tivity was indelibly impressed upon him. He
became much sought after as a translator and
was actively employed by the British Indian
Department in and around Fort Pitt. In this
capacity he fought in Lord Dunmore’s War in
1774 and befriended the famous scout Simon
Kenton. Apparently, it was Girty who inter-
preted Mingo Chief Logan’s famous lament
for posterity.
After the American Revolution com-
menced in April 1775, Girty and his brothers
George and James took an oath of loyalty to
the United States. He then resumed his famil-
iar activities as an interpreter and was fre-
quently among the tribes of the Ohio Valley to
secure their neutrality. However, Girty, a
wild, restive figure, much given to drinking
and fighting, was eventually discharged from
his position on account of “ill behavior.” In
March 1778, apparently smarting from such
treatment, Girty, Matthew Elliott, and others
defected to the British and made their way to
Detroit. Brothers James and George joined
them soon afterward. At this time Lieutenant
Governor Henry Hamiltonwas actively so-
liciting Indian tribes for the war against
America, and he reappointed Girty to the In-
dian Department. There Girty proved instru-
mental and highly effective in shoring up
tribal support for Great Britain. He was per-
sonally fearless, fluent in several dialects
and—at six feet tall, strongly built, with black
hair and dark eyes—physically striking.
Moreover, he readily spoke like an Indian,
danced like one, and even fought like one.
Whatever suspicions Native Americans may
have harbored about white men in general,
they readily accepted Girty as one of their
own and trusted his judgment.
Commencing in 1779, Girty led several
raids throughout the frontier that made him
an object of fear and loathing from Pennsylva-
nia to Kentucky. In 1779, he commanded a de-
tachment of rangers, Mingos, and Wyandots
that attacked and massacred a relief party
sent to beleaguered Fort Laurens, Ohio. That
fall he repulsed a determined attack by Ken-
tucky militia against the Shawnee village at
Chillicothe, Ohio, before destroying Capt.
David Rogers’s flotilla of transports as they
moved up the Ohio River to Fort Pitt.
Throughout the spring of 1780, Girty accom-
panied the expedition of Maj. Henry Bird into
Kentucky, burning two forts and netting more
than 300 prisoners. Bird, however, a no-non-
sense regular, cared little for the Girty broth-
ers’ freewheeling attitude and lack of disci-
pline. “James Girty is sulky,” he reported,
“and Simon Girty is useless.” The following
year Girty’s unpredictable disposition re-
sulted in an altercation with Mohawk Chief
Joseph Brant, who slashed his forehead
with a sword. Such transgressions did little to
diminish his standing among the Indians,
however, and in August 1782 Girty scored his
greatest triumph by ambushing a pursuing
column of Kentuckians at Blue Licks. It was a
major defeat for the Americans, who lost 70
out of 200 men, including a son of noted scout
Daniel Boone.
The most notorious episode in Girty’s long
history of frontier violence occurred in Au-
gust 1782. That month his warriors defeated a
body of Pennsylvania militia under Col.
William Crawford, who was captured. Eyewit-
ness accounts vary, and some maintain that
Girty did nothing to spare the life of Craw-
ford, who was slowly tortured and burned
alive at the stake. Girty himself declared that
he did everything possible to spare Crawford
and ceased only when his own life became
jeopardized. Thereafter, he was reviled in
frontier folklore and literature as the “White
Savage”—a traitor to both his country and his
race. Girty was, in reality, no more cruel than
many frontier contemporaries on both sides
of the border. In fact, by some accounts he
managed to rescue no less than 27 American
hostages from imminent death. Among these
was his former friend Simon Kenton, cap-
tured earlier during operations against Col.
George Rogers Clark in Illinois. Several other
young men also claimed to have been spared
by his efforts. Girty nonetheless remained a
pariah to frontier Americans, who placed a
bounty on him for the rest of his life.GIRTY, SIMON