Simon Girty

1905 illustration of Simon Girty from History of Western Ohio and Auglaize County by C.W. Williamson

Simon Girty (14 November 1741 – 18 February 1818) was an interpreter with the British Indian Department during the American Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. As a child he and his brothers James and George were captured and adopted by Native Americans. Freed after living with the Seneca for seven years, Girty worked as a trader and interpreter. During the American Revolution he became disillusioned with the Patriot cause, and in 1778, fled to Fort Detroit where he was hired as an interpreter for the British Indian Department. Girty accompanied Britain's Indigenous allies during the 1780 expedition against Kentucky's frontier settlements and was present at Lochry's Defeat in 1781. Girty was held complicit when the Lenape tortured Colonel William Crawford to death following the Battle of Sandusky. He continued to serve with the British Indian Department for many years after the 1783 Peace of Paris. Girty witnessed the defeat of the Northwestern Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. After the British withdrew from Fort Detroit following the Jay Treaty, he settled across the Detroit River near Amherstburg where he died in 1818.

Early life

Simon Girty was born in 1741 to Simon Girtee and Mary Newton in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Girty's father emigrated to Pennsylvania sometime in the early 1730s from Ireland, and was employed as a pack horse driver and trader. Girtee and Mary had four sons: Thomas, Simon, James, and George.

In 1749, Girty's father moved his family across the Susquehanna River and squatted on Shermans Creek on land that had yet to be ceded to the Pennsylvanian government. An Indigenous delegation met with Pennsylvania governor James Hamilton who ordered the squatters evicted. In 1750, Girtee was fined and forced to return to Lancaster County.

Late in 1750, Girty's father was killed during an argument with Samuel Saunders (or Sanders). Saunders was arrested, tried, convicted of manslaughter, and imprisoned. While court records show that Saunders was the culprit, early biographers such as Consul Willshire Butterfield recorded that Girty's father was killed during "a drunken frolic" by an Indigenous man named The Fish.

In 1753, Mary Girty married John Turner. Their son John was born the following year. Following a land purchase by the Penn family in 1755, Turner brought his family across the Susquehanna and settled on Shermans Creek close to where the Girtys had lived previously.

During the French and Indian War, Turner brought his wife and children to Fort Granville for protection. In July 1756, the fort was besieged by a combined French and Indigenous led by Louis Coulon de Villiers. Following the fort's surrender, Turner and his family were taken captive by the Shawnee and brought to Kittanning. Mary and her children were forced to watch as John was tortured to death. Mary and her youngest son were then separated from the older boys and taken to Fort Desquesne.

Kittanning was destroyed in September 1756 in an expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong. Thomas was rescued but Simon, James and George remained captives. The three boys were soon separated. Simon was given to the Seneca, James to the Shawnee, and George to the Lenape (Delaware).

Girty was adopted by a Seneca family following rituals that included running the gauntlet. He lived with the Seneca in western Pennsylvania for several years, and was likely mentored by the influential leader Guyasuta. Girty became fluent in Seneca and also learned to speak several other Iroquoian languages. Some sources state that Girty was turned over to the English at Fort Pitt following the 1758 Treaty of Easton. Other sources maintain that he continued to live with the Seneca until the end of Pontiac's War in 1764.

Lord Dunmore's War and American Revolution

Girty, a former interpreter, briefly served as a messenger for Earl Dunmore in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774. Nervous about his personal safety, Dunmore stopped at Fort Pitt instead of meeting Colonel Andrew Lewis. There he commissioned two men to deliver a correspondence to Colonel Lewis, Girty, whom he commissioned as a Lieutenant, and Simon Kenton. Upon returning back to Fort Pitt, Girty accompanied Dunmore briefly to Fort Gowen. This period of less than one year, was the only time Girty was officially employed in the militia. Girty saw no combat, he did not participate in the Battle of Point Pleasant, and his name does not appear on the list of veterans. Shortly before departing back to Pennsylvania, in the presence of Major William Crawford, Girty attempted to receive compensation from Colonel Lewis for delivering the letter on behalf of Lord Dunmore. Lewis refused, and ordered him out of his tent.

After the Battle of Point Pleasant ended, and Major Crawford returned to Fort Pitt, Girty attempted to marry Crawford's daughter and frequented Crawford's residence multiple times. Crawford rejected the proposal, and shortly thereafter Girty deserted his post at Fort Pitt, perhaps in part due to growing hostilities between the Colonials and the Tories. In 1775 or 1776, Girty's application for service in the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Continental Army was rejected.

Arrest Warrant for High Treason

By April 20, 1778, Girty had reached Detroit, which was then in British North America. There Governor Henry Hamilton employed him at sixteen shillings a day (~$13.00 in 2024).

On June 17, 1778 the United States of America issued a warrant for his arrest for High Treason. Simon, James, and George Girty, along with Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliot, were now considered outlaws and traitors to the United States. Immediately before or after publication of the arrest warrants, McKee and Elliot left Pennsylvania for the Six Nations. Pennsylvania placed a $800 bounty on Simon Girty's head for inciting murder against fellow Americans, and acting as an agent for the British.

Siege of Fort Laurens

From February 22, 1779 to March 1779, Girty accompanied British Captain Bird and warriors of the Wyandot, Mingo, Munsee, and Delaware in the siege to Fort Laurens.

Ambush on convoy

On October 1, 1779, Girty and McKee, leading a large band of Indian warriors, ambushed a peaceful convoy of provisions which had been procured by American states from the Spanish in New Orleans. Girty's forces ambushed the convoy near Dayton, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. Only a handful of the one hundred survived, among them Colonel John Campbell and Captain Robert Benham.

Torture and murder of Colonel William Crawford

Girty is alleged to have been involved in the torture and murder of Colonel William Crawford, Girty's former commander. On June 11, 1782, Crawford surrendered after a three-week battle against the Delaware Indians of the Wingenim tribe known as the Sandusky expedition. Crawford's surgeon, Dr. John Knight, was also captured. Dr. Knight, in letters and testimony before the Continental Congress, detailed conversations he had with Crawford before he died.

There has been controversy around the details of Crawford's torture and murder. Reports of Girty's role differ significantly.

According to some accounts, Girty lied and informed Crawford that he would do his best to see to the release of Crawford and five other prisoners still living. Initially, Girty acted as though Crawford could be released as a gesture of comradery. However, upon a full inspection of the Wingenim tribal village, Knight recalled seeing four prisoners scalped and dead laying on the ground. Knight recalled the identity of one killed prisoner, Lieutenant John McKinley, a former officer in the 13th Virginia Regiment, whose head had been cut off and kicked around by the warriors. Shortly thereafter Girty and Chief Pipe led them to a fire pit where Girty ordered Colonel Crawford to be stripped naked at the fire and beaten with sticks and fists as he was tied to hickory poles six to seven yards from the fire. Next, Girty ordered burning logs to be placed on Crawford's skin, followed by ordering the warriors to cut off his ears. In a plea for death amidst the extreme torture, Crawford yelled at Girty to shoot him – to which Girty rejected and "laughed heartily and by all gestures seemed delighted at the horrid scene," stating he did not have a gun. Girty then was observed by Knight to order the warriors to shoot Crawford with only powder shots, which caused the flesh to burn. After over 70 blanks were shot at Crawford, he finally succumbed to death over two hours later. Girty then scalped Crawford and continuously placed his scalp in Knight’s face and mouth, saying, "That was my great captain." Girty expressed to Knight that "He swore to by God, I need not expect to escape death, but should suffer it in all its extremities."

20th-century historians have noted potential bias in this account. Daniel Barr's 1998 scholarly paper states that Hugh Henry Breckinridge, a frontier author, made "subtle alterations" to eyewitness statements which had the effect of presenting both the Indians and Girty in particular "in a profoundly negative manner." Philip W. Hoffman's 2009 biography states that newspapers of the era sensationalized the incident. Hoffman makes no mention of Girty directing the torture and killing of Crawford and notes that Girty had a history of consistently acting on behalf of white prisoners who were threatened by torture and death.

Ambush on Bryan Station and Battle of Blue Licks

On August 19, 1782, Girty, under the command of William Caldwell, along with about 300 Shawnee natives and British Canadians, attacked Bryan Station. Three days later, his band ambushed Daniel Boone and Colonel Todd at the Battle of Blue Licks. Girty's conduct was described by a veteran of the battle to be "the unusual scene of torturing the wounded and prisoners following the defeat." Girty's character was also described in this battle to be the "most discouraging stroke to that infant settlement." Both Todd and Boone were in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774.

Northwest Indian War

After the American Revolutionary War, Girty was involved in resistance to American westward expansion. During the Northwest Indian War, he commanded indigenous forces participating in the defeat of expeditions led by U.S. Generals Josiah Harmar (1790) and Arthur St. Clair (1791).

Post Indian Wars

After the end of the war, Simon Girty settled in Upper Canada (now Ontario) along with other Loyalists and Indian allies of the British, such as nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. They were granted land by the British Crown in recognition of their service during the war. He retired to his farm near Fort Malden (present-day Amherstburg, Ontario) prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812. Girty's son was killed in that conflict, reportedly while trying to rescue a wounded British officer from the battlefield.

Modern representations and myths

Modern historical accounts of Simon Girty (largely from Canadian biographers) portray Girty as a servant of the world who rose up against the tyrannical Colonial government for a higher cause. Such accounts include "Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior" by Edward Butts (2011), "Simon Girty: His War on the Frontier" (1999) and "Simon Girty: Interpreter and Intermediary" (1989).

Popular myths account for three people who claimed they were Simon Girty. One Simon Girty fled to Canada; one Simon Girty was said to have been killed with Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames, and one Simon Girty was said to have been killed in Pocahontas, Virginia.

Representation in culture

• In his 1846 novel Simon Girty: the Outlaw – An Historical Romance, Uriah James Jones depicts Girty as a "fanatical tomahawk-waving warmonger.
• Simon Girty: "The White Savage"—A Romance of the Border is a 1880 novel by Charles McKnight that presents Girty in a somewhat more favourable light.
• Girty is sympathetically portrayed in historical writer Allan Eckert's The Frontiersmen (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1967) and That Dark and Bloody River (New York: Bantam, 1995), however, Eckert's use of invented dialogue and filling historical gaps with conjecture tends to damage his credibility.
• Girty, along with his brothers, is vilified in novelist Zane Grey's frontier trilogy series Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border and The Last Trail. In The Spirit of the Border, Grey made Girty and his brother James directly responsible for the Gnadenhutten massacre.
• Girty was played by American actor John Carradine in the 1936 film Daniel Boone directed by David Howard. In the film Girty is killed by Boone.
• Girty is featured as one of the jury members in Stephen Vincent Benét's 1936 short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and in the 1941 movie of the same title. Benét describes Girty as “Simon Girty, the renegade, who saw white men burned at the stake, and whooped with the Indians to see them burn. His eyes were green like a catamount’s, and the stains on his hunting shirt did not come from the blood of the deer.”Benét, Stephen Vincent (24 October 1936). "The Devil and Daniel Webster". Saturday Evening Post.</ref>
• Girty is the main character in Timothy Truman's two volume graphic novel Wilderness: The True Story of Simon Girty the Renegade (Lancaster, PA: Four Winds Publishing, 1989-1990).
• Girty decision to fight on behalf of Native Americans is the inspiration for the 2002 song "Simon Girty's Decision," by Indigenous poet, composer and instrumentalist Todd Tamanend Clark.

References

• Boyd, Thomas (1928), Simon Girty: The White Savage, New York{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Brown, Parker B. (January 1987), "The Historical Accuracy of the Captivity Narrative of Doctor John Knight", The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 53–67
• Butterfield, Consul Willshire (1890), History of the Girtys: Being a Concise Account of the Girty Brothers—Thomas, Simon, James and George—and of their Half-Brother, John Turner, Cincinnati, Ohio: Robert Clark & Co.
• Butts, Edward (2011). Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior. Toronto: Dundurn. ISBN 978-1459700758.
• Eckert, Allan W. (1995), That Dark And Bloody River, Bantam
• Hagen, Ronald E., Catspaw the Girty, McKee, and Elliott Families, and Indian Negotiations on the American Frontier 1710-1778. Coneault Lake, PA, 2024 ISBN 979-8-89553-0122
• Hoffman, Phillip W. (2009), Simon Girty: Turncoat Hero: The Most Hated Man on the Early American Frontier, Franklin, Tennessee: Flying Camp Press
• Leighton, Douglas (1983), "Simon Girty", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Lough, Glenn D. (1969), Now and long ago: a history of the Marion County area, Morgantown, W. Va.: Printed by Morgantown Print. and Binding Co.
• Ranck, George W. (1906), Watson, Thomas E. (ed.), "Girty, The White Indian: A study in Early Western History", Watson's magazine, Thomson, Georgia: Jeffersonian Pub. Co., pp. 280–296
• Schoenbrunn Amphitheatre Box Office (31 October 2018), "Paul Green's Trumpet in the Land", trumpetintheland.com, retrieved 31 October 2018
• Steele, Ian; Rhoden, Nancy, eds. (1999), "Simon Girty: His War on the Frontier", The Human Tradition and the American Revolution, Scholarly Resources
• Sword, Wiley (1985), President Washington's Indian War, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 182
• Watson, Thomas (1912), "Girty, The White Indian", Watson's Magazine (Serial), Jefferson Publishing Co

Further reading

• Barr, Daniel (1998), "'A Monster So Brutal': Simon Girty and the Degenerative Myth of the American Frontier, 1783–1900"", in Lengel, Ed (ed.), Essays in History, University of Virginia, p. 40, archived from the original on 7 February 2005
• Calloway, Collin (1989), "Simon Girty: Interpreter and Intermediary", in Clifton, James A. (ed.), Being and Becoming Indian: Biographical Studies of North American Frontiers, Chicago: Dorsey, pp. 38–58
• Ferling, John (1999), "Simon Girty", in Garraty, John A.; Carnes, Mark C. (eds.), American National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press
• "William Clark and the Notorious Simon Girty", Frances Hunter's American Heroes Blog, 18 November 2009, retrieved 31 October 2018
• "Chapter 3: War and Crisis in Indian Pennsylvania, 1754–1784", The Indians of Pennsylvania, explorepahistory.com
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900), "Girty, Simon" , Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, New York: D. Appleton