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New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953.LOGAN, JAMES
Logan, James
(ca. 1720–1780)
Mingo Chief
L
ogan, at one time friendly to whites, be-
came an implacable enemy following
the slaughter of his family by frontier
ruffians. He also bequeathed an eloquent
philippic that Thomas Jefferson rated as
equal to those of the ancient Greek orators.
He was born Soyechtowa around 1720 at
Shamokin (present-day Sunbury, Pennsylva-
nia), the son of a Cayuga woman and Shikel-
lamy, an Oneida chief. He belonged to the
Mingo tribe, which was actually a part of the
famous Six Nations (Iroquois) of New York
that lived beyond traditional lands. Soyech-
towa was raised on a frontier where Native
Americans easily mixed and intermarried
with white colonials. His father was a stead-
fast supporter of colonial Governor William
Penn, and the young man developed an abid-
ing respect for his Quaker secretary, James
Logan (1674–1751). In keeping with Indian
traditions, he adopted the name as his own.
Like his father, Logan was extremely friendly
and cooperative with his white neighbors and
amassed considerable wealth hunting and
trapping for them. He was never an important
chief among his people, but Logan’s skills in
battle, fine oratory, and commanding pres-
ence rendered him a significant frontier figure
in his day. He supported the English during
the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and
again during the 1763–1764 rebellion by the
Ottawa chief Pontiac. But by 1770, the west-
ern frontiers of Pennsylvania had become
populated with new settlements, which made
hunting and trapping impractical. Logan
therefore relocated his family to a new settle-
ment along Yellow Creek near present-day
Chillicothe, Ohio.
Unfortunately for both sides, the tradi-
tional spirit and cooperation between whites
and Indians were breaking down under the
strain of relentless settlement and expansion.
It was not uncommon for bands of lawless
frontiersmen, eager for land, to randomly
murder any group of Native Americans they
encountered. Naturally, the Indians re-
sponded in kind to such atrocities, and a pal-
lor of outright war cast itself over the frontier.
Sometime during April 1774, a group of fron-
tier ruffians under Daniel Greathouse invited
a group of Logan’s relatives to a drinking
party. All were suddenly murdered, and in a
stroke, Logan had lost his entire family, sis-
ters, and brothers. This wanton act of cruelty
enraged the Mingo chief, and he initiated a
one-man war to extract vengeance. Over the
course of several years, Logan reputedly took
as many as 30 scalps, including a fair share of
women and children. The royal governor of
Virginia, John Murray, Lord Dunmore, took
advantage of this unrest to start formal hostil-
ities against the neighboring Shawnees and
possibly acquire more pristine Indian land. In
the ensuing fracas, Logan sided with Shawnee
chief Cornstalkin opposing the whites, but
Indian efforts faltered at the October 10, 1774,
Battle of Point Pleasant. Shortly thereafter,
Cornstalk and other warring chiefs saw the