William Crawford (2 September 1732 – 11 June 1782) was an American soldier and surveyor who worked as a western land agent for George Washington. Crawford fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. He was tortured and burned at the stake by American Indians in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten massacre, a notorious slaughter of Indians by militia near the end of the American Revolution. Early career Crawford was born on 2 September 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Before a 1995 genealogical study by Allen W. Scholl, his birth year was erroneously estimated to be 1732. He was a son of William Crawford Sr and his wife Honora Grimes, who were Scots-Irish farmers. William Crawford Sr was a Presbyterian of Scottish descent from Coleraine, Ireland in what is today Northern Ireland and Honora Grimes was a Presbyterian of Scottish descent from Ballymoney, Ireland in what is today Northern Ireland. After his father's death in 1736, Crawford's mother married Richard Stephenson. Crawford had a younger brother, Valentine Crawford, plus five half-brothers and one half-sister from his mother's second marriage. In 1742 Crawford married one Ann Stewart, who bore him one child, a daughter also named Ann, in 1743. Apparently she died in childbirth or soon after, and on 5 January 1744 he married Hannah Vance, said to have been born in Pennsylvania in 1723. She bore him a son named John (20 April 1744 – 22 September 1816; he married one Effie Grimes) and at least two daughters, Ophelia "Effie" (2 September 1747 – 1825, who married Captain William McCormick [Feb 2, 1738–August 15, 1816]), and Sarah (1752–10 Nov 1838, who married 1) Major William Harrison [c 1740–13 June 1782], and 2) Lt. Col Uriah Springer [18 Nov 1754–21 Sep 1826]}. There may also have been another daughter, Nancy, born in 1767, who had apparently died when he wrote his will in 1782. In 1749, Col. William Crawford became acquainted with George Washington, then a young surveyor somewhat younger than Crawford. He accompanied Washington on surveying trips and learned the trade. In 1755, Crawford served in the Braddock expedition with the rank of ensign. Like Washington, he survived the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela. During the French and Indian War, he served in Washington's Virginia Regiment, guarding the Virginia frontier against Native American raiding parties. In 1758, Crawford was a member of General John Forbes's army which