History of Muskingum County, Ohio ; with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent men and pioneers, 1794, Part 7

Author: Everhart, J. F; Graham, A. A., Columbus, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [Columbus, O.] : F.J. Everhart & Co.
Number of Pages: 600

USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > History of Muskingum County, Ohio ; with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent men and pioneers, 1794 > Part 7

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" I may challenge the whole orations of De- mosthenes and Cicero, and of any more emi- nent orator, if Europe has produced any more eminent, to produce a single passage superior to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore, when Governor of Virginia." Else- where he styles it " a morsel of eloquence." Logan knew no more what pleasure was. It is said that he was sitting with his blanket over his head before a camp fire, when an Indian who had taken some offense stole behind him and buried his tomahawk in his brains. Many years elapsed, the speech became more and more widely circulated, it was extensively read and admired, and became the theme of recita- tion in public exhibitions along with the most eloquent passages of ancient and modern poets and orators. At length, in 1797, Luther Mar- tin, a very able lawyer, son-in-law of Michael Cresap, in obedience to the injunction of a re- lative, as he alleged, and perhaps in some meas- ure under the influence of political feelings, ad- dressed the following letter to Mr. Fennel, a

public declaimer, through the Philadelphia Ga- zette, edited by William Cobbet :

"Mr. Fennel :- By the late Philadelphia pa- pers I observe, sir, that in your 'readings and recitations, moral, critical and entertaining,' among your other selections you have introduced the story of Logan, the Mingo Chief. In doing this I am satisfied you are not actuated by a de- sire to wound the feelings of a respectable fam- ily in the United States, or by a wish to give a greater publicity to a groundless calumny. You found that story and speech in Jefferson's Notes on Virginia ; you found it related with such an air of authenticity that it cannot be surprising that you should not suspect it to be a fiction. But, sir, philosophers are pretty much the same, from old Shandy, who in support of a system, sacrificed his aunt Dinah, to DeWarville and Condorcet, who for the same purpose would have sacrificed a world.

" Mr. Jefferson is a philosopher ; he, too, had his hypothesis to establish, or, what is much the same thing, he had the hypothesis of Buffon to overthrow. When we see him employed in weighing the rats and mice of the two worlds, to prove that those of the New were not exceeded by those of the Old world, then to establish that the body of the American savage is not inferior in form or in vigor to the body of an European, we find him examining minutely every part of their frame, and hear him declare that. though the wrist and the head of the former are smaller than those parts of the latter, yet. les organes de la generation ne sont plus foibles on plus petils, and that he hath not only as many hairs on his body, but that the same parts which are productive of hair in one, if left to themselves, are equally productive of hair in the other ; when we see him so zealous to establish an equal- ity in such trifles, and to prove the body of the savage to be formed on the same modula with the Homo sapiens Europors how much more solicitous may we suppose him to have been to prove that the mind of this savage was also formed on the same modula.

" Than the man whom he has calumniated. he could scarcely have selected a finer example to establish the position that the human race in the Western n world are not belittled in body or mind, but that unfortunately the man was not born in America.

"For the want of better materials he was obliged to make use of such as came to his hands, and we may reasonably conclude, whatever story or speech he could pick up, calculated to destroy the hypothesis of Buffon, or establish his own. especially in so important a point, instead of be- ing scrutinized minutely, would be welcomed with avidity. And great and respectable as the authority of Mr. Jefferson may be thought. or may be in reality. I have no hesitation to declare that from an examination of the subject. I am convinced the charge exhibited by him against Colonel Cresap is not founded in truth : and.also. that no such specimen of Indian oratory was ever exhibited.

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OIIIO.

" That some of Logan's family were killed by the Americans I do not doubt ; whether they fell the victims of justice, of mistake, or of cruelty, rests with those by whom they fell. But in their death, Colonel Cresap, or any of his family, had no share, and in support of this assertion I am ready to enter the lists with the author of Notes on Virginia.

" No man who really knew the late Colonel Cresap, could have believed the tale. He was too brave to be perfidious or cruel. He was a man of undaunted resolution ; a man of whom it might be said, with as much propriety as I be- lieve was ever said of man, 'That he knew not fear.'

"It was to savages, employed by the French Nation (before it became our very good friend and ally ) to ravage the frontiers and butcher the peaceful inhabitants, that he and his family were terrible.

"But. perhaps, it was from this fact, that Mr. Jefferson considered himself authorized to say 'Colonel Cresap was infamous for the many murders he had committed on the much injured Indians.' And lest some future philosopher, in some future notes on Virginia, might be tempted to call him also 'infamous for his many murders of the much injured' Britains, may, perhaps, have been his motive for flying with such precip- itation from the seat of his government, not many years since, when the British invaded the State. "As to Logan, lightly would I tread over the grave even of the untutored savage, but justice obliges me to say, I am well assured that the Logan of the wilderness-the real Logan of na- ture-had but little, if any, more likeness to the fictitious Logan of Jefferson's Notes than the brutified Caffre of Africa to the enlightened phil- osopher of Monticello.

"In what wilderness Mr. Jefferson culled this fair flower of aboriginal eloquence, whether he has preserved it in the same state in which he found it, or, by transplanting it into a more genial soil, and exposing it to a kinder sun, he has given it the embellishments of cultivation, I know not.

"There are many philosophers so very fond of representing savage nature in the most amiable and most exalted point of view, that we feel our- selves less surprised when we see them become savages themselves. To some one of this class of philosophers, I doubt not, it owes its existence. Yet, but for Mr. Jefferson, 'it would have breathed its poisons in the desert air.' Whatever was the soil in which it first sprung up, it soon would have withered and died unnoticed .or forgotten, had not he preserved it in his collection. From thence the authors of the Annual Register have given their readers a drawing as large as nature. The Rev. Mr. Morse, in his geography, and Mr. Lendrum, in his History of the American Revo- lution, have followed their example, and you. sir, are now increasing its celebrity by exhibit- ing it to thronging spectators, with all its color- ing, retouched and heightened by the glowing pencil of a master.

"Do you ask me how I am interested in this

subject? I answer, the daughter of Michael Cresap was the mother of my children. I am influenced by another motive not less powerful. My lamented and worthy relation, who died on the expedition against the western insurgents, bequeathed to me as a sacred trust, what, had he lived, he intended to have performed himself, to rescue his family from unmerited opprobrium.

"Do you ask me why I have so long neglected this duty? I answer, because for a long time past every feeling of my mind has been too much engrossed by the solicitude, though an unavail- ing solicitude, of preserving the valuable life of one of that family, to attend to any objects which could bear postponement. The shock is now past. I begin to recall my scattered thoughts to other subjects, and finding the story of Logan in the catalogue of your readings, it instantly brought me to the recollection of a duty, which I. have hastened thus far to fulfill.

"And now, sir, to conclude, I arrogate to my- self no authority of prohibiting the story and speech of Logan from being continued in your readings and recitations : this I submit to your sentiments of propriety and justice ; but from these sentiments I certainly have a right to ex- pect that, on its conclusion, you will inform your readers it is at best but the ingenious fiction of some philosophic brain, and when hereafter you oblige your audience with that story and speech, that with the poison you will dispense the anti- dote, by reading them this letter, also oblige your humble servant,

LUTHER MARTIN.

March 29, 1797. [From Olden Time, vol. 2, No. 1847.]

The reader cannot fail to notice that the his- torian of these pages reproduces the evidence on both sides of this "vexed question," submitted by Mr. Martin, adding the speech of Logan by William Robinson, whom Logan saved from be- ing burned alive. He stated that about three days after this Logan brought him 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 then proceeded to write by his direction, addressing Captain Michael Cresap in it, and that the purport of it was "why had he killed my people?" etc. The following is his letter :

CAPTAIN CRESAP :

"What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that, but you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too, and I have been three times to war since ; but the Indians are not angry, only myself.

July 2Ist, 1774.' CAPT. JOHN LOGAN.

The conflict in opinion brought to view in the narration of the matter represented, is more in

BENJ. F. SPANGLER.

Bus L' cooley

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

rhetoric than fact. The delicacy of the task un- dertaken by Mr. Luther Martin doubtless had something to do with his delay in regard to it, but in candor we feel constrained to allude to the inconsistency in his charging Mr. Jefferson with any degree of negligence in scrutinizing min- utely not only the letter, but the attending cir- cumstances, for, according to Mr. Martin, Mr. Jefferson was a philosopher, and so given to in- vestigation, even to minutæ, that "we see him employed in weighing the rats and mice of the two worlds to prove that those of the new were not exceeded by those of the old world," and while the effort of Mr. Martin is in many re- spects commendable, it is remarkable that the officers who heard the speech read to Lord Dun- more should be so harmonious in reproducing it in letters to their friends, and that Logan's grief should be avenged by so many noted chiefs in the Indian war that ensued, if Logan was such an unimportant person. The Confederacy, as we shall see further on, did not so regard him.

The revolutionary annals of Ohio have many dark stains. The massacre of the heroic Corn- stalk, like that of Logan's family, became the fruitful slogan for revenge with the red man. Cornstalk, after the treaty of 1774 with Dunmore, had been the steadfast friend of neutrality among the beligerent whites. Accompanied by Red Hawk, the Shawnee orator, at the council held by Colonel Boquet (on a friendly visit to the fort at Point Pleasant, in 1764), he communicated the hostile disposition among the Ohio tribes, and expressed his sorrow that the Shawnee na- tion, except himself and his tribe, were de- termined to espouse the British side, and his ap- prehension that he and his people would be compelled to go with the stream unless the Long Knives could protect him.

Upon receiving this information, the com- mander of the garrison, Captain Arbuckle, seized upon Cornstalk and his companions as hostages for the peaceful conduct of his nation, and set about availing himself of his suggestions. Dur- ing his captivity Cornstalk held frequent con- versations with the officers, and took pleasure in describing to them the geography of the West, then little known. One afternoon, while engaged in drawing on the floor a map of Missouri, he heard a voice from the forest, which he recog- nized as that of his son Ellenipsico, a young warrior whose courage and address were almost as celebrated as his father. Ellenipsico entered the fort and embraced his father most affection- ately, having been uneasy at his absence and come hither in search of him. The day after his arrival two men, Hamilton and Gilmore, belonging to the fort, crossed the Kanawha, in- tending to hunt in the woods. On their return from hunting, some Indians, who had come to view the position of the Point, concealed them- selves near the mouth of the river, and. while the men were passing killed Gilmore. Colonel Stewart was standing on the opposite bank of the river at the time, and expressed his surprise that a gun had been fired so near the fort in

violation of orders. Hamilton ran down the bank, crying out that Gilmore was killed. Cap- tain Hall commanded Gilmore's Company. His men leaped into a canoe and hastened to the relief of Hamilton. They brought the body of Gilmore, weltering in blood (his head scalped), across the river. The canoe had scarcely reached the shore when the cry was raised, " Kill the red dogs in the fort !" Captain Hall placed himself in front of his soldiers as they ascended the river bank, pale with rage, carrying their loaded fire-locks in their hands. Colonel Stewart and Captain Arbuckle exerted themselves in vain to dissuade the men, exasperated to madness by the spectacle of Gilmore's corpse, from the cruel deed which they contemplated. They cocked their guns, threatening those gentlemen with instant death if they did not desist, and rushed into the fort.

The interpreter's wife, who had been a captive among the Indians and felt an affection for them, ran to their cabin and informed them that Hall's soldiers were advancing with the intention of taking their lives, because they believed that the Indians who had killed Gilmore had come with Cornstalk's son the preceding day. This the young man solemnly denied, declaring that he had come alone, with the sole object of seek- ing his father. When the soldiers came within hearing the young warrior appeared agitated. Cornstalk encouraged him to meet his fate com- posedly, and said to him, "My son, the Great Spirit has sent you here that we may die to- gether." He turned to meet his murderers the next instant, and receiving seven bullets in . his body he expired without a groan.

When Cornstalk had fallen, Ellenipsico con- tinued to sit still and passive. He met death with the utmost calmness. The Red Hawk made an attempt to climb the chimney, but fell by the fire of some of Hall's men. His atrocious murder was dearly expiated. The Shawnees were thenceforth the foremost in excursions upon the frontier. At the close of 1777 only three settlements existed in the interior of Kentucky- Harrodsburg, Bonnesborough, and Logan's. It was a year of siege, struggle, and suffering. The narrative of these times teems with horrors, in which the strife for supremacy was shared about equally between the white and red man. and was noted for deeds of daring unsurpassed in the annals of warfare. An instance of fem- inine heroism is worthy of being reproduced as we find it in the "American Pioneer," vol. 2. p. 309 : " Fort Henry stood upon the bank of the Ohio, about a quarter of a mile above the mouth of Wheeling creek. Between it and the steep river hill, on the east, were thirty log huts, which the Indians occupied and challenged the garrison to surrender. Colonel Shepherd refused and the attack commenced. From sunrise until noon the fire on both sides was constant, when that of the assailants slackened. Within the fort the only alarm was want of powder, and then it was remembered that a keg was concealed in the house of Ebenezer Zane, some sixty yards dis-

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

tant. It was determined to make an effort to ob- tain it, and the question 'Who will go?' was proposed. At this crisis a young woman, sister of Ebenezer and Silas Zane, came forward and desired to be premitted to go. This proposition seemed so extravagant that it was refused, but she renewed it with earnestness, replying that the danger was the identical reason that induced her to offer, for the garrison was very weak and no soldier's life should be placed in jeopardy, and if she were to fall her loss would not be felt. Her petition was finally granted and the gate opened for her to pass out. This attracted the attention of several Indians who were straggling through the village. Their eyes were upon her as she crossed the open space to reach her brother's house ; but whether they were siezed with a feeling of clemency, or believing that a. woman's life was not worth a load of gunpowder, cannot be explained ; suffice it, they permitted her to pass without molestation. When she re- appeared, however, with the powder in her arms, suspecting the character of the burden, they fired at her as she swiftly glided toward the gate, but their balls few wide of their mark, and the brave Elizabeth Zane reached the fort in safety with her prize, and won a glorious name in history.

"The assault was resumed with fierceness and continued until evening. Soon after nightfall a party of Indians advanced toward the gate of the fort, within sixty yards, with an improvised canon, made of a hollow maple log, bound round with chains obtained from a blacksmith shop, and supposing it sufficiently strong, heavily charged it with powder, and then filled it to the muzzle with pieces of stone and slugs of iron. When the match was applied it burst into many pieces, and although it had no effect upon the fort, killed and wounded a number of Indians. A loud yell went up at this disastrous failure, and they dis- persed. The fort was soon after reinforced, and the Indians abandoned the siege. The tribes represented were principally Wyandots, Mingoes and Shawnese. Their loss was near one hun- dred ; that of the Americans, twenty-six killed and four wounded."

During the winter of 1777-8, Alexander Mc- Kee, Matthew Elliott and Simon Girty, desperate white savages, active partisans of Great Britain up to the close of that century, made their ap- pearance in the Muskingum towns and repre- sented that the English were completely victori- ous ; the American armies cut to pieces ; General Washington killed ; there was no more Congress ; the English had hung some of them, and taken the rest to England to hang them ; that there were a few thousands of Americans who had escaped, and were embodying themselves on this side of the mountains for the purpose of killing all the Indians in this country, even wo- men and children ; and much more of the same sort.

The peace chief, White Eyes, saw with much concern that the majority of his nation seemed to believe this report, and that they, with Captain

Pipe (who always lent a willing ear to the Brit- ish, and was manifestly not the friend of White Eyes, being his rival), the latter called a general council of the nation, in which, when assembled, he proposed to delay hostilities against the Americans ten days, in order to be satisfied of the truth of the report. Whereupon Captain Pipe declared "every man an enemy to the nation who would throw an obstacle in the way that might prevent taking up arms against the American people." White Eyes once more as- sembled the men, and told them "that if they meant in earnest to go out, as some were pre- paring to do, they should not go without him. He had taken peace measures in order to save the nation from utter destruction ; but if they believed he was wrong, and gave more credit to vagabond fugitives, whom he knew to be such, than himself, who was best acquainted with the real state of things ; if they had determined to follow their advice and go out against the Amer- icans, he would go out with them ; but not like the hunter, who sets the dogs on the animal to be beaten with his paws while he keeps at a safe distance. No! he would himself lead them on, place himself in the front, and be the first who should fall. They only had to determine what they meant to do, for his own mind was fully made up not to survive the nation ; and he would not spend the remainder of a miserable life be- wailing the total destruction of a brave people who deserved a better fate." The ten days' delay asked for by White Eyes were granted, and as the time had nearly expired without re- ceiving any other intelligence, some had already shaved their heads preparatory to putting on the war paint, when Heckewelder, the Moravian Missionary, made his appearance among them and gave them the intelligence of the surren- der of Burgoyne and the discomfiture of the British, which led to the recognition of Ameri- can independence by France, and impressed England with the fact that they had lost their colonies. Whereupon Captain White Eyes, in a long address, took particular notice of the good disposition of the American people towards the Indians, observing that they had never yet called on them to fight the English, knowing that wars were destructive to nations ; and that the Americans had from the beginning of the war to the present advised the Indians to remain quiet and not take up the hatchet against either side. A newspaper containing an account of the capitulation of General Burgoyne's army be- ing handed to him by Heckewelder, White Eyes held the paper unfolded in both hands, so that all could have a view of it, and said : " See, my friends and relatives, this document contains great events ; not the song of a bird, but truth." Then stepping up to Heckewelder he gave him his hand, saying: "You are welcome to us, brother !" and every one present immediately followed his example. And it is fair to conclude that had it not been for the persistent friendship of White Eyes and the timely arrival of Hecke- welder with the glad tidings, the spring of 1778

HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO.

would have inevitably found the Indian allies of Great Britain with the Delawares and other Indians of the Ohio.

The Indians were the occupants of the terri- tory on either side of the Ohio and Alleghany when the Europeans first visited those regions. Their history and institutions have a weird yet fascinating interest, and in the language of Washington's early friend Tanacharison, or Guyasutha, and the venerable Cornplanter, we will trace the genius of the government of the people now fast disappearing, once the powerful occupants of the country we now occupy.

COLONEL BRODHEAD'S EXPEDITION.

This expedition was designed at first to co- operate with General Sullivan in his well-known and successful march into the territory of the Six Nations by way of the Susquehanna river, but for the reasons assigned in the annexed let- ter from General Washington, the plan of co- operation was abandoned.

The campaign of Sullivan was well conducted and highly successful in the destruction of Indian towns, fields of corn, and other means of sub- sistence, and thus contributed to embarrass all the future operations of Butler and Brandt, and other English tories, with their Indian allies, against our more eastern and northern frontier. It commenced in August, 1779, and terminated in October, and of course was almost simultane- ous with Broadhed's expedition up the Alle- ghany :

"HEADQUARTERS,

"MIDDLE BROOK, 21st April, 1779. 5

"DEAR SIR :-- Since my last letter, and upon further consideration of the subject, I have relin- quished the idea of attempting a co-operation between the troops at Fort Pitt, and the bodies moving from other quarters, against the Six Na- tions. The difficulty of providing supplies in time, a want of satisfactory information of the route and nature of the country up the Allegha- ny, and between that and the Indian settlements, and consequently the uncertainty of being able to co-operate to advantage, and the hazard which the smaller party might run for want of co-oper- ation, are principal motives for declining. The danger to which the frontier would be exposed by drawing off troops from their present position, from the incursions of the more western tribes, is an additional though a less powerful reason. The post at Tuscarawas is, therefore, to be pre- served, if, under full consideration of circum- stances, it is adjudged a post of importance, and can be maintained without running too great a risk -- and the troops in general under your com- mand disposed in the manner best calculated to cover and protect the country on a defensive plan.

"As it is my wish, however, as soon as it may be in our power, to chastise the Western savages by an expedition into their country, you will em- ploy yourself in the meantime in making prepar- ations, and forming magazines of provisions for

the purpose. If the expedition against the Six Nations is successfully ended, a part of the troops employed in this will probably be sent, in conjunction with those under you, to carry on another that way. You will endeavor to obtain in the meantime and transmit me, every kind of intelligence, which will be necessary to direct our operations, as precise, full and authentic as possible. Among other points you will try to ascertain the most favorable season for an enter- prise against Detroit. The frozen season, in the opinion of most, is the only one in which any capital stroke can be given, as the enemy can derive no benefit from their shipping, which must either be destroyed or fall into our hands. I am, &c., GEORGE WASHINGTON.

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History of Muskingum County, Ohio ; with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent men and pioneers, 1794, Part 7

Author: Everhart, J. F; Graham, A. A., Columbus, Ohio, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: [Columbus, O.] : F.J. Everhart & Co. Number of Pages: 600

Author: Everhart, J. F; Graham, A. A., Columbus, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: [Columbus, O.] : F.J. Everhart & Co.
Number of Pages: 600