4792. LOGAN (Mingo Chief), Murder of.—
In the spring of the year 1774, a robbery
and murder were committed on an inhabitant
of the frontier of Virginia, by two Indians of
the Shawnee tribe. The neighboring whites,
according to their custom, undertook to punish
this outrage in a summary way. Col. [Michael]
Cresap, a man infamous for the many murders
he had committed on those much injured people,
collected a party and proceeded down the Kanawha
in quest of vengeance. Unfortunately a
canoe of women and children, with one man
only, was seen coming from the opposite shore,
unarmed, and unsuspecting a hostile attack from
the whites. Cresap and his party concealed
themselves on the bank of the river, and the
moment the canoe reached the shore, singled out
their objects, and at one fire, killed every person
in it. This happened to be the family of Logan,
who had long been distinguished as a friend
of the whites. This unworthy return provoked
his vengeance. He accordingly signalized himself
in the war which ensued. In the autumn
of the same year a decisive battle was fought
at the mouth of the Great Kanawha between
the collected forces of the Shawnees, Mingoes
and Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia
militia. The Indians were defeated and
sued for peace. Logan, however, disdained to
be seen among the suppliants. But lest the
sincerity of a treaty should be distrusted, from
which so distinguished a chief absented himself,
he sent, by a messenger, the following
speech [312]
to be delivered to Lord Dunmore
* * *.—
Notes on Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 308.
Ford ed., iii, 156.
(1782)
