William Crawford was born at Berkely or Lancaster, Virgina in 1732. He was a surveyor and associate of George Washington before the French and Indian Wars. Ensign Crawford of the VA Riflemen served with General Braddock's expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne 1754-1761. He was promoted to the grade of Captain at the recommendation of General Washington in 1760 and left the Virgina service in May of 1774. Just after the Revolution began, he raised a company of Virginians and joined General Washington's army in May of 1774. He fought in the Battle of Long Island on August 22, 1776 and in the subsequent retreat across New Jersey and over the Delaware River. He fought in the Battle of Princeton and the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. In 1778 he was assigned to frontier duty. At the urgent request of General Washington and General Irvine he assembled and assumed command of the Thirteenth Regiment to remove Engllish and Indian pressure against the Northwest frontier in May 1782. He fought the Battle Island Campaign June 4-11, 1782 where he was captured by the Delaware and Wyandot Indians and was tortured and burned to death in Wyandot County in Ohio on the banks of the Muskingum.3