USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 20
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The contest now became more desperate than ever and was still stub- bornly maintained by both parties-who were about equal in numbers- with consummate skill, valor and energy. The savages, sure of success when they previously beheld the troops give way, fought with a vigor and steadiness never surpassed in all the annals of savage warfare. Neither party would retreat ; neither could advance. The noise of the terrible conflict was tremendous. The cheers of the whites and the yells of the infuriated savages, together with the incessant discharge of firearms, kept up an appalling din. The love for scalps on the part of the redskins caused them to make many daring dashes and imprudent exposures, and three of them were successively shot down over one body, In an attempt to secure the trophy they so much coveted.
The action was fought on the narrow point of land between the Ohio
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and Kanawha. As the repeated efforts of the whites to carry the enemy's position grew more desperate, the Indian line began to waver, and at several points, to give way. The deep voice of Cornstalk could now be distinctly heard above all the din of battle as he urged his dusky crew to the conflict and shouted: "Be strong ! Be strong !" He even buried his keen tomahawk in the brain of one of his faltering warriors and indignantly shaming the rest, made good again the line of battle.
Colonel Field fell about this time, and, at length, General Lewis, alarmed at the extent of his losses and the obstinacy of his swarthy foe, made an effort to turn the enemy's flank by way of Crooked Creek, with three of his best companies. This timely manœuvre was partially successful. The enemy's fire began to slacken, and at last they began to retire slowly and in such order that they laid ambushes for all the whites who pressed on them too fast. So the contest lasted till dark, when Cornstalk effected a secure retreat. The Virginian loss was severe, embracing three Provincial officers and some sixty men killed and ninety-six wounded. The enemy's loss was also heavy, but its extent could never be exactly ascertained, as during the very hottest of the action they were seen busily engaged throwing the dead into the Ohio and carrying off their wounded. Thirty-three dusky bodies were found on the field the next day. During the night they crossed the Ohio and made off for the Scioto towns.
This battle was the very last that took place under British dominion. It was one of the longest and most obstinately-contested struggles that ever occurred on the western frontier, lasting from sunrise to sunset. The line of battle was at times a mile long, and at points the contest- ants came to close quarters with tomahawks and clubbed muskets. The Indian army comprised the pick of the Ohio tribes. Cornstalk's tower- ing form could frequently be seen gliding from point to point, rebuking the fearful and reassuring the wavering. It is asserted that on the even- ing preceding the battle, this distinguished chief, fearing the issue of the approaching struggle, openly proposed in council to go in person to the camp of General Lewis and negotiate an honorable peace. His voice, however, was overruled. "Then," said he, "since you are resolved to fight you shall fight. It is likely we will have hard work to-morrow, but if any warrior shall attempt to run away, I will kill him with my own hand."
SUBSEQUENT ATROCIOUS MURDER OF CORNSTALK AND HIS SON.
We may as well here follow the brave Cornstalk until he met his sad fate in the year '77. It is not a little singular that all the prominent
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chiefs who commanded in this battle were murdered, and two of them close by the battlefield. Not very long after this action, Captain Arbuckle commanded the fort erected at Point Pleasant, and the next year, when the revolutionary struggle had commenced, and British agents were exerting themselves to excite the Indians to take sides against the patriots, Cornstalk and Red Hawk-not showing the un- quenchable hatred which always animated the Shawnees against the Americans visited Arbuckle and declared that the Shawnees were de- termined on war, and he supposed that he and his would be reluctantly compelled to drift with the stream. Arbuckle on hearing this, resolved to detain the two chiefs, hoping thereby to keep their tribe neutral.
One day Elenipsico, Cornstalk's son, crossed the Ohio on a visit to his father. He is said to have been a very noble and promising young chief. The very next morning two hunters from the fort were ambushed in the woods and one of them, Gillmore by name, was killed. The soldiers of the company to which Gillmore belonged crossed the Kan- awha and brought back his mutilated remains. The canoe had scarce touched the shore when Captain Hall's men cried out " Let us kill the Indians in the fort." Captain Hall placed himself at their head, and they all marched up the bank, maddened with rage and carrying their loaded firelocks in their hands. Colonel Stewart and Captain Arbuckle exerted themselves in vain to prevent the bloody, treacherous deed, but exasperated to fury by the spectacle of Gillmore's scalped head, they rushed into the fort, threatening instant death to all who dared oppose them.
The interpreter's wife, who had been a captive among the Indians and felt an affection for the visitors, ran forward and told them that Hall's soldiers were coming to take their lives because they believed that the Indians who killed Gillmore had come with Cornstalk's son the preceding day. This the young chief solemnly denied, averring that he knew nothing whatever of them. His father, perceiving that Elenip- sico was in great agitation, encouraged him, and urged him to cast aside all fear. "If, my son," said he, " the Great Spirit has seen fit that we should die together, it is His will, and you ought to die like a man." As the soldiers approached the door, Cornstalk rose, and with great dig- nity advanced to meet them, receiving eight or nine balls in his body and sank to instant death without a groan. His son remained still and passive and was next shot dead in the seat he occupied, Red Hawk made an attempt to escape by the chimney but was dragged out and dispatched. The remaining Shawnee was shamefully mangled and the horrid tragedy was over.
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THE MURDER OF THE GREAT CHIEF BALD EAGLE.
We might have mentioned one other cause, somewhat similar to the one just related, as contributing to the Indian rancor against the " Long Knives," as they called the Virginians. The wanton murder, some little time before, of Bald Eagle, an aged Delaware sachem, was pecu- liarly irritating to that warlike nation. He spoke the English language with great fluency, and being remarkably fond of tobacco, sweetmeats, and rum, all of which were generally offered to him in profusion in the settlements, he was a frequent visitor at the fort erected at the mouth of the Kanawha, and familiarly acquainted even with the children. He usually ascended the river alone, in a bark canoe, and, from the fre- quency and harmlessness of his visits, his appearance never excited the least alarm. A white man, who had suffered much from the Indians, encountered the old chief one evening alone upon the river, returning peaceably from one of his usual visits. A conference ensued, which terminated in a quarrel, and the old man was killed upon the spot. The murderer, having scalped his victim, fixed the dead body in the usual sitting posture in the stern of the boat, replaced the pipe in his mouth, and, launching the canoe again upon the river, permitted it to float down with its burden undisturbed. Many settlers beheld it descending in this manner, but, from the upright posture of the old man, they supposed that he was only returning, as usual, from a visit to the whites. The truth, however, was quickly discovered, and inflamed his tribe with the most ungovernable rage. Vengeance was vowed for the outrage, and amply exacted.
After the battle of Point Pleasant, General Lewis crossed the Ohio and marched rapidly towards the Scioto to meet Governor Dunmore, according to orders. At the Pickaway Plains, and within easy striking distance of old Chillicothe and the chief Indian towns, he was met by a message from Dunmore, who was encamped not far distant, ordering him to stop, as he, Dunmore, was about to negotiate a peace with the Indians. Indignant at the manner in which he had been treated, and finding his rear threatened by a large force of savages, Lewis kept on, disregarding likewise a second dispatch, until he had approached within a few miles of old Chillicothe. The Governor now became uneasy, and, accompanied by White Eyes, the celebrated Delaware chief, he peremp- torily ordered Lewis to halt.
It is asserted that at this untimely arrest of their march, and when they were in position and in condition to inflict condign punishment and to conquer a lasting peace, it was with difficulty that the Virginian
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commander could restrain his men from killing Dunmore, who was deemed a traitor to his country. Lewis was now ordered to return forth- with to Point Pleasant and disband, while Dunmore returned to Camp Charlotte and concluded a treaty. The chief orator on the Indian side was Cornstalk, who openly charged the whites with being the sole cause of the war, enumerating the many provocations received by them, and dwelling at length and with force upon the murder of Logan's family. His clear, bugle voice could be distinctly heard over the whole camp of twelve acres. He had ever been the friend of the whites, and after his late defeat by General Lewis, he led his broken and scattered bands to their towns, and immediately convened a council to determine upon what was next to be done. The stern old chief arose, and glancing around with eagle eye upon the assembly of chiefs and oldest warriors, he put the question: "What shall we do now? The 'Long Knives' are coming upon us by two routes. Shall we turn out and fight them?" No response being made, he continued: "Shall we kill all our squaws and children, and then fight until we are all killed ourselves?" Still the congregated warriors were silent, and, after a moment's hesitation, Cornstalk struck his tomahawk into the war post, and with compressed lips and flashing eye, gazed around the assembled throng and said, with great emphasis: "Since you are not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace;" and thus it was he met Dunmore before the arrival of General Lewis. This ended the campaign, and a temporary and hollow peace was patched up. Next year came the Revolution.
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SKETCH OF LOGAN, THE FAMED MINGO CHIEF.
Mislike me not for my complexion The shadowed livery of the burnished sun .- Shakspeare.
There was one chief, however, whose face was not seen and whose voice was not heard at the camp of Lord Dunmore, and that was Logan, the far-famed Mingo (which means Iroquois) Chief. He, however, is said to have sent the following speech, which has been published over the whole world, and has ever since its publication formed a staple model of oration for aspiring youth : "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, who 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 re- venge. 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 ! He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one."
Jefferson published this speech in 1784, employing the following com- plimentary language concerning it : " I may challenge the whole ora- tions of Demosthenes and Cicero to pronounce a single passage superior to the speech of Logan, a Mingo Chief, to Lord Dunmore." The speech immediately became immensely popular ; was copied into various tongues, and was published into books of oratory for the instruction of youth. In 1797, Luther Martin, a very able Maryland lawyer, and a son-in-law of Michael Cresap, addressed a long letter to a public de- claimer-who had been regularly reciting this alleged speech of Logan- in which he asserted, in effect, that the whole letter was an entire fic- tion ; that neither it nor anything like it had been spoken, written or delivered by Logan ; that its sole author was Jefferson himself ; that the
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charge contained in the speech was a vile calumny, and that in support of these assertions he was ready to enter the lists with Jefferson.
Jefferson, finding his veracity and integrity thus openly and boldly impeached, addressed letters to various persons with the purpose of es- tablishing the genuineness of the alleged speech of Logan. He as- serted, however, that he first heard of the speech in the circle of Lord Dunmore, and the officers who had been at Camp Charlotte with him ; that it had already then been long current and published ; that for over twenty years, it had passed uncontradicted, and that if it were not true, he, as well as multitudes of others, were innocently deceived, and that as for doing an injury to Captain Cresap, he was entirely guiltless, hav- no knowledge of him nor any desire to do him any injustice.
We need not go into the details of this long controversy, which ex- cited a great deal of noise and feeling at the time, and which have been quoted at length by many historians. The information which Jeffer- son elicited from those in a position to be more fully acquainted with the matter, was exceedingly full and precise, and we think most clearly established the following facts : that a speech called Logan's was un- doubtedly delivered to Lord Dunmore in '74, at Camp Charlotte, near old Chillicothe ; that Mr. Jefferson was honest in the whole matter, and fully believed that Logan had written or delivered the speech which he published as his ; that Captain Cresap, and not Colonel Cresap, as he is styled in the speech, was concerned in the wanton killing of Indians about that time, but that said Cresap was in no manner concerned, as the speech makes Logan say, in the massacre at Yellow Creek, where Logan's relatives were slaughtered.
Colonel Ebenezer Zane, the founder of Wheeling and a gentleman of indisputable veracity, stated that he knew positively, and could abundantly prove, that Cresap was engaged in the attack on two par- ties of Indians below Wheeling, just before the massacre at the mouth of Yellow Creek, but that at that last massacre Cresap was not present, neither had he, Zane, any doubt but that these three attacks were the cause of Dunmore's war which immediately followed. James Chambers, who lived near Baker's house, opposite Yellow Creek, and was perfectly cognizant of all the facts of the massacre, deposed that Captain Cresap was not there that day ; that Cresap's party had con- fessed in his presence that they had attacked Indians just previous, friends and relatives of Logan, and that the woman killed at Baker's was Logan's sister. Judge James testified that in '74 he lived near Fort Henry, and knew that there was a war club with a note attached, left at the house of a settler, whose family were cut off by Logan's party, of which the following is a copy : "Captain Cresap-What did
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you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill, too, and I have been three times to war since, but the Indians are not angry-only myself. Captain John Logan. July 21st, 1774."
Confirmatory of the above, we have the testimony of Mr. Robinson, the person whom we have already mentioned as having been captured by Logan in person and afterwards saved by him from the tor- ture, who testifies that Logan always treated him with exceeding kindness and conversed frequently with him, always charging Captain Cresap with the murder of his family ; that on July 2Ist (the very date of the paper given above) Logan brought him, Robinson, a piece of paper and told him he must write a letter for him, which he meant to carry and leave in some house where he should kill somebody : that he made ink with gunpowder, and that he, Robinson, then wrote the let- ter by his direction, addressing Captain Cresap in it, and that the pur- port of it was to ask why he had killed his people, &c., and signed it with Logan's name, which letter Logan took and set out again for war, and that he understood that among the Indians killed at Yellow Creek was a sister of Logan, enceinte, whom the whites mutilated and stuck on a pole : that he, Robinson, was released in November, but while he re- mained, his Indian relatives by adoption were exceedingly indulgent to him, never allowing him to do any work.
We next have a very important and highly interesting letter from General Gibson, who deposed that he was with Dunmore at Camp Charlotte: that at the request of the Indians that Dunmore should send some one to their town who could understand their language, he, Gib- son, was so dispatched : that on his arrival at the town, Logan came to where deponent was sitting with Cornstalk and other chiefs and asked him to walk out with him : that they then went together into a copse of woods, where they sat down, when Logan, after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech nearly as related by Jefferson. Gibson further deposed that he then told Logan that it was not Colonel Cresap who had murdered his relatives, and that although his son, Cap- tain Michael Cresap, was with the party who killed a Shawnee chief and other Indians, yet he was not present when his relatives were killed opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek.
To our mind the evidence presented is entirely conclusive, and if the speech generally accredited to Logan is a fabrication at all, it is the fabrication of Gibson and not of Jefferson. We will only add a few facts relating to the life and death of a chief who has been embalmed
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in history with so much romantic interest attached to his memory. He was the second son of Shikellimus, a celebrated chief of the Cayuga nation, who lived at Shamokin, or Conestoga, Pa., and who was a zealous and faithful friend of Christianity and the English. His son was called Logan after the benevolent James Logan, of Pennsyl- vania, with whom Shikellimus was long on intimate terms. Exactly when Logan emigrated west is not known, nor indeed is much of his life while in Pennsylvania. It is certain, however, that he always had the reputation of being a just, noble and friendly Indian.
Judge Brown, of Mifflin county, asserts that he was the first settler in the Kisacoquillas valley, Pa., and that when a young man he and three others had wandered out one day in search of springs. The party started after a bear and became separated. Brown was looking about for the bear's tracks when all at once he came upon what is now called the Big Spring, and, setting his rifle against a bush, he ran down to get a drink from its pure, sparkling waters. Upon putting his head down, he saw reflected in the water, on the opposite side, the shadow of a tall Indian : he sprang to his rifle, when the savage gave a yell, whether for peace or war the young hunter could not exactly make out, but upon Brown seizing his rifle and facing the stranger, the savage knocked up the pan of his gun, threw out the priming, and extended his open palm in token of amity. After putting down the guns they both shook hands again. This was Logan, "the best specimen of humanity," writes Brown, " I ever met with, either white or red. He could speak a little English, and told me there was another white hunter a little way down the stream, and guided me to his camp." This proved to be Samuel Maclay, also searching for lands to settle on. The two young men thus made known to each other through Logan, were intimate friends ever after.
A few days after they went to Logan's Spring, about six miles dis- tant, where was their Indian friend's camp, and Maclay and Logan soon became engaged in shooting at a mark for a dollar a shot. Logan lost four or five times and confessed himself beaten. When the two whites were about to leave, Logan went into his hut and brought out as many deer skins as he had lost dollars, but Maclay refused to take them, alleging that they had been his guests and did not come to rob him ; that the shooting was only a trial of skill and the bet merely nominal. Upon this Logan drew himself up with great dignity and said, " Me bet to make you shoot your best-me gentleman, and me take your dollar if me beat." Maclay, seeing that he would affront his sensitive friend, was obliged to take the skins, and so nice was Logan's sense of honor that he could not be prevailed on to take even a horn of powder
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in return. Logan soon went to the Allegheny, and Brown never saw him again.
Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, was among the very earliest residents in the West, and asserts that Logan was introduced to him by an Indian as the friend of the white people, and that he thought him an Indian of superior talents. He exclaimed against the whites for im- posing liquor on the Indians, but confessed his own fondness for it. Heckewelder was then living at the Moravian town on the Beaver, and Logan was living at the mouth of that stream. The next year, when the Moravians were passing down the Beaver, on their way to the Mus- kingum, Heckewelder called at Logan's settlement, and was received with every possible civility. Indian reports of Logan, after the murder of his relatives in '74, state that during Dunmore's war, he took all the revenge he could, and was loth to lay down the hatchet. His expres- sions denoted a deep melancholy. Life, he said, had become a torment to him. He knew no more what pleasure was; thought it would have been better had he never been born. Report further states that he be- came delirious, declared he would kill himself, went to Detroit, drank very freely, and did not seem to care what became of him. In this condition he left Detroit, and on his way between that place and Miami was murdered. Heckewelder continues that when he was on his way to Detroit in '81, he was shown the spot where his death occurred. Zeis- berger, a far-famed and entirely credible missionary among the Dela- wares, stated that he knew Logan from a boy; that he was a man of talents, judgment and quick apprehension, and doubted not in the least that Logan sent to Dunmore the speech that has become of such world- wide celebrity.
When Simon Kenton was being carried prisoner to Sandusky, and had been treated very harshly-a savage having shortly before cut through his shoulder with an axe-he arrived at Logan's tent, and says that the Mingo chief walked gravely up to where he stood and said: "Well, young man, these young men seem very mad at you." "Yes, sir, they certainly are," naturally replied poor Kenton. "Well, don't be disheartened. I am a great chief. You are to go to Sandusky; they speak of burning you there, but I will send two runners to-morrow to speak good for you." This he did, and until their return Kenton was kindly treated, being permitted to spend much of his time with Logan, who conversed freely and in the most friendly manner. In the evening Logan was closeted with the two runners, but did not visit Kenton till next morning, when he walked up to him, gave him a piece of bread, told him that he must be carried to Sandusky, and without another word turned upon his heel and left him. Kenton says that Logan's form was
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striking and manly, his countenance calm and noble, and he spoke English fluently and correctly. .
This was in '78. A Captain John Dunkin, according to a contribu- tion in the American Pioneer, was also taken prisoner the same year, and saw a good deal of Logan, who spoke both English and French, and told Dunkin that he, Logan, had two souls-one good, one bad; when the good soul was uppermost, he was kind and humane, but when the bad soul ruled he was savage and cruel. Dunkin said that he was killed by his own brother-in-law on returning from a council in Detroit. It is much to be regretted that a chief who was so uniformly friendly to the whites, and who, during his whole life, exhibited so many noble and interesting traits of character, should have been so wronged and abused by reckless, wanton borderers, as to turn all his sweetness into gall, and to render bitter and wretched the whole balance of his life. Had his family been spared, his life would probably have been widely different. Let us drop a tear over human passion, and let the name of Logan live Imong those of the good and noble.
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