LOGAN -THE MINGO
CHIEF.
1710-1780.
[The Ohio tribes of Indians produced an
extraordinary number of
illustrious chiefs who figured large in
the history of their race. Among
these were Pontiac, Tecumseh, Cornstalk,
Little Turtle, Blue Jacket
and a score of others who left
distinguished records as warriors, orators
and tribal leaders. Among these perhaps
no one gained a fame so wide
as that acquired by Logan, the Mingo
chief who refused to attend the
Treaty of Camp Charlotte and at that
time delivered the speech which
has been recited by thousands of school
boy declaimers. The following
biography of Logan, probably as
authentic as can now be obtained,
is from the Draper Manuscripts--Border
Forays, 2 D., Chapter 12--in
the Library of the Wisconsin Historical
Society. The notes also here-
with published were made by a recent
student of the manuscripts. Both
are published through the courtesy of
Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, Secre-
tary of the Wisconsin Historical
Society.-E. O. R.]
During the last half of the seventeenth
century, long and
bloody wars were waged between the Five
Nations of Indians
and the white inhabitants of Canada. The
savages killed or cap-
tured-as was ever their wont-regardless
of age or sex. Among
their prisoners was a boy, born in
Montreal of French parent-
age,1 and baptized in the
Roman Catholic church,2 who after be-
ing adopted into a family of Oneidas,3
of the Wolf clan,4 and
given the name of Shikelimo,5 eventually
married a wife of the
Cayugas.6
Shikelimo became the father of several
children,7 who, ac-
cording to the Indian rule, were of the
same tribe as the mother.8
In the course of time, he was raised to
the dignity of a chief
among the Oneidas9-the nation of his
adoption. In the year
1728, having been by the Grand Council
of the Iroquois "set
over" the Shawanese,10 who
then occupied contiguous territory
to, and were held in subjection by, the
Five Nations, Shikelimo
removed with his family to a small
Indian village on the east
side of the West Branch of the
Susquehanna, at a point about
fourteen miles above its junction with
the Northeast Branch,
137
138
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
near the mouth of Warriors Run, in what
is now Northumber-
land county, Pennsylvania ;11--removing,
about ten years after,
to Shamokin, now the city of Sunbury,
where he made his
future home;12 and where, at an
advanced age,13 he died, in De-
cember, 1748.14
Shikelimo filled for more than twenty
years, a large space
in the Indian history of the country, he
may be said to have ruled
over, for, in the course of time, his
office became greatly ex
tended. He swayed almost a vice-regal
sceptre over all the in-
ferior tribes south of the Iroquois who
paid tribute to that
powerful League, or were held by it in
subjection. He became
a kind of resident ambassador of the
Five Nations, in Pennsyl-
vania. He frequently acted as the agent
of that Province in
their dealings with that famous
Confederacy. That he dealt
out justice even-handed to the savages
over whom he was placed,
is evident from their high estimation of
him, frequently ex-
pressed. That his conduct was
satisfactory to the Grand Council
of Onondaga, is established by the fact
of his being continued so
many years as its representative and
agent abroad. The govern-
ment of Pennsylvania was ever loud in
their praise of "Shikeli-
mo, the true friend of Englishmen."
Taking into consideration
its complicated character, it is
doubtful if any such office had
ever before been created by North
American Indians; or one so
important, filled with more satisfaction
to all concerned.
Shikelimo was, of course, unlettered. He
was tutored only
in Indian craft. In all respects, except
the color of his skin, he
was a savage-but of the highest type of
the race. Revenge, a
passion so strong in the breast of the
Indian, he seemed in-
capable of. The use of intoxicating
liquors, he held in utter ab-
horrence. There is an abundance of
recorded evidence of his
fine personal appearance, of his genial
manners, of his shrewd-
ness as a diplomat, and of the firmness
and nobility of his char-
acter. By the Moravians, he was held in
high esteem; a few
words of his once moved several of their
young men to con-
secrate themselves to the work of
missions among the North
American Indians ;15 indeed, wherever known, he seems to have
been a general favorite.
Logan,16 whose Indian name was Tach-nech-do-rus17-"the
Logan - The Mingo
Chief. 139
branching oak of the forest"18-was
the eldest son of Shikeli-
mo.19 He was known, however,
for many years to white people,
especially to Pennsylvanians, as John
Shikelimo.20 He was born
in the Oneida country, now an interior
portion of the State of
New York,21 about the year
1710. Although his father was a
white man, Logan was, agreeable to the
Indian rule, by birth-
right a Cayuga-to which nation his
mother belonged ;22 al-
though, as already explained, Shikelimo
was, by adoption, an
Oneida.23
Concerning Logan's minority, history is
entirely silent.
That he grew to manhood in possession of
superior talents is
evidenced by the early recognition of
his abilities, in councils.24
He unquestionably inherited the talents
of his father, but not his
sobriety. His passion for strong drink,
which, in the end, so
overcame him, was largely due to his
residing, for so many years,
at or near Shamokin-"the very
seat of the Prince of Darkness."25
Situated about midway of the Province of
Pennsylvania, at a
point one mile below where the Northeast
and West branches
unite to form "the winding
river"-Susquehanna, it had a very
commanding and accessible position. It was directly on the
route from Philadelphia to the Grand
Council House of the Six
Nations. Its situation was delightful.
An early writer was en-
raptured with "the charming plain
of Shamokin, two miles long
and about one broad, skirted on the west
and north by the river,
and encompassed east and partly south,
with lofty hills."26 In
strange contrast with the magnificance
of the natural scenery
was the immorality of its savage
occupants. "The Indians of
this place," wrote the pious
Brainerd more than three years be-
fore the death of Shikelimo, "are
accounted the most drunken,
mischievous, and ruffian-like fellows of
any in these parts."27
Logan had four brothers. The youngest
died in 1729, at
Shamokin. "You are very sensible of
your love and our care,"
wrote the Governor of Pennsylvania, to
the father upon the sor-
rowful event, "for all the good
Indians, our brethren, that live
amongst us or near us." "We
send," he added, "a strowd to cover
Shikelimo's son."28
The brother next to Logan was Say-ugh-
to-wa,29 known to the English
as "James Logan."30 He was thus
named by his father in honor of a warm
friend, James Logan, a
140 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
learned writer and statesman, born in
Lurgan, Ireland, on the
twentieth of October, 1674, of Scotch
parentage,-who died at
Stanton, near Philadelphia, on the
thirty-first of October, 1751.
He landed in Pennsylvania as the
Secretary of William Penn
early in December, 1699; and after the
return of the latter to
England, in 1701, he was invested with
many important offices,
which he discharged with fidelity and
judgment. He was
provincial Secretary, Commissioner of
Property, Chief Justice,
and upon the death of Governor Gordon,
in October, 1736, gov-
erned the province of Pennsylvania for
two years, as president
of the Council. He was the friend of the
Indians, possessed un-
common abilities, and great wisdom and
moderation.
The Indian name of Logan's second
brother-the third son
of Shikelimo-was Sa-go-gegh-ya-ta. He was known to the
English as "John Petty," or
"John Petty Shikelimo ;"31 having
been named after a trader of some
prominence in the early days
of Pennsylvania.32 Shikelimo's fourth son bore the
dolorous
name of "Unhappy Jake."33
He was killed by the Catawbas in
1744, with five others of the Six
Nations. "As this is a great
stroke to our friend Shikelimo,"
wrote Conrad Weiser, on the
second of January, 1745, to the
Secretary of Pennsylvania, "who
is, for the trust put in him by the
Council of the Six Nations,
and our government, worthy to be taken
notice of. I thought
it my indispensable duty to inform you
of this; and to lay it be-
fore the Governor, whether or no he
thinks fit to send to Shikel-
imo a small present, in order to wipe
away his tears and com-
fort his heart, and enable him by so
doing, to stand to his charge;
which would be not only satisfactory to
him, but very agreeable
and pleasing to the Council of the Six
Nations;-and, conse-
quently, some little service done to
ourselves."34
Of the sisters of Logan, but little is
known. The eldest,
who was married to an Indian named
Cajadis, in 1731, lost her
husband in 1747.35 He was
reckoned the best hunter among all
the Indians at Shamokin. There was one
sister living among the
Conestoga Indians, near the Susquehanna,
at no great distance
from the town of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, in the year 1756,36
who, seven years after, fell a sacrifice
to the wild ferocity of the
Logan - The Mingo
Chief. 141
Paxton rioters, along with the residue
of those peaceable and
friendly Indians.37
Of the thirty-seven years that Logan
resided upon the
waters of the Susquehanna-from 1728 to
1765-seventeen of
them were to him years of great activity
and responsibility. In
1747, a Cayuga Chief, known as
Sca-yen-ties, bore to him a mes-
sage from one of the tribes of his
nation of great importance.
He was found, in company with his
father, at the house of
Joseph Chambers, on the east side of the
Susquehanna, about
six miles above the present city of
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
He was informed that he had been
nominated and appointed one
of their Counselors. He was desired to
apply himself to public
business.44 This was the
commencement of his long official
career,-greatly augmented, in its
importance, upon the death of
Shikelimo. The instruction of the father
had not been thrown
away upon the son. From this time
forward until the day of
his death, Shikelimo was always
accompanied by him, whenever
absent on public business.45 It
was no new custom, however,
as the records of previous public
meetings and treaties abundant-
ly prove.46 Scarcely had
Logan entered upon his duties as Coun-
selor for the Cayugas than he was called
upon to mourn the
death of his wife.47
Logan was sent by his father, to the Six
Nations, on busi-
ness connected with public affairs, in
1748.48 Shikelimo was too
feeble to attend the Great Council at
Onondaga in person. He
died soon after. Logan and his brothers
were the recipients of
many messages of condolence upon the
occasion of his death.
One came from the bishops and Synod of
the Moravian church,
"sympathizing with them in their
loss, telling them of their
father's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and urging them to fol-
low in his footsteps."49 "I returned from Shamokin," wrote
Conrad Weiser, Indian agent for
Pennsylvania, to the Governor
of that Province, on the twenty-second
of April, 1749, from
Heidelberg, in the present county of
Berks,-"on the eighteenth
instant. I happened to meet the eldest
and youngest son of
Shikelimo, at the trading house of
Thomas McKee, about twenty
miles this side of Shamokin."
"All I had to do was," continued
the writer, "to let the children
and grandchildren of your dis-
142
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
eased friend, Shikelimo, know that the
Governor of Pennsyl-
vania and his Council condoled with them
for the death of their
father."50
Weiser then gave them a small present in
order "to wipe
off their tears," according to the
custom of the Indians. After
this, and in the name of the Governor,
and on behalf of the
Council, of Pennsylvania, he desired
Logan to take upon him-
self the care and responsibility of a
chief instead of his deceased
parent, and to be the true correspondent
of the Government, un-
til there should be a meeting between
the same and the Six Na-
tions, when he should be recommended by
the Governor and con-
firmed, if he would follow the footsteps
of his departed father.
"He accepted thereof," says
Weiser, "and I sent a string
of wampum to Onondaga to let the Six
Nations know of Shikel-
imo's death and my transactions, by
order of the Governor."51
There was a necessity for expedition in
this appointment of a
successor to the Iroquois
"vicegerent" at Shamokin; for the In-
dians were getting very uneasy about the
white people settling
beyond the "Endless
Mountains," on the Juniata, on Sherman's
creek, and elsewhere, west of the
Susquehanna. It was their
only hunting ground for deer; farther to
the northward, they
were very scarce. Five years before, a
deputy from the Grand
Council of the Six Nations, addressing
himself to the Governor
of Pennsylvania, desired that the people
who were then located
upon the Juniata might be removed;
"for," said he, "we have
given that river for a hunting-place to
our cousins, the Delaware
Indians, and our brethren, the
Shawanese, and we ourselves hunt
there sometimes."52
Logan was soon raised by the General
Council of Onondaga
to the dignity of "Sachem or Chief
of the Shamokin Indians,"53
an office, in all that appertained to
the government of the vari-
ous Indian tribes represented at that
place, equal in importance
to the one held by his father; besides,
he was made one of the
ten Sachems of the Cayugas54--the
Nation to which he belonged.
Logan heeded the advice of Conrad Weiser
and he came a "true
correspondent" of Pennsylvania,
acting as its agent frequently
in its intercourse with the Six Nations.
To conciliate the Indians and give them
assurance that those
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 143
who settled upon their lands on the
Juniata should be speedily
removed, a conference between them and
the Government of
Pennsylvania was held on the seventeenth
of May, 1750, at
Pennsboro, Cumberland County. Logan was
present and took
part in the proceedings.55
In 1754, the Governor of Pennsylvania
informed its Coun-
cil, that, having standing instructions
from its Proprietaries to
take all opportunities of making a
purchase of lands from the
Iroquois which was every day becoming
more urgent by the
great number of people settling beyond
the Blue Hills over the
Susquehanna, contrary to the
stipulations of the government
with those Indians, which might create
differences with them,-
he had recommended the Proprietaries to
try by all the means
in their power to make a purchase; and
to facilitate the neces-
sary work, he had, by the advice of
Conrad Weiser, dispatched
Logan-"John Shikelimo"-early
in the Spring with a message
to the Six Nations, informing them of
the necessity of their
selling, by reason of the increase of
the inhabitants, and the im-
possibility of restraining them from
making settlements beyond
the boundaries previously established;
and desiring they would
enter into a treaty with the
Proprietaries whose agents would
be at Albany in the ensuing Summer.
Logan conducted the negotiation,
preliminary to the treaty,
to the satisfaction of both parties. A
vast extent of land west
of the Susquehanna, including the whole
territory watered by
the Juniata, was secured and the
Indian's title quieted, on the
sixth of July, at Albany. "As to
Wyoming and Shamokin and
the land contiguous thereto, on the
Susquehanna," said the In-
dians, "we reserve them for our
hunting ground and for the resi-
dence of such as in this time of war
shall remove from among
the French and choose to live there, and
we have appointed John
Shikelimo to take care of them. He is
our Representative and
Agent there, and has our orders not to
suffer either the Penn-
sylvania people or the New Englanders to
settle any of those
lands; and if any shall presume to do
it, we have directed him to
complain to Pennsylvania, whether it
shall be their own people
or those from other provinces; and to
insist on their being
turned off; and if he shall fail in this
application, we will come
144 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
ourselves and turn them off. Nobody
shall have this land."
Logan was present at the treaty and
signed the deed as one of
the Sachems of the Cayugas.56
Trouble soon arose in Logan's
"dominion" after the meet-
ing at Albany. Connecticut people began
to crowd in upon the
Wyoming lands. He thereupon sent a
message with a belt to
the Governor of Pennsylvania:-"When
the great treaty," said
he, "was held at Albany this
Summer, the Six Nations in their
Council appointed me to the care of the
lands at Wyoming and
north of the Western Branch of the
Susquehanna which they
keep for the use of the Indians who are
daily flocking there from
all parts, and acquainted the
Commissions of Pennsylvania in the
presence of all the people that I was
their agent; that they put
those lands into my hands; and that no
white men should come
and settle there; and ordered me, if
they did, to complain to
Pennsylvania; and to get them punished
and turned off." "In
virtue of this appointment,"
continued Logan, "I complain to
Pennsylvania that some foreigners and
strangers who live on the
other side of New York and have nothing
to do in these parts,
are coming like flocks of birds to
disturb me and settle those
lands; and I am told they have bought
those lands of the Six
Nations since I left Albany, and that I
have nothing further
to do with them." "I desire
you," he said, in conclusion, "to
send to those people not to come; and if
you do not prevent it,
I shall be obliged to complain to the
Six Nations."
This was the commencement of the
difficulty between "The
Susquehanna Company"-formed in
Connecticut the year previ-
ous, for the purpose of establishing a
settlement in Wyoming-
and Pennsylvania, which afterward bore
bitter fruit, but was
now interrupted by the coming on of the
French War. The
Connecticut people claimed that they had
already purchased, by
deed duly executed of the "chief
sachems and heads of the Five
Nations," the lands spoken of by
Logan. But the latter con-
tinued his complaints to the Governor of
Pennsylvania,-insist-
ing, the next year, as in 1754,
"that people were beginning to
settle to the northward of the Albany
purchase." "I have laid
your complaint," wrote the
Governor, "before the Council in
which you set forth that sundry people
have settled beyond the
Logan- The Mingo Chief. 145
line of the late purchase made at
Albany, upon lands not yet
conveyed by the Six Nations; and it is
determined that the line
shall be run that it may be known for
certain where the limit ex-
tends; and when this is done I will
issue a Proclamation pro-
hibiting all persons from settling to
the north of that line, and
I hope this will have its effect. You
shall have notice when the
line is run that you may be present and
see that all things are
done right. If, after this any shall
presume to settle there, they
will be punished."57
After the defeat of Braddock in July,
1755, French interests
began largely to prevail among the
Indians of the Susquehanna.
"You and the French," said a
recalcitrant chief afterward in ad-
dressing Sir William Johnson,
"quarreled for the lands on Ohio,
and the French came there with a large
body of men and beat
yours off; and so the Indians on the
Ohio were, in a manner,
obliged to come into their measures.
They were persuaded to
take up the hatchet against the English;
and, as they came in
small parties to the Susquehanna river,
they prevailed on the
Susquehanna Indians to go with
them,-they being related to
one another. Many had their fathers,
mothers, sons and daugh-
ters, on the Ohio, and could not
withstand their request; being
one people, they could not resist."58
Logan, for months, opposed
the tide then setting in so strongly at
Shamokin. Finally, in
the Fall of that year, it became too
powerful to be resisted with
safety; and, as a consequence, he and
his family, together with
his two brothers, were swept away from
their town by the storm
of war now raging so fiercely around
them. They moved up
the Northeast Branch of the Susquehanna
to a hostile village; a
report being circulated among the
Delawares that the Pennsyl-
vanians were coming in large numbers to
destroy them, and
Logan's life being threatened if he did
not at once leave Shamo-
kin.59 He even went so far,
it was afterward reported by a
friendly Indian, as to consent to take
the warpath against the
English; but, fortunately, at this
crisis, and while at Wyoming,
whither he had gone and was waiting to
be joined by eighty
Delawares to go against the back
inhabitants, he was met by two
Indian messengers who had been
dispatched to the Six Nations
Vol. XX.-10.
146
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
by Pennsylvania and were then on their
way to the Onondaga
Council. These Indians upbraided him for
his ingratitude to
the English who had ever been extremely
kind to his father
when alive, and to him and his family
and relatives, since his
decease; and charged him not to go along
with the war-party
which would soon set out, but rather to
join some friendly In-
dians-about thirty in number--who were
then in the village,
and who dissapproved of the measures of
the Delawares.60
Logan took their advice; remained in the
town; and firmly re-
solved never to strike the English;-to
which resolution, so long
as the war lasted, he steadfastly
adhered; and also during the
continuance of Pontiac's War. His
well-known declaration made
in 1774, was true: "During the
course of the last long and
bloody war, Logan remained idle in his
camp, an advocate for
peace."
Early in 1756, two Indians of the Six
Nations were sent
by the Governor of Pennsylvania up the
Susquehanna, to gain
intelligence of the notions and number
of the enemy Indians,
and to try to find out Logan and his
brothers, and, if possible,
bring them to Conrad Weiser's, that the
former might consult
with his white brethren upon the present
state of affairs. This
was a fortunate circumstance. It
confirmed Logan in his loyalty
to the English. He and his wife returned
with the messengers,
to "a fort at Hunter's Mill near
the place where the Blue Hills
cross the Susquehanna,"-generally
known at that time, as Mc-
Kee's fort-where a guard was ordered to
escort them to Tul-
pehocken, Weiser's residence. But Logan
declared positively
that he would not go there; being
apprehensive that the "Dutch"
would fall upon him and either kill him
or do him some mischief.
He would go, he said, through Lancaster
to Philadelphia and de-
liver what he had to say to the Governor
in person; and insisted
that the commander of the fort-Captain
McKee-should go
along and protect him. At Harris', now
Harrisburg, they were
joined by three other Indians, when they
all made their way to
Lancaster. Here Logan sent for his
sister, who was living
among the Conestoga Indians, not far
off. She and the
Conestogas joined the party and all
journeyed thence to Phila-
Logan - The Mingo Chief.
147
delphia, where they arrived-men, women,
and children-on
Saturday, the twenty-first of February.
On Monday morning following, the
Governor sent his Sec-
retary to welcome the Indians to town,
and in particular, Logan;
and to make them the usual compliments
of drying up their tears
and taking away the grief out of their
hearts, that they might
be at liberty to declare the business
they came upon. After they
had returned thanks, and made the
Governor the same compli-
ments, they said the two messengers and
Logan whom they had
brought with them, would go directly to
the Governor and tell
him in person what they had to say.
However, before the meet-
ing, Logan sent a message by Weiser, who
was present, to the
Chief Executive: "My father,
who," he said, "it is well known
was all his life a hearty and steady
friend to the English, and
to Pennsylvania in particular, charged
all his children to follow
his steps and to remain always true to
them, who had ever been
kind to him and his family."
"Upon the troubles first breaking
out," continued Logan,
"between the Indians and the white peo--
ple, the former came to Shamokin and
obliged me and my
brothers against our inclinations to
stay with them; but I had the
good fortune to get from among them,
which I was glad of; and
I am now come to my brethren to assure
them that, though I
have been absent some time, and among
their enemies, yet it was
against my will, being forced to
it." "I was still your good
friend," he added, "and would
live and die with you. I desire
you should receive me as a friend."
The Governor ordered
his Secretary to return his answer to
Logan, and assure him he
was glad to see him; that the Government
gave him a hearty
reception, and would make everything
agreeable to him, and take
care of his family.
Logan afterwards reported that the two
messengers found
him at Wyoming; that he and his brethren
and others of his
friends were informed that when the
Delawares upon the Ohio
proclaimed war against the English, they
forewarned all the In-
dians to come away from the latter;
desiring them to move up,
the Northeast Branch of the Susquehanna;
whereupon, a council
was called at Shamokin, and it was
agreed, by the Indians there
present, chiefly Delawares, to go up
that stream for safety. "I
148 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
and my family," said Logan,
"intended to go to the white settle-
ments, but the Delawares would not let
us. I therefore went
with them and took my family with
me." "After a while," con-
tinued he, "I found that these
Indians were in the French in-
terest. Then, I began to be afraid. I,
with my brethren and
others, would have gladly gone to the
English, but we dared not
venture, being afraid of the back
inhabitants, and much more
afraid of the Delawares, who told us, in
plain terms, that if we
offered to go down the river they would
look upon us as brethren
to the English and as their
enemies." When the Delawares be-
gan to bring in English scalps, Logan
left the town and went to
Wyoming, where the government messengers
found him and in-
duced him to return with them to the
white settlements.
Logan had not been long in Philadelphia
before he began to
grow uneasy lest some mischief might
befall his family in his
absence. He feared that the enemy
Indians, if they should hear
of his journey to the settlements, might
take revenge upon them.
He therefore desired to return at once
to Wyoming, and
promised to bring them and his brothers
down into the
province.61 So he and his wife hastened back to
the Northeast
Branch of the Susquehanna. By the fifth
of April, Logan had
again reached McKee's fort, a few miles
above the present city
of Harrisburg, with his family and his
two brothers. He
brought an account of there being great
confusion among the
Indians up the Northeast Branch; the
Delawares were all mov-
ing from there to the Ohio, and were
trying to persuade the
Shawanese to go with them; but the
latter declined; as they
would rather join the English, and were
going up to Tioga
where there was a body of the Six
Nations, and there they in-
tended to remain.62 Logan
again asked the commander to con-
duct him, as he had previously done,
through the white settle-
ments, at least as far as Conestoga
where his sister and children
lived; but this office, Captain McKee
now declined; and Logan
and his family remained in the
fort,-only, however, for a brief
period; for, being ill-treated and
threatened by the people, he
made his escape without even his gun;
and after enduring many
hardships and much suffering from
hunger, again reached one
Logan- The Mingo Chief. 149
of the Indian towns upon the Northeast
Branch, whence, soon
after, he made his way to Tioga.
Early in June, 1756, the Governor of
Pennsylvania, ever
mindful of the previous services of
Logan and indignant at the
treatment he had received at Fort McKee,
sent him a message,
with a string of wampum, to Tioga,
expressing his concern that
he should have been the recipient of
such abuse, and assuring
him that it was entirely unknown to the
Government; and re-
questing that he should come with the
messenger to Philadelphia,
and he should receive a kind welcome and
receive sufficient
proofs of the friendship of the
Governor.64 Conrad Weiser
also sent him a pressing invitation to
return. Logan could not
resist these importunities
notwithstanding the indignities heaped
upon him at "the fort near John
Harris' "; so, with his wife, he
immediately started upon his journey to
see the Governor, taking
Bethlehem on his road to Philadelphia.
Reaching Bethlehem on the first day of
September, Logan
was carefully questioned by David
Zeisberger, who spoke the
Indian language well. He obtained much
information as to the
feeling and determination of the
Delawares and Shawanese as
well as the Six Nations, which he
communicated at once to the
Governor of the Province. Logan told the
worthy missionary
the story of his leaving the fort near
John Harris' "; that it
was because the Irish people did not use
him well and threatened
to kill him; that, therefore, he went
away leaving his guns,
clothes and all that he had. He also
informed Zeisberger that,
fifteen days before, he had left the
Cayuga Lake, where he had
been all the time; that all the
Delawares and Shawanese up the
river were now for peace; and that a
great many intended to
come and live again where they lived
before; that the previous
winter the Six Nations had sent many
belts of wampum to those
Indians and desired them to leave off
doing mischief; and at
last they were obedient to them. Logan
and his wife reached
Bethlehem nearly starved; they received
from the Moravians
every attention; and, on the third, they
started, under the care
of two of the brethren, for
Philadelphia, abundantly refreshed
with "eating, beer, and rum."65
Logan reached Philadelphia in safety,
and at once waited
150
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
on the Governor in Council to acquaint
him that he had received
a string of wampum from him, and a belt
from his friend,
Weiser, with invitations to come and
speak with him. He was
kindly received; and, at his instance,
an express was dispatched
for Weiser. Upon his arrival, Logan thus
addressed him:
"Uncle! here I show you the belt of
wampum you sent me, and
my brethren, and my whole family. By
this belt you repri-
manded myself and my family for running
away from Shamokin
last fall into a wilderness, where we
must certainly perish for
want of the necessaries of life; and you
told us that it was a
very wrong step to run away from our
friends; and you charged
us, your cousins, to come back either to
Shamokin, or to your
own house at Tulpehocken, or elsewhere
in your neighborhood,
so that you could have an opportunity to
help us with some pro-
visions, and have an open eye over us,
who were like little chil-
dren, and knew not what was for our own
good. Uncle! I as-
sure you, that I and my brethren have
often repented that we
came away from Shamokin, and fled up the
river, when we were
assured of your friendship, and should
have fled to your house.
It is true what you have said-we have
lost ourselves; but we
have been deceived by our near
neighbors, the Delawares, and
my brother Say-ugh-to-wa suffered
himself to be led astray. He
repents now and sees his error; and we
all have agreed to come
down either to Shamokin, our old place,
if we can be protected
there, or to your house, as soon as we
can with safety; and that
some other friendly Indians will join us
who already promised
to come down with us."66
At the very time Logan was professing
his attachment to
the Pennsylvanians in such an artless
but effective manner, the
Governor of that Province was engaged in
erecting a fort at
Shamokin, where he could be
"protected" in his old home. But
the glory of that village as an Indian
residence had departed.
Its cabins had been burned; and the sons
of Shikelimo never
again made it their place of abode. For
the next nine years
Logan, after his return from
Philadelphia, continued to live upon
the waters of the Northeast Branch; and,
although the Seven
Years' War and the sanguinary conflict
which followed it, dis-
turbed, at times, the "Shamokin
country," yet he -"remained idle
Logan - The Mingo Chief.
151
in his camp, an advocate for
peace." On the twenty-eighth of
January, 1760, the commandant of the post
at Shamokin sent
word to Conrad Weiser that a Mingo
Indian had, the day previ-
ous, arrived at that place with a
message from Logan desiring
to meet him there in ten days from that
time. Weiser being dis-
abled, sent his son Samuel to see
Logan-"now a noted man
among the Indians on the waters of the
Susquehanna." There
was to be a Grand Council of the
warriors of the Six Nations
and he had been invited to attend.
Knowing that the Governor
of Pennsylvania was desirous of having a
road cut from the set-
tlements to the post-Fort Augusta-at
Shamokin, he thought
it a good time while meeting with the
assembled Indians in con-
ference, to suggest the matter to them
if it would be desired he
should do so, by the Governor. So he
came down from his town,
to Shamokin, to lay the subject before
his old friend. Weiser,
whom he was in hopes to meet then. But
as that could not be,
a conference was held with the
authorities at the Fort, acting
under instructions from the Governor.
Logan was told that Governor Hamilton
thought it exceed-
ingly kind of him to send information of
his having been invited
to a Grand Council of the Six Nations
and that he returned him
thanks for his offer of mentioning to
the Onondaga Council his
design of cutting a road from the
frontier to Fort Augusta; and
he looked upon it as a fresh instance of
his steady friendship, and
sincere attachment to the Province. The
result of the confer-
ence was that Logan should carry a
message giving as a reason
why it was desirable that a road should
be opened. "that the
Indians might be supplied with goods at
Fort Augusta-Shamo-
kin-at all times in the year, by a
nearer, safer, and more com-
modious way than by the dangerous and
roundabout way of the
river Susquehanna, which is sometimes
impassable in Summer,
and all the winter admits of no
transportation of goods or pro-
visions." Logan promised that he
would deliver this message;
that he would use all the arguments and
efforts in his power that
the opening of the road should meet with
the approbation of the
Onondaga Council: and that, if he should
succeed, he would
be down again in two months at farthest
with the news. Logan,
after the Conference was over, requested
a small supply of pro-
152 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
vision to carry him home,
"which," writes the commander of the
fort, "I have ventured to comply
with, though it is not customary
and is without orders."67
No recognition of Logan's official
duties is to be found after
August, 1762. In that month he
attended, along with his two
brothers, a treaty held with the
Northern and Western Indians
at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After the
public business was over,
Logan, together with another Cayuga
chief and three Senecas,
had a private interview with Governor
Hamilton. They entered
complaint against the agent at Fort
Augusta, as a man who al-
ways treats the Indians who come there
with ill usage and bad
language, insomuch that they were often
so provoked as to do
him violence; and they intreated the
Governor to remove him
and put a more quiet man in his place.
They said further that as
the Governor had acquainted them that
the war had occasioned
a rise in the price of goods, they hoped
he would give orders that
the Indians be paid a higher price for
their skins and furs. Ham-
ilton made answer that he would take the
matter into considera-
tion and do in it whatever was thought
reasonable.68
For the next ten years of Logan's life,
his history is partly
traditionary. He makes his appearance,
after the close of Pon-
tiac's War and the return of peace, no
longer as agent of Penn-
sylvania in its intercourse with the Six
Nations, nor as the repre-
sentative of the Indian Confederation in
their dealings with that
Province or their rule over the
Susquehanna tribes,-but as a
hunter, simply, and with his habitation
changed from the North-
east Branch of that river to the
delightful valley of the Kish-
acoquillas, in what is now Mifflin
county, Pennsylvania. The
Kishacoquillas creek is a beautiful,
never-failing stream, fed by
surrounding mountains. It breaks out of
its fertile valley by a
deep gorge, when it enters the Juniata,
from the north, at the
present site of Lewistown. Immediately
after the purchase of
the land from the Indians by the treaty
of Albany in 1754, set-
tlements began in this region; but the
Seven Years' Conflict and
Pontiac's War depopulated the Juniata
country; so that when
Logan in the year 1765 first made his
camp near the Kishacoquil-
las, the valley was as desolate and
lonely as when the Indians
claimed it as their own territory. But
settlers soon began to ar-
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 153
rive. By midsummer of 1766, six or seven
families had located
there.69
A writer of early times records that, in
the year 1765, he
was living in Raccoon Valley, near the
foot of the Tuscarora
mountain, in what is now Perry county,
Pennsylvania,-when,
upon a certain Saturday evening a report
came that the Indians
had begun to murder the white people.
The next day in the
forenoon, while the children of the
family were outside the
house, they espied three Indians coming
across the meadow, a
few rods from them. They ran in and
informed their parents,
who were considerably alarmed. The
Indians, however, set
their guns down on the outside of the
house and went in. They
were invited to take seats which they
did. After dinner, they sat
a considerable time. One could speak
tolerable good English.
The other two spoke nothing but their
own language. They ap-
peared to be making observations on the
large wooden chimney,
-looking up it, and laughing. This the
family supposed was
on account of a man, on the Juniata, not
far distant, having
made his escape up one when his house
was attacked by Indians.
One of the little girls, a sister of the
narrator, then a child of
three or four years, having very white
curly hair,-they took
hold of it, stretching it up. It was
conjectured they were saying
"this would make a nice
scalp," or that they had seen such.
Otherwise, the Indians behaved with
civility.
After some time, when it was seen that
the three visitors
had no hostile intentions, one of the
boys took the Bible and read
them two or three chapters from the book
of Judges, respecting
Sampson and the Philistines. The one
that could speak Eng-
lish paid great attention to what was
read. The father of the
family, upon observing this, took
occasion to mention to him
what a great benefit it would be to the
Indians to learn to read.
"0 !" said he, "a great many Indians on the
Mohawk river can
read the book which speaks of God."
After remaining in the
house about two hours, they took their
departure towards the
Kishacoquillas Valley. In a few days the
family was informed
that the Indian who spoke the English
language was a chief-
Captain John Logan.70
Many are the legendary tales told of
Logan during his five
154 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
years' residence-from 1765 to 1770-in
the valley of the Kish-
acoquillas. He seems to have been a
general favorite with the
early settlers there. One of these,
while in pursuit of a bear,
came suddenly upon a fine spring, and
being thirsty laid down
to drink. Just then he saw reflected in
the water, on the op-
posite side, the shadow of a tall
Indian. He sprang up, when the
savage gave a yell,-whether for peace or
war, the hunter was
not just then sufficiently master of his
faculties to determine.
However, upon seizing his rifle, and
facing the Indian, the lat-
ter knocked up the pan of his gun, threw
out the priming, and
extended his hand. It proved to be
Logan-the best specimen of
a man, white or red, the relator
declared, he ever met with.
Logan "could speak a little
English" and told the hunter there
was another one a little way down the
stream, and offered to
guide him to his his camp.
Another settler once shot at a mark with
Logan at a dollar
a round. The Chief lost four or five
shots in succession, and
acknowledged himself beaten. He thereupon went into his
cabin; brought out as many deerskins as
he had lost dollars, and
handed them to his opponent, who refused
to take them, alleg-
ing that he was simply his guest and did
not come to take his
property; that the shooting was only a
trial of skill between
them; and the bet merely nominal. Logan
drew himself up with
great dignity and said: "I bet to
make you shoot your best. I
am a gentleman, and would have taken
your money had I won."
So the settler was obliged to take the
skins or affront his friend,
whose nice sense of honor would not
permit him to receive even
a horn of powder in return.
While in the Valley, Logan supported his
family by killing
deer, dressing the skins, and selling
them to the settlers. He
had disposed of a number to a tailor who
lived in an adjoining
valley. Tailors, in those days, dealt
extensively in buckskin
breeches. Logan received his pay in
wheat, according to agree-
ment. The grain upon being taken to the
mill, was was found
so worthless that miller refused to
grind it. Logan was much
chagrined, and attempted in vain to
obtain redress. He then
took the matter before a magistrate.
That officer questioned him
as to the character of the wheat, and
what was in it; but Logan
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 155
sought in vain for words to express the
precise nature of the ar-
ticle with which the grain was
adulterated, but said it resembled
in appearance the wheat itself. "It
must have been cheat" said
the magistrate. "Yes," said
the chief, "that is a very good name
for it!" A decision was rendered in
Logan's favor and a writ
given him to hand to the constable,
which, he was told, would
bring him the money for the skins. But
this the chief could not
comprehend. He could not see by what
magic the paper would
force the tailor against his will to do
him justice. The magis-
trate showed him his commission, having
the arms of the king
upon it, and explained the first
principles and operations of civil
jurisprudence. "Very good
law," said Logan, "it makes rogues
pay !"71
One of the early occupants of the valley
was a neighbor of
Logan. One day, during the absence of
the settler, he came to
his house and having gained the
confidence of his little son, car-
ried him off through the woods to his
cabin. The lone and ter-
rified mother dared not resist; but
after several hours of fearful
anxiety, she determined to follow at any
risk and rescue her
child. Her relief can scarcely be
imagined when she met the
friendly chief bringing her little boy
in his arms, having on his
feet a pair of beautiful beaded
moccasins-the gift of Logan.72
Another mother had a similar experience;
but it was a little
daughter this time, that was carried
off. She was just beginning
to walk, when the parent expressed her
regret, in the chief's
presence, that she could not get a pair
of shoes to give more
firmness to her little step. Logan stood
by, but said nothing.
Soon, however, he asked the mother to
let the girl go with him
and spend the day at his cabin; but her
cautious heart was
alarmed at such a proposition. With
apparent cheerfulness but
secret reluctance, she complied with the
request. At sundown
the child was brought back shod with a
dainty pair of moccasins,
wrought by Logan's own hands.
The course of the Indian, like that of
empire, is westward;
-and Logan turned his eyes toward the
region of the setting
sun. Leaving the valley of the
Kishacoquillas, he moved up the
Juniata to the Standing Stone,74 now
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Before taking his departure, he carved,
it is said, with his
156 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
hatchet, on the trunk of a royal oak,
the full-length image of an
Indian, brandishing, in his right hand,
a tomahawk. This "mon-
arch of the forest trees" stood
there, long after the chief had
gone, attracting the attention of the
curious.75 A fine spring in
the valley still perpetuates the name of
Logan.76 Crossing the
Alleghanies, the son of Shikelimo did
not rest his feet until the
Ohio was reached; which, at least as
early as the Summer of
1772.77 Upon the "Beautiful River" or some of its
branches,
Logan spent the residue of his years.
Upon the arrival of Logan in the
trans-Alleghany country
he made his camp at the mouth of the Big
Beaver, upon the
northern site of Beaver, Pennsylvania.78
He was a frequent vis-
itor at Pittsburgh then an insignificant
village of about thirty log
houses.79 A pious missionary,
who was then visiting that town,
was not favorably impressed with the
moral condition of things.
"About every day," says he,
"since our arrival, we have had the
disagreeable sight of drunken Indians
staggering through the
streets;-as this is the most frontier
settlement of the English,
and the chief place of rendezvous where
the miserable creatures
frequently meet for the sake of a
drunken frolic."80 Logan's
appetite for rum had already become his
besetting sin. His in-
dulgence was so great as to bring on
occasional attacks of de-
lirium tremens. "Wherever I
go," said he, at this time, when
suffering from a debauch, "the
devils are pursuing me. If I go
into my cabin, it is full of them; and
the air itself is full of them.
They hunt me by day and by night. They
seem to want to catch
me and throw me into a great deep pit,
full of fire !"81
The Spring of 1773 found Logan
farther down the Ohio
than the mouth of Big Beaver.82 At
this time, there was a vil-
lage of Mingoes-Iroquois-at Mingo
Bottom, on the west or
Indian side of the Ohio, nearly three
miles below the present
city of Steubenville, in Jefferson
county, Ohio. By the Fall of
that year, these Indians--off-shoots or
colonists of the Six
Nations-had left that locality, removing
to Pluggy's-town on
the Scioto. But Logan and his friends
and relatives-also Min-
goes83-remained upon the
Ohio; where, at or near the mouth
of the Big Yellow Creek, fifty-five
miles below Pittsburgh, they
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 157
had, in the Spring of 1774, "a
hunting camp, composed of men,
women and children."64
For ten years subsequent to Pontiac's
War, there was peace
all along the frontiers from Lake Erie
to the Gulf of Mexico,
but in reality a nominal one only; for,
as the natural result of the
ever-increasing numbers of one race
crowding in upon the ever-
decreasing population of
another-"while neither the savages
of the one, nor the hardy woodsmen of
the other were prepared,
by continuous forbearance, to avoid a
conflict"-murders were
frequent. Here, a trader was killed;
there, a peaceable settler.
Here, an Indian was shot while hunting
in the forest or paddling
his canoe upon the Ohio; there, another
was slain in the cabin
of the white man. Then, whole parties
were killed, on either
side; culminating, finally, in the
Indian War of 1774, generally
known as Lord Dunmore's War.
Pennsylvania was not brought as close to
the western In-
dians as Virginia; and her intercourse
with the savages was
mostly through the channels of trade.
She enjoyed, therefore,
a large immunity from savages
attrocities. With Virginia, the
case was very different. Her borders
were the Ohio-her set-
tlements crowding down that river,
out-running treaties with the
Indians, and rapidly moving toward
Kentucky. Besides, she
then claimed Pittsburg and its
surroundings. So, while Penn-
sylvania strove to conciliate the
savages thereby to avoid their
wrath, Virginia, goaded by their
hostilities, determined to punish
them for their continued
aggressions;-and for such they seemed
to her Government.
Logan, at Yellow Creek, was not an
indifferent spectator
of the events transpiring around him;
yet he counselled peace.
"I admit," said he to the
assembled Mingoes, "that you have
just cause of complaint." "But
you must remember," he added,
"that you, too, have sometimes been
in the wrong. By war, you
can only harass and distress the
frontier settlements for a time,
then the Virginians will come like the
trees in the woods in num-
ber, and drive you from the good lands
you possess-from the
hunting grounds so dear to
you." Meanwhile, the contest was
gradually increasing in intensity and
drawing nearer and nearer
to the camp of Logan. Unfortunately, his
endeavors to restrain
158
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
his followers did not succeed; as some
of them soon determined
to take up the hatchet-at least, to the
extent of killing a family
of Virginians the nearest to their
locality ;85 the members of which
were Joshua Baker, his wife and
children, then living just op-
posite the mouth of Yellow Creek. A
friendly intercourse had
been kept up between these people and
the Mingoes, until the
evening of the twenty-ninth of April,
when one of the squaws
who had been particularly befriended by
Baker's wife, came over
the river and after considerable
hesitation disclosed to her that
the Indians the next day were going to
kill her and all her fam-
ily. Just what particular act or acts
prompted this sudden de-
termination86 of the friends
of Logan, it is left to conjecture to
determine.
Indians had very recently been killed
upon the Ohio, below
them, and only the night pervious, it is
said, two had been shot
close to Logan's camp.67 The
warning of the friendly squaw
was at once heeded by Baker, who, before
morning, had several
frontier men, well armed, gathered at
his house, where they
were secreted to await the coming
events.
Early in the morning of the thirtieth, a
party, consisting of
four unarmed Indians, and three
squaws,-one of whom brought
with her a child two months old-came
over the river to Baker's
cabin. Among them was John Petty, the
youngest brother of
Logan; also his mother and sister. The
child was the daughter of
the latter. The Indians, except Logan's brother,
having obtained
some rum, soon became excessively drunk.
It had been previ-
ously arranged that two of Baker's
friends should not conceal
themselves but remain with him to watch
the course of events.
After some time, John Petty took down a
coat and hat be-
longing to Baker's brother-in-law and
putting them on strutted
about the room; then, coming up abruptly
to one of the board-
ers addressed him with very offensive
language and attempted
to strike him. The frontiersman thus
assailed, kept out of his
way for some time; finally, becoming
irritated, he seized his gun
and shot him as he was running for the
door. The report of the
rifle brought the hidden party at once
from their place of con-
cealment. In a few moments every Mingo
was killed, except
Logan - The Mingo
Chief. 159
the child. Thus perished the relatives
of Logan-all but his
"cousin," as he was wont to
call his little niece.
While these events were transpiring, two
canoes were ob-
served putting out from the Mingo camp
and steering across
the river. In one, there were two
Indians; in the other, five; all
were naked and painted and armed. The
frontiersmen thereupon
ranged themselves under cover of some
bushes along the bank
ready to receive the canoes. The
foremost one carried the two
Indians. Both these were killed at the
first fire of the border-
men. The other canoe then went back.
After this, two other
canoes started across, one containing
eleven, the other seven In-
dians painted and armed as the first.
These attempted to land
below; but being fired upon, they
retreated, with one of their
number killed, at the same time,
returning the fire, but with no
harm to the Virginians.88
Logan now smothered down the promptings
of his better
nature. He gave full play to his savage
instincts. Vengeance
was his from the moment he heard the sad
news of the killing
of his relatives. Wo to the hapless
victim upon the frontier,
young or old, male or female, who should
be startled by his war-
cry! Wo to the father or mother, brother
or sister, -decrepit
age or the tender babe,-who should come
in the way of his
brandishing tomahawk! He was no longer
"an advocate for
peace." Now, his voice was for
war-war to the knife.
Upon the west side of the Muskingum
river at a point near
the site of the present town of Dresden,
Ohio, there was located,
in 1774, the Shawanese Village of
Wakatomica.89 Here lived
many of the friends of the slain at
Baker's.90
Hither hastened Logan, breathing
destruction and death
to the Virginians. The Mingoes-mostly Senecas-followed
him to the Muskingum.91 The news they brought caused lam-
entation in the Shawanese town.92 So
enraged was Logan that
he raised a party to cut off some
traders among the Shawanese
at a place then known as Canoe Bottom on
the Hockhocking,
where they were pressing their peltry
preparatory to tranship-
ping it to Pittsburgh; but the Indians
with whom they had been
trafficking protected them, else even
Pennsylvanians would have
160
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
suffered from the wrath of the Mingo
Chief. Indeed one was
barbarously slain.93
On Monday, the nineteenth of May, 1774,
Logan with a
small party of Mingoes and Shawanese,
for the second time
started upon the war-path, from
Wakatomica, now, however,
on a maraud into the Virginia
settlements-the first overt act
of war, on his part against the borders.
A still smaller number
soon followed the others, making in all
thirteen warriors. It
was their intention to strike their
blows on that part of the Ohio
near where their friends had been killed
or somewhere else be-
low that point if practicable. They
declared that as soon as they
had taken revenge for their people, they
would then return
home, sit down and listen to their
chiefs who advised against
their taking up the hatchet.94
Logan and his warriors were out about
two weeks before
they found a good opportunity to
commence the work of death;
and, instead of the Ohio, it was upon
the west side of the Monon-
gahela in the settlements on Tenmile,
Dunkard, Whitely, and
Muddy creeks-then claimed as a part of
Virginia-that their
depredations began. Stealthily they came
upon the settlers. The
first who fell victims to their
vengeance were a man by the name
of Spicer, his wife and five children,
living at Meadow Run on
Dunkard's creek. Two others of the
children-Betsey, a girl
eleven years of age, and William, nine
years old-were taken
prisoners. The former was afterward
given up; the latter spent
most of his life with the Indians. After
the taking of sixteen
scalps in all, Logan and his warriors,
with their two prisoners,
returned to Wakatomica. His success had
now somewhat ap-
peased his wrath; and he seemed ready to
listen to the counsels
of the Shawanese chiefs, who had vainly
endeavored, before
his setting out, to restrain his
bloodthirsty animosity against the
Long Knives.95 By this time,
however,-the last of June-even
the Shawanese were beginning to waver.
So Logan, in a few
days, was again upon the warpath.
On the twelfth of July, as William
Robinson and two others
were pulling flax in a field upon the
West Fork of the Monon-
gahela, opposite the mouth of Simpson's
creek, in what is now
Harrison county, West Virginia, Logan
with a party of seven
Logan- The Mingo Chief. 161
warriors approached unperceived and
fired at them. One by the
name of Brown was killed; the others
were made prisoners. The
Indians now set out on their return to
Wakatomica, taking with
them a horse belonging to Hellen. They
reached the village on
the eighteenth when both prisoners were
compelled to run the
gauntlet. Ever since the capture, Logan
had manifested a
friendly disposition to Robinson, who
having been tied to a stake,
preparatory to being tortured, had his
life saved by that chief.
He was then adopted by Logan in place of
a warrior killed at
Baker's; his intention being, should an
opportunity present it-
self, to have him exchanged for his
"cousin"-the young child
saved from the general massacre on the
thirtieth of April; but
such an occasion not occurring, Robinson
was finally delivered
up, under other stipulations. Logan,
thereupon, made immediate
preparation for another war-expedition.
On the twenty-first,
he brought Robinson, who was then in a
Shawanese village near
Wapatomica, a piece of paper and told
him he must write a let-
ter which he intended to carry with him
and leave in some house
where he should kill some one. After
making ink of gunpowder,
he instructed his amanuensis to address
the note to Captain
Michael Cresap, who he supposed-but in
this he was mistaken
-had killed his relatives at Baker's
Bottom, or commanded the
party upon that occasion. Robinson, from
Logan's dictation,
wrote as follows:
To Captain Cresap:
What did you kill my People on Yellow
Creek for? The White
People killed my Kin at Conestoga a
great while ago & I thought
nothing of that; but you killed my Kin
again on Yellow Creek, and
took my Cousin Prisoner. Then I thought
I must kill too; and I have
been three times to War since; but the
Indians is not angry only myself.
CAPTAIN JOHN LOGAN,
July 21 Day, 1774.
With this letter- "savagely
circumstantial and circum-
stantial savage"-Logan started upon
his fourth maraud.96
The settlements next to suffer from the
malignity and im-
placable animosity of Logan were in the
Southwestern corner of
Virginia, upon the waters of the Holston
and Clinch. This
Vol. XX.-11.
162 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
region was a long distance from
Wakatomica; and Logan and
his party did not reach it until near
the middle of September.
The letter written by Robinson was left
in the house of John
Roberts, upon Reedy Creek, a branch of
Holston. It was found
tied to a war-club among the mangled
remains of the slain fam-
ily. The presence of the hostile savages
caused great excitement
among the settlers. Several were killed,
while a son of Roberts
and two negroes belonging to a man by
the name of Blackmore
living upon Clinch, were taken
prisoners.97
With his captives and booty, Logan
retraced his steps to the
Ohio, crossing that stream about the
middle of October. In the
meantime, the Shawanese and Mingoes had
been driven from
the Muskingum to the Scioto by the
Virginians; so Logan and
his party sought their friends upon that
river, at Chillicothe,98
the principal Shawanese village,-now
Westfall, Pickaway coun-
ty, Ohio. The son of Shikelimo had by
this time fully "glutted
his vengeance" upon the hated
Virginians. He brought with
him not less than five scalps from this
his last foray. These
were not exhibited as trophies of his
prowess, but to show his
deadly thirst for revenge upon the
people who had slain his
relatives.
Great were the events which had occurred
upon the Mus-
kingum and the Ohio during the absence
of Logan. His raids
upon the Monongahela settlements had
hastened the Virginians
in their resort to arms. The Shawanese,
as well as the Mingoes,
had become involved in the contest. Late
in July, four hundred
men crossed the Ohio under Major Angus
McDonald and easily
in August laid waste not only Wakatomica
but several contiguous
villages of the Shawanese.99 This
had aroused that nation to a
most determined effort. Sympathizing
with them and indeed
finally coming to their aid against the
Long Knives, were war-
riors of the Delawares upon the
Muskingum, of the Wyandots
upon the Sandusky, of the Ottawas upon the
Maumee, and of
the Miamis upon that river and the
Wabash. The vagrant Min-
goes, who had villages upon the Scioto,
were, of all the Indians,
the most vindictive against the
Virginians.100 A few renegade
Cherokees also took part in the war. No
nation however as a
whole took up the hatchet except the
Shawanese.
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 163
Logan, upon his arrival at Chillicothe
learned that Levis'
army was rapidly approaching the Scioto.
He saw around him
everywhere that active war-like
preparations had been made to
meet the expected coming of the Long
Knives. He heard the
tales of the warriors, concerning a
great battle they had fought
a few days previous-October the tenth-at
the mouth of the
Great Kanawha. He knew but too well they
must have been
discomfited by the Virginians. The
Shawanese had seen that
a conjunction of the two parties was
inevitable; so they haste
to treat with Lord Dunmore. Conferences
had been held pre-
liminary to a treaty. Some distance from
the spot, Logan, to one
of Dunmore's interpreters, spoke the
following speech, desiring
it might be delivered to the Governor :102
"I appeal to any white man to say
that he ever entered
Logan's cabin but I gave him meat; that
he ever came naked
but I clothed him. In the course of the
last war, Logan re-
mained in his cabin an advocate for
peace. I had such an affec-
tion for the white people, that I was
pointed at by the rest of my
nation. I should have ever lived with
them, had it not been
for Colonel Cresap, who last Spring cut
off, in cold blood, all
the relatives of Logan, not sparing
women and children: There
runs not a drop of my blood in the veins
of any human creature.
This called upon me for revenge; I have
sought it, I have killed
many, and fully glutted my revenge. I am
glad that there is a
prospect of peace on account of the
nation; but I beg you will
not entertain a thought that anything I
have said proceeds from
fear! Logan disdains the thought! He
will not turn on his heel
to save his life! Who is there to mourn
for Logan?-No
one." 103
"I may challenge," says
Jefferson, "the whole orations of
Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more
eminent orator-if
Europe has furnished any more eminent-to
produce a single
passage superior to this speech."104
"Nothing can be imagined,"
are the words of an American historian,
"more venerable than
the strain of tender and lofty sentiment
running through this
short address. Parts of it rise into the
highest order of moral
sublimity. It reminds us of Ossian, 'the
last of his race'; of
164 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Fingal, 'in the last of his fields.' "105 "It was uttered," writes
a learned jurist, "in accents
dictated by an abiding sense of his
wrongs, and in tones expressive of the
hopeless desolation of
his heart. It was its last passionate
throb. The man was done
with impulses, even of revenge."106
And thus an accomplished scholar of our
own times: "The
speech was repeated throughout the North
American colonies
as a lesson of eloquence in the schools,
and copies upon the pages
of literary Journals in Great Britain
and on the Continent. This
brief effusion of mingled pride, courage
and sorrow elevated the
character of the native American
throughout the intelligent
world."108
The treaty entered into between the
Shawanese and Lord
Dunmore adjusted all important
differences; but the Mingoes
were not a party to it. They stood
aloof. They did not share
in the sentiment of their chief as to
the "prospect or peace."
They wanted none. Thereupon the Virginia
Governor resolved
they should be pursued up the Scioto.
Major William Craw-
ford with two hundred and forty men
marched against them.
Seekunk was destroyed. Six Mingoes were
killed and a num-
ber made prisoners. A considerable
amount of plunder consist-
ing of Indian goods, horses, silver
trinkets and other articles,
were captured.109 Thus ended
the Indian War of 1774. The
Virginians returned to their homes; and
their Assembly declared
Dunmore's conduct in the Campaign
"noble wise and spirited."
Time has confirmed its judgment.
From Chillicothe Logan made his way to
Pluggy's-town. To
this village, the Mingo prisoners
captured by Crawford and
taken to Fort Pitt for safe keeping,
returned after several
months detention,1l0-their
people, in the Spring of 1775, mani-
festing a sincere desire for peace,111
and joining in the Autumn
of that year with other nations in a
treaty with Virginians and
Congressional commissioners.112 But their friendship was of
short duration; for the very next year
they had again become
troublesome to the Virginia border,
being now under British
influence.113.
Logan carried with him to Pluggy's-town
the same feelings
-the same spirit-manifested in his
speech to Lord Dunmore.
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 165
He no longer sought revenge against the
Virginians; he brooded
over his misfortunes; he became more
intemperate; he often re-
peated the story of his wrongs and as
often recounted his ex-
ploits connected with their requital.114 When in 1776, his peo-
ple again began to show their animosity
he apologized for their
conduct and remained in his cabin.
"We hear bad news," said
he. "Some of us are constantly
threatened. We are informed
that a great reward is offered to any
person who will take or
entice either of us to Pittsburg, where
we are to be hung up like
dogs by the Big Knife. This being true,
how can we think of
what is good. That it is true, we have
no doubt.115
Although Lieutenant-Governor Henry
Hamilton, in the
service of Great Britain, had as early
as September, 1776, ex-
erted himself at Detroit-then the center
of British influence
in the Far West-to organize small
parties of savages against
"the scattered settlers in the Ohio
and its branches," yet the war
upon the Western border was not fully
commenced by British
Indians for nearly a year afterward. But
the frontiers of Vir-
ginia, in the meantime, were sorely
afflicted with savage incur-
sions, mostly by the lawless gang of
Mingoes of Pluggy's-town.
These Indians having in reality no
tribal organization, marauded
upon the settlements independent of
surrounding nations. It is
not known, however, that Logan took part
in any of their raids.
The death of their leader-the Mohawk
Pluggy-who was shot
at the attack upon McClelland's fort, in
Kentucky, at the close
of 1776,116 somewhat abated their
activity; but their depreda-
tions were sufficiently galling in the
Spring of 1777, to induce
the Governor of Virginia to organize an
expedition against them;
which was abandoned, finally, for fear
of a general Indian war,
should the Mingoes be attacked.
Afterwards, the machinations of the
British, through the
instrumentality of agents and traders,
having secured the alliance
of the Shawanese and Wyandots in
hostility to the Americans,
the Mingoes joined these confederated
nations. Meanwhile
Pluggy's-town was deserted by its
occupants, Logan and his
friends moving still farther up the
Scioto-near the head springs
of that river, in what is now Hardin
county, Ohio, also upon
166 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the upper waters of Mad river in the
present county of Logan,
adjoining Hardin on the south.
In the Fall of 1778, Logan occupied
"a little winter town
used for hunting" on the Scioto. It
was situated on the Indian
trace leading from the Indian village of
Wapatomica, in what
is now Logan county, to the Wyandot town
of Upper Sandusky,
in the present county of Wyandot, Ohio.
Simon Kenton, who
was then a prisoner among the Indians,
saw the chief at his
village. Logan, learning his fate, and
commiserating his condi-
tion, said, "I will send two men to
Sandusky to speak a good
word for you." He did so; and the
prisoner who had been con-
demned to be tortured at the stake was,
through his instru-
mentality, taken safely to Detroit,
where he was out of danger
from the infuriated savages.l17 Logan
continued his good of-
fices to persons captured by the British
Indians. In 1779 he
adopted in his family a white female
captive as his sister in place
of the one killed at Baker's.18l
It was not until the Western border war
of the revolution
had continued fully three years, that
Logan appears as an actor
on the side of the British Indians
against the Americans. In
1780, the plan of an expedition was laid by the British at
Detroit,
to break up the settlements in Kentucky.
To effect this project,
a force of British Indians with some
soldiers of the regular army
and a number of Canadian volunteers,
marched for the Ohio.
With them was Logan. The whole was under
the command of
Captain Henry Bird. After crossing into
Kentucky, the army
ascended the Licking river and captured
Ruddell's and Martin's
Stations. The enemy then re-crossed the
Ohio, without further
molesting the settlements. Many
prisoners were carried into
captivity by the savages.119 Logan
had frequent conversations
with some of these unfortunate persons.
His remarks, after-
ward related by one of the captives,
concerning his disposition
and belief, are of interest: "I
know," said he, "that I have two
souls; the one good, the other bad. When
the good soul has the
ascendant, I am kind and humane. When
the bad soul rules, I
am perfectly savage and delight in
nothing but blood and car-
nage."120
Soon after the expedition into Kentucky,
Logan visited De-
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 167
troit. On his journey homeward, at a
noted camping-place, four
miles south of Brownstown, on the bank
of a small creek, upon
the trace leading to Sandusky and his
town upon the Scioto, he
was killed, because of an insult,
fancied or real, by one of his
own friends-a Mingo. The next morning,
one of the party
returned to Brownstown and gave
information of what had hap-
pened. A number of leading Wyandots went
out, brought in his
body and buried it in the burial place
of their village.121 Thus
miserably perished Logan-the Mingo
Chief, as renowned an
Indian, perhaps, as the world has ever
known.
Logan was a tall man considerably above
six feet in height,
strong and well proportioned. He had a
brave, open, manly
countenance. He was as straight as an
arrow, and to appear-
ance would not be afraid to meet anyone
in a personal encounter.
He weighed about two hundred pounds,-had
a full chest, and
prominent and expansive features. To
those who were ignorant
of his paternity, his complexion seemed
very white for a savage.
His talk and actions showed the effects
of his intercourse with
the English. He was, when sober,
dignified and reserved, but
frank- and honest; when
intoxicated, he was vain, boastful and
foolish.122
For sterling integrity, kindness of
disposition, quickness of
comprehension and solidity of judgment,
few of any North
American Indians have equaled Logan. As
an orator, he stands
unrivaled. The famous Red Jacket took
him for his model.123
Nature has implanted in the savage the
faculty of appreciating
beauty; and this faculty joined to
limited endowments of rea-
son and speech constitutes the elements
of their rude oratory.
Hence their proneness to indulge in
extravagant metaphor. Their
declamation is but little more than
uneducated harrangue, hight-
ened by comparison with natural objects,
and giving off oc-
casional corruscations of strong and
vehement passion.124 But
the oratory of Logan was cast in
altogether a different mould.
It was born, it is true, in the deep
shades of the forest-in the
darkness of ignorance-but a keen
discernment illuminated it,
until it shone in a splendor truly
wonderful. His words were
never figurative: their power lay in
their truthfulness and rele-
vancy.
168 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
REFERENCES.
Bartram's Travels (Lond. 1751), p. 17.
2Loskiel's
Hist. Morav. Miss., P. II, p. 120.
3 Bartram's Travels, p. 17.
4Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I,
p. 83, note.
5Synonyms: Shikellimus, Sichalamy,
Shikellamy, etc. More than
thirty different methods of spelling
this name have been noticed. Shikel-
imo had two other Indian names: Swadamy,
Swatana, or Swatane; and
the unpronounceable one of
Unguatenighiathe. Mass. Hist. Coll.,
1st
Series, Vol. VII, p. 195. Reichel's Mem.
Morav. Church, Vol. I, p. 83.
Colden's Hist. Five Nations, II, p. 12.
Schweinitz' Zeisberger, p. 109
note.
6Bartram's Travels, p. 17.
7Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I,
p. 83 note.
8Bartram's Travels, p. 17.
9Colden II, p. 12. Hist. Coll. of Mass.,
1st Series, Vol. VII, p. 195.
Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I, p.
83. Penn. Arch. Vol. 1, pp.
495-497, 656. Schweinitz' Zeisberger, p.
10 note.
10Penn. Arch. I, p. 228. Col. Rec. Penn.,
Vol. III, pp. 330, 337,
404. Day's Hist. Pa., 525. "A guide
to the wild Shawanese." Reichel's
Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I, p. 98.
11 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, P. IV,
pp. 324-341. Bartram's Trav-
els, p. 20.
12 See, in general, Penn. Arch., Vols. I
and II; Col. Rec. of Penn.,
Vols. III, IV and V; Loskiel's Hist.
Morav. Miss.; Schweinitz' Zeis-
berger; Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church,
Vol. I; Rupp's Hist. Berkes
County etc., also, his Hist. Dauphin
County, etc.; and Day's Hist. Coll.
Penn.
13Col. Rec.. Penn. IV, 307. Reichel's
Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I,
83, 90. Schweinitz' Zeisberger, p. 150.
14"On the sixth of December,
(1748)": Schweinitz. "December 17,
1748": Reichel. Loskiel (P. II, p.
119) mistakes the year. Compare
Penn. Arch. II, 23.
15 Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I,
p. 90 note.
16As, by this name, he is best known to
the world, it has been re-
tained throughout this chapter.
17 The orthography
of Logan's Indian name is as various as that of
his father's. See Penn. Arch., I, 656,
750,-II, 23, 33, 34, 776,-IV, 91;
Col. Rec. Penn. III, 435, 500,-V,
84,-VI, 120,-VIII, 729; Colden's
Hist. Five Nations, II, 13; Rupp's
Dauphin County, etc., p. 304, - North-
umberland County, etc., p. 459;
Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, I, 84, 261.
18 Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I,
p. 84.
19 "Taghneghdoarns, Shickelimy's
eldest son:" Conrad Weiser to
Gov. Hamilton, in Penn. Arch., II, 23.
Same in Rupp's Hist. Dauphin
County, etc., p. 319.
Logan -
The Mingo Chief. 169
20Col. Rec. Penn. VI, 420, 421;-VII, 47, 65, 171,
244,-VIII, p.
729. Penn. Arch. II, 167, 634, 664,
776;--III, 721, 727, 728, 729, 730;-
IV, 91. Rupp's Dauphin County, etc., 84,
100, 259, 316;-Berkes County
etc., 39;- Northumberland
County, etc., 109, 116, 166, 226, 366, 456, 459;-
Northampton County, etc., 103. Reichel's
Mem. Morav. Church, I, pp
84, 261. He was sometimes familiarly
called Jack. See Col. Rec. Penn.
IV, 685.
21As to the ancient seat of the Oneidas,
See Cusick's Six Nations;
Gallatin's Synopsis; Schoolcraft's Notes
on the Iroquois; Morgan's
League of the Iroquois; and Jones'
Annals Oneida County, (N. Y.).
22"His (Shikelimo's) son told me he
(the son) was the Cayuga
nation--that of the mother:" Bartram.
Compare Penn. Arch., IV, 91.
23 The fact of Logan being a Cayuga and
his father an Oneida (by
adoption) explains why so much confusion
is observable in the giving
of their titles by historians. Shikellmo
was an Oneida chief; Logan
became, as will be presently seen, a Cayuga
sachem. For additional evi-
dence of Logan's being a mixt-breed, see
Mayer's Logan and Cresap,
p. III note.
24 Logan appeared along with his
father, in council, as early as 1733.
Col. Rec. Penn., III, 500.
25 Extract from the Autobiography of
Martin Mack, in Reichel's
Mem. Morav. Church, I, 66.
26 Bartram (1743) in his
"Travels", p. 16.
27Edward's Life of Brainerd, p. 167.
Compare Reichel's Mem.
Morav. Church, p. 66 note.
28 Penn. Arch., I, 241.
29 "Sayughtowa": Penn. Arch., II, 776. "Soyeghtowa":
Penn. Arch.
IV, 91.
30 Penn. Arch., IV, 91. Col. Rec. Penn.,
VI, 649,-VII, 640, 649.
Rupp's Northumberland County, etc., 459.
Compare Reichel's Mem.
Morav. Church I, p. 84 note. He was
lame. See Rupp's Northumberland
County, etc., p. 456.
31 Penn. Arch. IV, 91. See also Rupp's Northumberland County, etc.
459, where he is spoken of as "John
Petty's Sicalamy;" Col. Rec. Penn.
VIII, 212, 263, 264.
32 Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church, Vol. I, p. 84 note. See, as to the
trader, Penn. Arch. I., 216, 227-229,
232, Col. Rec. Penn. III, 330.
33 Penn. Arch. I, 665.
34 Ibid. Weiser and others so frequently
vary the spelling of the
Oneida Chief's name that the one
previously used in the text is retained
in this extract, as well as in those
which follow in this chapter.
35Rupp's Berks County, etc., p. 213.
Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church,
Vol. I, 83.
36 Col. Rec. Penn. VII, p. 47. Rupp's
Northumberland County, etc.,
117. Rupp's Dauphin County, etc., 100
note.
170 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
37 A son of one of his sisters took up
the hatchet against the English
in the Old French War, and was killed
and scalped on the 20th Feb., 1756,
on Middle creek, in what is now Union
County, Pennsylvania. - Rupp's
Dauphin County, etc., p. 99.
44 Penn. Arch. I 750. Col. Penn. V, 83.
45Col. Rec. Penn. VI, 212, 222, etc.
46 Col.
Rec. Penn. III, 500. Colden's Hist. Five Nations, II, 13.
47An Indian never transacts public
business while in mourning.
Logan's wife died early in October,
1747, at Shamokin, of fever. His
children, it seems, afterward went to
live with their Conestoga aunt.
Rupp's Dauphin County, etc., p. 100
notes;- Northumberland County,
etc., p. 117. Logan soon married again.
His second wife was a Shaw-
anese and could speak English. There was
no issue by the last marriage.
48 Penn. Arch II, 8.
49 Schweinitz' Zeisberger, 151.
Shikelimo "fell happily asleep asleep
in the Lord, in full assurance of
obtaining eternal life, through the
merits of Jesus Christ."-Loskiel,
P. II, p. 120.
50 Penn. Arch. II, 23.
51 Penn. Arch. II, 23.
52"Causes of the Alienation of the
Delaware and Shawanese Indians
(Lond., 1759)," p. 50.
53 Penn. Arch. II, 33-36.
54Morgan's League of the Iroquois, p.
100 note. Compare Col. Rec.
Penn. VI, 119,-VIII, 729; Penn. Arch.
IV, 91.
55 Rupp's Dauphin County, etc., p. 574.
56Penn. Arch. II, 166, 167. Col. Rec.
Penn. VI, 118-122, 216.
57Col. Rec. Penn., VI, 420.
58 Penn. Arch.
II, 777.
59 Col. Rec. Penn. VI, 763,-VII, 65.
60 Col. Rec. Penn. VII, 64, 65.
61 Col. Rec. Penn. VII, 46-54.
62Rupp's Dauphin County, etc., p. 100
note.
63 Penn. Arch. II, 634, 778.
64Col. Rec. Penn. VII, 147, 171.
65 Col. Rec. Penn. VII, 244, 245.
Reichel's Mem. Morav. Church,
261, 265.
66 Penn. Arch. VII, 776.
67 Penn. Arch., III, 699, 701, 713, 721,
727-730.
68 Penn. Arch. IV, 91. Cl. Rec. Penn.
VIII, 729-774.
66Rupp's Northumberland County, etc., pp. 47, 227. Day's
Pennsyl-
vania, p. 466. Beatty's Journal (Lond.,
1768), p. 19.
70Archibald Loudon, in his Hist. Ind.
Wars (Carlisle, 1811), Vol.
II, pp. 223-225. The date (1765) given
in this connection is the earliest
mention of the change of the chief's
name, as known to the whites,
from "John Shikelimo" to
"Capt. John Logan." The reason for the
Logan -
The Mingo Chief. 171
change must be left entirely to
conjecture. His younger brother, the
second son of Shikelimo, being known as
"James Logan," the two have
been frequently confounded. Heckewelder,
in App. to Jefferson's Notes
copied from the MSS. of Rev. C. Pyrlaus
that "Logan was the second
son of Shikellemus." He was;-but it
was "James Logan," not "Capt.
John Logan." It may be proper here
to mention that a Shamokin In-
dian whose name was
"Jonathan," has been frequently, though errone-
ously, named as one of Logan's brothers.
Concerning this Indian, see
Penn. Arch., VII, 64, 66, 68, 72. Col.
Rec. Penn., VI, 640. Rupp's
Berks County, etc., pp. 40, 41.
71 Day's Pennsylvania, 467, 468.
72Cecil
(Md.) Whig, 12 Sept., 1874.
73 Day's Pennsylvania, p. 468. The child
was Mary Brown, born in
1769.
74 Jones' Hist. Juniata Valley, p. 114.
75The Cecil (Md.) Whig, 12 Sept., 1874.
76 Day's Pennsylvania, p. 467.
77 McClure and Parish's Mem. of Rev. E.
Wheelock, D. D., p. 139.
Wheelock's Narr. (Hartford, 1773), p.
50. Heckewelder's Declaration,
in App. to Jefferson's notes on Va.
78 Heckewelder, in App. to
Jefferson's Notes on Va McClure and
Parish's Mem. of Dr. Wheelock, p. 140.
79 Mem. of Wheelock, p. 140.
80Wheelock's Ind. Char. School (Hartford, 1773), p. 50.
81Mem. of Wheelock, pp. 140, 141. The
words of Logan, and his
appearance, as described by the Rev.
David Maccluer, in the work just
cited, (see, also, Indian Charity
School, 1772-3), seem to leave no doubt
as to the real cause of Logan's
suffering, although the zealous-hearted
missionary gives them another
interpretation.
82 Heckewelder, in his Declaration, in
App. to Jefferson's Notes on
Va., mentions Logan's intention (in
1772) "to settle on the Ohio,
below Beaver." The Moravian also
speaks, in the same connection, of
calling, in April, 1773, "at
Logan's settlement," on his passage down
the river.
83 Hence
the appellation - "Logan, the Mingo Chief."
84 "With all their stuff
with them:" G. R. Clark to S. B. Brown, 17
June, 1798, in Dep. of State,
Washington. This letter has been fre-
quently published. See Heperian, Vol.
II, p. 308; Mayer's Logan and
Cresap, 149; etc. Clark says Logan's
Camp was "on the Ohio, about
thirty miles above Wheeling;" an
inadvertance as to the distance. The
mouth of Big Yellow Creek is forty miles
above. Logan's house was
"a small Indian village on Yellow
Creek:" Amer. Arch. 4th series, I,
345; N. Y. Col. Hist., VIII, 463; Pa.
Journal, 29 June, 1774. Com-
pare Mayer's Logan and Cresap, p. 162.
85 MSS. of Henry Jolly. (These have been published. See Silli-
172 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
man's Journal, Vol. XXXI, No. 1) They
were obtained from S. P.
Hildreth, for whom they were written.
86 Reliance has been placed in the
Declaration of John Sappington,
as published in Jefferson's Notes, for
this statement as to the determina-
tion of the Mingoes.
87Whittlesey's Fugitive Essays, p. 134
note.
88 Sappington's Declaration, in
Jefferson's Notes. See, also, the
Statement of Benjamin Tomlinson, in
Jacob's Life of Cresap, pp. 107-109.
Both these accounts are from parties
themselves who participated in
the affair and the only ones extant, not
second-handed. They disagree
as to the date of the transaction; and
in that regard, both are in error.
Valentine Crawford to Washington, 7 May,
1774, in Dep. of State,
Washington. Compare, also, Amer. Arch.
4th series, Vol. I, p 345 with
G. R. Clark's letter to S. Brown, 17
June, 1798. The testimony of
Logan shows that his mother and sister
were killed. Diary of James
Wood, 1775: MS. Compare Jacob's Life of
Cresap, p. 85. Wood's
journal has never been published.
Concerning his journey, see Jacob's
Life of Cresap, 69; Almon's
Remembrancer, 1775, p. 254; Va. Gaz.,
No. 1258. The party at Baker's had no leader-for the best of
reasons; no one was needed. Daniel
Greathouse was present as an
active participant, but not
otherwise. Captain Michael Cresap knew
nothing of the transaction until some
days subsequent to its occurrence.
Compare in connection with, the
statements of Sappington and Tomlin-
son, that of Meyers, in Whittlesey's
Fugitive Essays, p. 134 note.
86 Synonyms: Wappatomica,
Waukataumikee, Wakatomaca, Wake-
tameki, Waketummakie, etc. There was
also a Shawanese village of the
same name, afterward upon the headwaters
of Mad river, in what is
now Logan county, Ohio.
90 Amer. Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I, p.
481.
91 Heckewelder's
Narr. Morav. Miss. p. 131.
92 Jolly
MSS.
93Amer.
Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I, pp. 469, 474, 481, 483, 484. See,
also, Penn. Arch., IV, 513, 527, 530;
Heckewelder's Narr., pp. 131,
132, 133.
94John
Connolly to Joel Reece, 27 May, 1774, in Jacob's Life of
Cresap. Amer. Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I,
pp. 464, 481, 482. Penn. Gaz.,
8 June, 1774.
95 MS. Narr. of John Crawford. Amer.
Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I,
405, 435, 445, 469-472, 475. Penn.
Arch., IV, 517, 519, 520, 525, 632. Con-
cerning Wm. Spicer, See Indian Treaties
(1837), p. 220; also His.
Seneca County (O.), pp. 75, 123, 190.
96 William Robinson's Declaration, in
Jefferson's Notes. Statement
of James Robinson, in Howe's Ohio, p.
268. MS. letter of James E.
Robinson, 1 July, 1868. Arthur Campbell
to Wm. Preston, 12 Oct.,
1774; MS. letter. Withers' Border
Warfare, pp. 118-120. The letter
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 173
of Logan, as given in the text, is a
literal transcript of one copied
from the original, by Col. Preston.
97MS.
letters of Arthur Campbell to Wm. Preston in September
and October and one from Wm. Christian
to same, in November, 1774.
See, also, Amer. Arch., 4th series, Vol.
I, p. 808.
98"The chief town" in the
Shawanese language. The name, at dif-
ferent times, was applied to several of
their Towns: one about three
miles north of the present town of
Xenia; one on the site of the town
of Frankfort, Ross county; another where
the present city of Chilli-
cothe stands; all in what is now the
State of Ohio.
99 Amer. Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I, pp.
722, 723.
100The Mingoes, in 1774, had two
villages upon the waters of the
Scioto:
Pluggy's-town, about eighteen miles up that river above the
site of the present city of Columbus,
Ohio, near White Sulphur Springs,
in Delaware county; and Licktown
(Seekunk), a short distance east-
ward of the Scioto, on one of its
branches, in what is now Franklin
county, that State. Seekunk is a
corruption of the Delaware Kseek-he-
oong, a place of salt. There was also a small village near
the latter.
102The interpreter was John Gibson.
"Gibson told Logan of his
being sent to bring him to the treaty.
He found him in a cabin with
other Indians, when he told him his
errand. Logan took Gibson aside,
a little distance in the woods and they
seated themselves on a log
when they conversed freely on the subject
of the war and the impending
treaty. Logan was deeply exercised--even
to tears. He said he could
not go but that Gibson should deliver to
Dunmore what he should say.
He then delivered his speech. Gibson says he was struck with it
as well as with the manner of its
delivery; and that immediately upon
his arrival at headquarters he reduced
it to writing in English and
handed it to Lord Dunmore." J. B. Gibson to J. W. Biddle-1847.
Compare Gibson's own Dep. in App. to
Jefferson's Notes on Va.
103Copied verbatim from
Dixon and Hunter's Va. Gazette of 4
Feb., 1775 (No. 1226), except that the
word "Spring" is substituted for
the word "year"; the use of
the latter being, doubtless, an inadvertence
in copying. The words were spoken by Logan
in the Delaware lan-
guage to Gibson, an interpreter fully
competent to translate their pre-
cise meaning into English. Compare
Mayer's Logan and Cresap, pp.
186-190. The second publication of the
speech was in New York, 16
Feb., 1775. Amer. Arch., 4th Series,
Vol. I, p. 1020 note. It differs some-
what from the Williamsburg version of
the 4th of February, given in
the text. The speech as printed by
Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia,
varies but little from the New York
version. The speech, very soon
after its delivery, was attempted to be
rendered into French by M. l'
Abbe Robin, a French Traveler then in
America, but the effort was
well-nigh a complete failure. See his Nouveau
Voyage dans L' Amerique
Septentrionale, en l'Annee, 1781. A Paris,
1782, p. 147 note. The
174 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
error in the date, as given in that
work, is probably a mistake of the
printer;-or, it may have occurred in the
translation.
104 See his Notes on Virginia.
105John Burk in Hist. Va., Ill, 398.
106John
Bannister Gibson. See Mayer's Logan and Cresap, 188.
107 Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming;
where the sentiment is trans-
ferred to another.
108 Whittlesey in his Fugitive Essays,
145. Compare Clinton's Hist.
Discourse, 1811.
109 William
Crawford to Washington, 14 Nov., 1774. MS. Amer.
Arch., 4th Series, Vol. I, p. 1013.
Withers' Border Warfare, 137. Re-
port of a Committee of Va. Assembly,
Dec. 9th, 1776,-from the As-
sembly Journal of that year. Verbal Statement of Samuel Murphy
made in 1846. Seekunk (Lick-town) is
given by Crawford as being
forty miles away. Other statements make
it about thirty miles from
Camp Charlotte where the treaty was held
with the Shawanese. Plug-
gy'stown was not attacked.
110 MS. Journal
of James Wood. Jacob's Life of Cresap, p. 85.
111 Amer. Arch., 4 Series, Vol. I, p.
1226.
112Amer. Arch., 4 Series, Vol. III, p.
1542. The conference began
12 Sept. and ended 17 Oct.: Proceedings
of the Treaty-MS. For
further information concerning this
Treaty, see Jour. of Congs (old),
Vol. I, pp. 112, 161, 162, 168, 201;
Plain Facts (Philad'a 1781), p. 144.
The Virginia Com. were Thomas Walker,
Andrew Lewis, Adam Stephen,
and James Wood. The Con. Com. were Lewis
Morris, James Wilson
and John Walker. These names appear in
the MS. Proceedings of the
Treaty. Compare Bancroft Hist. U. S.,
Vol. VII, pp. 109, 110.
113 Hildreth's
Pioneer Hist. 98-108.
114 Wood's MS. Journal.
115Journals
of Congress, Vol. II, (1776), p. 318. Miner's Wyoming,
183.
116 Bradford's Notes on Kentucky,
(Stipps Miscellany), pp. 25, 26.
117 Verbal Statement of Kenton to John H. James, Feb., 1832.
McDonald's Sketches, pp. 231, 232.
McClurg's Western Adventure, p. 121.
118Heckewelder
to Col. John Gibson, 19 March, 1779. MS. letter
in Dept. of State, Washington.
119 For many interesting particulars
of Bird's expedition, see Stipp's
Miscellany, p. 56 et seq. The
commander was a Captain of the Eighth,
(or the King's) Regiment of Foot.
120 Amer. Pioneer, Vol. I, p. 359.
121 Verbal Statement of William Walker, 1868. Compare, also,
Amer. Pioneer, I, 359; Heckewelder's
Declaration in Jefferson's Notes;
Howe's Ohio Hist. Coll., p. 409; Mayer's
Logan and Cresap, pp. 138, 139,
185. That Logan was killed in the latter
part of the year 1780, there
can be no doubt. John Todd to Gov.
Jefferson, 24 Jan., 1781, in Jef-
Logan - The Mingo Chief. 175
ferson MSS.; Dept. of State, Washington. Vigne's Six Months in America (p. 30) gives a highly sensational account of Logan's death. 122 For description of Logan's personal appearance at different peri- ods, see Loudon's Ind. Wars, II, 225; Day's Hist. Coll. Penn. p. 467; Jones' Hist. Juniata Valley, 114; Wheelock's Mem., p. 139, 141; Mayer's Logan and Cresap, p. 59. 123 Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, V. 669. Turner's Hist. of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, (N. Y.), p. 487. 124 "A language extremely deficient in words of general and abstract signification renders the use of figures indispensible; and it is from this cause, above all others, that the flowers of Indian rhetoric derive their origin:" Parkman's Pontiac (6th ed.) Vol. II, p. 296 note. |
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