صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

44

LOGAN.-BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT.

[BOOK V

The whole line of the breastwork now became as a blaze of fire, which lasted nearly till the close of the day. Here the Indians under Logan, Cornstock, Elenipsico, Red-Eagle, and other mighty chiefs of the tribes of the Shawanese, Delawares, Mingoes, Wyandots and Cayugas, amounting, as was supposed, to 1500 warriors, fought, as men will ever do for their country's wrongs, with a bravery which could only be equalled. The voice of the mighty Cornstock was often heard during the day, above the din of strife, calling on his men in these words: "Be strong! Be strong!" And when by the repeated charges of the whites, some of his warriors began to. waver, he is said to have sunk his tomahawk into the head of one who was cowardly endeavoring to desert.

General Lewis, finding at length that every charge upon the lines of the Indians lessened the number of his forces to an alarming degree, and rightly judging that if the Indians were not routed before it was dark, a day of more doubt might follow, he resolved to throw a body, if possible, into their rear. As the good fortune of the Virginians turned, the bank of the river favored this project, and forthwith three companies were detached upon the enterprise, under the three captains, Isaac Shelby, (afterwards renowned in the revolution, and since in the war with Canada,) George Matthews, * and John Steuart. These companies got unobserved to their place of destination upon Crooked Creek, which runs into the Kanhawa. From the high weeds upon the banks of this little stream, they rushed upon the backs of the Indians with such fury, as to drive them from their works with precipitation. The day was now decided. The Indians, thus beset from a quarter they did not expect, were ready to conclude that a reinforcement had arrived. It was about sunset when they fled across the Ohio, and immediately took up their march for their towns on the Scioto.

As is common, in reviewing past events, we find much difference of opinion in regard to many of the facts; the loss of the whites in this battle is very variously stated, but that of the Indians no one has presumed to set down but by inference. The morning after the battle, Colonel Christiant marched to the battle-ground; where his men found and scalped § 21 of their dead, and 12 others were found in places where they were placed for concealment; that many were also thrown into the river is said to have been at the time known. In an account published at the time, it is set down that the killed of the Virginians were "Col. Charles Lewis, Major John Field, Capt. John Murray, Robert Mc Clenechan, Samuel Wilson, James Ward, Lieut. Hugh Allen, Ensigns, Candiff, Baker, and 44 privates; " making the whole number of the killed 55. "Wounded, Captain W. Fleming, since dead, Y. Dickinson, Thomas Blueford, John Stidman, Lieuts. Goodman, Robeson, Laud, Vannes, and 79 Privates;" making in all 87 wounded. We are aware that neither the names or numbers agree with accounts since published, but we have taken the above from the Royal American Magazine, which was published the following month at Boston, into which it seems to have been copied from a Philadelphia print.||

There was a kind of stratagem used by the whites in this battle which reminds us of that practised at the Pawtucket fight, related in Book III. of our history. The soldiers in Colonel Fleming's regiment would conceal themselves behind a tree or some other shelter, and then hold out their hats from behind, which the Indians seeing, would mistake as covering the heads

* Probably the same who was a colonel in the Virginia line during the revolution, and once a prisoner. See Contin. Burk, 107, 358, also Withers, 130.

+ Withers, 127.

He was not present at the fight, but arrived with a reinforcement, which he had raised from Holston, immediately after it was over. It was this force, it is supposed, that the Indians expected were surrounding them in the rear. They were said to have been acquainted with all circumstances connected with the operations of the Virginians.

Royal Amer. Magazine for November, 1774.

Dr. Doddridge, 231, sets down the killed at 75, and the wounded at 140, and he is, doubtless, Mr. Withers's authority, who says the same. His list of killed and wounded are also verbatim from Doddridge. Burk, who wrote twenty years before either, agrees with the Royal American Magazine very nearly.

of their enemies, and shoot at them. The hat being at once dropped, the Indian would run out from his covert to scalp his victim, and thus met a sure death from the tomahawk of his adversary.

The chief of the men raised for this service, were, as Burk expresses himself, "prime riflemen," and the "most expert woodsmen in Virginia." They were principally from the counties of Augusta, Botetourt, Bedford and Fincastle, and from the enraged settlers who had fled from their frontier settlements to escape the vengeance of the injured Indians. For reasons which were not perfectly understood at that time, Lord Dunmore divided the army into two parts, as already stated. The part which Dunmore soon after took in the revolutionary events, discovered the real cause of his preposterous proceedings. His pretence of falling upon the backs of the Indians, and coöperating with General Lewis, was soon detected as such; for it needed only to be known that he was moving no less than 75 miles from him, and that, therefore, no coöperation could be had. The imputation, however, of the historian Burk,* "that the division under Lewis was devoted to destruction, for the purpose of breaking the spirits of the Virginians," to render his own influence and reputation brighter and more efficient, is unnatural, and without facts to warrant it. To our mind a worse policy to raise himself could not have been devised. There are two other, far more reasonable conclusions, which might have been offered: The governor, seeing the justness of the Indians' cause, might have adopted the plan which was followed, to bring them to a peace with the least possible destruction of them. This would have been the course of a humane philosophy; or he might have exercised his abilities to gain them to the British interest, in case of a rupture between them and the colonies, which the heads of government must clearly have by this time foreseen would pretty soon follow. Another extraordinary manœuvre of Governor Dunmore betrayed either a great want of experience, generalship, or a far more reprehensible charge; for he had, before the battle of Point Pleasant, sent an express † to Colonel Lewis, with orders that he should join him near the Shawanee towns, with all possible despatch. These instructions were looked upon as singularly unaccountable, inasmuch as it was considered a thing almost impossible to be accomplished, had there not been an enemy to fear; for the distance was near 80 miles, and the route was through a country extremely difficult to be traversed, and, to use the words of Mr. Burk, "swarming with Indians." The express did not arrive at Point Pleasant until the evening after the battle; § but that it had been fought was unknown to the governor, and could in no wise excuse his sending such orders, although the power of the Indians was now broken. The day after the battle, General Lewis caused his dead to be buried, and entrenchments to be thrown up about his camp for the protection of his sick and wounded; and the day following, he took up his line of march, in compliance with the orders of Governor Dunmore. This march was attended with great privations and almost insurmountable difficulties. Meanwhile Governor Dunmore descended with his forces down the river, from Fort Pitt to Wheeling, where he halted for a few days. He then proceeded down to the mouth of Hockhocking, thence over land to within 8 miles of the Shawanee town Chilicothe, on the Scioto. Here he made preparations for treating with the Indians. Before reaching this place he had received several messages from the Indians with offers of peace, and having now determined to comply, he sent an express to General Lewis with an order that he should immediately retreat. This was entirely disregarded by the general, and he continued his march until his lordship in person visited the general in his camp, and gave the order to the troops himself. LEWIS's troops complied

Hist. Virginia, iii. 396.

The famous pioneer, Simon Kenton, alias Butler, was the person sent by Dunmore at this time.

Hist. Virginia, iii. 395.

This is not agreeable to the fore the battle, and Mr. Withers best means of giving the truth.

statement of Dr. Doddridge, who says their arrival was befollows him; but I follow Mr. Burk, who doubtless had the Marshall [Ky, i, 40] agrees with the former.

46

CORNSTOCK TREATS WITH DUNMORE.

[BOOK V.

with great reluctance, for they had determined on a general destruction of the Indians.

A treaty was now commenced, and conducted on the part of the whites with great distrust, never admitting but a small number of Indians within their encampment at a time. The business was commenced by Cornstock in a speech of great length, in the course of which he did not fail to charge upon the whites the whole cause of the war; and mainly in consequence of the murder of Logan's family. A treaty, however, was the result of this conference; and this conference was the result of the far-famed speech of LOGAN, the Mingo chief; since known in every hemisphere. It was not delivered in the camp of Lord Dunmore, for, although desiring peace, Logan would not meet the whites in council, but remained in his cabin in sullen silence, until a messenger was sent to him to know whether he would accede to the proposals it contained. What the distance was from the treaty-ground to Logan's cabin, we are not told; but of such importance was his name considered, that he was waited on by a messenger from Lord Dunmore, who requested his assent to the articles of the treaty. Logan had too much at heart the wrongs lately done him to accede without giving the messenger to understand fully the grounds upon which he acceded; he therefore invited him into an adjacent wood, where they sat down together. Here he related the events of butchery which had deprived him of all his connections; and here he pronounced that memorable speech, which follows:

66

"I appeal to any while 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 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.'

66

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 even sparing my women and children.

"There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ?—Not

one!"

When Mr. Jefferson published his "Notes on Virginia," the facts therein stated implicating Cresap as the murderer of Logan's family, were by Cresap's friends called in question. Mr. Jefferson at first merely stated the facts as preliminary to, and the cause of, the "Speech of Logan," which he considered as generally known in Virginia; but the acrimony discovered by his enemies in their endeavors to gainsay his statement, led to an investigation of the whole transaction, and a publication of the result was the immediate consequence, in a new edition of the "Notes on Virginia."

There are perhaps still some who doubt of the genuineness of Logan's speech and indeed we must allow, that there are some circumstances laid before us in Dr. Barton's Medical and Physical Journal, for the year 1808; which look irreconcilable. Without impeaching in the slightest degree the character of Mr. Jefferson, such facts are there compared, and disagreements pointed out, as chanced to come in the way of the writer. It appears from the French traveller Robin, that, in the time of our revolution, a gentleman of Williamsburg gave him an Indian speech, which bears great resemblance to the one said to be by Logan; but differing very essentially in date, and the person implicated in murdering the family of Logan. The work of Robin is entitled "New Travels in America," and we have only an English translation

* Mr. John Gibson, then an officer in Dunmore's army, and afterwards a man of consider、 able distinction.

of it. It is therefore possible that some mistakes may have crept into it, or that Robin himself might have misunderstood the date, and even other parts of the affair; however, the probability is rather strong that either the speech of Logan had been perverted for the purpose of clearing Cresap's character of the foul blot which entirely covered it, by wilfully charging it upon another, or that some old speech of his upon another occasion, had been remodeled to suit the purpose for which it was used. Upon these questions we must leave the reader to decide. Robin has the name of the chief, Lonan. Some Frenchmen may write it thus, but I have before me those that do not, and more probably some English pronounced it so, and so Robin heard it. The way he introduces the speech, if the introduction be fact, forever destroys the genuineness of the speech of Logan of 1774. It is thus:

"Speech of the savage LONAN, in a General Assembly, as it was sent to the Gov. of Virginia,‡ anno 1754."

Now it is certain, if the speech which we will give below was delivered in the Assembly of Virginia, in the year 1754, it could not have been truly delivered, as we have given it, to Lord Dunmore in 1774. That the reader may judge for himself, that of 1754 follows.

"LONAN will no longer oppose making the proposed peace with the white men. You are sensible he never knew what fear is-that he never turned his back in the day of battle-No one has more love for the white men than I have. The war we have had with them has been long and bloody on both sides. Rivers of blood have ran on all parts, and yet no good has resulted therefrom to any. I once more repeat it-let us be at peace with these men. I will forget our injuries, the interest of my country demands it. I will forget -but difficult indeed is the task! Yes, I will forget-that Major Rogers § cruelly and inhumanly murdered, in their canoes, my wife, my children, my father, my mother, and all my kindred. This roused me to deeds of vengeance! I was cruel in despite of myself. I will die content if my country is once more at peace; but when Lonan shall be no more, who, alas, will drop a tear to the memory of Lonan!"

With a few incidents, and reflections, we will close our account of events connected with the history of CRESAP'S WAR.

On the evening before the battle of Point Pleasant, Cornstock proposed to his warriors to make peace with General Lewis, and avoid a battle, but his advice was not accepted by the council. "Well," said he, "since you have resolved to fight, you shall fight, although it is likely we shall have hard work to-morrow; but if any man shall flinch or run from the battle, I will kill him with my own hand." And it is said he made his word good by putting one to death who discovered cowardice during the fight, as has been mentioned.

After the Indians had retreated, Cornstock called a council at the Chilicothe town, to consult on what was to be done. Here he reflected upon the rashness that had been exercised in fighting the whites at Point Pleasant; and asked, "What shall we do now! the Long-Knives are coming upon us by two routes. Shall we turn out and fight them?"—No answer was made. He then inquired, "Shall we kill all our squaws and children, and then fight until we shall all be killed ourselves?"-As before, all were silent. In the midst of the councilhouse a war-post had been erected; with his tomahawk in his hand, Cornstork turned towards it, and sticking it into the post, he said, "Since you are not inclined to fight, I will go and make peace;" and he forthwith repaired to Dunmore's camp.||

* Since the above was written, I have met with the French edition; and, from its imprint, I presume both editions were published under the supervision of the author. "A Philadelphie et se trouve à Paris, 1782."

+ See Recherches sur les Etats-Unis, iv. 153-5 The authors of this well-written work should not have withheld their names. It was printed at Paris, in 8vo., 1788.

"11 Net" is found in the French copy, and this marginal note to it; "ce mot signifie apparemment le mois Lunaire ou Solaire."

In the French copy no person is mentioned. After Major, a blank is left. In other respects the speech is tolerably correctly translated.

Doddridge's Notes, 239-40.

48

DEATH OF LOGAN.—CORNSTOCK..

[Book V. We have been more minute and particular in these events, in which Logan and Cornstock were engaged, than in many others; but I trust the reader of this history will not be displeased with such minuteness upon so important an event; especially as no work with which I am acquainted does the subject justice. It was truly a great event, both in respect to the parties engaged, and the consequences necessarily growing out of it, and it has been passed over too slightly by historians.

In respect to the speech of Logan, it would be highly gratifying if a few matters connected with it could be settled; but whether they ever will, time only can determine. From the statement of Dr. Barton,* before cited, we are led to expect that he had other documents than those he at that time published, going to show that Cresap was not the murderer of Logan's family, but he never published them, as I can learn, and he has left us to conjecture upon such as we have. Another author, † upon the authority of an officer who was at the time with Lord Dunmore, states that he heard nothing of Logan's charging Cresap with the murder of his kindred during the whole campaign, nor until a long time after. That it was not publicly talked of among the officers is in no wise strange, as Cresap himself was one of them; therefore, that this is evidence that no such charge was made by Logan, we think unworthy consideration.

Among other proofs, that the chief guilt lay upon the head of Cresap of bringing about a bloody war, since well known by his name, Judge Innes of Frankfort, Kentucky, wrote to Mr. Jefferson, 2 March, 1799, that he was, he thought, able to give him more particulars of that affair than, perhaps, any other person; that, in 1774, while at the house of Colonel Preston, in Fincastle county, Va., there arrived an express, calling upon him to order out the militia, "for the protection of the inhabitants residing low down on the north fork of Holston River. The express brought with him a war club, and a note tied to it, which was left at the house of one Robertson, whose family were cut off by the Indians, and gave rise for the application to Colonel Preston." Here follows the letter or note, of which Mr. Innes then made a copy, in his memorandum-book :

66

Captain Cresap, What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga,‡ a great while ago; and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again, on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too; and I have been three times to war since; but the Indians are not angry; only myself."

It was signed, "Captain JOHN LOGAN."

Not long after these times of calamities, which we have recorded in the life of Logan, he was cruelly murdered, as he was on his way home from Detroit. For a time previous to his death, he gave himself up to intoxication, which in a short time nearly obliterated all marks of the great man!

The fate of Cornstock is equally deplorable, although in the contemplation of which, his character does not suffer, as does that of Logan. He was cruelly murdered by some white soldiers, while a hostage among them. And there is as much, nay, far more, to carry down his remembrance to posterity, as that of the tragical death of Archimedes. He was not murdered while actually drawing geometrical figures upon the ground, but, while he was explaining the geography of his country by drawings upon the floor, an alarm was given, which, in a few minutes after, eventuated in his death. We will now go into an explanation of the cause and manner of the murder of Cornstock. It is well known that the war of the revolution had involved all, or nearly all, of the Indians in dreadful calamities. In consequence of murders committed by the Indians on the frontiers of Virginia, several com→ panies marched to Point Pleasant, where there had been a fort since the battle there in 1774. Most of the tribes of the north-west, except the Shawanees, were determined to fight against the Americans. Cornstock wished

* Med. and Phys. Jour. part ii. p. 162.

tWithers, Chronicles, 136. Alluding, I suppose, to the massacre of the Conestoga Indians in 1763.

« السابقةمتابعة »