Colonel William Crawford, a lifelong friend of George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1722 and was married first to Ann Stewart and later to Hannah Vance. In 1755, he served with Colonel Edward Braddock in the French and Indian War, and in 1767 he moved to Stewart's Crossing, Pennsylvania, near the Youghiogheny River. During the Revolutionary War he raised a company of men, commanded the 5th and 7th Regiments, fought at Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, and built forts along the western frontier. At the twilight of the American Revolutionary War, British forces hired American Indians to attack pioneers along the Ohio and Pennsylvania border. In response, General William Irvine formed the 13th Virginia Regiment, an over 400-man mounted volunteer unit led by Crawford to destroy the Sandusky towns of the Wyandots and Delawares. The force departed Mingo Bottom on May 25, 1782, entered the Ohio country, and met an Indian force on June 4 at Battle Island, between Carey and Upper Sandusky. The Americans held the field but withdrew when the British reinforced the Indians with Butler's Rangers and Shawnee Indians. Crawford was later captured by Delaware Indians after the battle, and on June 11, 1782, he was tortured and killed near Tymochtee Creek. Counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania bear his name.
