Tahgahjute’s (Logan's) Lament/Speech

Source: Jefferson, Thomas. Notes On the State of Virginia. A new edition, Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1853.

Date: 1774

Text/Transcription:

In his 1774 speech, Tahgahjute (Logan), a Mingo chief, was known to be a powerful and compelling orator. Tahgahjute maintained friendly relations with Native nations and with White settlers and officials, consistently advocating for peaceful treaties. Following the Yellow Creek Massacre and the subsequent Dunmore's War however, he consistently witnessed the bloodshed against his loved ones continue, and became vengeful. When it came time for peace talks, Tahgahjute refused to attend and instead opted to have his speech delivered directly to Virginia’s governor, Lord Dunmore. Thomas Jefferson memorialized Tahgahjute’s words in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), in which he praised Tahgahjute’s speech as equal in eloquence and sentiment to anything produced by centuries of European civilization, including the speeches of Cicero and Demosthenes.