Who was the Logan in Logansport?

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November 4, 2008

by Rich Ferguson Pharos-Tribune Tue Nov 04, 2008, 12:36 PM EST

Where did Logansport get its name? The story of James Logan is full of intrigue and adventures beyond one man’s lifetime.

The story begins in 1786 when Gen. Benjamin Logan led an expedition to the Mad River country of Ohio. The Shawnee Indians had several settlements there, and they had been raiding Kentucky pioneer settlements along the Ohio River. Gen. Logan attacked the villages there and during the engagement, his men were attacked by an unseen enemy with a hail of arrows by one single solitary child hiding in the bushes nearby.

That young Indian child was taken prisoner and led back to Kentucky. Gen. Logan was so impressed with the young man’s courage that he adopted him and gave him the name James Logan. The young boy was then raised by the Logan family and as an adult, married another captive Shawnee.

Soon after, both of the former captives were traded back to the Shawnee people. Logan retained his place amongst the Shawnee and was quite renowned for his bravery as a warrior.

The War of 1812 broke out in June of that year, and Logan signed up with the U.S. Army and helped Gen. Hull scout an expeditionary force to Detroit. Logan was a friend to Indians as well as whites and knew of every passage through the Ohio wilderness and even Indiana Territory. Upon returning to Piqua, Ohio, Logan was requested by John Johnston, an Indian agent there who had great trust in Logan’s abilities as there were 25 women and children at Fort Wayne who needed to be evacuated. The fort had come under siege by 500 Indian warriors and Johnston’s own brother was trapped there with his family.

Now this may not sound like a huge problem but only few weeks prior, the surrendering of Fort Dearborn (present day Chicago) led to a massacre of the troops stationed there as well as many of the women and children. This was on the mind of every settler in the territories, and Logan was entrusted to take those women and children through the Black Swamp and safely to Piqua. Logan fulfilled that duty, not sleeping the entire 100-mile journey until all arrived safely there.

The story does not end there. Logan with two other Shawnees gathered up another group of volunteers and returned to Fort Wayne during a fierce attack on the troops there. Their mission was to alert the fort that relief was coming in the way of over 1,000 troops headed by William Henry Harrison. Logan again completed his mission and delivered the volunteers to the fort through several swamps and Indian guards. The knowledge of the approaching column kept the troops from surrendering the fort to the hostiles and prevented the possible slaughter of those men.

Again, the story of Logan does not end there. He and several other Shawnees including Black Hoof, a Shawnee chief, assisted Gen. Winchester in moving on British and Indian forces at the rapids on the Maumee River in Ohio. Again, Logan and three other Shawnees scouted the enemy positions and were confronted by a group of hostiles led by a British lieutenant and Chief Winamac of the Potowatamis. Winamac had been involved in the Fort Dearborn massacre, led the siege at Fort Wayne and had credited himself with the murder of many settlers in the area.

Logan immediately set in motion a plan to kill Winamac and escape the area, but he was shot in the chest during the escape and died four days later. Logan was buried in Ohio with full military honors, one of the few Indians to ever receive that highest honor.

In recognition of their father’s efforts during the war, his children received land grants from the United States, and he was later honored when a town on the Wabash River was named for him, something those responsible for the gesture believed would last longer than any stone or bronze monument.

More tales of Logan’s bravery and courage can be found in a book written in 1908 by Jacob Piatt Dunn, “True Indian Stories: With Glossary of Indian Names.”

Rich Ferguson is a local historian who lives in Kokomo.

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