Researching Patrick Cragun Opens Up Interesting History

 Patrick Cragun (Craguner - Creagan???) seems to have arrived in Tennessee about 1779 or 1780.

It has been fascinating to learn about that era in Tennessee. General John Sullivan led the final crushing of the feisty Indians. Those battles on their own are interesting. General Sullivan went into Tennessee to fight the Iriquois Indians and their British agents with four brigades totalling 1500 soldiers.

Later, in December of 1779 brave pioneers left their homes to seek their own fortunes in Tennessee. Many came through South Carolina which  had an important network of early roads, including the ancient Great Indian Warrior Path. Some came by river, in 1779 Colone John Donelson led a 30 boat flotilla that launched the famous river migration to Tennessee. He had been there  previously, but his family came with him in this flotilla. 

Years earlier the area had been surveyed in preparation for settlement. The land was choice, the ground was fertile, perfect for farming which is what Patrick Cragun did for his remaining life.

They arrived and settled in what was to become Sullivan County, named after General John Sullivan. His story is also interesing. His bitterness toward England is understandable, as his families Irish Castles had been leveled to rubble by the British invasions. His father was an Irish Exile.

John Sullivan led an in your face attack on Fort William and Mary, where he and some selected associates, through fire and muskets tore down the Royal Flag and carried barrells of powder and muskets away. This British reaction was that it was so humiliating there was no turning back to a war with the Colonials.

The Irish had good reason to despise British rule. Ireland had been pillage and raped, their people murdered by the thousands. It was no wonder the Irish immigrants were key to the American Revolution. Those most vigorous in the rebellion agains England were the Irish. John Sullivan being just one of them. Patrick Cragun possibly another.

Do You Want To Have An Interesting Cragun Research Challenge?

Hey there Cragun's, to many of us our ancestor Patrick Cragun is a folk hero. We read about his coming to America without his family at age 15. We read he was in the Boston Tea Party.

He is a fascinating figure with much we don't know. Most of his life is undocmunted. There is likely many more interesting facts which we don't know about.

I invite you to make this a hobby, or encourage your parents to jump in to learn more through different facets of research on this historic figure.

I post here a middle portion of an article on Cragun Cragun Family Genealogy Research Blog Click here for the full article.

I believe if we all put a little time together, we can solve this puzzle and more.

The quote:

I have a form that says, "I want to know", "I already know", and "I conclude that" Here is one of the questions in my "I want to know column". You are welcome to help.

Did he serve in the revolutionary war? Here are reasons I would love to have this answer: Patrick is about 35 years old when he shows up in Sullivan County, Tn. Sullivan County is named after the Revolutionary War hero General John Sullivan. General Sullivan ended his career with his battle against the Iriquos in that area of Tennessee. Patrick would have been about 22 when the Boston Tea Party. If he participated in that, where was he between that Boston event and age 35 in Tennessee? Is it possible that as Sullivan served part of the war in Boston that Patrick was one of his soldiers, and followed him to fight in Tennessee, liked the beautiful area and returned to live out his adult life?

General John Sullivan: From Wikipedia:
John Sullivan (February 17, 1740 – January 23, 1795) was a American General in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress and a United States federal judge.
Sullivan, the third son of Irish settlers, served as a major general in the Continental Army and as Governor (or "President") of New Hampshire. He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries. As a member of Congress, Sullivan worked closely with the French Ambassador the Chevalier de la Luzerne
After the British evacuated Boston in the spring of 1776, Washington sent General Sullivan north to replace the fallen John Thomas as commander in Quebec. He took command of the sick and faltering invasion force, sent some of those forces on an unsuccessful counterattack against the British at Trois-Rivières, and withdrew the survivors to Crown Point. This led to the first of several controversies between Congress and General Sullivan, as they sought a scapegoat for the failed invasion of Canada. He was exonerated and promoted to major general on August 9, 1776.

Long Island

Sullivan rejoined Washington and was placed in command of the troops on Long Island to defend against British General Howe's forces about to envelop New York City. But then, on August 23, Washington split the command between Sullivan and General Israel Putnam. Confusion about the distribution of command contributed to the American defeat at the Battle of Long Island four days later. Sullivan's personal bravery was unquestioned, as he engaged the Hessian attackers with a pistol in each hand; however, he was captured.

Expedition against Iroquoia

Main article: Sullivan Expedition

James Clinton and John Sullivan

In the summer of 1779, Sullivan led the Sullivan Expedition, a massive campaign against the Iroquois in western New York. During this campaign, troops destroyed a very large Cayuga settlement, called Coreorgonel, on what is now the southwest side of Ithaca, New York. To reach the enemy homeland, Sullivan's army took a southerly route to western New York through northeast Pennsylvania, which required creating a new road through lightly inhabited areas of the Pocono Mountains, which still exists and is known as Sullivan's Trail.
He pushed his troops so hard that their horses became unusable, and killed them on this campaign, creating the namesake for Horseheads, New York. The lukewarm response of the Congress was more than he could accept. Broken, tired and again opposed by Congress, he retired from the army in 1779 and returned to New Hampshire

Counties in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Missouri were all named for him, as was Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan