A Diplomatic and Intelligence Gathering Mission
In 1766 George Croghan, Captian Harry Gordon, and Ensign Thomas Hutchins set out to restore peace to the Ohio and Illinois country after years of war. The expedition consisted of seventeen battaues poling down the Ohio River. They traveled from Fort Pitt to Fort Chartres then to New Orleans.
The expedition conducted diplomacy and military surveys of the region.
This website displays the historical record of the event
through scholarly digital editing.
“Before your departure from Fort Pitt, you will transmit me an exact list of the quantity of merchandise, silver-ware, wampum, etc., that you take with you for to conciliate the affections of the Indians on the Mississippi and you will follow the mode before prescribed to you in the distribution thereof, by delivering them in the presence of the commanding officers of the several posts where your presence may be required and obtaining from them certificates of the delivery of the several articles which you will transmit to me as accounting for the same."
General Gage to George Croghan
April 16, 1766
TImeline
The Maps
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The key output of the 1766 Expedition was the series of maps drawn by Thomas Hutchins, Philip Pittman, and Harry Gordon.
Map #1 is the "Courses of the Mississippi" Drawn by Lieutenant Philip Pittman in 1765.
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Map #2 is the "Courses of the Ohio" Drawn by Ensign Thomas Hutchins in 1766.
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Map #3 Is the "Plan of Rapids in the River Ohio" Drawn by Ensign Thomas Hutchins 1766.
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Map #4 is the "Plan of the Several Villages in the Illinois Country with part of the Mississippi River" Drawn by Ensign Thomas Hutchins in 1766.
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