The first hurdle remains Logan's own identity. Chief Shikellamy, whom we met in last post, had two sons who took the English surname of Logan, James or John. Another name is often given for him, Logan Elrod, which further complicates the identity. Most likely, the Logan in question took the name of James Logan. Another complication rests in the fact that early Settlers insisted on calling almost every prominent Native leader with whom they came in contact as a Chief. Logan's father was rightly titled a Chief, but Logan was more likely a war leader, working under Guyasuta's command. In the years after Pontiac's Rebellion, the various remnants of Iroquois people within the Ohio Valley had coalesced into the Mingo tribe, which further complicates Logan's identity. Was he Cayuga, Oneida, or Mingo? Most settlers described him as Mingo. How Logan self-identified is not a matter of record. On April 30, 1774, several members of Logan's family, including his brother or half-brother, called John Petty, and two female relatives, one of whom was pregnant with an infant daughter, had taken refuge in the cabin of Joshua Baker, a White settler. As they were there, Virginia militia under Colonel Daniel Greathouse stormed the cabin, murdering the adults and sparing only the child, who was mixed-race and whom he intended to return to the custody of her father. Other Mingo coming to help those at the cabin were murdered in what became known as the Yellow Creek Massacre. The news was conveyed to Logan, but the man named as responsible was another militia officer, Col. Michael Cresap, whom Logan considered a friend. Maddened with grief and betrayal, Logan joined other Native contingents raiding settlements on the frontier and the resulting unrest led to Lord Dunmore's War, which we've already discussed. Logan became convinced that fighting the Settlers was a useless exercise and, when he believed family vengeance was satisfied, retired from fighting. He was not at the Battle of Point Pleasant, but was considered an important enough leader that he was invited to the treaty council at Camp Charlotte.
The one who likely carried the summons to Logan was one of the Girty brothers, probably Simon, who was still working for the Americans and had yet to acquire his infamous reputation. Logan refused to go, but instead dictated a message for Simon to carry back to the meeting at Camp Charlotte. And here the story gets murky. Simon Girty was most likely illiterate, although surviving letters dictating by him to others indicate that he was articulate. A skilled interpreter, it would have been within Simon's ability to understand, commit to memory and transmit Logan's message to Camp Charlotte. However, once he got to Camp Charlotte, there's no record that the message was ever delivered. One of Simon's biographers says that, rather than transmit Logan's message himself, Simon gave the message to one of the official interpreters to transmit. Sir William Johnson's Indian Department was in charge of the proceedings, one of the last diplomatic missions he would undertake. There's no record that either Girty brother worked for them and, most likely, Simon was attached to one of the militia units and wouldn't have been allowed to speak anyway. Further, given Girty's later reputation, any role he would have had in the proceedings would have been purged. Probably, Logan's message was written into whatever record of the council was kept, but not orally transmitted, as he intended. Still, it's one of the more poignant pieces of Native oratory, if the words are Logan's. Some sources indicate that the speech was either made up entirely, or embellished along the way. The doubts cast on the authenticity of Logan's lament fail to do justice to a man who was grieving, but still trying to make sense of the situation in which he and his people found himself, and to someone who, whatever his faults and failings, had a love for the Natives with whom he'd spent his formative years and who was acknowledged by many people on the frontier to be one of the best interpreters and translators at the time. Even if the ideas and most of the wording are Logan's, with some add-in by Girty, it takes nothing away from this powerful speech, which I've attached in several posts, but it bears repeating. Here is the text from the Ohio History Central Website.
I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbour a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.
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