Logan (Iroquois leader)


Logan the Orator was a Cayuga orator and war leader born of one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. After his 1760s move to the Ohio Country, he became affiliated with the Mingo, a tribe formed from Seneca, Cayuga, Lenape and other remnant peoples. He took revenge for family members killed by Virginian Long knives in 1774 in what is known as the Yellow Creek Massacre. His actions against settlers on the frontier helped spark Dunmore's War later that year.
Logan became known for a speech, later known as Logan's Lament, which he reportedly delivered after the war. Scholars dispute important details about Logan, including his original name and whether the words of Logan's Lament were his.

Identity debate

Scholars agree that Logan Elrod was a son of Chief Shikellamy, an important diplomat for the Iroquois Confederacy. But, as anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace has written, "Which of Shikellamy's sons was Logan the orator has been a matter of dispute." Logan the orator has been variously identified as Tah-gah-jute, Tachnechdorus, Soyechtowa, Tocanioadorogon, the "Great Mingo", James Logan, and John Logan.
The name "Tah-gah-jute" was popularized in an 1851 book by Brantz Mayer entitled Tah-gah-jute: or Logan and Cresap. However, historian Francis Jennings wrote that Mayer's book was "erroneous from the first word of the title." He identified Logan as James Logan, also known as Soyechtowa and Tocanioadorogon. Historians who agree that Logan the orator was not named "Tah-gah-jute" sometimes identify him as Tachnechdorus. But Jennings identifies Tachnechdorus as Logan the orator's older brother.
Logan's father Chief Shikellamy, who was Oneida, worked closely with Pennsylvania official James Logan to maintain the Covenant Chain relationship with the colony of Pennsylvania. Following a prevailing Native American practice, the young man who would become Logan the Mingo took the name "James Logan" out of admiration for his father's friend.
With the disruption of warfare, disease, and encroachment, some Seneca and Cayuga among the Iroquois migrated to the Ohio Country, as did Lenape. Joining together in a process of ethnogenesis, they became known as the Mingo tribe. Logan the Mingo is usually identified as a Mingo "chief", but historian Richard White has written that "He was not a chief. Kayashuta and White Mingo were the Mingo chiefs. Logan was merely a war leader.... " The Iroquois and other Native American tribes tended to have peace chiefs and war chiefs, or leaders. Like his father, Logan generally maintained friendly relationships with white settlers who were moving from eastern Pennsylvania and Virginia into the Ohio Country: the region that is now Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and western Pennsylvania.

Biography

Early life and family

John Logan's Father was the Iroquois Chief, Shikellamy of the Oneida Tribe. His mother was Neanoma a Cayuga. Shikellamy and Neanoma were married in New York State. A historical marker in Danby, New York, designates the "possible birthplace of Chief Logan," and then quotes Logan's famous speech.
John Logan was also known as Tachnechtoris, "The Spreading Oak" or John Shikellamy. He had 3 known brothers and one sister. John was the oldest of the siblings. His next brother was. known as Tah-gah-jute, Sayughtowa, "The Beetling Brow", or James Logan. James later in life was referred to as "Logan, the Mingo." His brother, Arahhot or "Unhappy Jake" was killed in the war with the Catawbas in 1744. John Petty or Sogogeghyata, was the youngest of his brothers and bore the name of a Shamokin Indian Trader. John Logan's sister was known as the widow of Cajadies who was known as "the best hunter among all of the Indians" who died in November 1747.
Children, by tradition, took the clan or tribe of the mother. The Shikellamy children were of the Cayuga Tribe.
Statement of Jesse Logan, aged 106 years old and Great Grandson of Chief Shikellamy
Cornplanter Reservation, Penn October 9, 1915
"I was born on the West Bank of the Allegheny River, in the Cornplanter Reservation, in 1809, the same year as Abraham Lincoln. My father was John Logan, Jr., a Cayuga, the only surviving child of Captain John Logan, the oldest son of Shikellamy. My mother was a daughter of the Seneca Chief Cornplanter. My father after retiring from the war path, settled at Cold Spring, in the Allegheny Reservation, in New York State, where he died in 1944 aged 100 years. Early in life he married Annie, a daughter of Cornplanter, who bore him fine children, three daughters and two sons. The last were names Lyman and Jesse. When my grandfather was old he came to this Reservation, where he lived with my father until his death. To the best of my knowledge, he died in this reservation, and is buried near the grave of Chief Cornplanter. I married Susan, a Seneca maid, and we had one child, James Logan, who died at the age of thirty. He was named for my great-uncle, the immortal Cayuga orator. Physically, my father and my son were small men, much smaller than my grandfather and my great-uncle. I took after my grandfather, as I am of large stature. I remember Cornplanter, my maternal grandfather, very well. He was a large, strong man, not dark in color, and with grey eyes. He was a great man for work. Every morning, winter or summer, rain or shine, at six o'clock he would come out of his house and ring a big dinner bell as a signal for all to get busy. He wore a red cap much the same as the white hunters do now. I remember Philip Tome, the great elk and panther hunter, who lived a mile up the river. I hunted elk with the famous Jim Jacobs many times. I was taught to hunt by my grandfather, who died in 1820. He was a very old man when I was very young, but I recall what he looked like. I killed hundreds of elk, many bear and deer, and quite a few panthers, the last in 1860. I have always been fond of sports. I walk two miles to town every time there is a baseball game. As a boy I excelled at the Indian games of long ball and snow snake. I love a joke and enjoy a good dinner. I use tobacco and liquor sparingly. I attribute my long life to my love of outdoor exercise and hunting and fishing. In my old age I am well cared for by my Indian friends, but regret that 'my blood flows not in any living person,' to use the language of my great-uncle James. There are many Logans in the Reservations in Pennsylvania and New York; some are descended from my brother and sisters, others adopted the name because of the honor attached to it. I wish I had been invited to attend the unveiling of my great-grandfather's monument in Sunbury next week, but I guess that the world has forgotten Logan. I tried to fight for the white man in the Civil War, but when I got to Harrisburg I was sent back as too old. But I was a dead shot, and can still beat men one-quarter of my age with the gun and bow and arrow. Next summer, if I live I hope to visit Logan Valley, where my grandfather resided, and view the scenes that my father loved to talk about. I would also like to visit Mrs. Gross, at Fort Augusta, who has done so much to honor Shikellamy's memory. I have lived a long while, but I am not tired of life, and each day seems new and pleasant to me."

Yellow Creek Massacre

Logan's friendly relations with white settlers changed after the Yellow Creek Massacre of April 30, 1774. A group of Virginia Long knives led by Daniel Greathouse murdered a number of Mingo, among them Logan's brother and at least two other close female relatives, one of them pregnant and caring for an infant daughter. Her children's father was John Gibson, a prominent trader in the region. These Mingo had been living near the mouth of Yellow Creek, and had been lured to the cabin of Joshua Baker, a settler and rum trader who lived across the Ohio River from their village. The Mingo in Baker's cabin were all murdered, except for the infant mixed-race child, who was spared with the intention of giving her to her father. At least two canoes were dispatched from the Yellow Creek village to aid their members, but they were repelled by Greathouse's men concealed along the river. In all, approximately a dozen Mingo were murdered in the cabin and on the river. Logan was not present in the area when the massacre took place, and was summoned to return by runners.

Logan's revenge

Influential tribal chiefs in the region, such as Cornstalk, White Eyes, and Guyasuta, attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution lest the incident develop into a larger war, but by Native American custom Logan had the right to retaliate for the murders. Several parties of mixed Mingo and Shawnee warriors soon struck the frontier, including one led by Logan. They attacked settlers in several frontier regions, both killing and taking captives. One known as the Spicer Massacre in Greene County, Pennsylvania. The Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, responded by launching an expedition against the Mingo and Shawnee, in the conflict known as Dunmore's War.

Logan's Lament

Logan was not at the Battle of Point Pleasant, the only major battle of Dunmore's War. Following the battle, Dunmore's army marched into the Ohio Country and compelled the Ohio Indians to agree to a peace treaty.
According to tradition, Logan refused to attend the negotiations and instead made a speech that became legendary:
The speech was printed in colonial newspapers, and in 1782 Thomas Jefferson reprinted it in his book Notes on the State of Virginia. The American elm tree in Pickaway County, Ohio under which Logan was said to have given the speech became known as the Logan Elm. it grew to great size before dying in 1964.

Logan's Letter

Later life and death

The remainder of Logan's life is shrouded in obscurity. Logan continued his attacks on white settlers and associated himself with the Mohawk auxiliaries of the British during the American Revolution. He was by then a violent alcoholic and died in an altercation near Lake Erie in 1780.

Legacy

Numerous places carry Logan's name, including: