Picturing history: General Crawford monument

On May 12, 1834, at the conclusion of their day's march, Zion's Camp settled for the night about 13 miles from the Ohio town of Bucyrus.

The following account is recorded in volume 2 of the History of the Church: "We left Richfield, traveled about thirty-five miles, passed Bucyrus, and encamped on the Sandusky plains, at a short distance from the place where the Indians roasted General Crawford, and near the Indian settlements."

The members of Zion's Camp were evidently aware that they were staying near the site where Col. William Crawford had been burned at the stake by Native Americans in 1782. The deed was an act of revenge because other white soldiers had earlier massacred some Christian Indians.

The monument commemorates Crawford's death, not the Zion's Camp site.