Valley Forge and Interesting Ancestors

When we visited Valley Forge, we saw lots of artifacts, cannons and a few replicas of the cabins that the men stayed in over the winter. While we were there, Dad said that one of our ancestors served under George Washington. When we got home, we did some research and found out who it was. It was my great, great, great, great, grandfather, Col. Valentine Crawford, Sr. He and his brother, Col. William Crawford, were a land surveyors and you can see some of the letters between them and President Washington here. Also, we read something really interesting about my great, great, great, great, uncle, Col. William Crawford. Some out of control American soldiers massacred a group of peaceful Lanape Indians. Even though William Crawford was not involved in the massacre, he was captured by a tribe of Lanape Indians, tortured for 2 hours, and then burned at the stake as punishment for the massacre. Yikes. You can read all about it on Wikipedia. They even have a portrait of him and a rendering of him being burned at the stake. Col. Valentine Crawford died of pneumonia after falling through some ice.