Jane McCrea

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John Vanderlyn's painting The Death of Jane McCrea (1804)

Jane McCrea (also Jane McCrae , * uncertain: 1752; † July 27, 1777 in Fort Edward , New York ) was a loyalist during the American Revolutionary War . Her death at the hands of the Indian fighters who accompanied the Saratoga campaign of British General John Burgoyne became a motivating event for the rebels.

McCrea was born one of the younger children in the large family of Protestant pastor James McCrea in New Jersey . The McCrea family illustrated one of the troubles the war created. She had lived in Saratoga, New York with her brother John since her father died . She was engaged to David Jones. When the war started, two of her brothers were serving in the American armed forces, while her fiancé fled to Canada with the other loyalists . As Burgoyne's expedition approached Albany , Colonel John McCrea was doing his duty with a regiment of the Albany County Militia . Her fiancé Jones served as a lieutenant in one of the Loyalist militias that accompanied Burgoyne and was stationed at Fort Ticonderoga after the capture . Jane McCrea left her brother's house to go to her fiancé.

She had reached the village around old Fort Edward , but so had the war. She was staying at the home of Mrs. McNeil, another loyalist and cousin of British General Simon Fraser . On the morning of July 27, 1777, a group of Indians who came with the advancing British troops raided the outskirts of the place. Jane McCrea and Mrs. McNeil were taken hostage. When the Indians withdrew, McCrea and McNeil were separated. Mrs. McNeil came to see her cousin, but was shocked to discover that an Indian was wearing Jane McCrea's scalp .

There are conflicting reports of her death. The traditional version says that two fighters fought over her over the expected reward and that one of them killed her with his tomahawk to resolve the dispute. Another version says that she was killed by a bullet from the American rearguard retreating from Fort Edward. This second version was narrated by the fighter who wore her scalp when questioned by General Fraser to avoid pursuit.

Her death, and that of others in similar raids, sparked some resistance to Burgoyne's invasion, which led to his defeat at the Battle of Saratoga . The effect was later compounded when reports of the incident were used for propaganda purposes to arouse sympathy for the rebels during the war, particularly the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. The story became part of American folklore when James Fenimore Cooper saw several similar events described in his novel " The Last of the Mohicans ".

David Jones never married and later lived in Canada with the United Empire Loyalists . The place where Jane died, 3 miles south of Fort Edward, is marked by a monument. In 1852 her body was reburied in the Union Cemetery at Fort Edward.