William Crawford ( soldier ) William Crawford ( 02 Sep 1732 – 11 June 1782 ) was an American soldier and surveyor who worked as a western land agent for George Washington . Crawford fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War . He was tortured and burned at the stake by American Indians in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten massacre , a notorious incident near the end of the American Revolution . Early career . In 1732 , Crawford was born in Orange County , Virginia , at a location which is now in Berkeley County , West Virginia . He was a son of William Crawford and his wife Honora Grimes , who were Scots - Irish farmers . After his father ' s death in 1736 , his mother married Richard Stephenson . Crawford had a younger brother , Valentine Crawford , plus five half - brothers and one half - sister from his mother ' s second marriage . In 1749 , Col . William Crawford became acquainted with George Washington , then a young surveyor the same age as Crawford . He accompanied Washington on surveying trips and learned the trade . In 1755 , Crawford served in the Braddock expedition with the rank of ensign . Like Washington , he survived the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela . During the French and Indian War , he served in Washington ' s Virginia Regiment , guarding the Virginia frontier against Native American raiding parties . In 1758 , Crawford was a member of General John Forbes ' s army which captured Fort Duquesne , where Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania now stands . He continued to serve in the military , taking part in Pontiac ' s War in 1763 . In 1765 Crawford built a cabin on the Braddock Road along the Youghiogheny River in what is now Connellsville , Fayette County , Pennsylvania . His wife and three children joined him there the following year . Crawford supported himself as a farmer and fur trader . When the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Iroquois opened up additional land for settlement , Crawford worked again as a surveyor , locating lands for settlers and speculators . Governor Robert Dinwiddie had promised bounty land to the men of the Washington ' s Virginia Regiment for their service in the French and Indian War . In 1770 Crawford and Washington travelled down the Ohio River to choose the land to be given to the regiment ' s veterans . The area selected was near what is now Point Pleasant , West Virginia . Crawford also made a western scouting trip in 1773 with Lord Dunmore , Governor of Virginia . Washington could not accompany them because of the sudden death of his stepdaughter . At the outbreak of Dunmore ' s War in 1774 , Crawford received a major ' s commission from Lord Dunmore . He built Fort Fincastle at present Wheeling , West Virginia . He also led an expedition which destroyed two Mingo villages ( near present Steubenville , Ohio ) in retaliation for Chief Logan ' s raids into Virginia . During the expedition , Crawford ' s men rescued two captives held by American Indians , killing six and capturing 14 Indians . Crawford ' s service to Virginia in Dunmore ' s War was controversial in Pennsylvania , since the colonies were engaged in a bitter dispute over their borders near Fort Pitt . Crawford had been a justice of the peace in Pennsylvania since 1771 , first for Bedford County , then for Westmoreland County when it was established in 1773 . Arthur St . Clair , another Pennsylvania official , called for Crawford to be removed from his office , which was done in January 1775 . Beginning in 1776 , Crawford served as a surveyor and justice for Virginia ' s short - lived Yohogania County . American Revolution . When the American Revolutionary War began , Crawford recruited a regiment for the Virginia Line of the Continental Army . On 11 October 1776 , the Continental Congress appointed him colonel of the 7th Virginia Regiment . Crawford led his regiment in the Battle of Long Island and the retreat across New Jersey . He crossed the Delaware with Washington and fought at the battles of Trenton and Princeton . During the Philadelphia campaign , he commanded a scouting detachment for Washington ' s army . After the war on the western frontier intensified in 1777 , Crawford was transferred to the Western Department of the Continental Army . He served at Fort Pitt under Generals Edward Hand and Lachlan McIntosh . Crawford was present at the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778 , and helped to build Fort Laurens and Fort McIntosh that year . Resources were scarce on the frontier , however , and Fort Laurens was abandoned in 1779 . In 1780 , Crawford visited Congress to appeal for more funds for the western frontier . In 1781 , he retired from military service . Crawford expedition . In 1782 , General William Irvine persuaded Crawford to come out of retirement and lead an expedition against enemy Indian villages along the Sandusky River . Before leaving , on 16 May he made out his will and testament . His son John Crawford , his son - in - law William Harrison , and his nephew and namesake William Crawford also joined the expedition . After his election as commander of the expedition , Crawford led about 500 volunteers deep into American Indian territory with the hope of surprising them . However , the Indians and their British allies at Detroit had learned about the expedition in advance , and brought about 440 men to the Sandusky to oppose the Americans . After a day of indecisive fighting , the Americans found themselves surrounded . During a confused retreat , Crawford and dozens of his men were captured . The Indians executed many of them in retaliation for the Gnadenhütten massacre earlier in the year , in which about 100 peaceful Christian Indian men , women , and children had been murdered by Pennsylvania militiamen . Crawford ' s execution was brutal ; he was tortured for at least two hours before he was burned at the stake . His nephew and son - in - law were also captured and executed . The war ended shortly thereafter , but Crawford ' s horrific execution was widely publicized in the United States , worsening the already strained relationship between Native Americans and European Americans . Crawford ’ s torture and execution by the Indians is described in graphic detail by Allan W . Eckert in " The Frontiersman " . Legacy . In 1982 , the site of Colonel Crawford ' s execution was added to the National Register of Historic Places . In 1994 , the Wyandot County Patriotic Citizens erected an 8 . 5 ft ( 2 . 6 m ) Berea sandstone monument at the site . The Ohio Historical Society also has an historical marker nearby . Crawford County , Ohio , Crawford County , Pennsylvania , and Crawford County , Indiana are named for William Crawford . So too is Colonel Crawford High School in North Robinson , Ohio . There is a replica of Crawford ' s cabin in Connellsville , Pennsylvania .