The following is said to be a message from Captain Logan (an Indian warrior) to Governor Dunmore, after the battle in which Col. Charles Lewis was slain, delivered at the treaty. “I appeal to any white man to say that he ever entered Logan’s cabin but I gave him meat; that he ever came naked but I clothed him. In the course of the last war, Logan remained in his cabin an advocate for peace. I had such an affection for the white people, that I was pointed at by the rest of my nation. I should have ever lived with them, had it not been for Colonel Cressop, who last year cut off, in cold blood, all the relations of Logan, not sparing women and children: There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called upon me for revenge; I have fought it, I have killed many, and fully glutted my revenge. I am glad that there is a prospect of peace, on account of the nation; but I beg you will not entertain a thought that any thing I have said proceeds from fear! Logan disdains the thought! He will not turn on his heel to save his life! Who is there to mourn for Logan? — No one.”
PRIMARY DOCUMENT
Logan’s Lament (Virginia Gazette, February 4, 1775)
CONTEXT
The February 4, 1775, issue of Dixon and Hunter’s Virginia Gazette included this message attributed to a Mingo leader named Tah-Gah-Jute, also known as James Logan. Logan’s family was killed by Virginia settlers as part of the Yellow Creek Massacre in the spring of 1774, leading to Dunmore’s War. Logan refused to attend the treaty negotiations after the war and instead wrote this speech to be delivered at the negotiations. The text became known as “Logan’s Lament” and was published widely, including in Thomas Jefferson’s 1787 book Notes on the State of Virginia.
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