o his own statement, "he was in such favor and confidence
with the councils of the Six Nations that he was, in the year 1746,
admitted by them as a Councillor into the Onondaga Councill, which is
the Supreme Councill of the Six Nations. He understands the Language of
the Six Nations and of several other of the Indian nations."[27]

Long before the sojourn in Otsego, Croghan had become, during his fits
of prosperity, a power in the Pennsylvania region, and probably deserved
the pungently qualified praise of Hassler, who, in his _Old
Westmoreland_, declares that "the man of most influence in this
community [Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh] was the fat old Trader and
Indian-Agent, Colonel George Croghan, who lived on a pretentious
plantation about four miles up the Allegheny River--an Irishman by birth
and an Episcopalian by religion, when he permitted religion to trouble
him."

Two documents relating to Croghan illustrate his extremes of fortune;
the one a petition to protect him against imprisonment for debt, the
other a complaint against him as a monopolist of the fur trade. It seems
that in 1755 Croghan had been compelled by impending bankruptcy and fear
of the debtor's prison to remove from settled parts of Pennsylvania, and
to take refuge in the Indian country. Here he was in great danger from
the French and their Indians, but wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania
that he was more afraid of imprisonment for debt than of losing his
scalp. At a meeting of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November, 1755,
fifteen creditors of Croghan presented a petition that Croghan and his
partner, William Trent, be rendered free from debt for a space of ten
years. The petition recited that there should be taken into
consideration "the great knowledge of said George Croghan in Indian
affairs, his extensive influence among them, and the service and public
utility he may be of to this Province in these respects."[28] In
accordance with this petition a bill was passed by which Croghan was
freed from the danger of arrest for debt, and, although the act was
vetoed by King George II three years later, Croghan evidently made
profitable use of his liberty.

On July 9, 1759, less than four years after Croghan so narrowly escaped
the debtor's prison, a complaint from Philadelphia was addressed to the
Governor of Pennsylvania protesting against Croghan's policy of crushing
competitors in the trade with Indians by a control of prices in skins
and peltry.[