May 1782 – Rendezvous At Decker’s Fort Against Ohio Indians

As the Revolutionary War raged on, a force of 480 volunteers assembled on John Decker’s former land for a powerful expedition against Indian villages on the Sandusky River in Ohio. The rendezvous site was at Decker’s Fort, on the Ohio River across from present day Mingo Junction. Decker’s Fort was chosen because it was an easy crossing place. The river was shallow enough to be forded without having to swim during the dry summer mouths. The actual crossing was about a mile above Cross Creek on the Virginia shore near Mingo Island. The expedition crossed the river and set up a camp on the bottom land of 250 acres formerly occupied by a Mingo Village which was destroyed in 1772. The expedition was led by William Crawford, a prominent Revolutionary solider who accompanied George Washington down the Ohio River in 1770.  The expedition went deep into Indian territory but the Indians and British defeated Crawford’s force. Crawford was captured, tortured and burned at the stake.

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1782 Crawford

 

 

Crawford burned at the stake

 

 

Colonel William Crawford

  • Allan W. Eckert, “The Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley,” (New York: Bantam Books, 1996, pp 329-330.
  • G.W. Butterfield, “Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky Under
  • Col. William Crawford in 1782,” (Robert Clarke & Co., 1873).