Yellow Creek Massacre

Johnny Logan is a name deeply associated with Ohio.

Logan?s friendly relations with white settlers changed with the Yellow Creek Massacre of 30 April 1774. A group of Virginia frontiersmen led by Daniel Greathouse murdered a number of Mingos, among them Logan?s brother, (commonly known as John Petty), and at least two other close female relatives, one of them pregnant and caring for her infant daughter. Her children were fathered by John Gibson a prominent trader in the region. These Mingo had been living near the mouth of Yellow Creek, and had been lured to the cabin of Joshua Baker, a settler and rum trader who lived across the Ohio River from their village. The Natives in Baker?s cabin were all murdered, except for the infant child, who was spared with the intention of giving her to her father. At least two canoes were dispatched from the Yellow Creek village, but they were repelled by Greathouse?s men concealed along the river. In all, approximately a dozen were murdered in the cabin and on the river. Logan was not present in the area when the massacre took place and was summoned to return by runners.

Influential tribal chiefs in the region, such as Cornstalk (Shawnee), White Eyes (Lenape), and Guyasuta (Seneca/Mingo), attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution lest the incident develop into a larger war, but by Native American custom Logan had the right to retaliate for the murders. Several parties of mixed Mingo and Shawnee warriors soon struck the frontier, including one led by Logan. They attacked settlers in several frontier regions both killing and taking captives. The Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, responded by launching an expedition against the Mingos and Shawnees, in the conflict known as Dunmore's War.