Cayuga/ Turtle Clan
Brother to Captain John 'Tachnachdours' Logan

Logan the Orator

(c. 1723?–1780) was a Native American orator and war leader born in the Iroquois Confederacy. Although he was of the Cayuga nation, after his 1760s move to the Ohio Country, he was sometimes referred to as a Mingo. His revenge for the killing of family members by American frontiersmen helped spark the 1774 conflict known as Dunmore's War. Logan became famous for a speech, later known as "Logan's Lament", which he reportedly delivered after the war. Important details about Logan have been disputed by scholars, including his original name and whether or not the words of "Logan's Lament" were actually his. (Note: May have been the words of his brother, John.)

Yellow Creek Massacre

Logan’s friendly relations with white settlers changed with the Yellow Creek Massacre of April 30, 1774. A group of Virginia frontiersmen led by Daniel Greathouse murdered a number of Mingos, among them Logan’s brother (commonly known as John Petty) and at least two other close female relatives, one of them pregnant and caring for her infant daughter. Her children were fathered by John Gibson, a prominent trader in the region. These Mingos 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 Natives in Baker’s cabin were all murdered, except for the infant child, who was spared with the intention of giving her to her father. At least two canoes were dispatched from the Yellow Creek village, but they were repelled by Greathouse’s men concealed along the river. In all, approximately a dozen 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 (Shawnee), White Eyes (Lenape), and Guyasuta (Seneca/Mingo), 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. The Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, responded by launching an expedition against the Mingos and Shawnees, in the conflict known as Dunmore’s War.

Logan's Lament

There is a monument to Logan at the Logan Elm State Memorial in Pickaway County, Ohio. The text of "Logan's Lament" is inscribed on one side of the monument. He gave the speech under a large Elm tree forever memoriaiized at this location, Also here are memorials to Nonhelema, The Grenadier squaw (sister of Cornstalk), the signing of the Dunsmore treaty, a memorial to Chief Cornstalk, and the original cabin site of Major John Boggs family.
Logan was not at the Battle of Point Pleasant (10 October 1774), 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 issued a speech that would become famous:

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 the white men. I have even thought to live 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 has 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.

The speech was printed in colonial newspapers, and in 1782 Thomas Jefferson reprinted it in his book Notes on the State of Virginia. However, the authenticity of the speech is the subject of much controversy. The American elm tree in Pickaway County, Ohio — under which he supposedly gave the speech — became famous as the "Logan Elm" and grew to great size before dying in 1964.

Logan's Letter

"To Captain Cressap - What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for. The white People killed my kin at Coneestoga a great while ago, & 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 is not Angry only myself."

-- Captain John Logan

==Later life and death==

The remainder of Logan's life is shrouded in obscurity. Along with many other Ohio natives, he participated in the American Revolutionary War against the Americans. He was murdered near Detroit in 1780 by a nephew.

http://www.over-land.com/st_loganelm.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Elm

A contemporary, David McClure, described him thus: "Logan was the most martial figure of an Indian that I have ever seen." (Dexter, 1899; Wellenreuther, 2005) “. . . several inches more than six feet in height.” (Mayer, 1867, p 32) John Bartram, a botanist, described Shikellamy's son as tall and commanding.  In 1772, Moravian missionary John Heckwelder visited Logan and reported that he was received in the most hospitable and cordial manner by Logan's family.  He and his father Chief Shikellamy were held in high esteem by Conrad Weiser, the colonial Indian Agent.

    The following account was given in 1842, by Judge William Brown Esq.”:  “Upon putting my head down, [to drink from what is today still named ‘Logan’s Spring’] I saw reflected in the water on the opposite side, the shadow of a tall indian (sic). I sprang to my rifle, when the indian gave a yell, whether for peace or war I was not just then sufficiently master of my faculties to determine; but upon seizing my rifle and facing him, he knocked up the pan of my gun, threw out the priming and extended his open palm toward me in token of friendship.  After putting down our guns, we again met at the spring and shook hands.  This was Logan, the best specimen of humanity I ever met with, either white or red.”

    In summary, the historian, Samuel G. Drake, said of him, “what is agreed to by all authorities, both then and now, is ‘that for magnanimity in war and greatness of soul in peace, few, if any, in any nation, ever surpassed him.’” (Drake, 1832)

https://nativeheritageproject.com/2014/01/26/logans-lament/
(Scholars agree that Logan was a son of Shikellamy, an important diplomat for the Iroquois Confederacy, but which son has been disputed by scholars. Logan the orator has been variously identified as Tah-gah-jute, Tachnechdorus (also spelled “Tachnedorus” and “Taghneghdoarus”), Soyechtowa, Tocanioadorogon, the “Great Mingo”, James Logan, and John Logan.)
http://www.bellwoodantis.net/cptlgn.html
(In Col. Henry W. Shoemaker’s biography of Captain Logan we learn that the old famous Shikellemus, vice-regent of the powerful Iroquois nation had two sons, John the first son and James the second. James it was who cut a path of gory history across the Ohio valley and besmirched the Logan name. John, the elder brother was a firm follower of the ideas of his noble and sagacious father Shikellemus. John, or Tachmachdoarus, “Spreading Oak” was the character, who although much persecuted by his people as well as the whites, never lost his regard for the white people and lived a type of life that may well have been copied by the earlier whites. He served with distinction under Washington during the Revolutionary War and in many other respects proved his loyalty to the white people.)