Logan’s Monument

Source: Sisson, Isaac Jr., "Logan’s Monument," stone, 1852, Fort Hill Cemetery, https://www.forthillcemetery.net/logan.html.

Date: 1852

Text/Transcription:

In 1852, the monument erected to honor Tahgahjute (Logan), a Mingo Chief, contained the speech ‘Tahgahjute’s (Logan’s) Lament,’ which became famous in the 18th and 19th centuries. The exact identity of Tahgahjute is under dispute. Born to a leader of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, Tahgahjute forcibly migrated to the Ohio Country, where he became affiliated with the Mingos, a nation formed of Senecas, Cayugas, and Lenapes. The Mingos were attacked in 1774 by settlers in the Yellow Creek Massacre. Tahgahjute lost all his family members. In response to the events, he gave a speech explaining how his once-friendly relationship with white settlers resulted in violent retaliation from him after the massacre. The final sentence of the speech, “Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one” is inscribed on the side of Tahgahjute’s monument. Although some argue that the speech was not Tahgahjute’s exact words, it was republished multiple times throughout the next century, once even by Thomas Jefferson (1787). His words even inspired numerous novels and historical treatises. Private donors funded the monument in Fort Hill Cemetery on historic Cayuga land.