Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (Vol 1 1904).djvu/55

1750-1765] In 1751 Croghan was again upon the Allegheny, encouraging the Indians in their English alliance, and defeating Joncaire, the shrewdest of the French agents in this region, by means of his own tactics. The next year, he was pursuing his traffic in furs among the Shawnees, but without forgetting the public interest; and the following year finds him assisting the governor and Council at the important negotiations at Carlisle. This same year (1753) Croghan removed his home some distance west, and settled on Aughwick Creek upon land granted him by the Province. His public services were continued early in the next year by a journey with the official present to the Ohio, where he arrived soon after Washington had passed upon the return from the famous embassy to the French officers at Fort Le Bœuf.

The outbreak of the French and Indian War ruined Croghan's prosperous trading business, and brought him to the verge of bankruptcy. While at the same time a large number of Indian refugees, desiring to remain under British protection, sought his home at Aughwick, where he felt obliged to provision them, with but meagre assistance from the Province. To add to his troubles, the Irish traders, because of their Romanist proclivities, fell under suspicion of acting as French spies, and Croghan was unjustly eyed askance by many in authority. Although he was granted a captain's commission to command the Indian contingent during Braddock's campaign, he resigned this office early in 1756, and retired from the Pennsylvania service.

About this time he paid a visit to New York, where his ————