Crawford expedition

Crawford expedition
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Illustration of Crawford's execution
Date May 25, 1782 – June 12, 1782 Location Ohio Country Result British-Indian victory
Belligerents
Lenape Wyandot Shawnee Ojibwe Odawa Potawatomi  Great Britain	United States
Commanders and leaders
Captain Pipe Dunquat Snake William Caldwell Alexander McKee Matthew Elliott	William Crawford  David Williamson Thomas Gaddis John McClelland  Gustave Rosenthal James Brenton John Hardin
Strength
340–640 Indians 100 provincials	500+ militia
Casualties and losses
6 killed 10–11 wounded	~70 killed

The Crawford expedition, also known as the Sandusky expedition and Crawford's Defeat, was a 1782 campaign on the western front of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the final operations of the conflict. The campaign was led by Colonel William Crawford, a former officer in the U.S. Continental Army. Crawford's goal was to destroy enemy Native American towns along the Sandusky River in the Ohio Country, with the hope of ending Native attacks on American settlers. The expedition was one in a series of raids against enemy settlements that both sides had conducted throughout the war.

In late May 1782, Crawford led about 500 volunteer militiamen, mostly from Pennsylvania, deep into Native American territory, with the intention of surprising the Natives. The Natives and their British allies from Detroit had learned of the expedition and gathered a force to oppose the Americans. A day of indecisive fighting took place near the Sandusky towns on June 4, with the Americans taking refuge in a grove that came to be known as "Battle Island." Native and British reinforcements arrived the following day. The Americans, finding themselves surrounded, retreated that night. The retreat became disorganized, with Crawford becoming separated from most of his men. As the retreat became a rout, another skirmish was fought on June 6. Most of the Americans managed to find their way back to Pennsylvania. Around 70 Americans were killed in the fighting and subsequent executions; Native and British losses were minimal.

During the retreat, Crawford and an unknown number of his men were captured. The Natives executed many of these captives in retaliation for the Gnadenhütten massacre that occurred earlier in the year, in which about 100 peaceful Natives were murdered by Pennsylvanian militiamen. Crawford and his surgeon, Dr. John Knight, were personally invited into the Delaware Nation's Wingenim tribal village by Chiefs Pipe and Wyngenim under the guidance of Simon Girty. Crawford and Knight first observed the severed head of Lt. John Mckinley which was kicked around by various tribal members. Crawford and Knight were then led by Girty to the tribal fire, where Crawford "was stripped naked, ordered to sit down by the fire and then beaten." Chief Pipe and Girty then directed Crawford's ears to be cut off while he was still alive. In Knight's first hand sworn testimony, Crawford pleaded with Girty to shoot him, to which Girty rejected and "laughed heartily, and by all his gestures seemed delighted at the horrid scene."^[1] Crawford's execution was particularly brutal: he was tortured for at least two hours before being burned at the stake by Crawford's former soldier Simon Girty.^[2] His execution was widely publicized in the United States, worsening the already-strained relationship between Natives and Americans.