100 - HISTORY OF OHIO Like the Mingoes, and some other tribes, chief interest in the Ohio Ottawas centers about one man—Pontiac. He was born about 1715 near where Defiance now stands, at the juncture of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers. The first historic notice of importance of Pontiac is that contained in the diary of Maj. Robert Rogers, commander of Rogers Rangers, who in 1760 had been commissioned by the English to proceed by way of Ohio to Detroit, there to take possession of that fort, surrendered by the French. At the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, according to Major Rogers, he encountered a band of Ottawas, in command of Pontiac, who was inclined to resent the intrusion of the Rangers PONTIAC into his country. On learning its import, however, Pontiac permitted the British force to proceed, he himself accompanying them and lending every assistance in his power. Pontiac is described by Rogers as the "King or Emperor of the greatest authority and the largest empire of any Indian chief on the continent since our acquaintance with it. He proceeds to describe the air of haughty dignity and "princely grandeur" of the Ottawa chieftain.. Pontiac is best known as a result of the gigantic and disastrous conspiracy which he headed against the British in 1760, and which will be referred to presently. After the close of the French and Indian war Pontiac continued hostile for a time against the British, but finally made peace with them in 1765. His death, as was the case with several important Ohio chiefs, was a tragic one. He was murdered by an Indian during a drinking bout at Cahokia, Illinois, in 1769. In addition to the tribes specified, there were bands of Tuscarawas (Iroquoian) in the eastern part of the state, principally on the Muskingum and the river bearing their name. They were of little importance COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 101 and few in numbers. Other representatives of the Iroquois were at various times present in Northeastern Ohio, mainly on hunting expeditions. They played no important part in the Indian history of the Ohio country. THE INDIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH The contest between the British and the French for the possession of the region south of the Great Lakes and west of the Alleghany Mountains dates back to the earliest discoveries and explorations of the two nations in America. In general the French claimed the valley of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and in time attempted to fortify that claim by establishing a semi-circle of forts through the two valleys which has been represented by some of the writers of our school text books as a great bow to which the possessions of the British along the Atlantic were a rather weak string. The French, as we shall see, sought to establish more firmly their claim to the Ohio valley by the planting of leaden plates. On the other hand the British colonies, by virtue of their charters, claimed possession of all the lands between their northern and southern limits and extending across the entire continent. These two nations, whose traditional antipathies had long been the fruitful source of European wars, were at times signatories to treaties of peace which were "more honored in the breach than in the observance." The French especially asserted their claim by virtue of the treaties of Ryswick and Aix-la-Chapelle. In their efforts permanently to possess the Ohio country, the French and British industriously sought the aid of the Indians. At first there appears to have been little thought of the possession of the lands occupied by the native tribes as a place of permanent habitation. The herald of the white hosts of invasion was the trader, followed closely by the missionary. Sometimes the order was reversed. The missionary. came to save souls, to improve the moral and spiritual condition of the "children of the forest" in their native land, with no thought of conquest or extermination—or even of "benevolent assimilation." The trader was interested primarily in making money by the exchange of wares—rum, arms, tools, clothing and trinkets—for the fruits of the chase, included for the most part in the one word "furs." They were perfectly willing that the Indian should retain his hunting ground so long as his possession should inure to the profit of the roving merchant of the wilderness. With his squaw wife and comparative safety in the midst of the dusky denizens of the forest, he was content. With the trader should also be included the artisanespecially the blacksmith, who for reasons that need not be enumerated was particularly welcome among the Indians. While none of these parties sought to dispossess them of their lands, they all unconsciously prepared the way for the white "armies of occupation" that were soon to follow. Meanwhile the wise statesmen of Great Britain and France realized that, to hold the lands which they claimed, they must ultimately establish colonies—permanent settlements of men and their families who would clear away the forests, till the land and plant the seeds of Europan civilization. Among the Frenchmen who were convinced that this was the wise policy to pursue, if his nation was to hold the valley of the Ohio, was, as we shall presently see, the soldier statesman, La Galissoniere. In the rivalry between Great Britain and France, each realized the importance of friendship and aid from the Indian. The bids that were made to gain his favor were somewhat demoralizing to the primitive inhabitant, who, like the shifty politician of a later day, learned to accept "presents" from both parties—to "carry water on troth shoulders," and to develop traits of cunning and treachery that were not originally a conspicuous part of his nature. 102 - HISTORY OF OHIO Besides, as writers have observed, most of the tribes that came into the Ohio country had been "pushed back" from the colonies of the East, and instinctively felt that the white man was his implacable foe, whom he must utterly destroy if he and his people were to survive. When an Indian tribe or chieftain became dissatisfied with one of the two parties contending for dominance in this region, there was the standing invitation to "get even" by shifting allegiance to the other. When this change was to the losing side—which occurred in some very notable instances—the Indian was due at the next treaty with the victor to lose all claim to a large slice of territory, the ownership of which, in theory at least, had, at the outset, been generally conceded to him. An early instance of this shifting allegiance is known in the history of the border as the NICOLAS' CONSPIRACY Nicolas, a Wyandot chief whose Indian name was Orontony, who came into the northern part of the Ohio country from the region of Detroit and was formerly allied with the French, for offenses real or imaginary—probably both—conceived the idea of avenging his wrongs by an alliance with the British. In 1745 he permitted the English to erect a trading post on Lake Erie known as Fort Sandoski. Having effected an alliance with the Miamis, Ottawas, Shawnees and some minor tribes, he planned a simultaneous attack upon the French in the Ohio country and the region of Detroit. His object was the extermination or expulsion of his foes. An Indian woman in Detroit revealed the conspiracy to a French missionary, and the well laid plan of Orontony came to naught. The inclination of the confederated conspirators, however, was still to favor the British. This was confirmed in the treaty of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between the Indians and the commissioners of that colony. Soon afterward, late in the year 1848, the Pennsylvania council sent Conrad Weisner and George Grogan, both favorably known to the tribesmen with whom they had long lived on terms of intimacy; to distribute presents valued at $5,000, at Logstown, an important Indian town on the Ohio near the western border of Pennsylvania. These antecedent acts explain why the French expedition that soon followed discovered a strong tendency among the natives to favor the interests of Great Britain and her colonies. The French and Indian war, as we have seen, really began with the destruction of Pickawillany. At the treaty with the Indians at Logstown in 1752 the British had been granted permission to erect a fort "at the forks of the Ohio." While Capt. William Trent and his company were engaged in its construction, the French and their Indian allies came down from the north, drove out the British, completed the defensive walls and called the post Fort Duquesne in honor of the governor general of Canada. The successive efforts of Washington and Braddock to regain this fort signally failed. The tragic result of the expedition of the latter is known to every school boy. For this reason and because it did not happen on Ohio soil, it need not be repeated here. It may be observed, however, that the French took advantag& of the Victories gained by establishing forts in Western Pennsylvania and by building Fort Junundat on Sandusky Bay. Singular as it may seem, not until the conflict had been in progress four years and Braddock with the flower of his army had fallen in battle, was war formally declared by Great Britain against France (May, 1756). The initial successes of the French powerfully influenced the Indians —especially those of the Ohio country. But one noted chieftain, Tenacharison, the Seneca Half King, remained firm in his allegiance to the British cause. His home had been near Logstown, a center of treaties, COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 103 conferences and intrigues. Intelligent, alert, and loyal his services were of great value to his allies. The British, true to their traditional predilection in war, were slow to become thoroughly aroused. At last, drawing upon their superior resources in men and munitions, a formidable army under Gen. John TABLET ON HARRISON-PERRY EMBARKATION MONUMENT Forbes set out to capture Fort Duquesne. The French, in great alarm, prepared to evacuate it without striking a blow. They applied the torch to the works and everything combustible went up in flame and smoke. They made a precipitous retreat and their flag never again waved over the battlements at "the forks of the Ohio." General Forbes rebuilt the defenses and called the post Fort Pitt in honor of the English premier, William Pitt. The victory of Forbes was facilitated by the aid of Frederick Post, the Moravian missionary, who at the instance of the British 104 - HISTORY OF OHIO persuaded some of the powerful Indian tribes of the Ohio country to cease their warfare and maintain neutrality between the contending forces. Post afterward sought to establish a mission on the Tuscarawas River in the southern part of what is now Stark County, Ohio. The war ended with the fall of Quebec, September 13, 1759, and the results were confirmed by the treaty of Paris, February 18, 1763, which gave Great Britain undisputed dominion over practically all of the territory in North America east of the Mississippi River. The Ohio Indians in the preliminary contest between the British and the French, when the fortunes of war seemed to favor the latter, deserted their ally. They industriously applied the tomahawk and scalping knife on their recent comrades in arms and danced in high glee under the lily standard of France. When the British hosts advanced toward assured victory the Indians again deserted to the winning side. But they made the last shift a little too late to claim consideration when the treaty of peace was written. They were transferred unconditionally with their lands to Great Britain, without so much as, "By your leave, Mr. Red Man." FALL OF FORT SANDUSKY Perhaps the most important post in the Ohio country that fell into the hands of the conspirators was Fort Sandusky, garrisoned by Ensign Paully and fifteen British soldiers. Simulating friendship the Indians living near this fort, who were well known to the garrison, gained admission to the works May 16, 1763, surprised the garrison, murdered the soldiers and carried Paully captive to the vicinity of Detroit, where he escaped death at the stake only by passing through the rather novel double ordeal of induction into the tribe of his captors and marriage to an Ottawa squaw, who claimed him for her own. His experience, as recorded by Parkman, was full of thrills, but the fact that the squaw in the case was neither young nor beautiful detracted somewhat from the romance. Fortunately the ensign afterward escaped and joined the British garrison besieged in Detroit. SIEGE OF DETROIT Failing to secure entrance to Fort Detroit by treachery, Pontiac and his followers besieged the place. The siege lasted many months and has been declared "the most remarkable in the annals of Indian warfare." It was conducted by Pontiac in person from May to November 1763. He resorted to every device known to Indian warfare, but failed. The siege was not really raised until Bradstreet brought relief in the following year. Detroit, Fort Niagara, on Lake Ontario, and Fort Pitt at the forks of the Ohio were the only military posts formerly in possession of the French that did not fall into the hands of the Indians, confederated under the leadership of the resourceful Pontiac. BRADSTREET'S EXPEDITION In the spring of 1764 the British prepared to chastise the Indians who had responded to the call of Pontiac. Two expeditions were fitted out. Col. John Bradstreet, a soldier who had won distinction in the French and Indian war, proceeded by way of the Great Lakes with about 2,000 followers, including some friendly Indians, and reached Fort Niagara in June, 1764. Here by previous arrangement, through summons of Sir William Johnson, the English agent, he met about 2,000 representatives of the various Indian tribes. Presents were distributed and terms of peace were agreed upon. The Delawares and Shawnees from the Ohio country, however, were not present, but sent word that they were willing to make peace. On their part the Indians had assured COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 105 Bradstreet that they would deliver within twenty-five days at Lower Sandusky all their white prisoners and return all the military posts that they had taken. Bradstreet then. proceeded to Sandusky Bay, where he met other tribes of Indians, who promised to follow him to Detroit and enter into a treaty there. The real advantage gained by the expedition of Bradstreet appears to have been the relief of Detroit. He has been severely criticised because of his leniency. to the Indians and his disposition to accept without question their promises. On his return from Detroit he reached Sandusky in September, where he expected to meet the chiefs .from the Ohio tribes near the site of the City of Fremont, where the Indians were to keep the promises previously made. After vainly striving to induce the Indian chieftains to meet him and fulfill their pledges, which included the return of their white captives, he returned empty handed to Albany. PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY The Indians were disappointed, sullen and dejected over the results of the war. Even their untutored minds could read the gloomy fate of the impending future, the incursions and settlements of the haughty English, the loss of their hunting grounds and the final extinction of their race. As they brooded over these things there arose in their midst a chief, born on Ohio soil, who sought to unite the Indian tribes of the Mississippi valley and turn back the tide of British migration and invasion. The name of this chief was Pontiac. Shrewd, ambitious and eloquent, he was a born leader of his race. His purpose is set forth in a speech that he made before a council of warriors. He told them that the Great Spirit had appeared before a Delaware Indian and said to him : "Why do you suffer the white man to dwell among you ? My children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of your forefathers. Why do you not clothe yourselves in skins as they did, and use the bows and arrows and the stone-pointed lances which they used ? You have bought guns, knives, kettles and blankets from the white men until you can no longer do without them ; and what is worse, you have drunk the poison fire-water which turns you into fools. Fling all these things away ; live as your forefathers lived before you. And as for these English—these dogs dressed in red—who have come to rob you of your hunting grounds and drive away the game—you must lift the hatchet against them. Wipe them from the face of the earth, and then you will win my favor back again, and once more be happy and prosperous." 2 The answers to these savage appeals were prompt and bloody. In a remarkably short time the confederacy of the tribes was complete. Pontiac and his emissaries were ceaselessly at work. The first blow was struck in June, 1763. The torch was applied to the cabins of the border settlements and families were slain, scalped, tortured or borne away as captives into the Ohio country. COLONEL BOUQUET'S EXPEDITION As the magnitude of the conspiracy became known, the colonists more directly affected organized in this same year another expedition under Col. Henry Bouquet and sent it to the relief of the defenseless settlements. It proceeded westward and met the Indians in force at Bushy Run, Pennsylvania, where for two days a fierce battle was fought. Bouquet and his men triumphed and the Indians retreated into the deeper solitudes of the western wilderness. Pennsylvania and Virginia determined to follow up the advantage thus gained. Colonel Bouquet and his little army were directed to proceed westward into the 2 - Parkman, "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," Vol I, pp. 214-215. 106 - HISTORY OF OHIO very heart of the Indian country and not only put an end to the savage incursions into the settlements, but also to demand the restitution of those who had been carried away into captivity since the opening of the French and Indian war. The weather was fine and the woods were arrayed in the tints of autumn. With the expedition came a number of settlers who years before had lost children or other relatives, whom they hoped to meet again at the end of the march. The troops crossed the Pennsylvania line and proceeded through what is now the southern part of Columbiana and Stark counties to a point on the Tuscarawas River a short distance north of the site of Bolivar. They then proceeded southward. At the end o f ten days they had reached their destination and pitched their camp on the bank of the Tuscarawas, near the site of Coshocton. To this place Bouquet had summoned the Indian chiefs, and here he met forty-five of them in council on October 17, 1764. They were duly impressed with the soldiery drawn up in martial array and the orators spoke only of peace. They tried to shift the blame for the late war upon the shoulders of some of their hot-headed young men who had been influenced, as they said, by wild leaders and emissaries from the tribes farther west. To all this Bouquet listened in silence, and when the last chief had concluded, he said : "I give you twelve days from this date to deliver to my hands all the prisoners in your possession without exception, Englishmen Frenchmen, women and children ; whether adopted into your tribes, married or living among you under any denomination or pretense whatsoever. And you are to furnish these prisoners with clothing, provisions and horses, to carry them to Fort Pitt. When you have fully complied with these conditions, you shall know on what terms you may obtain the peace you sue for." The Indians promptly but with much evident reluctance proceeded to comply with the demands of Colonel Bouquet. By the 9th day of November 206 white captives were brought to the camp. Some of these had been with the Indians many years. They had adopted the customs and spoke the language of their captors. Not infrequently they had married the copper colored natives and were rearing children. In fact, it was in some instances difficult to distinguish them from the Indians. They had become much attached to the free, wild life of the forest and did not wish to return to civilization. Others who had not been absent so long were overjoyed to be restored again to relatives and friends. To many of the captives the Indians themselves had become sincerely attached, and sad indeed were their last farewells, and sad, too, was the disappointment of those who came with the expedition in the hope of meeting again their lost kindred and found them not. It is believed that a much larger number of captives scattered among the Indian tribes never returned. The savage life that they had adopted suited them best, and they could not be persuaded to go into Bouquet's camp and return to their former homes. No longer the captives of the red man, they became the unconscious captives of environment. "So much long communion tends To make us what we are." A treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians, and Colonel Bouquet with his command returned to Fort Pitt without the loss of a man. With him came also a number of Indians who were reluctant to the last to part from their̊ white captives. THE EXECUTION OF TWO INDIAN CHIEFS FOR WITCHCRAFT With the passing of the years some of the thrilling narratives of pioneer days have faded under the searchlight of truth. They were COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 107 frequently the report of a single witness, often "the hero of the enchanting tale." Many of them doubtless had a basis in fact. Some of them have acquired considerable embellishment as they have been handed down by tongue and pen. Others, as the story of Eagle Feather, were purely imaginary. The two tragic events here recorded are well authenticated. The Indian tribes were accorded the right to establish their own criminal codes and fix penalties for offenses. The belief in witchcraft prevailed among them to a considerable extent, and those "possessed" were put to death. At an earlier period this belief was also held by the whites and the death penalty was prescribed for witches. This delusion in the early history of New England gave opportunity to the unscrupulous to "get even" with their enemies. "Malice, rapacity and revenge often impelled persons to accuse others who were innocent" and then bear false witness against them. It seems that back of the appeal to the superstitious credulity of the Indian, there was often a sinister purpose. EXECUTION OF LEATHERLIPS On the east side of the Scioto River about fourteen miles north of Columbus and near the Delaware county line is a granite monument, erected by the Wyandot Club to the memory of Chief Leatherlips, who in June, 1810, was executed on that spot for witchcraft. The story of his execution is told in Drake's Life of Tecumseh : "General Harrison entertained the opinion that his death was the result of the Prophet's command, and that the party who acted as executioners went directly from Tippecanoe to the banks of the Scioto, where Leatherlips was found encamped and where the tragedy was enacted. The six Wyandots who put him to death were headed, it is supposed, by the chief Roundhead. An effort was made by some white men who were present to save the life of the accused, but without success. A council of two hours took place ; the accusing party spoke with warmth and bitterness of feeling. Leatherlips was calm and dispassionate in his replies. The sentence of death, which had been previously passed upon him, was reaffirmed. The prisoner then walked slowly to his camp, partook of a dinner of jerked venison, washed and arrayed himself in his best apparel, and afterwards painted his face. His dress was very rich, his hair gray, and his whole appearance graceful and commanding. When the hour for the execution had arrived, Leatherlips shook hands in silence with the spectators ; he then turned from his wigwam, and with a voice of surpassing strength and melody, commenced the chant of the death song. He was followed closely by the Wyandot warriors, all timing with their slow and measured march the music of his wild and melancholy dirge. The white men were likewise all silent followers in that strange procession. At the distance of seventy or eighty yards from the camp they came to a shallow grave, which, unknown to the white men, had been previously prepared by the Indians. Here the old man knelt down, and in an elevated but solemn tone of voice addressed his prayer to the Great Spirit. As soon as he had finished, the captain of the Indians knelt beside him and prayed in a similar manner. Their prayers, of course, were spoken in the Wyandot tongue. After a few moments delay, the prisoner again sunk down upon his knees and prayed as he had done before. When he had ceased, he still continued in a kneeling posture. All the rifles belonging to the party had been left at the wigwam. There was not a weapon of any kind to be seen at the place of execution, and the spectators were consequently unable to form any conjecture as to the mode of procedure which the executioners had determined on for the fulfilment of their purpose. Suddenly, one of the warriors drew from beneath the skirts of his capote a keen, bright tomahawk, walked rapidly up behind the 108 - HISTORY OF OHIO chieftain, brandishing the weapon on high for a single moment, and then struck with his whole strength. The blow descended directly upon the crown of the head, and the, victim immediately f ell prostrate. After he had lain awhile in the agonies of death, the Indian captain directed the attention of the white men to the drops of sweat which were gathering upon his neck and face, and remarked with apparent exultation that it was conclusive proof of the sufferer's guilt. Again the executioner advanced, and with the same weapon inflicted two or three additional heavy blows. As soon as life was entirely extinct, the body was hastily buried with all its apparel and decorations, and the assembly dispersed." EXECUTION OF SENECA JOHN In 1921 the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Association erected, on the old Seneca Indian reservation, at a spot about a mile and a half north of the village of Greenspring, a monument inscribed to "Seneca John, noted chief, was executed near this spot, easterly, by his tribe in 1828, charged with witchcraft." Seneca John was member of a family that furnished three chiefs to the tribe. By reason of his high qualities and popularity, he was the victim of jealousy and envy on the part of his brothers, which finally resulted in his tragic death. The following account of his execution was quoted in the April, 1922, issue of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly : "His brothers pronounced him guilty and declared their determination to become his executioners. John replied that he was willing to die, and only wished to live until next morning to see the sun rise once more. This request being granted, John told them that he would sleep that night on Hard Hickory's porch, which fronted the east, where they would find him at sunrise. He chose that place because he did not wish to be killed in the presence of his wife, and desired that the Chief Hard Hickory witness that he died like a man. "Coonstick and Steel (half brothers of John) retired for the night to an old cabin nearby. In the morning in company with Shane, another Indian, they proceeded to the house of Hard Hickory, who stated that a little after sunrise he heard their footsteps on the porch, and he opened the door just wide enough to peep out. He saw John asleep on his blanket and them standing near him. At length one of them woke him and he immediately rose, took off a large handkerchief which was around his head, letting his unusually long hair fall upon his shoulders. This being done he looked around upon the landscape and upon the rising sun, to take a farewell look of a scene he was never again to behold ; and then announced to his brothers that he' was ready to die. Shane and Coonstick each took him by the arm and Steel walked behind him. In this way they led him about ten steps from the porch when his brother Steel struck him with a tomahawk on the back of his head,' and he fell to, the ground bleeding freely. Supposing the blow sufficient to kill him, they dragged him under a peach tree nearby. In a short time he revived, however, the blow having been broken by his great mass of hair. Knowing that it was Steel that struck him, John as he lay turned 'his head toward Coonstick and said 'Now, brother, take your revenge.' This so' operated on Coonstick that he interposed to save him ; but the proposition enraged Steel to such an extent that he drew his knife and cut John's throat from ear to ear. The next day he was buried with the usual Indian ceremonies near the spot where he fell, and his grave was surrounded by a small picket fence, which three years later was removed by Coonstick and Steel." CHAPTER VI THE DUNMORE WAR The Dunmore war, though its principal engagement was fought just outside of the territory northwest of the Ohio River, is so closely related to events of immediate and subsequent prime importance in that territory and the portion of it afterward included in the State of Ohio, that it deserves more than passing notice in this record. 1 John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was born in Scotland in 1732. He was descended from the house of stuart. He left the House of Lords in London, where he ranked as a staunch Tory and supporter of King George the Third, to serve in the American colonies. He was appointed governor of New York in January, 1770, governor of Virginia in July, 1771, and arrived in Williamsburg, then the capital of that colony, to assume the duties of his office early in 1772. At the close of the French and Indian war, England proclaimed the Ohio Valley and the Northwest Territory virtually an Indian reservation and forbade her subjects to settle or trade therein. This policy she sought to confirm by the treaty with the Indian tribes at Fort Stanwix in 1768, which recognized their exclusive right to this vast territory, and by the Quebec Act of June 22, 1774, which extended the authority of Canada southward to the Ohio River. It has been charged that Great Britain thus sought to limit and repress the growing power of the colonies. It is probably true, however, that her purpose was not so narrowly selfish and unwise. The desire to establish a permanent peace with the Indians by the recognition and defense of their rights in a portion of the western territory doubtless was influential in the development of this policy. The immediate cause of the Dunmore war appears to have been the effort of soldiers who had served the British cause in the French and Indian war to come into possession of lands in Virginia, south of the Ohio River, for which they had been granted warrants by Lord Dunmore. Authority was granted to locate these lands on and after April 14, 1774. On that date parties were waiting on the south side of the Ohio to locate their claims on choice lands in the valleys of its tributaries. Ebenezer -Zane, George Rogers Clark and Michael Cresap led three of these parties. As the Indians saw these men coming in large numbers to claim their land, and with their surveyors and their surveying. instruments that had come to have for the Red man a more sinister look than firearms in the hands of a foe, they felt instinctively that their homes and their hunting grounds were doomed. The white man, it is true, was confining himself to what had reluctantly been conceded to be his side of the river; but what would now the privilege of hunting on both sides of the river be worth to the Indian if white men should flock, "like pigeons," into the valley of the Ohio and take up their permanent abode ? And how long would it be until they crossed the river and crowded the Indian farther back into the wilderness ? When civilization of the pioneer type comes into contact with civilization of the Indian type, both are apt to degenerate into savagery, and this is certainly what 1 - The chief sources of information on which the writer has relied are "Documentary History of Dunmore's War," by Thwaites and Kellogg, published by the Historical Society of Wisconsin; "History of the Battle of Point Pleasant," by Virgil A. Lewis; "American Archives," Fourth Series, vols. i and ii; "Memoirs of the Indian Wars, and Other Occurrences," by Capt. John Stuart. - 109 - 110 - HISTORY OF OHIO happened in the Ohio Valley in the spring and summer of the eventful year of 1774. As nearly as can be gleaned from much confusing testimony, the first recorded offense was by a band of Shawnees, who about April 1st of that year captured three white men, Thomas Green, Lawrence Darnell, and William Nash, who were locating lines in Mason County, Virginia. They held them for a few days and then ordered them away with the threat that in the future Virginians caught on the Ohio River would be killed. Shortly afterward a party of surveyors attacked a band of Shawnee warriors opposite the mouth of the Scioto River, killed a number of them "and took thirty horse-loads of skins from them." 2 Lord Dunmore was intensely loyal to the King of Great Britain. He was also ambitious to advance the prestige and power of Virginia, the colony over which he had been commissioned to rule. He refused to recognize the Quebec Act and pleased Virginians by insisting upon the original charter rights of the colony to lands on both sides of the Ohio River. He laid claim also to Western Pennsylvania, and appointed Dr. John Connolly, an unscrupulous adventurer, Royal Commandant of "West Augusta," including Fort Pitt, which was now rebuilt and renamed Fort Dunmore. Connolly, who had appointed Michael Cresap a captain of Virginia militia, wrote a letter to him stating that advices received indicated that the Indians in the Ohio country were about to wage a relentless war against the Virginians and urged him to prepare for the defense of Wheeling. On April 26, Cresap read this letter to his men. In their apprehensive state of mind it was regarded as equivalent to a declaration of war. They prepared for immediate hostilities. In regular Indian style they called a council, planted a war post, smote it with their tomahawks and went forth to slay Redskins and take scalps. On the day when Cresap read the letter from Connolly, it was reported that two Indians and some traders were descending the Ohio. The two Indians were killed. An April 27th, two canoes of Indians were seen coming down the river. They were pursued by Captain Cresap and overtaken near the mouth of Pipe Creek, fifteen miles below Wheeling, where a battle was fought in which three Indians were killed and scalped and three of Cresap's party were wounded, one of them fatally. The conflict that now began to spread along the Ohio was known as "Cresap's War." A climax to the border warfare thus inaugurated was reached on April 30. At the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the Ohio side, about eighteen miles north of Steubenville, Chief Logan, his family and a few followers were temporarily established. He had always been friendly to the whites and there was no fear of molestation from him and his little village. It was planned, however, by some of the desperadoes of the frontier to destroy him and his followers. This was to be done on the camp site on the Ohio side of the river. The excuse was that no Indian was now to be trusted. The plot was suggested to Capt. Michael Cresap, but there is good authority for the statement that he refused to encourage it or to have anything to do with it. Certain it is that he had no hand in the murder of Logan's band, although Logan firmly believed that he had, and occasionally at this late day writers seem disposed to hold him responsible. Opposite Logan's camp on the Virginia side of the river was the trading post known as Baker's Station. At this place a tavern was kept by Joshua Baker, who dispensed "entertainment" and intoxicants to the rude frontiersmen who were wont to assemble there. The Indians frequently crossed over to purchase some articles to satisfy their simple needs. Unfortunately, like most of the tribes, they had acquired a taste for firewater. The real leader of the band that destroyed Logan's family was Daniel 2 - Virgil A. Lewis, "History of the Battle of Point Pleasant," p. 16, COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 111 Greathouse. He and his followers decided not to attack Logan's camp but to inveigle the Indians into crossing the river and then to ply them with drink until they were helpless. A few emissaries went to the Indian camp, professed to be exceedingly friendly and succeeded in getting practically all the Indians to cross over to Baker's Tavern. Logan was not in the camp at this time. Accounts differ in details as to what then happened. Even those said to have been eye witnesses do not agree. Probably most of them were so thoroughly under the influence of drink that they were not able subsequently to give coherent testimony. The details upon which there is substantial agreement are here given. The Indians who crossed over the river to the tavern, with two or three exceptions, were soon helplessly drunk. Daniel Greathouse, a desperado of the border, and a number of kindred spirits were concealed in the tavern. At a signal they rushed forth, and the work of carnage began. The first Indian killed was Logan's brother, who was shot down and hacked with tomahawks. Logan's sister had refused to .drink. She had in a basket at her back her little child. She was well known at the tavern, having frequently bought milk there for the children of the camp. Early in the attack she was shot down but not killed. She raised her voice in a pitiful appeal for her little child. The basket was cut from her back and set to one side in the room. She was then instantly killed. This sister of Logan was the reputed wife of John Gibson, a white man, well educated, an Indian interpreter who throughout life sustained a good reputation. He had been an Indian captive, learned the Indian language and was adopted into one of the tribes. Later he was an Indian trader and Was absent when this tragedy occurred. When the news of this attack and a few others of similar character spread throughout the region, the Indians in mad fury sprang to arms and began a retaliatory war upon the white settlers. Logan, who was still counselling peace, was stunned when he heard that his kindred had been swept away by one fell blow. As soon as he recovered in a measure from grief at this overwhelming loss, enraged at the ingratitude of the white man, he took up the hatchet and vowed vengeance swift and terrible against the race that had murdered his people. That he "fully glutted his vengeance" is attested not only by his own words but by reports from the settlements that were the objects of the retributive wrath of his savage band. On July 12, 1774, Maj. William Robinson and two neighbors were pulling flax in a field near the Monongahela River. They were attacked by a band of Indians under Logan. One was killed. Robinson, who was taken prisoner, was spared through the interposition of Logan, adopted into the tribe and taken into the Muskingum Valley to a village on the site of Newcomerstown. While here he wrote, with ink made from gunpowder, and at the dictation of Logan, the following note : "Captain Cresap: What did you kill my people at 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 at Yellow Creek and took my cousin prisoner ; Then I thought I must kill too. I have been at war since then ; but the Indians are not angry ; only myself. "CAPTAIN JOHN LOGAN. "July 21, 1774." Major Robinson wrote the note three times before he succeeded in wording it to suit Logan. It was afterward found tied to a war club in the cabin of a settler south of the Ohio River, where it had been left after the family had been slain. Major Robinson, after peace was declared, returned to his home in Virginia, and in 1801 moved to what is now Coshocton County, where he died in 1815. 112 - HISTORY OF OHIO As the war spread throughout the Ohio country, the settlers in that portion of Virginia west of the Alleghany Mountains took alarm and fled eastward for their lives. On May 6, Valentine Crawford, from what is now Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in a letter to Col. George Washington describing the effect of the massacre of Logan's people, 3 said : "It has almost ruined all the settlements west of the Monongahela. There were more than a thousand people crossed that river going eastward in a single day." His brother, Col. William Crawford, two days later wrote to Washington : "Our inhabitants are much alarmed, many hundred having gone eastward over the Alleghany Mountains, and the whole country is vacated as far [east] as the Monongahela." 4 Terror and panic reigned throughout the western settlements. Almost every day had tragedies to report. Messengers brought tidings of these to Governor Dunmore at Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia. On May 12th, he reported the serious condition of affairs to the House of Burgesses. The response of that body was prompt and effective. It authorized the governor to use all the powers vested in him "to repel the hostile and perfidious attempts of those savage and barbarous enemies." Armed with ample authority and the approval of the House of Burgesses, Lord Dunmore prepared to carry war into the Indian empire north of the Ohio. He had two objects in view : (1) To establish an effective line of defense along the Ohio River. (2) To invade the Indian country north of the Ohio and destroy the Shawnee towns on the Pickaway Plains. He wrote instructions to Andrew Lewis, countylieutenant 5 of Botetourt County, to raise an army, proceed to the mouth of the Kanawha River, build a fort there and if possible keep open communication between that point, Wheeling and Fort Dunmore (Pittsburg) until he could pass over the Blue Ridge Mountains with a force under his command. In this communication he stated that there was "already marched a large body of men" to the region of hostilities. This "large body of men" was the expeditionary force of 400 under the command of Maj. Angus McDonald, who proceeded to Wheeling, commenced the erection of Fort Fincastle (later called Fort Henry), which was completed by Capt. William Crawford and 200 men who came down from Fort Dunmore, while Major McDonald and his 400 men prepared to carry the war into the Indian country north of the Ohio. McDonald's force consisted of eight companies of fifty men each. Among the captains were Michael Cresap, Sr., Michael Cresap, Jr., Hancock Lee, Daniel Morgan and Daniel Cresap. The expedition left Wheeling July 25, on what is known as the Wakatomica campaign. It descended the Ohio to Fish Creek, in what is now West Virginia, and proceeded thence overland toward Wakatomica, a Shawnee village about ninety miles distant, near the present site of Dresden, Muskingum County, Ohio. The guides on this march were Johnathan Zane, Thomas Nicholson and Tady Kelly. Before they reached the village they were met by forty or fifty Indians, and a skirmish ensued in which McDonald lost two killed and one wounded, and the Indians one killed and several wounded. When Wakatomica was reached it was found deserted. The Indians then sued for peace and gave five of their chiefs as hostages, but Stated that before a treaty could be concluded they must have time to assemble the chiefs of other tribes. This appears to have been only a ruse for time to escape with their families. Two of the hostages sent to bring in the chiefs of the other tribes did not return. McDonald then 3 - C. W. Butterfield, "The Washington-Crawford Letters," p. 85. 4 - Ibid, p. 48. 5 - This was his title in the Dunmore war. It was the next rank above colonel in the Virginia militia. Lewis is generally referred to as General Lewis. He was brigadier-general in the American Revolution, and was active against the British early in the war. He was born in Ireland, October 9, 1720, and died in Virginia, September 25, 1781. COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 113 moved up the Muskingum to another village, which was taken after a brief skirmish and destroyed. Wakatomica was then burned and the expedition returned with the three remaining hostages, who were sent to Williamsburg, where they were held until the close of the war. Major McDonald and his command returned to the Shenandoah Valley, where, on August 12th, they met and joined the army of Lord Dunmore on his way to crush the power of the Shawnees and their allies. The expedition of Major McDonald had inflicted slight punishment on the Indians, but had failed to accomplish its purpose. His report caused Dunmore to change slightly his original plans. He decided to waste no time in strengthening a line of defenses along the Ohio River, to push forward as expeditiously as consistent with safety to the stronghold of the confederated tribes on the Pickaway Plains and force them, if possible, to meet him in pitched battle in order that his victory over them might be complete and decisive. The letters from Dunmore to Lewis and the reply of the latter leave little room for doubt that a misunderstanding arose in regard to the two rivers the Great Kanawha and the Little Kanawha. Dunmore evi.dently expected Lewis to meet him at the mouth of the Little Kanawha, which is a short distance above the mouth of the Hockhocking, and intended to lead the united army against the Shawnee towns in the valley of the Scioto. In a letter from Wheeling to Col. George Washington, under date of October 1st, Valentine Crawford says that Lord Dunmore has sent his [Crawford's] brother "with five hundred men * * * to meet Colonel Lewis at the mouth of the Hockhocking River below the mouth of the Little Kanawha." Confirmatory evidence that this was Dunmore's purpose is found in his letter to General Lewis under date of August 30th, in which he expressed his warmest wishes and stated clearly that he expected to meet Lewis at the mouth of the Little Kanawha. Lewis did not receive this until September 5th, "and made reply by saying that it was then too late to alter the route to the Ohio, and he must needs proceed to the mouth of the Great Kanawha." 6 Dunmore arrived at Wheeling (Fort Fincastle), September 30th. General Lewis arrived at Point Pleasant on the afternoon of October 6th. A detachment of Dunmore's army under Col. William Crawford erected a stockade at the mouth of the Hockhocking on the site of the present village of Higginsport, Ohio, which was named Fort Gower, in honor of the Earl of Gower, who was Dunmore's associate and friend in the British House of Lords. From this point Dunmore sent a letter to General Lewis by messenger asking him to join him (Dunmore) on the Pickaway Plains. This change of plan was evidently to gain time and permit Dunmore and Lewis to proceed at once to the objective points of the campaign. Lewis evidently so understood it and prepared to comply promptly with the command of his superior officer. There is no documentary evidence that he ever manifested or expressed any dissatisfaction with the order. It was the natural and logical thing for his Lordship to do under the circumstances and would have most effectively accomplished its purpose, had not a savage military genius interposed a plan of his own which would have done credit to Napoleon, who had not yet appeared on the stage of history. On October 9th, Lord Dunmore and the northern division of his army numbering 1,300 men, were at Fort Gower at the mouth of the Hockhocking River in what is now Athens County, Ohio. Lewis, with the southern division, numbering about 1,100 men, was at Point Pleasant. He had just received his order from Lord Dunmore to join the northern division on the Pickaway Plains and was planning to start on the march the day following. The Indians on the Ohio side of the river by this time had joined 6 - Lewis, "History of the Battle of Point Pleasant," p. 30. 114 - HISTORY OF OHIO themselves in a confederacy under the great chieftain Cornstalk, 7 who was born somewhere in the valley of the Scioto. From the very beginning of Dunmore's movements Indian spies had been on the watch and kept their great chief informed as to the position and the forces under Lewis and Dunmore. He felt that if the two armies combined before reaching the Indian towns the war would be lost to him and his people. He therefore decided to marshal all his braves and strike the two armies in succession before they could unite. With 1,200 warriors he stealthily moved in the direction of Point Pleasant. In the night time on rafts he and his men quietly landed on the Virginia side near the camp of Lewis. So carefully was this movement executed that it was not discovered by the alert frontiersmen at Point Pleasant, and they slept through the night unconscious of the danger that was lurking close at hand in the sinister shadows of the dense forest. On the morning of October 10th, the Indians had almost reached the camp of Lewis before they were discovered. Two soldiers leaving the camp as day was faintly dawning, accidentally came upon the foe. The Indians fired and one of the soldiers was killed. The other gave the alarm and the camp was soon aroused. Lewis, concluding that the Indians were only a scouting party, sent a detachment of 150 men, selected from the different companies, to disperse them. It was soon apparent that the enemy was advancing in large numbers and the detachment was promptly reinforced. And now began one of the most hotly contested battles ever fought with the Indians in America. All day long it raged without interruption and with scarcely abated fury. Rifle shots kept up a staccatto which at times swelled into a roar that echoed among the hills. Above the din of battle and the war whoops of his braves, at times could be heard the voice of Cornstalk as he called to them in the Shawnee tongue, "Be strong, be strong." Late in the afternoon when the Indians had retreated to a strong position from which it was difficult to dislodge them, General Lewis, realizing the importance of bringing the engagement to an end if possible before night, sent a detachment to the rear of the position of the enemy. The movement was successfully executed and the Indians, brought between two fires and doubtless concluding that fresh troops were arriving to reinforce the army of Lewis, retreated, recrossed the 7 - Indian corn or maize was the chief support of the Indians in the fertile valley of the Scioto. The name Keigh-tugh-qua, signifying a blade or stalk of corn, which was applied to the great Indian chieftain, was a very honorable one. Cornstalk, his English name, signified to the Indians their chief support. He was born in one of the Scioto towns, participated in the early Indian wars, was conspicuous in Pontiac's war leading forays across the Ohio River into what was then Western Virginia. At the conclusion of Bouquet's expedition in 1764 he became a hostage to that officer and was taken to Fort Pitt, but escaped in 1765. Little is known of his activities from that time until the expedition of Lord Dunmore into the Ohio country in 1774. He had evidently risen by force of merit to a commanding position among his people as he was at the head of the Indian confederacy northwest of the Ohio, and the valiant leader in the attack at Point Pleasant. He was brave in battle and eloquent in council. If his speech at Camp Charlotte could have been preserved, it probably would have rivaled that of Logan. After the treaty at Pittsburgh in 1775 he devoted his powers to the development of friendly relations with the whites. At the outbreak of the Revolution when the other Indian tribes of the West were joining the British he succeeded for a time in maintaining the neutrality of his own tribe. On a peaceful mission to Point Pleasant he was captured and held as a hostage by the Americans in the autumn of 1777. His son came to visit him while he was in captivity. Some of the rude militiamen of the border who were at Point Pleasant and were exasperated by the killing of one of their number by some Indians on the north hank of the Ohio mutinied and in spite of the efforts of their officers brutally butchered the great Indian chieftain and his son. A monument to Cornstalk has been erected in the courthouse yard at Point Pleasant. COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 115 river and, broken in spirit, took up the gloomy march in the direction of their towns. The casualties of this battle were variously reported. Dunmore stated that Lewis lost forty-nine men killed, including Col. Charles Lewis, a brother of the general, and two other colonels of militia. His estimate of the Indian loss was "thirty killed and some wounded." It is probable that the losses on the two sides were about equal. 8 When the defeated Indians returned to their towns a council was at once held. Cornstalk, who had originally opposed going to war but was overruled by his associate chieftains, it is said, asked what was now to be done. Receiving no reply, he proposed that they call their women and children together, kill them all, and then march forth to meet the enemy, the "long knives," and continue the fight until the last warrior was slain. This Spartan appeal of despair brought no approving response. "Then," said Cornstalk, as he lodged his hatchet in the war pole, "I will sue for peace." Runners were sent to meet Lord Dunmore and arrangements were made for a peace council at Camp Charlotte, on Scippo Creek in the southeastern corner of what is now Pickaway County, Ohio. This camp was named in honor of the wife of Lord Dunmore, whose given name was Charlotte. 9 Here on October 19th the Indian chiefs and warriors were admitted to conference. There were present at this council the officers of Dunmore's division of the army, including Col. Adam Stevens, Col. William Crawford, Maj. Angus McDonald and Capts. George Rogers Clark, John Gibson, Daniel Morgan and the three Cresaps who accompanied McDonald on the Wakatomica expedition. Cornstalk and many of his chieftains and warriors were there. 10 His bearing on this occasion was not that of a beaten and humbled leader. Proudly erect, with the poise of a natural king of men, his eloquent address compelled the respect of even his inveterate foes. He spoke of the wrongs of his people and the causes that compelled them to go to war in defense of their homes and the preservation of their hunting grounds—a theme that has been developed in poignant and fervid oratory by those who had no part in the tragedies portrayed. Col. Benjamin Wilson, who was present at this treaty, thus describes the impression made by Cornstalk : "When he arose, he was in no wise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice, without stammering or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while addressing Dunmore were truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and attractive. I have heard the best orators of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard Lee—but never have I heard one whose powers of delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk." But one chieftain was not present at the council. Logan, who had been driven into the war by the murder of his family, refused to be a suppliant. Lord Dunmore is said to have made especial effort to induce 8 - In his "History of the Battle of Point Pleasant," Lewis estimates (pp. 49-50) the losses of the Virginians at 85 killed and 150 wounded. 9 - Some writers say, "In honor of the Queen of England." 10 - The negotiations with the chief at Camp Charlotte were conducted with considerable formality and caution. Mr. Joseph Sullivant, of Columbus, Ohio, remembered hearing the occasion described in his boyhood by the famous woodsman, Simon Kenton, who was, at the time of the narration, a guest at the house of Mr. Sullivant's father. Kenton claimed to have been an eye witness of the proceedings at Camp Charlotte. The approach of the Indians to the treaty grounds, he stated, was the most imposing sight he ever saw. Over 500 warriors came riding over the prairies in single file and full paint, each one's face stained half red and half black. Asked by Sullivant what this signified, Kenton replied that it meant that the braves were equally for peace and for war, and indifferent which should be the outcome. But this was only for effect; they really wanted peace. Alfred E. Lee, "History of the City of Columbus," p. 96. 116 - HISTORY OF OHIO him to attend, and sent a messenger to bring him to the council. Tlic messenger was Capt. John Gibson, 11 reputed to be Logan's brother-in-law, and one of the interpreters appointed to serve at the conference. Under oath in after years he made a statement that was published in Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia," the essential portion of which is as follows: "On his arrival at the towns, Logan, the Indian, came to where the deponent [Gibson] was sitting with the Cornstalk and other chiefs of the Shawnees, and asked him to walk out with him ; that they went to a copse of wood, where they sat down when Logan, after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech, nearly as related by Mr. Jefferson in his notes on the State of Virginia ; that he, the deponent, told him then that it was not Colonel Cresap, who had murdered his relations, and that although his son, Capt. Michael Cresap, was with the party that killed a Shawnee chief and other Indians, yet he was not present when his relations were killed at Baker's, near the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Ohio ; that this deponent, on his return to camp, delivered the speech to Lord Dunmore ; that the murders perpetrated as above were considered as ultimately the cause of the war of 1774, commonly called Cresap's war." Following is the speech that Logan sent to Lord Dunmore : "I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat : if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked murdered 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 living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it : I have killed many : I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. fIe will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." This is the form in which Logan's speech appears in Jefferson's 11 - John Gibson was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1740. He received a classical education and entered the military service at the age of eighteen. He was with General Forbes in the expedition which resulted in the capture of Fort Duquesne, afterward Fort Pitt. At the close of the French and Indian war he became a trader; was captured by the Indians in 1763 near the mouth of Beaver Creek, twenty-eight miles below Fort Pitt, with two men who were in his employ. One of the men was at once burned at the stake and the other suffered the same fate when the party reached the Kanawha. Gibson's life was saved by an aged squaw, who adopted him in the place of her son who had been killed in battle. In 1764 he was given up by the Indians to Colonel Bouquet, and went to Pittsburgh, where he resumed his occupation as trader with the Indians. In 1774 he accompanied Lord Dunmore in his expedition against the Indians in the Ohio country, and performed a signal service as interpreter at the treaty concluded at Camp Charlotte. It was to Gibson that Logan gave his celebrated message to Lord Dunmore. Gibson was reported to have married the sister of Chief Logan. This has been questioned, but the report was published long before his death, and there is no record of a denial by him. After the treaty in the fall of 1775 at Pittsburgh which confirmed and supplemented the treaty made at Camp Charlotte, he made a tour of the Western Indians in the interests of peace. Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution he entered the continental service and rose to the rank of colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment at Fort Pitt. He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Pennsylvania in 1790. In 1801 President Jefferson appointed him secretary of the Indiana Territory, which position he filled until the territory became a state. He was acting governor of the territory in the absence of Gen. William Henry Harriso.n from 1811 to 1813. He died at his home at Braddock's Field, April 16, 1822.
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"Notes on the State of Virginia." With the exception of changes in punctuation it differs but slightly from the version in the McGuffy readers, through which in the latter half of the nineteenth century it reached every home in Ohio. The speech was published in New York, February 16, 1775. This is so nearly like Jefferson's version that their source must have been identical. Another version, somewhat different in form, but expressing practically the same thought, was published years afterward in a letter in the "American Archives," bearing date of February 4, 1775.
There have been many tributes to the literary quality of this remarkable speech. Thomas Jefferson, who published it in his "Notes on the State of Virginia" declared it unsurpassed by any passage in the orations of Cicero or Demosthenes or other eminent orators of ancient or modern times. Roosevelt in his "Winning of the. West" insists that this speech "will always retain its place as perhaps the finest outburst of savage eloquence of which we have any authentic record." Capt. Alfred Lee, diplomat and author of the history of Columbus, Ohio, said of this speech, "Taken in connection with the circumstances which are said to have inspired it, this is one of the most pathetic deliverances in all literature."
Words of praise from other writers might be multiplied. The impassioned words of Logan are the despairing cry of a breaking heart, pouring forth itself in "the resistless eloquence of woe."
What is it that gives the message its vitality—its never failing interest ? Not the spirit of revenge. The Indian chieftain had at last learned that that was in vain. What, then, is the central virtue that puts it in a class by itself ? Aside from its simplicity, its directness, its brevity, it is a poignant arraignment of ingratitude—the basest of human qualities. It is this that gives Logan a continually widening audience. It is this that makes the world mourn for him when he thought that none were left to mourn. It is this that gives his untutored eloquence its eternal appeal—the stamp of immortality.
The authenticity of this speech has at times been questioned. 12 Some have captiously declared that it is not a speech that at best it is only a message. The word "speech" as here used, signifies, not necessarily an address delivered in .the presence of an assembly, but a message in writing of what the author would say if he were in the presence of the persons addressed. Colonial governors and others high in authority often prepared "speeches" that were sent by agents or subordinate officers to be delivered in the council-house. It is therefore perfectly proper, when we consider contemporary usage, to call the message of Logan a speech.
Thomas Jefferson, who gave this speech and his fine tribute to it a place in the history of his native state, has been at.times accused of writing the speech and attributing it to Logan. The sworn testimony of Capt. John Gibson, the messenger and interpreter who carried the speech from Logan to Lord Dunmore, as published in the later editions of Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia," ought to dispose finally of that charge. The one person above all others who was able to speak with authority on the authorship of the speech was John Gibson, and his unbiased testimony is worthy of all confidence. His record for truthfulness through a Tong and active career, has not been questioned in regard to other matters, and no valid reason has been advanced for regarding with suspicion his affidavit that this speech was the language of Logan.
The suggestion has also been made that perhaps Gibson was the author of the speech, or that he gave it the literary touch that started it on its way to fame. This inference is more plausible. Gibson was well educated. His letters and state papers are in good English. It is conceivable that he might have put into polished and effective form a few
12 - See "supplemental note" at close of this chapter.
118 - HISTORY OF OHIO
poignant sentences uttered by the weeping Logan. There are, however, collateral considerations that make this assumption untenable. Among them are :
1. The refusal of Logan to strike from the speech the accusation against Cresap. If Gibson had been writing the speech he would not have charged Cresap with the murder of Logan's relatives, for the reason set forth in his affidavit. He told Logan that Cresap was not guilty of that crime, but Logan, by refusing to withdraw that charge, in effect said, "I think you are mistaken and the indictment stands."
2. Gibson, according to his affidavit, went to the Indian towns on the Pickaway Plains, not especially to see Logan, but to see the other chiefs and interpret their messages to Dunmore. He did not seek Logan, but Logan came to him and invited him to the secluded spot where the speech was delivered. From this it is evident that Logan had in mind something that he wished to unbosom to Gibson—the message that he wished to get to Lord Dunmore and his assembled officers. This indicates premeditation. He had been brooding over his wrongs and misfortunes. His soul was full ; its utterance could no longer be restrained.
3. Another consideration inclines the writer strongly to the belief that the speech which Gibson carried to Dunmore was just as Logan dictated or wrote it. It was the custom of an Indian chief to insist that his speech in council, which was usually short, should be faithfully recorded in a translation of just what he said. When the speech had been translated into English and reduced to writing, he asked that it be translated back into the Indian tongue in order that he might know that the record was correct. Any Indian chief would have exercised at least usual caution in sending a speech to a treaty council so important as the one at Camp Charlotte. We have evidence that in Logan the Indian habit of care in regard to what he said in writing was strong. We have already seen how Major Robinson had to write three times the note to Cresap, before the wording suited Logan. We have every reason to believe that Logan would have been equally careful in regard to the message that he sent to Lord Dunmore.
Some writers say that the speech was in English ; some that it was in the Indian tongue and was translated into English by the interpreter. The affidavit of Gibson does not settle that question. Nor is it a material one. Logan could speak English. Possibly he could write the language. He may have dictated it as he did the letter written by Robinson. If he did, it is more than probable, it is morally certain, that he knew every word in the English version sent to Lord Dunmore and that it was verbatim as he insisted it should be.
It is certainly safe to conclude that of this speech, in the language of Roosevelt, "we have authentic record."
In a general way the place where Logan delivered this famous speech or message to Gibson has been established by the affidavit of the latter. Gibson states that he accompanied Logan to "a copse of wood" near the Indian towns where he had been in conference with Cornstalk. These towns undoubtedly were Cornstalk Town and Grenadier Squaw Town, on Scippo Creek near its confluence with Congo Creek. The speech must therefore have been delivered near these towns. Tradition locates the spot consistently with the affidavit of Gibson, but more definitely. The Boggs family settled on the bank of Congo Creek in 1798. Capt. John Boggs stated that he learned from Captain Williamson, of Dunmore's army, that the speech of Logan was delivered to Gibson, under an elm tree near a mound on the bank of "Congo Creek, about a mile below Camp Lewis, in a small piece of prairie of about thirty acres." The elm tree still stands on the bank of the stream. 13 Its location accords well with the testimony of Gibson. The tree has evidently grown in the open. Its long limbs, branching out near the
13 - "See illustration following "supplemental note" at close of this chapter.
COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD - 119
ground, indicate that. The strong spring of pure cold water, gushing from the earth near its roots within the memory of men and women still living, probably made it, in Logan's time, a place of resort by the Indians. That this is where Logan gave Gibson the speech that was delivered to Dunmore is therefore plausible and probable.
The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society now owns a small park about this famous tree, which is annually visited by thousands of tourists.
Logan refused to attend the treaty conference at Camp Charlotte. It is evident that his tribesmen, the Mingoes, were not disposed to bury the hatchet but were quietly planning to leave their villages in what is now Franklin County, Ohio, and to take with them their families and property to some place beyond the reach of the royal governor of Virginia and his army.
When Lord Dunmore learned that the Mingoes were escaping, he sent Col. William Crawford with a detachment of two hundred and forty men to overtake the Indians and use the means necessary to bring them into submission and compel them to sue for peace. Crawford afterward related in a letter to Washington that he and his men left Camp Charlotte as quietly and secretly as possible in order that the large number of Indians present might not learn the purpose of the movement. Those in command started the rumor that they were returning to Fort Gower. This was told the few who noticed the departure and questioned the destination. In fact, very few of Crawford's picked men knew the object of the movement.
The detachment moved forward as swiftly as possible in the direction of the Mingo towns. On the night of the second day's march they arrived in the vicinity of the town called Seekonk, which means a place of salt. Early the following morning before the break of day, the soldiers under Crawford were stealthily in motion in an effort to surround the enemy. They had partially accomplished this. It was still dark and the Mingoes were sleeping and dreaming, perhaps, of the long journey they had planned for the morrow.
One of Crawford's men, creeping up to a log that lay a short distance from the town, was somewhat startled to see an Indian rise from the other side and start to run. To prevent his giving the alarm, he shot the Indian. This did not help matters much, for it aroused the village and most of the Indians fled into the forest. "But," wrote Colonel Crawford, "we got fourteen prisoners and killed six of the enemy, wounding several more. We got all their luggage and horses, ten of their guns and two hundred white prisoners. The plunder sold for four hundred pounds sterling, besides what was returned to a Mohawk Indian who was there. The whole of the Mingoes were ready to start and were to have set out the morning we attacked them. Lord Dunmore has eleven prisoners and has returned the rest to the nation."
It is not recorded that any of Crawford's men were killed or wounded. It appears that this was a stampede of the Indians who were captured or shot down as they were attempting to escape. The number of white prisoners recorded seems surprisingly large.
The scene of this engagement has been satisfactorily authenticated. It was within the corporate limits of the city of Columbus near the site of the Ohio penitentiary.
Thus it was that the Dunmore war, which began in the battle of Point Pleasant and gave rise to so much of tradition, romance, legend and controversy among local historians in after years, ended within the present limits of the capital city of Ohio. The echo of the last gun had died away and peace had been restored for less than six months, when, at Concord bridge, was fired the "shot heard round the world" that ushered in the Revolution.
In the meantime, what were the movements of the southern division of the army under the command of General Lewis, after the battle at
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Point Pleasant ? On October 11, the day following this battle, Lewis received an order from Lord Dunmore to meet the latter on the Pickaway Plains. Dunmore had not heard of the battle at the mouth of the Kanawha. Lewis could not, of course, promptly obey the order, nor would Dunmore, under the changed condition of affairs as a result of the battle, have expected him to do so. Lewis proceeded to bury the dead, to provide for the care of the wounded, to strengthen the defenses of Point Pleasant, to collect his horses which had been stampeded, to reorganize his command and to select officers to take the places of those who had fallen.
It was not until October 17 that this work was completed. Leaving a garrison of 278 men, Lewis then crossed the Ohio with the remainder of his forces, numbering 1,150. Crossing what is now Gallia County, Ohio, the army proceeded toward the Pickaway Plains. When he had marched to Kinnickinnick Creek in what is now the northeastern part of Ross County, Ohio, he received, on October 22, for the first time information that a treaty was in progress at Camp Charlotte, about fifteen miles distant. His informant was the Indian Chief White-fish, who brought a communication from Lord Dunmore requesting Lewis to halt his army. Finding the ground unsatisfactory for a camp site, Lewis proceeded to Congo Creek, about one mile south of the Logan Elm, and there halted his army. Learning that peace had been practically concluded, he naturally thought that his forces were to join those under Dunmore and set out to do so. The guide, evidently not understanding the location of Camp Charlotte or the road leading to it, took a course which led the forces of Lewis between the Indian towns and Camp Charlotte. It was this movement that frightened the Indians and caused some of their representatives to leave the treaty council.
To allay their fears and bring the treaty to a conclusion as soon as possible, Dunmore went personally to meet Lewis and explain the situation. At this meeting the governor stated that, inasmuch as the terms of the treaty had virtually been agreed upon and the further advance of the forces of Lewis could serve no good purpose at Camp Charlotte, in his opinion it would be best to have them return, re-cross the Ohio and go to their respective homes, as the objects of the campaign had been fully attained. When they first met, Lewis assured Dunmore that he had no thought of attacking the Indian towns and that his forces were simply moving forward to join the troops at Camp Charlotte. It was agreed between Dunmore and Lewis that a garrison should remain at Point Pleasant to enforce the provisions of the treaty that made the Ohio the boundary line between the possessions of the whites and the Indians.
This brief statement includes every material item relating to the movements of the forces under the command of Lewis north of the Ohio after the battle of Point Pleasant, and here the account of that feature of the campaign might properly close. But widely published statements, charging Lord Dunmore with sinister designs and actions that made him the object of the bitter hatred of his men, especially those who participated in the battle of Point Pleasant, seem to require further consideration.
It has frequently been declared—and so often repeated that it has been accepted by reputable writers as history—that his Lordship sought to foment hatred between the colonists and Indians on the frontier to divert the attention of the former from the growing hostility of their friends in the East against the mother country and assure the support of the Indians for Great Britain when the mutterings on the other side of the Alleghany Mountains should burst forth into the storm of revolution. Dunmore has been charged with deliberately planning the destruction of the army that he led into the Indian country. A few quotations will indicate the character of the indictments against him :
In the Ohio Troy Times, in 1839, Abram Thomas, a soldier who was with Dunmore's army stated that Dunmore was expecting Lewis to be
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attacked at Point Pleasant, that he frequently put his ear to the water, said he could hear the noise of battle, and asked Thomas to listen. The latter said, "I distinctly heard the roar of musketry." He also declared that "the troops were indignant at the conduct of Dunmore and believed his object was to give up both divisions of the army to the Indians."
The historian James Taylor in his valuable History of the State of Ohio describes the attitude of the soldiers toward their commander as follows :
"They [the Virginians] charged Dunmore with the design of forming an alliance with a confederacy of Indians to assist Great Britain against the colonies in the crisis of the Revolution, which all foresaw. The dissatisfaction and disappointment with the negotiations for peace was almost a mutiny. Lewis, smarting with the death of his gallant brother, refused the command for a halt. Dunmore went in person to enforce his orders and drew his sword upon General Lewis, threatening him with instant death if he persisted in further disobedience."
In the Documentary History of Dunmore's War, edited by Thwaites and Kellogg, we read the following note based upon statements in the Virginia Historical Register:
"In later years Col. Andrew Lewis' son wrote to Dr. Campbell that his father was obliged to double or treble his guard around his tent while the governor was present, in order to preserve him from the wrath of the back-woods soldiers, who were incensed at being turned back when in sight of their prey."
In Atwater's History of Ohio we read :
Whether his [Dunmore's] object, while at Camp Charlotte, was. to make the Indians friendly to the British crown and unfriendly to the colonists, in case of a war between the two countries which soon followed this campaign, we can never know with absolute certainty. We are well aware though that Gen. George Washington always did believe that Dunmore's object was to engage the. Indians to take up the tomahawk against the colonists as soon as war existed between the colonies and England. So believed Chief Justice Marshall, as we know from his own lips.
As late as 1902, William H. Hunter, a local historian whose statements were always made with conscientious regard for truth and after painstaking research, in a carefully prepared address entitled, "First Battle of the American Revolution," without reservation claimed that honor for the battle of Point Pleasant and said among other things to similar effect :
"According to contemporary statements the information received by Dunmore from England while at Fort Fincastle encouraged the belief that insurrection of the American colonies was apparent and led him to waive the original plan of forming a junction with Lewis at Point Pleasant, and it was this deviation that placed the brave Lewis and his intrepid army in jeopardy out of which only divine power could have carried him. The conduct of Dunmore at the treaty on the Congo [ Scippo] in Pickaway County showed an understanding between Dunmore and the Indians. * * *
"I believe that the issue of American Independence was in this battle, for had Lewis and his intrepid soldiers been cut down because Lord Dunmore failed or refused to furnish re-inforcements, the die would have been cast. * * *
"The battle of Point Pleasant was not only the first decisive conflict of the Revolutionary war ; had the, issue been otherwise—had it turned as Dunmore expected and hoped it would turn—the people would have submitted, they would have acquiesced in the tyranny of the English crown." 14
14 - "Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications," Vol. XI, pp. 99, 100, 101.
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Assuredly here is a formidable array of testimony against Lord Dunmore. If nothing could be offered in rebuttal, we should be forced to write him down as a monster who had incited the Indians to war against the colonists and then deliberately planned to sacrifice more than two thousand brave Virginians to the tomahawk and scalping knife.
Contemporaneous records of events of the Dunmore war are of primary importance. Col. William Fleming was in the battle of Point Pleasant and was very seriously wounded. When Lewis left with his army for the Pickaway Plains he placed Fleming at the head of the Point Pleasant garrison. He and Fleming were not only fellow officers in this war but they were good friends and both afterward bore an honored part in the service of the patriot cause in the American Revolution. Colonel Fleming kept an "orderly book" while he was an officer in the Dunmore war. Under date of October 29, 1774, we find this entry :
"Colo Lewis came into Camp last evening and when he had got to some distance from the Towns the Governor sent an Express to inform him that He had very near concluded a peace and that he was to halt his troops there. the place being inconvenient to encamp and Colo Lewis Men being fired on that morning he marched on. Next Morning He received another Express informing him the Peace was in a Manner concluded that the Shawnese had agreed to his terms. and therefor Colo Lewis was to encamp where he was. & that he & any Officers he tho't proper might come over to his Camp, Colo Lewis did not imagine it would be prudent to go to his lordships Camp with only two or three Officers. and therefore marchd thereto with a design to Join his Lordship but the Guide mistook the path & took a path that led betwixt the towns & his Lordships Camp. this put the Indians into a fright they expected Colo Lewis was going to Attack their towns they left his Lordship. and run off. His Lordship rode down to Colo Lewis' Camp in compy with Gibson a trader & Whitefish an Indian. he ask'd Colo Lewis why he did not stop when he was ordered, or if he proposd to push on to the towns. Colo Lewis informed his Lordship the reason of his marching & how he got between his Lordship & the towns, and that his Lordship needed not to be Apprehensive of his Attacking the Towns after receiving his Lordships Orders. the next day his Lordship ordered the Troops with Colo Lewis to return which they did &c :" 15
In language to the same effect Capt. John Stuart, who fought under Lewis at Point Pleasant and was with him on the march to the Pickaway Plains, gives an account of the meeting of Dunmore and Lewis. The attitude of the two toward each other may be readily inferred from the following statement by Stuart :
"When the Governor reached General Lewis' camp, his Lordship requested that officer to introduce him to his officers ; and we were accordingly ranged in rank and had the honor of an introduction to the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, who politely thanked us for services rendered on so momentous occasion, and assured us of his high esteem and respect for our conduct." 16
In further reference to this meeting Stuart says :
"On the Governor's consulting General Lewis, it was deemed necessary that a garrison should be established at the mouth of the Great Kanawha to intercept and prevent the Indians from crossing the Ohio to our side ; also to prevent any whites from crossing over to the side of the Indians ; and by such means to preserve future peace according to the conditions of the treaty thus being made by the Governor with the Indians." 17
Stuart declares that when Lewis and Dunmore first met, the latter
15 - Thwaites and Kellogg, "Documentary History of Dunmore's War," p. 356. 16 - Quoted by Virgil A. Lewis in "History of the Battle of Point Pleasant," p. 59. 17 - Ibid.
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asked Lewis if he intended to march to the Indian towns. "Colonel Lewis assured him that he had no thought of attacking the towns after receiving his Lordship's orders."
The authorities here quoted are worthy of all confidence. Stuart, like Fleming, was a participant in the battle of Point Pleasant, friendly to Lewis and afterward served the cause of the colonies in the Revolution.. Their testimony establishes the following facts :
1. Dunmore did not forbid Lewis, at the point of his sword, to march against the Indian Towns.
2. It was not necessary for Lewis to strengthen the guard about his tent to save the life of Dunmore from the fury of the Virginians.
3. The attitude of Lewis and Dunmore was mutually respectful. They met and parted as fellow officers, each respecting the rank and services of the other. No word indicating the remotest suspicion of bad faith passed between them.
That the people of Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia, appreciated the services of Dunmore is attested by an address, bearing date of December 5, 1774, from the municipal officers of that city, in which the following expression occurs :
"It is with pleasure we hear your Lordship has been able to defeat the designs of a cruel and insidious enemy, and at the same time that your Lordship has escaped those dangers to which your person must have been frequently exposed." 18
This expression was supplemented by congratulations on the recent birth of a daughter to the Governor.
The president and faculty of William and Mary College extended congratulations to "His Excellency, Lord Dunmore," concluding as follows :
"May the great fatigues and dangers which you so readily and cheerfully underwent in the service of your government be ever crowned with victory ! May you ever find the publick benefits thence arising attended with domestic blessings ! And may you always feel the enlivening pleasure of reading in the countenances around you wherever you turn your eyes, such expressions of affection as can be derived only from applauding and grateful hearts !" 19
From distant Norfolk—much more distant in that early day than at present—came an address from the "Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council," expressing cordial appreciation and gratitude. A single sentence indicates the spirit of this address
"While we applaud your Lordship's moderation in giving peace to a merciless foe, we can but exult in the happiness of our fellow subjects on the Frontiers, who, by your unremitted zeal and spirited conduct, have acquired the blessings of ease, security and domestick enjoyment."
The Council of State, of Virginia, in a somewhat extended address offered hearty congratulations. Following is an excerpt :
"Your Lordship's vigorous opposition to the incursions and ravages of an Indian enemy hath effectually prevented the desolation of a growing back country and the horrours of human carnage * * *. The lenity you exercised toward the Indians, when they expected the cruelty of the victor, hath attracted them to you from principle; and unless the intrigues of Traders or the insidious arts of the enemies of this Government should again foment differences, we flatter ourselves the present tranquility will not speedily be interrupted."
One of the most notable congratulatory tributes, however, came from the Virginia convention which assembled at Richmond, March 20, 1775. On the fifth day of the session this body adopted the following resolution :
"Resolved Unanimously, That the most cordial thanks of the people of this Colony are a tribute justly due to our worthy Governor, Lord
18 - “American Archives," Fourth Series, Vol I, pp. 1019, 1020, 1043. Vol. II, p..170. 19 - “American Archives," Fourth Series, Vol. I, p. 1019.
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Dunmore, for his truly noble, wise and spirited conduct on the late expedition against our Indian enemy ; a conduct which at once evinces his Excellency's attention to the true interest of the Colony and a zeal in the Executive Department which no dangers can divert or difficulties hinder from achieving the most important services to the people who have the happiness to live under his administration."
The members of this convention had been chosen by the people. They included General Andrew Lewis and eight other officers who participated in the battle of Point Pleasant. In this convention sat also Col. George Washington. All of these voted for the resolution which passed unanimously. This action was taken about five months after Dunmore's expedition into the Ohio Country. It would have been impossible if Dunmore had been suspected of treachery and an object of hatred to the Virginians as some post-Revolutionary writers would have us believe.
But the most significant of all the tributes to Dunmore by the Virginians was the address of a reunion of the participants in the battle of Point Pleasant and other freeholders of Fincastle County, Virginia. This was an expression of those who lived in the region directly affected by the Indian wars. Many Fincastle men lost their lives in the famous battle at the mouth of the Kanawha on October 10, 1774. It should be remembered that this action was taken April 8, 1775, only eleven days before the fires of the Revolution were lighted on the village green at Lexington. Following is a brief excerpt from the address sent to Lord Dunmore :
"My Lord: Notwithstanding the unhappy disputes that at present subsist between the Mother Country and the Colonies, in which we have given the publick our sentiments, yet justice and gratitude, as well as a sense of our duty, induce us collectively to return your Lordship our unfeigned thanks for the great services you have rendered the frontiers in general, and this county in particular, in the late expedition against our enemy Indians.
"In our former wars with the savages, we long suffered every species of barbarity ; many of our friends and fellow subjects were inhumanly butchered and carried into captivity, more to be dreaded than death itself ; our houses plundered and burned and our country laid waste by an enemy, against whom, from our dispersed situation, and their manner of carrying on war, it was impossible to make a proper defense on our frontier. Your Lordship being convinced of this, proposed to attack the enemy in their own country, well judging that it would be the most effectual means to reduce them to reason and be attended with little more expense to the community than an partial defense of such an extensive frontier. The proposal was cheerfully embraced and the ardour of the militia to engage in that very necessary service could only be equalled by that of your Lordship in carrying it on. * * * That your Lordship should forego your ease and every domestic felicity, and march at the head of a body of those Troops many hundred miles from the Seat of Government, cheerfully undergoing all the fatigues of the campaign by exposing your person and marching on foot with the officers and soldiers, commands our warmest returns of gratitude ; and the rather, as we have no instance of such condescension in your Lordship's predecessors on any similar occasion." 21
To all of the expressions of gratitude that have been quoted, and to others of a similar character Lord Dunmore made cordial and appropriate responses.
There can be no doubt that Virginians were sincerely grateful to Lord Dunmore for his swift and successful expedition into the Indian Country. His attitude toward the border conflict with the Red man was diametrically opposite to that of Governor Berkeley almost a century earlier. Berkeley's refusal to protect the frontier settlements against savage invasion led to "Bacon's Rebellion." Dunmore not only responded to the
21- "American Archives," Fourth Series, Vol. II, pp. 301-302. |