Journals of Conrad Weiser (1748), George Croghan (1750-1765), Christian Frederick Post (1758), and Thomas Morris (1764)Croghan, George
History
Journals of Conrad Weiser (1748), George Croghan (1750-1765), Christian Frederick Post (1758), and Thomas Morris (1764)
Croghan, George
Mississippi River Valley -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
After the journey to the Ohio, described in the following diary,
Weiser’s Indian transactions were largely confined to the province
of Pennsylvania; Montour and Croghan taking over the business with
the Ohio Indians until the outbreak of the French and Indian War.
Weiser now assumed duties in a military capacity. He raised a company
of soldiers for the Canadian expedition (1755), and later was made
lieutenant-colonel, with the care of the frontier forts under his charge.
At the same time the New York authorities besought his influence with the
Mohawks and Western Iroquois; and he assisted in arranging the treaty at
Easton, which prepared the way for the success of Forbes’s expedition
(1758).
Weiser was the most influential German of his section, possibly of all
Pennsylvania; but his religious affiliations and enmities interfered
with his political ambitions. Originally a Lutheran, in 1735 he became
concerned with the movement of the Seventh Day Baptists, which led to
the establishment of the community at Ephrata, where he was known as
Brother Enoch, and consecrated to the priesthood. These sectaries charged
that the bribe of official position tempted him to forsake his vows;
certain it is that in 1741 he was appointed justice of the peace for
Berks County, and left Ephrata, later (1743) sending a letter requesting
his former brethren to consider him a “stranger.” The opposition of this
sect of Germans, the indifference of the Moravians, and the alienation
of his earlier Lutheran friends, lost him his coveted election for the
assembly; and he afterwards withdrew from politics to remain the trusted
adviser of the government upon Indian and local affairs. His sincerity,
honesty, and trustworthiness made him greatly respected throughout the
entire province, and his death, July 13, 1760, was considered a public
calamity.
The journey undertaken to the Ohio, which the accompanying journal
chronicles, was the first official embassy to the Indians who lived
beyond the Alleghenies, and was undertaken for the following reasons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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