years he served as a land agent for George Washington and was also a local judge.
Crawford participated in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, destroying two native villages in Ohio. It was a war against the Shawnee Indians of the Ohio Valley. The Indians had been attacking frontier settlements, and many of the settlers had fled the area.

Crawford served with the distinction during the Revolutionary War and was commissioned Colonel of the 7th Virginia in 1776. He and his men were with Washington at the crossing of the delaware, and he served in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown, before becoming involved in protecting the western frontier. He participated in Andrew Brodhead's attack of the Delaware Indians at Coshocton in 1781. The same year he resigned from the militia, choosing to retire from military service.

The retirement was short lived. in 1782, Crawford led a combined force of Virginians and Pennsylvanians in a attack on Mingo Indians and Delaware Indians along the Sandusky River. David Williamson and a number of the men who had participated in the Gnadenhutten Massacre were among his troops. Crawford and his men fought off the natives and their British allies at the Battle of the Olentangy on June 6, 1782, but the following day the American forces were divided and Crawford and a number of his men were captured. In revenge for the Gnadenhutten Massacre, the natives tortured Crawford... branding his body, removing his scalp, and cutting off his nose and ears... before burning him at the stake on June 11, 1782. Another prisoner, Dr. John Knight, managed to escape and spread the news of Crawford's terrible death. According to Knight's account, Simon Girty had stood by and watched the torture, refusing to give in to Crawford's pleas for Girty to shoot him. Ironically, Williamson was not captured and returned to Pennsylvania unharmed.

At the Ohio History Central, there is a picture of Colonel Crawford being burned at the stake. It is an Artists rendering of the event. There are pictures also of two Monuments to Colonel Crawford in Ohio. There is a Colonel Crawford Monument dedicated to the Colonel off Hwy 199. A mile further there is another sign claiming that is somewhere near the area where Colonel Crawford was burned at the stake. There is a Granite Crawford Monument. This is also in Ohio. There is a statue of Colonel William Crawford in front of the Carnegie Free Library in Connellsville.





William Crawford
In the spring of the year 1782 the Indians became very numerous and marauding bands were giving the settlers no end of trouble. An appeal to Fort Pitt was made for soldiers to help chase them out. A company of volunteers was raised and placed under the command of Col. William Crawford. The regular soldiers assisted by the volunteers drove the Indian bands across the Ohio River and north through Ohio. The Indians kept retreating until they reached northern Ohio, where they were met by a large supporting band of French and Indians.

Scouts reported that they were greatly outnumbered and a retreat was ordered, whereupon some of the volunteers became panicky and Col. Crawford and nine of his men were cut off and captured. Among this group was Dr.
Knight, a short muscular man from Bullskin Twp. These men were divided between various bands of Indians, who either killed them or tortured them to death. Crawford and Knight were kept together for a time and Knight was a
witness to Crawford's fate.

The Indians first bound Crawford's hands, with leather thongs with the other end tied to a stake leaving a short length which would allow a few turns of travel around. He was then shot at with guns at short range loaded only with powder until his naked body was blistered from head to foot.

He was then driven around one way then back by the Indiana squaws who showered him with red hot wood cinders until he was wading in firey coals. Occasionally an Indian would slash him with a knife. During this ordeal, Simon Girty, the renegade half breed Indian trader, sat on his horse close by. Crawford seeing him implored him to shoot him to end his misery but Gerty only laughed and refused to interfere. When completely exhausted Crawford fell flat in the burning cinders when an Indian rushed to him, ran his knife around his head, then holding his knife between his teeth tore Crawford's scalp from his head. There, completely exhausted, smothered in cinders, death relieved his sufferings.

It is recorded that his death too place on June 10, 1782 in the valley of the Tamooche Creek, near Sandusky, Ohio.
Dr. Knight was more lucky, as with hands tied he was being taken to another camp for a similar fate by two Indians, one of them having been wounded but still able to travel. The night being chilly, they decided to build a fire to roast some meat. Knight was able to work his thongs loose but waited for a chance to get his captors off guard. When the fire was burning well and the Indian was tending the meat Dr. Knight went into action by grabbing a burning stick and driving it into the Indiana's body, thereby putting him temporarily out of normal action. He then made a break for
liberty. One Indian grabbed his gun to shoot but in the hurry he broke the gun and Knight escaped, finally arriving at Fort Mcintosh, on the Beaver River June 22, 1782. The last Indian massacre in Green Co. took place at Whiteley on a Sunday morning May 12, 1782 when the McCarthy family were all killed when on their way to church. Crawford was burned at the stake by the Indians at a place in the Valley of the Tamooche Creek June 10, 1782.

Among the volunteers on this expedition under Co. Crawford, were men by the familiar names of John Smilie, James and John Collins, John Sherrard and John Crawford, a son of the Colonel."

  Noted events in his life were:

• Alt. Birth, 2 Sep 1732, , Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States.

• Military Service: Commissioned Ensign in the Virginia Militia, 1755.

• Will, 16 May 1782, , Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, United States. ³

William married Hannah Vance in 1744 in , , Virginia, United States.¹ (Hannah Vance was born in 1724 in New Haven, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States and died in 1817 in New Haven, Fayette, Pennsylvania, United States.)