Tah-gah-jute; or, Logan and Cresap, an historical essay

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TA1I-GA1I-JUTE;

LOGAN AND CRESAP,

HISTORICAL ESSAY

BRANTZ MAYER.

ALBANY: JOEL MUNSELL 1867.

^c

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year

1867,

By Brantz Mayer, In the Clerk's

office

of the District Court of the United States,

for the District of

• • • • • • ••

»

•

• •'

Maryland.

PREFACE.

I was invited in the spring of 1851 to deliver the

Annual

Address before the Maryland Historical Society, and took the story of Logan the Indian and Cresap the Pioneer, as

a subject worthy of elucidation.

I adopted this subject,

not only because the history of Logan's speech, which has

given celebrity to both these persons, was likely to secure the attention of an audience, but because, while

it

afforded an

opportunity to vindicate the reputation of a patriotic Marylander,

it

me

enabled

also

to

expose the danger of con-

sidering as always unquestionable

what

are called the facts

of history, and to inculcate the caution with which

fact that this

and not

we should

the condemnation of individuals.

receive or record

essay was originally

The

intended for delivery

for the closet, will account for the oratorical style of

parts of the present publication.

For ninety years

" Logan's speech " has

been repeated by

every schoolboy and admired by every cultivated person as a

gem

of masculine eloquence.

Unluckily,

the Indian's wrongs and revenge alone. its artless

rhetoric

it

did not rehearse It gave point to

by charging those wrongs, and imputing

the frightful results of that revenge, to Michael Cresap and,

in

proportion

as

both were

dreadful

220567

in

character

IV and poignant

in statement, the hatred of

alleged perpetrator

became intense and

well known, was

it is

America Charlotte

in j

first

mankind

for the

The

speech,

lasting.

published in the newspapers of

but

its

remarkable popularity was secured by the

importance given to

it

by Mr.

Indian character and genius, by

Jefferson,

its

as

illustrating

publication,

with com-

Accordingly, every Ameri-

ments, in his Notes on Virginia.

and multitudes of educated Europeans, learned

can,

Logan and

Camp

1774, after Lord Dunmore's treaty at

name of Cresap;

to hate the

never deserved their opprobrium, and

to pity

yet Cresap certainly it

is

quite possible

Logan might have been

their sympathetic compassion for

considerably mitigated.

When

I began

my

narrative I possessed sufficient proof to

exculpate the Maryland Pioneer completely; but the subject

grew

as I studied it; one authority pointed to another,

and one topic led me insensibly

to

Printed

kindred studies.

works were soon exhausted, and manuscripts became necessary and were obtained.

I found

it

impossible to

tell

the

whole story with proper precision and breadth, without the introduction of illustrative characters and events, so that

what was

at first intended for a brief discourse,

into a paper on the Pioneer life

expanded

and Indian history of the

period.

The on

it

discourse, produced with all the care I could bestow

in the

two months allowed

to the society on

for its preparation,

in a small edition for private circulation

and their

was read

the 15th of May, 1851, and was printed

friends.

From

the

disclosed, its publication in this

among our members

nature of the facts newly

manner excited more

atten-

tion than I expected, so that the edition

by the demands of out of print.

was soon exhausted

historical collectors.

new

Lately,

It has

been long

illustrative information, in con-

by me, which may be

siderable quantity, has been received

judiciously added; and a fresh edition being asked for, I

have carefully revised the whole and recast some of the passages, so as to give the paper

had

in the

beginning

— the

— what

have

in truth it should

character of a historical essay,

rather than an oration.

The main

authorities for the thorough vindication of Mi-

chael Cresap's memory, are the extremely rare

little

volume

of Jacob's Life of Cresap, published in 1826, at Cumberland, Maryland,

and the

Clark, published in the first

MS.

in

my

discourse, but

appendix No.

1,

now

of this

In the edition of this narrative published in 1851,

General Clark's

letter

C. Draper.

Jefferson, ten,

General George Rogers

edition of

printed from the original

volume.

man

letter of

first

for

It

was printed as sent

to

me by Mr. Ly-

was then charitably surmised that Mr.

whose enlightenment the

had never received

this vindication,

neither published nor alluded to

it

in

letter

was writ-

inasmuch

as

he

any edition of his Notes

on Virginia, issued after the veracity of Logan's speech was attacked by Luther Martin, the eminent attorney general of

Maryland.

But the

longer possible,

when

belief entertained in it

Mr. Jefferson's manuscript

ment of

state at

1851 became no

was discovered, a few years ago, that collections, deposited in the depart-

Washington, not only contained the

nal letter of General George Rogers Clark to Dr.

origi-

Brown,

vindicating Cresap, but also, Dr. Brown's letter to Mr. Jefferson,

under date of Sept., 4th, 1798, transmitting

the

paper

VI to the

distinguished statesman, two years be/ore he published

his testimony in to his

regard

would be useless

It

Logan

the

to

speech in the appendix

Notes on Virginia, issued in 1800. to speculate

on the causes of Mr. Jef-

ferson's failure to insert or allude to this letter, for all

who

could speak authoritatively on the subject, are long since

who was married

Martin,

dead.

daughter of Capt.

to a

Michael Cresap, had attacked Jefferson severely on his father-in-law's

memory

;

for the slur

but Martin was a federalist.

Jefferson had felt the sting of Martin's publications against

him, as land

j

is

shown

in his letter to

party feeling

that

days

Governor Henry, of Mary-

but Jefferson was a democrat.

— may have

— then

quite as

It

is

not improbable

venomous

as in

later

swayed Jefferson's mind from the justice

that should govern historians in regard to even the humblest of

whom

remarkable and

self

and

and

the

is

more

the incidents that gave rise to Logan's

will enable

Mr. Jefferson

Cresap family, by being

with the factsP

this letter

because General Clark had

less pardonable,

said, " I shall relate

suspicion,

His omission of

they write.

But the

been disregarded; for

to

do justice

made

to

him-

fully acquainted

cautious warning seems to have

in 1800,

Cresap had been already

twenty-four years in his grave; while the minute, cumulative, lawyer-like pleadings of

Appendix

still

tended to exhibit Cresap in an odious

the rankling of personal animosity. is

iv,

to

the Notes

Virginia, though slightly modifying the original charge,

on

light,

and

to

Indeed, the suppression

rather to be regretted on Mr. Jefferson's account

Cresap's.

show

than

For, though the original manuscript of General

Clark's complete exculpation of the Pioneer, appears only

Vll at this late day, the place in

which

detected, discloses

it is

the statesman's decided reluctance to justify the dead, even

under friendly monition and invocation.

is

a sad pic-

which was not proof against

ture of the infirmity of a nature political

passion, and was known

seeming

to

be ambitious, at

to

least,

of

be never mistaken.

The exceptions taken by

some, that I had written too so placed

him higher

my

a few critics to

tion of this narrative, were two-fold.

and

It

much

It

first

publica-

was thought by

as an advocate of Cresap,

in the scale than

he deserved

;

and by others, that I had, perhaps unconsciously, attempted to underrate the character of

I

his family.

I did not even

ants

j

while, I confess,

intention was to

interest in the Pioneer or

know

was hard

it

My

Logan.

had no personal

do neither.

his kindred or descendto free

my mind

from

its

early, habitual sympathy with the Indian, so as to write of

him with pure and simple not been, either in one, the

my

attorney of Cresap, or

Both these persons are their time

and

Civilization

always justly

and

locality.

is

to

I hope, therefore, I have

slanderer of Logan.

the

be measured by the standards of

place, for both to

were representative men.

be mercifully and charitably

— weighed

—

not

if

in the balance of its particular time

Let us consider these.

The time was nearly ness in

justice.

original publication, or the present

America

;

a century ago

the actors, an

wilderness, on the one frontier civilization, on

;

the place a wilder-

untutored

child of that

hand, and a child of the nascent the

measure of that civilization

?

other hand. It

What was

may even shock

us a

the

little

Vlll

contemplate the

to

Pure

times.

of

much more modern

will

be the manifestation of

civilization

which

civilization,

never existed.

universal obedience to Grod's law, has will

by

us,

all

there

who

within the recollection of people

that the disabilities of the in

It

be remembered that imprisonment for debt was allowed

parts of

are

which the

still

young

America and enlightened England, while world

parts of the

— not

We

the Florida war occurred within its

in

up

Israelites are still locked

quarters of the cities they inhabit.

that Utah, with

are

Jews have not been long removed

heathendom

—

in

at night-fall, in the

must

recollect that

the last three

tolerated abominations of

decades;

Mormonism,

is

growing into a power under our eyes; and

is

not "

lastly,

it

beyond the memory of man/' that human slavery

existed in the United States, and that doctors of divinity

unfrocked themselves

to

in

fight

its

defence.

We

are,

therefore, not to pride ourselves conceitedly on the masculine civilization of our time, fully

which

affects to look disdain-

on Maryland and Massachusetts, whose statutes, in

colonial days, offered bounties for Indian scalps.

Ninety years ago, the ideas and purposes of frontier-men were primitive and precautionary. of hunting agriculturists.

Men

was an armed society

It

ploughed the

their rifles slung over their shoulders. in hand,

wanted the land denuded of

The Indian wanted his game.

It

with

fields

The Pioneer, axe

forest for cultivation.

the same land covered with forest, for

was the direct

conflict

between enterprise

getting bread by labor, and idleness getting food by luck.

Of

course, the Pioneer

Indian, the conservative

was the intrusive aggressor protector

;

j

the

the former, compara-

IX and forced

tively few in numbers,

to

be prompt and wary

the latter numerous, and fearing not only the superior wea-

pons of his

foe,

but the organization and discipline, which

made the comparatively few equal

together

"

number.

who was

What was

called

to the greater

frontier," says a writer

the

familiar with the border life of

America

in the

middle of the eighteenth century, " was constantly changing

and diverging westwards,

so that the habits

the people remained the same frontier

Our

was changed.

many

frontier

stantly exposed to a predatory

embodied a

inhabitants were con-

war with the Indians, not

an army publicly invading our country, but as

as

predatory banditti,

attacking individuals and

remote from a dense population. at night, or just at

break of day; sometimes killing

children, leading the

women and

In

my own

its

family, there

members

in

are

all

men and

elder children

the

small

captives,

and stealing the

but, I believe, always burning the houses,

outrages on

families,

These attacks were often

family, at others only a part, namely, the

horses."

and feelings of

miles eastward, after the

records of brutal

Western Virginia,

in

which the

living were slaughtered while in the act of performing the rites of sepulture to their offspring in their forest

and even the dead were torn from the

coffin,

homes,

and hung on

trees for the sake of the trophy scalp.

In truth, the natures as well as the purposes of the two antagonistic races that were constantly bordering on each other,

were so completely inharmonious and irreconcilable,

that the

life

of the resolute and exasperated Pioneer was

concentrated on the impulse to get rid of Indians with as little

compunction

as if

they had been vermin.

Indeed,

many

with

of the early adventurers, there was but

ference between a savage and a snake.

The

little dif-

legislation of

the time was also a picture of public necessity and opinion,

while

its

invitations

bounties to

and rewards

private

for

scalps,

were direct

warfare against what was called in

the statutes, our " Indian enemies."

Such was the meagre

civilization of the frontier,

On

Cresap and Logan lived.

both

sides, abstinence

when from

revenge seems to have been considered dangerous timidity, or acknowledged fear.

And

day, while Cresap's merit as

so,

must

Logan was a savage of

set forth herein, cleared entirely of the stain of

cruelty,

and on his devotion

which he was one of the died in

who

its

his

rest on his personal history,

wanton

to the cause of his country of

earliest

and bravest defenders.

He

service, out-ranking several of the Marylanders,

afterwards became generals during the

war.

Baltimore, 1867.

revolutionary

INTRODUCTORY If

we look on the map

at the portion of this

continent occupied by us at present,

amazed

we

are

at the vast expansion of our territorial

limits within

much

less

In the middle of the

than one hundred years. last

century the British

dominions in America were but a fringe upon the Atlantic shores.

Beginning in the Bay of Fundy

their outline ran south-westwardly skirting the

eastern shore of

Lake Ontario

until

it

touched

the northern spurs of the Alleghanies, and then,

descending along the slopes of those mountains, struck the northernmost angle of Florida, finally

and

terminated on the Atlantic at the mouth

of the Alatamaha.

The average breadth of this

scant region was not more than five degrees.

West and north-west were the vast primeval forests,

the gigantic lakes and rivers, claimed, by

the French, as Canada and the Province of Louisiana

;

while south, on the Gulf of Mexico and

the Atlantic, stretched the romantic shores of Florida, under the dominion of Spain.

It

was

not until the epoch of the Indian troubles, of

which

I

am

about to speak, and on the eve of

our revolutionary war, that the Ohio became the recognized boundary between the white and the red

man

;

and he who now entering one of

those floating palaces of the western waters at

Pittsburgh, descends the Ohio to the Mississippi,

and the Mississippi

the

to

Gulf, can hardly

believe that within less than ninety years, the

whole of

this magnificent region,

where the pro-

gress of trade has not effaced all traces of ro-

mantic nature, was

still

a dreary and dangerous

human men still

wilderness, tenanted by wild beasts or by

beings almost as savage. living

who

fare in

There are

recollect the incidents of Indian war-

Maryland, Pennsylvania, or Virginia,

and can recount the escape, or the death of some ancestor by the

tomahawk and

There are those amongst still

unsilvered,

us, too,

scalping knife.

whose hair

who may remember

is

their sport

3 as boys in

watching the straggling Indians,

half beggars, half bandits,

thronged our

bow and

— who every winter

but whose only use of the

streets,

the arrow was to win the pennies

we ven-

tured in order to test the sureness of their aim.

But where

is

the far west, which in those

days was spoken of as something mysteriously indefinite,

—

as

something denoting perils of jour-

ney and of Indian cruelty ?

we had

still territorial

Britain,

and

stubborn

titles as

tribes.

It

boundaries to settle with

well as rights to adj ust with

was then that the

and comprehensive merchant, tion of his wealth,

wildest

laid the founda-

was remembered

in its

was then that

It

as a field of

roman-

missionary labor, cherished under Mexican

tic

viceroys, but as a land of It

far-seeing

by tracking the beaver

haunts in Oregon.

California

was then that

It

abandoned enterprise.

was then that our young and

restless spirits

sought the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi as

homes which were beginning

to

from the hunter and the savage. far

west of those days.

names

be redeemed

That was the

But now, strange

salute our ears, sounding

no more of In-

monuments

dian conquests, but commemorative

We

of victories over civilized men.

have aban-

doned an Indian nomenclature and adopted the calendar of Christian saints.

Sante Fe, the Rio

— the Colorado of the West, — the valleys of San the Pecos, — the — the Juan and Santa of the SaBravo del Norte,

Gila,

plains

Clara,

cramento and San Joaquin, and the upland Vale at the foot of

Mount

Shastl;

— the Great Basin,

around whose saline waters the Mormons have

— Monterey, — San Diego, — Chrysopolae the settled

Francisco,

;

Golden Gates,

or

the lately ceded Russian territory, of

all,

the Pacific,

boundary,

There

is,

itself, for

and the

— and

last

an acknowledged

Isthmus

no longer, a far

— San

for

a highway. States,

west.

now

planting on the brink of the Pacific and washed

by

its

surge, curb, in that direction, the utmost

possible limit of our dominion.

Gold, in appa-

rently inexhaustible quantities, has magnetically attracted

an immense population in the brief

space of twenty years.

ment

of planting the

The

first

great experi-

Anglo-Saxon race on the

Pacific, facing the Indies,

with a clear and short

highway

in front,

solved.

The

no longer a problem to be

is

tide of emigration sets

no more

exclusively from east to west, but rapidly ebbs

and surges backward, Australian

colonies,

as China, Hindustan, the

the

Pacific

islands,

and Mexican

Chilian, Peruvian,

states,

the

pour

their motley crowds of eager immigrants along

the whole coast from the Gila to the Columbia.

The

icy tops of the Sierra

Nevada

are passed,

and the great upland Basin of Utah becomes the thoroughfare of traders, pilgrims, and cara-

vans from the far

east.

Through the wilder-

ness to Sante Ee, and thence along the southern passes of the mountains, other crowds press each other, to

Ophir.

and

And

fro,

on the path of the modern

thus, in the progress of a few brief

years, the swollen tides of humanity, bursting

the

barriers of the Alleghanies from the east

and of the Nevada from the west, must

at last

meet and mingle in the great valley of the Mississippi, tral

which

is

destined to become the cen-

mart of our mighty union.

6

In God's genial providence of gradually opening the resources of this world for the progress of

mankind there

the most perfect accommo-

the enlarging wants and capacities of

dation to

Every thing

our race.

The

is

is

not disclosed at once.

the desirable,

good,

the

necessary,

are

hidden in the earth's secret places, and the task of laborious their

enterprise

discovery

imposed on

is

man

and useful preparation.

for

Yet,

marvellous as are the modern developments of

sometimes even, of

industry, of science, and,

apparent chance, there resources,

for

no exhaustion in these

is

new means

of

success

seem

to

keep constant pace with each new labor and enterprise.

Our beneficent Father works out

wonderful schemes by miracles.

Humanity, with

all its sins,

free

human

is

his

agents not by

all its

virtues

and

charged with the noble task of

development, and thus the results become

the work of

man and

are

made

the trials and

tests of his responsibility.

The

old

was required

world became crowded, and space in

which the cramped and burdened

millions

might

pendence,

find

room

for industry

and inde-

— and a new continent was suddenly The old political

disclosed for their occupation.

systems of Europe and of the Eastern nations

decayed in consequence of the encroachments of power

made

despotic

by corruption or

force,

and a virgin country was forthwith opened

as a

refuge for the oppressed masses, in which the principle of absolute political

dom might

be

effort to cast off,

the fetters of feudalism.

new

too valuable for fuel,

heart of the earth

is

the surface.

or

found to be veined for nobler pur-

woods that shade and shelter

Coal thus becomes the most potent

agent in commercial development, it,

forests,

— and suddenly

with minerals which will save, poses, the majestic

The

world, began to

commercial countries of their

made them the

religious free-

any convulsive

tried without

labor of man, even in this strip

and

for,

without

the seas could not be traversed with the ra-

pidity

The

and certainty exacted by modern wants.

increasing industry and invention of the

large populations of various countries, required, either a greater

amount of

capital to represent

8 their productions, or a

new standard

of value

metals already in circulation,

for the precious

—

and, at once, apparently by mere accident, an

adventurer discovered amid the rocks and rivers of the Pacific coast, a golden region in which the

At last,

fabled sands of Pactolus are realized.

even steam

itself

and human

skill,

becomes too slow

for

mankind,

chaining magnetism to

poses and lacing the earth with

its

its

pur-

wires,

em-

broiders the whole world with the electricity of

thought.

the

Soon, the railway will girdle

But

continent.

all

these vast storehouses of

invention, comfort and wealth, are not placed at our doors, in the midst of civilization, ready to be

grasped,

comprehended or used

with

equal ease by the dainty idler or the patient

worker.

amid

Far away

forests

and

in distant regions they

perils.

Far away,

which are reached by tedious

travel,

in

lie,

lands

requiring

the renewal of hope in desponding hearts, and

renewal of energy in broken men.

There they

— long concealed and wisely garnered temptations, — be discovered the approprirepose,

to

ate

moment

at

in the world's progress,

and

to lead

man thither as human industry.

the

founder of

new

fields of

In this gradual development of the earth three classes of persons

have always been needed

:

the Discoverer, the Conqueror, and the Pioneer.

Emigration

Men

is

the overflowing of a bitter cup.

do not leave their native lands and kindred country

for the perils of the wilderness, or for a

with which they have no community of laws, language, or present interest, unless poverty or

bad government crowds them into the

When

forest.

the Discoverer and the Conqueror have

found the land and partly tamed the savage, the Pioneer advances into their enterprise,

and

his

field of

partakes,

task

degree, of the dangers incurred decessors.

He

is

relinquished in

by both

some

his pre-

always a lover and seeker of

independence, and generally pursues laudable desire to improve

his

lot;

it

with a

yet the

perfect exercise of this independence sometimes

becomes

selfishly exclusive.

country,

is

man

Its essence, in

our

the complete self-reliance of the one

or the one family.

This

spirit of social,

10

and industrial independence, occasion-

political,

becomes wild, impatient and uncontrollable.

ally

under such circumstances,

Its mildest exhibition is

in

rude manners or wayward lawlessness,

which outraged neighborhoods are wont summaTrue

rily to redress.

civilized liberty does not

countenance such mockers of justice within pale,

its

and thus there are multitudes who go

new

voluntarily and wisely into

lands, while

other heedless or worthless crowds are scourged

by

society into the forest.

are

these

elements of

Slowly and surely

new

states

gathered,

purged, and crystalized around the centres of

modern

Hope, ambition, misery,

civilization.

avarice, adventure, noble purpose, drive off im-

patient

slow

men who

accretions

munities. tion

will

of

They

by a leap.

not be satisfied with the

wealth require

headlong into the

woodsman

the

fortune

old

com-

and

posi-

Independence demands space

the gigantic inspirations of flies

in

its

forest.

for

vast lungs, and

The wandering

or hunter gathers his brothers in

armed masses

for protection

amid

this chaos of

unorganized freedom, and they support each other

11 cheerfully in seasons of danger or disease.

But

law of humanity vindicates

itself

the

social

against the eager spirit of perfect independence.

Wherever man who has once

either drained or

sipped the cup of civilization

must he be to

yearn

home he abandoned

man's representative,

results of that civilization

despise.

Wherever man

— money, — pursues

and secretly he longs

;

for

the pleasing

which he

Thus the Pioneer may be

queror

conflict left it,

the savage.

feigns to

said to bait

the forest like a trap, for the Trader.

up the

amuse-

for the relinquished luxuries,

beyond the eastern mountains.

him

found, there

and clothed, nor does he cease

fed

ments, or comforts of the

goes,

is

Taking

with the Indian where the Con-

he at once subdues the

The Farmer,

soil

and

at length, plants him-

self

on the land that the Hunter wrests from

the

Indian.

sails

the seas that were scourged by the Pirate.

The

The Merchant

dollar dulls

covers with

the edge of the bowie-knife.

Where

the Pioneer treads, the Missionary

lows.

Element by element,

in.

his

civilization

fol-

drops

Peace, like a cooling shadow, follows the

12

war

blaze of

;

by its ultimate

and the law of God, vindicating success, the merit of peace,

whose

triumphs are the only true ones, plants the est is

with

cities,

for-

and that which was wildly won

quietly and permanently enjoyed.

Our habitual and perhaps almost necessary devotion to the Present in a country where property

treasured or transmitted in

so little

is

and our prying anxiety

families,

secrets of the future,

of the

memory

like our

to

know

have made us too heedless

of the Past.

Our law of history,

law of property, not only prevents an

entail of our accumulations, but the Past

the Present

may be

tured to hope that

and

said to disinherit the Future,

leave few legacies.

or to

the

it

Yet

I

have ven-

would not be uninteresting

to Marylanders, if I spoke to

them

of the days

that are gone, and endeavored, by a glimpse of

our " scant antiquity, " to display the romantic story of

among

mark

some of our own people who were

the

first in

Lord Baltimore's province

to

the pioneer progress towards the west.

Maryland, thrust geographically as a wedge

13

between the great provinces of Pennsylvania

and Virginia, was among the

earliest to furnish

her quota of stalwart foresters, tests

who

in their con-

with the Indian, prepared themselves

for

the subsequent conflict with England in the war of Independence.

It will

years

be remembered that Pontiac's

after

it

was only a few

war that small detach-

ments of whites had crept westward through the defiles of the

Alleghanies and along the princi-

pal paths, the northernmost of which converged at old Fort

Du Quesne

or Pitt, whilst the south-

ernmost led to the fountains of the Holston and

A

the Clinch.

town was

laid out

on the east

bank of the Monongahela within two hundred yards of Fort it,

to

Pitt, and, for

seventy miles above

a route had been cut through the wilderness

Ked-Stone Old Fort,

Dunlop's creek,

As

late

as

now

the

site

near the mouth of of Brownsville.

1774, Virginia

still

claimed by

virtue of her charter, all the territory between

the parallels of 36° 30' and 39° 40' north tude, from the

margin

of the Atlantic

lati-

due west

14

and thus enclosed within her

to the Mississippi,

assumed present

limit,

is

not only the region which at

comprised in Kentucky, but also the

southern half of

Illinois,

one third of Ohio, and

western Pennsylvania. 1

an extensive part of

Settlements had been planted upon most of the eastern branches of the Monongahela, the You-

ghiogeny, and on the small eastern tributaries of the upper Ohio, for one hundred and twenty miles below Pittsburgh, as well as on the sources of the Greenbrier, the

little

Kanawha and Elk

—embracing

in

these districts, the north western counties

of

river,

west of

the mountains,

Virginia and the south western of Pennsylvania as at present defined.

as a frontier

Pittsburgh was claimed

town of Virginia, while the southern

settlements, on the tributaries of the hela,

1

It

were held

to belong to the

west and north west." is

also clear that

1763,

same province.

Beems clear that by her new and enlarged charter of

1609, the limits of Virginia were

It

Mononga-

lay

claim

to

—

1

to

extend "from Sea

Land Laws of the

to Sea,

U. S., p. 405.

Great Britain did not, at the peace of the French

west of the Mississippi

j

peace of Paris in 1783.

and Spanish settlements

nor, did our commissioners at the

15

Yet the vast region south of the and westward thence

Kanawha

little

with

to the Mississippi,

but slight exceptions, was a wilderness held by savages.

The

lonely ? isolated settlements of

a few poor, ignorant French

colonists

Wabash and

had,

fallen

Illinois

rivers,

under British dominion,

of Paris,

it

on the true,

is

after the peace

but these immigrants were

scarcely

regarded as British subjects, and were held as outlying foreign military colonists,

many hundred

miles in advance of civilization, having but interest or

little

sympathy with the pioneers who

penetrated the wilderness from Virginia, Pennsylvania or Maryland.

The French and Indian wars and pioneer spirit which characterized so ricans at that day,

had sprinkled

the

true

many Amethis

rough

woodland region with enterprizing traders, hunters,

and

agriculturists,

w ho were proper mates T

and with brave for

women

men stamped with

such energy and fortitude in the iron mintage of border trial.

The majority

of this class was

hardy and virtuous, though, as in

all

frontier

16 communities, the honest and daring were

lowed by miscreants willing either

fol-

shelter

to

themselves from law in the wilderness, or to encounter the risks of a wild

The pioneer was

for ultimate results.

and hospitable being, loneliness lot,

of

all

for

his

who ventured beyond

still

own Cumberland, gaily

among

be found

—

knife,

horn, and ready

perilous

the Alleghanies. shirt,

which

the mountains of our

his deer-skin leggins,

embroidered moccasins

and scalping

own

to ameliorate the condition

His fringed and fanciful hunting

may

a liberal

he appreciated the

and discomforts of

and was prompt

without caring

life

—

—

his

— made

up

powder

his personal

equipments of comfort and defence. picturesque being as he

his

tomahawk

his bullet pouch,

rifle,

—

He was

a

was seen descending

the slopes of the mountains or relieved against the blue sky or the dark shadows of the forest.

In this lonely

region

no mechanics were

to

be hired, and every pioneer was obliged to do his

own work

or possess within his family the

necessary laborers in the field or at the plough, the loom, and the anvil.

His gun was in con-

17 stant use against the Indian as well as the bear

and the neighbor for

Yet never was he an ungenerous

deer.

when

a

new

cabin was to be erected

an immigrant, or a crop

the friend or stranger

who

The

"

" husking

match

distinctly recorded

to be gathered for

inhabited his district.

and the " log rolling " are

among

the kindly memorials

when

of early settlements in those days

genuine cabin, bricks,

made without

the

mortar or

nails,

was the home of many an ancestry that

has given rulers to our Union.

A

common

danger cemented these forest settlements in a

bond of mutual defence and life

interest.

It

was a

of incessant wariness or of peril to be encoun-

tered; and thus, mutual dependence and the fear of the savage,

pioneer, for interlopers,

and

it

formed the best police of the

warned

off

weak and

irresolute

and permitted none but the hardy

faithful to abide in the forest.

Nor were these men

so improvident as to

omit

strengthening themselves, not only by acts of faith

with

and friendship, but by supplying their bands forts,

block houses, and stations, erected

of massive logs and slabs, proof against bullets,

18

and built around or near a never-failing spring. These defences, constructed at points easy of access as places of refuge to a

whole neighbor-

hood of agriculturists or hunters, were perfect

who had no

safe guards against a foe

yet,

artillery

were rarely tenanted unless at periods of

when

general alarm, or

the pioneers left their

farms in the spring upon the announcement of

some Indian murder

in the vicinity.

These adopted children of the wilderness were, of course, not unskilled in

wood

craft.

The stars,

the sun, the bark of trees were their guides.

The weather informed was

to encounter his

mountain

the settler whether he

game

dressed, the early night

around the

camp.

many

Witchcraft of

day on the

tops, the hill sides or in the valleys

and when the buck was

story

for the

them

and a lonely

;

life,

fire

and

slain, skinned,

was passed

;

and

in glee

of his joyous hunting

was firmly

for strange sights

believed

by

and sounds,

gave play to the imagination

or to the recollection of old superstitions learned in infancy.

Singing, dancing, shooting the

throwing the tomahawk, wrestling, and

all

rifle,

ath-

19 letic or

manly

sports,

sions of the settlers

formed the constant diver-

when they were

at leisure

on

holidays; while the most boisterous merriment prevailed at wedding

warming of the groom.

or

frolics,

bride

forest

at

the house-

and her gallant

Lawyers were unknown

in these

rough

and simple communities, yet a strong moral sense

and the stern demands of necessity

as well as of

duty, preserved rights and interests in regions

where no man could

afford to be idle.

were seldom incurred.

Debts

Laziness, dishonesty,

and

ill-fame roused the general public opinion of the

Thieves were flogged.

settlement.

disputes were settled by battles with

which the

parties

became reconciled

Personal fists, ;

and

after evil

men, in the emphatic language of the day, were hated out of the neighborhood.

The wants an annual

of these

backwoodsmen required

visit to the east,

associations

were formed

which, with

its

tries its

and every autumn

for the yearly caravan,

long trains of horses, bearing pel-

and Indian ware, might be heard tinkling

bells in the forests

defiles as it

wound

its

or along the

way

to

mountain

Hagerstown, Old

20

Town, Cumberland and Baltimore, the products of the wilderness for

and powder.

With

to

exchange

salt, iron,

lead

1

these brief sketches of the land and in-

habitants of that part of the North American

wilderness which

was most

closely connected

with Maryland just before the revolution, I shall proceed to delineate the deeds and career of some individuals whose state's

story

names are linked with our

by romantic incidents which

I

believe have been and continue to be inaccurately

recorded by American historians.

1

See Rev. Dr. Doddridge's Notes on the Settlement and

Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from 1763 to 1783, Wellsburg, Va., 1824; and the

—

Loudon's Indian Wars,

Carlisle, Pa.,

1808.

TA-GAH-JUTE,

LOGAN AND

C

RE SAP

The father of Captain Michael Cresap who has been portrayed as the instigator chief actors in the alleged

if

not one of the

murder of the Indian

Logan's family in the early part of 1774,

— emi-

grated from Yorkshire, England, to America,

when he was about fifteen years of age

.

We know

nothing of his intervening career until fifteen years after,

when he married a Miss Johnson, and

settled either at or near

Susquehannah.

man ;

Havre de Grace, on the

He was

emphatically, a poor

so poor, indeed, according to the family

legends, that being involved in debt to the extent

of nine pounds, currency, he was obliged soon after his inopportune marriage, to depart for the south

in order to improve his fortune.

wife in

He left his young

Maryland, and hastening

to Virginia

22

became acquainted with the Washington family, and rented from

it

a good farm, with the inten-

tion of removing finally to the flourishing colony.

But on returning had become a was loth mac.

to

Maryland he found that he and that

father,

to quit the

his resolute wife

Susquehannah

for the Poto-

Accordingly, like a docile husband, he

submitted to her whim, and contriving himself from debt, removed

still

to

higher up on the

Wright's ferry, opposite the town of

river to

Columbia, where he obtained a Maryland

hundred acres of land.

for five

however, for the

and title

as it

free

settler, this

title

Unfortunately,

was disputed ground,

was soon claimed under a Pennsylvania

a border

war occurred,

in

which Cresap

espoused the cause of Lord Baltimore with as

much zeal

as the

of Penn.

His enemies regarding him as a power-

ful foe,

to

Pennsylvanians sustained that

seem to have resorted

to the basest

rid themselves of his presence.

was hired yet,

to assassinate

won by

him

his kindness

in his

and

An

means Indian

own house

hospitality, the

savage disclosed the plot and was pardoned for the meditated crime.

At

length, however, a

23 regular battle took place between the factionists,

and Cresap's party having wounded several of Penn's partizans gained the day and kept the field.

Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania warriors soon

and besieged the

rallied their discomfited forces fort in

which the Marylander had entrenched

himself.

bravely

But the stalwart Cresap held out against

all

though he was

comers,

singled as the special victim of the assailants.

deemed

Nevertheless, in time, he

seek aid from his neighbors boy, Daniel, old,

was

;

it

and

advisable to as his eldest

at this time, about ten years

he dispatched the young forester in the

night to obtain the required succor. stripling, apt as

The

frontier

he already was in the ways of

the wilderness, could not, however, elude the vigilant

besiegers,

and

being

taken

captive,

endeavored to destroy the hostile clan while assembled around the

fire,

by casting therein

whole stock of powder which he found a handkerchief.

tied

its

up in

Fortunately for the party, he was

detected in time to escape the disastrous explosion. If the

young Cresap was unable

to

blow up

24

was well nigh

his father's assailants, the

elder

doomed

had designed

to the fate his son

The

followers of Penn.

for the

besiegers finding that

they could not dislodge the stubborn Yorkshire-

man from

his lair,

determined

to set fire to

the

roof and thus to roast him out of his fortress

No

terms of capitulation were offered

Cresap disdained to ask his

life

;

and

!

as

at their hands,

he rushed to the door, and wounding the sentinel, escaped to his boat.

But

here, surrounded

by

superior numbers, he was seized, overpowered,

bound, and thrown into the as his captors

Susquehannah

skiff.

Nevertheless,

were conveying him across the in the

dark, he contrived, not-

withstanding his ligatures, to elbow one of the

guard into the water.

The

Pennites, in

the

darkness, mistaking their companion for Cresap, beset him, forthwith, with oars and poles, nor

was

it

and rich brogue

until the lusty cries

of the unfortunate Irishman undeceived them,

that bath.

he was

relieved from the

beating and the

Passing through Columbia to Lancaster,

Cresap was heavily manacled lifting his

;

but even then,

arms as soon as the work was done,

25

he smote the smith on the head with his ironed

hands and leveled him

to the ground.

Never-

he was effectually a prisoner and was

theless,

borne off in triumph to Philadelphia, where the streets, doors

and windows were thronged with

who

the Maryland monster,

spectators to see

taunted the crowd by exclaiming half in earnest half in derision

— " Why

:

in the Province of

Maryland

The Pennsylvanians of their

this is the finest city " !

at length

and audacious

sturdy

became weary guest, yet

he

would not depart until released by order of the king, after suffering probably more than a

confinement. 1

year's

In

meantime, his

the

family sought shelter in an Indian town on the

Codorus, near York, where

it

Finding his old

entertained until his return.

1

See Jacob's Life of Oresap,

details of these

border

was hospitably

p. 25.

difficulties,

will

The most complete be found in the

manuscripts and records preserved at Annapolis in the Maryland State library; in Rupp's History of York County, Pa.,

563

p.

547

to

p.

200

et seq.,

)

and

and

in

p.

Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania,

209

et seq.

of the second volume

;

in a

sketch of the boundary dispute and hostilities growing out of

it

from 1728

to

1737, betwixt Lord Baltimore and the

26

neighborhood too dangerous or disagreeable, he soon removed to a valuable farm at Antietam;

and

as

it

was a

advance of white

frontier post, in

population, he built, over a beautiful spring, a

stone house which was half dwelling and half fortress.

He

seems to have possessed the deserved con-

some of the most respectable families

fidence of

of Maryland;

commenced tal of

in

this

new

settlement, he

trading, partly on a borrowed capi-

£500 which he obtained from Mr. Dulany.

But unluckily to

for

his venture of skins

England, was

lost in a ship

and

captured by the

French, and he was thus compelled

world anew for the third time. heart did not

He

to begin the

Yet

his honest

under renewed misfortunes.

offered his land, consisting of about 1,400

Cresap was an

Penns.

proprietor,

and his Hist.

fail

furs, sent

ardent partisan of the Maryland

and acted with great vigor

lord's rights or

Penna

,

221.

demands.

in defense of his

See,

Gordon and Day are

also,

brief,

own

Gordon's

while Proud

is silent.

Cresap was released in consequence of an order

from

king in

the

refrain to

council

from further violence,

commanding both to

drop

all

parties

to

prosecutions, and

discharge their respective prisoners on bail/'

27 Dulany, in payment of his debt

acres, to

being thus

a spot, in what

is

at present

and

his worldly

stripped of nearly all

possessions, he removed, about

;

1742 or 1743,

Alleghany county,

Maryland, called Old-town, or as he pleased

name

it

— Skipton —

after

to

the

of

place

to

his

nativity in England, situated on the north fork,

a few miles above the junction of the north and 1 south branches of the Potomac.

Here

at length

he established his permanent home, and

finally

acquired by industry and perseverance a large

landed estate in the sides of the river in

About

this epoch,

neighborhood,

Maryland and

on both

Virginia.

he renewed his intimacy

with Washington, who always reposed confidence

and being known

and

skillful

woodsman, he was employed by the

parties

him

in

who

;

ill

pany.

we

find

as a bold

1748 formed the celebrated Ohio comThis association, among whose members

Lawrence Washington and

his brother

Augustine, received from the British king a grant

1

See Colden's History of the Five Nations, pp. 3 and 84-, See Philadelphia treaty of 1742, and Ca1755.

edition

nassateego's speech at the Lancaster treaty, 1744.

28

hundred thousand

of five chiefly

be taken

acres, to

on the south side of the Ohio, between the

Monongahela and Kanhawa Alleghanies. 1 to settle land,

on a large

The and

rivers,

west of the

object of the enterprise

to carry

was

on the Indian trade

But the French, alarmed by

scale.

advance of English pioneers,

this threatened

began immediately to extend a

line

of forts

along the Mississippi and Ohio, passing through a vast extent of territory claimed by Britain.

In spite of

all

Great

opposition, the English

grantees pursued their enterprise, and Col. Cre-

knowledge of the country and of pioneer

sap's life,

was of great

very

first

service to

them

in tracing the

road through the windings of the Alle-

ghanies.

As one

of their agents in that region,

he employed an Indian, named Nemacolin, to

mark tribes,

the road by the well

and

it is

well, that the

Washington's

trail

of the

said he performed his duty so

army pursued

Braddock marched

1

known

to the

the same route

west to dislodge the

Writings, vol. II, appendix

and 479, and appendix

vii.

when

vi,

pp.

478

29 French. 1

Colonel Cresap thus stationed on the

extreme outposts of

civilization,

became an im-

portant pioneer in the early development of the

west

;

nor did he cease,

to devote his

many

mind and hopes

years afterwards,

to those fine regions

which he saw the future grandeur of

in

his

When he had attained the patriarchal

country.

age of ninety, he conceived and digested a plan

1

Three quarters of a mile south of Frostburg, Alleghany

county, Maryland, in a belt of wood-land, and on or near the line of what

is

pointed

out

as

Braddoclcs road, I

saw, in October of 1858, a large, staunch old milestone, still

in excellent condition,

which

is

alleged,

by the people of

the neighborhood, to be a relic of ante-revolutionary times. It

is

to

be hoped that

monuments

it

will

be preserved as one of the few

of the olden-time remaining in that region.

copied the inscriptions on both sides of this stone

On

the rear

:

MILE

11

To

On

the front

:

Cumberland

FJ

Our

29 M! To Cap^ Smyth's

Inn

&

Bridge Big

Crossings

Road

to

The

best

Red Stone

Old Fort 64 M.

Country's Right

We

will defend.

I

iO

to explore as far west as the Pacific,

and nothing

but his advanced years prevented the accom-

plishment of an enterprise which he cherished

with the enthusiasm of an early borderer.

The

grants to the English

company not only

caused the French to establish their line of but, as

is

well known, resulted in a

forts,

war which

The Indians

retarded the advance of civilization.

were roused, and desolated the border. at his extreme frontier settlement

Cresap,

among

the

Alleghany mountains, held a most dangerous post; but

his

was an

eagle's nest,

fit

for a bold

and he would not willingly desert

spirit,

When

it

it.

hotly pressed by the savage foe he fought

way

to

Conococheague, and having placed his

family in safety, did not remain an idle spectator

while ruin threatened the infant settlements on the head waters of the Potomac.

swarmed with the savage

The country

guerrilleros of those

days, and the hardy woodsman, adopting the

Indian fashion of the times, took the war path

with his own band and children, and struck the foe

on several occasions at the western foot of

the Savage mountain, where his son

Thomas

31 fell

by an Indian's

ball,

and at Negro mountain

where a gigantic African, who belonged party, bequeathed his

towering

in death to the

In these fights Michael Cresap

cliffs.

obtained his

name

his

to

first

lessons in Indian warfare.

After these early border conflicts were over,

although he was sometimes afterwards harassed

by the savages, the veteran pioneer reposed at his homestead, respected

He was

quieter days.

a

and honored until

man

of vigorous

mind

and body, and although his early education had been neglected, there are testimonials of his skill

both in composition, surveying, and even

handwriting, in the possession of our Maryland Historical Society,

man

which would do honor

of better birth

and

opportunities.

age of seventy he visited England

;

1

to a

At

the

and, while

in

London was commissioned by Lord Baltimore

to

run the western 1

No. is

line of

Maryland, in order to

In the Gilmor MSS., Maryland Papers, 8, in the possession of the

vol. I, article

Maryland Historical Society,

the following original letter from

Colonel

Cresap,

in

which we have an interesting account of one of the Indian raids in 1763.

It

is

written in a firm and formal hand, and

32

which of the two branches of the

ascertain

Potomac was, would do credit

The

in reality, the fountain

much more

one of

to

"

On

clerkly reputation.

on the outside:

letter is thus addressed

head of

his Lordship's Service

—

:

To " His Excellency Horatio Sharpe, Esquire, in

" To be

forwarded by Express.

Annapolis.

} )

and endorsed »

From

Col. Cresap,

"

"

May

it

:

15 July, 1763."

Old Town, July

15th, 1763.

Please your Excellency

" I take

this opportunity in the

highth of Confusion

to

acquaint you with our unhappy and most wretched Situation at this time,

being

Hourly Expectation of being massa-

in

cred by our Barberous and

Inhumane Enemy

we having been three days Viz

the 13, 14 and this Instant.

:

shocking some wheat in the as they

ance;

came

— on

about 16 the

to

do

it

men who were

entrance

of

wounded some

On the

13th as 6

sitting

a great Quantity of

to their assist-

fired at

and walking under a Tree

about

100 yards

from

at

my

by the white men, who much

of them, they Immediately

followed by the white

men were

5 Indians firing on them

Indians crept up to and fired on

my Lane

House, but on being

field

and others Running

the 14th 5

the Indians,

successivly attacked by them,

men about

Run

a mile all

Blood on the Ground.

off

and were

which way was

The white men

got 3 of their Bundles, containing sundry Indian Implements

and Goods.

About

3

Hours

after several

the woods, on which a party went in

found 3 Braves Killed by them.

guns were

fired in

Quest of them and

The Indians wounded one

33

map

His

the stream.

Maryland

possession of the

man

of this survey

at their first fire tho'

to a

On

this Instant as

house of his about 300 yards

men and

Distant from mine with 4

Historical Society,

but Slightly.

Mr. Saml. Wilder was going

in the

is

women, the Indians

several

rushed on them from a rising Ground, but they perceving

them coming, Run towards being heard by those

my

at

my House

hollowing, which

house, they run to their assist-

my

ance and. met them and the Indians at the Entrance of lane, on

which the Indians Immdiately

amount of 18

or

fired

on them to the

Twenty and Killed Mr. Wilder

;

— the party

men Returned their fire and killed one of them dead on the Spot and wounded severall of the others as of white

appeared by Considerable Quantity of Blood strewed on the

Ground

as they

Run

off,

which they Immdiately

by their leaving behind them 3 Gunns, one dry other Empleinents of warr &c. &c.

pistole,

did,

Women

" I have Inclosed a List of the Desolate men,

and Children who have

fled to

my

house which

is

and

and Sun-

Inclosed

by a small stockade for safety, by which you'll see what a number of poor Souls, destitute of Every necessary of Life are

here penned up and likely to

Immdiate Relief and unless from the to

method

for

have

be Butchered without

and can

Expect none,

province to which they Belong.

I shall

your wiser Judgement the Best and most Effectual

submit

shall

assistance,

Such Relief and it

in

shall

Conclude with hoping we

time." " I

am Honorable

Sir

Your Obedt. serv

THOS. CRESAP" " P. S. those Indians

are part of that

who

attacked us this day

body which went southward by 5

this

way

34 and, together with his report, has been used

by

our legislature in the boundary discussion with Virginia.

1

In 1770, after his return from England, George

Washington

visited Colonel Cresap at his

Town settlement,

Old

in order to learn the particulars

of the Walpole grant on the Ohio

and, as the

;

future general of our armies returned from his

examination of lands on the rivers of the west,

spring which

is

known by one

of the gunns

we got

from them/'

The Maryland Gazette

of July 21, 1763, informs us

that the colonel was not yet cut off by the savages, though

feared he will be if not quickly relieved.

it is

story

men were

The above

Subsequent statements show that ten

repeated.

is

sent to assist Cresap.

Maryland Papers, vol. I, &c, connected with the Tuning of the division line between Maryland and Pennsylvania" is the original autograph map made by Col. Cresap, in the neat style of a good country surveyor, and sent by him to 1

In

the

Gilmor

MSS.,

Portfolio of " Surveys,

Governor Sharpe.

many

other

It

of the

letters,

came

Mr. Gilmor's possession with

to

Ridout Papers, and

is

attested

Horatio Ridout, whose father was Sharpe's secretary.

was the frst map ever made

to

show the course

by

This

r.nd fountains

of the north and south branches of the Potomac river, in

regard

to

which there has been

Maryland and Virginia.

so

much

controversy between

35

he again tarried

for the

night in the humble

He had

dwelling of the old pioneer. 1

thus

acquired the respect and confidence, not only of

the Lord Proprietor of this Province, and of

Washington, but was generally known in Maryland, Virginia, far-seeing less

and Pennsylvania,

daring or of cruelty

him; even the well,

No

and hospitable man.

Indians

an energetic,

as

deed of need-

recorded

against

who knew

his rifle

is

When

esteemed him cordially.

Nemacolin

departed for the mountains of Cumberland, he

whom

The savages with

son in Cresap's care.

left his

he had dealt so fiercely

demanded,

when

necessity

as they went, during his latter years,

past his house on their hunting expeditions, were

always welcomed and entertained.

huge

and

ladle,

Indian 1

2

ox,

and they, in turn compli-

his hospitality

by bestowing on him the

title

of the Big Spoon. 2

Washinytons Writings, vol

of Tour

a

kettle prepared expressly to feast

them with a whole mented

He had

to the

Ohio

IT, pp.

Jacob's Life of Capt. Michael

Md., 1828.

516 and 533.

Journal

river.

The Rev. John

phical sketch of the

life

Crcsap.

J. Jacob,

of Captain

by

Cumberland,

whom

this biogra-

Michael Cresap was

36

At

He

the age of eighty he married a second time.

Scotia, at

Nova

the British possessions, near

visited

one hundred, and died at the age of

one hundred and six

Such was the father of

!

Captain Michael Ckesap whose name has been

doomed most unjustly

to disgrace, as that of a

murderer, by Mr. Jefferson's adoption of the

false-

hood contained in a miscalled Indian speech. written, entered the store and was engaged in the western

trading concerns of Captain Cresap, from the age of fifteen.

This was about the year 1772.

He

was entrusted with the

management and settlement of valuable ventures sent by the captain to Redstone Old Fort, or Brownsville, during the Indian war of 1774. out,

When

the revolutionary conflict broke

and after Cresap's death on the 18th of October, 1775,

Jacob remained

for a while with the hero's family; but, in

July, 1776, he entered the militia as an ensign, and subse-

quently obtained a lieutenant's commission in the regular

army with which he continued during five campaigns, until the winter of 1781. In this year he married the widow of Capt. Michael Cresap, his old employer and thus, becoming pos:

sessed of

all

his papers,

and history during a

and being intimate with his motives close

personal intercourse, he was

fully enabled as well as entitled, to vindicate the

memory

of

his departed friend.

Later in

life

he was known as an esteemed clergyman of

the Methodist Episcopal church, who, for

many years,

resided

and finally died, as a local minsiter in Hampshire county, Virginia.

Since the

first

publication of this narrative,

Mr John

J.

Michael, the youngest son of the pioneer,

whose biography

I

part of Frederick

have sketched, was born

which

Alleghany county in June, 1742.

is

in a

now comprised

this state,

in

on the 29th

In those early days there were no

seminaries of learning in that remote region

and Michael was sent

a school in Baltimore

to

county, under the charge of Rev. Mr. Craddock.

A

wild mountain boy from the wilderness, he

had, at

first,

but few friends among the eastern

pupils

yet,

with the usual success of courage

;

and generosity he soon fought

his

the good graces of his schoolmates.

way

into

But the

were uncongenial to

restraints

of school

his habits,

and flying from

life

his preceptor, he tra-

versed alone the one hundred and forty miles Jacob, of Romney, Virginia, has informed

me by

letter,

dated

July 1G, 1851, that his father did not leave the army as a tenant but as captain. " he

won

his

" done to his

He

adds

:

" It

is

lieu-

a small matter, but as

way by his sword and integrity, let justice be memory; and I know the old 6th Regt, Mary-

land Line, would heartily assert his claim." MS. Letter. On the original rolls of the members of the Cincinnati Society of Maryland, deposited with the Maryland Historical Society,

John

J.

county,

Jacob

is

entered as a Lieutenant, from Washington

Md who resigned ,

and three months

service.

in

January, 1781, after four years

38

The

between Mr. Craddock's and his home. colonel,

old

however, did not sanction the conduct of

the truant, but, believing in the virtue of the rod,

and the necessity of of education, flogged

filial

him

severely,

back to his teacher, with

mained

until his studies

Soon

obedience as well as

whom

and sent him

he steadily

re-

were finished.

after leaving school,

he married a Miss

Whitehead, of Philadelphia, and the young

pair,

almost children, departed to the mountains to enjoy, as the romantic striplings probably supposed, love in a cottage in a

little frontier village

near his father's dwelling among the the

colonel

idleness,

trader.

and

hills.

would not countenance at once established

a

But

life

of

Michael as a

Trade, in those days and neighborhoods,

was often a

perilous business in the

inexperienced

men and young ;

Cresap,

hands of

who

im-

ported largely from London, and dealt with the

utmost

liberality, so often

found his confidence

misplaced, that in the course of a few years he

was nearly ruined.

Notwithstanding his kind-

ness and honorable deportment, he seems to have

had enemies, or

at least extremely suspicious

39

watchers of his

The agent

acts.

merchant, from

whom

of the

London

he received his goods in

America, reported to his principal in England, that Michael

was a doubtful character, and

might probably remove

to

some parts of the

western wilds where he would be out of the reach of the law.

The consequence

of this report

was

the immediate withdrawal of the young trader's

customary supplies

;

but, as soon as Michael

able to trace the slander to it

directly

its

was

source, he charged

upon the London agent, and the con-

troversy ended in a violent personal conflict in

a private room in Fredericktown.

Cresap was thus compelled, both by the blow

which

his credit

had received and

his

experience

among

business.

Yet hope did not desert him.

bitter

his customers, to curtail his

The

population which had gathered around this frontier settlement,

began, under the temptations of

the west, to flow off towards the active temper

"

Ohio.

His

and promptness soon decided him.

Urged by necessity

as well as

by a laudable

ambition, and allured by the rational and exhilarating prospect before him, he

saw or thought

40 he saw, in the rich bottoms of the Ohio, an ample fund, if he succeeded in obtaining a lands, not only to

him from

difficulty,

competency "

redeem

his credit

title to

those

and extricate

but to afford a respectable

for his rising family.

Under

impression, and

this

with

every

rational prospect of success, early in the year

men

1774, he engaged six or seven active young at the rate of

£2

10s. per

month, and repairing

to the wilderness of the Ohio,

commenced the

business of building houses and clearing lands

and, being this

among

the

first

adventurers

;

into

exposed and dangerous region, he was ena-

bled to select some of the best and richest of the

Ohio

levels."

1

After the Indian and French wars and the treaty

made by Bouquet,

land, Virginia,

the attention of Mary-

and Pennsylvania

settlers,

had

been attracted to the great trans- Alleghanian region watered by the Monongahela, the Ohio,

Kanawha,

1

the Scioto, the Cheat and their

Jacob's Life of Cresap,

p.

49.

afflu-

41

Companies had been formed and lands

ents.

granted.

The

outposts, the scouts

of civilization, were fixed

Fort

all

ers

along the streams.

Du Quesne had become

the British

Fort

Wheeling was a

flag.

and pickets

Pitt,

station

under ;

and,

along the river, there were spots where trad-

and farmers had

settled, or

neighborhoods

gathered for mutual protection around blockhouses, forts and stockades.

In this society,

laudably engaged in repairing his fortune and preparing for that of his young family, I shall leave Michael Cresap early in the year 1774,

and carry you

for a short

time to another and

perhaps more romantic scene among the

hills

and valleys of the Susquehannah.

Indian history and especially Indian biogra-

phy must always resemble the

pictorial sketches

of the Indians themselves, who,

by a few rude

etchings on a rock, a few bold dashes on the skin of a buffalo or scratches on the bark of a birchtree, record the

recall

outlines

which

may

serve to

an event, though they can only comme-

morate a character by inferences. 6

Their story

is

42 but a skeleton; and hard, indeed,

which attempts

the task

the dry and dusty

clothe

to

is

make

the restored being

bones with

flesh, or to

move with

at least the semblance of real

Their theatre

is

the forest

;

their

home

a

life.

camp

their only architecture a cabin or a perishable

tent

;

their only

permanent and consecrated

ing place the grave

A

!

solitary

and dangerous

people, almost without a record, they

flit

shadows through the wilderness of wood,

and mountain

;

now

here,

recesses of the valleys;

transient as

horror

;

marks cruelty

now gone free

rest-

as

like

prairie

in the

dim

the deer, or

phantoms of mingled romance and

but generally inscribing their wild, red

in the

memory

and blood

of white

men by deeds of

alone.

In the early days of Pennsylvania the valley of the

Susquehannah was assigned by the Six

Nations as a hunting ground for the Shawanese, Conoys, Nanticokes, Monseys, and Mohicans;

and Shikellamy, or

as

he was called by the

Moravians, Shikellemus, a chief sent by those nations to preside over a tribe, dwelt at Shamo-

43 kin,

1

an Indian village of about

fifty

houses and

nearly three hundred persons, built on the broad

banks of the Susquehannah, on a beautiful

level

hills

both above and

Compare Minutes of Council Aug.

12, 1731, Braincrd's

site,

1

with high ranges of

Journal, and visit

Shamokin. Brainerd

to

Speaking of his

Loskiel, part 2d, p. 119.

says, " about one half of its

inhabitants are Delawares, the others called Senekas and Loskiel, part 2d, p. 119, speaks of Shikellemus

Tutelas."

as " the first magistrate

and head chief of

the Iroquois

all

Indians on the banks of the Susquehanuah as far as Onondago."

kin"

And

in the

is called,

same work, part 2d,

treaty of 1742, Shikellemus

place he represented

is

:

p.

"ShamoAt the

was present, but what

tribe or

not stated; there were also in attend-

ance, several " Delawares of

Pennsylvania,

91

p.

" a town belonging to the Iroquois."

Shamokin."

Gordon, History

250, alludes to the Delawares of Shamokin.

In 1744, Conrad Weiser was sent

to

Shamokin

to inquire

murder of John Armstrong, an Indian trader and his two servants, Woodworth Arnold and James Smith, alleged to have been committed by some of the Shamokin band of into the

Delawares.

He

delivered his message " to

the Delaware

chief Allumpoppies and the rest of the Delaware Indians, in the presence of

Nations."

Shikellamy and a few more of the Six

— Rupp's History of Northumberland, Huntington,

Mifflin, etc., etc., Counties,

It

is

Pennsylvania,

p.

86.

probable that Shikellamy presided over the Iroquois,

only, who settled at Shamokin, and, perhaps, over the Tutelas, who seem to have been incorporated into the Six Nations. Gallatin's Synopsis, Trans. Am. Antq. Soc, vol. II, pp.

75, 81.

Draper

MSS.

44 below

affording magnificent views of the pic-

it,

turesque valley in whose lap the modern Sunbury is

of Logan,

"

This Shikellamy, the father

quietly nestled. is

alleged

Frenchman born

by Bartram in

to

have been a

Montreal, Canada, but

adopted by the Oneidas after being taken soner."

pri-

*

When

Count Zinzendorf, on the 28 th of Sep-

tember, 1742, accompanied by Conrad Weiser,

two Indians, brother Mack and wife, after a tedious transit

ness

on

through the wilder-

their journey of Christian love, entered

this beautiful vale of

the

his missionary

first to

Shamokin, Shikellamy was

step forth to

welcome them, and,

after

the exchange of presents, to promise his aid as

1

There

is

some curious information

in

my

possession in

regard to the nativity of this Shikellamy, the father of Logan,

showing that he was

a

Frenchman from Montreal, and

sequently that the famous Logan was not a Indian.

It is

" Observations

found in an excessively rare on

the Inhabitants,

Productions, Animals,

and

Climate,

con-

full

blooded

tract,

entitled

Soil,

other Matters worthy

Rivers,

of Notice,

made by John Bartram, in his Travels from Pennsilvania to Onondago, Oswego and the Lake Ontario in Canada, to whichis annex' d a curious Account of the Cataracts of Nig ar a by Peter Kalm, a Sweedish Gentleman who traveled there, London 1751. " In this journey Bartram was accompanied

45

among

a chief in fostering the religion of Christ

the

But when David Brainerd

tribe.

Indian village, three years

after,

visited the

he found that

the seed dropped by the Moravians had fallen

on

barren

He was

places.

kindly received

and entertained by the Indians, yet neither

his

request nor the illness of one of the tribe could

induce them to forego their wild and noisy revels. " Alas," exclaims the journalist, "

how

destitute

of natural affection are these poor uncultivated

pagans, although they seem kind in their

way

!

Of a

truth, the

dark corners of the earth

*****

are full of the habitations of cruelty.

The Indians

of this place are accounted the

most drunken,

mischievous,

by Lewis Evans, the geographer interpreter 10,

1743

:

;

and,

;

and

ruffian-like

Conrad Weiser, the Indian

from Shamohin, by Shikellamy.

we departed

in the

his son, he being the chief

of Delaware Indians

j

man

of the town which consisted

he was of the Six Nations, or rather

after being taken prisoner ; but his son told

the Cayuga, nation

—

that of his

mother

among

as

bringing up

falls

fall to

cattle,

since the

on her; therefore

her share."

the Oneidoes

me

he was of

— agreeable

Indian rule, partus sequitur ventrem, which

among them

"July

morning with Shickellamy and

a Frenchman born at Montreal, and adopted by

children

own

is

to the

as reasonable

whole burden of

in case of separation

— Observations,

fyc, p. 17.

the

16 fellows in these parts his seat in this

town

;

and Satan seems

in an

to

have

eminent manner

The Six Nations used Shamokin

"

1

as a conve-

nient tarrying place for their war parties against

the southern Catawbas

;

sionaries visited them,

were desirous

and, soon after the mis-

blacksmith from the white

would reside permanently

to

have a

who

settlements,

in their village,

and

save their long journeys from the mountains to

The governor of

Tulpehocken or Philadelphia.

the province allowed the request, provided the

smith should continue only as long as the Indians

remained friendly

to the

English

;

and the Mora-

vians, availing themselves of the opportunity,

dispatched a staunch brother

named Anthony

Schmidt, from their mission at Bethlehem, who, doubtless, in the intervals of his

repairing the savages' antidote, to edify

horrors

rifles,

business of

was enabled,

as

an

them with a sermon on the

of war.

opened the way

The blacksmith, however, for

the

establishment of a

Moravian mission at Shamokin in 1747, under

1

Brainerd's Journal.

Day's Penn. Hist.

Coll., p.

525.

47 the charge of Brother Mack.

Bishop Camer-

hoff and the pious Zeisberger visited

it in

and, in the following year, Shikellamy

1748;

—

this

apparently virtuous chief over so boisterous,

drunken and roystering a is

—a

man who

many

embassies

tribe

reported to have performed

between the government of Pennsylvania and the Six Nations, as well as attended important councils

at

Philadelphia

— departed

Indian hunting grounds which sant prairies of grave.

the

spirit

lie

for

in the plea-

land beyond the

1

Unto

this personage, thus reared in a sort of

fear, love, or

admiration of the whites, but in

the midst of excessively bad associates scribed

by Brainerd

— was born

—

spicy rhetoric of a speech

Conrad Weiser, an

officer in

which

as de-

a second son,

celebrated in the annals of our country

1

the

first

by the

attracted

the Indian Department of

Pennsylvania, and the Moravians seems to have had great confidence in Shikellamy,

the whites.

Day's Penn. Hist. der's statement,

Virginia.

who probably

died a sincere friend of

For an account of his death and character, see Coll., p.

appendix

526.

No.

Losh'el. iv

Rev. J. Heck wel-

to Jefferson's

Notes on

48 the attention of Mr. Jefferson, and has since

been repeated by every American school boy as specimen of Indian eloquence and Indian

a

wrongs.

After Braddock's defeat in 1755, the whole wilderness from the Juniata to Shamokin, and

from the Ohio to Baltimore Town, was

filled

— murdering,

scalp-

with hostile Indian parties ing,

burning and destroying.

to notice

the breaking up

Shamokin and the

have not time

I

of the mission

slaughter

of

at

inoffensive

whites throughout the neighborhood, in which all

those

miscalled friendly tribes were

con-

cerned as soon as they were encouraged by the successes of the French

English.

and the

disasters of the

Their former professed Christianity,

or the forbearance of their chiefs, had, in all likelihood, been the effect of

tion or salutary fear.

During

Logan

this

epoch the son of Shikellamy

— who had been named

Voyages dans

sudden supersti-

1

la

it is

—

said for the

Haute Pennsylvanic, tome

III, chap, v

49 secretary of the province,

and loved,

1

whom his father knew

disappears from

the scene.

have few

historical or biographical

his early

life,

subject even

We

anecdotes of

nor does he in fact become the of a

legend until seventeen or

eighteen years after his father's death. 2

The Juniata breaking through of Jack's mountain,

end of

the

enters

the wild gap

southwestern

Mifflin county, Pennsylvania,

and mean-

dering through Lewistown valley, again strikes the mountains at the romantic gorge of the

Long

Narrows, between the Black Log and Shade mountains, at a

cleft

barely wide enough for

the river to pass, and, at bursts

1

through the

James Logan,

end, the stream

its

rocky

masses

of

Shade

the secretary, died in 1751.

Some early notices of the sons of Shikellamy and their Rupp's Hismay be found in the following writers tory of Dauphin, Cumberland. Franklin, &c, Counties, Pa., 2

deeds

:

Also Rupp's History of Northumberland County, pp. 92,119, 166. Rupp's History of Berks and Lebanon Counties, Pa., pp. 213, 41, 39Rupp's History of Northampton, Lehigh, &c, Counties, Pa., pp. 65, 319, 84, 259, 100, 316.

Loudon's NarKercheval's Valley of Va., p. 127. of Indian Wars, vol.11, p. 233 this passage describes Logan's personal appearance in 1765, and recounts an anecp.

103.

ratives

;

dote or two.

7

50 mountain.

Kishicoquillas

creek

is

never

a

romantic neighborhood, fed

failing flood in this

by the mountain springs surrounding a valley out of which

it

leaps at a deep ravine in Jack's

mountain, and enters the Juniata at LewisEarly settlements had been made in this

town.

attractive region, but

when

broke out, the inhabitants

the Indian troubles fled,

the years between 1765 and

nor was

it

until

1769, that they

began to return, and about that period, Judge

Brown, Samuel Milliken, McNitt, James Reed

and Samuel McClay, became the lers in the

earliest dwel-

charming valley of Kishicoquillas.

About a mile

or two above the deep and

tangled dell where the

stream passes Jack's

mountain, beside a beautiful limestone spring, at a spot tic,

which was

as solitary as it

was roman-

an Indian cabin had been built

vears.

for

many

As William Brown and James Reed,

two of the pioneers

whom

I

have named

as early

occupants of this region, had wandered one day out of the valley in search of springs and choice locations, like

all

they suddenly started a bear, and, foresters,

being provided with

rifles,

51 they immediately gave chase.

wounded

the

beast,

A

shot speedily

which retreating

to

the

higher ground led them onward in quest of their prey, until suddenly this beautiful spring, gush-

ing from

the hill-side, burst upon their sight.

Exhausted by a long and tedious hunt, the

woodsmen were more delighted

find

to

the

stream than the game, and immediately resting their rifles against trees, threw themselves on

But

the ground to drink.

as

Brown bent over

the clear mirror of the water, he beheld, on the opposite side, reflected in the limpid basin, the

shadow of a

stately Indian.

With

instinctive

energy he sprang to regain his weapon, while the Indian yelled, whether for peace or war he

was unable rifle

to

determine

and faced the

foe,

;

but as he seized his

the savage dashed open

the pan of his gun, and scattering the powder,

extended his open palm in token of friendship.

Both weapons were instantly grounded, and the

men who

a

moment

before

had looked on each

other with distrust, shook hands and refreshed

themselves from the brook.

For a week they

continued together examining lands,

seeking

52

and cementing a friendship which had

springs,

been so strangely commenced at a period when

"whoever saw an Indian saw an enemy, and the only questions that were asked, on either side,

were from the muzzles of their

The Indian

rifles."

apparition of the spring

was Lo-

gan, the son of Shikellamy, a solitary Indian

no

chief,

on

his

but a wanderer sojourning for a while

way

Logan

to the west.

is

well

1

remembered and favorably

described in the legends of this valley, for he

was

often visited in his

Upon one

occasion,

at the spring

which

camp by

the whites.

when met by Mr. McClay is

even now known by his

name, a match was made between the white and red

man

to shoot at a

mark

In the encounter, Logan

for a dollar a shot.

lost four or five

and acknowledged himself beaten. whites were leaving the to his cabin,

dell,

and bringing

as

2

rounds,

When

the

the Indian went

many

deer skins

1 Day's Hist. Coll. of Penn., p. 464, et. seq. Pittsburgh Daily American, 1842. American Pioneer, vol. I, p. 188.

2

site

Day's

Coll. ,

ut supra, p. 466, for a description of the

of this spring.

53

had

as he

handed them

lost dollars,

McClay, who refused the

to

Mr.

peltries, alleging that

he and his friends had been Logan's guests, and

would not rob him,

for the

match had been

merely a friendly contest of

and nerve.

skill

But the courteous waiver would not

He drew

savage. nity,

me

himself up with great dig-

and said in broken English

make you

take your dollars

friend,

me

shoot your best;

was obliged

" Me bet to

:

gentleman, and

So McClay

beat!"

if nle

take the

to

satisfy the

skins or affront his

whose sense of honorable dealing would

not allow hirn to receive even a horn of powder in return.

1

Deer hunting, dressing the skins and

them

1

to the

whites, seem to have been

Letter of K. P.

McClay

in

i,

114, 115, 188.

Logan was described a remarkably tall

strong

as a

At

a

p.

American

467.

mature period of his

very fine looking

man and

man

:

"

any man." of him.

life,

He was

considerably above six feet high,

and well proportioned; of a brave, open, manly

countenance, and, to appearance, would not be afraid

et seq.,

the

Pittsburgh Daily American

of 1842, and in Penn. Hist. Coll. by Day,

Pioneer, pp.

selling

See Loudon's Indian Narratives,

for this description

to

vol. II. p.

meet 223,

and some interesting anecdotes

54 chief employments of

Logan

the means of his livelihood.

and

at this period,

Upon one

he had sold a quantity to a

tailor

occasion

named De

Yong, who dwelt in Furguson's valley below

Buckskin small clothes were in those

the gap.

days in demand among the frontier as

among the

silver or

fops,

as well

and when

paper money was scarce, barter was

mode

the customary

communities. received his

which,

and the

soldiers

men

of trade in those simple

Logan, according to agreement,

pay from the

when taken

tailor

in

wheat,

the mill, was found so

to

worthless that the miller refused to grind

But

law and the ministers

already found their

way

this time

to his friend

him

Brown,

had been honored with the

commission of a magistrate. questioned

had

into the secluded valley,

and the Indian appealed

who by

of justice,

it.

as

to

the

When

the judge

character of

the

fraudulent grain, Logan sought in vain to find

words

to express

the precise character of the

material with which said

it

it

was adulterated, but

resembled the wheat

itself.

have been cheat" said the judge.

"It must

"Yoh!"

55 exclaimed the Indian, " that's very good name for

"

him

!

and forthwith a decision was given

in

Logan's favor and a writ presented for the constable,

which, he was

money

told,

But the untutored

buckskins.

for his

would produce the

too uncivilized to be dishonest, could

Indian,

what magic

not comprehend by

this

fragment

of paper would force the reluctant tailor, against his will, to

down

his

pay

The judge took

for the skins.

commission

emblazoned

royal arms, and explained the

and operations of

civil law,

with the principles

first

after

which Logan

appeared to be better satisfied with the gentle operation of judicial process, and departed to try

its

effect

in his

" law very good

When

if it

own

make

behalf, exclaiming,

rogues pay

" !

one of Judge Brown's daughters was

just beginning to walk, her

mother expressed

sorrow that she could not obtain a pair of shoes to

give

more

firmness

Logan stood by but

to

her

infant

Soon after

said nothing.

he asked Mrs. Brown to allow the

steps.

little girl

to

spend the day at his cabin near the spring.

The

cautious heart of the mother

was some-

56

what alarmed by the

proposal, yet she

had

learned to repose confidence in the Indian, and trusting in the delicacy of his feelings, assented

proposal with

the

to

apparent

cheerfulness.

The day wore slowly away, and night

when her

But just

as

it

was near

one had not returned.

little

sun was setting the trusty

the

savage was seen descending the path with his

moment more

charge, and in a

was

the

little

one

in its mother's arms, proudly exhibiting on

her tiny feet a pair of beautiful moccasins, the product of Logan's I

1

skill.

have dwelt, perhaps tediously, upon these

simple incidents of Indian

and

frontier

life,

because they are the only ones I have been able to glean from the brief records of Logan's career, that exhibit

His

able light.

The

lonely,

shortly whites,

1

to

him

lot

simple,

come

in

to posterity in a favor-

was soon

to be

untutored violent

savage

conflict

who were " extending

changed.

was

with the

the area of free-

Narrative of Mrs. Norris, in Day's Penn. Hist. Coll

467.

,

p.

57

dom

"

;

and the

rest of his life

was checkered

with horrible crimes and maudlin regrets, dark

enough

to blur the

years.

According to the statement of Judge

gentle deeds of his early

Brown, Logan departed

to the

far-west

soon

after the occurrences I

have recounted, and he

never saw him more

but, in the language of

the

cordial

old

;

" he

pioneer,

was the

best

specimen of humanity, white or red, he ever encountered."

For a while, again, the curtain drops on our Indian

legend,

and

the

savage

behind the leaves of the forest

;

nor do

his trail again until the Rev. Mr.

when

disappears

we

find

Heckewelder,

living as a missionary at the

Moravian

town on the Beaver, about the year 1772, four or five

years after the events

narrated,

we have

just

was introduced by an Indian of that

neighborhood

to

Logan

as

the

son of

Shikellamy, the friend of the white

Moravians at Shamokin.

old

men and

The savage impressed

the missionary as a person of talents superior to Indians generally.

He

exclaimed against the

whites for the introduction of spirituous liquors

58

among

his people

spoke of gentlemen and their

;

had

true character, regretting that the tribes

unfortunately so few of this class for neighbors declared his intention

on the Ohio

to settle

where he might

below Big Beaver,

;

live

in

peace forever with the white men, but confessed to the missionary his unfortunate fondness for

At

the fire-water.

camped

that time

mouth

at the

Logan was en-

of Beaver, and in 1773,

when Heckewelder was journeying down Muskingum,

towards

Ohio

he

the

the

visited

Indian's settlement and received every civility

he could family It

ary,

who were

members

from the

expect at

home.

of

his

1

was about

this

time that another mission-

the Rev.

Dr.

David McClure, during a

visit to

Fort Pitt and the neighboring regions

of the Ohio,

Indians

met our

who were

hero,

and saw many other

in the habit of resorting to

the settlements for the sake of a drunken staggering

about

the

town.

1

Appendix No.

2

Wheelook's Narrative, 1772-73,

iv to Jefferson's

2

At

that

Notes on Virginia, p. 50.

frolic,

time

p.

46.

59

Logan was

still

remarkable

of his personal appearance.

Taii-gaii-jute,

was

Short Dress, for such

grandeur

for the

his

1

or

Indian name,

stood several inches more than six feet in height

he was straight as an arrow symmetrical in figure

manding

;

firm, resolute,

manly countenance he possessed

city.

2

now changed

After

for

and comopen, and

in feature; but the brave,

years was

and

lithe, athletic,

;

in his earlier

one of savage

tarrying and

preaching

fero-

nearly

three weeks at Fort Pitt, Dr. McClure, in the

summer

or

autumn

of 1772, set out for Muskin-

gum, accompanied by a Christian Indian interpreter.

the wayfarers

ure,

1

The second day

"

as his

after his depart-

unexpectedly encountered

The aged Seneca, Captain Decker,

told

me

that Logan's

Indian name was Tah-gah-jute, or Short Dress, and added that he was a very bad Indian.' " Lyman C. Draper, in

—

'

a letter to Brantz Mayer. 2

Compare Loudon's Nar. Indian Wars,

vol. II, p.

223,

and McClure and Parish's Memoirs of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock,

Newbury port, 1811,

p.

about 1765, McClure in 1772.

139.

Loudon describes him

His intemperate habits had

begun before the occurrence of the Yellow Creek tragedy in 1774, and, in 1772, he was already painted for war.

and equipped

60 Logan.

Painted, equipped for war, and accom-

panied by another savage, he lurked a few rods

from the path beneath a tree, leaning on his

rifle

nor did the missionary notice him until apprised

by the interpreter that Logan desired

McClure immediately rode

with him.

man

spot where the red

speak

to

to the

and asked what

stood,

For a moment Logan remained

he wished.

pale and agitated before the preacher, and then

pointing to his breast, exclaimed

Wherever

here.

sue me.

I go the evil

If I go

and the

into

are full

air

me by day and by to catch

of

full

lin

me, and throw

fire

" !

cabin

rifle,

They seem

me

into

to

want

a deep

pit,

In this strain of abrupt, maud-

he leant

skin,

and continued

devils.

is full

They haunt

musing, with the unnatural pallor

vading his

bad

the woods, the trees

of devils.

night.

feel

Manethoes pur-

my cabin, my

If I go into

of devils.

"I

:

to

a

while

still

per-

on

his

brood over the haunting

At length he broke

forth

with an

earnest appeal to the missionary as to

what he

McClure gave him

sensible

should do?

Dr.

and friendly advice

;

counseled him to reflect

Gl

him

his past life; considered

on

down by remorse

as

weighed

for the errors or cruelties of

past years, and exhorted

him

to that

sincere

penitence and prayer which would drive from

him the

Manethoes

evil

forever.

The clergyman departed on

1

his mission, nor

did he ever hear of the Indian again until after

deeds

bloody

the

The

recounted.

had begun

which

will

be

hereafter

men

fire-water of the white

to do its deadly

work upon

the

all

elements of a noble character in this untutored savage.

I

must again

shift the scenery of

and return once more

who had gone early

in

the

to our

our stage

Maryland

settler,

out with his band to the Ohio,

although

spring of 1774,

it

is

unquestionable that he had previously visited that region

for

the

purpose of trading,

and

locating land.

On an 1

elevated and

Wheelock's Memoirs,

commanding bank on

ut ante, p.

139, &c.

debted for this reference and anecdote to C. Draper,

who

has kindly furnished

it

my

tome

I

friend in

MS.

am inLyman

62 the east side of the Monongahela, about seventy

above Pittsburgh, there were at that

miles

remains of one of those

period the

ancient

works, which, in consequence of the military displayed in the selection of their

skill

site

and

arrangement of their walls or parapets, have been regarded as Indian

forts.

They

are

among

the

evidences of the supposed civilization of

the

races

anterior

who

to

inhabited the western

the present tribes, and of

even the legends are

lost.

On

valleys

whom

the northwest

of the one at present under consideration, the river

Monongahela rushed along the base of the

hill;

on the northeast and south were deep

ravines, while,

on the

east, a flat

was spread

out across which an approach could easily be Several acres were enclosed within

detected.

the works, and hard by were springs of excellent water.

This

is

the

site

of the town of Brownsville,

the head of the steam navigation of the Mississippi valley, nearest the eastern

mountains, and

the spot, even at that early day, to which the

main

trail

over the Alleghanies was directed.

It

03

became an

attractive place to the whites as

had evidently been

to the savages, as

it

we may

judge from the ingenious works with which they fortified

as

it.

This post,

Red- Stone Old

known

Fort,

in border history

became the rallying

point of the pioneers and was familiar to

an early

settler as his place of

embarkation

the " dark and bloody ground."

of the west, Michael Cresap,

tives Cresap is

brave,

whom we is

left to

connected

In those narra-

spoken of as remarkable

adventurous disposition, and

credit for often rescuing the whites

notice of the savages'

for

In the legends

sketch the biography of Logan,

with this Indian stronghold.

many

for his

awarded

by a timely

approach, a knowledge

of which he obtained by unceasing vigilance

over their movements.

This

fort

was frequently

Cresap's rendezvous as a trader, and thither he resorted with his people, either to interchange

views and adopt plans for future action, or for repose in quieter times lulled

into inaction,

temporarily buried. great

conviviality.

when

the red

men were

and the tomahawk was These

were periods of

The days were spent

in

64

sturdy

recounted

logs,

adventures, or

if,

evening,

around

their

the

a

fire

hair-breadth

perhance, a violin or jewsharp

was possessed by the introduced,

the

in

bivouacked

foresters,

huge

of

and,

exercises,

athletic

foresters, it

was certainly

and the monotony of the camp

broken by a boisterous stag-dance. Michael Cresap discovered at that early day

would become exceedingly

that this location

valuable as emigrants flowed in and the country

was gradually opened.

Accordingly, he took

measures to secure a Virginia

hundred what,

at

acres,

embracing the

that time,

improvement.

Not

ling a few trees

mined his

was

title to

several

fortification,

called

by

a tomahawk

content, however, with gird-

and blazing others, he deter-

to ensure his purpose; and, in order that

act

and intention might not be miscon-

strued, he built a house of hewed Jogs with a

shingle-roof nailed on,

been the

first edifice

which

is

believed to have

of this kind in that part of

our great domain west of the mountains.

We

are not possessed of data to fix the precise year

of this erection, but

it

is

supposed

to

have

65

The

occurred about 1770.

was retained

many

in Cresap's family for

but was finally disposed of

Thomas and Maryland.

the property

title to

Basil

the

to

years,

brothers

Brown, who emigrated from

1

We now

approach the

of our

scene

final

Cresap in

sketch in the valley of the Ohio.

had departed

his last expedition to the west,

from Maryland, as I have already related, early 1774,

in

river,

order

in

to

open

and was accompanied by hired

But an Indian war was soon

to

which, in the history of the west,

known by

the

name

of this

Cresap's war, and sometimes earl of

is

the

laborers.

break out

sometimes

Marylander, as

by that of the

Dunmore, who was then governor of

Virginia.

Yet

savage

this

the earl

commanded

stalk, a

Shawanese

probably a

1

on

farms

very

MS. of James

L.

conflict,

in

which

the Virginians, and Corn-

chief, led the Indians,

different

origin

Bowman, published

from

in the

had that

American

Pioneer in 1843, and subsequently reprinted in Day's Perm. Hist, Coll., p. 341, et seq.

9

66

which we

shall hereafter see

ascribed to

it,

and

in

was erroneously

which Michael Cresap was

unjustly supposed to have acted so bloody a part.

During the

the

subsequent to

years

ten

made by Bouquet,

the gradual advance

of the whites to the west

had been a constant

treaty

source of alarm to the Indians.

acknowledged

boundary

Every year confused more and more.

There was no

between

and

the

confounded

Collisions

races.

them

and violent

dis-

putes were the natural and necessary results.

Crimination and recrimination followed.

white

men

The

introduced his fire-water, and the

Indian learned to love did he regret the

mad

its

wild delirium, nor

revels,

and even the

murders in which he participated while under its

influence.

The savage and

stantly encountered distrust.

the settler con-

each other with mutual

The town and the farm were

to rise

and spread out over the war path and hunting ground.

The

ments of

civilization,

slow, eager, resistless encroach-

brought the two uncon-

07 genial and incongruous races, face to face, in contact,

and the

to fan into conflagration

dered

iu

was

slightest breath

the

fire

sufficient

that smoul-

the hearts of each.

Besides

this,

there had been no scrupulous

on the part of

fulfillment of Bouquet's treaty

the Indians; and I

am

informed by one of our

ablest border historians

and

scholars,

that in

these ten years of nominal peace, but in truth,

of quasi war, more lives were sacrificed along

the western frontiers than

during the whole

outbreak of 1774, including the battle of Point Pleasant. 1

In order that I

may

not be

supposed to

allege these Indian exasperations carelessly, I will state, as I believe it to be unquestionable

history, that the Shawanese, failing to

comply

with the treaty of 1764, did not deliver their white captives, and barely acquiesced sullenly

some

in

articles of

Six Nations. 1

MS.

letter

compact, by

command

The Red-Hawk,

of the

a Shawanese

2

from Lyman C. Draper.

~Les Indiens disent Shawanahaac

;

plusieurs fois a quelques uns d'entreux.

je

l'ai

fait repeter

Nos ancetres par

68 Colonel Bouquet with impunity,

chief, insulted

and an Indian

killed the colonel's servant

next day after peace was made.

the

wanton murder being disregarded gave

rise

on

This

at the time,

immediately to several outrages.

In the following year individuals were slain

New

by the savages on

some men employed

River, and soon after,

in the service of

company were waylaid and journey to

Illinois,

killed

Wharton's on

while their goods were plun-

dered and borne off bv the robbers. after this outrage, a

number

of

Sometime

men employed

in slaughtering cattle for Fort Chartres, slain,

and their

ments carried

their

rifles,

were

blankets and accoutre-

to the Indian villages.

All these

brutal wrongs were unredressed, and although

the Shawanese are not supposed to have been

only perpetrators of the bloody cruelties,

the

yet, unresisting submission to such enormities

seems to have been a mistaken policy in an age in

which the law of revenge, or of prompt,

defaut d'attention, out ecrit Shawanee, et leurs descendans

out suivi

1788,

vol.

cet

IV,

example. p.

— Recherches

153, note.

sur

les

Etats

Uhis,

09

compulsory obedience was the only code com-

prehended by the savages.

power had become

Before our military

and especially

strong,

in its

dawn

in the west, the tribes supposed all to be

feeble

and necessarily submissive who did not

resist,

and non-resistance, of

mischief.

They measured

course,

us

standard of savage morality

by

produced only

their

— revenge;

a law

bloody indeed, but which the honest historian

is

forced to regard in considering the early years

of nations, especially

unprotected white

when

the Indian and the

man come

first

in contact,

and when perhaps the moral grade and the surrounding circumstances of both races are properly considered.

In order to judge history

must endeavor

justly, to

he who writes

make himself

of the time he describes.

He

is

a

man

unfair, if

he

decides on the events of the eighteenth century

by the standards of the nineteenth.

It

would

no doubt be considered infamous in Massachusetts,

killed,

at the

yet

present day,

it is

if

an Indian were

recorded, that in the early part

of the last century, the general court of the

70 province offered a bounty of

The

Indian's scalp.

cruel

£100

for

every

murders almost daily

committed by the barbarians upon the defensefrontier inhabitants, originated

less

and were

held to justify this enactment; and in one of the

bloody onslaughts of the

Massachusetts

men

against the savages, forty white warriors returned to Boston

with ten scalps extended on hoops in

and demanded

Indian

style,

;

;

71.

Pittsburgh, 13.

Point Pleasant, battle of, 118. Preston, Col. William, 110 letter from, 10th September, 1774, as to Indian murders, 110, note ; MSS. of Col. Preston in possession ;

of Mr.

Lyman

Red Hawk, Red

the, a

C. Draper, 111, note.

Shawanese, insults Col Bouquet,

Stone, Old Fort, etc., 61,

62

;

now

68.

Brownsville, 13; deception of

rallying point,

etc.,

its site,

of pioneers, 63.

Reed, James, adventure with Logan, 50. Richards and Russell, and others, slain near Cumberland Gap, 73. Rives, Mrs. W. C, her Tales and Souvenirs, 135, note. Roberts, John, family murdered, 111 letter to Cresap left on the premises by Logan, 112. ;

Robinson, William, attacked by Logan and his war party, 107

adopted by the Indians, writes a

letter for

Logan,

109.

203 Robinson, Rev. William, Jr., letter to cerning Logan's speech, etc., 191.

Sappington, John, 104, 105

he

;

his account of the

the

is

J.

man who killed

W.

Biddle, Esq., con-

Yellow creek massacre, McKee's

Logan's brother

;

certificate, 105, note.

Schmidt, Anthony, the blacksmith, sent from the Mission at

Bethlehem

to

Shamokin,

46.

Settlements, the limits of the early, 14.

Seward, William H., Hon., secretary of of

Brown and

state, verifies the letters

Clark, as to the Jefferson and Cresap con-

troversy, as taken from the originals in the

ment, 160. Shamokin, Indian

village, site of, etc., 43, el note ;

State Depart-

modern Sun-

bury. the, fail to comply with the treaty of 1764, 67 their name, 67, note ; their murders and robberies, 72 their hunting ground assigned, 42. Shikellamy, chief of a tribe at Shamokin, 42 alleged to be a Frenchman of Canada, 44, note ; what he presided over, 43, note ; notices of his sons and their deeds, 49, note. Sinclair, Arthur, letter to Gov. Penn, 106. Smith, Devereux, to Dr. Smith, letter, 93, note. Smith, James, 43, note.

Shawanese,

;

;

;

Speech, Logan's, 122, 123, characterized. Spier's, 72; family

murdered, 110,

Stag-dances and pioneer frolics at

note.

Red Stone Old

Fort, 64.

Stone, William L., Life of Brant, 141.

Stroud,

Adam,

wife and seven children murdered, 72.

Stuart, Col., his narrative referred to, 117, note.

Susquehannah

river valley, the, assigned as the hunting

ground

of the Shawanese, Conoys, Nanticokes, Monseys and

Mo-

hicans, 42.

Tah-gah-jute, or Short Dress, the Indian name of Logan; authority

for, 59, et note.

Tod-kah-dohs, or the Searcher, his account of Logan's death, 139, note.

"Tomahawk improvement " — a mode by girdling and marking

of securing a

title

trees, 64.

Tomlinson, Benjamin, account of Logan's speech, 168.

to land

204 Tomlinson, Jacob, his account of the Yellow creek massacre, 105, etc., note.

Treaty of Camp Charlotte, 119.

Vigne's account of Logan's death,

140.

Virginia's territorial claim, in 1774, 13.

Virginians butchered, 72

;

twenty Virginians and the party robbed

in 1771.

Virginia planters and Pennsylvania traders, animosities between, 74, 75.

War

of 1774, called Cresap's war and Dunmore's war, outbreak and causes of, 65, 77, note, et seq., 82, note ; summary of causes 84 campaigns and battles, 117, note. Washington, George, land-holder on the Ohio, etc., 1774, 86, note; ;

advertisement, 86.

Weiser, Conrad, 44 his opinion of Shikellamy, 47 with John Bertram, Kalm and others, 1743, 45. ;

;

Wharton's Company waylaid and killed, 68. Wheeler, Dr., 93, note. Wheelock, Rev. Eleazer, memoirs of, 59, note. Withers's Chronicles of Border Warfare, statement as

he travels

to

Logan's

speech, 166.

Wood,

Capt. James, interview with Logan, 1775, 134; journal

135.

Yellow creek massacre, the r described, Zeisbergeii visits Shamokin, 1748, Zinzendorf, Count, 44.

47.

102, et seq.

of,

ERRATA. Page 14

94,

100,

2d line from top, for "privat," read private. 6th line from bottom, for u in," read on.

44

104, 15th line from top, for •' by," read of. " 119, 3d line from bottom, for " not find of,'* read not find one " 120, 3d line from bottom, for " necessary,'* read unnecessary.

of.