Person:George Morgan (35)

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George Morgan (February 14, 1743 – March 10, 1810) was a merchant, land speculator, and United States Indian agent during the American Revolutionary War, when he was given the rank of colonel in the Continental Army. He negotiated with Lenape and other Native American tribes in western Pennsylvania to gain their support during the American Revolutionary War. An associate of the Lenape chief White Eyes, Morgan cared for his son George Morgan White Eyes for several years after White Eyes died.

Historical Marker

N 40° 16.411 W 080° 09.499 "Here was the home, 1796-1810, of the noted Indian trader and agent. Site is marked by a monument. It was here that Morgan was visited by Aaron Burr. His conspiracy was first made known to Thomas Jefferson by Colonel Morgan."

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Association with White Eyes

George Morgan, a US Indian agent, trader and close associate of White Eyes, who had helped negotiate with Native Americans in the Fort Pitt area, wrote a letter to Congress claiming that the chief had been "treacherously put to death" by American militia in Michigan. He further wrote that the murder of White Eyes had been covered up to prevent the Lenape from abandoning the revolutionaries. No other details of what happened have survived; historians generally accept Morgan's claim that White Eyes had been murdered, though the reasons remain obscure. White Eyes' British-Lenape wife Rachel Doddridge was reportedly murdered by white men in 1788. Their mixed-race son George Morgan White Eyes (1770?–1798) was cared for by the family friend George Morgan. Later he was educated at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), where his tuition was paid by the Continental Congress. He graduated in 1789. Wikipedia - White Eyes

Notable descendants

• Newscaster Anderson Cooper [1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Schaff, Gregory. Wampum belts & peace trees: George Morgan, native Americans, and revolutionary diplomacy. (Fulcrum Pub., 1990).
2.   George Morgan, in Find A Grave.

   Inscription: Col. George Morgan | Born in Philadelphia | Died at Morganza | March 10th 1810 | Aged 69 years

3.   Kellogg, Louise Phelps, and Reuben Gold Thwaites. The revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777: compiled from the Draper Manuscripts in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society and published at the charge of the Wisconsin Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1992)
   31-32.

   59 George Morgan, son of Evan, was born in Philadelphia in 1742, and while a young man joined the firm of Baynton, Wharton & Co., well-known Indian traders, and in 1764 married a daughter of Baynton. The firm lost heavily by Pontiac's conspiracy, for which they were recompensed at the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768). This grant laid the foundation of the Indiana Company, for which Morgan was secretary and agent many years. Morgan early visited the Indian country and made himself popular with the tribesmen -- a voyage to the Illinois and down the Mississippi as early as 1766 being recorded. In 1768 he was living in the Illinois, but left there some time before the outbreak of the Revolution. His appointment by Congress in April, 1776, as Indian agent for the Middle Department brought him again to Pittsburgh, where he remained in this capacity until his resignation in the spring of 1779. He then rejoined the Eastern army, wherein he attained the rank of colonel. At the close of the war he settled in Princeton, N. J., there becoming a leading citizen and a trustee of the college. In 1788-89, Morgan was occupied with a plan for settling a colony on the Spanish side of the Mississippi, and founded there the settlement of New Madrid. Having failed to secure proper authorization from the Spanish authorities, the proposed colony was abandoned. In 1796 Morgan removed to Washington County, Pa., where he built an estate called "Morganza." There the Aaron Burr plot was first detected and reported. Morgan died at his Western home in 1810. His Indian name was "Taimenend." Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth of Marietta, Ohio, once possessed Morgan's journals, and published extracts therefrom in his Pioneer History (Cincinnati, 1848). -- Ed.

4.   United States. Arrangement of the Papers of Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe, and ..: United States Department of State Bureau of Rolls and Library. (Washington D.C.: Washington: Department of State, May, 1894)
   No. 5. Page 84, May, 1894.

   Fowler, Alexander (Captain). Philadelphia, January 18, 1779.
   To Congress. Incloses memorial representing the injustice and harshness received from the British since leaving their service and joining the American cause; misrepresentations made to General Thomas Gage; brought before a British court like a criminal; Captain Benjamin Carnock Payne testifies against him; his letters intercepted; one from Colonel George Morgan see also George Morgan (merchant) produced in court; commenced an action in London against General Thomas Gage for L5,000; has lost the case, and costs amount to L200; wishes Congress to compensate him for sufferings, etc.; testimonials as to conduct, etc., when in the British army. Chapter A, No. 78, volume 9, pages 237 and 239.
   
   Fowler, A. Pittsburgh, May 24, 1780.
   To the Secretary for Foreign Affairs John Jay see also Spanish Ambassador, John Jay. Concerning the seizure by the Spaniards of his boat and goods; copy of order of the Spanish commandant at the Natches; great injustice done him, as some boats were allowed to pass. Chapter A, No. 78, volume 9, page 555.
   
   Fowler, A. Philadelphia, September 29, 1787.
   To the Secretary for Foreign Affairs John Jay see also Spanish Ambassador, John Jay. Has petitioned the Spanish Ambassador for a recommendation to the Governor of New Orleans Esteban Rodríguez Miró for permission to transport 3,000 or 4,000 barrels of flour to that city; if allowed this, will be relieved from present embarrassments. Chapter A, No. 78, volume 9, page 571.