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The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 624 Today's Topics: #1 Abbott's History of Ohio - Chapter ["Magaret Stewart-Zimmerman" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <001201beea65$89dcd4a0$eb331cd8@local.net> Subject: Abbott's History of Ohio - Chapter 8 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Kay L. Mason Chapter VIII Lord Dunmore's War As early as the year 1748, nearly twenty years previous to the time of which, was are now writing, several gentlemen of the Virginia Council, associated themselves with certain London merchants, and obtained from the crown, a grant, of half a million of acres of land, to be taken principally from the south side of the Ohio River, between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers. This organization was called, The Ohio Land Company. One of its principal objects was, to establish an English colony in the much coveted valley, which, it will be remembered, was then claimed by the French. The French, at that time, had between forty and fifty forts, missionary stations, and trading posts, in various parts of the valley. The English had not a single settlement there. The King of France, to render his claim to the region still more unques- tionable, entered into a treaty with the Indians, by which they very cor- dially placed the whole country under his protection. It would seem that even then, the Indians feared the encroachments of the English. It must be confessed, that the English authorities, were not disposed to pay much re- spect to the claims of the Indians, to the vast realms over which they wan- dered in pursuit of game. When, four months before the fall of Fort Duquesne, the English sent commissioners across the mountains to endeavor to detach them from the French, one of their orators said: "Why do you not fight your battles at home or on the sea, instead of coming into our country to fight them? The white people think we have no brains; that they are many, and we a little handful. But remember where you hunt for a rattlesnake you cannot find it. But perhaps it will bite you be- fore you see it." By the treaty of peace to which we have referred, after the fall of Pon- tiac, the Indians agreed to surrender all the prisoners whom they had taken from the English. These prisoners were dispersed far and wide, mainly along the villages which fringed the shores of the Muskingum, the Sciota, the Great and Little Miami, the Sandusky, and others of the lovely streams which were tributaries of the Ohio. The savages had taken many little boys and girls, and had incorporated them into their tribes. They had manifestly loved them sincerely, and cared for them tenderly. It was a custom of the Indians to adopt these little captives in the place of their own lost sons and daughters. It was often with deep emotion that they surrendered these objects of their affection. With sighs and tears, and broken ejaculations of grief, they often brought with them to the office appointed to receive them. Many of the children, also, whose parents had been slain, whose homes were burned, and who had spent many years with their foster parents, having forgotten the relationships of their infant years, had formed such strong attachments for their new homes that they were very reluctant to be returned to the settle- ments of the pale faces. A Shawanese chief, Lawaqgqua by name, was entrusted with a number of these captives to convey them to Fort Pitt. As he surrend- ered them to the officer he said: "Father, we have brought your flesh and blood to you. They have all been united to us by adoption. Though we now deliver them, we shall always look upon them as our relations, whenever the Great Spirit is pleased that we may visit them. We have taken as much care of them as if they were are own flesh and blood. They are now become unacquainted with your customs and manners, and, therefore, we request you to use them tenderly and kindly, which will induce them to live contentedly with you." After this touching address he then spoke of the desire of the Indians to live in peace with the English. "Father," he said, "we will now comply with everything you have asked of us. We assure you that we are sincere in every- thing we have said. Here is a belt with a figure of our father, the King of Great Britain, at one end, and the chief of our nation at the other. This represents them holding the chain of friendship. We hope that neither side will slip their hands from it so long as the sun and moon give light." This scene took place in May, 1765, after the overthrow of Pontiac's power, but several months before his assassination. A very important coun- cil was at this time held at Fort Pitt, to deliberate upon the various questions which would naturally arise under the new posture of affairs. An English gentleman, Mr. George Croghan, was present at this council as de- puty commissioner. When the council broke up he accompanied several Indian chiefs on a friendly visit to the tribes of Illinois. It will be remembered that among these tribes Pontiac had taken refuge, and that the English were very solicitous respecting the influence he might exert over them. In the report he made of this visit of observation, he testifies that he found these tribes greatly under the influence of the French, and strongly attach- ed to them. The French had quite important settlements at Vincennes, Cahokia and Kaskaskia, from which they received their supplies. He could not be blind to the fact that the Indians loved the French, and hated the English. He says that they had imbibed from their Canadian friends, and the traders that constantly visited them, an intense hatred of his own countrymen; that they were extremely reluctant to exchange the easy and friendly rule of the French, who called the red man brother, slept in his wigwam, married into his tribe, and who, through benignant missionaries, were teaching him the principls of the Christian religion; for what they deemed the haughty and imperious domination of the English, who treated them with but little respect, and manifested but slight regard for their rights. The Indians received Croghan with civility, but with no marks of friendship or confidence. He could not fail to see that he was not a welcome guest; and he was deeply impressed with the conviction that the peace then existed would prove of but transient duration. A year after this, in the Spring of 1766, numerous families from the En- glish colonies crossed the Allegheny mountains, and selecting for themselves the most fertile and attractive spots on the Monongahela River, erected their cabins and commenced clearing their lands. This they did without any purchase from the Indians, and without the slightest recognition that they had any title whatever to the country in which they had settled. It would seem that many of these settlers were unprincipled men, quite devoid of any sense of justice. They despised the Indians, treated them insolently, and if any of them ventured to remonstrate, replied only with menaces and insults. The Indians felt justly and deeply aggrieved. They perceived that thus the English would eventually rob them of all their lands without remunera- tion. Neither the English government nor the Colonial governments approved of these measures. But they were powerless to prevent the wanderings of these individual pioneers. The Indian agent entered his earnest protest against this injustice. They laughed at him. General Gage, Commander-in Chief of the English forces in America, issued his proclamation denouncing such proceedings. They bade him defiance. Fearless alike of the authorities of their own country, and of the hostility of the Indians, they selected their lands wherever they pleased. In the Spring of 1768, Sir William Johnson, Indian Agent, succeeded in purchasing from the Iroquois Indians whatever right and title they possessed to any portion of the Great Valley south of the Ohio River. But there were many other tribes who claimed this magnificent territory, which was profus- ely stocked with game, as their common hunting-ground. Immediately after this George Washington, and three of the distinguished family of Lee, formed a large company called the Mississippi Company. An agent was sent to England to solicit a grant from the ministry of two million of acres. This enter- prise however failed. Various other schemes of the same kind were underta- ken, with more or less of success. All eyes were directed to this Caanan of the New World. In the meantime the flood of emigration was continually flowing across the Alleghenies and penetrating the luxuriant and blooming solitudes on each side of the Ohio. These emigrants, often traveling in quite large bands, were very rapidly possessing the whole country. As was to have been expected, this unhappy state of affairs, these very needless and unjust proceedings, soon led to conflict, bloodshed and woe. The contest which ensued, though short, was very sanguinary. It is called Lord Dunmore's War. It originated this way. On the twenty-seventh of April 1774, a vagabond desparado by the name of Cresap, residing in the vicinity of the present city of Wheeling, heard of two families of Indians, who were a few miles farther up the river hunting and trapping. He took with him a gang of con- genial villains, attacked these unoffending people, in cold blood murdered them all, and carried off their game and furs. These murderers came down the river that night to Wheeling in their canoes, laden with plunder. They found shooting Indians to be far better sport than shooting any other kind of game. Soon after this they heard that there was a small band of Indian hunters, encamped a few miles farther down the river at the head of Captina Creek. Armed to the teeth, these men went down and robbed and murdered them all. Not long after this, there was quite a large party of Indians peaceably en- camped about forty miles up the river, at the mouth of the Yellow Creek, on the right or northern bank of the Ohio. A man by the name of Greathouse, took with him a party of seven men, and ascended the river to attack them. They landed on the south side of the Ohio, at Baker's Station, opposite, but just below the point of the Indian encampment. Greathouse concealed his gang of assassins there, and at night crossed the river in his canoe to reconnoi- ter the ground, and ascertain how many Indians there were in the encampment. As he was skulking along he fell in with an Indian woman. She was very friendly, and urged him not to show himself to the Indians. She said that they had heard of the murders which had been perpetrated by Cresap, and that they were drinking, and were very angry. Greathouse paddled back across the river, to Baker's Station, and in the morning succeeded in enticing quite a number of the savages across the river to his concealed encampment. Here, after getting them intoxicated, he deli- berately shot them. The Indians on the other side of the river hearing the report of the guns, sent two of their number across to ascertain the cause. These men had but just stepped out of their birch canoe upon the shore, when, pierced by bullets, they fell dead. The report of these guns excited sus- picion among the Indians, and they sent over quite a large armed force to investigate affairs. They crossed the river in quite a number of birch canoes. But, before they landed, this villainous gang of white men fired upon them from an ambush, and killed an large number. The survivors, in con- sternation, returned to their encampment. Greathouse and his gang pursued them, and put all to death whom they could reach; men, women and children. In this atrocious massacre, the family of a noted Indian chief, Logan, ever the firm friend of the white men, were all put to death. These unprovoked murders soon reached the ears of all the tribes though- out the great valley. There were hundreds of settlers who had then crossed the Alleghenies, and were quiety cultivating their farms, seeking friendly relations with the Indians, and treating them with true brotherly kindness. They abhorred these deeds as much as any reader of this narrative can abhor them. But the poor Indians knew not how to discriminate. The innocent had to suffer with the guilty. Every where, through the forest, over mountain and prairie, the war-whoop resounded, and the hosts ralled for war. The governments of Virginia and Pennsylvania immediately dispatched mess- engers to all the frontier settlements to warn them of their danger. There was universal consternation. Many settlers abandoned every thing, and fled across the mountains Others sought refuge in forts. In the meantime the In- dians were roving in all directions, burning, killing, scalping, without mercy. The Legislature of Virginia raised four hundred volunteers, who were rendezvoused at Wheeling. They descended the Ohio River to the mouth of the Muskingum, where Marietta now stands. Ascending that river, they destroyed the Indian towns as far as Zanesville, killing many Indians, and adding greatly to their exasperation. A vigorous campaign was now organized, to be compost of three thousand men. One division, of eleven hundred men, was to rendezvous in September, at Fort Union, in Green Briar County, Virginia. Near this point the Kanawha River takes its rise, among the western declivities of the Alleghenies. They were then to descend the valley of this river to its mouth, on the Ohio River. Here, at a spot known as Point Pleasant, they were to encamp and await the arrival of Lord Dunmore. He, with two thousand men, was to ascend the Cumberland, in Maryland. Thence he was to force his way across the All- egheny Mountains to the Monongahela River. He was to follow that river until he reached the Ohio. Thence he was to descent to Point Pleasant, where he was to form a junction with Lewis. On the 11th of September, 1774, General Lewis commenced his march. His route lay mainly through a pathless wilderness, where not even the trail of the Indian could be found. All his baggage, including provisions and ammu- nition, could be carried only on pack-horses. They had to wind their way through wild ravines and dense forests, and over crags, which it would seem that the mountain-goat could with difficulty climb. There is perhaps no re- gion on the continent, of more majestic scenery, than these gloomy gorges and sublime heights of the Allegheny Mountains. For nineteen days this gallant little band was toiling along, surmounting innumerable difficulties, until the formidable barrier was passed, and des- cending the western declivities, they reached the lovely Valley of the Kana- wha. The distance across the mountains, from Camp Union, in Virginia, to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in what is now Kentucky, was one hundred and sixty miles. It is said that the march was more difficult than Hannibal's celebrated passage of the Alps. At Point Pleasant, where the Kanawha enters the Ohio, General Lewis ex- pected to meet, and form a junction with Earl Dunmore. It was the first of October, 1744(1774?), when he reached the place of his destination. Finding that Lord Dunmore had not arrived, he went into camp. After waiting nine days, a messenger came with the intelligence that the Governor had changed his plan. Instead of descending the Ohio in his barges, to Point Pleasant, he would stop about thirty miles farther up the stream, at the mouth of the Hocking River. Then, ascending that stream in a northerly direction, as far as the Falls, he would strike directly across the country, to the west, a distance of about sixty miles, till he should reach the banks of the Scioto, where the Indian villages, they were about to attack, were thickly clustered. The Hocking River would, in most countries, be deemed quite an important stream. It flows through one of Ohio's lovely valleys, which is about eighty miles in length, and fifteen or twenty in breadth. Boats can ascend the stream about seventy miles, when they come to the falls, forty feet in perpen- dicular height. Here Lord Dunmore was to leave his boats, as he crossed over to the Scioto. The Scioto, in its peaceful beauty, is one of the most attractive streams on earth. It takes rise far away in the north, on the prairie-like summit- level which approaches Lake Erie. It has twelve quite important tributaries. These branches the Indians called its Legs. They therefore gave the river its name "Seeyotoh" - Greatlegs. In Atwater's History of Ohio we find the following very interesting account of this stream: "The soil where these branches rise and run, is as fertile as any can be in the world. At Chillicothe, the Scioto spreads its branches like the frame- work of a fan fully expanded, forming a semi-circle of about seventy miles in diameter at its upper extremity. "The Scioto may be estimated by the contents of the surface of its valley. It is one hundred and thirty miles in a direct line from its summit to its mouth, at Portsmouth. Its breadth, from east to west, will average seventy miles. From the Town of Delaware to Chillicothe, a distance of seventy miles, from north to south, in the summer months, the traveler sees the most beau- tiful country in Ohio. It is a perfect paradise, waving with grass and grain as far as his eye can see. The country is animated by a people living either in beautiful towns, or along the roadside on farms. Sometimes are presented to view large droves of cattle, horses and hogs. From Delaware to Columbus the road runs near the Olentangy. From Columbus downwards, the traveler al- most everywhere sees the canal with its boats, he hears the sound of their horns, and sees the Scioto winding its way along to the Ohio River. "This is the Scioto country, famed in all time, since man dwelt on its surface, for its beauty and fertility. That ancient race of men, who were the earliest inhabitants, dwelt here in greater numbers than anywhere else in the Western States. The Indians of the present race preferred this coun- try to any other, and lived here in greater numbers, in towns. Here the wild animals lived in the greatest numbers. And we have places Columbus, our capitol, on the most beautiful spot of the Scioto country. Nature has al- ready done her part for this region, and man has done, is doing, and will continue to do his to make it all that man can ever desire it to be forever, 'A Home, Sweet Home.'" It was to this beautiful region, and to the villages which fringed the luxuriant banks of the river, that the military expedition was sent to sweep its whole extent with conflagration, ruin and death. Was this dreadful deed necessary? Upon that point judgements will differ. The Indians, like demons, were devastating the frontiers. But, by universal admission, they had been roused to these horrible outrages by atrocious wrongs, and wrongs which the government could not prevent, which were inflicted by vagabonds whom the law could not reach. On the tenth of October, the latter part of the afternoon, two of the soldiers of General Lewis were two or three miles from the camp, hunting along the banks of the Ohio River, when a large part of Indian warriors rushed from their concealment upon them. One was instantly killed. The other fled and reached the camp in safety. The Indians had their scouts vigilantly watching every movement of the English. With much military sagacity they had sent a large detachment of their warriors to cross the Ohio some miles above Point Pleasant, and attack the English hemmed in between the Ohio and the Kanawha Rivers. General Lewis, not knowing the strength of the Indians, the next morning sent out two companies to attack them. The Indians were already within a quarter of a mile of the English camp. They were well armed with rifles. Raising hideous yells, they furiously commenced the battle by discharging a volley of well-aimed bullets upon their foes. The English recoiled from an attack so formidable, and so unexpected in its strength. As they were re- treating before the savages, the reserve came up and checked the onward rush of the foe. The Indians, not at all disconcerted, and apparently sure of victory, ex- tended their line of battle from the Ohio River to the Kanawha, thus carry- ing out their original plan of hemming in their foes between the angle formed by the junction of these rivers, so that there should be no possi- bility of escape. Here the warriors took their stations, behind logs, and trees, and stumps. It was early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, when the battle commenced. The Indians fought desparately, and there was no cessation of the conflict until evening, when the Indians, abandoning their enterprise, retired. It will be remembered that General Lewis had under his command eleven hundred men. The force of Indian warriors must have been still larger, as they extended in an unbroken line from river to river. The ferocity and ability with which they fought may be inferred from the fact that of the English, two colonels, five captains, three lieutenants, and about a hun- dred private soldiers were killed. The wounded, officers and men, amounted to one hundred and forty. Many of these were severly wounded, and subse- quently died of their injuries. The loss of the Indians was never known. They were in the habit of carry- ing off or concealing their dead. As the English soldiers were all sharp- shooters, it is supposed that the savages suffered very severely. This opinion is confirmed by the fact that the Indians retreated in the night, and did not venture again to attack either body of the invading army. Thir- ty-three dead were found. Many others it is supposed were thrown into the two rivers. The savages were commanded by a distinguished Indian chieftain called Cornstalk. While the conflict raged, his voice was often heard rising abouve the din of battle, shouting to the men in their own language, "Be strong! Be strong!" In the night the vanquished savages crossed the Ohio in their canoes, and retreated, greatly disheartened, as it afterwards appeared, to their vill- ages on the Scioto. The warriors of four tribes were united in this great battle, the Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes and Wyandots. This bloody conflict was long remembered in the homes of the pioneers. Some rural bard celebrated it in a ballad, which for many years was sung in the hamlets of the great valley. We give three of the verses: "Let us mind the tenth day of October Seventy-four, which caused woe, The Indian savages, they did cover The pleasant banks of the Ohio. "Seven score lay dead and wounded. Of champions who did face their foe, By which the heathen was confounded Upon the banks of the Ohio. "O, bless the mighty King of Heaven, For all his wondrous works below, Who hath to us this victory given, Upon the banks of Ohio." Military genius is rare. General Lewis, after the battle and the loss in killed and wounded of about two hundred and fifty men, fortified his camp by throwing up entrenchments of earth and logs. Had he done this before the battle, during the nine days when his soldiers were idle, he might have been spared this slaughter. Great is the responsibility of one who is entrusted with the lives of a thousand men. It is but a poor excuse, for the want of precaution manifested, that General Lewis, upon his arrival at Point Pleasant, expected every hour to see the batteaux of Lord Dunmore descending the river, and that he had no idea that the Indians would venture across the Ohio to attack him. In a few days, after burying the dead and making the wounded as comfort- able as possible, he left the latter under a strong guard, and, in obedience to orders from Governor Dunmore, marched up the Ohio River, along the south- ern banks, to effect a junction, at the mouth of the Hocking, with the Gov- ernor's troops. We must now leave this little band, struggling through the dense and pathless forest, and turn to the adventures of the other division of the army. Lord Dunmore, with two thousand efficient, well armed men, crossed the mountains by the same route which Braddock took in his fatal expedition. As- cending the beautiful, and then somewhat settled Valley of the Potomac to Cumberland, he effected the arduous passage of the mountains in safety, and descended into the Valley of the Monongahela in good condition. He marched up this beautiful region, which was sprinkled with the cabins of the set- lers, until he reached Fort Pitt. Here he obtained several large flat bottomed boats, and a hundred canoes of various sizes. With these he floated his army down the gentle current of the Ohio to Wheeling, which had then become quite an important settlement. After the delay of a few days here, obtaining additional supplies, he con- tinued his truly delightful voyage upon the placid stream to the mouth of the Hocking. It was the month of October, the most lovely season of the year in that clime. The majestic river rolled its broad, silver current through the mose charming scenery of hills and vales, crowned with luxuriant verdure, presenting Eden-like charms, which neither ax nor plow had disturbed. There was no toil in that voyage. The flotilla was borne along by the power of the stream alone. War seemed to have lost all its horrors, in this apparently holiday excursion. At this spot he left his flotilla, having first thrown up efficient en- trenchments, which he strongly garrisoned. This military post he called Fort Gower. He then ascended the Hocking River, in a march of two or three days, until he reached a point near where the Town of Logan now stands. In the meantime he had sent orders to General Lewis to cross the Ohio, and direct his steps, as rapidly as possible, towards the Indian villages on the Scioto near the present site of Circleville. The two armies were to form a junction on this march. Governor Dunmore left the Valley of the Hocking, and, in a march of about two days, passed over the gentle eminences between the two rivers. When he had arrived within three or four miles of the Indian towns, he constructed an entrenched camp, awaiting the arrival of General Lewis. Lord Dunmore was cautious as well as brave. He had no idea of being the victim of Indian cunning, as so many of the English leaders had been before him. His encamp- ment consisted of an enclosure of about twelve acres, surrounded by a strong breastwork of trees and logs. Behind these ramparts his two thousand strong sharpshooters could defend themselves against any force which the Indians could bring forward. But to render assurance doubly sure, he erected in the center of this enclosure another fortress, or citadel, of still stronger construction. It consisted of an area of about an acre of land, encircled by a ditch and earthworks, and these were so surmounted with logs as to render the citadel quite impregnable to a foe who could assail him only with arrows and bullets. His whole force could promptly be concentrated within this inner inclosure, in case of necessity. In the center of this citadel Lord Dunmore pitched an elegant and commodious marquee provided for himself and his superior officers. Over the marquee proudly floated the flag of England. This fort he named Charlotte, in honor of the then reigning queen. The intelligent Indian chieftains, disheartened by the repulse at Point Pleasant, appreciating the military ability of Lord Dunmore, and conscious that the two armies would in a few days be united in an attack upon their villages, which attack they knew they were entirely unable to repel, were in consternation. They sent delegation after delegation, more and more import- unately, soliciting peace. Lord Dunmore was a humane man. He knew full well that unendurable outrages, inflicted by vagabond white men, had driven the Indians into the war. He had no disposition to burn their villages and to consign the inhabitants to indiscriminate slaughter. Still, he wished the Indians to be taught that the power which they had set at defiance was one which had no fear of conflict. With characteristic caution, he would allow by eighteen warriors to enter even his outer gate. There they were compelled to leave their arms. They were then conducted into the citadel and presented to the governor, who, surrounded by his officers in their most imposing attire, received them in state. A distinguished chief, whose English name was Corn Planter, opened the council by a truly powerful and impressive speech, in a tone of voice so loud and impassioned that it could be heard by every man in the garrison. He described the former power of the Indians, the number and population of their tribes, in their undisturbed hunting grounds. He then, with a very full comprehension of his subject, described several treaties which the In- dians had made with the white men, ceding to them certain portions of their territory. He then affirmed, with a proud spirit of conscious right, and with truthfulness that none could deny, that the Indians had been perfectly faithful in their observance of these treaties. Then, growing warm in his just indignation, he exclaimed: "What, on the contrary, has been the conduct of the white men? They have paid no regard to these treaties. They have encroached upon our lands, they have cut down our forests, they have reared their houses on our soil, - soil which we had sacredly reserved; they have robbed again and again, and mur- dered Indians peacefully engaged in hunting. For years we have patiently en- dured these wrongs, till at length we have been driven into this bloody war. We do not wish for war; we wish for war; we wish for peace. we know the power of the white man; we know that he can overpower the Indian. But the white man is the sole cause of this war. Had we not resented the wrongs we have endured, even the white man would have despised us for cowardice." Another celebrated Indian chief, whose name has obtained renown in two hemispheres, sent in his speech carefully written, probably by some inter- preter. Logan would not condescend to accompany commissioners who were suing for peace. He was then at Shawnee Town, a large Indian village on the Scioto, about four miles from Fort Charlotte. Speaking of this remarkable man, and his still more remarkable speech, Mr. Atwater writes, in his History of Ohio: "Though he would not attend on Dunmore's council in person, yet, being urged by the Indians, who were anxious to be relieved from Dunmore's army, he sent his speech in a belt of wampum, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore, by a faithful interpreter. Under an oak on the farm of Mr. Wolf this splendid effort of heartstirring eloquence was faithfully delivered by the person who carried the wampum. The oak tree, under which it was delivered to Lord Dun- more, still stands in a field seven miles from Circleville, in a southern direction. An interpreter delivered it, sentence by sentence, and it was written as it was delivered. Its authenticity is placed beyond the shadow of a doubt, and it of right belongs, and forever will belong, to the history of Ohio." Logan's Speech I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if he came naked and cold, and I clothed him not. During 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, as they passed me, said, Logan is the friend of the whites. I had thoughts of living among you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not one 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 in the beams of peace. But do not harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? President Jefferson has written, of this powerful address of Logan, "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Euroope has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the speech of Logan." The poet Campbell, in his Gertrude of Wyoming, has thus beautifully veri- fied its sentiments: "He left, of all my tribe, Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth ; No! not the dog that watched my household hearth Escaped that night of blood upon our plains. All perished. I alone am left on earth! To whom not relative nor blood remains, No! not a kindred drop that runs in human veins." While these scenes were transpiring, General Lewis had marched up the southern bank of the Ohio, to a point nearly opposite the mouth of the Hock- ing. Here his troops were ferried across the river, by Lord Dunmore's flo- tilla. They were on a rapid march to effect a junction with the Governor's army, when a messenger met them from the Governor, with the information that peace was about to be concluded, and that, therefore, they were ordered to return to Virginia. But neither General Lewis nor his men were disposed to pay any attention to this message. Many of them had lost friends, who had been murdered by the savages, and all were burning with a desire for ven- geance. In defiance, therefore, of the order of the Governor, they pressed forward, resolved to inflict the most terrible punishment upon the Indians, now in their power, by sweeping the Valley of the Scioto with war's most ut- most devastation of fire and blood. General Lewis had arrived within a few miles of Fort Charlotte, when Lord Dunmore, accompanied by his staff, rode out to meet him. He then peremptor- ily ordered the angry general and his equally irritated army, to return im- mediately to Virginia. General Lewis and his men very reluctantly obeyed. But when they reflected that the Governor had double the force of their own, and that he could instantly call to his aid all the Indian warriors, whose friendship he seemed to be courting, they judged it best to conceal their chagrin, and retire. Lord Dunmore tarried sometime at the fort, until he entered into very amicable relations with the Indians, when he also returned to Virginia. The fate of Logan was a very sad one. His few past years were melancholy in the extreme. Homeless, childless, friendless, he wandered about, from tribe to tribe, with never a smile, and apparently without a joy. His friends were all dead, his tribe dwindling away, and, in his great dejec- tion, he resorted to the fatal stimulus of strong drink. He was at last mur- dered by an Indian. Logan was sitting by the camp-fire, silently musing with his blanket over his head, his elbows upon his knees and head upon his hands. An Indian, influenced by some unknown motive of revenge, stealthily ap- proached him from behind, and buried his tomahawk in his brain. Thus fell this unfortunate chieftain, the last of his race. It is very evident that many of these Indian sachems were men of sound judgement, and very considerable intelligence. But, as in more civilized communities, they were often forced, by popular clamor, to act in opposition to their own views. The chieftain, Cornstalk, who led the Indians at the assault at Point Pleasant, was a man of true greatness of soul. By his scouts he had kept himself informed of the numbers of the English troops, and of their movements. He was confident that the Indians could not cope with so formidable a force, and urged that before risking a battle, they should make proposals of peace. But the young warriors would not listen to these counsels. Being compelled to yield, with commensurate ability and bravery, he led his troops to the onset. They fought with determination, never before surpassed on any Indian battle-field. Though they inflicted terrible loss upon their foe, they retired hopelessly discomfited. Corn- stalk, with his remaining band, repaired to the Scioto, where he convened a general council. A large number of warriors were gathered around heim dejected and despairing. "What," said Cornstalk, "is now to be done. We ought to have made peace before we had exasperated our enemy by a battle. The Longknives are coming upon us in resistless strength. We shall all be killed. There is no escape. Let us put our women and children to death, and then go and fight until we are all slain." To this speech there was no response. All were silent. After a moment's pause, Cornstalk struck his tomahawk into a log, in sign that it was no longer to be used in battle, and said: "I will try to make peace." To this there was a general ejaculation of assent. Peace commissioners were immediately dispatched to Fort Charlotte, and thus the Lord Dunmore war came to an end. Many persons have expressed doubts whether the speech of Logan was gen- uine. They have thought it impossible that an unlettered savage could have spoken with such beauty of rhetoric and force of logic. The following ex- tract of a letter upon this subject, from President Jefferson, to Governor Henry, of Maryland, must put this question at rest in all candid minds: "President Jefferson speaks of Mr. Gibson as translating the speech. He probably should have said he wrote it down. William Robinson, who took the speech from Logan's lips, says that 'Logan spoke English well'. Simon Ken- ton, who was intimately acquainted with Logan, says of him, 'His form was striking and manly, his countenance calm and noble, and he spoke the English language with fluency and correctness.' "When Lord Dunmore returned from the expedition against the Indians, in 1774, he and his officers brought the speech of Logan, and related the cir- cumstances connected with it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself so fine a morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every conversa- tion, in Williamsburgh particularly, and generally indeed wherever any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburgh - I believe at Lord Dunmore's; and I find in my pocket-book of that year (1774) an entry of the narrative, as taken from the mouth of some person, whose name however is not noted, nor recollected, precisely in the words stated in the notes on Virginia. The speech was published in the Virginia Gazette of that time (I have it myself in the volume of Gazettes of that year), and though in a style by no means elegant, yet it was so admired that it flew through all public papers of the continent, and through the magazines and other periodi- cal publications of Great Britain; and those who were boys that day, will now attest that the speech of Logan used to be given them as a school exer- cise for repetition. It was not till about thirteen or fourteen years after the newspaper publications, that the notes on Virginia were published in Am- erica. Combating in these the contumelious theory of certain European wri- ters, whose celebrity gave currency and weight to their opinions, that our country, from the combined effects of soil and climate, degenerated animal nature, in the general, and particularly the moral faculties of man, I con- sider the speech of Logan as an apt proof of the contrary, and used it as such; and I copied, verbatim, the narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the speech as it had been given us in a better translation by Lord Dunmore I knew nothing of the Cresaps, and could not possibly have a motive to do them an injury with design. I repeated what thousands had done before, on as good authority as we have for most of the facts we learn through life, and such as, to this moment, I have seen no reason to doubt. That any body questioned it, was never suspected by me, till I saw the letter of Mr. Mar- tin, in the Baltimore paper. I endeavored then to recollect who, among my contemporaries of the same circle of society, and consequently of the same recollections, might still be alive. Three-and-twenty years of death and dispersion had left very few. I remembered, however, that General Gibson was still living, and knew that he had been the translator of the speech. I wrote to him immediately. He, in answer, declares to me that he was the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town; that, after he had delivered his message there, Logan took him out to a neighboring wood, sat down with hime, and rehearsing with tears, the catastrophe of his family, gave him that speech for Lord Dunmore; that he carried it to Lord Dunmore; translated it for him; has turned to it in the Encyclopedia, as taken from the notes on Virginia, and finds that it was his translation I had used, with only two or three verbal variations of no importance. These, I suppose, had arisen in the course of successive copies. I cite General Gibson's letter by memory, not having it with me; but I am sure I cite it substantially right. It es- tablishes, unquestionably, that the speech of Logan is genuine; and, that being established, it is Logan himself who is author of all the important facts." -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #624 *******************************************