PENNSYLVANIA Mistakes Inside Logan’s Frontier Speech — PROBERT-PARKINSON-HEART-OF-AMERICAN-DARKNESS-FIRST-HOUR ONE-7-26-2024.-12-24 ၏ စာသားမှတ်တမ်းအပြည့်အစုံ

00:05:20.959 It's not just Lancaster that might be in Pennsylvania. But 70 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:28.019 the charter that is given to William Penn says that 71 00:05:28.990 --> 00:05:31.970 the 30th parallel is the boundary for Pennsylvania, the southern 72 00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:35.230 boundary for Pennsylvania. If that's the case, the 30th parallel 73 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:38.189 cuts– I'm sorry, this is for Maryland. 74 00:05:38.389 --> 00:05:41.610 Maryland's boundary is the 30th parallel. 75 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:45.300 And if that's the case, then Philadelphia is in Maryland, 76 00:05:45.459 --> 00:05:48.300 not just Lancaster, but Philadelphia is in Maryland. So there's 77 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:51.740 the imprecision of all these maps. And so there are 78 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:54.939 northern and southern problems about where one colony begins and 79 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:57.160 one colony ends. And then, of course, there's a huge 80 00:05:57.300 --> 00:06:03.439 eastern and western problem about where does colonial settlement stretch 81 00:06:03.459 --> 00:06:08.040 to as we go deeper into the continent. And so 82 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:12.990 both Maryland and Pennsylvania claim what is today Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 83 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:17.170 as theirs. And so there starts in the 1730s, there 84 00:06:17.209 --> 00:06:21.699 starts a simmering civil war between– Settlers in Maryland and 85 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:26.139 settlers from Pennsylvania. And Thomas Cressip's house, he's about 30, 86 00:06:26.139 --> 00:06:28.759 early 30s at this point. His house becomes the epicenter 87 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:29.480 of the Civil War. 88 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.430 It's part of the wonderful confusion of these moments that 89 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:37.550 there were times on the page I couldn't tell whether 90 00:06:37.589 --> 00:06:41.329 this was a war between Pennsylvania and Maryland or between 91 00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:45.410 the people who lived in Maryland, sometimes in Pennsylvania, and 92 00:06:45.490 --> 00:06:50.759 indigenous people who resented the... the advances of the colonials. 93 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:55.579 And the truth of it is that isn't complicated enough 94 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:58.459 because we're about to head into a revolutionary period where 95 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:03.870 sometimes the British were sympathetic to the Native Americans and 96 00:07:04.029 --> 00:07:07.750 used them, and sometimes the colonials were sympathetic and used them, 97 00:07:08.209 --> 00:07:11.410 and then oftentimes they fought them. And Rob has sorted 98 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:14.550 all that out in the person of these two families, 99 00:07:14.670 --> 00:07:21.050 the Cressips and the Shikolame's. The patriarch Shikolame, also to 100 00:07:21.089 --> 00:07:24.389 match Thomas Cressip, was a man who did William Penn 101 00:07:24.430 --> 00:07:26.110 a favor. How so, Rob? 102 00:07:27.949 --> 00:07:31.310 So the Iroquois are very worried about the Iroquois, who 103 00:07:31.350 --> 00:07:34.149 was home bases today in upstate New York and are 104 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:37.759 a very powerful confederation of at the beginning of the 105 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.459 18th century, five nations. And then by the 1730s, it 106 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:44.870 becomes known as the Six Nations. And they're very concerned 107 00:07:45.009 --> 00:07:51.050 about as Pennsylvania expands, there's more and more pressure on 108 00:07:52.509 --> 00:07:56.050 groups like the Shawnee in Delaware who live today in 109 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:01.540 northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania especially. They are starting 110 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:05.160 to migrate back to the Ohio country. The Shawnee come 111 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:07.540 from there originally in the 17th century, and they're starting 112 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.160 to head back to where they came from about three 113 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:11.139 generations before. 114 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:13.850 And the Iroquois are very concerned. 115 00:08:13.410 --> 00:08:22.019 About keeping their own political prominence in the eastern backcountry 116 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.139 by dominating these groups and saying they have the political 117 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:28.759 power over them. So as they begin to sort of 118 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:30.899 migrate and try to slip out of the grasp of 119 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:35.690 the Iroquois, they send a man named Shekelemi, who's an Oneida, 120 00:08:36.649 --> 00:08:42.519 to what is today Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to monitor– this migration 121 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:45.909 and hopefully stop it. And so he becomes pals with 122 00:08:45.929 --> 00:08:50.409 William Penn's secretary, a man named James Logan. And together, 123 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:55.320 Shekelemi and Logan put together some land deals that are 124 00:08:55.409 --> 00:08:57.960 bad for the Shawnees and the Delawares, but good for 125 00:08:57.980 --> 00:09:01.299 the Iroquois. And the most famous of those is the 126 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:05.279 walking purchase, the very, very famous or infamous walking purchase 127 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:05.860 of 1737. 128 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:07.519 That is the. 129 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:11.090 Walking purchase, which is basically a wholesale purchase conquest of 130 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:16.250 the Eastern Delaware native peoples is orchestrated by the team 131 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:19.490 of Shekelemi and Logan. And that's where the Logan name 132 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:23.450 comes from. This man, James Logan, who is William Penn's 133 00:09:23.629 --> 00:09:28.330 sort of chief factotum, is so important to the Shekelemi 134 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:32.909 family that he gives his two oldest sons the honorary 135 00:09:33.009 --> 00:09:35.509 names of Logan. That's where the name Logan of Logan's 136 00:09:35.549 --> 00:09:41.629 Lament comes from.

It's reflective of this this political partnership 137 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:42.490 with James Logan. 138 00:09:42.929 --> 00:09:45.690 Oh, let's be clear now. We have two families. We're 139 00:09:45.710 --> 00:09:48.289 going to call one the Cressips. That's their proper name. 140 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:50.389 We're going to call the other one the Shikolemi, but 141 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:53.889 there are several Shikolemis and there are several Logans. So 142 00:09:53.909 --> 00:09:55.990 we have to sort them out as there are several, 143 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:00.240 Thomases and Michaels and the Cressips. They use family names again. 144 00:10:00.820 --> 00:10:04.659 We're going to go into what is important here, which 145 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:11.190 is Michael Cressip, Thomas Cressip's son, Colonel Thomas Cressip, his 146 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:14.330 son Michael. And we're not going to go to Shikaleme, 147 00:10:14.730 --> 00:10:17.669 the diplomat, oh, not a diplomat. We're going to go 148 00:10:17.710 --> 00:10:21.720 to his second son, who is called James Logan Shikolemi. 149 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.000 When we come back, the book is Heart of American Darkness. 150 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.899 Robert G. Parkinson is the author, Bewilderment and Horror of 151 00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:37.990 the Early Frontier. I'm John Batchelor. I'm John Batchelor with 152 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.529 Professor Robert Parkinson. His book is Heart of American Darkness, 153 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:46.340 Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier. I am very 154 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.820 well read in revolutionary material. I have never seen all 155 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:54.539 of this put together. Suddenly it becomes important to identify 156 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.440 how it is the Native Americans were treated by the 157 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:00.759 colonials and vice versa because they lived next door to 158 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:05.690 each other. They took advantages of the same rivers. They 159 00:11:06.009 --> 00:11:09.429 hunted the same ground. They intermarried. All of this was 160 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:14.110 happening while the colonials– the story we know very well– 161 00:11:14.549 --> 00:11:18.629 especially out of Boston, revolted from the English crown because 162 00:11:18.730 --> 00:11:23.769 of indifference. However, we now go to an additional irony 163 00:11:24.529 --> 00:11:29.779 that Rob finds, and I'm sympathetic to, the story by 164 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:33.759 Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, about the conduct of a 165 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:38.570 man named Kurtz coming up against natives, indigenous people in 166 00:11:38.710 --> 00:11:43.860 Central Africa. Rob? Can you explain quickly how these two 167 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:46.559 stories intertwined for you? 168 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:48.039 Absolutely. 169 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:54.940 Bewilderment being the first word of the subtitle is the 170 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:58.600 theme of the book for the author as well as 171 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.419 the reader, I think, of trying to sort out what 172 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:07.120 all happens here. And the title and the theme of 173 00:12:07.379 --> 00:12:16.000 thinking about Joseph Conrad's brilliant and yet problematic novella, Heart 174 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:19.600 of Darkness, that was published in 1902. I would teach 175 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:25.000 world history, John. In my first job, two sections of 176 00:12:25.059 --> 00:12:29.279 modern world history, and I would often teach this text 177 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:33.049 and leave the classroom thinking, boy, this feels like a 178 00:12:33.090 --> 00:12:38.330 familiar story to me. This doesn't seem like– and when 179 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:42.769 you take– for the readers of Heart of Darkness– you 180 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:45.179 might have noticed that at the very, very beginning, at 181 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.539 the very top of the story, the very first word 182 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:51.019 spoken aloud by the narrator, Charles Marlowe, is, and this 183 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.799 also was one of the dark places of the earth. 184 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:55.720 And he's not talking about the Congo River in the 185 00:12:56.139 --> 00:13:00.000 1880s and 90s. He's not talking about the scramble for Africa. 186 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:02.980 He's talking about the Thames River and what that must 187 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:06.360 have been like for Roman soldiers, the ends of the earth. 188 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.740 And so thinking about the Thames, which he then goes 189 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:15.769 on to describe as– which also now floats the dreams 190 00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:20.049 of men, the seeds of commonwealths and the germs of 191 00:13:20.169 --> 00:13:22.389 empire now in the end of the 19th century for 192 00:13:22.429 --> 00:13:24.789 Britain was also a dark place on the earth. And 193 00:13:24.850 --> 00:13:28.570 I always thought that kind of transferability and the themes 194 00:13:28.610 --> 00:13:32.659 of how– Tell us something, or not tell us something, 195 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:36.090 show us a new way to think about the American 196 00:13:36.129 --> 00:13:37.509 backcountry in the 18th century. 197 00:13:39.570 --> 00:13:44.149 The American backcountry now has to deal with these two families, 198 00:13:44.289 --> 00:13:48.559 and we've described them generally, but it's important to come 199 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:53.820 to Michael Crescent. The year 1754 is important for George 200 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:58.740 Washington because he doesn't die. He takes on the French... 201 00:14:00.149 --> 00:14:04.049 who are fighting the British Empire on the continent of 202 00:14:04.210 --> 00:14:08.629 North America, and the French have allies among the Native Americans. 203 00:14:09.210 --> 00:14:12.889 So do the British. This is supposed to be

confusing 204 00:14:12.929 --> 00:14:16.629 because everybody in the frontier was confused by it. George 205 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:21.799 Washington had built something called Fort Necessity. He's quickly overwhelmed, 206 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:28.039 and in retreat of the events of that time, lead him, 207 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:31.940 one of the people in his party to murder a Frenchman. 208 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:36.539 That may be the beginning of a global war. I 209 00:14:36.659 --> 00:14:41.889 mention that only because at that point Washington flees after 210 00:14:41.990 --> 00:14:46.450 these episodes and passes through Old Town, what is now 211 00:14:46.570 --> 00:14:49.169 Old Town, Maryland, which is the home of the Cressips. 212 00:14:50.210 --> 00:14:54.350 And Rob, you in the book present the fact that 213 00:14:55.090 --> 00:14:57.789 the Cressips would have been very well known to Washington 214 00:14:57.889 --> 00:15:01.009 and Washington to them What was he at that moment 215 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:05.230 to them? How did they regard his failed mission in 54? 216 00:15:05.230 --> 00:15:11.289 They're very important to one another because they're all co-partners 217 00:15:11.350 --> 00:15:16.970 in the Ohio Company. And the Ohio Company is– the 218 00:15:17.429 --> 00:15:19.850 sort of center of gravity for the Ohio Company is 219 00:15:20.389 --> 00:15:25.070 the Lee family and the Washington family. And anybody– so 220 00:15:25.330 --> 00:15:29.590 the Ohio Company has requested– half a million acres in 221 00:15:29.629 --> 00:15:32.399 what today is the Forks of the Ohio as a 222 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:36.419 private venture for them, a land speculation effort. And the 223 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:41.980 Crown has agreed in 1749, agrees to allow the Ohio 224 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:46.039 company 200,000 of the 500 that they've asked for right now. 225 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:49.529 And then a further 300,000 if they settle a number 226 00:15:49.570 --> 00:15:54.370 of families in the vicinity of the Forks of the 227 00:15:54.409 --> 00:15:58.220 Ohio or the Pittsburgh region. And so the only people 228 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:02.620 who are not either married to or are in relation 229 00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:05.320 to a Washington or a Lee family are the Cressips. 230 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.759 Thomas Cressip is an original partner of the Ohio Company, 231 00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:13.269 and his oldest son, Daniel, the older brother to Michael, 232 00:16:13.669 --> 00:16:18.590 are Ohio Company partners. And so when Washington goes to 233 00:16:18.669 --> 00:16:20.309 Old Town, and he goes there several times over the 234 00:16:20.330 --> 00:16:24.230 course of his life, And sometimes he brings people with 235 00:16:24.269 --> 00:16:26.340 him who are other members of the Ohio Company. It's 236 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.919 almost like a rump meeting of this group. And they're 237 00:16:29.980 --> 00:16:35.440 the spear point for English colonialism to the force, which 238 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:40.110 scares the French so much, which brings on this conflict. 239 00:16:41.009 --> 00:16:45.769 So Washington's being there is a result of this venture 240 00:16:45.870 --> 00:16:48.889 that he thinks is going to make him a very, 241 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:49.429 very rich man. 242 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.419 There's no other way to say it that Washington's part 243 00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:56.629 of the land speculators that the Cressips represent. Everybody's involved 244 00:16:56.690 --> 00:16:59.320 in that. The English crown is trying to stop it, 245 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:03.269 drawing lines in the Appalachians. Can't go beyond this. The 246 00:17:03.309 --> 00:17:07.170 French are very keen on keeping the British out. And 247 00:17:07.890 --> 00:17:12.750 the following year, General Braddock leads an expedition to what 248 00:17:12.809 --> 00:17:16.750 is now Pittsburgh and is soundly defeated and loses his life. Again, 249 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:21.400 Washington and the men flee. back through Old Town. We're 250 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.500 going to turn now. You see all these contests going on, 251 00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:27.779 and we haven't even got to the murder by Yellow Creek. 252 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:32.480 The book is Heart of American Darkness, Robert Parkinson. Rob 253 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:36.180 Parkinson is the author. This is CBS Eye on the World. 254 00:17:36.549 --> 00:17:43.910 I'm John Batchelor. I'm John Batchelor with Professor Robert G. Parkinson. 255 00:17:44.009 --> 00:17:47.869 The book is Heart of American Darkness, Bewilderment and Horror 256 00:17:48.369 --> 00:17:52.329 on the Early Frontier. There is no easy sorting this out. 257 00:17:52.710 --> 00:17:55.849 This isn't good guys, bad guys. This is everybody moving 258 00:17:55.869 --> 00:17:59.869 around in what one side regards as a wilderness. The 259 00:17:59.930 --> 00:18:04.650 other side regards as very well settled and extremely tribal 260 00:18:05.329 --> 00:18:08.930 so that we have the Shawnees and the Delawares and 261 00:18:08.950 --> 00:18:15.009 the Mingos living side by side. And there are Wyandottes, 262 00:18:15.029 --> 00:18:17.630 there are other tribes. They all know their tribes. We 263 00:18:17.670 --> 00:18:21.410 have the colonials, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, living side by 264 00:18:21.470 --> 00:18:24.880 side and at odds. And then we have land speculators 265 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:28.240 who look to take advantage of land that belongs in 266 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:32.599 the hunting grounds of the Native Americans or in Pennsylvania, 267 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:36.579 or if you're a Pennsylvanian, in Virginia. You can understand 268 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:41.200 everybody's armed. And then there are rumors of the Native 269 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.539 Americans being savages. This word savage is routine, I learned 270 00:18:45.559 -->

00:18:48.289 from Rob. So we come now to the events that 271 00:18:48.329 --> 00:18:52.650 we started with. The Logan's Lament, losing his family by 272 00:18:52.690 --> 00:18:57.430 the Yellow Creek. Please carefully, Bob, Rob, introduce us to 273 00:18:57.470 --> 00:19:00.589 that murder. Why did it take place? What is the reasoning? 274 00:19:00.609 --> 00:19:05.289 It wasn't Colonel Tom Cressip. It was Michael Cressip. Who 275 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.779 was Michael at the time? I believe he was 32 276 00:19:07.779 --> 00:19:10.559 years old. And why did it come to murder? 277 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:14.039 Well, the operative word in what you just said is 278 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:14.799 the word tribal. 279 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:20.250 And We have long thought of native peoples as tribal, 280 00:19:20.549 --> 00:19:21.670 but one of the things I like to do in 281 00:19:21.710 --> 00:19:25.619 this book is to consider Pennsylvanians and Virginians and Marylanders 282 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.019 as acting just as tribal. 283 00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:31.460 They are tribes themselves. And so what has gone on? 284 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:33.269 The British are broke. 285 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:37.279 And we know this in reference to the imperial crisis, obviously, 286 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:40.220 and this is the reason we have taxes and tea 287 00:19:40.259 --> 00:19:44.730 being thrown overboard in Boston. But one of the ways 288 00:19:44.750 --> 00:19:46.970 that Britain tries to cut costs and save money is 289 00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:49.930 they take all their troops out of Fort Pitt. And 290 00:19:49.970 --> 00:19:52.970 so Fort Pitt, which had become, which was during the 291 00:19:53.019 --> 00:19:55.599 Seven Years' War, was this sort of bastion of English 292 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:01.880 power over the mountains, now lays empty. And and so 293 00:20:01.910 --> 00:20:04.779 a power vacuum about who actually controls the forks of 294 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.940 the Ohio going back to the time when George Washington 295 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:11.200 said it's it's for the Ohio company and therefore for Virginia. 296 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:17.160 Virginia and Pennsylvania have have battled mostly over paper and 297 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.079 maps over who's going to control the force. But after 298 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:24.700 the British leave, it turns into a yet another. border 299 00:20:24.819 --> 00:20:27.440 civil war, just like the one from the 1730s between 300 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:28.319 Pennsylvania and Maryland. 301 00:20:28.619 --> 00:20:30.380 Pennsylvania and Virginia. 302 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:36.019 Start, they both say this is, they extend county borders 303 00:20:36.059 --> 00:20:40.099 to encompass the forks. It's Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It's also 304 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:46.740 West Augusta County, Virginia. Both sides elect a slate of magistrates. 305 00:20:47.859 --> 00:20:50.920 They lock one

another up. They beat one another up. 306 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:56.009 There's some shooting going on, and anybody who lives out 307 00:20:56.049 --> 00:20:58.730 there has to basically decide which tribe they belong to. 308 00:20:59.670 --> 00:21:04.579 That devolves into problems with native peoples who are very 309 00:21:04.619 --> 00:21:06.220 concerned about what is going on here. 310 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:12.640 Who's in charge here? Is this who do we deal with? 311 00:21:13.529 --> 00:21:18.450 Who's going to restrain any kind of colonial scouting and trading? 312 00:21:19.250 --> 00:21:21.789 What is the regulatory body that's going on here? And 313 00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:25.109 so that devolves into there's a there's a small incident 314 00:21:25.170 --> 00:21:29.049 on the Ohio River of basically a group of a 315 00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:32.029 couple of traders get jumped by a native by a 316 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:35.440 native group of Cherokees, actually, who really aren't involved at all. 317 00:21:35.869 --> 00:21:38.730 And that devolves, that just sort of escalates fear more 318 00:21:38.789 --> 00:21:44.829 and more over the course of really March and April 1774, right? 319 00:21:45.589 --> 00:21:49.190 Just as the parliament has voted for the coercive acts 320 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:51.380 and the ship carrying that. 321 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.420 News is on the Atlantic, this is when this is 322 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:54.140 all devolving. 323 00:21:56.740 --> 00:22:02.359 There is a tavern today where the Mountaineer Casino and 324 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:06.380 Racetrack is in West Virginia and that's right on the 325 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:10.440 Ohio River. And right across the river is the mouth 326 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:13.109 of Yellow Creek, which dumps. 327 00:22:14.710 --> 00:22:16.089 Into the Ohio. 328 00:22:16.309 --> 00:22:19.450 A couple of tenths of a mile up Yellow Creek 329 00:22:19.509 --> 00:22:24.920 is a band of Mingo natives. And Logan, James Logan Shekelemi, 330 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.380 and his family, his mother is there with him, his 331 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.779 sister is there with him, his brother is there with him. 332 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:33.579 And there are other mingos who are there. 333 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:36.319 This is the Logan of Logan's Lament, the second son 334 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:39.289 of the original Shikolame. Please continue, Professor. 335 00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:40.619 That's right. That's right. 336 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:45.410 Now, so and the Shikolames have been have grown up 337 00:22:45.930 --> 00:22:49.990 for 40 years. Their father was a negotiator. The family 338 00:22:50.009 --> 00:22:54.690 has has tried their best to get along with colonists, colonists. 339 00:22:55.180 --> 00:22:57.640 For their whole lives. And so this is just for them, 340 00:22:57.720 --> 00:22:59.180 another episode. 341 00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:02.269 Of diplomacy, what they think is diplomacy. 342 00:23:02.869 --> 00:23:05.309 So they paddle down Yellow Creek and cross the Ohio River. 343 00:23:05.869 --> 00:23:08.230 And what they think is going to be an effort 344 00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:11.539 to try to keep the peace in, and they go 345 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:14.599 into this tavern on a place called Baker's Bottom. And 346 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:20.700 they engage in kind of an act of diplomacy. They 347 00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:23.119 think that this is a way to keep the peace. 348 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:26.640 What they don't know is there are probably somewhere about 349 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.460 a dozen men lurking in a second room, a back 350 00:23:29.539 --> 00:23:34.069 apartment in that tavern, who have gathered there to kill them. 351 00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:40.170 And so there is a shooting contest is proposed. 352 00:23:41.809 --> 00:23:43.990 Hey, you guys hit a. 353 00:23:43.990 --> 00:23:46.289 Mark out there in the trees. Let's see who can 354 00:23:46.329 --> 00:23:49.190 get closest to it. But that is really an effort 355 00:23:49.329 --> 00:23:53.009 to unload the Mingo's rifles. And then as soon as 356 00:23:53.049 --> 00:23:56.880 the shots are fired, there's a scuffle inside. And those 357 00:23:56.970 --> 00:24:01.019 men hiding in the back apartment leap out and kill 358 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:02.299 Logan's younger brother. 359 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:04.579 They kill his sister. 360 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:08.309 They shoot down his mother and three other Mingo men 361 00:24:08.349 --> 00:24:13.269 whose names we don't know. And so eight native people 362 00:24:13.309 --> 00:24:15.089 die at this episode. 363 00:24:15.190 --> 00:24:19.160 Let me read the names of the shooters. Nathan Tomlinson, 364 00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:26.319 Daniel Greathouse, Edward King, Michael Myers, Jacob Greathouse, Joseph Sferringen, 365 00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:30.980 and Joseph– Raymond Joseph Tomlinson. Not one of them is 366 00:24:31.029 --> 00:24:33.250 named Cressip. Where is Michael Cressip? 367 00:24:33.990 --> 00:24:39.670 Michael Cressip– so as tensions are rising– Michael finds himself 368 00:24:40.210 --> 00:24:42.809 about 10 days before this in charge of a group 369 00:24:42.869 --> 00:24:48.650 of angry settlers who are threatening to do something like this. 370 00:24:49.490 --> 00:24:55.240 And Michael tries to, sometimes he encourages them at some 371 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:56.140 point during. 372 00:24:55.940 --> 00:24:57.680 The rough week before Yellow Creek. 373 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:04.539 He attacks natives in a canoe coming down the Ohio River. 374 00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:06.759 But he also tries to talk them out of it. 375 00:25:07.569 --> 00:25:11.529 And so doing further damage. So he's sort of, what 376 00:25:11.549 --> 00:25:13.730 the record shows is Michael's kind of all over the 377 00:25:13.750 --> 00:25:18.529 place about how much violence he wants to inflict this 378

00:25:18.589 --> 00:25:21.890 week before Yellow Creek. And a couple of days before, 379 00:25:22.549 --> 00:25:23.930 he says, I'm done. 380 00:25:23.950 --> 00:25:24.619 I'm out of here. 381 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:27.640 I can't handle this anymore. And he takes himself to 382 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:31.319 a place called Catfish Camp, which is today's Washington, Pennsylvania, 383 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:34.880 which is about 30 miles away from the Ohio River. 384 00:25:35.069 --> 00:25:38.589 That's where he is when this massacre happens. 385 00:25:38.730 --> 00:25:39.930 Logan is also not there. 386 00:25:40.529 --> 00:25:43.430 The Logan of Logan's Lament is also out hunting when 387 00:25:43.509 --> 00:25:46.589 his mother, brother, and sister are murdered as well. So 388 00:25:46.670 --> 00:25:50.099 neither of the people that we associate with this are 389 00:25:50.180 --> 00:25:51.039 anywhere near the area. 390 00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:55.619 Important to establish the Cressips are a violent family, and 391 00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:00.349 Thomas Cressip, the patriarch, has often traded shots with authorities 392 00:26:00.430 --> 00:26:02.390 when he was living in Maryland and there was a 393 00:26:02.990 --> 00:26:07.950 contest between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Michael Cressip has grown up 394 00:26:08.009 --> 00:26:12.049 in a family. They are the law, wherever they are. 395 00:26:12.950 --> 00:26:15.759 And they often build on lands that used to be 396 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:20.319 Native American lands. They're not quite invaders, they're land speculators. 397 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:23.759 They take advantage of where there is no law or 398 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:28.519 where there is tension between Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Shikolamis, 399 00:26:28.599 --> 00:26:33.000 on the other hand, as the professor has introduced, the 400 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.799 closest thing I can word is the word diplomat. Does 401 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:37.940 that work, Rob? 402 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:38.140 Yep. 403 00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:38.509 Diplomat. 404 00:26:38.529 --> 00:26:42.170 Yep. Yep. Ambassador, diplomat, yep. 405 00:26:42.509 --> 00:26:46.789 And Logan, the second son, is the most diplomatic of all. Yep. 406 00:26:47.250 --> 00:26:52.460 And his family is no threat to anyone. So what happens, 407 00:26:53.180 --> 00:26:56.079 and Rob, you identified as the har, which is the 408 00:26:56.119 --> 00:27:01.119 word from... Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The men who 409 00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:04.740 did the killing. Why, Rob? Can you piece it together? 410 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:08.660 Why would they open fire on defenseless women? And there 411 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:10.549 was a baby in the arms of one of them. 412 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:11.549 That's right. 413 00:27:12.289 --> 00:27:15.029 Well, the baby is the baby of John Gibson, who 414 00:27:15.049 --> 00:27:19.910 you identified at the top as the translator of Logan's Lament. 415 00:27:19.950 --> 00:27:25.130 He is Kune, which is the name of Logan's sister. 416 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:30.579 runs out of the tavern and makes it down to 417 00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:33.720 the shoreline of the Ohio River, clutching this infant in 418 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:36.119 her arms. And she turns around and begs for the 419 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:40.400 child's life. Please don't shoot this baby. And what the 420 00:27:40.460 --> 00:27:42.750 record says is he is the son of a white man, 421 00:27:43.109 --> 00:27:47.250 John Gibson. And they allow her to hand the baby 422 00:27:47.329 --> 00:27:48.589 over and then they shoot her in the forehead. 423 00:27:48.910 --> 00:27:54.329 Right. And this massacre, this massacre right now, we identify... 424 00:27:54.349 --> 00:27:58.579 the moment when Logan himself is not at present, but 425 00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:03.960 he will learn about it. And that leads to eventually 426 00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.960 the lament. But I want to characterize all of these 427 00:28:09.019 --> 00:28:14.390 Native American confrontations. There was something of the violence everywhere, Rob, 428 00:28:14.450 --> 00:28:17.910 in reading the story. At any moment, I think you 429 00:28:17.950 --> 00:28:23.069 had one scene where three Native Americans came forward across 430 00:28:23.109 --> 00:28:25.859 the field. They put their rifles down outside and went 431 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:31.359 inside and started being convivial with the family. But at 432 00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:33.720 one point, one of them reached over to a young 433 00:28:33.779 --> 00:28:37.059 woman's hair, a daughter's hair, and stroked it and said 434 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:40.359 something in his tongue like, that would make a nice scalp. 435 00:28:40.849 --> 00:28:44.029 So there's tension always. Is that the way to think 436 00:28:44.069 --> 00:28:44.569 of this, Rob? 437 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:48.990 Yes, well, that's what the young man thinks is what 438 00:28:49.029 --> 00:28:51.250 is being said. We don't know that that's exactly what 439 00:28:51.289 --> 00:28:55.009 he said, but the fear is ever-present, that they are terrified. 440 00:28:55.349 --> 00:29:00.460 And that scene comes at the very end of Pontiac's War, 441 00:29:01.579 --> 00:29:05.400 which is yet another episode of conflict after the Seven 442 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:07.049 Years' War and before Yellow Creek. 443 00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:11.150 And in that, there is. 444 00:29:11.150 --> 00:29:14.359 A significant fight in Old Town in which Michael Cressip 445 00:29:14.430 --> 00:29:18.339 kills a native person who's attacking his home at the 446 00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:21.400 very end of the lane of his house and scalps 447 00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:25.039 him and takes his moccasins. Michael does this at 21 448 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:28.519 years old, and his older brother, Thomas Cressip Jr., was 449 00:29:28.619 --> 00:29:30.849 killed during the Seven Years'

War in the hills not 450 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.589 very far away. So these are families that are extraordinarily. 451 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:40.109 familiar with trauma and horror and violence. 452 00:29:41.450 --> 00:29:44.589 We're now going to turn to a transformation that is 453 00:29:44.630 --> 00:29:49.579 a complete surprise. Michael Cressip, who has been the boaster 454 00:29:50.150 --> 00:29:53.819 and threatener, but at the same time not present at 455 00:29:53.859 --> 00:29:57.839 the scene of the murders that he encouraged, we're going 456 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:01.480 to turn him into a patriot. The book is Heart 457 00:30:01.509 --> 00:30:06.390 of American Darkness. Robert Parkinson is the author. I'm John Batchelor. 458 00:30:09.329 --> 00:30:12.710 I'm John Batchelor, and I've insisted on telling you this 459 00:30:12.809 --> 00:30:17.339 is so much more complicated than the Colonials versus the 460 00:30:17.470 --> 00:30:22.140 Royal Navy. We have Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia in one contest, 461 00:30:22.859 --> 00:30:27.470 the Mingos, the Shawnees, the Delawares in another contest, and 462 00:30:27.529 --> 00:30:31.390 the British and the American colonials in another contest. And 463 00:30:31.410 --> 00:30:33.519 then we have the colonials who are not quite sure 464 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.000 which side they're on. Nobody is. Rob makes the point 465 00:30:36.059 --> 00:30:38.839 again and again. What happened when they heard about the 466 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:43.240 Continental Congress in 74 and the one in 75? And 467 00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:46.569 Bunkers Hill, everybody said, what's in it for me? Did 468 00:30:46.650 --> 00:30:48.690 I get that right, Rob? What's in it for me? 469 00:30:49.390 --> 00:30:50.029 You got that right. 470 00:30:50.069 --> 00:30:54.890 It's another layer of bewilderment that now extends over the 471 00:30:55.089 --> 00:30:58.569 older colonial fights about these things. And so everyone has 472 00:30:58.589 --> 00:31:02.589 to all of a sudden choose again which tribe they 473 00:31:02.630 --> 00:31:03.210 want to support. 474 00:31:04.049 --> 00:31:07.190 And we come now to what is known as Bunkers Hill, 475 00:31:07.230 --> 00:31:09.309 which is in fact Breed's Hill. I hope you all 476 00:31:09.349 --> 00:31:11.470 know that I'm not going to have time to tell 477 00:31:11.539 --> 00:31:14.319 that story, but in any event The word goes out 478 00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:18.960 from Congress, which is now in Philadelphia, moving south, away 479 00:31:19.019 --> 00:31:23.930 from the British, that they need volunteers, especially from Pennsylvania. 480 00:31:25.250 --> 00:31:27.789 I'm not sure whether these are Virginians or Pennsylvanians, but 481 00:31:27.829 --> 00:31:31.279 they pass as riflemen. What kind of volunteers? And what 482 00:31:31.319 --> 00:31:33.119 happens with Michael Cressip, Rob? 483 00:31:33.869 --> 00:31:34.089 Right. 484 00:31:34.269 --> 00:31:37.839 So the important thing to know is Logan is not 485 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:41.619 the only one that blames Michael Cressip for what happens, 486 00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:46.640 the Yellow Creek and then the subsequent war between Virginia 487 00:31:46.660 --> 00:31:48.740 and the Shawnee that develops over the course of late 488 00:31:48.789 --> 00:31:52.349 summer and fall. After that, there are a number of 489 00:31:52.450 --> 00:31:58.470 people who send messages to newspapers in Philadelphia and New 490 00:31:58.509 --> 00:32:01.890 York especially saying, who are saying that Michael Crescent is 491 00:32:01.930 --> 00:32:03.470 the reason for all this. And there are a number 492 00:32:03.490 --> 00:32:06.670 of British officials who think that this is that he 493 00:32:06.750 --> 00:32:10.069 is the reason that all this nonsense has happened. This 494 00:32:10.109 --> 00:32:13.420 this really sort of horrific violence that begins. I shouldn't 495 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:17.319 call it nonsense. And that happens out in Ohio River. 496 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:21.779 So because Logan takes revenge through 74. That's right. 497 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:25.519 Logan Logan takes revenge on several families. Logan, the erstwhile 498 00:32:25.559 --> 00:32:29.599 diplomat before, has now broken. This has had he's had enough. 499 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:39.069 And he turns into an Avenger. And he kills almost 500 00:32:39.069 --> 00:32:44.549 20 people, takes a number of captives in revenge for these. 501 00:32:44.650 --> 00:32:49.670 And the revenge is very challenging because children are slaughtered, 502 00:32:49.730 --> 00:32:54.009 the Spicer family children, the Roberts family children. Yes. They're 503 00:32:54.069 --> 00:32:59.859 deliberately murdered, provocatively so, because Logan wants revenge. once the 504 00:32:59.940 --> 00:33:03.200 Cressips and the Colonials to know that this is Cressips, 505 00:33:03.579 --> 00:33:05.759 Logan revenging his children. 506 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:12.140 Right, right. And so the number of people blame Michael 507 00:33:12.339 --> 00:33:15.829 specifically and wrongly at the time, not just Logan. So 508 00:33:15.890 --> 00:33:20.710 when the Continental Congress calls for volunteers, and what this 509 00:33:20.769 --> 00:33:23.690 call is, is really the creation of a Continental Army 510 00:33:23.750 --> 00:33:29.250 because it's the first, it's the first, request for volunteers 511 00:33:29.289 --> 00:33:32.470 for anyone outside of New England. So they asked for 512 00:33:32.539 --> 00:33:35.859 the creation of a number of rifle companies in Virginia, Maryland, 513 00:33:35.900 --> 00:33:39.460 and Pennsylvania to be created for those troops to get 514 00:33:39.539 --> 00:33:43.799 as quickly as they possibly can to Boston. And one 515 00:33:43.819 --> 00:33:46.220 of the two Maryland companies is going to be led 516 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:52.759 by Michael and two of his nephews. And strangely, one 517 00:33:52.799

--> 00:33:56.019 of the men and a sergeant in that unit is 518 00:33:56.059 --> 00:33:59.150 Daniel Greathouse, who John read as one of the actual 519 00:33:59.210 --> 00:34:01.009 perpetrators of what happens at Yellow Creek. 520 00:34:02.069 --> 00:34:06.109 That is one contest. We have several going on here 521 00:34:06.190 --> 00:34:11.719 because Virginia is now in revolution, but people are deciding 522 00:34:11.780 --> 00:34:17.739 whether they're pro-crown, pro-colonial. Who are the colonials? And we 523 00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:21.110 need to enter into the Virginia governor. His name is Dunsmore, 524 00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:25.969 Lord Dunsmore, who launches a campaign against the Native Americans. 525 00:34:26.619 --> 00:34:31.159 especially Logan. And those are the episodes that come to 526 00:34:31.340 --> 00:34:34.699 Logan making his lament. Who is Dunsmore? What does he 527 00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:35.449 want to achieve? 528 00:34:36.929 --> 00:34:44.429 Dunsmore wants glory for himself and for his colony, a 529 00:34:44.469 --> 00:34:47.849 colony that he doesn't really want to govern when he's 530 00:34:47.909 --> 00:34:50.599 assigned there. He is the governor of New York. when 531 00:34:50.619 --> 00:34:54.360 the Virginia governor dies and he has to go to Williamsburg. 532 00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:57.500 And he spends about 10 months dragging his feet and 533 00:34:57.719 --> 00:35:02.380 roundly complaining and drinking a lot before he finally accepts 534 00:35:02.420 --> 00:35:06.179 his fate and goes to Williamsburg. And he very soon, 535 00:35:06.300 --> 00:35:09.969 once he gets to Virginia, realizes that there is all 536 00:35:10.010 --> 00:35:13.630 this opportunity for him to gain lands. 537 00:35:13.409 --> 00:35:17.889 Out in this unpredictable place. 538 00:35:18.980 --> 00:35:23.719 And so he is looking for ways to exploit this 539 00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:30.789 bewildering situation. And so he especially pushes forward Virginia's claim. 540 00:35:31.489 --> 00:35:35.389 And then once this fight happens in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 541 00:35:35.969 --> 00:35:38.969 he then really pushes for this to turn into a 542 00:35:39.010 --> 00:35:42.429 sort of a military expedition against the Shawnee, but really 543 00:35:42.469 --> 00:35:44.949 to control the Forks of the Ohio for him and Virginia. 544 00:35:45.309 --> 00:35:47.130 And there's a lot of killing going on. This is 545 00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:51.730 Lord Dunmore's war. And there are invaders, and the Native 546 00:35:51.769 --> 00:35:55.670 Americans are the victims of the killing. Eventually, the Native 547 00:35:55.710 --> 00:36:01.170 Americans sue for peace. And that is when Logan comes 548 00:36:01.250 --> 00:36:05.530 forward with a lament to his relative who lost his wife. 549 00:36:05.719 --> 00:36:10.139 Logan's sister was John Gibson's wife. And that's where the 550 00:36:10.219 --> 00:36:13.480 lament comes from. And that's why Logan thinks it was 551 00:36:13.539 --> 00:36:18.010 Colonel Cressip not Michael Cresip, who launched the murder raid 552 00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:22.650 on Yellow Creek. Now, all this is important. As complicated 553 00:36:22.710 --> 00:36:24.829 as it is, it's important because this is going to 554 00:36:24.869 --> 00:36:29.090 become a legend well into the 19th and 20th century 555 00:36:29.309 --> 00:36:33.110 and here in the 21st century. One more detail, Rob, 556 00:36:33.150 --> 00:36:39.829 before we go to Boston. Logan wants peace with the lament. 557 00:36:39.889 --> 00:36:42.949 Is that the way to understand that? He was ending... 558 00:36:43.329 --> 00:36:45.469 his war personally at that point. 559 00:36:46.030 --> 00:36:47.110 Yes. Yes. 560 00:36:47.210 --> 00:36:51.300 Logan is announcing that he has done terrible things, but 561 00:36:51.340 --> 00:36:55.119 he is satisfied. And part of that is also, again, 562 00:36:56.199 --> 00:37:01.659 there is the diplomat coming back out yet again. This 563 00:37:01.699 --> 00:37:04.719 was not a war. I mean, this is really, he 564 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:07.019 doesn't see this as a war with Virginia. This is 565 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:10.039 him taking personal revenge for this terrible thing that has 566 00:37:10.099 --> 00:37:15.659 befallen his family. Therefore, now this is over, and we 567 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:18.869 can return to the great beams of peace. 568 00:37:18.929 --> 00:37:22.650 We're headed to Boston. Heart of American Darkness, Robert Parkinson 569 00:37:22.710 --> 00:37:24.469 is the author. I'm John Batchelor.