Matthew Elliott ( loyalist ) Matthew Elliott ( c . 1739 – May 7 , 1814 ) was born in County Donegal , Ireland in 1739 and died on May 7 , 1814 in Burlington , Ontario . He was a trader , farmer , Indian Department official , political , fur trader , and militia officer during and after the era of the American Revolution . He held a key position in Anglo - Indian affairs during the time period . Elliott came to America in 1761 and settled in Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War . As a trader in western Pennsylvania and Ohio in the 1760s and 1770s , and as a captain in the British Indian Department during the Revolution , he had lived and fought among the tribes of the Northwest , particularly the Shawnee . He was married to a Shawnee woman and spoke the language fluently , his sympathies with the Indians . With the Shawnee woman , Elliott had two sons named Alexander and Matthew . He later married Sarah Donovan and they had another two sons , Francis Gore and Robert Herriot Barclay . In 1778 Elliott , along with Alexander McKee and Simon Girty fled to Detroit . He served as a scout on Henry Hamilton ’ s expedition to Vincennes in the autumn of 1778 but left before Hamilton was captured by the Americans in February 1779 . For the remainder of the Revolution Elliott served as a British Indian agent . After the Revolution , Elliott established himself on a farm at what became Amherstburg , Ontario in Upper Canada . He eventually owned over 4 , 000 acres and numerous slaves , a number of whom he had acquired in the course of raids during the Revolution and refused to relinquish despite government pressure . Elliott is mentioned as a slave owner whose slaves were particularly fearful of . He had installed a lashing ring to a tree in front of his house to instill fear in his slaves ; which instead encouraged many to try to escape . In partnership with William Caldwell , he renewed his trading activities , dealing with the Indians of Lake Erie , bringing provisions from Pittsburgh to sell to them as well as in Detroit . Business became so difficult to maintain in such a disputed area , that his company went bankrupt in 1787 . Despite this , and the fact that Elliott was illiterate , he became a justice of the peace for the new District of Hesse in 1788 . He went on to become superintendent at Amherstburg in 1796 , but had been dismissed two years later in 1798 after a dispute over the irregularities in the insuing of provisions . In 1790 , Elliott became assistant to McKee , who was Indian superintendent at Detroit while Elliott continued to encourage the Shawnee and other native groups to oppose American advance across the Ohio River . With McKee , Elliott helped organize the different tribes to resist occupancy and land cessions . Elliott went on to become “ superintendent of Indians and of Indian Affairs for the District of Detroit ” in the summer of 1796 , but by December 1797 he was dismissed . During the next ten years he tried significantly to gain reinstatement , travelling to England in 1804 and even gaining the support of fellow politicians . None of this worked , though from 1800 to 1804 , he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada . He was also re - elected in 1804 and 1808 , though at these dates he attended meetings less frequently due to other business . When British - American relations went sour again in 1807 , the great importance of Elliott ’ s influence among the Indians was recognized and in 1808 he was reappointed superintendent in place of Thomas McKee . By the fall of 1808 it became apparent that the Indians were preparing for war , and the British did not want to be blamed . Elliott worked closely with Tecumseh for an alliance . Before the War of 1812 , Elliott had succeeded in gaining the Indian alliance with natives in American territory as well as British . During the last few months of his life , Elliott led Indian raids on the Niagara frontier . He died from illness in 1814 in the Burlington area of Ontario .