It is well known that LOGAN, born at Shamokin, where the Moravians had
a missionary station, received some rudimental education from them, and
was baptized; his father, SHIKELLIMUS, giving him the name LOGAN, after
his friend JAMES LOGAN, the Secretary of the Province. LOGAN'S speech,
on the occasion referred to, though often published, I insert here. It
was as follows: "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 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, 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 his heel
to save his life. Who is there to mourn for LOGAN? Not one."
The cruel murder of the family of LOGAN, (himself a distinguished Chief,
and the friend of the whites and of peace,) made a deep impression upon
the Six Nations, and was probably one of the causes which induced them
to take up the hatchet for the King of England. The final decision, as
already stated, was made at Oswego, where the representative Chiefs and
warriors were assembled, being, drawn thither by the united exertions
of Sir JOHN JOHNSTON and Colonel JOHN BUTLER, aided by BRANT, the
indefatigable and bitter enemy of the united colonies. The British
commissioners promised the Indians an ample reward if they would assist
the English to subdue the rebel colonies. The Chiefs, in reply, stated
that they were bound, by the treaties at German Flats and Albany, to be
neutral to the war. Their objections, however, were overcome, by the
commissioners telling them, "that the people of the colonies were few
in number, and would be easily subdued; and that, on account of their
disobedience to the King, they justly merited all the punishment that
it was possible for white men and Indians to inflict upon them." "The
King," they said, "was rich and powerful, both in money and subjects. His
rum was as plenty as the water in Lake Ontario, and his men as numerous
as the sands upon its shore. And the Indians were assured that if they
would assist in the war, and persevere in their friendship for the King,
until its close, they should never want for goods or money." Overcome by
these importunities, and by a recital of the injuries they had received
from some of the people of the colonies, aided by a display of a large
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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