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not have been killed at Yellow creek in 1774; and, moreover, that Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia (edition of 1794) says that "Col. Cresap, a man infamous for the many murders he had committed on these much injured people, collected a party and proceeded down the Kanawha in quest of vengeance. Unfortunately A CANOE of women and children with one man only, was seen coming from the opposite shore, unarmed and unsuspecting a hostile attack from the whites. Cresap and his party concealed themselves on the bank of the river, and the moment the canoe reached the shore, singled out their objects, and, at one fire, killed every person in it. This happened to be the family of Logan who had long been distinguished as a friend of the whites."

Here the story of the murder in canoes, and of the whole of Logan's family was repeated, and the geography of the scene is ascribed to the Kanawha. This, upon examination, was found by Mr. Jefferson to be inaccurate, and in the edition of the Notes on Virginia, which he retained by him until his death, and in the IVth appendix to more recent editions than that of 1794, he caused the paragraph above cited to be substituted by the following:

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Capt. Michael Cresap and a certain Daniel Greathouse, leading on these parties, surprized at different times, travelling and hunting parties of the Indians, having their women and children with them and murdered many. Among these were unfortunately the family of Logan, a chief cele

brated in peace and in war, and long distinguished as a friend of the whites."

This is certainly a mitigation of the charge against Capt. Cresap, but it leaves altogether indefinite the fact as to whether Greathouse and Cresap conjointly directed these parties, or which of the two murdered Logan's relatives. It relieves Cresap, however, altogether from the charge of murdering the Logan family in canoes, on the Kanawha, a fact which seems to have been current at Williamsburgh, Va., when the Abbé Robin was there and received the speech of Lonan from the Williamsburgh professor.

It will be well for the reader to compare the speeches line by line as given by Mr. Jefferson and by the Abbé. The resemblances and the variances cannot fail to attract his critical notice.

This copy, if we admit the date to be the 11th November, 1774, as we have stated it to have been most probably, is the eldest member of this family of speeches I have been able to discover in tracing their pedigree. No manuscript copy of the time has, to my knowledge, ever been found.

III.

My friend Mr. Thomas H. Ellis, of Richmond, Virginia, sent me the following authentic copy of the message of Logan, extracted from the Virginia Gazette, No. 1226.

"WILLIAMSBURGH, February 4, 1775. "The following is said to be a mes

IV.

From the IVth series of American Archives, vol. I, p. 1020, I extract the following:

"New York, February 16, 1775. Extract of a letter from Virginia: 'I make no doubt but the following specimen of Indian Eloquence and mistaken valour will please you; but

sage from Captain Logan (an Indian warrior) to Gov. Dunmore, after the battle in which Col. Charles Lewis was slain, delivered at the treaty:

"I appeal to any white man to say that he ever entered Logan's cabin but I gave him meat; that he ever came naked but I clothed him. In the course of the last war Logan remained in his cabin an advocate for peace. I had such an affection for the white people that I was pointed at by the rest of my nation. I should have ever lived with them, had it not been for Colonel Cressop, 1 who last year, cut off in cold blood, all the relations of Logan, not sparing women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called upon me for revenge; I have sought it, I have killed many, and fully glutted my revenge. I am glad that there is a prospect of peace on account of my nation; but I beg you will not entertain a thought that any thing I have said proceeds from fear! Logan disdains the thought! He will not turn on his heel to save his life! Who is there to mourn for Logan? ..... No one."

must make allowance for the unskillfulness of the interpreter: 2

"The speech of LOGAN- a SHAWANESE Chief-to Lord Dunmore:

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and I gave him not meat, if ever he came cold or naked and I gave him not clothing? During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained in his tent an advocate for peace; nay, such was my love for the whites, that those of my own country pointed at me as they passed by, and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men!' I had even thought to live with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cool blood and unprovoked cut off all the relations of Logan not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it-I have killed many - I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor the 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."

1 He is here, in this message delivered in October, 1774, called Colonel Cressop, both title and name being inaccurately given. In the note left by Logan in the house in Virginia whose inhabitants he had murdered, dated 12th July, 1744, he styles him Captain Cresap. Thus he evidently knew his proper title anterior to the message in October, in which he miscalls him. That the title, if introduced at all, was assigned by Logan is unquestionable, for Gibson says so in his preceding testimony.

2 The Honorable William C. Rives, of Virginia, after receiving a copy of the first edition of my narrative, mentioned the following fact to me in a letter dated Castle Hill, 26th Sept. 1857:

*

** *The copy" of the Logan speech," published in the New York paper, which you have quoted from the 4th series of the American Archives, was sent by Mr. Madison to his friend William Bradford, of Philadelphia (afterwards attorney general of the United States), in a letter bearing date 20th January, 1775. This is proved by the extract given there of the letter from Virginia, which corresponds exactly with the language of Mr. Madison's letter of the above date, now among his papers in my possession. Mr. Madison in communicating the speech to his friend Bradford, says he had "never seen it in print and you will observe that his letter is dated two weeks before the publication in the Williamsburgh Gazette."

The variance of these two copies is not a little singular; the one published on the 4th Feb., 1775, at Williamsburgh, Va., and the other only fourteen days after, in New York, on the 16th of the same month in the same year.

The Virginia announcement states it to be only a 66 message" which was "said to have been" sent by Captain Logan (who was known to be a Mingo), to Lord Dunmore. The New York copy, during the transit from Virginia, is magnified into a SPEECH, and dignifies the orator as a "SHAWANESE CHIEF." Nor has the language of the document deteriorated by travel. The Indian abruptness and directness have been softened, and the reader will particularly note the variances which I have endeavored to point out by causing the chief passages to be printed in italics.

The next member of this eloquent lineage blooms in mature perfection, in the pages of Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia; and, with its translation into French, in the year 1788, I shall close my analysis of the genealogy.

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Mr. Jefferson says in his IVth Appendix: " the speech itself" was so fine a morsel of eloquence that it became the theme of every conversation, in Williamsburgh particularly, and generally indeed, wheresoever any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburgh; I believe at Lord Dunmore's, and I find in my pocket book of that year (1774), an entry of the narrative as taken from the mouth of some

Extract from Recherches Historiques et Politiques sur les Etats-Unis de l'Amerique Septentrionale." 1788, vol. IV, p. 154.

person, whose name, however, is not noted nor recollected, precisely in the words stated in the Notes on Virginia:

V.

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said: 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, 1 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 harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one." 2

VI.

"Y-a-t'il un homme blanc qui puisse dire qu'il soit jamais entré ayant faim dans la cabane de Logan, et à qui Logan n'ait pas donné à manger, et que Logan n'ait pas revêtu! Durant le cours de la dernière longue et sanglante guerre, Logan est resté oisif dans sa cabane, exhortant sans cesse ses compatriotes à la paix. Telle étoit son amitié pour les blancs, que ses frères, le montrant au doigt en passant, disoient: Logan est l'ami des blancs.' Il vouloit même aller vivre au milieu de vous, avant qu'un homme le Colonel Cresap, au printems dernier, de sang froid et sans provocation, eût assassiné tous les parens de Logan, sans êpargner même les femmes et les enfens. Ill ne coule plus maintenant aucune goutte de mon sang dans aucune créature vivante. J'ai voulu me venger; J'ai combattu: j'ai tué beaucoup de blancs. J'ai assouvi ma vengeance. Je me réjouis pour mon pays des approches de la paix ; mais gardez vous de penser jamais que cette joie soìt celle de la crainte. Logan n'a jamais connu la crainte: Il ne tournera jamais ses pieds pour sauver sa vie. Qui restet'il maintenant pour pleurer Logan? Personne."

The slight variations in the translation are noted by italics.

It will be observed with pleasure by those persons who are interested in the honor of Captain Michael

1 Cresap was only a captain; but the translated Robin edition makes the felon a major, while Mr. Jefferson's elevates him into a colonel, though Logan had called him simply captain in his bloody missive of 21st July, 1774.

2 Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, ed. 1794, p. 91.

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