A Patriot of the American Revolution for PENNSYLVANIA with the rank of PRIVATE. DAR Ancestor #: A028386

William Critchlow (1760-1830), was the acclaimed American hero of the Battle of Saratoga. This battle was a crucial turning point in the American Revolution, the outcome convinced France that the military forces of the American colonies were prepared and able to defend their freedom in their new country. France agreed to supply them with munitions. During the heat of that critical battle near Saratoga, New York in 1777, the first William Critchlow bravely volunteered to crawl through the meadow separating Colonel Morgan's riflemen from the ranks of British grenadiers. As those redcoats advanced, William rose up and fired at their commanding officer on a hilltop behind them. That officer, General Simon Fraser, fell from his saddle, creating confusion among the British who suffered defeat in what historians consider to be one of the most decisive battles of history.

He was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1760. He was one of the first school teachers in western Pennsylvania, where he taught at Poke Run, Washington Township in Westmoreland County. During the Revolutionary War and between 1778 and 1783, he was a private soldier in Captain Leech's company of Westmoreland County Rangers (Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. 23, p. 328).

He was one of the first school teachers in western Pennsylvania, where he taught at Poke Run, Washington Township in Westmoreland County. During the Revolutionary War and between 1778 and 1783, he was a private soldier in Captain Leech's company of Westmoreland County Rangers (Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. 23, p. 328). He married Mary Polly Burnsides, daughter of John Burnsides who had been born in Scotland and by whom he had eight children. After her death he married Mrs. Polly Mann, and when she died he married Margaret Horton.. On March 17, 1796, he bought two hundred acres of land in Washington Township, Westmoreland County for forty pounds from his father-in-law (recorded in Westmoreland County Deed Book, Vol. II, Page 67), and on January 18, 1803, he sold the land for one hundred nineteen pounds to William McGeary, who had married his sister Martha. The Butler County Township Tax Lists for 1803 show assessments of farms of William Critchlow and his brothers James and John, and a deed dated 1820 shows a transfer of one-hundred fifty acres of land in Butler County, Pennsylvania to William Critchlow from John Cratty, husband of William's sister Margaret. William Critchlow died May 30, 1830.