Spemica LawBa - The High/Big Horn
Captain Johnny Logan
Indian who was killed and is buried in Defiance at the Defiance public library yard or fort groundsIn September 1786, Captain Benjamin Logan of Kentucky captured a young Indian boy about the age of 14 during a raid across the Ohio River on the Machachac Tribe towns of the Shawnee Nation. He made him a part of his family, where he stayed several years until he was permitted to return to his native land. He was ever afterwards known by the name of Logan. Logan was elevated to a civil Chief on account of his many estimable qualities, both intellectual and moral. Logan was married and had two children. From the period of his residence in Kentucky to the time of his death, Logan was the unwavering friend of the United States. Immediately after the declaration of the war against England in 1812, he joined the American service, acting as a guide for General Hull’s march to Detroit. After Hull’s surrender, he was employed by the Indian Agent John Johnston to help evacuate the women and children from Fort Wayne when it was under threat. They were removed to within the inhabited portions of Ohio. The siege of Fort Wayne was lifted by the combined force of Kentucky and Ohio troops under the command of General William Henry Harrison.
In November, after his small party retreated from a larger force, Logan joined the left wing of the army. At this time, an officer of the Kentucky troops, General Price, second- in- command to General Winchester, accused Logan of infidelity against his country. Indignant, Logan resolved to leave.. On the morning of November 22 in the company of his two faithful companions, Captain Johnny and Bright horn, he started down the Maumee River. While resting, they were surprised near Turkeyfoot Creek by a group of seven led by the Potawatamie Chief Winnemac and Matthew Elliot son of the British Indian Agent. That evening Logan and his group made good their escape. In the ensuing battle, four of the enemy, including Winnemac and Elliot were killed. During the exchange of gunfire, Bright horn was shot in the thigh and Logan was shot nearly through the body. Both were able to mount horses and return to Winchester’s Camp #3. It soon became apparent that Logan was mortally wounded. The son of Col. Hardin tended to him. He was the son-in-law of Logan’s adopted father. Logan died November 26, 1812. Army Officers carried his body the six miles back to Fort Defiance, where he was buried with full military honors of war; the only Indian honored in that fashion in the State of Ohio.