Simon Girty (November 14, 1741 – February 18, 1818)[a] also known by his Seneca Nation name, Katepacomen, or "Renegade Girty" was a Pennsylvania-born loyalist and white chief of several tribes within the Shawnee-Iroquoian nations between the period of 1777 - 1812, and slave owner.[2] Girty is most well known for overseeing the brutal torture and murder of Col William Crawford in 1782,[3] and serving as the chief of a Miami tribe whose band of 400 warriors killed Major James Fontaine, the son of General Charles Scott during General Josiah Harmar's campaign.[4]
Simon Girty was born to Simon Girtee and Mary Newton near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Girtee, a staunch Loyalist, was listed as a licensed Indian trader in 1740[5] and arrived in Pennsylvania sometime in the 1730s from Ireland. During his tenure operating a trading post, Girtee and Mary had four sons: Thomas, Simon, James, and George sometime between 1739–1746.[citation needed]
In 1750, a two year long complaint lodged by the Six Nations met it's culmination, white settlers were illegally trespassing on Six Nations land and erecting homes, fences and other structures, the government sent Richard Peters of Philadelphia and Conrad Weiser and Indian interpreter to consult with magistrates at Carlisle and have the trespassers removed. In 1748, Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser to Logstown, a council and trade village on the Ohio River. Here he held council with chiefs representing 10 tribes, including the Lenape, Shawnee, and the six nations of the Iroquois. Threatened by this development and the continued activity of British traders in the Ohio Valley, the French redoubled their diplomatic efforts, however in 1750, when Weiser traveled again to Onondaga, he found that the political dynamics in the Six Nations had shifted. Canasatego, always pro-British, had died. Some Iroquois tribes were leaning toward the French, although the Mohawk remained loyal to the Crown.
The magistrate reported that the trespassers had been at Sherman’s creek about six miles over the mountain, and found there James Parker, Thomas Parker, Owen McKeil, John McClare, Richard Kirkpatrick, James Murray, John Scott, Henry Glass, John Cowan, Simon Girtee, and John Kilgore, all who had settled lands and erected cabins or log houses there; and having convicted them of trespassing had them give bonds to appear at court to answer for their trespasses.
“The said trespassers had likewise given bonds in the sum of five hundred penalty to remove immediately with all their servants, cattle and effects, and had delivered possession of their homes to Mr. George Stevenson for the proprietor's use, and that Mr. Stevenson had ordered some of the meanest of the cabins set on fire.”
In December 1750, after being forcefully relocated to the Conococheague settlement, Girtee and Samuel Sanders (or Saunders) in what historical accounts refer to as a "drunken braw" fought which ended with Girtee's death.
Three years after Girtee was killed, his wife Mary married John Turner, Girtee's half-brother. Her and her young sons, who were uneducated, did not know how to spell and listed the spelling of their name phonetically as "Girty".
In 1756, Girty alongside brothers Thomas, and James Girty were taken captive by a Shawnee war band after an attack on their residence in Fort Granville. [6] Girty's mother and step-father were scalped and murdered by the war band, and Simon Girty was transferred to the Seneca tribe where upon the age of 15 underwent his "rite of passage" and was given his Indian name, Katepacomen, where he remained until 1764.
Simon Girty lived with Guyasuta, Mingo and Seneca region tribes for seven years. He was returned to the British in November 1764, during a prisoner exchange after the end of Pontiac's War, but upon going back to Pennsylvania he immediately returned to his former tribe, who had to convince him to leave.[citation needed]
On October 17, 1764, British commander Henry Bouquet demanded that the Ohio Indians return all captives, including those not yet returned from the French and Indian War. Chief Guyasuta and other native leaders reluctantly handed over more than 200 captives, many of whom had been adopted into Indian families. On November 14, 1764, Simon Girty returned to the British after a prisoner exchange, and resurfaced near Fort Pitt. Simon Girty was fluent in the Algonquian language dialects but due to his full immersion and upbringing in the native tribal culture he was unable to read and write in English upon his return.
Girty, a former interpreter, briefly served as a messenger for Earl Dunmore in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774. Dunmore, nervous about his personal safety, stopped at Fort Pitt instead of meeting Colonel Andrew Lewis, where he commissioned two men to deliver a correspondence to Colonel Lewis, the first was local British loyalist-Indian interpreter and trader Simon Girty which he commissioned as a Lieutenant, his companion was Simon Kenton; upon returning back to Fort Pitt, Girty accompanied Dunmore briefly to Fort Gowen. This period, which lasted less than one year, was the only period in which Girty was officially employed in the militia. Girty saw no combat, and did not participate in the Battle of Point Pleasant, and whose name does not appear on the list of veterans. [8] Shortly before departing back to Pennsylvania, Girty attempted to receive compensation from Colonel Lewis in the presence of Major William Crawford for delivering the letter on behalf of Lord Dunmore, to which Colonel Lewis refused and ordered him out of his tent.
After the Battle of Point Pleasant ended, and Major Crawford returned back to Fort Pitt. Girty attempted to marry Crawford's daughter and frequented Crawford's residence multiple times. Crawford rejected the proposal,[9] and shortly thereafter, Girty deserts 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 was rejected for service in the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Continental Army.[10] And, in September 1777, Girty now an enemy of the American Colonies, led a failed siege against the Continental troops stationed at Fort Henry with support of British and Canadian Lt. Governor Hamilton's assistance.
On April 20, 1778, Simon Girty, along with Edward Hazel, a British Indian agent, and Leatherlips, a Wyandot chief, reached Detroit, where Henry Hamilton employed Simon at sixteen shillings a day $800 (~$12,548 in 2022).[citation needed] These events lead to Girty's arrest warrant for High Treason by the United States of America starting on June 17, 1778, which was signed by Timothy Matlack and George Bryan.[11] Simon, James, and George Girty, along with Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliot, were considered outlaws, and guilty of treason. Immediately before or after the publication of arrest warrants, McKee and Elliot 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 for the British.[12]
Siege of Fort Henry, in September of 1777, the combined arms of British and Indians against the stockade at Wheeling, Virginia commenced. Information had been conveyed to General Hand, commanding at Fort Pitt, by some friendly Morovian Indians, who received it from Isaac Zane, that a large army of Indians composed of warriors from the North-Western Confederacy were making vigorous preparations to strike a blow on the settlements on the Ohio. It was further stated that the Indian band was under the command of army deserter, and loyalist Simon Girty. General Hand lost no time in disseminating the information.
On the August 31, 1777, the Indian army consisted of over 350 Mingos, Shawnee, and Wyandotts commanded by Girty, with furnishings of arms and ammunition by Hamilton, Lt. Governor of Canada. On September 1st, 1777, “Girty presented himself at the window of a cabin, holding forth a white flag and offering a condition of peace. He read the proclamation of Hamilton, and in a stentorian voice demanded the surrender of the fort, offering in case they complied, protection; but if they refused, immediate and indiscriminate massacre. Colonel David Shepard refused the request, and within several hours Girty alongside a large body of Indians made an instant tremendous rush upon the fort”
Girty’s attempt to force open the gates failed, and ordered his men to fire upon the port holes. The attack lasted nearly two days, where Girty ordered all the cattle be killed as they fled, upon reinforcement's from Colonel Andrew Swearengen from Holliday’s Fort (twenty-four miles north). The attack resulted in forty to fifty of Girty’s men killed and none killed or wounded inside Fort Henry.[13]
On February 22, 1779 - March 1779, Simon Girty alongside British Captain Bird and warriors of the Wyandot, Mingo, Munsee, and Delaware laid siege to Fort Laurens.[14]
On October 1, 1779, Girty and Alexander McKee, leading a large band of Indians warriors, ambushed a peaceful convoy of provisions which were 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.[citation needed]
On June 11, 1782, Girty's former commander, Colonel William Crawford surrendered after a three week battle known as the Sandusky expedition against Girty and the Delaware Indians of the Wingenim tribe. Col Crawford's surgeon Dr. John Knight, was also captured. Dr. Knight, in letters and testimony before the Continental Congress details conversations he had with Crawford before he died when he discovered Simon Girty, his former soldier, was a chief member of the Wingenim tribe. Politely, Crawford and Knight were permitted into the village by Girty, but had two Indian guards. The chief, Captain Pipe, ordered Crawford and Knight to have their faces painted black to signify they were slaves and captives of the tribe.
Girty, in a private conversation with Colonel Crawford, and still being civil, informs Crawford that his son and son-in-law was also held captive but in a separate Shawnee camp. Girty, lies and informs Crawford that he will do his best to see to his release and release the five other prisoners still living. Initially, Girty acted as though Crawford would be able to be released as a gesture of comradery along with other prisoners. 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 cut-off and the warriors were kicking it around.
Girty then approached Knight and asked if he were a doctor, to which Knight responded "yes". Shortly thereafter Girty and Pipe lead them to a fire pit where Girty orders Colonel Crawford to be stripped naked at the fire and beaten with sticks and fists as he is tied to hickory polls six to seven yards from the fire. Next, Girty orders 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 on 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 is 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."
Early August 1782, a grand council was convened being led by "white murderers Col Alexander McKee and Simon Girty." The Council summoned warriors from the Cherokee, Wyandotts, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Shawnee, Mingoes and others. Simon Girty, was the elected chief of the Mingo tribe. It was after his speech that Major Caldwell, the British Commandant at Detroit, invited Girty to further assist the British cause against the Americans.
On August 19, 1782, Simon 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.”[15] Girty's character was also described in this battle to be one of the “most discouraging stroke to that infant settlement.” Both Todd and Boone were in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774.[16]
On September 11, 1782, George Girty commanded a band of 150 Shawnee warriors under Simon Girty's direction in an attack against Fort Henry, the men marched in "regular file" and beating a drum while ordering the surrender of the fort which also included fifty loyalists. The second siege of Fort Henry is referred to as the last battle of the Revolutionary War.
Monday, December 20, 1790 the Hartford Courant, published an extract from a Letter dated November 25, 1790 – from a messenger on the expedition, the remainder of the group continued. The report detailed General Josiah Harmar had been defeated in 3 separate engagements in the expedition in the Kentucky region, resulting in 180 men killed including Major James Fontaine, the son of General Scott. Simon Girty, the chief of a Miami tribe commanded approximately 100 whites and 300 Indians and were observed to be building a blockade to include a cannon: in addition to receiving more Indian troops.
1794, Simon Girty was reported to live “up in the rapids” in the Michigan region commanding a Miami Indian tribe along with several whites. Girty at the time was publicly proclaiming it was him to scalped and killed Captain Gibson.
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.[citation needed]
Modern historical accounts of Simon Girty largely from Canadian biographers portray Girdy to be a servant of the world, who rose up against the tyrannical Colonial government for a higher cause such as "Simon Girty: His War on the Frontier" (1999), "Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior." Canada. (2011), 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. [17]
