Local tradition holds that the Ohio River was unusually high in the spring of 1774, with floodwaters rising far above its banks. Whether the river’s condition slowed travelers or merely added a muddy backdrop to the rising tensions, the swollen channels and misty mornings would linger in frontier memory. Nothing could slow the unease spreading across the Upper River Valley. By May, that same river and its tributaries would carry warnings to flee east, and the transports of families fleeing retribution.
• • •
Logan’s Family
When Daniel Greathouse arrived at the Ohio Haudenosaunee, “Mingo,” camp to invite a party across the river to Baker’s tavern, James Logan was not present. He was hunting elsewhere in the valley. Logan’s brother Taylayne, otherwise known as John Petty, sister or sister-in-law Koonay, Taylayne’s son Molnay, and Koonay’s infant daughter Polly are believed to be amongst the family present. Later accounts claimed Logan’s wife and mother were also among those, yet no contemporary record confirms it. Neanoma, whom the Moravians described as both Shikellamy’s wife and Logan’s mother, died in the winter of 1747-1748 when the sickness lingering over Shamokin also took Logan’s first wife, children, father, and other kin.[1]
Shikellamy had lived in Philadelphia for many years as a Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) emissary. Because of his long friendship with James Logan, the first secretary of Pennsylvania under William Penn, he gave two of his sons the secondary name Logan. After Shikellamy died in 1748, the family dispersed, and it is believed that James and John Logan separated. Unfortunately, primary sources consistently referred to both men as Logan, making it difficult to distinguish which brother was being referenced.
Through their matrilineal Cayuga lineage, Logan and his family were eligible to be part of the aggregation of tribes colonists referred to as the “Mingos”, members of the Haudenosaunee who lived in the Ohio River Valley. The Ohio Haudenosaunee and Shawnee communities in the Ohio Valley, as well as the intertribal bands among them, lacked consensus, differing sharply over appropriate responses to increasing settler encroachment. Some factions argued for active resistance and preemptive strikes. Others, like John and James Logan, leaned toward accommodation, or at least a cautious neutrality, believing coexistence offered the best chance of survival in a landscape already transformed by colonial pressures.[2]
By following James Logan, members of his camp were likely influenced by his peace-oriented leanings. The Logan brothers’ alignment with the settlers reflected a worldview shaped as much by their father, Shikellamy’s, legacy of diplomacy as by their own relationships with frontier traders and agents.
• • •
Feigned Welcome on Behalf of Duplicity
It is unlikely that this Ohio Haudenosaunee party crossed the river to conduct formal diplomacy in response to the earlier attacks described by Myers. A small group stopping at Baker’s Tavern does not resemble established Native diplomatic patterns of the period. Moreover, the composition of the party, including Koonay with her newborn and two elder women, does not align with known diplomatic delegations. While women held significant political authority within Haudenosaunee society, there is no evidence that the women present were acting as clan mothers or that a formal council was intended. Instead, the visit appears more consistent with a social or relational call, perhaps aimed at maintaining fragile cross-river ties or gathering information amid mounting tension.
Benjamin Tomlinson’s account, recorded in the twilight of his life, is riddled with inconsistencies; the details falter like the products of an ageing memory. Yet he recalled clearly that he and Joshua Baker were away tending livestock when the visitors arrived. Lucy Baker was making breakfast for the large group that had assembled in their cabin that morning.[3]
By the time the Native canoes touched the muddy bank below the tavern, more than twenty settlers were gathered in Baker’s back room, muskets within reach. A smaller group presented itself openly at the front to greet their guests. Some visitors accepted alcohol, the rum burning as it went down, feigned welcome on behalf of duplicity.
John Sappington’s account has the Haudenosaunee party arriving unarmed, while another variation of the story tells how the Native men who refused to drink were challenged to a shooting contest. Neither Shikellamy nor Logan was known to consume alcohol. Sappington confirms that Taylayne (John Petty) declined to drink.[4] The Haudenosaunee guests were invited to shoot first.
The tension was mounting inside the cabin. As the sounds of those gathered reached the cabin, some of those gathered steeled themselves for what was to come, while others realized the truth of what they had been collected for. Either the realization of the implications certainly struck George Cox. It is said he did not want to be associated with the start of a war.[5] He fled the cabin for the woodline.
Then, just as the Mingo target shooters expelled the last shot and powder, the signal was given. A cascade of gunfire echoed behind Cox.
• • •
Murder on the Ohio
John Sappington fired first, killing Taylayne.[6] The intoxicated men were killed with tomahawks. The two older women were shot as they fled. With her daughter Polly strapped to her back, Koonay attempted to escape as well. But she had nowhere to run; the flooded watercourses, the Ohio blocked her escape. Koonay turned and begged for the life of two-month-old Polly. Koonay stated to her attackers that the child was the daughter of trader John Gibson. Jacob Greathouse shot Koonay in the head from six feet away.
Greathouse later reported that he meant to bash the infant’s head, but he was taken aback by remorse at the sight of her hitting the ground when her dead or dying mother collapsed.[7]
Two canoes attempted to cross the Ohio from the Haudenosaunee camp to either come to the aid of their tribes’ members or to investigate the screams that reached across the river from the opposite bank. Gunfire was turned upon them, and more Haudenosaunee were killed. The dead were all scalped as women and children from the camp on the other side of the river wailed with grief as they hurriedly evacuated the area.
• • •
Many of those present that day left Baker’s Bottom horrified by what they had witnessed. Others left perhaps satisfied, scalps in hand, their gnawing fear momentarily silenced. But in the blood and mud of the Ohio River lay the seed of a vengeance that would stain the Ohio River Valley for a generation.
Notes & Citations
[1] Martin Mack, Martin Mack’s Diary, September 29, 1747–December 31, 1747, entry for October 21, 1747, Shamokin mission, in The Shamokin Diaries, Bucknell University, accessed September 2025, https://shamokindiary.blogs.bucknell.edu/texts/the-english-text/martin-macks-diary-september-29-1747-december-31-1747/#_ftn63. “The Shamokin Diaries: Index of Persons,” Bucknell University, accessed September 2025, https://shamokindiary.blogs.bucknell.edu/people/.
[2] Many sources say Logan the Orator was John Logan, but family accounts confirm that James, not John, was the Logan who went to war against the Anglo-Americans in 1774. Henry W. Shoemaker, Captain Logan, Blair County’s Indian chief; a biography (Altoona Tribune Publishing Company, 1915).
[3] Not many historians cite Scharf, and I understand why. I share some of those misgivings: it’s suspicious that he has two people refer to “Ben Sappington” instead of John, and he mentions an Old Pew (Pugh) I’ve never seen elsewhere. However, his history sometimes fills gaps left by others, and I don’t think we should ignore him outright.
J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland, Vol. 1: From the Early Settlers to the Civil War (Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1882).
[4] John Sappington. “Founders Online: Statement of John Sappington, 13 February 1800.” National Archives and Records Administration.
[5] Thwaites and Kellogg, eds. Documentary history of Dunmore’s War: 1774 ; compiled from the Draper manuscripts. 15.
[6] John Sappington. “Founders Online: Statement of John Sappington, 13 February 1800.” National Archives and Records Administration.
[7] Alexander McKee “Alexander McKee Journal” in Sir William Johnson Papers. Edited by Milton W. Hamilton. 1097-1098. Of all surviving accounts of what happened that day, only John Sappington’s was written by someone present. Sappington did not commit to history how Koonay died or any intent Jacob Greathouse may have harbored for her baby. For additional information, see Thomas Jefferson. Notes on the State of Virginia with an Appendix. 9th American ed. Boston, MA: H. Sprague, 1802.
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