Buffington Indian Genealogy
Note From Brad Humble: The following information is the most
complete set of information about Mary Smith, Elizabeth Logan, Joel Buffington,
William Logan, John Logan, Chief Logan, Chief Shikellamy that I have been
able to put together briefly but giving enough historical background to
support my opinion.
My opinion is that researched from the Buffington side the link from Joel
Buffington and Elizabeth Logan marriage leads to any conclusions that we are
related by marriage to Chief Logan and Chief Shikellamy is very doubtful.
Trying to link the genealogy from Chief Shikellamy back to the
Buffingtons is simply a flight of fancy.
Do the Buffingtons have any Native American Bloodlines? Of course.
The Buffingtons as well of the rest of my ancestors have been none to
choosy in who they decided to intermingle DNA. Every form of
royalty and scoundrel has not dropped far from our family tree. Here is
a link to Thomas Buffington, a Cherokee Chief.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v017/v017p135.html
Joseph Buffington, b. 1776, 3rd child of Joel and
Elizabeth Logan Buffington,
Joel Buffington, b. ca 1744 in Hampshire Co., VA, d.
17 March 1821, in Mason co., Va (on Buffington Island).
married ca 1772 Elizabeth Logan, d/o William Logan and
Mary Smith." (Interesting that Mary Smith was rumored
to be a Cherokee Indian,)
John Logan, d. 1757, Cumberland Co., PA; married
Janot. they had 6 children:
1. Alexander, b. before 1736, d. 1762-63, Cumberland
Co., PA,; m.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Mary_____ and had 8 children.
2. William Logan, b. before 1736, d. 25 July - 12 Aug.
1768 Cumberland
Co., PA: m. Mary Smith, she died after 1768. They had 5
children:
Twins, Alexander & John, b. after 1747.
3. Elizabeth Logan, married ca
1772 Joel Buffington. 4. Tennant. 5. Elinor, b after
1747."
3. Iounna; m. before 1757, ____Townsley.
4. Mary, d. before 1762; m. before 1757, John Ervin
(Ewing).
5. Elinor.
6. Martha."
A quote from the history of the Logan Family where he
his John Logan's
will recorded;
"Our ancestor is John Logan, son of William. It appears
he lived in Bucks County and he could have been of the
family of Alexander who came to America in 1684. John
moved to West Pennsboro TWP in Cumberland Co.,
PA. His wife was Jonet. According to tax records, John,
Alexander, and William Logan paid taxes in West
Pennsboro TWP in 1751. History records that John Logan
was the only surviving committeeman on the Pensylvania
Council in 1743. John died in 1757 in Cumberland Co.,
and according to his will left his wife, Jonet, his
sons, Alexander and William, and daughters, Iounna
(Townsley), Mary (Ervin), Elinor Logan and Martha
Logan." Will is then recorded.
John's son is William, His will is also recorded in
Hommer's book. I won't type it all here. a paragraph
Buffington Indian Genealogy
speaks of Elizabeth;
"Elizabeth Logan, daughter of William and Mary, is our
ancestor. It is accepted through family tradition that
Elizabeth was part Indian. History supports this
belief. A Great nephew of Elizabeth, John
Alexander Logan, was an important figure in Illinois
history in his day. He was a son of Dr. John Logan, son
of John who was a brother of Elizabeth. In a story of
the achievements of John Alexander Logan(1826-1886) it
mentions his ability in oratory and says he presented
an impressive image as an orator of the spread eagle
type with a large amount of flowing black hair "which
showed his Indian heritage". In a letter from Jennie
Buffington to Mrs. J.W. Carter (Emma Buffinton),
written in 1921 is .... "...don't be shocked when I
tell you our father's great grandmother was an
Indian"...... this would be Mary Smith, mother of
Elizabeth Logan. Jennie Buffington's brother had done
extensive research on the Logan family, which was
unpublished.
Elizabeth Logan married Joel Buffington ca 1772 and
her story as "Lady Buffington" is recorded in the
Buffington Family. (which I add here.)
"According to Joel Buffington's gravestone record he
was born ca 1744. He was born in Virginia and married
Elizabeth Logan ca 1772. She was affectionately known
as Lady Buffington. They had 9 children.
"Joel lived in Hampshire Co., VA during the
Revolutionary War. During the War he spent 7 years
hauling freight between Virginia and Baltimore. Since
Joel was a Quaker and did not endorse participating in
combat this was his way of assisting in the war effort.
Joel and Elizabeth were still in Hampshire Co. as late
as 26 June 1792 as evidenced by a deed for 150 acres on
Abraham Creek on Allegheny Mountain to William
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Vandiver. They were " of Hampshire Co". They also sold
land there to John Johnston which was recorder 18 May
1795. It may be that about this time they moved on
westward. Probably the inheritance of land from their
father urged them on to the Ohio River area. Joel is
listed in the History of Meigs Co., OH, as being among
the first settlers of Sterling Bottom at Portland, OH.
He became a large land owner, not only because of his
inheritance, but also in his own right. HE purchased an
island of 150 acres of fertile land in the Ohio River
from the Duvals in 1787, so he must have visited this
part of the country before he moved his family. This
buying of the island was hailed as a "considerable
transaction". It was thereafter called Buffington
Island, a name which clings to it today. It is located
a few miles above Ravenswood, WV, near Sherman. The
land in the vicinity of the Island along the Ohio shore
was called "Buffington Fields", and there was a boat
landing named Buffington. The Island became a gracious
home for the Buffington family for 50 years."
Genealogy From Doug Buffington
One last explanation of Mary Smith’s origins that deserves
consideration is that she was the sister of Chief Logan who married
William Logan (not related). These events would place her connected to
the family and within the proper time frame. Mary Smith’s birth in
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania is also significant because Chief
Logan and his father’s family were known to have lived in Cumberland
county where Chief Shikellamy governed the Susquehanna
(Susquehanna) of Shamokin. It was there that Mary Smith met and
married her husband William Logan whose family had lived in
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Cumberland for three generations. After moving on to settle in
Missouri, William and Mary Smith moved to Hampshire County, West
Virginia where both Joel Buffington and Elizabeth Logan were born.
Because five of their children were born there, we may assume this is
where they were also married.
William Logan
Marriage 1 Mary SMITH b: ABT 1740 in Missouri
Children:
John LOGAN b: ABT 1751 in Missouri
Alexander LOGAN b: ABT 1753 in Missouri
Tennant LOGAN b: ABT 1757 in Missouri
Elinor LOGAN b: ABT 1759 in Missouri
Elizabeth LOGAN b: ABT 1754 in Hampshire, West Virginia.
Her siblings were twins, Alexander and John; Tennant and Elinor
Amelia Ann LOGAN b: 1783 in Missouri
The Miller family has provided the following family tree:
Name: Shikellamy Surname: Shikellamy Sex: M Birth: in Montreal, Canada
Marriage 1
Mrs. Shikellamy, Cayuga Indian
Children:
1. Taghneghdoarus (John) Shikellamy
2. Taghahjute Shikellamy (James Logan) Mingo Chief
b: 1725 in Osco, New York
3. John Petty
4. Cajadies
5. Mary Smith b: Cumberland, Pennsylvania
The Cox and Tarrant Families in Illinois have provided a different family makeup for
Chief Shikellamy.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
1. Anne Shikellamy Logan
2. John Talgyeeta Logan
3. James Tahgahiute
4. Sayugntowa
5. Unhappy Jake
6. Tachnechdorus
IT APPEARS THAT THESE ARE DIFFERENT WIVES OF CHIEF SHIKELLAMY.
Chief Logan
Father was a French Canadian trapper who later became Chief of the Oneidas.
THE SHAWNEES
" Chief John Logan (Tay-Gah-Jute) "
Logan was born in 1725, to a Cayuga Indian maiden. His Father was a French
Canadian trapper who later became Chief of the Oneidas. He assumed the name
of the Secretary of the Colony of Pennsylvania, a good friend of his Father who
represented the Indians to the Governor of Penn. Later Logan married a Shawnee
maiden. He is described as a Mingo which was not a tribe but a loose
confederation of the fragments of several tribes from the North East.
Initially Logan and his Father were good friends of the white people in their area
and provided them with important advice and assistance. At the end of the French
& Indian War, the Shawnees refused to accept the treaty by which the Iroquois
surrendered the Ohio Territory, on which they lived, to the British. The Shawnee
began to raid the settlements all along the frontier and the settlers retaliated. On
April 20, 1774, several Indians, including Logan's family, crossed Yellow Creek
near Pittsburg to visit a trading post run by Simon Greathouse. While there he got
them drunk on rum and murdered them all. Logan mistakenly held Capt. Cressap
responsible and began a murderous, vengeful assault on the Clinch and Holston
Settlements.
After ravaging the territory, he withdrew by way of a tributary of the Big Sandy
River (in Dickenson County). He was pursued by settlers led by a man named
McClure. Logan ambushed and defeated his pursuers on what is now McClure's
Creek, and withdrew through The Breaks.
In July of 1774, Logan captured William Robinson on the Monongahela River.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
When his braves wanted to burn him at the stake, he made a passionate speech on
his behalf and defiantly cut him free. Three days later, he came to Robinson and
asked him to record a
message to Capt. Cressap explaining his actions and inquiring why he had killed
his family. " What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The white people
killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago, and 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 3 times to war since; but the Indians are
not angry, only myself." (July 21, 1774 Capt. John Logan) He left the message
attached to a war club at the murder scene of John Roberts at King's Mill.
After the Shawnees were defeated at Pt. Pleasant, Logan indicated his vengence
was spent, but that he would never sign another treaty with the white man.
Afterwards, he approached Patrick Porter about taking a young Indian boy (Dale)
as his son. Although
Initially fearful, Porter eventually gave in to the persistent Logan. Dale, who he
renamed
Arter Dale, was raised as his child, learned to read, and became a frontier Preacher
for many years in the Scott and Wise County area.
Logan was described by one of the settlers as, "the finest human specimen, red or
white, that I have ever met." He made a great friend - and a terrible enemy.
The Grave Of Shikellamy, Sunbury, Pennsylvania
Shikellamy's real name was Ongwaterohiathe. 'It has caused the sky to be bright for us'. This
famous Oneida chief has also been called Swataney. When a tribe was conquered by the Six
Nations, a deputy or vice -gerent was sent by the Iroquois or Six Nation Council to watch
over the tribe. Shikellamy was such a deputy sent by the Great Federal Council of the Six
Nations 'Onondaga' in 1728 to watch over Deleware, Shawnee and other tribes in the Valley
of the Susquehanna River in what is now the State of Pennsylvania. This chief was highly
respected, by not only the Six Nations, but by the white colonial folks as well. He was always
the friend of the white man and upon many occasions treated white settlers with great
kindness. He never drank the white man's firewater because, as he once said, "I never wish to
be a fool." He tried to prevent the sale of this cursed drink to those Indians under his trust.
One of his first acts as Vice-Gerent was to send word to the colonial officials that unless they
stopped peddling rum among his people, friendly relations between the Six Nations and the
Colony of Pennsylvania would cease. This ultimatum to the Pennsylvania Government was
delivered in 1731. Because of the harm that liquor peddlers were causing among their people,
Buffington Indian Genealogy
many Indians were moving west to the Ohio Valley where the French were trying to alienate
them from English interests. The English had reason to fear friendly relations between the Six
Nations and the French.
Shikellamy was asked by the English to go to Onondaga and invite the Six Nation Chiefs to
go to Philadelphia, the object, to secure the friendship and alliance of the Six Nations in case
of a war with France and also to try to get the Ohio Indians to return to the Susquehanna
country to act as a bulwark against the enemy. Though they mistrusted the English, three of
the Six Nations sent delegates to the council '1732'. At Philadelphia the English were very
concerned and uneasy as to whether the Six Nations were their friends or whether they would
favor the French. They were put at ease by one of the speakers of the Confederacy who,
informed them that the Governor of Canada had met them in council, as they suspected, and
had told them that he intended to war upon the English colonies and wished the Six Nations
to remain neutral! The answer of the Iroquois speaker to the French Governor as regards the
request was as follows: "Onondiio (name for French Governor) , you are very proud! You are
not wise to make war with Corlear (English Governor of New York), and to propose
neutrality to us. Corlear is our brother. He came to us when he was little and a child. We
suckled him at our breasts. We have nursed him and taken care of him until he is grown-up to
be a man, He is our brother and of the same blood. He and we have but one ear to hear with,
one eye to see with and one-mouth to speak with. We will not forsake him nor see any man
make war upon him without assisting. We shall join him and, it we fight with you, we may
have our father, Onondiio, to bury in the ground. We would not have you force us to do this
but be wise and live in peace." 'Pa. Col. Records, Vol. 3., It does not make the author proud to
know, that at this moment, officials of the state that bears the name of Corlear are backing a
bill, now before Congress, S-192; that will, if passed, take away the few rights and promises
left to the Six Nations, the Confederacy that nursed their fathers until they had grown to be
men. 'Write to Chief Clinton Richard, Pres. I. D. L. A., Sanborn, N. Y. for information.'
In the execution of his office Shikellamy conducted many important embassies between the
Six Nations and the Government of Pennsylvania. It was through this chief that the Treaty of
1736 was called at which delegates from all of the Six Nations were present at the Council
Hall in Philadelphia. Over a hundred Iroquois attended this council. At this council the
Iroquois deeded to the State of Pennsylvania all of their Susquehanna lands. When most of
the delegates had returned home, and several weeks later, another deed was drawn up by the
whites and those Indians who had remained 'most of them drunk' signed away lands owned
by the Delaware Indians. Became of this act, the Delawares and other Indians sought the
alliance of the French and from 1755 to 1764 Pennsylvania was drenched in blood of an
Indian war. Old William Penn, a sincere and honest man, never stooped to crooked dealings
with the Indian people. His sons, however were not of the same make as their father, but were
Buffington Indian Genealogy
more interested in personal profit and trickery. The results of this shameful act was one of the
bloodiest wars in colonial history.
Because of the help of Shikellamy in cementing a friendship between the Six Nations and the
Colony of Pennsylvania, a future nation, the United States, was made possible. If the Six
Nations and the French had formed an alliance, there can be no doubt that the result would
have been the destruction of all the English colonies on the coast. Shikellamy was the
mediator between the Colony of Pennsylvania and the Six Nations. He was the key to the
friendship of the Iroquois.
Old Shikellamy became ill with fever and passed away Dec. 6, 1748. Said the Moravian
missionary, Zinzindorf, of Shikellamy, "He was truly an excellent and good man, possessed
of many noble qualities of mind, that would do honor to many white men. laying claims to
refinement and intelligence. He possessed of great dignity, sobriety and prudence, and was
particularly noted for his extreme kindness to the inhabitants with whom he came in contact."
AMERICA OWES MUCH TO THIS GREAT IROQUOIS!
Leaving To-ri-wa-wa-kon and the grave of Shikellamy, the Mohawks traveled up the great
river Susquehanna until they arrived at Lewisburg. Here they visited an ancient Indian village
site which was an earlier residence of the noted Oneida chief Shikellamy. Continuing still
north up the river the warriors arrived at still another of Shikellamy's towns. Here the great
chief also resided, just south of the Village of Milton, Pennsylvania. From this village site the
Mohawks traveled over a road that was once called, The Sheshequin Path. This ancient
Iroquois trail was used by Conrad Weiser and Shikellamy on trips through this region of
beautiful hills to the six Nations Capitol at Onondaga. This Indian trail connected the
Iroquois country and the Shamokin area and is spoken of as, The Peace Path. Many an
ancient Iroquois traveled over this beautiful trail coming from or going to the Land of the Hode-no-sau-ne.
Still traveling north up the great river, the warriors 'north of Towanda, Pa.' came to the
meeting place of the Indian trails, the plans where the trail joined the Iroquois Country and
the Shamokin Area. Still traveling up this Indian path, the Sheshequin Path, the Mohawks
arrived in the vicinity of Athens, a town of Pennsylvania. In this location many important
events of Indian history took place. This was also known as Tioga Point and several
important councils of the Six Nations were held here. This was the site of the ancient Indian
Village of Tioga. This was the Indian gateway from New York into Pennsylvania and had
been an important Iroquois highway for generations. At Athens they saw, the Carring Path,
the Indian voyager down the Chemung River lifted his canoe and carried it a hundred and
ninety yards across the neck to ascend the Susquehanna River. This area around Athens was
Buffington Indian Genealogy
known by the whites as the "Pine Plains." In 1790 near this spot Timothy Pickering met Red
Jacket and his Senecas. They were on their way to the Peace Council at Tioga Point. Just
south of here was Queen Esther's Town. Near Green's Landing, on the terrace below, lived
this French-Indian woman, Esther Montour. Near here stands Spanish Hill, ancient village
site of the Andante Indians' who were an Iroquoian people, of the Six Nations. The Mohawks
visited the Tioga Point Museum at Athens where they were fortunate enough to meet a
woman of Indian blood, Elsie Murray, director of the museum. This woman, an Indian
authority, gave the Mohawks the history of the region.
Leasing Tioga Point, the Mohawk left the main trail and heading west they arrived at the
Village of Knoxville. Here, in Iroquois days, was a noted Seneca Iroquois village known as
"Mingo Town." This Seneca sentinel village, located here at the eastern end of "The
Forbidden Trail" during the mid-18th century, was the place where the white man was
forbidden to pass. All white travel westward was halted here. Post, provincial agents, was
turned back at this point in 1760. It is interesting to know, that at the head of a stream near
here, Cowanesque Creek, is a short trail that led to where the Village of Raymond is now
located. There it met the head-waters of the Allegany River down which it was possible to
travel either by canoe or by a well-worn trail to the distant Monongahela River, 352 miles
away and places farther down the Ohio River. This early route to the Mississippi Valley was
used by the Iroquois for generations.
Leaving Pennsylvania the warriors headed down the Chemung River to the Seneca Village
site of Newtown near Elmira, N. Y. At the City of Owego they saw a marker that had the
following inscription: "Ka-nau-kwis, known as Captain Cornelius. In time of need here, he
supplied venison and corn flour to family of pioneer, Benanuell Beuel." They recognized the
Indian name as an Onondaga name and the thought came to them that there were many other
instances of Iroquois hospitality and friendship to the early white settlers, occasions that
deserved memorials and markers so that Americans of today would know that here in this
beautiful country of America once lived a people who possessed of many characteristics that
are admired today.
Heading north through a beautiful hill country the Mohawks arrived again at Onondaga,
Capitol of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy. From here they headed north for the
thousand Island Bridge. Crossing this they were again in Canada. Traveling south along the
shore of Lake Ontario they were soon in the Thendinaga Mohawk Reservation.
Introduction: The Effects of a Great Speech
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Logan appeared on the stage of American history at a time when the white man
was particularly sensitive on the subject of the power and influence of the Indians
who occupied the regions west of the Allegheny Mountains. Those tribes had, for
several years, shown a disposition to oppose the advance of the Anglo-Saxon white
man into those regions; and their movements, from 1763, had at least the effect to
alarm, if they did not seriously threaten, the colonies.
The Indians had produced several chiefs who had extraordinary capacity to direct
and unite the principal Indian bands. Such men as Kilelimend, Cornstalk,
Bukanjahela, and Pontiac, appeared at distant places within this time period,
showing that the feeling of hostility in the western tribes was widespread, and that
they believed they still had the power of the French in Canada as an ally and
rallying point.
Braddock, with a large and well equipped British army, had been defeated in 1755,
by a comparatively small body of French soldiers supported by a large force of
Indians; and when the power of France fell with Montcalm, in 1759, the Indians,
with whom France had had close relations from early days, could not believe that
France's flag and strength finally had been removed from Canada.
In this state of circumstances, the small English posts of Le Boeuf, Venango,
Maumee, and several others, including the stone-bastioned fort of
Michilimackinac, had been attacked and taken. Major Gladwyn, after a siege of
several months, finally broke the stranglehold on Detroit in 1763 with the defeat of
the Indians at Bloody Bridge. The next year, Col. Bouquet crossed the Allegheny
Mountains, beat the Indians in a desperate battle at Brushy Run on the Sewickly,
and penetrated, with a triumphant army, to the banks of the Muskingum River,
where a general peace was achieved. The Indian power, which had cast such a
gloom over the colonies, was essentially crushed; and Briton and American forces
celebrated their joint triumph over the Indians.
Like most treaties of Europeans with the Indian power -- which were produced by
force and not by mutual, willing consent -- this pacification was not permanent. In
less than ten years, the Virginia and Pennsylvania frontiers had experienced
frequent attacks, and a strong military force was again considered necessary. In
1774, Lord Dunmore penetrated, with an army, to the banks of the Scioto River,
the principal capital and seat of the Indian power. Again the Indians, who seldom
could muster forces sufficient to resist large armies, were brought to terms.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
The Shawnees, who had been the "head and front" of this war, were once more
compelled to sue for peace; and all the notable Indian participants in the war
presented themselves at the conqueror's camp, except Logan. For many years, the
name of Logan had been familiar on the frontiers, and had recently received
particular attention. But he scornfully refused to show himself at the headquarters
of a conqueror, beneath whose flag and in whose name the white men had
committed treacherous acts that deeply affected him personally. Instead, he sent
the following address, by an interpreter, to reveal his position.
"I appeal to any white man to [ask] if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and I
gave him not meat; if ever he came cold or naked, and I gave him not clothing.
During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained in his tent, an
advocate for peace; nay, such was my love for the whites, that those of my own
country pointed at me as they passed by, and said, 'Logan is the friend of white
men!' I had even thought to live with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel
Cresap, last spring, in cool blood, and unprovoked, cut off all the relations of
Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my
blood in the veins of any [other] human creature. This called on me for revenge. I
have sought [revenge and] I have killed many -- I have fully glutted my vengeance.
For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor the thought that
mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save
his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."
There was celebration at Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, on the return of
Dunmore's army. It was the seat of the royal government and local aristocracy, and
the prominent resort of the British and colonial military officers who had been
involved in the war. When the tale of Logan was told in its saloons, its effect was
electrifying. It had great impact wherever the story was repeated. Thomas Jefferson
inserted Logan's statement in his book, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, and it soon
acquired worldwide celebrity.
"The speech," said Jefferson, "was so fine a morsel of eloquence, that it became the
theme of every conversation in Williamsburg, particularly, and generally, indeed,
where any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburg, I believe
at Lord Dunmore's (1774), .... precisely in the words stated in the NOTES ON
VIRGINIA.
Inquiries were immediately made into the personal history of Logan. "A heart
capable of expressing such sentiments was worthy to beat in the noblest bosom of
Buffington Indian Genealogy
the human race" -- and the white man wanted to know more about the Indian
behind those words.
Logan was an Iroquois: a member of that once proud and powerful confederacy
that had formed the first representative republic in North America. [The term
Iroquois was applied by the French to the Six Nations, who constituted the
celebrated confederation of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas,
and Tuscaroras. (Mingo was the equivalent term used by English writers of the
times.) In some of the Virginia newspapers of 1774, Logan was said to be a
"Shawnee chief," an impression very naturally gained by the soldiers who returned
from the scenes of the treaty framed in the West, amid the Shawnee nation, where
Logan's celebrated speech was first recited. Logan had married a Shawnee wife
and had long been a resident with the Shawnees and Delawares, with whom he
fought in the war against the British and Americans. Years later, in remarks before
the Senate of the United States during the second session of the 33rd Congress,
Lewis Cass also stated that Logan was a Shawnee. However, Logan had passed
from the scenes long before Cass went to the West, and it was natural that local
tradition in Ohio should associate the name of this chief with the lineage of the
tribe with whom he lived and died. The authorities are, however, very clear on this
point -- that Logan was an Iroquois. See the footnotes of Brantz Mayer's discourse
before the Maryland Historical Society, 9 May 1851. Also, "Weiser's Journal" in
Collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. And Heckewelder's Letters.]
Logan's father, Shikellamy, was a Cayuga, who had left his childhood home on the
picturesque borders of the lake of that name [Lake Cayuga] in western New York,
and fixed his home on the banks of the Susquehannah, at Shamokin [now Sunbury,
Pennsylvania].
In early times the Susquehannah Valley had been assigned as the hunting ground
for the remnants of various tribes who had fallen under the power of the Iroquois.
Such were the once prominent tribes of the Shawnees and Delawares, the
Nanticokes, and the Conoys, a tribe of the Susquehannocks of Maryland, and also
the Munceys and Mahicans, two affiliated tribes of the Lenno Lenapean stock, who
were in absolute subjugation to the Iroquois.
Shamokin was a point from which the war then waged by the Iroquois against the
Catawbas and Cherokees of South Carolina could be conveniently carried on, and
it became a point of rest and support for the war parties of the Six Nations, on their
return from the South. The Iroquois Council-fire committed the chieftainship of
Buffington Indian Genealogy
this frontier to Shikellamy, and the trust appears to have been conveyed to
competent and honest hands.
When the government of Pennsylvania wanted to open contact with the Iroquois in
1737, Shikellamy was selected to guide Conrad Weiser, the celebrated Indian
linguist and official, to Onondaga -- the capital of the Iroquois power. This journey,
which is recorded in Weiser's diary, is an interesting passage in Indian history, and
presents Shikellamy in favorable light.
Five years later (in 1742), when the Count Zinzendorf reached the beautiful area of
Shamokin, Shikellamy was the first person to step forth and welcome the
celebrated Moravian; and Shikellamy promised Count Zinzendorf his friendly aid
in the introduction of the gospel to the sons of the forest.
The Pennsylvania government found Shikellamy's wigwam to be its most reliable
point of communication with the then leading Iroquois power. Here the governor's
secretary, Mr. Jonathon Logan (d. 1751), was often entertained. It is from these
friendly and positive contacts with Mr. Logan that Logan's name was bestowed
upon the chief's [Shikellamy's] active and promising son, who had been born at
Shamokin. Shikellamy's son, whose Indian name was Tah-ga-yu-ta, was also a
listener to the Moravian teachings, and, it is said that he was well-acquainted with
the leading Christian doctrines.
Shikellamy died at Shamokin in 1748.
It is significant that in the settlement of the Susquehannah Valley, the Indians were
followed in occupying the area, not by peaceful English Quakers, but by
aggressive Celtic and Germanic settlers, with "a bold and enterprising spirit." First
and prominent in this infusion of Teutonic population into the Susquehannah
Valley was the indomitable Conrad Weiser and his adherents from disputed lands
in the Schoharie Valley, New York, where they had failed to realize the promises
of Queen Anne (a transference of residence which dates to 1729).
Weiser had learned the Iroquois language as a boy by living with the Indians in the
Mohawk Valley, and had so perfected command of it that few, even among the
natives, ever had as full, free, and comprehensive knowledge of it. For half a
century, Weiser was the primary means of negotiations between the crown of Great
Britain and the local Governors of the colonies with the powerful and controlling
Iroquois confederacy -- a confederacy, so powerful among the other Indian tribes,
that they had only to command, and it was done.
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Weiser was a man of uncommon foresight, judgment, and firmness of character.
The descendant of pious German Lutherans, he resembled the great Lutheran
reformer in one respect: namely, "in the energetic structure and fixity of his mind."
In 1744, it was Weiser who delivered the Iroquois commands to the subjugated
Delawares at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "I forbid you," he said speaking the
message of the Iroquois, "ever more to meddle with the sales of land. I direct you
instantly to quit the banks of the Delaware, think not of it, deliberate not about it,
but go in hot haste. You may go to Shamokin or Wyalusing." (Colden's Five
Nations.)
The hardy emigrants that followed Weiser to the beautiful and fertile valley of the
Susquehannah, had a demanding frontier life ahead of them. When they obtained
their grants from the Penns, these lands not only had to be cleared for agriculture,
but the fragile peace was difficult to maintain, causing the settlers to carry weapons
to guard their fields and homes from the occasional outbreaks of the Indians. From
their perspective, it was not an easy task they had to perform -- exposed to many
dangers in a hostile land.
To them, the manners and habits of the Indians were both incomprehensible and
intolerable. Suspicion of treachery was ever at its height on both sides, and when
collisions arose, these hardy pioneers stood as a wall of defense between the
frontiers and the white man's civilization to the east. A harsher judgment of the
Indians was consequently formed by them than was universally held by the kindly
and peaceful followers of Penn, who were remote from these scenes of conflict.
Two very contentious states of opinion were thus formed between eastern and
western Pennsylvania, which led to conflict among the white residents of
Pennsylvania. This conflict was not resolved until the capital of the State of
Pennsylvania was moved, after a long course of colonial and state struggles, from
Philadelphia to the banks of the Susquehannah. This conflict, including threatened
armed invasion of Philadelphia by the western settlers of Pennsylvania, is
discussed elsewhere in the FirstBase database.
Braddock's defeat in 1755 threw open the whole frontier from the present site of
Pittsburgh to the very confines of 'the western settlements' -- most of which, after
this event, were abandoned. The defeat and repulse of the British on the
Monongahela was, indeed, a signal for renewed hostility by even the feeblest tribes
of Indians. The Moravian mission at Shamokin was broken up, and the inhabitants
of the new settlements ruthlessly massacred. Shikellamy, who had been a friend to
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the whites, had died in 1749, six years before these disastrous events; and it does
not appear that he had any successor who could have counselled and negotiated
peace.
The death of Chief Shikellamy, according to the Iroquois system of descent, did
not mean that his son, Logan, would automatically become a chief. In the
troublesome times that soon occurred, Shikellamy's family and children
disappeared from notice. It is not until about seventeen years after his father's
death, that Logan reappears, and he then comes to notice as an active hunter on the
beautiful banks of the Juniata River -- a tributary of the Susquehannah on its
western borders, and not very remote (for Indian life) from the site of his birth.
Logan emerges as a tall, active man, of noble appearance and humane sentiments,
and as one who entertained a kind and peaceful character worthy of his father. The
first encounter of the settlers with him was accidental. Juniata River bursts through
a deep ravine in Jack's Mountain, and displays on its banks some of the most
attractive scenery for which the region is celebrated. It had previously been settled
by some daring pioneers who were, however, driven from their homes by the
Indian wars, but who returned to them some time between the years 1765 and
1769.
In 1769, as two of these pioneers were admiring the beautiful locations in the
valley, they saw a bear, and being armed with rifles, immediately gave chase and
wounded it. While unsuccessfully pursuing the animal, and exhausted with the
chase, they suddenly came to a crystal spring bursting from the side of a hill, and,
in exhausted, threw themselves down beside it to drink. They had leaned their
rifles against a tree. As one of them bent over the clear, mirror-like surface of the
water for a drink, he saw the reflected shadow of a stately Indian, armed with a
rifle. He sprang with instant energy to his feet, while the Indian yelled. The settler
had no idea whether it was a sound of peace or war, and seized his rifle to face his
foe. In an instant the Indian dashed open the pan of his gun, spilling out the
powder, and at the same instant held his open hand, palm upwards, in token of
friendship. The sign was recognized, and the two grasped hands in friendship. The
Indian was Logan. Logan was then on his way to the west. Enjoying each others'
company, the settlers accompanied Logan for a week, hunting and camping as
Logan made his way over the Allegheny Mountains.
Logan's residence in the Juniata Valley had endeared him to its early inhabitants;
and he is favorably remembered in the traditions of that valley, where there are
many anecdotes related of his honorable dealing, just character, and kind and
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affectionate feelings. [Brantz Mayer's Discourse before the Maryland History
Society, p. 28.]
During his residence in the Juniata Valley, there were several incidents that
revealed his character and honesty. On one occasion he entered into a wager of
shooting skills with a frontiersman, at a dollar a shot, at the locality of a noted
spring in that valley which still bears his name. Logan lost four or five shots, which
he acknowledged, however humiliating it may have been, with gracious
composure. When the contest ended, and the white men were about to leave,
Logan stepped into his lodge and immediately returned with as many deer-skins as
he had lost shots. The victor (a Mr. M'Clay) declined taking them, stating that he
and his companions had been Logan's guests, and that the match had been merely a
trial of skill and nerve, and not undertaken for gain. "No," said Logan, with
dignity, "I wagered to make you do your best in shooting. My word is true. Had
you lost, I should have taken your dollars, but as I have lost, you shall take my
skins." [A dollar a skin for undressed deer-skins was then the standing price.]
On another occasion, Logan came from his forest home to purchase some grain. He
brought dressed buck-skins to a tailor, and took his pay in wheat. When the wheat
was examined later by the miller who was to grind it, it was found to be adulterated
by some mixture resembling wheat. Logan had obviously been defrauded. Logan
complained to the magistrate of the district (a Mr. Brown). The magistrate
determined that Logan had been "cheated," and the situation was promptly righted.
On another occasion, the young daughter of a Mrs. Brown attracted Logan's
attention. The little girl was just beginning to walk, and he had overheard the
mother express her regret that she could not afford a pair of shoes for her baby.
Logan said nothing. But when he was ready to return to his wigwam, which was
located nearby at a spring, Logan came and asked the mother to let him take the
child with him. Confident in his known character, she consented, with mingled
feelings of trust and anxiety. It was morning when this incident occurred, and the
day wore away, with many yearnings in the mother's heart, at the long absence of
her child. Just before sunset, Logan re-appeared, leading the little girl, exhibiting,
on her tiny feet, a pair of beautifully crafted and decorated moccasins -- the
triumph of forest-skills from Logan's own hands.
Logan made his camp-fire in the Ohio Valley, on the Mingo Bottom, near where
the Big Beaver River enters the Ohio River about thirty miles above Wheeling.
This was an old residence of his countrymen; and while living here, he married,
and had children by a Shawnee woman. The Mingoes, or western Iroquois, along
Buffington Indian Genealogy
with the Delawares, then occupied the upper parts of the Ohio Valley. The
Shawnees lived on the Scioto River, making Chillicothe their capital. This tribe
maintained a deadly hostility against the encroaching frontiers of Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Kentucky.
The Delawares had, it is believed, from early-European times, been in a state of
vassalage to the Iroquois, and were ever ready to receive, entertain, and obey them.
Between the Shawnees and Delawares there was an ancient and close relationship.
Logan was a welcome guest among these tribes, but he thus placed himself in a
position to have his friendship for the whites misunderstood. At the same time, by
allying himself to the Shawnees by marriage, he was, in a manner, identified with
that tribe.
The white man had a hostile attitude toward the Shawnees. They had been deadly
enemies to the colonies. It was the double misfortune of the Delawares to be in
union with the Shawnees, while, at the same time, they had the bad reputation
(among the English colonies) of being friends and allies of the French. Essentially
segregated, as Logan was from the main body of the Iroquois, and having taken
refuge among the Shawnees and Delawares, he was constantly confronted with
strangers -- both Indian and white settler -- who misunderstood his position of
neutrality.
Furthermore, frontiersmen did not always make distinctions of tribe and lineage
among different tribes whose general acts, manners, customs, and policy were the
same. They often came in angry haste to avenge cruelties and wrongs done to
them, and considered any "red skin" as the embodiment of all evil. Such was
Logan's position in the beginning of 1774.
In 1772, three years after Logan had been encountered by settlers on the Juniata
River, he visited the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, at the Moravian mission on the
Muskingum River. His father, Shikellamy, having been the steadfast friend of the
United Brethren at Shamokin, the son was welcomed by Heckewelder. Logan
impressed Heckewelder as being a man of high character and extraordinary
capacity. Logan made some remarks that impressed the missionary of his
reasoning power. He spoke against the use of ardent spirits [alcohol], and denoted
a capacity for judging high-minded acts, as compared to the lowly and base acts
that had been committed by some of the settlers.
Mr. Heckewelder visited Logan at the mouth of the Beaver River in 1773, and was
well received by Logan's family. About this time, Mr. M'Clure, a missionary,
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visited the Ohio Valley, and saw and conversed with Logan. At that time, the
missionary noted Logan's remarkable physical stature and personal appearance. He
was "over six feet in height, straight, lithe, athletic, symmetrical in form, and of a
firm mind, resolute, and commanding."
The brave, open, resolute countenance Logan had possessed in 1773 -- as
described by missionary M'Clure -- was replaced one year later by a state of
intense ferocity. Mr. M'Clure afterwards met Logan in the forest, armed and
painted for war. Logan took M'Clure aside for a private conversation. Logan had
not, it seemed, forgotten the missionary teachings he had listened to at Shamokin;
and recognizing the "sacred office" of the preacher, spoke to M'Clure with a degree
of "pallor in his countenance, in a remorseful strain, as if lamenting the influences
of a class of ever-present spirits or wood-demons." Logan exclaimed, striking his
chest: "I feel their influence here. Wherever I go, they pursue me. If I go to my
cabin, my cabin is full of them. If I go into the woods, the trees and air are filled
with demons. They haunt me by day and by night. By their menaces, they want to
clutch me, and throw me into a pit."
This acute sense of being accompanied by evil demons was thought remarkable by
the missionary, and indicated to him that Logan's mind had once been enlightened
by high doctrines of moral teaching. It was thought that Logan had held some of
the leading principles of Christianity itself, as taught at his father's cabin by the
brotherhood of missionaries who early followed Zinzendorf to the wilds of
Pennsylvania.
But Logan clearly possessed a range of thought and feeling, reflecting both Indian
values and those of the Christian missionaries. He possessed sentiments of
kindness and humanity; and, above all, he had an appreciation for the knowledge
and arts of both the Indians and the white man. He had a high moral sense of
justice in the transactions between man and man, and tribe and tribe; a principle of
honor, in standing by his word when once given; and a tenderness and sensibility
for his family and clan.
Two years had passed from the time of Logan's first arrival in the Ohio Valley.
That beautiful and attractive country had first been explored in 1773, and the next
year the decision was made, in Virginia, to found a settlement at the mouth of the
Little Kenawha River. The potential founders of this proposed settlement planned
first to attack a Shawnee village near the mouth of the Scioto. This project was
abandoned, however; and the party who had planned it, governed by better advice,
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ascended the Ohio River to the present site of Wheeling, West Virginia, near which
a number of other white settlers were already established.
It was early in the spring. The settlements at Wheeling and Pittsburgh were in
"excitement," expecting any moment the breakout of hostilities. Major Conolly had
made an unsuccessful attempt to send a message to the Indians. [Major Conolly
was a Virginia militia officer under Lord Dunmore, and was then in temporary
command at Pittsburgh.] Conolly communicated the result, along with his
apprehensions and belief of an immediate Indian war, to the armed party camped at
Wheeling, with orders to prepare for it. His letter, dated April 21, was publicly
read by Captain Michael Cresap to his forces at Wheeling, and, at its conclusion, a
state of war was formally announced. That same evening two Indian scalps were
brought in by men of this party.
The next day several canoes of Indians were discovered descending the Ohio
River, which were chased fifteen miles down the stream and driven ashore, where
a skirmish occurred, with several being wounded on each side, and one Indian
prisoner taken. On returning to their camp at Wheeling, a resolution was adopted to
march the next day to attack Logan's camp, at Mingo Bottom, which was situated
on the Ohio River about thirty miles above Wheeling. But after proceeding on this
expedition about five miles, the party stopped, and reconsidered the actions that
they were about to commit. It was acknowledged that the Indians of Logan's
village had no hostile intentions -- that they were hunters, camped there with their
women and children, and all their belongings, and were in "no condition for war."
These facts were affirmed by one of the party -- George Rogers Clark, who would
later become famous for his role in American history. As a result, the party
returned to Wheeling, "filled with detestation of the contemplated act."
Two days after this incident, some Indians, and among them a brother of Logan,
were decoyed across the Ohio River from the mouth of Yellow Creek, "by some
obscure and base-minded persons," and all but one killed. The particular spot of
this murder was Baker's cabin, at Captina Creek. Baker had, early in the morning,
furnished liquor to a party of eight Indians, consisting of four men, three women,
and an infant, including Logan's brother, until all but the latter and the child were
intoxicated. He then gave a signal to a party of concealed men, who rose and
ruthlessly shot the entire party, except the child. Logan's brother had been shot
down treacherously, as a prelude to this tragedy, as he was walking out of the door
of Baker's cabin, by a man named Sappington.
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While this tragedy was being enacted at Baker's cabin, or a few moments before it
had commenced, two canoes were seen leaving the west or opposite shores of the
Ohio River, filled with Indians, steering their course across to Baker's trading
house. Before they had reached the east bank, Baker's men, one or two of whom
bore the name of Greathouse, who appear to have been leading figures in these
events, had secreted themselves, with arms, in the brambles or undergrowth on the
margin of the stream. Every person in the first of these canoes was killed, as soon
as it came within range; the other canoe turned and fled.
It has been generally stated that the mother and sister of Logan were in the first
canoe. But, as noted shortly, this was not the case. However, Logan's brother had
previously been shot in the house. Afterwards, other canoes, with armed warriors,
came across the river to the fatal scene, alarmed by the report of rifles, but their
attempts to land were repulsed by Baker's men.
Logan's family members were not in either of the canoes fired on at Baker's
station. According to the subsequent statement of Colonel Richard Sparks, the
murder of Logan's family was committed by some of Cresap's men who had their
own private reasons for seeking revenge on the Indians. It was these men who stole
away from Cresap's encampment without Cresap's knowledge and authority, and
absolutely without his permission -- who committed the murders. In fact, when
Cresap learned what was planned, he hastened to Logan's cabin to put a stop to it.
Sparks had been captured at Wheeling by the Shawnees, had been brought up
among them, and was present on the Scioto at Upper Chillicothe, when the murder
of Logan's family occurred. He heard the story immediately after it occurred, from
Logan himself. Sparks's narrative was related, in the presence of witnesses, at Fort
Stoddart, Alabama, in November 1812, at a time when he had risen to the rank of a
Lt. Col. in the U.S. army. It is as follows:
"Logan said that a part of Cresap's men, who had left Cresap without his orders,
had attacked his house, killed and destroyed his family, and two Indian relations
who were there, two young men of the Delawares; he knew Cresap's family, his
father, and him; he knew that it was not Cresap's fault, but the mad young men
who had left Cresap's camp, contrary to his orders, who had committed the
depredations.
"He [Logan] was the white man's friend; never had a white man come to his house,
but he gave him something to eat; never had he spilt the blood of a white man.
They had begun war with him without provocation. From this time forward
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(raising his tomahawk), I declare war against all white people; and I expect that my
warriors will revenge the blood of my family.
"Logan stayed a few days, raised a party, and went and fought at the mouth of
Kenawha.
"As soon as Logan arrived at 'Plugge's Town' (now Upper Chillicothe), he called a
council, and made the aforesaid speech. The young warriors immediately gave the
war-whoop.
"In all the conversations which took place, Cresap was never blamed. It was
understood universally by the Indians, and always mentioned by Logan, that it was
a party who stole off from Cresap's army, headed by one Askew, [who was] either
[an] ensign or lieutenant, that committed the murder.
"In all Logan's conversations with the Indians, previous to starting from 'Plugge's
Town,' Logan uniformly adhered to the statement that it was not Cresap's fault; but
that, as the whites had murdered his family, he would not make peace with white
men while he lived, and hoped his warriors would do the same to revenge the death
of his family.
"At the time of the murder, Cresap had been on a scout to Grave Creek and
Wheeling, and was returning to Red Stone. (Col. Sparks had a brother with Cresap
at the time.) On return from the scout, Cresap intentionally stopped a mile away
from Logan's house, and did not camp closer because he was concerned that some
of his men might disturb Logan. Cresap told his men that Logan lived nearby, that
Logan had always been friendly to the white men, and that the men were not to
disturb Logan. Those men who committed the murder slyly slipped off, two or
three at a time, pretending to hunt for something to eat. Askew's brother had been
killed by the Indians the spring before, and those that crept off sought revenge for
this act.
"In a few minutes after the men had gone away, Cresap was about to start to go to
Logan's himself, as Mrs. Logan spoke English, and he hoped to speak with her
even if Logan was not at home. At that moment Cresap heard the firing, and
immediately ran, with the balance of his company to save the lives of the Indians.
On coming up, he found them killed, but none scalped. Most of the party had made
off. They came after awhile to Cresap's camp, and pretended they had been
hunting, except two, who had been caught at Logan's house by Cresap, while they
were endeavoring to plunder it. Those men, Cresap confined, and brought to the
old fort at Red Stone.
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"It was the universal impression in and about 'Plugge's Town,' that Cresap was not
at fault. On repeating the story to Richard Sparks' father, on his return to Red
Stone, he (Cresap) was much distressed.
"At the time, Col. R. Sparks had been a prisoner among the Indians for several
years; spoke their language; knew no other; was fourteen years old, and distinctly
recollects every thing that occurred; had all the feelings of an Indian, and was
equally impressed as the others with the circumstances of the time."
It is clearly shown in Sparks's narrative, that Captain Michael Cresap, whose name
has been associated with this atrocious deed, did not condone it and was
completely exonerated from the act. However, Cresap had been, by far, the most
distinguished and capable actor in the early Indian conflicts on the Ohio River, in
1773 and 1774, up to this time. As a result, it was logical for Logan, if indeed he
had, to assume that every enterprise or aggression against the Indians was headed
by him. [In contrast to a person who would condone this act, Cresap is described
as: "a humane and just, as well as a brave man; he was a zealous patriot in the
opening scenes of the American war.... He had fought to repel aggressions upon
the frontier, which came often, like the steps of the cougar, in silence and at
midnight, and which, to all experience, rested on a wayward and unreliable sense
of justice or wrong."]
The atrocities committed by Cresap's men against Logan's family and unwary
followers, had the effect of kindling the war into a blaze. All ties between the white
man and Indians had been broken. Virginia had been the particular concern of the
Indians, and now the Indians had experienced a double vengeance from this source
-- loosing first their land and now their loved ones. According to several
authorities, the massacre of Logan's family occurred on 1 May 1774. During the
ensuing spring, summer, and autumn, until Lord Dunmore arrived with troops and
concluded the treaty of Camp Charlotte on the Scioto River, the most "sanguinary
and heart-rending murders were perpetrated by the Indians." [The author of this
entry noted that between 1777 and 1779, fourteen of his relatives in western
Virginia, were murdered on that frontier by the Indians.]
Logan was a major participant in these scenes. He led many war parties against an
enemy, who appeared to him to have committed the utmost cruelty and injustice
against the Indians. Assuming that these acts had been specially directed against
him and his family, and not knowing they "were the blind and indiscriminating acts
of a popular frontier prejudice and fury, ... no boundaries seem to have been put to
his vengeance. A demoniacal spirit appears, indeed, to have guided his steps, as he
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himself once confessed; and he did not recover himself, to a sense of calmness,
until the Dunmore treaty. His vengeance was now glutted. It was enough."
It was in the autumn of 1774. Ten years had elapsed since Col. Bouquet had
marched, with a powerful and well-equipped army, to the West. The American
men and weapons now directed by Lord Dunmore, once again reached into the
heart of the Indian country. And the Indians, recognizing that they could not
contend with that strength, capitulated.
Logan did not attend the treaty councils. He sat a silent and moody listener to the
related reports that were brought him from day to day. The memories of years
crushed in upon him. He remembered the days of his youth, on the banks of the
Susquehannah and in the Juniata Valley, and pictured the bright scenes of his entry
into the exuberant valley of the Ohio. The two contending races, who warred for
supremacy in America, had both been part of his world and life. The teaching of
his youth, the struggles and trials of his manhood, the philosophy of his age, were
so many themes of rolling thought in his memory. The humanity of his native
Indian teachings and the teachings of the missionaries in his fathers wigwam
pressed upon him and prevailed. He could no longer endure this conflict. He could
no longer oppose the offers of peace.
He shared his thoughts with a friend in his retreat -- a friend who was well-versed
in the Indian language. [Col. Gibson, I believe, was his brother-in-law, having
married Logan's sister that was killed at Yellow Creek.] It was by Col. Gibson that
Logan sent the address which has made the world acquainted with his name.
Tradition says that when Logan made these remarks he was seated beside the
venerable Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, who had capably commanded the Indians
against the Virginia forces in the battle of the Great Kenawha. Logan had allied
himself by blood and fortune to this tribe. This chief sympathized deeply with
Logan. He had been witness to Logan's injuries, his daring, his revenge; and he felt
the desolation of heart which had befallen a great man.
Some insight is thrown on the misfortunes of Logan, in a brief note he dictated to
be left at the house of a Mr. Robinson, which corroborates allusions in his speech.
It shows that he had lost family members in the atrocious massacre of Conestoga,
while he was only a youth on the Susquehannah. It further notes the extent of his
personal calamities by revealing the fact, that the "prisoner" taken -- "a little girl" -at the massacre at Baker's cabin, in the spring of 1774, had been his cousin.
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These disclosures testify to, and enlarge, the grounds of his complaints against the
white man. Logan may be seen as a typical example among the Indians, and his
complaint, though confined to a personal recital of wrongs, is a symbolic
indication of their general experience "before the energetic races of Europe."
Of all the celebrated Indian men of America, Logan expressed to the greatest
degree, the sentiments and sensitivity of the Indian. M'Clure noted that sometimes
Logan's memories and emotions overpowered him, causing him to burst into tears - an aboriginal sage, weeping over the woes of his nation, and of himself!
Authorities also concur that he had burst into floods of tears before the delivery of
his celebrated speech.
At an earlier time, Garrangula, the Onondaga chief, had astonished the French
officers who surrounded De la Barre, the governor-general of Canada, with the
simplicity, force, and power of his speech. But that had been a dignified speech
filled with eloquent irony. Skenandoah, also at an earlier period in our history, had
depicted with touching force his destruction, as an example of his tribe and of
humanity, through the illusion of a lofty tree that tottered and fell. Pontiac, when
Great Britain came to take possession of Canada, after the loss of Quebec,
exclaimed to the military officer, "I stand in the path." But it was reserved for
Logan to lament, in tones that touched men's hearts, the wrongs inflicted on a
noble soul.
Logan has been described by a Judge Brown as "one of the best specimens of
humanity, white or red, he had ever known." Left without family, heartbroken by
their deaths, and without hope for himself or his fellow Indian, "he lingered a few
years around the camp-fires of his wayfaring people." He saw the white man
steadily approaching. But the march of the white man's civilization, which came
rapidly to their ancient seats, bore no note of promise to his race. The voice of
Christianity and letters was still heard, indeed, in the retreats to which its golden
whispers followed them. But they were mingled often with the sounds of war, the
scenes of blood and cruelty, and more disheartening than all, with the wild drunken
shouts of his own infatuated tribes, who fell freely before the pervasive availability
of alcohol. He himself could not, if some accounts of his life are to be believed,
personally stand up against this subtle enemy of his race -- which caused him great
remorse.
He wandered about from station to station, west of the Allegheny Mountains, the
victim of disappointments that sapped his strength and will to live. The precise
time and place of his death are variously stated. Heckewelder says, in the statement
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given to Thomas Jefferson, that his death was in 1781 (but probably was in 1780);
and that the rural spot of his death had been pointed out to him in the vast
panorama of the western forests, while he was himself led a captive between
Gnadenhutten and Detroit.
.
Washington, 5 September 1853.
To: BRANTZ MAYER, Esq., Baltimore:
DEAR SIR: Having attentively read "the discourse" (delivered by you before the
Maryland Historical Society on its Sixth Anniversary, 9 May 1851) which you
were kind enough to send me, and having compared it with Colonel Richard
Sparks's Narrative, I now enclose to you the latter, together with Mr. James
Magoffin's letter of explanation, addressed to me.
As it is to be presumed the exhibit of the statement of Colonel Sparks, conflicting
as it does with old and respectable opinion, will be scanned with critical interest, I
beg leave to say how this information came into my possession.
I mentioned to you in a former letter, that while travelling through Florida,
Georgia, and Alabama, on a mission confided to me by the late Administration, I
became very much interested in the old Indian traditions of the country through
which I passed. This history, so full of romantic and thrilling association, is rapidly
sinking into oblivion; and, alas! what little remains lies buried in the fading
memories of a few pioneers, who are daily carrying with them to the grave every
trait of the Indian character.
Among those brief and hasty sketches picked up in my wanderings, I found that it
was only from some old enthusiastic settler reliable information was to be
obtained. Such a person was Mr. James Magoffin. Living amid the past, in a
district whose very name ("Old St. Stephens") seemed to recall as much of
antiquity as can exist in the New World, he delighted in relating Indian tales,
incidents of border warfare, the struggles of the early settlers, and so on. He found
me a willing and anxious listener, and thus many a night was wiled away between
us.
One evening, while looking over some papers, hoping to discover something about
the "course of De Soto's expedition," I saw an old paper marked "Murder of
Logan's family by Col. Cresap's men, Fort Stoddart, Alabama, November, 1812!"
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Its authenticity could not be doubted; the writer was present, and I seized upon it
with great interest.
After I read the paper, "Col. Sparks's narrative," as related by himself, speaking of
scenes in which he was an actor, of course I was much gratified to find him
corroborating Mr. Jefferson's statement regarding "Logan's speech;" for, if Col.
Sparks is correct, Logan did make the speech to his own people, he (Sparks) being
present! And Mr. Magoffin repeatedly assured me that he only took down at the
time a brief sketch of Col. Sparks's remarks, though he distinctly recollected that
Col. Sparks spoke of "Logan's speech" as a thrilling and eloquent effort, and the
strange and exciting effect it had upon his hearers at the time.
I also think that, as this famous speech was practised and retold along the way, that
the charge against Col. Cresap crept in, but was not part of the speech as originally
given by Logan, for, according to Sparks, Logan always exonerated Cresap from
any participation in the murder of his family! We know that it was only to
vindicate Cresap's name that the Hon. Luther Martin attempted to discredit "the
speech" as recorded by Jefferson; and let me here add a singular fact, that Sparks
had never heard of Jefferson's NOTES ON VIRGINIA before our meeting!
On reading over Gen. G.R. Clark's letter, I find it differs so materially from Col.
Sparks's statement, that I must let others decide which is correct, though Clark
agrees with Sparks that "Logan was the author of the speech" and also "wrong as to
Cresap." As to Askew's leading the men who committed the murder, Sparks speaks
confidently, but the name of Greathouse is not mentioned by him, while he asserts
that at the time of the murder Cresap was near, and hastened at once to stop it -- the
most complete evidence of his innocence.
The original actors and narrators have alike passed away, and we cannot recall
them from the grave to say who is right. "History only teaches by example;" and,
alas, the most prominent events of our own time are subjects of doubt....
With regard, I remain, dear sir, your obliged servant,
J. MARTIN
5 November 1852
To: J. MARTIN, Esq., Clifton
DEAR SIR: It may be proper to give you some information regarding Col. Richard
Sparks, from whom I received the statement, transmitted to you at your request,
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respecting the murder of the family of Logan, the distinguished Indian chief, by a
party of men under the command of Col. Cresap.
Lieut. Col. Richard Sparks, of the army of the United States, was the commanding
officer at Fort Stoddart, on the Tombigbee River, in 1810, then a river of the
Mississippi Territory. This fort was a strong stockade, having some mounted
cannons, and stood on a considerable bluff on the west side of the river, about ten
miles above the line of demarcation between the United States and the territory of
Spain, as established by Elliott.
Connected with the regiment of Col. Sparks were Lieut. Edmund P. Gaines, later
the distinguished General E. P. Gaines; Reuben Chamberlain, 2nd lieutenant,
afterwards distinguished at the defence of Fort Bowyer, under Capt. Lawrence;
Capt. James Wilkinson, son of Gen. J. Wilkinson, and son-in-law of the Hon.
Harry Toulmin, judge, etc.; Lieuts. Ware, Noah, Mathers, and others.
Col. Sparks resided at the cantonment with the regiment, about one mile west of
the fort. This cantonment was built for the health of the troops, at which a number
of respectable citizens had their residence, among others the Hon. Judge Toulmin.
Lieut. E.P. Gaines had his residence at the fort, at which place a guard from the
cantonment was renewed daily.
On my arrival at the fort, bringing with me letters of introduction from Gen.
Andrew Jackson, Gen. John Sevier (the father-in-law of Col. Sparks), Gov. Blount
of Tennessee, and Judges Emmerson and Hugh L. White of Knoxville, I was
requested by the commanding officer to act as sutler to the troops, along with the
late Col. B.S. Smoot, who had resigned his post of lieutenant in the regiment, and
had received the appointment of sheriff. To the foregoing request was added a
polite and friendly invitation from the colonel commanding to make a part of his
family, which was thankfully accepted.
The future, highly respectable Gen. Theo. L. Toulmin, of Mobile, was then a
youth, living with his father, Judge Toulmin.
Col. Richard Sparks had been in the army of the United States from a young man,
and esteemed, as I was informed, in a military point of view: was illiterate, but
possessed of a good share of intellectual powers; brave, cool, and determined on all
occasions. He never attempted to read a volume of any kind, and with much
difficulty made his signature. Mrs. Sparks, a most accomplished lady, was a
daughter of the before-mentioned Gen. Sevier, of Tennessee, one of the greatly
distinguished heroes of "King's Mountain."
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I regularly read the papers to the colonel, penned his communications to the
Secretary of War, and read to him those from the War Department. From my
becoming a part of his family, the post held by the amiable lady [the role of
secretary to Col. Sparks] was turned over to me as long as the colonel remained at
the fort. Col. Sparks was respected by the officers around him, as also by citizens
who intimately knew him, for a singularly tenacious memory. The common remark
of "forgetting nothing" was daily applied to him by even the common soldiery. The
extent to which he exhibited the peculiarities of the Indian character was a subject
also of common remark, as also his partiality and knowledge of Indian customs
and character. In the enjoyment of his "siesta" his favorite place was a buffalo robe
or two on the floor; his most agreeable diet, bear-meat, venison, wild turkey,
opossum, and so on.
Indian details were a favorite subject of conversation with him, and in which he
indulged, especially when Judge Toulmin and Lieutenant Gaines were present, to
whose society he was quite partial. Several times he stated the circumstances
related to his capture by the Indians, when a child, near Wheeling, on the Ohio
River; his being adopted by a chief; their family customs; the treatment he received
from the family, who lived near "Plugge's Town," near which place the chief
Logan lived. One evening, the Colonel dwelt on the great chief Logan's family,
when Judge Toulmin caught the name, and some inquiries by him ended by
ascertaining that it was the chief Logan whose speech Mr. Jefferson has handed
down in his NOTES ON VIRGINIA. On making this discovery, the judge went into
a train of inquiry that eventuated in a detail by the Colonel of the whole
catastrophe of the murder of Logan's family by a party of Col. Cresap's force, and
the subsequent conduct and speech, delivered at "Plugge's Town," by Logan.
Lieutenant Gaines was present.
The judge, after hearing the colonel's detail, asked him if he had ever read Mr.
Jefferson's NOTES ON VIRGINIA, to which the colonel replied he had never
known any other writing by Mr. Jefferson other than the "Declaration of
Independence."
On a subsequent evening, at Lieutenant Gaines's quarters, Colonel Sparks again got
on the subject of Logan's speech.... After the colonel had retired, the judge
proposed to me to endeavor on a favorable occasion to induce Colonel Sparks to
permit me to take down in writing his statement as nearly in his own language as
possible; to which Lieutenant Gaines added his request, and to which I assented.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
A few days later, the colonel proposed to me to accompany him on a visit to a Dr.
Chastang's, a few miles south of the cantonment. Returning, the colonel stated the
pleasure it appeared to give Judge Toulmin to "hear Indian stories," "the interest he
appeared to take in the Indian character," and so on. "Did you notice the other day
how much he was affected by the account I gave him of the murder of Logan's
family, and especially by the speech of Logan, made afterwards at Plugge's Town.
I have always been astonished how those men of great education and learning can
see in the talk of an Indian so much to interest them. I always felt more interested
in the manner in which the warriors spoke than at what they said. My friend Gaines
has a good deal of the feelings in this way of his father-in-law."
Why colonel (I replied), it is a fact, the judge and Lieutenant Gaines are warm
admirers of the character of Logan that you have placed before them, and
especially with his address after the murder of his family; and I will candidly say
that they would be gratified to have your account of the transaction reduced to
writing.
"Why, sir," said the colonel, "I have not the smallest objection to gratify those
gentlemen, if you will take the trouble to take it down." I told the colonel I would
take it down whenever it was convenient for him, whereupon he said: "Tomorrow
evening I will state to you the whole occurrence, as far as my recollection serves
me; and I will just say to you that if you ever become an Indian (giving an arch
look) you will find that your recollection of occurrences at all interesting during
the time will be better remembered through life than any other." The following
evening the detail was put down from the lips of Colonel Sparks in the paper, a
copy of which you have already.
A few evenings later, the colonel requested me to read to him the notes I had made;
and, after attentively hearing them read, said: "At the time white men were present,
who, the Indians said, came over the big water; but I never knew who they were or
their business with the chiefs."
I gave a copy of the colonel's statement to Judge Toulmin, and not long after that I
moved to St. Stephen's. Some years subsequent I met Judge Toulmin as a member
of the Convention that formed the Constitution of this State (Alabama), who, in the
presence of Governor Bibb, referred to the papers that passed between a
distinguished member of the bar of Maryland, viz., Luther Martin, and Mr.
Jefferson -- on the same subject, [and] at the same moment inquiring if I had
preserved the account given by Colonel Sparks of the murder of Logan's family, as
he had lost the copy I had given him. On my replying that I had it safe, he
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requested me to state to Governor Bibb, as near as I could, its contents. The last
named gentleman warmly pressed me to give it publicity, the honorable judge
adding his request. This I have intended to do every year since, but for a variety of
causes delayed; but your friendly and forcible remarks and the writing of Mr.
Meyer have caused me to do so....
JAMES MAGOFFIN.
Land Office, St. Stephen's, Ala.
Michael Creasap and the Yellow Creek murders
The violence unleashed by Creasap's men spread unabated across the region,
culminating in an incident that, even by frontier standards, was distinguished by its
cold-blooded brutality. in 1773, a Mingo headman named Johnny Logan and a
small band of followers had established a village thirty miles north of Wheeling,
near the mouth of Yellow Creek (close to present-day Wellsville, Ohio). Logan
was the oldest son of Johnny Shikellamy, and both father and son were well known
along the western border for their steadfast loyalty to the British. During the Seven
Years War, Shikellamy and his family had sought refuge at Thomas McKee's
trading post. There can be little doubt that Logan and Alexander McKee knew one
another well, but the extent of their contact during the spring of 1774 is unknown.
Logan's home lay opposite the site of Joshua Baker's Virginia homestead and
trading post. Baker and the Mingos had lived peacefully ever since Logan's arrival.
But in early May, a group of Virginians, led by Daniel Greathouse, methodically
lured ten members of the Mingo village to Baker's trading post where, over the
course of the afternoon, they were murdered. Among the dead were several
members of Logan's immediate family, including his mother and brother.
Greathouse and his companions also killed Logan's sister as she carried her
newborn infant on her back.
The incident began on May 1, when two men asked Capt. Michael Myers of
Washington County, Pennsylvania, to guide them over to the west side of the Ohio
River where they wished to travel up Yellow Creek and examine some land a few
miles from the stream's confluence with the Ohio. Myers's party did not have
permission to be in Indian territory and crossed the Ohio at dusk to avoid detection.
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Camping for the night a short distance from their destination, Myers and the two
men were wakened later that evening by the loud rattling of a bell attached to one
of their horses. Investigating, they discovered an Indian apparently in the act of
stealing the animal. Myers shot and killed the Indian.
A short while later, a second Indian, drawn to the site by the report of Myers's rifle,
also was executed. Frightened, Myers and his two companions fled back to
Virginia and Baker's trading post. Worried that their actions would prompt a
retaliatory raid from the Yellow Creek Indians, Myers sent word to Greathouse and
other neighbors within the vicinity to assemble at Baker's and prepare an ambush.
Although Baker was not present, by dawn, thirty-two men were lying in wait.
The following morning, unaware that the perpetrators of the previous evening’s
violence awaited them, eight members of Logan's band crossed the river to Baker's.
Among the group were four men and three women, including Logan's brother,
mother, and sister who carried her two-month-old infant on her back. Logan's band
had frequently visited Baker's post and usually spent their time buying liquor, milk,
and other small items. Today, Nathaniel Tomlinson, Baker's brother-in-law, was
more generous than usual with his liquor and eventually invited the Indians to take
part in a shooting match. As the contest began, one of the Indians, John Petty, who
was somewhat intoxicated, wandered through the trading post. Coming upon
Tomlinson's regimental coat and hat, he put them on and swaggered through the
house claiming, "I am a White Man." The action insulted Tomlinson, and when the
Indians discharged their weapons at a target, he grabbed his rifle and shot Petty as
he stood in the doorway. The shot was a signal for Greathouse and the others to
come out of hiding and attacked the remainder of the Mingos.
The attack was swift and brutal. John Sappington, one of the Virginians, shot and
killed Logan's brother and then scalped him. For years after, Sappington took
particular delight in boasting of the feat and de- scribed the trophy, which still was
adorned with trade silver, as a "very fine one." Logan's sister was panic stricken;
she ran across the courtyard in front of the trading post and stopped six feet in front
of one of Greathouse's men. in the split second that their eyes met, he put a bullet
into her forehead. Grabbing the infant from her cradleboard, he took hold of its
ankles and was about to dash its brains out when one of his companions intervened
to save the child's life. The remaining Indians also were shot or tomahawked.
Within seconds, all the Mingos were dead. The savagery of the attack was
astounding, and even James Chambers, a neighbor of Baker's who was not present,
declared that the murderers "appeared to have lost, in a great degree, all sentiments
of humanity as well as the effects of civilization."
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Alarmed by the gunfire from across the river, seven other members of Logan's
camp started across the Ohio in two canoes to investigate. Greathouse and his men
spread out in the underbrush on the eastern shore and fired on the Mingos as they
neared land, killing two and sending the others back in retreat. A second group of
Mingos attempted another landing, but like the first, was turned away by
Greathouse and his companions.
McKee learned of the Yellow Creek murders on May 3, and he immediately called
Connolly, Kayashuta, a deputation from the Six Nations, and members of the local
militia together for a meeting at Croghan's home, where he informed them of the
Mingos' deaths. McKee assured his guests that the incident was the act of "a few
rash and inconsiderate White People, and not by the intention or Knowledge of any
of our Wise People"; he promised them that Dunmore, after he learned of the
murders, would surely take every step to rectify the situation. In the meantime,
McKee urged all parties to remain calm and to keep the peace. Two days later, on
May 5, McKee met again with many of the same representatives. He performed the
condolence ceremony, "covering the Bones of their deceas'd Friends with some
Goods suitable to the Occasion and agreeable to their Custom," and he dispatched
several messages to the western tribes "to convince those People to whom they
were to be delivered, of our Sincerity, And That We did not countenance these
Misdemeanors."
McKee had responded appropriately and energetically to the dangerous situation.
But the viciousness of the murders that had precipitated the crisis, when combined
with the long-standing grievances of the western tribes, meant that a peaceful
resolution would be difficult to obtain. Word of the murders raced through the
western border settlements and with it the fear of Indian retaliation. Many fled,
abandon- ing their homes and their possessions. "The panic becoming universal,
claimed Connolly, "nothing but confusion, Distress and Flight was conspicuous."
The frightened settlers were more than warranted in their apprehension. The
Shawnees and Mingos had often disagreed over policy in the Ohio Country, yet
Michael Creasap's adventuring and the Yellow Creek murders had been enough to
bring the two tribes together for a council along the Scioto River. The two nations
listened to the message sent from McKee on May 5. While dismissing McKee's
words as lies, the Shawnees refused for the moment to go to war with the
Virginians. But fifteen to twenty Mingos under Logan set off for the Ohio Valley
to seek retribution for the loss of their family and friends."
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By late May, only Logan's Mingos were at war. McKee, with Croghan's assistance,
had fashioned a fragile peace that greatly restricted the scope of open warfare
along the Ohio frontier. As the month drew to a close, Connolly, who had seemed
to support McKee's efforts up to that time, began to take a much harder diplomatic
stance, possibly at Dunmore's instruction. He called out the local militia, ordered
needed repairs to Fort Dunmore, and sent a party of soldiers to patrol the Ohio
River below Pittsburgh, hoping to engage and defeat one of the hostile bands that
roamed the area. Clearly, Virginia sought to widen the conflict, hoping that a
victory over the western tribes would legitimize Virginia's claims to the region.
On June 10, realizing that the local situation was well beyond his ability to
influence, McKee wrote to Johnson and advised the superintendent that only the
reimposition of imperial or Pennsylvanian control could halt the violence. It was
impossible to predict, wrote McKee, whether the worsening situation around
Pittsburgh would result in a general Indian war. But despite the violence
perpetrated by natives and whites alike, there seemed to be a temporary lull in the
hostilities. Now was the time that "some wise interposition of Government is truly
necessary, and would undoubtedly restore peace," claimed the agent. "Without it it
is impossible, and thousands of the inhabitants must be involved in misery and
distress." Speaking of the Indians living in the Ohio Country, McKee wrote that
"they have given great proofs of their pacific disposition, and have acted with more
moderation than those who ought to have been more rational." A war to chastise
them ,would be ineffective and would inevitably lead to the "destruction of this
country."
Buffington Indian Genealogy
Buffington Indian Genealogy