Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Captain William Griffith


From The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: A Review of Two ..., Volume 1:


"...Quartermaster Sergeant (later Captain) William Griffith, one of the survivors of the Fort Dearborn massacre... ."

"Detroit was surrendered the day before the Chicago Massacre took place. As soon as information of the tragedy reached Detroit, Judge Woodward appealed to Colonel Proctor in behalf of the prisoners and possible survivors of the Massacre at Fort Dearborn. The information given by Judge Woodward in this letter to Colonel Proctor probably came from William Griffith, a survivor who had reached Detroit." [Source]

"...William Griffith, afterward a captain of General Harrison's spies. He joined Harrison's army after his escape to Michigan, was placed in command of the spies, and received two wounds in the skirmish at the Moravian towns a few days before the battle of the Thames, but participated also in the latter engagement."

"He was the son of William Griffith, Sr., a farmer of Welsh descent whose home was near the present site of Geneseo, NY. His sister, Mrs. Alexander Ewing, removed with her husband to Michigan in 1802 and thence to Piqua Ohio in 1807 from which place William Griffith probably came to Chicago. He died in 1824, leaving two sons and a daughter and was buried near old Fort Meigs, Ohio." [Source]


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