July 4, 1776 Squirrel Hill Simon Girty & family owned most of Squirrel Hill - history forgets!

July 3, 1:05 PMPittsburgh History ExaminerDev Meyers

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Can you grow up in Squirrel Hill and not know about the most famous fighters in the War of Independence?

What if they were also the biggest landholders in Squirrel Hill?

During the years 1770 - 1818 Squirrel Hill landowner Simon Girty was as famous as Daniel Boone.

Shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 3 of the Girty brothers "the In-jun Girties" switched allegiances when they did not like the way the Americans were treating the Indians.  By fighting on the side of the French in the French and Indian War, Simon Girty was labeled Turncoat and became ostracized in proper American society.

The name Girty was never mentioned in history classes in Wightman Elementary School or Taylor Allderdice High School during the years that this author attended, even though both schools were located in Squirrel Hill.  This author grew up reading about Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.

In the movie The Devil and Daniel Webster, Girty was a bad guy.  Who would have known this bad guy was from Squirrel Hill?

Biographer Phil Hoffman dug through reels of microfilm and files of records for 10 years until he had enough material to "separate fact from fiction." 

Simon Girty Turncoat Hero, The Most Hated Man on the Early American Frontier, is a book that once started cannot be put down.  It is a gripping tale of Girty's journey and also of dynamics of early Pittsburgh.

According to legend, Simon Girty's father, Simon Girty Sr. was killed by a drunken Indian.  Hoffman was able early on to disprove the legend and verify that Sr. was killed in a pistol dual with an Englishman.

Much of the source reference data in the book is from the Lyman Draper series, Wisconsin Historical Society, which Hoffman points out disproves a lot of the Butterfield stories.  "Butterfield was exploiting Simon Girty to make money, picking the evidence to support what he wanted.  I changed everything that Butterfield cited  and separated fact from fiction.  

Of course once he gets to Detroit the focus changes.  The the references are from the National Archives," said Hoffman."

"How you separate the truth from myth on Girty, or anyone, for that matter, is you really do your homework and read everything on them -- EVERYTHING.  On a given date, Simon was accused of murdering a teen aged girl in Virginia, and of raiding a farm in Western Pa.,  But British records in the NAC (National Archives Canada) show solid evidence he was, in fact, interpreting a counsel taking place at Fort Detroit between the governor of Detroit and a group of Indian representatives who were there to discuss various issues.  The evidence includes payroll records of the British Indian Department."

Hoffman is emphatic - 'If it's in my book, I believe it's fact.  What else can I say?"

• The John Turner Graveyard
• Simon Girty of Squirrel Hill labled traitor for defecting
• Naked to the waist, captured Pittsburghers had to run the gauntlet - a long avenue of whips.