INTRO Part 2.
ELIZABETH STRONG-CROWLEY (a2f)
ELIZABETH STRONG (a2f) dau. of William Strong (a2), born July 21, 1744
possibly in Virginia. Elizabeth married Samuel Crowley. Samuel Crowley was the
brother of Benjamin Crowley, who married Sarah Strong (a2e). Samuel Crowley was
born around 1742 and is believed to have been the son of Jeffrey Crowley. According
to Jack Grantham, Samuel Crowley was a "Long Hunter" as was his brother, Benjamin
Crowley, and his brother-in-laws, John Strong (a2b), Thomas Strong (a2d) and James
Strong (a2g)8. Samuel Crowley was an American Revolutionary War hero who was
killed on October 10, 1774. Samuel was killed at the Battle of Point Pleasant in what is
commonly referred to as "Dunmore's War" and is now considered one of the first battles
of the American Revolution. Samuel is believed to have been the first man to be killed
in the American Revolution and a monument was erected in honor of him and the
other men who died at the Battle of Point Pleasant on the corner of the Ohio River and
Great Kanawha in present day West Virginia.
The Battle of Point Pleasant took place in the fall of 1774. Lord Dunmore and
General Andrew Lewis organized two divisions of the Virginia Militia. Governor
Dunmore took command of the northern militia and General Lewis took the other
militia of approximately 1100 men. Dunmore and Lewis had planned to meet near the
Kanawha River in present day West Virginia. However, Lord Dunmore was
really planning the demise of the frontier militia at the approval of the British Crown.
"... If all had gone according to the British plan, it would soon have been over.
Lord Dunmore (Governor of Virginia) was to direct the entire expedition against the
gathered tribes. Dunsmore divided the colonial forces, an act which brought into
question his resolve about the entire matter, and is part of the evidence against him.
One group, that of Andrew Lewis, was to advance to the mouth of the Great Kanawha,
where he would have a river at his back, and no chance of retreat. Divided forces
would be easily annihilated, since the Indians would outnumber either attachment, and
they could engage them one by one. Furthermore the forces of Lewis would be further
weakened if they were to undertake a crossing of the Ohio, as they were directed to do.
Some would be on the south side and some on the north side and one group could not
reinforce the other."
By September of 1774 General Lewis had set up camp near Ft. Savannah where he
made plans to march nearly 160 miles to Point Pleasant. And after a 19 day march
Lewis and his men arrived at the Ohio. There Lewis was met by Lord Dunmore's
scouts who told Lewis that Dunmore had changed the agreed plan and that Lewis was
to march to the Indian town near Scioto where Dunmore would join Lewis.
"... Virginians gathered at the mustering places, and they came with their long
Kentucky rifles, and with them full canteens. The tents were rolled and set on pack
animals, for the men of the Province were going up the trail to the headwaters of the
Kanawha, where they would camp and build, many canoes, before they ventured as far
as the Ohio."12
On the night of October 9, 1774 General Lewis had summoned a meeting for his
scouts to attend, which included Samuel Crowley, in the early morning of October 10,
1774. These scouts, or spies as they were sometimes referred to, would have been given
their assignments and details for their mission of scouting and spying on the Indians.
"...Here was a time the words of Tom Hardeman took their real meaning, when
he said of the Crowley, that they entered the enemy camps. There is every reason to
believe that Samuel Crowley could speak the language of the Indian and his services
would be very important to Andrew Lewis. This was near the time when the House of
Burgess would point to Samuel and say he was, "a spy against the Indians."13
"...On the evening of the 9th (August 9, 1774 at Point Pleasant, Virginia (now
West Virginia) Lewis was visited by messengers from Lord Dunsmore, and after the
meeting, precautions were taken, and the scouts were alerted for action early the next
morning. This is important in laying out the role that Samuel Crowley played in the
events of the following day. Crowley was a scout in the regiment of Andrew Lewis.
The forces of Cornstalk, estimated to be 800, crossed the Ohio, upstream from Lewis,
on the night of the 9th of October."14
"...Samuel Crowley was one of those directed to attend early the next morning,
for instructions. There is no question Samuel was a scout. The petition that was
prepared for his widow (Elizabeth Strong-Crowley) a few months later, referred to him
as a spy against the Indians at Point Pleasant, under General Lewis."15
"... Not only did the proceedings of the Burgess indicate this to be the case, but
Tom Hardeman also spoke of the scout efforts that Samuel provided, in struggle of
liberty. Whatever these scouts were to do, it was not to hunt for game, but to hunt for
the Indians,...16
The Indians were led by Cornstalk and Logan. Cornstalk was the Chief of the Shawnee that
had brought together the tribes of the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Iroquois and Wyandotts.
The Mingo Indian Chieftain Logan, the son of a Frenchman, had developed a hatred for the
whites after the murder of his sister on April 30, 1774 which help push him towards an
inevitable war with the settlers. Logan's pregnant sister was disemboweled by white settlers and
Mingo wanted revenge for all these past wrongs.
Members of Cornstalk's forces had been following Lewis' men since they left Fort Union.
And on the Morning of October 10th, well before dawn, the scouts went out on their mission.
They were to hunt for the Indians and bring back the intelligence gathered from their spy
mission. Most accounts of what happened that morning say that two hunters discover a group of
Indians covering 4 acres of ground a mile from Lewis' camp. The scouts/spies/hunters were
soon discovered and one was killed and the other made it back to the camp to warn the others.
Many different sources list different names for these men. Some say they were two men
names Hickman and Mooney. Others list Robertson and Hickman. We probably never know
for sure who the two scouts were but Jack Grantham believes it was Samuel Crowley that was
killed that pre-dawn morning while scouting for the Indians.
"...Several Accounts of the events of 10 October, hold that two of the Virginians, at
dawn went out to hunt (scout) and in doing so, discovered the large Indian force, on
the Ohio bank, about a mile upstream from the camp of Lewis."17
"...Almost any history of the day of the battle relates that of the two hunters who
went out that morning one was killed, and the survivor returned to give the alarm that
the Indians were on them. The information available at this time, lists only one scout
who was killed on that day. He was Samuel Crowley. The papers of the State of
Virginia, and earlier papers of the colony, give only the name Samuel Crowley as the
one killed while acting as a scout against the enemy. That is the reason that Tom
Hardeman, who knew Samuel, said of him that his name should be remembered for
what he did for liberty."18
The battle started around sunrise and lasted well past 4:00 PM. During the battle Colonel
Lewis, the son of General Lewis, was killed at which time Colonel Fleming was ordered to take
command as the battle raged on. The Colonial Forces appeared to be retreating until General
Lewis and Colonel Fields arrived with fresh reinforcements. The battle line was said to have
been nearly a mile long at times with smoke covering the battle field like fog. After 4:00 PM
Cornstalk's army fell back 3 miles to allow the Indians to recover their dead and wounded.
Cornstalk's forces later retreated across the Ohio River.
The Virginia Militia under the command of General Lewis sustained 140 wounded
and 75 dead including Samuel Crowley. In the casualty list it is reported that two scouts in
General Lewis' Militia were killed in the battle after sunrise and were unrelated to the
"hunter/scout" that was killed before sunrise. Although we may never know for certain if
Samuel Crowley was the scout/hunter that was the first to die as Jack Grantham
speculates, it does appear that he did in fact die in that battle. Jack Grantham cites the
following has proof of Samuel Crowley's involvement in the battle.
"...Eight months after the death of Samuel, a petition was laid before the
House of Burgesses calling upon them to provide funds for the maintenance and
education of James, Effie and John (Crowley).... On Saturday, 10 June 1775, as shown
in the Journal of the House of Burgesses, the attempt at a remedy began. Here is the
entry: A petition of Elizabeth Crowley was presented to the House, and read; setting
forth that the petitioner's husband, Samuel Crowley (sic), a soldier enlisted under the
command of Colonel Lewis was killed in the engagement with the Indians, on the
tenth of October last, leaving the petitioner and several small children in a helpless
condition; and therefore praying relief."19
"...Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that the petition of Elizabeth
Crowley (sic), whose husband was killed in the last Indian expedition, and who, with
her children, is by his death reduced to great distress, is reasonable; and that the
petitioner ought to be allowed the sum of twenty five pounds for the present relief, and
the further sum of ten pounds per annum, during the term of ten years, for the
maintenance and education of her children."20
Elizabeth Strong-Crowley was given her husbands pension to help support their
children when Virginia was declared a State. More can be found on Samuel Crowley
in Chapter 2 on Thomas Strong (a2d). 20
The Children of ELIZABETH STRONG (a2f):
JAMES CROWLEY (a2f1) son of Elizabeth Strong (a2f),
JOHN CROWLEY (a2f2) son of Elizabeth Strong (a2f),
EFFIE CROWLEY (a2f3) dau. of Elizabeth Strong (a2f),
FOOTNOTES and REFERENCES
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