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GIRTY, SIMON

Girty, Simon

(1741–February 18, 1818)
Loyalist Partisan

D

uring the Ameri-
can Revolution,
Girty gained in-
famy as the notorious,
hard-drinking “White Sav-
age” of battlefields along
the western frontier. His
legendary reputation for
cruelty and barbarism
notwithstanding, he was
an expert guerrilla leader
and saved many lives
from Indian excesses.
Simon Girty was born
near Harrisburg, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1741, a product
of the rough-and-tumble
frontier environment of
colonial America. As
such he acquired no for-
mal education and was il-
literate throughout his
life. Girty was only 10
years old when his father
was killed in a drunken
duel, and during the
course of the French and

Indian War his entire fam-

ily was captured by

Delaware Indians. They

were forced to watch

their stepfather being

burned at the stake, but

he and his three brothers

were subsequently di-

vided up among nearby

villages. Girty ended up

with the Senecas, or Iro-

quois, who adopted him

into the tribe. In such dire

circumstances, Girty sur-

vived by immersing him-

self in the culture and

language of his captors.

He also displayed consid-

erable linguistic skill for

such a young man, be-

coming fluent in Iroquois,

and was favorably dis-

posed toward Indian

ways. After eight years

Girty was released at

Fort Pitt in 1759, but the

experience of Indian cap-

Simon Girty

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