Mansfield.
Would you worry the man that has found you in shoes?
Come, courage, my lord, I can tell you good news—
Virginia is conquer'd, the rebels are bang'd,
You are now to go over and see them safe hang'd:
I hope it is not to your nature abhorrent
To sign for these wretches a legal death-warrant.
Were I but in your place, I'm sure it would suit
To sign their death-warrants, and hang them to boot.
Dunmore.
My lord! I'm amazed—have we routed the foe?
I shall govern again, then, if matters be so;
And as to the hanging, in short, to be plain,
I'll hang them so well they'll ne'er want it again.
With regard to the wretches who thump at my gates, *
I'll discharge all their dues with the rebel estates;
In less than three months I shall send a polacca
As deep as she'll swim, sir, with corn and tobacco."
"Dialogue between Lords Mansfield and Dunmore," by Philip Freneau.
9492
URING the progress of more than a century and a quarter, the Virginians had fully appreciated the principles of civil freedom, and particularly that great truth that government possesses no inherent right to tax the people without their consent. At various times, the Virginia Assembly had resisted the attempts of Parliament to levy taxes upon them; and when, in 1764, the Stamp Act was proposed by ministers, they resolved never to submit to it. The following year1765that act became a law. The Virginia House of Burgesses were in session, in the old capital at Williamsburg, when intelligence of the fact reached them. They talked boldly in private, but none were willing to act bravely in public, until near the close of the session, when Patrick Henry, the youngest member of the Assembly, and seated there for the first time only a few days before, took the lead. He had already led the Democratic members successfully against a paper-money scheme, the prime object of which was to cover up defalcations of Robinson, the treasurer of the colony. Now he exerted his powers in a broader field. Upon a scrap of paper torn from a fly-leaf of an old copy of "Coke upon Lyttleton," he wrote five resolutions, and submitted them to the House. Thefirstdeclared that the original settlers of the colonies brought with them and transmitted to their posterity all the privileges, franchises, and Immunities, enjoyed by the people of Great Britain. Thesecondaffirmed that these privileges, &c., had been secured to the aforesaid colonists by two royal charters granted by King James. Thethirdasserted that taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves, was the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and without which the ancient Constitution could not exist. Thefourthmaintained that the people of Virginia had always enjoyed the right of being governed by their own Assembly in the article of taxes, and that this right had been constantly recognized by the king and people of Great Britain. Thefifth
* This refers to the fact that Dunmore was a great spendthrift, and always in debt. Such, in truth, was the case of a large proportion of the English nobility, at that time, who were engaged in public affairs, notwithstanding their large incomes. Mansfield here named, was the celebrated chief justice, who, because he gave the weight of his legal opinions, and the services of his pen against the colonists while struggling for independence, became very obnoxious to the Americans.
Effect of Henry's Resolutions.—Eloquence and Skill of the Orator.—Dissolution of the Assembly.—General Congress proposed.
resolution, in which was summed up the essentials of the preceding four, declared "That the General Assembly of this colony have the sole right and power to levy taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power in any other person or persons whatsoever, other than the General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom."
Had lightning from the clouds fallen in the midst of that Assembly, they could not have been more startled. The boldest were astonished; the timid were alarmed; the loyal few were amazed and indignant. Many threats were uttered, and those who were willing to submit abused Mr. Henry without stint. A violent debate ensued, and Henry's energies were aroused in all their majesty and might. His eloquence, sometimes deeply pathetic, at other times full of denunciatory invective, shook that Assembly like thunder peals. In the midst of his harangue he exclaimed, in clear bell-tones, "Cæsar had his Brutus—Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third—"
"Treason!" cried the excited speaker; and "Treason! Treason!" was shouted from every part of the House. Henry did not falter for a moment. Rising to a loftier altitude, and fixing his eyes, beaming with the fire of exalted genius, upon Robinson, the speaker, he concluded the sentence with, "may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." *
The moment Henry sat down, Randolph, Pendleton, Bland, Wythe, and others, who afterward became the boldest and most ardent opposers of British power, arose to their feet, and denounced the resolutions as disloyal, and dangerous to the public welfare. Their hearts were with Patrick Henry, but their heads adjudged his course to be premature and injudicious. Again Henry took the floor, and his eloquence, like an avalanche, crushed the most sturdy opposition. The resolutions were carried; the fifth by a majority of only one. They formed the first gauntlet of positive defiance cast at the feet of the British monarch, and gave the first impulse to the storm of revolution which soon swept over the land. In Henry's absence, the next day, the resolutions were reconsidered and modified, and the fifth one stricken out. But manuscript copies were already on their way to other colonies, and the timidity of the Virginia Burgesses did not soften their force. **
Francis Fauquier was at that time lieutenant governor, and the acting chief magistrate of Virginia. He was a man of great private worth, and, for his many virtues and righteous administration of affairs, he was exceedingly popular. As a man, he sympathized with the Legislature; but as the king's representative, he was obliged to use his prerogative in suppressing disloyalty. Therefore, as soon as he was informed of the action of the Burgesses in adopting Henry's resolutions, he dissolved the Assembly and ordered a new election. The eloquence of Henry seemed to have touched every heart in the Old Dominion; and every where the people re-elected the friends of the resolutions, and filled the seats of their opposers with tried patriots.
Within a fortnight after those resolutions went abroad, Massachusetts invited the other colonies to meet her in a general representative Congress at New York. Fauquier refused to call the Virginia Assembly together for the purpose of appointing delegates thereto. Confiding in the patriotism and integrity of the other colonies, the members elect signed a letter to the Congress, in which they promised to acquiesce in any action that might be had. That Congress was held in October,1765and the rights of the American col-
* Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry. Robinson had reasons for disliking Henry, and would gladly have crushed his influence, in the bud. Already he had thwarted the speaker in his attempts to insure his power and put money into his own purse at the public cost, by defeating a bill which provided for new issues of paper money, on the loan-office plan. By virtue of his office as speaker, Robinson was treasurer of all sums voted by the Assembly, and he had the means of loaning money to his friends and to himself. He had already done so, and was now anxious to have a colonial loan-office established by which he might shift the responsibility of loaning to men unable to repay, from himself to the colony. Henry foresaw the evils of this scheme, and his wisdom was made manifest, when, in the following year, Robinson died, and his defalcations were made known.
** See a notice of copies of these resolutions in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, on page 466, volume i.
Repeal of the Stamp Act.—Lord Botetourt.—Thomas Jefferson.—Dissolution of the Assembly.—The Apollo Room.
onies were so lucidly set forth in their declaration, that the people lacked no sure guide in their future course. *
The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, and Virginia, rejoicing with hope like her sister colonies, sent an address of thanks to the king and Parliament, and voted a statue to his majesty as a token of her gratitude and love. ** Like her sister colonies, she was doomed to disappointment, and her sincere loyalty was speedily transformed into open rebellion.
9494
From the repeal of the Stamp Act until the close of the Revolution, Virginia wrought hand in hand with the other colonies in efforts to obtain justice and maintain popular liberty.
Governor Fauquier died early in 1768, and was succeeded by Lord Botetourt. That gentleman bore to his people assurances that the king and Parliament were sincerely desirous of doing justice to the colonies, and that all the obnoxious acts would be speedily repealed. These assurances, and the excellent character and conduct of the governor, allayed the excitement in Virginia for a while, and her people looked forward to seasons of prosperity and repose. Their dream was of short duration. Soon the intelligence came that the engine of oppression was again at work, and new schemes for harassing the colonies were maturing. Virginia was much excited when its Legislature for 1769 convened. Among its members was Thomas Jefferson, of Albemarle county, a young lawyer of eminent abilities, liberality of views, and boldness of character. His first act in the Assembly evinced his appreciation of freedom; he proposed a law which should give the masters of slaves unrestricted right to emancipate them. This motion did not succeed, but it drew the attention of the Assembly to his talents, and he was employed in preparing the counter-resolutions and addresses of the House of Burgesses,May, 1769in opposition to those of the Lords
Commons, then just received. In these resolutions Virginia displayed a manifest disposition to consider the cause of Massachusetts a common one. The governor, on being informed of their proceedings, as in duty bound, and conformable to his oath, dissolved them. The next day they met in the Apollo room of the Raleigh tavern; formed themselves into a voluntary convention; drew up articles of association against the use of any merchandise imported from Great Brit-ian; signed and recommended them to the people, and then repaired to their several counties. All were re-elected except those who had declined assent to the proceedings of the majority. **** Botetourt, unlike some of the royal governors, did not make the matter a personal consideration, lose his temper, and act unjustly and unwisely; but, following the prescribed line of duty, he courteously endeavored to prevent rebellious proceedings and to allay excitement. He was esteemed by all parties; and, as we
* See page 464, volume i.
** See page 472, volume i.
*** The room used for publie meetings is in the rear building of the old Raleigh tavern at Williamsburg, and up to the day of my visit it had remained unaltered. Carpenters were then at work remodeling its style, for the purpose of making it a ball-room; and now, I suppose, that apartment, hallowed by so many associations connected with our war for independence, has scarcely an original feature left. Had my visit been deferred a day longer, the style of the room could never have been portrayed. Neat wainscoting of Virginia pine ornamented the sides below and partly between the windows, and over the fire-place, which was spacious. This view is from the entrance door from the front portion of the building. On the left were two large windows; on the right were two windows and a door; and on each side of the fire-place was a door opening into small passage ways, from the exterior. Through the door on the left is seen a flight of stairs leading to the dormitory. The walls were whitewashed, and the wood-work painted a lead color. In this room the leading patriots of Virginia, including Washington, held many secret caucuses, and planned many schemes for the overthrow of royal rule in the colonies. The sound of the hammer and saw engaged in the work of change seemed to me like actual desecration; for the Raleigh tavern, and the Apollo room are to Virginia, relatively, what Faneuil Hall is to Massachusetts.
**** Jefferson's Memoirs, i., 4.
Death of Botetourt.—Lora Dunmore.—His Character.—Committees of Vigilance and Correspondence.
have seen, his death, which occurred in 1771, was considered a public calamity, and mourned as a public bereavement.
8495
Condolences were set forth; and they expressed their concurrence and sympathy with their brethren in New England. Jefferson, Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Peyton Randolph, the speaker, urged immediate and bold action, and through their efforts a committee of vigilance was appointedMarch 10, 1772to obtain the most clear and authentic intelligence of all such acts of Parliament or ministry as might affect the rights of the colonies. This committee was also authorized to open a correspondence and communication with the other colonies. **
They were about to adopt other resolutions equally unsubmissive to royal rule, when their proceedings were cut short by Dunmore, who dissolved the Assembly. The committee of correspondence met, however, the next day, and dispatched a circular letter containing the resolutions to the speakers of the several Colonial Assemblies. The General Court
* These are copied from the third volume of the Documentary History of New York, edited by Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan.
** The committee consisted of Peyton Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Diages, Dabney Carr, Archibald Carey, and Thomas Jefferson. This committee was formed at a caucus held in a private room in the Raleigh tavern, the evening before it was proposed in the House. The caucus consisted of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Franeis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Dabney Carr (his brother-in-law), and two or three others. Strong resolutions were drawn up, and it was proposed that Mr. Jefferson should submit them to the House. Desirous of bringing into notice the brilliant talents of Mr. Carr, Mr. Jefferson proposed that he should submit them. It was agreed to, and the next day Mr. Carr moved the adoption of the resolutions. They were carried, and the above committee of correspondence was appointed. Virginia and Massachusetts have disputed for the honor of originating committees of correspondence. It will be seen by referring to page 494, volume i., that the address of the people of Massachusetts, in which their grievances and their rights were stated, and which called out the action of the Virginia Burgesses when their committee of correspondence was formed, contained a recommendation to appoint such committees in the several towns in that province. In Massachusetts, this recommendation was made some six weeks before the action on the subject took place in the Virginia Legislature. Massachusetts was the first to suggest committees of correspondence within its own domain; Virginia was the first to appoint a committee for national correspondence. And yet eaeh colony seems actually to have originated the idea; for, according to Peyton Randolph, the messengers from the respective Legislatures, bearing the resolutions of each, passed each other on the way.—See Jefferson's letter to Samuel A. Wells, 1819, in the appendix to his Memoirs, page 100.
Fast day in Virginia.—Assembly Dissolved by Dunmore.—Meeting at the Raleigh.—The Proceedings.
of Massachusetts responded by the appointment of a committee of fifteen, instructing them to urge the other colonies to take similar action.
9496
The New England colonies, and Pennsylvania and Maryland, did so, and thus was formed the first sound link of our confederacy.
The Boston Port Bill, * which was to go into effect on the first of June, 1774, had excited the greatest sympathy for the people of Boston throughout the colonies, and on the twenty-fourth of May the Virginia Assembly adopted strong resolutions of condolence, and appointed the first of June to be observed as a fast. Dunmore was highly offended,officially, and the next day dissolved them by a verbal proclamation. ** The delegates, eighty-nine in number (of whom Washington was one), immediately assembled in the Apollo room of the Raleigh tavern, organized themselves into a voluntary convention, and prepared an address to their constituents, in which they declared that an attack upon one colony was an attack upon all. They recommended several important measures. Among other propositions was one for aGeneral Congress, a proposition which was made by Massachusetts six days afterward, **** and being immediately sent forth, was heartily concurred in by all the other colonies except Georgia. Twenty-five of the delegates remained at Williamsburg to engage in the religious services of the appointed fast-day. While awaiting its arrival,May 29they received an account of a town meeting in Boston, at which the inhabitants of the colonies were invited to enter into a general non-importation agreement. The twenty-five delegates did not feel authorized to act in a matter of so much gravity, and therefore only recommended, by a circular, that the Burgesses should meet again in convention at Williamsburg on the first of August Pursuant to this recommendation, all the Burgesses who met at the Raleigh were present on that day. They adopted resolutions to import no more slaves, nor British goods, nor tea; and, if colonial grievances were not speedily redressed, to export no more tobacco to England, and not to deal with any merchants who should refuse to sign the agreement. They recommended the cultivation of such articles of husbandry, instead of tobacco, as might form a proper basis for manufactures of all sorts; and also particularly recommended the improvement of the breed of sheep, the multiplying of them, and the killing of as few as possible. On the 5th of August they chose seven delegates to represent Virginia in the Continental Congress, appointed to meet on the fifth of September follow-
* See page 503, volume i.
** Dunmore's speech on that occasion was very brief. The following is a copy: "Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House of Burgesses,—I have in my hand a paper published by order of your House, conceived in such terms as reflects highly upon his Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly."
Notwithstanding this act on the part of the governor, the delegates did not omit to carry out arrangements which they had made for honoring Lady Dunmore with a ball on the 27th. Every mark of respect and attention was paid to Lord Dunmore and his lady on that occasion, as if nothing unpleasant had occurred. In fact, according to entries in Washington's Diary, the matter was not made personal at all, for on the day after the dissolution of the Assembly, although he was one of the foremost in expressions of sympathy for the people of Boston, he remarks, "Rode out with the governor to his farm, and breakfasted with him there."
*** When I visited Williamsburg in December, 1848, the front part of the old Raleigh tavern had been torn down, and a building in modern style was erected in its place. The old tavern was in the form of an L, one portion fronting the street, the other extending at right angles, in the rear. Both parts were precisely alike in external appearance, and as the rear building was yet standing and unaltered, I am able to give a restored view of the Raleigh, as it appeared during the Revolution. The wooden bust of Sir Walter Raleigh, which graced the front of the old inn, now ornaments the new building.
**** The latter colony could not have heard of the action of the former, and therefore the recommendation was as original with it as with Virginia.
Delegates to the Continental Congress.—Expedition against the Indians.—Dunmore's Schemes.—Camp at the Great Kenawha.
ing, in Philadelphia, * and then adjourned, each pledged to do all in his power to effect the results contemplated in their proceedings.
While these clouds of difficulty were gathering in the horizon of Virginia politics, and the colony was menaced with civil-war, the Indians on the frontiers had commenced fierce hostilities, and were driving civilization back from its adventurous settlements west of the Blue Ridge. Although several times chastised, they were still bold. In 1764, Colonel Bouquet, ** having dispersed the Indians besieging Detroit, passed into the Wyandot country, by the way of Sandusky Bay, and compelled the head men of the tribes to agree to a treaty of peace. The Shawnees and Delawares in the Ohio county still continued hostile. Bouquet, the same year, marched from Fort Pitt to the Muskingum, awed the Indians, procured the restoration of prisoners in their hands, and made a treaty of peace with them, and for several years they kept comparatively quiet, though exhibiting unmistakable signs of deadly hostility.
Early in 1777, the hatchet again fell with terrible fury upon the frontier settlements of Virginia, and its keenness was heightened by the encouragement which the savages received from a few white scoundrels, who hoped to gain personal advantage in the contest. The scheme which Governor Dunmore afterward entered into for banding these forest tribes against the colonists, has left upon his memory the suspicion that even thus early, in view of impending hostilities, he had tampered with them, through his agents, and made them bold. History gives no positive warrant for suspicions so damning, and we may charitably hope that his expedition against the Indians, in the summer of that year,1774was undertaken with a sincere desire to save the colony from their cruel incursions. It is true, Dunmore was very tardy in his preparations, and his expedition did not march until the voice of his indignant people compelled him to go, and alert suspicion made him fearful of its consequences.
The chief rendezvous of the hostile Indians was on the Sciota, within the limits of the present Pickaway county, Ohio. There were three principal towns, and against these Dunmore marched with a force of three thousand men, early in August.1774The army proceeded in two divisions; one composing the left wing, under Colonel Andrew Lewis, the other led by Dunmore in person. The left wing struck the Great Kenawha, and followed that stream to the Ohio; the right wing passed the mountains of the Potomac gap, and reached the Ohio a little above Wheeling. The plan of the campaign was to form a junction before reaching the Indian villages. Lewis encamped on the site of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kenawha, on the sixth of October. In expectation of the approach of Dunmore, he cast up no intrenchments. In this exposed situation, he was attacked on the morning of the tenth, by one thousand chosen warriors of the western confederacy under the celebratedCornstalk, who came from the Pickaway Plains to confront Colonel Lewis before the other division should join him. *** So stealthily had the
* The following were the delegates appointed: Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. These were all present at the opening of the Congress in Carpenter's Hall, and, as wc have seen, Peyton Randolph was chosen the first president of that body.
** Henry Bouquet was of French descent. He was appointed lieutenant colonel in the British army in 1756. He was active in his co-operations with General Forbes, and was highly esteemed by Amherst. That officer sent him to the relief of Fort Pitt, with stores, in 1763. He was attacked on his way by a powerful body of Indians, whom he defeated. In 1764, as noticed in the text, he was successful in the Ohio county. The following year he was appointed a brigadier. He died at Pensacola, Florida, in February, 1766.
*** Stuart, in his Memoir of Indian Wars, and Withers, in his Chronicles of Border Warfare, express the opinion, and adduce strong corroborating evidence of its truth, that Dunmore arranged the expedition in such a way, that the whole Indian force should fall upon and annihilate Lewis's detachment, and thereby weaken the physical strength, and break down the spirit of the Virginians. It must be admitted that the fact of the great body of Indians leaving their towns and marching directly to attack Lewis, when Dunmore, with a foree equally strong, was approaching in another direction, gives the color of probability to these suspicions. His subsequent conduct in inciting servile war in Virginia, shows that he was capable of so nefarious a scheme.
Battle at Mount Pleasant.—March to the Shawnee Towns.—Old Chillicothe.—Fort Gower.
Indians approached, that within one hour after Lewis's scouts discovered those of the enemy a general battle was in progress.
Colonel Charles Lewis, a brother of the general, with three hundred men, received the first assault. He and his aid, Hugh Allen, were mortally wounded, and so overwhelming in numbers and fierce in aspect were the assailants, that his line broke and gave way. * At this moment, a party under Colonel Fleming attacked the enemy's right, and, being sustained by a reserve under Colonel Field, the Indians were driven back. The battle continued with unabated fury until one o'clock in the afternoon, the Indians slowly retreating from tree to tree, while the giganticCornstalkencouraged them with the words, "Be strong! Be strong!" ** The peculiarity of the ground, it being upon a point at the junction of two rivers, made every retreat of the enemy advantageous to the Virginians, because as their line extended from river to river, forming the base of an equilateral triangle, it was lengthened, and consequently weakened. The belligerents rested within rifle shot of each other, and kept up a desultory fire until sunset. The battle was a desperate one, and neither party could fairly claim the victory. The Virginians lost one half of their commissioned officers, and fifty-two privates were killed. The Indians lost, in killed and wounded, two hundred and thirty-three. During the night they retreated, but Lewis did not think it prudent to pursue them. Lieutenant Shelby (the hero at King's Mountain, and afterward governor of Kentucky) was left in command of a garrison at Point Pleasant, until July, 1775.
On the day after the battle, Colonel Lewis received orders from Dnnmore to hasten on toward the Shawnee towns, on the Sciota, and join him at a point eighty miles distant.
0498
Dunmore was ignorant of the battle, and the weakened condition of Lewis's division. But the latter did not hesitate. Leaving a small garrison at Point Pleasant, he pressed onward, through an unbroken wilderness to the banks of Congo Creek, in Pickaway township, within striking distance of the Shawnee or Shawanese towns. The principal village of the Indians stood upon the site of the present borough of Westfall, on the west bank of the Seiota, and was calledOld Chillicothe,there being other towns of the same name. When Colonel Lewis arrived, he found Dunmore and his party in the neighborhood. The governor had descended the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Hockhocking, where he built a redoubt or block-house, and called it Fort Gower. **** From this point he marched up that
* From a "Song of Lament," written at the time, I quote the following stanzas, which are more remarkable for pathos than poetry:
"Colonel Lewis and some noble captains,Did down to death like Uriah go,Alas! their heads wound up in napkins,Upon the banks of the Ohio.Kings lamented their mighty fallenUpon the mountains of Gilboa,And now we mourn for brave Hugh Allen,Far from the banks of the Ohio.Oh bless the mighty King of HeavenFor all his wondrous works below,Who hath to us the victory givenUpon the banks of the Ohio."
** Howison's History of Virginia, ii., 15.
*** This little map shows a portion of the Pickaway Plains upon which the towns of the Shawnees were built. These plains are on the cast side of the Sciota, and contain the richest body of land in Ohio. When first cultivated by the whites, the soil was a black vegetable mold, the result of long ages of decomposition, and for many years one hundred bushels of corn, or fifty bushels of wheat to the acre, was an average yield. This region was for many generations the principal rendezvous of Indian chiefs in council, in the Ohio country, and here many victims, brought from the frontier settlements, endured the torments of savage cruelty.__See Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, page 403.
* Explanation of the Map.—a a, the ancient works at Circleville; b, Logan's cabin near; c, Old Chillicothe; d, Black Mountain; e, Cornstalk's town; f Squaw's town; g, Council-house; h, the point where Dunmore and Colonel Lewis met; i the camp of Colonel Lewis; Camp Lewis; m, High Lands.
**** This was in Athens township. Dunmore was a great admirer of Earl Gower, and in honor of that nobleman he named this, the first fort he ever erected.
Junction of the Armies of Dunmore and Lewis.—Camp Charlotte.—Logan and Cresap.
stream into the Indian country, and when Lewis arrived, he was encamped on the left bank of Sippo Creek, about seven miles southwest of the present village of Circleville. Dunmore called his stationCamp Charlotte, * and hither the Indians, dispirited by their engagement with Colonel Lewis, and perceiving the destruction of their towns to be inevitable, came to treat for peace. Dunmore had been met by a flag of truce from the Indians, borne by a white man named Elliot, ** and his readiness to treat with the enemy, instead of striking a blow of annihilation, is adduced as evidence of his ulterior designs for making these warriors subservient to his use in enslaving Virginia. Colonel Lewis was greatly irritated because Dunmore would not allow him to crush the enemy within his grasp, and the
Virginians, eager for revenge, almost mutinied. *** The treaty was held in the presence of all the troops, amounting to twenty-five hundred in number. The Shawnee chiefs were quite numerous.Cornstalkwas the principal speaker, and, in the course of his remarks, he adroitly charged upon the white people the causes of the war, in consequence, principally, of the murder of the family of Logan, a Mingo chief, a few months previously. **** Logan,
* Camp Charlotte, according to Charles Whittlesy, Esq. (from whose discourse before the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, at Cincinnati, in 1840, the principal facts of this narrative have been gleaned), was upon the farm then (1840) owned by Thomas J. Winship, Esq. Camp Lewis was situated about four and a half miles southwest of Camp Charlotte.
** The Tory companion of Girty and M'Kee.
*** From concurrent testimony, it appears that suspicions of Dunmore's treachery was rife in the camp, and for that reason Lewis was more disposed to disobey his orders. It is said that Dunmore, in the violence of his anger, because his subaltern insisted upon fighting, drew his sword upon Lewis, and threatened him with instant death if he persisted in his disobedience.
**** This circumstance is alluded to on page 313, where a copy of Logan's speech to Dunmore, as preserved by Jefferson, is given. Mr. Brantz Mayer, in an able discourse delivered before the Maryland Historical Society in May, 1851, has adduced sufficient evidence to fully acquit Colonel Cresap of the charge made in the reported speech of Logan, and removed the foul stain of cold-blooded murder which has so long rested upon the fair fame of a brave and honorable man. It appears that, in the spring of 1774, Michael Cresap was upon the Ohio, below Wheeling, engaged in planting a settlement. Some pioneers on their way to make a settlement in Kentucky, under the auspices of Colonel George Rogers Clarke, resolved to attack an Indian town near the mouth of the Seiota, and solicited Cresap to command the expedition. He advised them to forbear, and, with him, they all repaired to Wheeling. Dr. Connelly, whom Lord Dunmore had appointed magistrate of West Augusta, sent Cresap word, on the 21st of April, that an Indian war was inevitable. Cresap, always vigilant, called a council of the pioneers, and on the 26th made solemn declaration of war against the Indians. They established a new post of defense, and the very next day two canoes, filled with painted savages, appeared. They were chased fifteen miles down the river, when a skirmish ensued. One man was killed, and several Indians were made prisoners. On the return of the pursuing party, an expedition against the settlement of Logan, * near the mouth of the Yellow Creek, thirty miles above Wheeling, was proposed. Cresap raised his voice against the proposed expedition, for the people of Logan's settlement seemed rather friendly than otherwise. His couneil prevailed, and the pioneers proceeded that evening to Red Stone Old Fort, at the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, on the Monongahela, now the site of Brownsville. Other white people upon the Ohio were less cautious and humane. On the bank of the Ohio, nearly opposite Logan's settlement, was the cabin of a man named Baker, where rum was sold to the Indians, which consequently augmented the savageism of their nature. On account of the shooting of two Indians near Yellow Creek, by a settler named Myers, the savages resolved to cross over and murder Baker's family. A squaw revealed "the plot to Baker's wife, and twenty white men, armed, were concealed in and around his cabin. The next morning early, three squaws, with an infant and four Indian men, unarmed, came to Baker's. The whole party of red people became intoxicated, an affray occurred, and the whole of the Indians were massacred, except the infant. Logan's mother, brother, and sister, were among the slain. The vengeance of the chief was aroused, and during nearly all of that summer Logan was out upon the war-path. Michael Cresap was known to be a leader among the pioneers upon the Ohio, and Logan supposed he was concerned in the affair. The researches of Mr. Mayer show that, at the time of the massacre, Cresap was with his young family in Maryland, and had nothing to do with the matter. * It is also demonstrated that at about the hour when the massacre took place, two canoes, with Indians painted and prepared for war, approached. The appearance fully corroborated the disclosures of the squaw, and justified the vigilance (but not the murder of women and unarmed men) by the neighbors of Baker.
* The Indian name of Logan, according to competent authority quoted by Mr. Mayer, was Ta-ga-jute, which means "short dress."
** This squaw was the wife for the time of John Gibson, the Indian trader, to whom the reputed speech of Logan was communicated. Her infant, who was saved, was cared for by Gibson.
*** Logan evidently held Cresap responsible, as appears hy the following note, quoted by Mr. Mayer, page 56. It was written with ink made of gunpowder and water, at the command of Logan, by William Robinson, who had been made a prisoner by that chief nine days before: "Captain Cresap,—What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too; and I have been three times to war since. But the Indians are not angry—only myself. "July 21 st, 1774. Captain John Logan." This note was attached to a war club, and left in the house of a man whose whole family had been murdered by the savages.
John Gibson.—Logan's Speech.—His Death.—Sketch of Colonel Cresap.
who was then at Old Chillicothe, disdained to meet the white men in council, and sat sullenly in his cabin while the treaty was in progress, Dunmore sent a messenger (John Gibson * ) to Logan, to invite him to attend the council. The chief took Gibson into the woods, and sitting down upon a mossy root, he told him the story of his wrongs, and, as that officer related, shedding many bitter tears. He refused to go to the council, but, unwilling to disturb the deliberations by seeming opposition, he sent a speech, in the mouth of Gibson, to Governor Dun-more. That speech, as preserved in print, ** has been greatly admired for its pathetic eloquence. ***
* John Gibson, who afterward became a major general, was an Indian trader, and an active man among the settlers on the Ohio. Washington esteemed him as a brave and honest man, and in 1781 intrusted him with the command of the western military department. He was succeeded by General Irvine in 1782. He was a member of the Pennsylvania convention in 1788; was major general of militia, and was secretary of Indian territory during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. He was at one time associate judge of the Common Pleas of Alleghany county, in Pennsylvania. Colonel George Gibson, who was mortally wounded at St. Clair's defeat in Ohio, was his nephew.
** Gibson repeated the substance to Dunmore and other officers. They wrote it down, and, on returning to Williamsburg, caused it to be published in the Virginia Gazette, February 4, 1775. This was the name of the first newspaper published in Virginia. It was first issued at Williamsburg in 1736, a sheet about twelve inches by six in size. It was printed weekly bv William Parks, at fifteen shillings per annum. No other paper was published in Virginia until the Stamp Act excitement, in 1765-6. The Gazette was so much under government control, that Jefferson and others got Mr. Rind to come from Maryland and publish a paper, which was also called "The Virginia Gazette." It was professedly open to all parties, but influenced by none. This was the paper in which Logan's speeeh was published. Another "Virginia Gazette" was printed at Williamsburg in 1775, and published weekly lor several years.—See Thomas's History of Printing.
*** Logan, whose majestic person and mental accomplishments were the theme of favorable remark, became a victim to the vice of intemperance. Earlier than the time when Dunmore called him to council, he was addicted to the habit. The last years of his life were very melancholy. Notwithstanding the miseries he had suffered at the hands of the white man, his benevolence made him the prisoner's friend, until intemperance blunted his sensibilities, and in 1780 we find him among the marauders at Ruddell's Station (see page 500). The manner of his death is differently related. The patient researches ol Mr. Mayer lead me to adopt his as the correct one, as it was from the lips of an aged man who knew Logan well, and corresponds in all essential particulars with an account I received from an aged Mohawk whom I saw at Caglmawaga, twelve miles from Montreal, in the summer of 1848. His mother was a Shawnee woman, and when he was a boy, he often saw Logan. In a drunken phrensy near Detroit, in 1780, Logan struck his wife to the ground. Believing her dead, he fled to the wilderness. Between Detroit and Sandusky, he was overtaken by a troop of Indian men, women, and children. Not yet sober, he imagined that the penalty of his crime was about to be inflicted by a relative. Being well armed, he declared that the whole party should be destroyed. In defense, his nephew, Tod-kah-dohs, killed him on the spot, by a shot from his gun. His wife recovered from his blow.
* Michael Cresap was the son of a hardy pioneer, who was one of the Ohio Company in 1752. He was horn in Maryland (Alleghany county), on the 29th of June, 1742. While yet a minor, he married a Miss Whitehead, of Philadelphia. He became a merchant and trader, and at length a bold pioneer upon the Ohio, lie raised a company ot volunteers in the summer of 1774, and proceeded to aid his countrymen on the Ohio, when he was stopped by Connolly. Dunmore, however, valuing his services, sent him a commission of captain in the militia of Hampshire county, in Virginia He then proceeded to the Ohio, and was engaged in Dunmore's expedition of that year. When Gibson reported Logan's speech, the charge against Cresap was laughed at as ridiculous; and George Rogers Clarke, who was standing by, said, *' He must be a very great man, as the Indians palmed every thing that happened upon his shoulders."
* Cresap returned to Maryland after the conclusion of Dunmore's expedition, and early in the spring he again went to the Ohio, and penetrated the wilderness of Kentucky. On his return, he was informed that he had been appointed to the command of a company of Maryland riflemen, raised by a resolution of Congress. Although suffering from ill health, he immediately went to Boston with his company, and joined the continental army under Washington. His sickness continuing, he left the army for his home among the mountains. At New York he sunk, exhausted, where he died on the 18th of October, 1775, at the age of thirty-three years. His remains were buried in Trinity church yard with military honors, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, where they yet rest.—See Mayer's Discourse; also Jacob's Life of Cresap. In the appendix to his Discourse, Mr. Mayer presents the results of patient investigation, concerning the authenticity of Logan's speech. It appears probable that the sentiment was Logan's, delivered, not as a speech or message, but as the natural expressions of the feelings of a man who felt that he had been greatly injured; the composition was evidently the work of some hand in Dunmore's camp.
Treaty with the Indians.—Sentiments of Dunmore's Officers.—Indian Wars in the West.—Daniel Boone.
At the conclusion of the treaty, Dunmore and his troops returned to Virginia, by the way of Fort Gower. At that place, the officers held a meeting on the fifth of November1774for the purpose of considering the "grievances of British America." The proceedings
were not at all palatable to Lord Dunmore, notwithstanding one of the resolutions highly complimented him personally. The speech of one of the officers, and the resolution which followed, notwithstanding the attestations of loyalty freely expressed, evidently implied a determination no longer to submit to royal rule. Dunmore was offended, and both parties returned home dissatisfied.