aka Tah-gah-jute
The Mingo Indians were a population comprised of members of other tribes rather than a distinct grouping themselves, and were a part of the Iroquois tribe.
Chief Logan was the most prominent member of the Mingo Indians. He was born to Shikellamy, a Cayuga Indian. His birth was in western Pennsylvania about 1725.
Logan was not his birth name but was rather a renaming in honor of James Logan, a white Pennsylvania settler who was a fast friend to Shikellamy.
Logan married a Shawnee woman and they moved to Yellow Creek, a Mingo settlement near present-day Steubenville in Ohio about 1770. Logan, though a war leader in his own right, spoke against attacking the white settlers coming into the Ohio River Valley. This radically changed when Logan's mother and sister were among about a dozen Mingoes murdered by white Virginia settlers on May 3, 1774.
Logan demanded retribution for the murder of his family members. He sought aid from Chief Cornstalk, a fellow chieftain in the lower Ohio country and a leader of the Shawnee. Cornstalk argued for forbearance while supporting Logan's right to avenge his family. Logan went on a path of vengeance, raiding western Pennsylvania and killing 13 settlers. This action led to a response by Virginia governor Lord Dunmore, a military action that became known as Lord Dunmore's War.
The military commander of Fort Pitt in western Pennsylvania was Captain John Connolly. He sent a force to avenge the death of the Pennsylvania settlers. His force razed 7 small Mingo villages abandoned by their residents upon the approach of the military force.
Lord Dunmore had sent his own force of almost a thousand men up the Little Kanawha River to present-day Point Pleasant, WV where they were to build and garrison a fort. Dunmore's intent was more than simply avenging the settler deaths. He wished to project Virginia's presence into the frontier and cut off the Pennsylvania advance.
Upon the entry of this large force into the Ohio country Chief Cornstalk had a change of heart. He assembled a confederacy of various tribes into a force of about a thousand warriors to repel the invading whites. On October 10, 1774 the Battle of Point Pleasant was fought with heavy losses on both sides. The indian forces broke first and retreated north of the Ohio River. Dunmore pursued the indians north to an area near Circleville, Ohio on the Pickaway Plains where he sued for peace. While negotiatingfor peace, a force led by Colonel Andrew Lewis attacked and destroyed several Shawnee villages. Afraid that the whites would utterly destroy them, Cornstalk and his Shawnee surrendered and accepted the terms presented by Lord Dunmore. These terms forced the cession of lands both east and south of the Ohio River.
Though it was his actions which precipitated Lord Dunmore's War, Logan refused to be a party to the terms of the peace agreement. He instead sent a response by proxy to the negotiations. This speech became known as Logan's Lament, outlining his reasons for seeking revenge. He expressed joy at the peace treaty, but his joy was for his peers and not his own. He cautioned the whites that his relief was not because he feared the whites, as he had no fear of them.
Logan continued his attempts to repel the incursion of settlers into the Ohio River country. His thirst for revenge was never sated. He was murdered about 1780, a man who never achieved the peace he had lost at the murder of his family.
The influence of Chief Logan was profound. His name lives on in the geography of the region. There is a city named Logan, WV located along the
Guyandotte River.
In Ohio there is also a city named Logan, located in Hocking County. Ohio also possesses Logan County, the county seat of which is Bellefontaine.
Sources:
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=77
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=514
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1471