Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (Vol 1 1904).djvu/80

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74
Early Western Travels
[Vol. i

On the thirteenth I arrived at Shanoppin's Town, where Mr. Montour and Mr. Patten overtook me.[1]

On the fourteenth we set off to Log's Town, where we found the Indians all drunk; the first Salutation we got was from one of the Shawonese who told Mr. Montour and myself we were Prisoners, before we had time to tell them that their Men that were in Prison at Carolina were released, and that we had two of them in our Company. The Shawonese have been very uneasy about those Men that were in Prison, and had not those Men been released it might have been of very ill consequence at this time; but as soon as they found their Men were released they seem'd all overjoyed, and I believe will prove true to their Alliance.[2]

On the fifteenth Five Canoes of French came down to Log's Town in Company with the Half King[3] and some more of the Six Nations, in Number an Ensign, a Serjeant, and Fifteen Soldiers.


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  1. John Patten was a Pennsylvania Indian trader, who was captured in the Miami towns by the order of the French governor (1750). He and two companions were carried to Canada, and afterwards sent to France, being imprisoned at La Rochelle, whence they appealed to the English ambassador who secured their release. See New York Colonial Documents, x, p. 241. Patten had at this time been sent to the Ohio with the Shawnee prisoners from South Carolina. See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 730, 731—Ed.
  2. Six Shawnee Indians had been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in a raid, and confined in the Charleston, South Carolina, jail. On the request of Governor Hamilton, two were released and sent to Philadelphia to be delivered to their kinsfolk. The other four made their escape. See Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v, pp. 696-700.—Ed.
  3. The Half-King was a prominent Seneca or Mingo chief, whose home was at Logstown. He was faithful to the English interest, and accompanied Washington both on his journey of 1753 and his expedition of 1754; upon the latter, he claimed to have slain Jumonville with his own hand. He was decorated by the governor of Virginia in recognition of his services, and given the honorary name of "Dinwiddie" in which he took great pride. When the French secured the Ohio region, he removed under Croghan's protection to Aughwick Creek, where he died in October, 1756.—Ed.