The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American RevolutionStark, James Henry
History
The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution
Stark, James Henry
American loyalists -- Massachusetts; Massachusetts -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
The Revolutionists failed to enlist the Indians in their cause, for the
Indian and the Colonist were bitter and irreconcilable foes. The Indian
had long scores to pay, not upon the English nation or the English army,
but upon the American settler who had stolen his lands, shot his sons,
and debauched his daughters. It is well here to remember the speech of
Logan, the Cayuga chief, on the occasion of the signing of the treaty of
peace in 1764, at the close of the Pontiac Conspiracy. Logan said: "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. Such was my love of the white man that my countrymen in passing
my cabin said: 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I have even
thought to have lived with you but for the injuries you did me last
spring, when in cold blood and unprovoked, you 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
for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted
my vengeance." Logan's family, being on a visit to a family of the name
of Greathouse, was murdered by them and their associates under
circumstances of great brutality and cowardice. It is known that in
revenge, Logan took over 30 scalps with his own hand. And others than
Indians had old scores to wipe out. Many loyalists who desired to be
left alone in peace had been tarred and feathered by their former
friends and fellow-townsmen; were driven from their homes and hunted
like wild beasts; imprisoned, maimed, and compelled to suffer every kind
of indignity. In many cases fathers, brothers and sons were hanged,
because they insisted on remaining loyal to their country. Therefore it
is not to be wondered at that many of these loyalists sought a terrible
revenge against those who had maltreated them. If the loyalists of New
York, Georgia and the Carolinas resolved to join the Indians and wreak
vengeance on their fellow countrymen at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and
to take part in the raids of Tyron and Arnold, there was a rude cause
for their retaliating. Their actions have been held up to the execration
of posterity as being exceptionally barbarous, and as far surpassing in
cruelty the provocative actions of the revolutionists, Sullivan's
campaign through the Indian country being conveniently forgotten. There
was not much to choose between a cowboy and a skinner, and very little
difference between Major Ferguson's command and that of Marion and
Sumpter. There were no more orderly or better behaved troops in either
army than Simcoe's Queen's Rangers. There can be no doubt that the
action of the loyalists have been grossly exaggerated, or at least dwelt
upon as dreadful scenes of depravity, to form a background for the
heroism and fortitude of the "patriotic" party whose misdeeds are passed
lightly over.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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