No. IV.
RELATIVE TO THE MURDER OF LOGAN'S FAMILY.
A LETTER TO GOVERNOR HENRY, OF MARYLAND.
Philadelphia, Dec. 31st, 1797.
Dear Sir, — Mr. Tazewell has communicated to me the enquiries you have been so kind as to make relative to a passage in the Notes on Virginia, which has lately excited some newspaper publications. I feel, with great sensibility, the interest you take in this business, and with pleasure, go into explanations with one whose objects I know to be truth and justice alone. Had Mr. Martin thought proper to suggest to me that doubts might be entertained of the transaction respecting Logan, as stated in the Notes on Virginia, and to enquire on what grounds the statement was founded, I should have felt myself obliged by the enquiry to have informed him candidly of the grounds, and cordially have co-operated in every means of investigating the fact, and correcting whatsoever in it should be found to have been erroneous. But he chose to step at once into the newspapers, and in his publications there, and the letters he wrote to me, adopted a style which forbade the respect of an answer. Sensible, however, that no act of his could absolve me from the justice due to others, as soon as I found that the story of Logan could be doubted, I determined to enquire into it as accurately as the testimony remaining, after a lapse of twenty odd years, would permit; and that the result should be made known, either in the first new edition which should be printed of the Notes on Virginia, or by publishing an Appendix. I thought that so far as that work had contributed to impeach the memory of Cresap, by handing on an erroneous charge, it was proper it should be made the vehicle of retribution. Not that I was at all the author of the injury. I had only concurred with thousands and thousands of others in believing a transaction on authority which merited respect. For the story of Logan is only repeated in the Notes on Virginia, precisely as it had been current for more than a dozen years before they were published. When Lord Dunmore returned from the expedition against the Indians, in 1774, he and his officers brought the speech of Logan, and related the circumstances connected with it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself so fine a morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every conversation, in Williamsburg particularly, and generally, indeed, wheresoever any of the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburg; I believe at Lord Dunmore's; and I find in my pocketbook of that year (1774) an entry of the narrative, as taken from the mouth of some person, whose name, however, is not noted nor recollected, precisely in the words stated in the Notes on Virginia. The speech was published in the Virginia Gazette of that time (I have it myself in the volume of Gazettes of that year) and though in a style by no means elegant, yet it was so admired, that it flew through all the public papers of the continent, and through the magazines and other periodical publications of Great Britain; and those who were boys at that day will now attest, that the speech of Logan used to be given them as a school exercise for repetition. It was not till about thirteen or fourteen years after the newspaper publications, that the Notes on Virginia were published in America. Combatting in these the contumelious theory of certain European writers, whose celebrity gave currency and weight to their opinions, that our country, from the combined effects of soil and climate, degenerated animal nature, in the general, and particularly the moral faculties of man, I considered the speech of Logan as an apt proof of the contrary, and used it as such; and I copied, verbatim, the narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the speech as it had been given us in a better translation by Lord Dunmore. I knew nothing of the Cresaps, and could not possibly have a motive to do them an injury with design. I repeated what thousands had done before, on as good authority as we have for most of the facts we learn through life, and such as, to this moment, I have seen no reason to doubt. That any body questioned it, was never suspected by me, till I saw the letter of Mr. Martin in the Baltimore paper.
I endeavored then to recollect who among my cotemporaries, of the same circle of society, and consequently of the same recollections might still be alive. Three and twenty years of death and dispersion had left very few. I remembered, however, that Gen. Gibson was still living, and knew that he had been the translator of the speech. I wrote to him immediately. He, in answer, declares to me, that he was the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town; that, after he had delivered his message there, Logan took him out to a neighboring wood; sat down with him, and rehearsing, with tears, the catastrophe of his family, gave him that speech for Lord Dunmore; that he carried it to Lord Dunmore; translated it for him; has turned to it in the Encyclopedia, as taken from the Notes on Virginia, and finds that it was his translation I had used, with only two or three verbal variations of no importance. These, I suppose, had arisen in the course of successive copies. I cite Gen. Gibson's letter by memory, not having it with me; but I am sure I cite it substantially right. It establishes unquestionably, that the speech of Logan is genuine; and that being established, it is Logan himself who is author of all the important facts. "Col. Cresap," says he, " in cold blood and unprovoked, 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." The person and the fact, in all its material circumstances, are here given by Logan himself. General Gibson, indeed, says, that the title was mistaken; that Cresap was a captain, and not a colonel. This was Logan's mistake. He also observes, that it was on the Ohio, and not on the Kanhaway itself, that his family was killed. This is an error which has crept into the traditionary account; but surely of little moment in the moral view of the subject. The material question is : was Logan's family murdered, and by whom? That it was murdered has not, I believe, been denied; that it was by one of the Cresaps, Logan affirms. This is a question which concerns the memories of Logan and Cresap; to the issue of which I am as indifferent as if I had never heard the name of either. I have begun and shall continue to enquire into the evidence additional to Logan's, on which the fact was founded. Little, indeed, pan now be heard of, and that little dispersed and distant. If it shall appear on enquiry, that Logan has been wrong in charging Cresap with the murder of his family, I will do justice to the memory of Cresap, as far as I have contributed to the injury, by believing and repeating what others had believed and repeated before me. If, on the other hand, I find that Logan was right, in his charge, I will vindicate, as far as my suffrage may go, the truth of a Chief, whose talents and misfortunes have attached to him the respect and commiseration of the world.
I have gone, my dear Sir, into this lengthy detail to satisfy a mind, in the candor and rectitude of which I have the highest confidence. So far as you may incline to use the communication for rectifying the judgments of those who are willing to see things truly as they are, you are free to use it. But I pray that no confidence which you may repose in any one, may induce you to let it go out of your hands, so as to get into a newspaper. Against a contest in that field I am entirely decided. I feel extraordinary gratification, indeed, in addressing this letter to you, with whom shades of difference in political sentiment have not prevented the interchange of good opinion, nor cut off the friendly offices of society and good correspondence. This political tolerance is the more valued by me, who considers social harmony as the first of human felicities, and the happiest moments, those which are given to the effusions of the heart. Accept them sincerely, I pray you, from one who has the honor to be, with sentiments of high respect and attachment,
Dear Sir, Your most obedient And most humble servant, THOMAS JEFFERSON.
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The Notes on Virginia were written in Virginia, in the years 1781 and 1782, in answer to certain queries proposed to me by Mous. De Marbois, then Secretary of the French Legation in the United States; and a manuscript copy was delivered to him. A few copies, with some additions, were afterwards, in 1784, printed in Paris, and given to particular friends. In speaking of the animals of America, the theory of M, de Buffon, the Abbe Raynal, and others presented itself to consideration. They have supposed there is something in the soil, climate, and other circumstances of America, which occasions animal nature to degenerate, not excepting even the man, native or adoptive, physical or moral. This theory, so unfounded and degrading to one third of the globe, was called to the bar of fact and reason. Among other proofs adduced in contradiction of this hypothesis, the speech of Logan, an Indian chief, delivered to Lord Dunmore in 1774, was produced as a specimen of the talents of the aboriginals of this country, and particularly of their eloquence; and it was believed that Europe had never produced any thing superior to this morsel of eloquence- In order to make it intelligible to the reader, the transaction, on which it is founded, was stated, as it had been generally related in America at the time, and as I had heard it myself, in the circle of Lord Dunmore, and the officers who accompanied him: and the speech itself was given as it had, ten years before the printing of that book, circulated in the newspapers through all the then colonies, through the magazines of Great Britain, and the periodical publications of Europe. For three and twenty years it passed uncontradicted; nor was it ever suspected that it even admitted contradiction. In 1797, however, for the first time, not only the whole transaction respecting Logan was affirmed in the public papers to be false, but the speech itself suggested to be a forgery, and even a forgery of mine, to aid me in proving that the man of America was equal in body and in mind, to the man in Europe. But wherefore the forgery; whether Logan's or mine, it would still have been American. I should indeed consult my own fame if the suggestion, that this speech is mine, were suffered to be believed. He would have a just right to be proud who could with truth claim that composition. But it is none of mine; and I yield it to whom it is due.
On seeing then, that this transaction was brought into question, I thought it my duty to make particular enquiry into its foundation. It was the more my duty, as it was alleged that, by ascribing to an individual therein named, a participation in the murder of Logan's family, I had done an injury to his character, which it had not deserved. I had no knowledge personally of that individual. I had no reason to aim an injury at him. I only repeated what I had heard from others, and what thousands had heard and believed as well as myself; and which no one indeed, till then, had been known to question. Twenty-three years had now elapsed, since the transaction took place. Many of those acquainted with it were dead, and the living dispersed to very distant parts of the earth. Few of them were even known to me. To those however of whom I knew, I made application by letter; and some others, moved by a regard for truth and justice, were kind enough to come forward, of themselves, with their testimony. These fragments of evidence, the small remains of a mighty mass which time has consumed, are here presented to the public, in the form of letters, certificates, or affidavits, as they came to me. I have rejected none of these forms, nor required other solemnities from those whose motives and characters were pledges of their truth. Historical transactions are deemed to be well vouched by the simple declarations of those who have borne a part in them; and especially of persons having no interest to falsify or disfigure them. The world will now see whether they, or I, have injured Cresap, by believing Logan's charge against him: and they will decide between Logan and Cresap, whether Cresap was innocent, and Logan a calumniator?
In order that the reader may have a clear conception of the transactions, to which the different parts of the following declarations refer, he must take notice that they establish four different murders. 1. Of two Indians, a little above Wheeling. 2. Of others at Grave Creek, among whom were some of Logan's relations. 3. The massacre at Baker's Bottom, on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, where were other relations of Logan. 4. Of those killed at the same place, coming in canoes to the relief of their friends. I place the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, against certain paragraphs of the evidence, to indicate the particular murder to which the paragraph relates, and present also a small sketch or map of the principal scenes of these butcheries, for their more ready comprehension.
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Extract of a Letter from the Honorable Judge Innes, of Frankfort in Kentucky, to Thomas Jefferson, dated Kentucky, near Frankfort, March 2d, 1799.
I recollect to have seen Logan's speech in 1775, in one of the public prints. That Logan conceived Cresap to be the author of the murder at Yellow Creek, it is in my power to give, perhaps, a more particular information, than any other person you can apply to.
In 1774, I lived in Fincastle county, now divided into Washington, Montgomery, and part of Wythe. Being intimate in Colonel Preston's family, I happened in July to be at his house, when an express was sent to him as the County Lieutenant, requesting a guard of the militia to be ordered out for the protection of the inhabitants residing low down on the north fork of Holston River. The express brought with him a war club, and a note which was left tied to it at the house of one Robertson, whose family were cut off by the Indians, and gave rise for the application to Colonel Preston, of which the following is a copy, then taken by me in my memorandum book.
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.
Captain John Logan.
July 21st, 1774.
With great respect, I am. Dear Sir, Your most obedient servant, HARRY INNES.
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Alleghany County, ss. ) State of Pennsylvania. )
Before me the subscriber, a justice of the peace in and for said county, personally appeared John Gibson, Esquire, an associate Judge of same county, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that he traded with the Shawnese and other tribes of Indians then settled on the Siota in the year 1773, and in the beginning of the year 1774, and that in the month of April of the same year, he left the same Indian town's, and came to this place, in order to procure some goods and provisions, that he remained here only a few days, and then set out in company with a certain Alexander Blaine and M. Elliott by water to return to the towns on Siota, and that one evening as they were drifting in their canoes near the Long Reach on the Ohio, they were hailed by a number of white men on the South West shore, who requested them to put ashore, as they had disagreeable news to inform them of; that we then landed on shore, and found amongst the party a Major Angus M' Donald from West Chester, a Doctor Woods from same place, and a party as they said of 150 men. We then asked the news. They informed us that some of the party who had been taking up, and improving lands near the Big Kanhaway river, had seen another party of white men, who informed them that they and some others had fell in with a party of Shawnese, who had been hunting on the South West side of the Ohio, that they had killed the whole of the Indian party, and that the others had gone across the country to Cheat River with the horses and plunder, the consequence of which they apprehended would be an Indian war, and that they were flying away. On making enquiry of them when this murder should have happened, we found that it must have been some considerable time before we left the Indian towns, and that there was not the smallest foundation for the report, as there was not a single man of the Shawnese, but what returned from hunting long before this should have happened.
We then informed them that if they would agree to remain at the place we then were, one of us would go to Hock Hocking river with some of their party, where we should find some of our people making canoes, and that if we did not find them there, we might conclude that every thing was not right. Doctor Wood and another person then proposed going* with me; the rest of the party seemed to agree, but said they would send and consult Captain Cresap, who was about two miles from that place. They sent off for him, and during the greatest part of the night they behaved in the most disorderly manner, threatening to kill us, and saying the damned traders were worse than the Indians and ought to be killed. In the morning Captain Michael Cresap came to the camp. I then gave him the information as above related. They then met in Council, and after an hour or more Captain Cresap returned to me, and informed that he could not prevail on them to adopt the proposal I had made to them, that as he had a great regard for Captain R. Callender, a brother-in-law of mine with whom I was connected in trade, he advised me by no means to think of proceeding any further, as he was convinced the present party would fall on and kill every Indian they met on the river, that for his part he should not continue with them, but go right across the country to Red Stone to avoid the consequences. That we then proceeded to Hocking and went up the same to the canoe place where we found our people at work, and after some days we proceeded to the towns on Siota by land. On our arrival there, we heard of the different murders committed by the party on their way up the Ohio.
This deponent further saith that in the year 1774, he accompanied Lord Dunmore on the expedition against the Shawnese and other Indians on the Siota, that on their arrival within fifteen miles of the towns, they were met by a flag, and a white man by the name of Elliott, who informed Lord Dunmore that the Chiefs of the Shawnese had sent to request his Lordship to halt his army and send in some person, who understood their language; that this deponent, at the request of Lord Dunmore and the whole of the officers with him, went in; that on his arrival at the towns, Logan, the Indian, came to where this deponent was sitting with the Corn-Stalk, and the other chiefs of the Shawnese, and asked him to walk out with him; that they went into a copse of wood, where they sat down, when Logan, after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech, nearly as related by Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia; that he the deponent told him then that it was not Col. Cresap who had murdered his relations, and that although his son Captain Michael Cresap was with the party who killed a Shawnese chief and other Indians, yet he was not present when his relations were killed at Baker's near the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Ohio; that this deponent on his return to camp delivered the speech to Lord Dan- more; and that the murders perpetrated as above' were considered as ultimately the cause of the war of 1774, commonly called Cresap's war.
JOHN GIBSON.
Sworn and subscribed the 4th April, ) 1800, at Pittsburg, before me, )
Jer. Barker.
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Extract of a letter from Colonel Ebenezer Zane, to the Honorable John Brown, one of the Senators in Congress from Kentucky; dated Wheeling, Feb. 4th, 1800.
I was myself, with many others, in the practice of making improvements on lands upon the Ohio, for the purpose of acquiring rights to the same. Being on the Ohio, at the mouth of Sandy Creek, in company with many others, news circulated that the Indians had robbed some of the land jobbers. This news induced the people generally to ascend the Ohio. I was among the number. [1] On our arrival at the Wheeling, being informed that there were two Indians with some traders near and above Wheeling, a proposition was made by the then Captain Michael Cresap to waylay and kill the Indians upon the river. This measure I opposed with much violence, alleging that the killing of those Indians might involve the country in a war. But the opposite party prevailed, and proceeded up the Ohio with Captain Cresap at their head.
In a short time the party returned, and also the traders, in a canoe; but there were no Indians in the company. I enquired what had become of the Indians, and was informed by the traders and Cresap's party that they had fallen overboard. I examined the canoe and saw much fresh blood and some bullet holes in the canoe. This fully convinced me that the party had killed the two Indians, and thrown them into the river.
[2] On the afternoon of the day this action happened, a report prevailed that there was a camp, or party of Indians on the Ohio below and near the Wheeling. In consequence of this information. Captain Cresap with his party, joined by a number of recruits, proceeded immediately down the Ohio for the purpose, as was then generally understood, of destroying the Indians above mentioned. On the succeeding day, Captain Cresap and his party returned to Wheeling, and it was generally reported by the party that they had killed a number of Indians. Of the truth of this report I had no doubt, as one of Cresap's party was badly wounded, and the party had a fresh scalp, and a quantity of property, which they called Indian plunder. At the time of the last mentioned transaction, it was generally reported that the party of Indians down the Ohio were Logan and his family; but I have reason to believe that this report was unfounded.
[3] Within a few days after the transaction above mentioned, a party of Indians were killed at Yellow Creek. But I must do the memory of Captain Cresap the justice to say that I do not believe that he was present at the killing of the Indians at Yellow Creek. But there is not the least doubt in my mind, that the massacre at Yellow Creek was brought on by the two transactions first stated.
All the transactions which I have related happened in the latter end of April, 1774: and there can scarcely be a doubt that they were the cause of the war which immediately followed, commonly called Dunmore's War.
I am with much esteem, Yours, &c. EBENEZER ZANE.
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The certificate of William Huston, of Washington county, in the State of Pennsylvania, communicated by David Reddick, Esq. Prothonotary of Washington County, Pennsylvania; who in the letter inclosing it says "Mr. William Huston is a man of established reputation in point of integrity."
I, William Huston, of Washington county, in the State of Pennsylvania, do hereby certify to whom it may concern, that in the year 1774, I resided at Catfish's camp, on the main path from Wheeling to Redstone: that Michael Cresap, who resided on or near the Patowmac river, on his way up from the river Ohio, at the head of a party of armed men, lay some time at my cabin.
[2] I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed some Indians, said to be the relations of "Logan" an Indian Chief. In a variety of conversations with several of Cresap' s party, they boasted of the deed; and that in the presence of their chief. They acknowledged they had fired first on the Indians. They had with them one man on a litter, who was in the skirmish.
I do further certify that, from what I learned from the party themselves, I then formed the opinion, and have not had any reason to [3] change the opinion since, that the killing, on the part of the whites, was what I deem the grossest murder. I further certify that some of the party, who afterwards killed some women and other Indians at Baker's Bottom, also lay at my cabin, on their march to the interior part of the county; they had with them a little girl, whose life had been spared by the interference of some more humane than the rest. If necessary I will make affidavit to the above to be true. Certified at Washington, this 18th day of April, Anno Domini 1798.
WILLIAM HUSTON.
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The certificate of Jacob Newland, of Shelby county, Kentucky, communicated by the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentucky.
In the year 1774, I lived on the waters of Short Creek, a branch of the Ohio, twelve miles above Wheeling. Sometime in June or in July of that year, Captain Michael Cresap raised a party of men, and came out under control Colonel M' Daniel, of Hampshire county, Virginia, who commanded a detachment against the Wappotommaka towns on the Muskinghum. I met with Captain Cresap, at Redstone fort, and entered his company. Being very well acquainted with him, we conversed freely; and he, among other conversations, informed me several times of falling in with some Indians on the Ohio some distance below the mouth of Yellow Creek, and killed two or three of them; and that this murder was before that of the Indians by Greathouse and others, at Yellow Creek. I do not recollect the reason which Captain Cresap assigned for committing the act, but never understood that the Indians gave any offence. Certified under my hand this 15th day of November, 1799, being an inhabitant of Shelby county, and State of Kentucky.
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The certificate of John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, Virginia; communicated by Mann Page, Esq. of Mansfield, near Fredericksburg, who, in the letter accompanying it, says, "Mr. John Anderson has for many years past been settled in Fredericksburg, in the mercantile line. I have known him in prosperous and adverse situations. He has always shown the greatest degree of equanimity, his honesty and veracity are unimpeachable. These things can be attested by all the respectable part of the town and neighborhood of Fredericksburg."
Mr. John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, says, that in the year 1774, being a trader in the Indian country, he was at Pittsburg, to which place he had a cargo brought up the river in a boat, navigated by a Delaware Indian and a white man. That on their return down the river, with a cargo, belonging to Messrs. Butler, Michael [1] Cresap fired on the boat, and killed the Indian, after which two men of the name of Gatewood, and others of the name of [i] Tumblestone, who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, with whom they were on the most friendly terms, invited a party of them to come over and drink with them j and that, when the Indians were [3] drunk, they murdered them to the number of six; among them was Logan's mother. That five other Indians uneasy at the absence of their friends, came over the river to enquire after them; when they [4] were fired upon, and two were killed, and the others wounded. This was the origin of the war.
I certify the above to be true to the best of my recollection.
JOHN ANDERSON.
Attest: — David Blair, 30th June, 1798.
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The Deposition of James Chambers, communicated by David Reddick, Esq. Prothonotary of Washington county, Pennsylvania, who in the letter inclosing it shews that he entertains the most perfect confidence in the truth of Mr. Chambers.
Washington County, SC.
Personally came before me Samuel Shannon, Esq., one of the Commonwealth Justices for the county of Washington in the State of Pennsylvania, James Chambers, who being sworn according to law, deposeth and saith that in the Spring of the year 1774, he resided on the frontier near Baker's Bottom on the Ohio; that he had an intimate companion, with whom he sometimes lived, named "Edward King." [2] That a report reached him that Michael Cresap had killed some Indians near Grave Creek, friends to an Indian, known by the name of "Logan." [3] That other of his friends, following down the river, having received intelligence, and fearing to proceed, lest Cresap might fall in with them, encamped near the mouth of Yellow Creek, opposite Baker's Bottom; that Daniel Greathouse had determined to kill them; had made the secret known to the deponent's companion. King; that the deponent was earnestly solicited to be of the party, and, as an inducement, was told that they would get a great deal of plunder; and further, that the Indians would be made drunk by Baker, and that little danger would follow the expedition. The deponent refused having any hand in killing unoffending people. His companion. King, went with Greathouse, with divers others, some of whom had been collected at a considerable distance under an idea that Joshua Baker's family was in danger from the Indians, as war had been commenced between Cresap and them already; that Edward King, as well as others of the party, did not conceal from the deponent the most minute circumstances of this affair; they informed him that Greathouse, concealing his people, went over to the Indian encampments and counted their number, and found that they were too large a party to attack with his strength; that he had requested Joshua Baker, when any of them came to his house, (which they had been in the habit of,) to give them what rum they could drink, and to let him know when they were in a proper train, and that he would then fall on them; that accordingly they found several men and women at Baker's house; that one of these women had cautioned Greathouse, when over in the Indian camp, that he had better return home, as the Indian men were drinking, and that having heard of Cresap's attack on their relations down the river, they were angry, and, in a friendly manner, told him to go home. Greathouse, with his party, fell on them, and killed all except a little girl, which the deponent saw with the party after the slaughter: [4] that the Indians in the camp hearing the firing, manned two canoes, supposing their friends at Baker's to be attacked, as was supposed; the party under Greathouse prevented their landing by a well directed fire, which did execution in the canoes: that Edward King shewed the deponent one of the scalps. The deponent further saith, that the settlements near the river broke up, and he the deponent immediately repaired to Catfish's camp, and lived some time with Mr. William Huston: that not long after his arrival, Cresap, with his party, returning from the Ohio, came to Mr. Huston's and tarried some time: that in various conversations with the party, and in particular with a Mr. Smith, who had one arm only, he was told that the Indians were acknowledged and known to be Logan's friends which they had killed, and [2] that he heard the party say, that Logan would probably avenge their deaths.
They acknowledged that the Indians passed Cresap's encampment on the bank of the river in a peaceable manner, and encamped below him; that they went down and fired on the Indians, and killed several; that the survivors flew to their arms and fired on Cresap, and wounded one man, whom the deponent saw carried on a litter by [2] the party; that the Indians killed by Cresap were not only Logan's relations, but of the women killed at Baker's one was said and generally [3] believed to be Logan's sister. The deponent further saith, that on the relation of the attack by Cresap on the unoffending Indians, he exclaimed in their hearing, that it was an atrocious murder: on which Mr. Smith threatened the deponent with the tomahawk; so that he was obliged to be cautious, fearing an injury, as the party appeared to have lost, in a great degree, sentiments of humanity as well as the effects of civilization. Sworn and subscribed at Washington, the 20th day of April, Anno Domini 1798.
JAMES CHAMBERS.
Before Samuel Shannon.
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Washington County, SC.
I, David Reddick, prothonotary of the court of common pleas, for the county of Washington, in the State of Pennsylvania, do certify that Samuel Shannon, Esq. before whom the within affidavit was made, was, at the time thereof, and still is, a justice of the peace in and for the county of Washington aforesaid; and that full credit is due to all his judicial acts as such as well in courts of justice as thereout.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office at Washington, the 26th day of April, Anno Domini 1798.
[Seal.]
DAVID REDDICK.
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The certificate of Charles Polke, of Shelby county in Kentucky, communicated by the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentucky, who in the letter inclosing it, together with Newland's certificate, and his own declaration of the information given him by Baker, says, "I am well acquainted both Jacob Newland, he is a man of integrity. Charles Polke and Joshua Baker both support respectable characters."
About the latter end of April or beginning of May, 1774, I lived on the waters of Cross Creek, about sixteen miles from Joshua Baker, who lived on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. [3] A number of persons collected at my house, and proceeded to the said Baker's and murdered several Indians, among whom was a woman said to be the sister of the Indian chief, Logan. The principal leader of the party was Daniel Greathouse. To the best of my recollection the cause which gave rise to the murders was, a general idea that the Indians were meditating an attack on the frontiers. Captain Michael Cresap was not of the party; but I recollect that some time before the perpetration of the above fact it was currently [2] reported that Captain Cresap had murdered some Indians on the Ohio, one or two, some distance below Wheeling.
Certified by me, an inhabitant of Shelby county and State of Kentucky, this 15th day of November, 1799.
CHARLES POLKE.
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