Jane McCrea (1752-1777) was born in New Jersey, the daughter of a minister with a large family. Like many families of the era, hers was split between Patriot and Loyalist sympathies. Two of Jane's brothers were in Patriot units. Her fiancée, David Jones, was of Loyalist sympathies and fled to Quebec at the outbreak of the War. At some point, Jane moved from New Jersey to her brother John's home, but still kept in contact with David. As British General John Burgoyne's forces moved into New York and recaptured Ticonderoga in 1777, John left to take up his duties as Colonel of the Albany County (Patriot) militia, leaving Jane at home. Jane, perhaps to be closer to David, moved to the town near Fort Edward, staying with Sarah McNeil, a relative of British General Simon Fraser.
On July 27, 1777, as the Battles of Saratoga loomed, David Jones paid some Native Americans to escort Jane across the British lines to visit him. Sarah McNeil agreed to come along as her chaperone. One of the Natives was a Wyandot called in French Le Loup (Wolf) or known to Americans as the Wyandot Panther, no doubt his legend and name embellished by what shortly afterwards happened. On their way to either harass Patriots living near Fort Edward and/or retrieve the two women, Panther and his men ambushed another Settler family and killed them. They then took Jane and Sarah and in the journey back to join the British army the two women were separated. Sarah made it safely to the British lines and was reunited with Fraser, her cousin. To her horror, she saw a Native with a scalp that looked a lot like Jane McCrea's hair.
What happened?
The truth is that no one will ever know for sure. According to a British officer, as the Natives were bringing Jane to meet her fiancée, one of them began quarreling with Panther about the expected reward. In exasperation and anger, either he, or another Native, struck Jane and killed her, and brought in her scalp instead. When questioned later, Panther stated that Jane had been killed by a stray bullet fired by Americans pursuing the Natives after their raid on Fort Edward, that he had then brought the scalp instead of Jane, who was dead. During a later exhumation of her body, witnesses indicated that it bore signs of bullet wounds, but not tomahawk or knife markings.
The Patriot propaganda machine made hay of this story, accusing the British of encouraging the Natives to prey on Patriots by offering scalp bounties, and pointing out that Burgoyne was unwilling to protect even Loyalists from harm by Natives. Jane's loyalty to her fiancée and to the Crown has been magnified in the telling, as has her beauty and the distinctiveness of her hair. The one person who had seen her in real life, future American Army General James Wilkinson, not the most creditable of witnesses, later said that she was a country girl of mediocre looks, hardly the stuff of propaganda legend. To complicate matters, her skeleton was exhumed and moved several times. First, in 1822, then in 1852, when it was moved and placed in the same crypt with Sarah McNeil, who'd survived Jane by several years, then again in 2005, when the bodies were separated into two graves. During one of the early exhumations, it was discovered Jane's skull was missing. No way to tell if she was bludgeoned with a tomahawk and/or scalped or decapitated at the time.
New York at this time was a dangerous war zone, with Redcoats, Patriots, Loyalists and Natives all fighting over the same areas of land. Life was precarious and most likely whatever happened to Jane, whether she was killed by Natives or by stray bullets, it wasn't a peaceful or pretty death. However, contrary to American assertions at the time, there is no evidence that any British officer paid scalp bounties to Natives. Thus, there was more incentive for Panther to bring her in alive if he wished to receive whatever reward Jones, or Fraser, or Burgoyne was offering. Unable to produce a live woman, he brought the proof that he had attempted to complete mission, her scalp. Given these circumstances, it's highly likely he was telling the truth about her being killed by a stray bullet, though bringing the scalp wouldn't have been appreciated by any of the Europeans or Americans concerned.
Burgoyne knew that he had a public relations nightmare on his hands and was determined to bring someone to justice for this murder. He and Fraser confronted their Native auxiliaries, demanding that whoever was responsible for her death be turned over. Interpreter and agent Luc de la Corne convinced the irate officers that to punish Panther and the others would create unrest with the Natives right when the Redcoats didn't need it. Burgoyne let the matter drop, but it's also likely that de la Corne, known by the Natives, was aware enough of the facts to let the matter drop where it did.
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