Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a talented youth.
George Croghan -LRB- c. 1718 -- August 31 , 1782 -RRB- was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America -LRB- current United States -RRB- who became the region 's key figure earlier than his 1746 appointment to the Iroquois ' Onondaga Council and remained so until his banishment from the frontier in 1777 .. Irish-born. Kingdom of Ireland. Ohio Country. Ohio Country. Onondaga Council. Onondaga Council. Emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1741 , he became an important trader by going to the villages of Native Americans , learning their languages and customs , and working on the frontier where previously mostly French had been trading .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. During and after King George 's War of the 1740s , he helped negotiate new treaties and alliances with Native Americans .. Croghan was appointed in 1756 as Deputy Indian Agent with chief responsibility for the Ohio region tribes , assisting Sir William Johnson , British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District , who was based in New York and had strong alliances with the Iroquois .. Sir William Johnson. Sir William Johnson. William Johnson. Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet. Beginning in the 1740s and following this appointment , Croghan amassed hundreds of thousands of acres of land in today 's western Pennsylvania and New York by grants from Native Americans and purchases .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. Beginning in 1754 , he was a rival of George Washington for influence in Ohio Country and remained far more powerful there for more than 20 additional years , until 1777 during the American Revolutionary War when he was falsely accused of treason .. Ohio Country. Ohio Country. George Washington. George Washington. He was acquitted the following year but patriot authorities did not allow him back in the Ohio territory .. Croghan 's central role in Ohio Country events finds ample evidence in his two main biographers , yet they understate it .. Ohio Country. Ohio Country. He is irrelevant when not missing in recent George Washington biographies and the necessity of Croghan 's as the through story is not yet seen in histories of the region or books on the French and Indian War , the North American front of the Seven Years ' War between Britain and France .. George Washington. George Washington. French and Indian War. French and Indian War. Ohio 's recorded history begins with Croghan 's actions in the mid-1740s as fur trader , Iroquois sachem , and go-between for Pennsylvania , according to historian Alfred A. Cave .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. Alfred A. Cave. Alfred A. Cave. Cave concludes that the treason charge that ended Croghan 's career was trumped up by his enemies .. Western Pennsylvania became the focal point of events in August 1749 when Croghan purchased 200,000 acres from the Seneca , exclusive of two square miles at the Forks of the Ohio for a British fort .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. Croghan soon learned that his three deeds would be invalidated if part of Pennsylvania , sabotaged that colony 's effort to erect the fort , and led the Ohio Confederation to permit Virginia 's Ohio Company to build it and settle the region .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. In 1754 Virginia sent George Washington to the Ohio Country , who would eventually supplant Croghan there .. Ohio Country. Ohio Country. George Washington. George Washington. French control of Ohio Country , which they called the Illinois Country , indicating the area of their greater settlement , after Braddock 's Defeat in 1755 found Croghan building forts on the Pennsylvania frontier .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. Ohio Country. Ohio Country. Following which he manned the farthest frontier post in present-day New York as Deputy Indian agent under Sir William Johnson , called the `` Mohawk Baron '' for his extensive landholdings and strong relations with the Mohawk and other Iroquois .. Sir William Johnson. Sir William Johnson. William Johnson. Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet. Croghan briefly lived until 1770 on a quarter of a million New York acres .. He resigned as Indian agent in 1771 to work on establishing Vandalia , a proposed fourteenth British colony to include parts of present-day West Virginia , southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Kentucky , but continued to serve as a borderland negotiator for Johnson , who died a British loyalist in 1774 .. Pennsylvania. Province of Pennsylvania. Vandalia. Vandalia ( colony ). While working to keep the Ohio Indians neutral during the Revolutionary War , Croghan served as Pittsburgh 's president judge and chairman of the Committee of Safety , aligning with the patriots .. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. Committee of Safety. Committee of Safety ( American Revolution ). General Edward Hand of this city accused him in 1777 of treason and Croghan was banished from the frontier .. Edward Hand. Edward Hand. Although he was acquitted in a November 1778 trial , Croghan was not allowed to return to the frontier .. He died little acknowledged in 1782 , shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War .. Croghan 's 30 years as the pivotal figure in Ohio Country history has attracted relatively little academic interest .. Ohio Country. Ohio Country