Hocking County Ohio
Chief LoganLogan, the
county seat of Hocking County, was named in Excerpted from the account: Thrilling Adventures Among the American Indians by Edward S. Ellis, 1905 Some indicate that the Mingo were part of the Iroquois (Seneca) that left the Iroquois between 1740 and 1750 and migrated to Western Pennsylvania, the Ohio Country and West Virginia. George Washington’s 1753-54 map of the Ohio Country shows Mingo Town about 20 miles below present Pittsburgh, about two miles below Logs Town. Another anonymous map of the Ohio drawn about 1755 shows the notation at the same location that “Senecas moved from here last summer." These two sources indicate that the Mingos were also considered as Senecas. Yet, notes of Thomas Jefferson 1784 shows Mingos as numbering 60 in 1779 and living on the Scioto River in Ohio, also there the Shawnee. Jefferson lists the Mingos as separate from the Senecas, who he shows as numbering 650 in 1779 and living in the north. According to Boyd Crumrine’s History of Washington County,
Pennsylvania
,
when the first white man penetrated the Monongahela and Allegheny River Valleys,
the land was partially occupied by roving bands of Indians whose primary
settlements were near the confluence of the rivers. However, they had in the interior a few
transient villages or camps. These
were chiefly Delaware or Shawnee, but they had living among them several
colonized bands of Iroquois called “Mingos” who had been sent by the powerful
Six Nations of the Iroquois to live among their vassals, the Delaware. In 1768 the “castle” of the “White
Mingo” was on the Allegheny River a few miles above its
mouth. The
word Mingo is said to be a corruption of mingwe, an Algonquin word meaning
“stealthy” or “treacherous. English colonists used the term to describe Iroquois bands that had
migrated to western Pennsylvania by 1740. There are accounts of forts that were attacked by the Mingo in what is
now present day West Virginia. Most
renowned of the Mingos is Chief Logan. Chief Logan was born in Pennsylvania, and by the time he moved to the
Ohio Country in 1770, he viewed many whites as his friends. Even as he became war chief of the
Yellow Creek village of Mingo Indians, he urged them not to attack the
settlers. But his attitude changed
on in 1774, when a group of Virginians murdered a dozen Mingos, including
Logan's mother and sister. Logan
took revenge, conducting raids and killing 13 settlers. Virginia Governor Lord
John Dunmore sent soldiers to build a fort and do battle. Eventually, other tribes settled for
peace. But Logan spent the remainder of his life fulfilling his pledge to kill
English settlers. Logan, although one of the bravest of men, loved peace
above war. Throughout the dark years before and during the plotting of Pontiac,
he took no part except that of peacemaker. In time he became a most bitter enemy
of the race, and if ever an Indian had good reason for such enmity, he was
Logan.
In the spring of 1774, several white explorers in the Ohio country said they had been robbed by Indians of a number of horses, although it is by no means certain that such was the fact, or that, if the theft took place, that the thieves were not white men. The explorers claimed that the Indians should be taught a lesson that would prevent any more outrages. The infamous Colonel Michael Cresap gathered a party of men as evil as himself, the members coming together on the site of the present city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Learning that some Indians were near at hand, Cresap made ready to attack them. The question of their guilt or innocence was of no concern to him. He knew he had enough men to defeat the small company, and that was all he cared to know before acting. The violence unleashed by Creasap's men spread unabated across the region, culminating in an incident that, even by frontier standards, was distinguished by its cold-blooded brutality.
In 1773, a Mingo
headman named Johnny Logan and a small band of followers had established a
village thirty miles north of Wheeling, near the mouth of Yellow Creek (close
to present-day Wellsville, Ohio). Logan was the oldest son of Johnny Shikellamy,
and both father and son were well known along the western border for their
steadfast loyalty to the British. During the Seven Years War, Shikellamy and
his family had sought refuge at Thomas McKee's trading post. There can be
little doubt that Logan and Alexander McKee knew one another well, but the
extent of their contact during the spring of 1774 is
unknown.
The incident began on May 1, when two men asked Capt. Michael Myers of Washington County, Pennsylvania, to guide them over to the west side of the Ohio River where they wished to travel up Yellow Creek and examine some land a few miles from the stream's confluence with the Ohio. Myers's party did not have permission to be in Indian territory and crossed the Ohio at dusk to avoid detection. Camping for the night a short distance from their destination, Myers and the two men were wakened later that evening by the loud rattling of a bell attached to one of their horses. Investigating, they discovered an Indian apparently in the act of stealing the animal. Myers shot and killed the Indian. A short while later, a second Indian, drawn to the site by the report of Myers's rifle, also was executed. Frightened, Myers and his two companions fled back to Virginia and Baker's trading post. Worried that their actions would prompt a retaliatory raid from the Yellow Creek Indians, Myers sent word to Greathouse and other neighbors within the vicinity to assemble at Baker's and prepare an ambush. Although Baker was not present, by dawn, thirty-two men were lying in wait.
The following morning, unaware that the perpetrators of the previous evening’s violence awaited them, eight members of Logan's band
crossed the river to Baker's. Among the group were four men and three women,
including Logan's brother, mother, and sister who carried her two-month-old
infant on her back. Logan's band had frequently visited Baker's post and
usually spent their time buying liquor, milk, and other small items. Today,
Nathaniel Tomlinson, Baker's brother-in-law, was more generous than usual with
his liquor and eventually invited the Indians to take part in a shooting
match. As the contest began, one of the Indians, John Petty, who was
somewhat intoxicated, wandered through the trading post. Coming upon Tomlinson's
regimental coat and hat, he put them on and swaggered through the house
claiming, "I am a White Man." The action insulted Tomlinson, and when the
Indians discharged their weapons at a target, he grabbed his rifle and shot
Petty as he stood in the doorway. The shot was a signal for Greathouse and
the others to come out of hiding and attacked the remainder of the
Mingos.
The attack was swift and brutal. John Sappington, one of the
Virginians, shot and killed Logan's brother and then scalped him. For years
after, Sappington took particular delight in boasting of the feat and
described the trophy, which still was adorned with trade silver, as a "very fine
one." Logan's sister was panic stricken; she ran across the courtyard in
front of the trading post and stopped six feet in front of one of
Greathouse's men. in the split second that their eyes met, he put a bullet into
her forehead. Grabbing the infant from her cradleboard, he took hold of its
ankles and was about to dash its brains out when one of his companions
intervened to save the child's life. The remaining Indians also were shot or
tomahawked. Within seconds, all the Mingos were dead. The savagery of the attack
was astounding, and even James Chambers, a neighbor of Baker's who was not
present, declared that the murderers "appeared to have lost, in a great degree,
all sentiments of humanity as well as the effects of civilization."
Alarmed by the gunfire from across the river, seven other
members of Logan's camp started across the Ohio in two canoes to investigate.
Greathouse and his men spread out in the underbrush on the eastern shore and
fired on the Mingos as they neared land, killing two and sending the others
back in retreat. A second group of Mingos attempted another landing, but
like the first, was turned away by Greathouse and his
companions.
The fearful outrage against the red man brought on
a war in which occurred one of the most remarkable battles between the two
races that has ever been fought in our history. The event, for some
reason, has not attracted the attention it deserves.
Logan was changed from a warm, unselfish friend of the
white people into their bitter enemy, and he left his home with only eight
warriors. Instead of attacking the settlements on the Ohio, where everybody
expected the first blow would fall, he passed them by and made his way to the
Muskingum, where nobody dreamed of danger.
The fist white men seen were three who were pulling
flax in a field. One of them was shot down, and the others taken prisoner. They
traveled a long distance through the forest to the Indian village where it was
ordered that the captives should run the gauntlet. This consists of the unarmed
person dashing between two rows of his captors, standing a few feet from each
other, all armed with clubs or knives which they strike at the unfortunate as he
speeds forward and tries to dodge the cruel blows. If he succeeds in reaching
the extremity of the double line, he is sometimes spared or allowed to make a
break for liberty. But the ordeal is so dreadful that not one in a hundred
survives it. Logan did not like any kind of torture, and he told
one of the captives how he could escape many of the blows aimed at him. The man
survived, but the Indians condemned him to be burned at stake. Logan pleaded for
his life…he cut the cords and caused his adoption into an Indian family.
The Shawnees and Delawares had suffered many wrongs
and outrages, and they now joined in the war against the whites. The Virginia
Legislature was in session when the news reached that body, and Governor Dunmore
ordered the preparation of three thousand men to march against the Indians. One
half of the force, under the command of General Andrew Lewis, was to march to
the mouth of the Kanawha, while the governor was to lead the other half to a
point on the Ohio, in order to strike the Indian towns between the two. The
movement of Lewis was to draw off the main body of warriors, leaving the way
open for the governor. Having destroyed the towns, he was then to form a
junction with General Lewis at Point Pleasant, subsequent action of the army to
be guided by circumstances. General Lewis with eleven hundred men began his march
on September 11 for Point Pleasant, 160 miles distant following the Great
Kanawha. The whole distance led through a wilderness without trails (known to
white men), but the force had a veteran scout of the frontier to guide them over
the best route. They reached their destination on the last day of the month, and
formed an intrenched (sic) camp. Lewis waited for more than a week for the
coming of Dunmore, but he did not arrive, and the officer was in a quandary. The
action of Governor Dunmore laid him open to the gravest
charges.
On the morning of October 10, while General Lewis was
still wondering and perplexed over his failure to hear from Governor Dunmore, a
white man came to him with a startling story. While he and a companion were
hunting deer, they ran upon a camp of a numerous body of Indians in their war
paint. They fired upon the hunters and killed one, the other escaping with great
difficulty by fleet running. The news brought by this messenger left no doubt that
a large force of red men were hurrying to attack the soldiers. It is said that
General Lewis coolly lit his pipe and smoked for several minutes while
reflecting upon the situation. He then ordered his brother, Colonel Charles
Lewis, and another officer of similar rank to reconnoiter the approaching enemy,
while the commander arranged to support them. The two regiments had gone barely
a fourth of a mile when they met the Indians, advancing to the
attack. It was early in the morning and the battle opened
immediately. The Virginians had not forgotten the lesson of Braddock’s defeat,
and fought in the same fashion as their opponents, taking advantage of the
trees, bushes, roughness of the ground, and every object that afforded
protection. The conflict was long and desperate. The uniform of Colonel Lewis
drew the attention of the warriors, and he soon fell mortally wounded. The
Indians speedily proved their superiority and put the soldier to flight, after
having shot down a large number. In the crisis of the disorderly retreat, when a
general massacre was imminent, reinforcements arrived, and, by their firmness,
checked the pursuit and compelled the Indians in turn to take refuse behind a
breastwork of logs and bush, which they had been wise enough to prepare for such
a check. The redskins displayed rare military skill, for the breastwork alluded to extended clean across a neck of land from river to river. They had placed men on both sides of the stream, so that if the Virginians were defeated, not one of them would have been able to save himself. It is claimed that the battle which followed was the most hotly contested of any ever fought between white and red men. The Indians did not scramble for the breastwork, but gave way, foot by foot, as may be said, contesting the ground with an obstinacy that more than once made the issue doubtful. Colonel Lewis having fallen, his brother officer, Colonel Fleming, was twice wounded, but kept his command and animated others by his coolness and daring. When the reinforcements arrived at the critical moment, the tide was turned, but Colonel Field was killed and Colonel Fleming, already twice hurt, was shot through the lungs, but still refused to give place to any other officer. Behind that blazing breastwork were fifteen hundred brave warriors of the Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, Wyandot, and Cayoga tribes under the lead of Logan, Cornstalk, Red Eagle, and other famous chiefs.
Cornstalk was
the head sachem, and the attacking soldiers hear his ringing commands many times
above the din of battle. When he saw one of this frightened men trying to run
away, he sent his tomahawk into his brain. He dashed from side to side of the
long line, cheering all by his example. The battle lasted from morning until
late in the afternoon, something, as has been said, unknown in similar
circumstances, and still the Indians held their ground, despite the repeated and
desperate charges of the soldiers. General Lewis became intensely anxious. He was
distressed at the sight of his men who fell at every rush. He saw that the
Indians must be routed before night or the Virginians were almost sure to suffer
disastrous defeat. He sent three companions who favored by the forest, reached
the rear of the enemy unobserved. They then dashed to the attack. The warriors
did not believe they were part of the force they had been fighting for hours,
but thought they were reinforcements and that the Indians’ only safety lay in
instant flight. Just as the sun was setting, they retreated across the Ohio and
made for their towns along that river. The loss of the soldiers included nine officers and
about fifty privates, with nearly a hundred of them wounded. That of the Indians
is not known, but it is not likely that it exceeded that of the whites. Judging
by those who were killed and wounded, the circumstances, and the length of the
conflict, the battle of Point Pleasant in the autumn of 1774 seems to justify
the claim that it was the hardest fought one that ever took place between the
American and Caucasian races.
“I appeal to any white man to say if he ever 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 long, bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man. “I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. “There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.”
The remainder of the life of Logan was sad. His
friends were all dead. His tribe was broken up. His hunting ground had gone to
make corn fields for the white man. He wandered about from tribe to tribe,
dejected and broken-hearted, a solitary and lonely man. He took to drink and
partially lost his mind. transcribed by Sandra Cummins
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