Scarouady sent to oversee the Mingo and dependent Ohio Country nations, Croghan organized the Ohio Confederation of the region's tribes in 1748; they lit a "council fire on the Ohio River, independent of the Six Nations." Greenwood believes this was Croghan's initiative, as shown by earlier and subsequent events. At the same time Croghan brought the Miami into an alliance with Great Britain, formalized in a July, 1748 treaty at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Andrew Montour, a conference interpreter, became Croghan's closest associate until his death in 1772. The other interpreter, Conrad Weiser, had been appointed as British Indian agent for Pennsylvania. Weiser held a conference in August 1748 at Logstown, on the Ohio River near its confluence in today's western Pennsylvania, to inform the recently allied tribes of the Ohio Confederation gathered at their capital that Britain had signed a peace treaty with France ending the war. As a result, the English had no more war supplies for them and he distributed gifts instead. Pennsylvania approved Weiser's recommendation that the colony appoint Croghan as its negotiator with the Ohio Country Indians. His success in that role should surprise no one. The French attacked pro-British tribes left hanging by the peace without arms and ammunition to defend themselves. Celeron de Bienville led a 1749 expedition to claim the Ohio Valley for France and drive out the English traders; Governor James Hamilton (Pennsylvania), sent Croghan to Logstown to investigate. Days before Celeron reached Logstown, its chiefs sold Croghan in the area, excluding at the Forks of the Ohio reserved for construction of a British fort.(A map accompanying the text for the first Pennsylvania Croghan historical marker may be found on the Critical Comments page of the ohiocountry.us website). Biographer Wainwright said gaining this huge amount of land was "a momentous event in his [Croghan's] life," a gross understatement of its impact on history, namely the otherwise unlikely penetration of Virginia into Ohio Country. Virginia's Ohio Company, which acted on behalf of the Commonwealth, sent agents Col. Thomas Cresap and Hugh Parker into the region, who made overtures to the Miami at Pickawillany. In a November,1749 letter to Pennsylvania's governor, Croghan offered to oppose them. Not long thereafter he learned that his in Indian grants were against Pennsylvania statutes, as the colony tried to protect the natives, but were permitted in Virginia. By 1750 he and Montour were aiding the Virginia Commonwealth, guiding its