THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed. The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather, indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was published.

Croghan's Journal

(May 15, 1765 - Oct. 8, 1765)

(Due to length divided here into two parts)

Croghan, George in: Public Record
Office, Colonial Office, 323.23,
f. 145. and in Alvord & Carter,
British Series, Vol. II,
pp. 23-52.

pp. 48, 49, 50, 51, 52.

(page 48)

which they always rewarded us & treated us with great Civility³⁹ while they had it in their power, but as they are become now your People, if you expect to keep those Posts,⁴⁰ we will expect to have proper returns from you.

A Belt.

Septbr 2d The Chiefs of the Wyondatts or Hurons, came to me & said they had spoake last Summer to Sir Willm Johnson at Niagara about the Lands, on which the French had Settled near Detroit belonging to them, & desired I would mention again to him, they never had sold it to the French, & expected their new Fathers the English would do them Justice, as the French were become one People with us.

A Belt.

4th Pondiac with several Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippawaes & Potowatamies likewise complained, that the French had settled part of their Country, which they never had sold to them, & hoped their Fathers the English, would take it into Consideration, & see that a proper Satisfaction was made to them. That their Country was very large, & they were willing to give up such part of it, as was Necessary for their Fathers the English, to carry on Trade at, provided they were paid for it, & a sufficient part of the Country left them to Hunt on.

A Belt.

6th The Sagina Indians came here, & made a Speech on a Belt of Wampum expressing their Satisfaction on hearing that a general peace was made with all the Western Nations & with Pondiac, they desired a little Powder, Lead & a few Knives⁴¹ to enable them to Hunt on their way Home, & a little rum to drink their new Fathers health.

A Belt.

9th Altewaky ⁴²and Chamindiway Chiefs of a band of Ottawas from Sandusky with 20 Men came here and informed me, that their late Conduct had been peaceable, that on hearing there was a great meeting of all Nations at this place, they came to hear what would be done, & on their way they had been informed that a general Peace was settled with all Nations to the Sun Setting, & they now came to (page 49) assure us of their Attachment to the English Interest, & beged for some Powder, Lead, some Blankets and a little rum to help them to return to their Town.

A String.

Septbr 11th Colo Campbell & I gave the above parties some presents & a little rum & sent them away well Satisfied.

12th. The Grand Sautois⁴³ came with his band and spoke as follows.

Father

You sent me a Belt from the Miamis, & as soon as I received it, I set off to meet you here, on my way I heard what had past between you & the several Tribes that met you here, you have had pity on them, & I beg in behalf of myself & the People of Chicags, that you will have pity on us also. 'tis true we have been Fools, & have listened to evil reports, & the whistling of Bad Birds, we red people, are a very Jealous and foolish⁴³ People, & Father amongst you white People, there are bad People also, that tell us Lyes & deceive us, which has been the Occasion of what has past, I need no say much on this Head, I am now Convinced, that I have been wrong⁴⁴ for some Years past, but there are People that have behaved worst than I & my People, they were pardoned last Year at this place, I hope we may meet with the same,⁴⁵ that our Women & Children may enjoy the blessings of Peace, as the rest of our Bretheren the red People, & you shall be convinced, by our future Conduct, that we will behave as well as any Tribe of Inds in this Country.

A Belt.

He then said that the St Joseph Indians would have come along with him, but the English Prisoner which their Fathers want from them, was some distance off a Hunting, & as soon as they could get him in, they would deliver him up and desire for forgiveness.⁴⁶

14th I had a private Meeting with the grand Sautois, when he told me he was well disposed for peace last Fall, but was then sent for to the Ilinois, where he met with Pondiac, & that then their Fathers the French told them, If they would be strong & keep the Eng- (page 50) lish out of possession of that Country but this Summer, That the King of France would send Over an Army next Spring, to assist his Children the Indians, and that the King of Spain would likewise send Troops to help them to keep the English out of their Country, that the English were a bad people, & had a design to cut off all the Indian Nations in this Country, & to bring the Southern Indians to live & settle there. This account made all the Indians very uneasy in their Minds, & after holding a Council amongst themselves, they all ditermined to Oppose the English, & not to suffer them to take Possession of the Ilinois, that for his part he behaved as ill as the rest of⁴⁷ the English officers that came there in the Spring, but since we had been better informed of the goodness of the English, & convinced the French had told them lyes for the love of their Beaver, he was now ditermined with all his People to become faithfull⁴⁸ to their new Fathers the English, & pay no regard to any Stories the French should tell him for the future.

Sepr 15th Colo Campbell & I had a Meeting with the grand Sautois at which we informed him, of every thing that had past with the Several Nations & Tribes, & told him that we Accepted him and his people in Friendship, & would forgive them as we had the rest of the Tribes, & forget what was past, provided their future Conduct should convince us of their Sincerity, after which we gave them some presents, for which he returned thanks & departed very well Satisfied.

19th I received a Letter by Express from Colo Reed acquainting me of Capt Sterlings setting out from Fort Pitt, with 100 men of the 42nd Regt to take possession of Fort Chartres in the Ilinois Country.⁴⁹

20th I sent of Huron Andrew Express to Capt Starling at the Ilinois, & with Messages to the several Nations in that Country & those on the Ouabache, to acquaint them of Capt Starlings departure from Fort Pitt for the Ilinois Country.

25th The Chiefs of the St Joseph Indians arrived and addressed themselves to Colo Campbell & me as follows.-

Fathers

We are come here to see you, altho' we are not Acquainted with you, we had a Father formerly, with whom we were very well (page 51) acquainted, & never differed with him, you have Conquered him some time ago, & when you came here first notwithstanding your hands were all Bloody, you took hold of us by the Hands & used us well, & we thought we should be happy with our Fathers,⁵⁰ but soon an unlucky difference happened which threw us all in Confusion, where this arose we dont know but we assure you, we were the last that entered into this Quarrel, the Inds from this place solicited us often to Join them, but we would not listen to them, at last they got the better of our foolish young Warriors, but we never agreed to it, we knew it would Answer no end, & often told our Warriors they were Fools, if they Succeeded in killing the few English in this Country, they could not kill them all, because we knew you to be a great People.

Fathers you have after all that has happened, received all the several Tribes in this Country for your Children, we from St Josephs seem to be the last of your Children that come to you,⁵¹ we are no more than Wild Creatures to you Fathers in understanding, therefore we request you'l forgive the past follies of our young people, & receive us for your Children, since you have thrown down our former Father on his Back, we have been wandering in the dark like blind people, now you have dispersed all this darkness, which hung over the heads of the several Tribes, & have Accepted them for your Children, we hope you will let us pertake with them of the light, that our Women & Children may enjoy Peace, & we beg youl forget all that is past, by this Belt we remove all evil thoughts from your Hearts.

Fathers when we formerly came to Visit our late Fathers the French, they always sent us home Joyfull, & we hope you will have pity on our Women & young Men who are in great want of Necessarys, & not let us return home to our Village⁵² ashamed.

Colo Campbell & I made them the following Answer.⁵³

Children I have heard with Attention what you have said, [& am glad]⁵⁴ to hear that you have delivered up the Prisoners at Michilli- (page 52) makinac, Agreeable to my desire, as the other Prisoner who I always th[ought] belonged to your Nation does not, but the Man who has him resides now in your Country, I must desire youl do every thing in your power to get him brought to me, nothing will give me greater pleasure, than to promote the good Works of Peace, & make my Children the Indians happy, as long as their Conduct shall deserve it. I did not know what to think of your Conduct for some time past, but to convince you of my Sincere desire to promote Peace, I receive you as Children, as I have done the other Nations, & hope your future Conduct may be such, as will Convince me of your Sincerity.

A Belt.

Children Sometimes bad people take the liberty of stragling into your Country. I desire if you meet any such people to bring them Immediately here, likewise I desire that none of your young Men may Steal any Horses out of this Settlement as they have done formerly, we shall see always strict Justice done to you, & expect the same from you, on that your own happiness depends, & as long as you continue to merrit our friendship by good Actions in promoting Peace & Tranquility between your young People & His Majesties Subjects, you may expect to be received here with open Arms, to convince you further of my Sincerity, I give you some Cloaths, Powder, Lead, Vermillion & 2 Cags of rum for your young People, that you may return home without shame as you desired.

Children I take this Oppertunity to tell you that your Fathers the English are gone down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to take possession of the Ilinois & desire you may acquaint all your people of it in your return home, & likewise desire you will stop your Ears against the Whistling of bad Birds, & mind nothing else but your Hunting to Support your Family, that your Women & Children may enjoy the Blessing of Peace.

A Belt.⁵⁵

___________________________________

³⁹ (1, p. 48) Reads: "to settle and they were always very civil to us."

⁴⁰(2, p. 48) "post as your own property, we will expect to have equivalent made us, for such parts of our country as you may want to possess."

⁴¹(3, p. 48) "a few knives" omitted

⁴²(1, p. 49) "12th. The grand sauton, and a party of Ottawas and Chippewas, from Chicago, sent me word they would come in the morning and see me." The statement above under the twelfth is placed on the thirteenth.

⁴³(2, p. 49) "and foolish" omitted

⁴⁴(3, p. 49) "wrong led"

⁴⁵(4, p. 49) "and you have pardoned them. I hope you do the same to us"

⁴⁶(5, p. 49) "and beg forgiveness of their fathers, as they did at present."

⁴⁷(1, p. 50) "to"

⁴⁸(2, p. 50) "faithful and dutiful children"

⁴⁹(3, p. 50) See post, 91 et seq.

⁵⁰(1, p. 51) "brethern"

⁵¹(2, p. 51) "to you to beg mercy"

⁵²(3, p. 51) "towns"

⁵³(4, p. 51) "Colonels Campbell and Croghan made them a favorable answer, and added presents of powder, lead, vermillion, clothing, and two kegs of rum, ending the interview with these remarks:" The Hildreth copy contains only the last paragraph of the above speech, beginning "Children, I take this opportunity" etc.

⁵⁴(5, p. 51) Supplied from the Franklin copy.

⁵⁵(1, p. 52) The following paragraphs follow in the Hildreth copy: "26th. I left Detroit and arrived, October 3d at Niagara. Here I met some Senecas with whom I had a meeting, and informed them of my transactions with the several nations; and desired them to inform their people of it on their return home, which they promised me they would.

October 11th. Set off from Niagara, and arrived the 17th at Ontario, where I met the Bunt and several sachems of the Onondagas, with whom I had a meeting, and informed them what has passed between me and the western nations.

19th. I set off from Ontario, and arrived at Fort Stanwix, the 21st.

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