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1 June –
1752 – Pittsburg, PA. (Uncle) George Croghan represents Pennsylvania at the Logstown conference. The meeting is intended to verify the Lancaster Treaty of 1744, which the Ohio Company (Virginia land speculators named Washington, Lee and Fairfax, among others) asserted the Indians acknowledged Virginia’s right to the land south of the Ohio River. When the Indians agreed, the French took up arms and no Englishman was safe west of the Alleghenies. [Renau, p. 8]
1763 – Quitanon, IN. We, Kickapoo and Mascouten take the village. This is part of Pontiac’s Rebellion. [Cayton, p. 28]
1765 – near Falls of the Ohio. (Uncle) George Croghan arrives within a mile of the Falls. [Renau, p. 15]
1774 – Frankfort, KY. Survey recorded by Hancock Taylor for William Peachy, of 1,000-acre land grant to Peachy; Fincastle County Survey Book 5, p. 66; Land Office, Secretary of State, Frankfort. [Potts, p. 64-5]
1840 – Louisville, KY. Will of Lucy Clark Croghan, dated 12 January 1830, is recorded in Jefferson County Will Book 3, p. 214. Lucy left her land south of the Tennessee River to Serena Croghan and Mary Angelica Croghan. The income from Lucy’s Louisville houses was to go to Serena to educate St. George and John Croghan, until they came of age, when the properties were to be divided between them.
A furious Ann Jesup will write to her brother John: Not only you but brothers Geo. & Wm. Talk a great deal of wishing the intentions of the deceased members of our family carried out…but it appears to me that it is only when brother Geo. Is interested that the supposed intentions of the family are carried out. I have no patience to think how brother has treated us. He ought at once to sell some of his property & pay us. We don’t want any mortgage on property, we want our money to enable us to send our children to school & to live at least comfortably… not having the means of sending our daughter to school frets me far more than doing without a carriage or many other things that I have been accustomed to. Is there any chance of selling our carriage & horse the Genl would be glad if you can do so. [Potts, p. 105-6]
2 June –
1765 – Falls of the Ohio. (Uncle) George Croghan arrives at the Falls for the first time. [Kramer p. 16]
1774 – London, England. Parliament passes the Quebec Act. Having poked a stick into a hornet’s nest by demanding that the French residents of Vincennes, IN, abandon their property and relocate, Britain now assimilates the French settlements along the Wabash and Mississippi Rivers into the province of Canada, which Britain currently owns. Furthermore, the people of Vincennes are to be permitted to practice their Roman Catholic religion. (See 8 April 1765.)
The French settlers and the Piankashaw Indians realize that the government of George III is interested only in controlling them; not in helping them to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. [Cayton, p. 65]
3 June –
1798 – Philadelphia, PA. George Rogers Clark writes to Samuel Fulton: I am eager to tell you of the unfortunate situation in which our country is on the point of being plunged into by an English faction which seized the reigns of government. The war with the french republic seems inevitable…
On my arrival here I was immediately threatened of incarcination but after a more mature deliberation, I was invited to give my resignation to the consul general of France or to retire from the United States.
I refused to do the former, as you would well be able to imagine but I believe that I shall be obliged to subscribe to the second proposition.
But, having learned nothing of you for almost a year nor received instructions from the Directorie, I went to find the French consul to discuss with him if he would agree that I go to France but I found him a timid man and little inclined to give advice. Being unable to obtain anything satisfactory from him, I went immediately to the house of the minister of Spain and, informed him of my situation.
He offered me at once all the protection that a friend and allie of France could grant to one of his officers, and he even asked me to go to St. Louis on the Mississippi and to cooperate there with the commander of that country to thwart the many tentative hostilities that our common enemy could make against the Spanish establishments along the Mississippi, until such times as I could obtain the orders from the Directory.
I shall accept this proposition until a new order arrives. While waiting, I beg you to communicate this letter to the Directory and to ask it to send me orders to guide by conduct. I am well persuaded that it is not its intention that a person who has pledged his attachment to the cause be entirely forgotten or neglected in a moment as important as this.
You will have no difficulty in believing that after the expenditures that I have made these last five years to uphold the cause of France, in this country I must not be extremely well off at present; I entreat you therefore to solicit a part of what may be due me for my pay.
From Kentucky I shall go at once to St. Louis where I shall remain until I hear from you. If you intend to come yourself, I advise you to disembark at some southern port where you are not known and to travel as incognito as possible until you arrive at the edges of Mississippi. (See 18 June 1798.) [Potts, p. 75]
1889 – Louisville, KY. Sarah Jane Gamble writes to Lyman C. Draper: He was paralyzed in the little home, fell in the fire, was burned badly. Mrs. Samuel Gwathmey of this place often rode on horse back behind her husband to dress the burn. But this loving niece, I knew her well, could not cure his leg. [Potts, p. 87] … He was brought over to Louisville, and at his nephews house on the cor. Of Fifth and Main streets his leg was amputated. Martial music with drums and fifes was performed during the operation, by his request. From here he went to his sister, Mrs. Fitzhugh, on Jefferson st. In 1840 I heard my mother in law, Mrs. Jane Gamble, say she had seen him there sitting in a large arm chair with rollers. From here he was taken to Maj. William Croghans capacious house about six miles up the river where he remained the rest of his life with his sister Lucy. (See 25 March 1809.) [Potts, p. 88]
4 June –
5 June –
6 June –
1776 – Harrodsburg, KY. Those attending a meeting elect George Rogers Clark and John Gabriel Jones as delegates from the western part of Fincastle County to petition the legislature of Virginia to make the area known as Kentucky a separate county. [KE, p. 495]
7 June –
1906 – Louisville, KY. R.C. Ballard Thruston, Mr. & Mrs. S. Thruston Ballard, their son Rogers Clark Ballard, Miss Mary Clark of St. Louis, the Waters family, servants and farmhands meet Webb C. Hayes, son of Rutherford B. Hayes and resident of Fremont, Ohio, at the Croghan family graveyard at Locust Grove. Thruston recalled: We located a fallen headstone, and raising it we saw the inscription ‘Col. G.C.’ At the foot was a smaller or footstone inscribed with only the letters ‘G.C.’ We stood up that headstone and took a snapshot, with a part of Colonel Hayes in the picture. And so it was that we found the grave of Colonel George Croghan.
We adjourned for lunch, after which we returned with the proper outfit and exhumed the remains. There was enough of the rotten wood left to indicate that the casket was of mahogany. He had died of cholera and therefore the casket was lead-lined and hermetically sealed. Organic acids had eaten two or three holes in the lead, through one of which we saw his auburn hair with a liberal sprinkling of gray… Colonel Hayes took the casing and all to Fremont, Ohio, where they were delivered to the D.A.R. to be reinterred at the foot of the magnificent monument erected to commemorate Croghan’s brilliant exploit at Fort Stephenson. (See 2 August 1906.) [Potts, p. 120-1]
8 June –
1765 – Ohio River, a few miles below Wabash River. Dawn. George Croghan, deputy of Sir William Johnson, and under orders from Brigadier-General Thomas Gage, British commander in North America, is attacked by about 80 Kickapoo and Mascouten warriors. Croghan is accompanied by Shawnees, one of whom, ignoring his own severe wound, “made a very bold speech” to the effect that all the northern Indians “would join in taking revenge for the insult and murder of their people.” Those on the offense now “began excusing themselves, saying their fathers, the French, had spirited them up.” They believed that Croghan and his party had come with the intention of enslaving them; thus their attack was a preemptive strike. They hastily take their prisoners to their own village, near Quiatanon, “in a great hurry,” seizing everything which Croghan had brought for presentation in their negotiations. Croghan claim 150 pounds, lost equipment, and 421 pounds lost money. The caravan heads toward Vincennes. (See 15 June 1765.) [Cayton, p. 29]
1916 – Louisville, KY. Juliet Belknap writes to John C. Olmsted: The Croghan family burying ground and all the monuments pertaining thereto have been successfully removed and are now in their final resting place at Cave Hill Cemetery. I shall be interested to see just what disposition you make of the old stone wall, and how you expect to treat the cemetery.
There is, however, no indication of her plan going forward. The site of eventually used for building in 1922 by Juliet’s step-niece, Lily Buckner Belknap Moorman, and her husband Charles H. Moorman. [Potts, p. 121]
9 June –
1772 – Fort Pitt, PA. Reverend David Jones leaves “in the company of George Rogers Clark, a young gentleman from Virginia, who, with others, inclined to make a tour of this new world.” Jones keeps a journal. (See 22 July 1772; 20 August 1772.) [Potts, p. 21]
10 June –
2004 – Clarksville, IN. Jennifer Frazer reports in The Courier-Journal “Historic Clark log cabin [actually a representation using an 1820s cabin] reopens after fire damage.” [Potts, p. 200, note 79]
Deaths –
1860 – Washington City. Thomas Sidney Jesup dies. His remains are placed in the vault at the Congressional Cemetery. In April 1862, he and Ann are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown. [Potts, p. 108; p. 204, note 137]
11 June –
12 June –
1782 – near Philadelphia, PA. (Uncle) George Croghan makes his will. He estimates his estate to exceed 140,000 pounds. He is, in fact, destitute.
13 June –
14 June –
1805 – Louisville, KY. Robert Anderson born. [EL 37]
15 June –
1765 – Vincennes, IN. Traveling since 8 June 1765, in a hot summer draught, through “thick woody country” and a “great many swamps, morasses, and beaver ponds,” prisoner George Croghan, and his men, arrive. Croghan instantly dislikes the French, “an idle, lazy people, a parcel of renegadoes from Canada…much worse than the Indians.” He could only chafe while they traded vermillion for the goods and silver he had brought for his own diplomatic negotiations. The Piankashw Indians, in their nearby village, took up his cause and chided the Kickapoo and Mascouten for their injury to Croghan and his party. [Cayton; p. 29-30]
Also noting the richness of the soil and crops, Croghan notes, “I apprehend that it has been the artifice of the French to keep us ignorant of the country.” [Cayton, p. 33]
Deaths –
1871 – Louisville, KY. Fortunatus Cosby Jr. dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. He had written the ode sung at the dedication of the cemetery in 1848. [EL, p. 223]
16 June –
1779 – north shore, Falls of the Ohio. “The Tobacos Son Grand Chief of all the Peankeshaw Nations & of all the Tribes” grants 36,000 acres of land surrounding and including the present site of Clarksville, IN, to George Rogers Clark. (See 19 November 1779.) [Potts, p. 80]
17 June –
1765 – Vincennes, IN. George Croghan and his party, prisoners of the Kickapoo and Mascouten, “set out” for Ouiatanon. Several of the men are wounded, but no allowance is made. [Cayton, p. 30]
1798 – Louisville, KY. George Rogers Clark, previously unaware of the verbal attack on Thomas Jefferson, a man whom he considers a friend, replies to Dr. Samuel Brown that he is “hurt that Mr. Jefferson should have been attacked with so much Virulence…” He recounts the time of the massacre of Chief Logan’s family: Except a few Mistakes of Names of Persons or Places the story is substantially true. I was of the first and last of the active officers who bore the Weight of that War, and on Perusing some Old Papers of that Date I find some Memoirs, but independent of them I have a perfect recollection of every Transaction relative to Logan’s story – the Conduct of Cresap I am perfectly acquainted with, he was not the Author of that Murder, but a Family of the Name of Greathouse. But some Transactions that happened under the conduct of Captn. Cresap a few days previous to the Murder of Logan’s Family gave him [Logan] sufficient Ground to suppose that it was Cresap that had done him the Injury; But to enable you fully to understand the subject of your Enquiry, I shall relate the incidents that gave Rise to Logan’s suspicion; and will enable Mr. Jefrferson to do Justice to himself and the Cresap Family, by being made fully acquainted with Facts.
18 June –
1798 – Under the administration of John Adams, Congress passes the first of the Alien and Sedition Acts. George Rogers Clark’s commission as a French officer brings him under suspicion of treason. James Wilkinson’s treasonous double-agent dealings with Spain are still not known. [Potts, p. 75]
19 June –
1803 – Washington City. Meriwether Lewis writes to his former commanding officer, William Clark, asking him to co-lead the Voyage of Discovery to the Western Ocean. [Potts, p. 198, note 70] He forwards papers which William Clark had requested concerning Virginia’s debt owed to George Rogers Clark: Herewith inclosed you will receive the papers belonging to your brother Genl. Clark, which sometime since you requested me to procure and forward to you; pray excuse the delay which has taken place, it has really proceeded from causes which I could not control; Mr. Thompson Mason the gentleman in whose possession they were, is a member of the Virginia legislature, and was absent of course from his residence untill March, previous to his return I was compelled to leave this place on a matter of business, which has detained me in Lancaster & Philadelphia untill the day before yesterday and since my return having possessed myself of the papers I sieze the first moment to forward them to you; In this claim I wish you success most sincerely.
… I make this communication to you with the privity of the President, who expresses an anxious wish that you would consent to join me in this enterprise. [i.e. – the Voyage of Discovery]. [Potts, p. 78]
Births –
1802 – Louisville, KY. Charles and Nicholas Croghan born. [Potts, p. 67]
20 June –
1803 – Washington City. Thomas Jefferson delineates his mission for the Corps of Discovery: “…explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce.” [Potts, p. 78]
1833 – Louisville, KY. George Hancock, thinking himself safe at Locust Grove writes to Thomas Sidney Jesup: The cholera has made dreadful havoc in the country around us, on Mr. Browns farm 12 men died in 36 hours. Wm Bullitts, Wm Thompsons &c have all suffered… this morning it is reported that some Farmer (probably Judge Speed) has discovered an infalible remedy for it, in any Stages…it is Cayenne Pepper mixed with Castor oil, and a warm Bath. [Potts, p. 102]
21 June –
1803 – Washington City. Thomas Jefferson writes to William Clark, offering him a secondary position on Meriwether Lewis’ Voyage of Discovery to the Western Ocean. [Potts, p. 198, note 70]
22 June –
1765 – Vermillion River, IN. George Croghan, his men and captors, pass through a Piankashaw village. The Piankashaw have no sympathy with Croghan captors. [Cayton, p. 30]
1777 – Boonsborough, KY. George Rogers Clark writes in his diary: Ben. Linn & Saml Moore arr[ive]d from Illenois. Barney Stagner senr killed & beheaded 2 miles from the Fort. A few guns fired at Boons. [Potts, p. 26]
23 June –
1765 – Quiatanon, IN. George Croghan is brought in by his captors. “Several chiefs” of the Kickapoo and Mascouten “reprimanded [the captors] severely.” Some of the Wea, living nearby, visit and “seemed greatly concerned at what had happened.” Everyone blames the French for any misunderstandings. George Croghan will spend about a month at Ouiatanon, barely acknowledging the French, but concentrating on the Indians. He thinks them “weak, foolish, and credulous…easily imposed on by a designing people, who have lead them hitherto as they pleased.” He claims to have singlehandedly overcome “in great measure, their suspicions against the English.” In fact, he “was lucky enough to reconcile [them] to his Majesties Interest & obtain their Consent and Approbation to take Possession of any Posts in their country which the French formerly possessed & an offer of their service should any Nation oppose our taking possession of it.” [Cayton, p. 30-1]
24 June –
1778 – Louisville, KY. George Rogers Clark, and 178 militia men, leave Lord Dunmore’s Island, for the Illinois country. [Kramer, p. 20. They arrive at ruins of Fort Massac. [EL, p. 197-8]
1817 – Louisville, KY. Richard Clough Anderson Jr. writes in his journal: I was in Louisville Colo Croghan & Lady from N York arrived at Majr Croghan’s.
George Croghan and Serena Eliza Livingston had been married in May, 1817, at Trinity Church, New York, NY. [Potts, p. 202, note 25]
1838 – Louisville, KY. Deed of William Croghan, Ann and Thomas S. Jesup, George Croghan, and John Croghan; Jefferson County Deed Book 81, p. 368: Lucy Croghan’s will was not immediately probated. Instead, her surviving children collaborated to produce a deed, which they was based “in the words and figures” of a paper Lucy “issued and delivered” 15 March 1834. This deed provided for the education of Serena and George Croghan’s children, and devolved the other half of her property on her daughter Ann Jesup. (See 1 June 1840.) [Potts, p. 105]
25 June –
26 June –
27 June –
1807 – Louisville, KY. John Croghan writes to his cousin John O’Fallon: During this last storm…a tree was blown down not far distant from my Fathers house, on one of the limbs of which [Nicholas] had ascended, and having fallen from there, he struck his Eye on a stick which stood erect from the ground, which penetrated so deeply that it at once demolished both the Retina and Iris of the Eye. We have the sight of his Eye in a wine glass…I shall therefore terminate by stating that Nicholas is deprived of his sight, Uncle George (who is here at present) appears to be very near in the predicament, and indeed the soar Eyes predominate almost throughout the whole neighborhood. Uncle has been here for some time. [Potts, p. 67]
1820 – Montgomery County, VA. Julia Hancock Clark dies at Fotheringay, the Hancock family estate. She had married William Clark in January 1808, and borne five children. [EL, p. 199-200]
28 June –
29 June –
30 June –
1763 – PA. Pontiac attacks 15 men working in (Uncle) George Croghan’s fields.
1794 – Fort Recovery, OH. General Anthony Wayne successfully defends the fort from a force of American Indians. Wayne has rebuilt the armed forces after their near annihilation at St. Clair’s Defeat. [Potts, p. 73]
1813 – Monticello estate, VA. Thomas Jefferson writes to John Adams: You certainly never felt the terrorism excited by Genet…when ten thousand people in the streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare war in favor of the French Revolution and against England. The coolest and the firmest minds…have given their opinions to me that nothing but the yellow fever…could have saved the United States from a total revolution of government. [Potts, p. 71]
This is the reformed radical Francophile adroitly distancing himself from the potential debacle of the French Allegiance. Adams, the high-principled New Englander, was ever cautious in embracing his bon vivant French neighbors, and he and Abigail noted that their Virginia compatriot was always eager to spend an evening speaking American English in the midst of the Gallic splendors enticing the emissaries. Edmond Charles “Citizen” Genet arrived in Charleston, SC in April 1793, hoping to draw the United States into war with Spain.
This was a possibility in the aftermath of the War for Independence. Westerners were effectively isolated by the Allegheny Mountains, and felt that the “eastern power base” had forgotten them. The only way to get their produce out to market was to reach the Mississippi River and then the port of New Orleans, which was controlled by Spain and often closed to Americans. People on both sides of the Atlantic saw a possible advantage to the United States acquiring Florida and Louisiana, thus assuring American control of both river and port. Alternatively, many westerners were prepared to establish their own country, separate from the United States, and free to form alliances with whomsoever seemed expedient.
George Washington was appalled at the thought of the United States disintegrating. He pounced swiftly on the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion, and then denounced the “French Allegiance.” Horrified to learn that his Secretary of State was warmly disposed toward “Citizen” Genet, the general reprimanded Jefferson. These intrigues would ultimately lead to the Proclamation of Neutrality and the purchased of Louisiana. Genet, however, had long been sent packing.
1819 – Louisville, KY. The Kentucky Herald and Mercantile Advertiser: The President of the United States [James Monroe] and Gen. Jackson, accompanied by their respective suites, crossed the Ohio from this place to Jeffersonville, under an escort of citizens of Louisville, on Saturday last, where they partook of a Dinner provided by the citizens; after which they were escorted by Capt. Todd’s company of cavalry to Locust Grove, the seat of Maj. Croghan, where they remained until Monday morning; from thence they proceeded on, calling on Col. Anderson, for Frankfort, through Middletown, Shelbyville, &c. [Potts, p. 96]
1828 – Pittsburgh, PA. William Croghan Jr. writes to Thomas Sidney Jesup: …the want of occupation has rendered me good for nothing & my distress & disappointment destroy all my energies. [Potts, p. 100]
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