GIRTY, KeetT, SlaroN (1741-1818).• A notori ous renegade leader of the Indians. He was born in what is now Dauphin County, Pa.; was captured by the Indians, along with the rest of his family, at Fort Granville, in 1756; was released in 1759, and acted as an interpreter for some time after the conspiracy of Pontiac. In Lord Dunmore's War he served against the Indians, and for a short time thereafter was a second lieutenant in the Virginia militia. In 1776 he was ap pointed an Indian interpreter for the United States, but was soon discharged, after which he enlisted troops in the vicinity of Fort Pitt for service against the English. He went over to the English in April, 1776, was attainted of high treason by the Pennsylvania Legislature in July, and became an interpreter in the employ of the British Indian Department. His name soon be came a terror throughout the Western settle ments, and innumerable atrocities were attribut ed to him, though it seems that his influence and position among the Indians were greatly ex aggerated, and that he was perhaps never in command of any considerable force. After the
Revolution he acted as an interpreter for the English, and was extremely active in instigating the Indians to attack the American frontiersmen. He commanded the Indians who attacked Dun lap's Station, on the Great Miami, in February, 1791; led the Wyandots at the defeat of Saint Clair; commanded the Indians who attacked Fort Jefferson, on the Mississippi, in June, 1791; and in 1794 participated in the battle of Fallen Timbers. During the latter part of his life he lived near Detroit, across the Canadian border. His brothers, George, James, and Thomas, also fought with the Indians against the United States. Consult Butterfield, History of the Gir tys (Cincinnati, 1890).