Ohio Society

Colonel Crawford Remembered

CRAWFORD TOWNSHIP (June 9, 2007) – From the four corners of the state compatriots came to honor and remember Colonel Crawford and the Sandusky Expedition. At a small township cemetery near the banks of Tymochee Creek in Wyandot County stands a large stone obelisk commemorating the expedition and the death of its leader 225 years ago.  Many recognize the skirmish as one of the last battles of the American Revolution in the Western Department.

The Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution held a wreath presentation at the Crawford Memorial in the early morning of a clear blue summer day.  Richard Fetzer, member of the Western Reserve Chapter and Current President of the Ohio Society welcomed Society members and Crawford family members.  A Color Guard contingent of six led by John Franklin, Western Reserve Chapter, presented the colors. Charles Wilson, John Hancock Chapter, lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Presentations were made by Timothy Ward, Northeastern Chapter, and James Fast, Centennial Chapter.  A musket salute was led by Paul Wilke, Cincinnati Chapter, while the Invocation and Benediction were given by State Chaplain Rev. Patrick Kelly, Centennial Chapter. National Society Genealogist General Charles Bragg from the Alexander Hamilton Chapter of Indiana participated as a member of the Color Guard.

On June 11,1782 the gathered Indian Tribes of Shawnee, Delaware, and Mingo and their British allies tortured and killed the captured leader of the American Expedition Colonel Crawford.  Crawford an early recruit in 1776 to the Continental Army had served along Washington’s side in the Battles of Long Island, Trenton and Princeton. In 1777 he transferred to the Western Department at Fort Pitt.  In 1778 Crawford helped to build Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas River in the Ohio Country.

With a series of Indian raids in 1781, Crawford came out of retirement to lead about 500 volunteers into the Ohio Country to route the Indian villages along the Sandusky River. The Expedition was surrounded by the Indians with Colonel Crawford captured.  The Indians believing they had captured the leader of the Gnadenhutten Massacre began a long and cruel torture of the American solider.  The Expedition’s surgeon who witnessed the events, escaped back to Fort Pitt and wrote a first-hand account that was widely distributed across the colonial states.  George Washington having heard of Crawford’s death made mention of the personal loss of a close friend.

Christian Fast, a young Pennsylvanian who had been captured by Indians in 1780, was present in the village the day of Colonel Crawford’s death.  While he did not participate, he confirmed the stories of the Expedition’s Surgeon.  Fast escaped the Indians later in 1782 and was an early settler of Northern Ohio.

The Ohio Society with 1400 active members works diligently to honor and remember the early events in the first state of the Northwest Territory.