Captain Logan: Difference between revisions
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==War of 1812 and death== |
==War of 1812 and death== |
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Although Tecumseh allied with the British during the [[War of 1812]], most Shawnees did not.<ref>{{cite book | last=Edmunds | first= R. David. | chapter= Forgotten Allies: The Loyal Shawnees and the War of 1812| editor1-last=Skaggs| editor1-first=David Curtis | editor2-last=Nelson | editor2-first= Larry L.| title= The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814| pages= 337–51| location=East Lansing | publisher=Michigan State University Press| year=2001 |isbn= 0-87013-569-4}}, p. 338.</ref> In July 1812 Logan visited Tecumseh at [[Fort Malden]] in [[Upper Canada]] in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to abandon the British alliance.<ref name="Sugden ANB"/> Historian John Sugden described the meeting: |
Although Tecumseh's band of Shawnees allied with the British during the [[War of 1812]], most Shawnees did not.<ref>{{cite book | last=Edmunds | first= R. David. | chapter= Forgotten Allies: The Loyal Shawnees and the War of 1812| editor1-last=Skaggs| editor1-first=David Curtis | editor2-last=Nelson | editor2-first= Larry L.| title= The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814| pages= 337–51| location=East Lansing | publisher=Michigan State University Press| year=2001 |isbn= 0-87013-569-4}}, p. 338.</ref> In June 1812, as the war approached, Logan served as a guide for American General [[William Hull]] as Hull marched his men through Ohio toward Detroit. In July 1812, Logan visited Tecumseh at [[Fort Malden]] in [[Upper Canada]] in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to abandon the British alliance.<ref name="Sugden ANB"/> Historian John Sugden described the meeting: |
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<blockquote>Tecumseh and James Logan were friends, both destined to end their lives in this war, fighting for different "Fathers" in whose causes they took no intrinsic interest. The two men spoke long into the night, arguing about where the best course for the Indians lay, but they could not agree. Logan felt that Tecumseh would be crushed with the British; Tecumseh that the confederacy and British alliance were the red men's only hope of saving their lands, culture, and independence. He told Logan that the Creeks were pledged to join him, and spoke of many other Indians who stood ready to fight. Still, sadly, they parted for the last time, committed to different but unsuccessful paths.<ref>Sugden (1997), pp. 283–84</ref></blockquote> |
<blockquote>Tecumseh and James Logan were friends, both destined to end their lives in this war, fighting for different "Fathers" in whose causes they took no intrinsic interest. The two men spoke long into the night, arguing about where the best course for the Indians lay, but they could not agree. Logan felt that Tecumseh would be crushed with the British; Tecumseh that the confederacy and British alliance were the red men's only hope of saving their lands, culture, and independence. He told Logan that the Creeks were pledged to join him, and spoke of many other Indians who stood ready to fight. Still, sadly, they parted for the last time, committed to different but unsuccessful paths.<ref>Sugden (1997), pp. 283–84.</ref></blockquote> |
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Indian agent John Johnson hired Logan to serve as a guide and scout for the American army. On November 22, 1812, he and two Shawnee companions, Captain Johnny (the younger) and Bright Horn, were captured by a mounted party led by [[Winamac]], a Potawatomi war chief.<ref>Edmunds (2001), p. 344.</ref> After being escorted for several miles, the men tried to escaped, and gunfire was exchanged. Winamec was killed and Logan was hit in the abdomen. He later died from the wounds. His body was taken to [[Fort Winchester]], where he was buried with military honors.<ref name="Sugden ANB"/> General [[James Winchester]] reported his death to General [[William Henry Harrison]], and said "More firmness and consummate bravery has seldom appeared in the military theatre."<ref>{{cite book |last=Poinsatte |first=Charles |title=Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706–1828 |publisher=Allen County, Fort Wayne Historical Society |year=1976 |page=77, fn1}}</ref> |
Indian agent John Johnson hired Logan to serve as a guide and scout for the American army. On November 22, 1812, he and two Shawnee companions, Captain Johnny (the younger) and Bright Horn, were captured by a mounted party led by [[Winamac]], a Potawatomi war chief.<ref>Edmunds (2001), p. 344.</ref> After being escorted for several miles, the men tried to escaped, and gunfire was exchanged. Winamec was killed and Logan was hit in the abdomen. He later died from the wounds. His body was taken to [[Fort Winchester]], where he was buried with military honors.<ref name="Sugden ANB"/> General [[James Winchester]] reported his death to General [[William Henry Harrison]], and said "More firmness and consummate bravery has seldom appeared in the military theatre."<ref>{{cite book |last=Poinsatte |first=Charles |title=Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706–1828 |publisher=Allen County, Fort Wayne Historical Society |year=1976 |page=77, fn1}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 02:29, 3 February 2021
Captain Logan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Spemica Lawba (High Horn) c. 1776 |
| Died | November 25, 1812 |
| Cause of death | killed in the War of 1812 |
| Burial place | Fort Winchester (Defiance, Ohio) |
| Nationality | Shawnee |
| Other names | James Logan, Logan |
| Occupation(s) | trader, scout, warrior, interpreter |
Captain Logan (c. 1776 – November 25, 1812), also known as Spemica Lawba ("High Horn"), James Logan, or simply Logan, was a Shawnee warrior who lived in what became, during his lifetime, the U.S. state of Ohio. Although he opposed the expansion of the United States into Shawnee lands, after the Treaty of Greenville (1795), he was one of many Shawnees who sought to preserve Shawnee independence by maintaining peaceful relations with the United States. When the War of 1812 came to Ohio, Logan served as a scout and guide for the Americans. He was killed in a skirmish and buried with military honors by the Americans, becoming "the foremost Indian hero on the American side of that conflict."[1]
Background and early life
Logan was born Spemica Lawba ("High Horn") in what is now Ohio. He was a member of the Mekoche division of the Shawnee tribe.[1] As a young man, he was friends with Tecumseh.[2] According to Logan's friend John Allen, Logan was of mixed-blood, and his Indian mother was related to Tecumseh. Indian agent John Johnston, who also knew Logan, said Logan was not related by blood to Tecumseh.[1] Some accounts stated that Logan's mother was Tecumseh's sister, which is incorrect, though the two women were possibly related.[1] Logan's first cousin was the prominent Shawnee warrior Black Snake.[1] In the 1840s, decades after Logan's death, an unverified story emerged that his father was a white man named Joshua Renick, who had been captured around 1761 and raised by Indians.[1]
In 1786, when Spemica Lawba was a boy, he was captured in Logan's raid, in which Kentuckians led by Benjamin Logan had marched into the Ohio Country. He and other prisoners, including another boy, Peter Cornstalk, were taken as hostages back to Kentucky. In August 1787, Shawnee chief Captain Johnny (Kekewepelethy) arranged for the release of the Shawnee hostages, using Daniel Boone as an intermediary.[3] During his captivity, Spemica Lawba leaned to speak some English, and took the name "Logan" after the leader of the raid, Benjamin Logan, who had befriended the boy.[1]
Logan fought against the United States in the ensuing Northwest Indian War (1786–1795). After the war he lived near the Shawnee town of Wapakoneta, where he worked as a trader. He married a Shawnee woman named Rebecca and had four children.[1] He was not a village chief but he attended the Wapakoneta councils as a war chief.[1] In 1806 he served as an interpreter for Blue Jacket and Tecumseh when they traveled to Chillicothe, capital of the new U.S. state of Ohio, to reassure the governor that Shawnees posed no threat to American settlers.[4]
War of 1812 and death
Although Tecumseh's band of Shawnees allied with the British during the War of 1812, most Shawnees did not.[5] In June 1812, as the war approached, Logan served as a guide for American General William Hull as Hull marched his men through Ohio toward Detroit. In July 1812, Logan visited Tecumseh at Fort Malden in Upper Canada in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to abandon the British alliance.[1] Historian John Sugden described the meeting:
Tecumseh and James Logan were friends, both destined to end their lives in this war, fighting for different "Fathers" in whose causes they took no intrinsic interest. The two men spoke long into the night, arguing about where the best course for the Indians lay, but they could not agree. Logan felt that Tecumseh would be crushed with the British; Tecumseh that the confederacy and British alliance were the red men's only hope of saving their lands, culture, and independence. He told Logan that the Creeks were pledged to join him, and spoke of many other Indians who stood ready to fight. Still, sadly, they parted for the last time, committed to different but unsuccessful paths.[6]
Indian agent John Johnson hired Logan to serve as a guide and scout for the American army. On November 22, 1812, he and two Shawnee companions, Captain Johnny (the younger) and Bright Horn, were captured by a mounted party led by Winamac, a Potawatomi war chief.[7] After being escorted for several miles, the men tried to escaped, and gunfire was exchanged. Winamec was killed and Logan was hit in the abdomen. He later died from the wounds. His body was taken to Fort Winchester, where he was buried with military honors.[1] General James Winchester reported his death to General William Henry Harrison, and said "More firmness and consummate bravery has seldom appeared in the military theatre."[8]
Legacy
In honor of his service, the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs granted Captain Logan's surviving children 640 acres on the east side of the Auglaize River, in present-day Auglaize County, Ohio.[9] In 1848, this area became Logan Township, named for Captain Logan.[10] In 1828, Logansport, Indiana, was named for him.[11]
Allan W. Eckert's 1983 novel Johnny Logan: Shawnee Spy is based on Spemica Lawba, although Eckert called his main character "Johnny." John Logan was the name of a different Shawnee who fought on the opposite side of the War of 1812. He was a young Shawnee interpreter who fought alongside Tecumseh, and was killed in the Battle of Brownstown on August 5, 1812. A member of Blue Jacket's band, he was not related to Captain Logan.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sugden, John (1999). "Logan, James". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195127812.
- ^ Sugden, John (1997). Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-4138-9., p. 100.
- ^ Sugden, John (2000). Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4288-3., p. 81.
- ^ Sugden (1997), p. 136.
- ^ Edmunds, R. David. (2001). "Forgotten Allies: The Loyal Shawnees and the War of 1812". In Skaggs, David Curtis; Nelson, Larry L. (eds.). The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. pp. 337–51. ISBN 0-87013-569-4., p. 338.
- ^ Sugden (1997), pp. 283–84.
- ^ Edmunds (2001), p. 344.
- ^ Poinsatte, Charles (1976). Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706–1828. Allen County, Fort Wayne Historical Society. p. 77, fn1.
- ^ Peters, William E. (1918). Ohio Lands and Their Subdivision. W.E. Peters. p. 223–26.
- ^ Sutton, Robert (1880). History of Auglaize County, Ohio : with the Indian history of Wapakoneta, and the first settlement of the county. p. 190.
- ^ Powell, Jehu Z. (1913). History of Cass County Indiana: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 324.
- ^ Sugden (1997), p. 292.