U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Crawford, William ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Pages 140-141, COL. WILLIAM CRAWFORD Was born in Berkeley County. During the French war he distinguished himself by his bravery and good conduct, and was much noticed by Gen. Washington, who obtained for him an ensign's commission. He was a captain in Forbs' expedition in 1758. He was half brother to Col. Hugh Stephenson, of Berkeley county, who commanded a rifle regiment in 1776. At the commencement of the revolution, he raised a regiment by his own exertions, and held the commission of Colonel in the Continental Army. He was one of the bravest men on the frontier, and often took the lead in parties against the Indians, across the Ohio. In 1782, he accepted the command of an expedition to ravage the Wyandott and Moravian Indian towns on the Muskingum. On this expedition he was taken prisoner and put to death by the most excruciating tortures. Dr. McKnight, a fellow prisoner, who subsequently made his escape, and who was an eye witness of the scene, thus describes the death of the brave Col. Crawford: "He was stripped naked, severely beaten with clubs and sticks, and made to sit down near a post which had been planted for the purpose, and around which a fire of poles was burning briskly. His hands were then pinnioned behind him, and a rope attached to the band around his wrist and fastened to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, allowing him liberty only to sit down or walk once or twice around it, and return the same way. His ears were then cut off, and while the men would apply the burning ends of the poles to his flesh, the squaws threw coals and hot embers upon him. For three hours he endured these excruciating agonies with the utmost fortitude. When faint and exhausted, he commended his soul to God. and laid down on his face. He was then scalped and burning coals being laid on his head and back by one of the squaws, he again rose and attempted to walk, but strength failed him, and he sank into the welcome arms of death. His body was thrown into the fire and consumed into ashes." ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------