Logstown
Encyclopedia
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Chiningue pronounced Shenango) was a significant Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
settlement in Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...
(near present day Pittsburgh) and the site of the 1752 signing of the treaty of friendship between the Ohio Company
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...
and the Amerindians occupying the region in the years leading up to the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
during which Logstown became nearly depopulated and abandoned. Being an unusually large settlement, Logstown was an important factor of all parties developing the Ohio and tributary rivers, for the Appalachian foothills extended far to the west and settlements would necessarily be in the valleys and so near the many navigable streams of the region—letting the colonials to use the lands just as the Amerindian people's made use of the Allegheny region.
Logstown is a few miles due north of Crescent Township
Crescent Township, Pennsylvania
Crescent Township is a township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 2,640 at the 2010 census....
Centered Map where it occupied the site of the present day bedroom suburb Byersdale, Pennsylvania
Byersdale, Pennsylvania
Byersdale is an unincorporated community in Harmony Township, Pennsylvania in the United States. The community is located in Beaver County along Pennsylvania Route 65, directly north of the confluence of the Ohio River and Legionville Run and directly south of Baden....
which is just a little north of due Northwest of the Forks of the Ohio (now in downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
) in an area on the east bank of the Allegheny River
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
opposite Aliquippa
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Aliquippa is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 9,438 at the 2010 census. Formerly a borough, it was formally named a city in 1987 by the Aliquippa Council.-History:...
. The site is also due north of the Allegheny County site of Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Greater Pittsburgh International Airport and commonly referred to as Pittsburgh International, is a joint civil–military international airport located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Findlay Township, approximately west of...
.
History
Located directly on the right bank of the Ohio RiverOhio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
that allowed fast travel throughout the region by canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
, the original village was settled by Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
s, possibly as early as 1725, on low-lying land on the north bank of the Ohio, less than a mile north of present-day Ambridge
Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Ambridge is a borough in Beaver County in Western Pennsylvania, incorporated in 1905 and named after the American Bridge Company. Ambridge is located 16 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, alongside the Ohio River. In 1910, 5,205 people lived in Ambridge; in 1920, 12,730 people lived there, and in...
in Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 181,412 people, 72,576 households, and 50,512 families residing in the county. The population density was 418 people per square mile . There were 77,765 housing units at an average density of 179 per square mile...
. In the rich soil by the riverside, the Shawnees cultivated maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
.
As part of their effort to claim the Ohio Valley, around 1747, the French built about 30 log cabins, some with stone chimneys, on a plateau above the original Logstown village. The French turned over the cabins to the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. Only 18 miles downriver from present-day Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Logstown predated the French fort there, Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
, by at least seven years. Logstown, therefore, became an important trade and council site for the French and Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, as well as, ironically, the British.
In 1747, the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
sent two headmen: Tanacharison
Tanacharison
Tanacharison or Tanaghrisson was an American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War. He was known to European-Americans as the Half King, a title also used to describe several other historically important American Indian leaders...
, a Seneca, and Scarouady
Scarouady
Scarouady was an Oneida leader at Logstown. He was called Monacatuatha or Monakaduto by the Lenape.Scarouady was half-king, along with Tanacharison, over Iroquois and Iroquois allies in the Ohio-valley region...
, an Oneida, as emissaries to live in Logstown. Tanacharison sided with the British in the coming war.
In 1748, the colony of Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser
Conrad Weiser
Weiser's colonial service began in 1731. The Iroquois sent Shikellamy, an Oneida chief, as an emissary to other tribes and the British. Shikellamy lived on the Susquehanna River at Shamokin village, near present-day Sunbury, Pennsylvania. An oral tradition holds that Weiser met Shikellamy while...
, Pennsylvania's ambassador to the Six Nations, to Logstown. He held council with a gathering of chiefs, who complied with his request for a count of their warriors in the Ohio Valley region:
- IroquoisIroquoisThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, or Six Nations:- Senecas: 163
- OnondagasOnondaga (tribe)The Onondaga are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York...
: 35 - Oneidas: 15
- Cayugas: 20
- Mohawks: 74
- Allies of IroquoisIroquoisThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
:- Wyandots: 100
- Others:
- Shawnees: 162
- Tisagechroamis: 40
- Mohicans: 15
- Lenape (Delaware)LenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
: 165 - Total : 789
In 1749, the French marked their claim of the watersheds of the Allegheny River
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
and the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. The governor of New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
sent a force of 300 men, led by Céloron de Blainville, down the Allegheny and Ohio. Along the way, Céloron nailed copper plates bearing royal arms to trees, and buried inscribed leaden plates at the mouths of principal tributaries. When Céloron arrived at Logstown, he discovered some English traders there. Incensed, he evicted the traders and wrote a scolding note to the governor of Pennsylvania. He then hectored the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
about French dominance of the region. The expulsion of the British traders and the hectoring offended the Iroquois, some of whom returned to their homeland, tearing down the French copper plates as they went.
On May 28, 1752, a treaty was held at Logstown with representatives of the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
(Six Nations), Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, and Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
tribes. Colonel Joshua Fry
Joshua Fry
Colonel Joshua Fry was a surveyor, adventurer, mapmaker, soldier, and member of the House of Burgesses, the legislature of the colony of Virginia...
and two other commissioners represented the colony of Virginia, and Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist was an accomplished American explorer, surveyor and frontiersman. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country . He is credited with providing the first detailed description of the Ohio Country to Great Britain and her colonists...
represented the Ohio Company
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...
. The Iroquois "half-King" or sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
, Tanacharison, declared that his people did not consider that the 1744 Anglo-Iroquois Treaty of Lancaster
Treaty of Lancaster
The Treaty of Lancaster was a treaty concluded between the Six Nations and the colonies of Virginia and Maryland. Deliberations began at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 28, and ended on July 4, 1744....
had ceded the colonists any land beyond the Allegheny Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
, but he promised the Iroquois would not molest any English settlements southeast of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. He also formally requested that an English fort be built at the mouth of the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
, the site of present-day Pittsburgh. (This fort, Fort Prince George
Fort Prince George
Fort Prince George was an uncompleted fort on what is now the site of Pittsburgh, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The site was originally a trading post established by Ohio Company trader William Trent in the 1740s...
, was still in construction in January 1754 when it was razed by a much larger French force, which then built Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
in the same spot.)
In late 1753, Virginia Governor Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie was a British colonial administrator who served as lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 to January 1758, as deputy for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun...
sent an eight-man mission headed by a young (21) George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
to warn the French away from the Ohio Valley, and assert the claim of the Ohio Company
Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Indians there...
. From November 24 to 30, Washington held council with Tanacharison and Scarouady at Logstown. Returning to Virginia, Washington was made major and second in command of the Virginia Regiment
Virginia Regiment
The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia's Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie, initially as an all volunteer militia corps, and he promoted George Washington, the future first president of the United States of America, to its command upon the death of Colonel Joshua Fry...
, whilst Captain William Trent was sent with about 40 men along the Nemacolin Trail to the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
crossing
Crossing (river)
A river crossing is a means to get from one river bank to the other and may refer to:* A ford * A bridge* A tunnel* Any type of Ferry** A cable ferry** A reaction ferry** A water taxi-See also::Category:Crossings by river...
ford at Redstone Old Fort
Redstone Old Fort
Redstone Old Fort or Redstone Fort or Fort Burd on The Nemacolin Trail was the name of the French and Indian War era wooden fort built in 1759 by Pennsylvania Militia Colonel James Burd to guard the ancient Indian trail's river ford on a mound overlooking the eastern shore of the Monongahela River...
sthe earliest point at which a freight wagon road could reach the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
basin
Basin
Basin may refer to:* Basin , a poem about Charlemagne's childhood* basin , the area of a drydock which can be flooded and drained* basin of attraction , an area of a nonlinear system with an attractor...
for the Virginian plan was to seal control of the area by cutting and widening the trail from the Patomic River to build a blockhouse
Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery...
(later called Fort Hangard) they stocked with advanced supplies on the shore at Redstone Creek
Redstone Creek
Redstone Creek is a historically important widemouthed canoe and river boat-navigable brook-sized tributary stream of the Monongahela River in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The creek is long, running from headwaters on Chestnut Ridge north through the city of Uniontown and reaching the Monongahela...
,
On May 28, 1754, in Battle of Jumonville Glen
Battle of Jumonville Glen
The Battle of Jumonville Glen, also known as the Jumonville affair, was the opening battle of the French and Indian War fought on May 28, 1754 near what is present-day Uniontown in Fayette County, Pennsylvania...
, Tanacharison killed Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville
Joseph Coulon de Jumonville
Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville was a French Canadian military officer. His defeat and killing at the Battle of Jumonville Glen by forces led by George Washington was one of the sparks igniting the Seven Years' War.- Early life :Jumonville was born in the seigneury of Verchères, New...
, an act that helped to precipitate the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. Following Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity, Scarouady burned down Logstown, on or about June 24, 1754. French forces under Louis Coulon de Villiers
Louis Coulon de Villiers
Sieur Louis Coulon de Villiers was a French Canadian military officer during the French and Indian War . Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is the fact that he is the only military opponent to force George Washington to surrender.Coulon was born into a prominent French Canadian family...
rebuilt the village.
In the 1754, New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
built Fort Presque Isle
Fort Presque Isle
Fort Presque Isle was a fort built by French soldiers in 1753 along Presque Isle Bay at present-day Erie, Pennsylvania...
on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, Fort Le Boeuf
Fort Le Boeuf
Fort Le Boeuf, , was a fort established by the French in 1753 on a fork of French Creek, in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania...
on French Creek, Pennsylvania
French Creek (Allegheny River)
French Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York in the United States.- Etymology :...
, Fort Machault
Fort Machault
Fort Machault was a fort built by the French in 1754 near the confluence of French Creek with the Allegheny River, at present-day Franklin, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Duquesne.- Description:The fort was built on a...
near the junction of French Creek with the Allegheny River, and finally Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
, at the forks of the Ohio.
When the army of General John Forbes
John Forbes (General)
John Forbes was a British general in the French and Indian War. He is best known for leading the Forbes Expedition that captured the French outpost at Fort Duquesne and for naming the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder.-Early life:Forbes was...
occupied Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
on November 24, 1758, the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
abandoned many of their neighboring villages. With the construction of Fort Pitt, Logstown lost its prominence.
When Major George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
again visited the site of Logstown on October 21, 1770, none of the residents were Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
Geospatial References
- Google Earth indicates a point 18 miles downriver from the Golden Triangle, next to a river, near Ambridge, PA, is at 40.622942, -80.226675.