The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio; or, Glimpses of Pioneer LifeJones, N. E. (Nelson Edward)
History
The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio; or, Glimpses of Pioneer Life
Jones, N. E. (Nelson Edward)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ohio; Ohio -- History -- 1787-1865; Ohio -- Social life and customs
Of this matter Captain Gibson says, under oath, he found Logan at
his home, but refused to attend the council, and that at the chief’s
request they walked out some distance into the woods and sat down.
Logan appeared much affected, and after shedding many tears and showing
other manifestations of sorrow, told his pathetic story in reply to the
request from Lord Dunmore, and which Gibson translated into English and
delivered to Dunmore in the council assembled under the boughs of this
noble tree on the banks of the Congo--and was read as follows, to wit:
“I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan’s cabin
hungry and I gave him not meat; if ever he came cold or naked and I
gave him not clothing.
“During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained
in his tent, an advocate for peace. Nay, such was my love for the
whites that those of my countrymen pointed at me as they passed by
and said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man.’ I had even thought
to have lived among them, but for the injuries of one man--Colonel
Cresap--who last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, cut off 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 human 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. Yet do not harbor the 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 authorship of this message has been doubted and disputed by reason
of its greatness. But it is well known that many of the native men of
America have shown an ability for expression of thoughts surpassed by
no people or nation in the world. Who could have thought it--who could
have said it so effectively, by every gesture and living fiber--as
it was expressed by Tecumseh, after finishing a speech at Vincennes
holding, contrary to the United States Government, that no one or two
tribes could make treaties conveying away lands without the consent
of others equally interested? When done speaking, an aide of Governor
Harrison, pointing to a vacant chair, said to Tecumseh, “Your father
requests you to take a seat by his side.” Drawing his mantle around
him, the chief proudly exclaimed: “My father! The sun (pointing upward)
is my father, and the earth my mother; on her bosom I will repose,”
and seated himself on the ground where he had been standing. And it is
unusual, at least, that one with learning and general acquaintance with
the high standard of natural ability of the Indian, and after so many
years, should enter into a voluminous correspondence to prove that he
(Jefferson) did not write “Logan’s reply.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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