20/05/2026
This is a picture of the Logan Elm, one of the largest American elm trees ever recorded. It stood for centuries just south of Circleville, Ohio, before being felled by a storm in 1964. It was named after the Mingo emissary Logan, whose entire family was killed by Colonel frontiersman during the Yellow Creek Massacre in 1774. Later that year, a peace treaty between the pioneers and native peoples was signed nearby. Logan refused to attend and instead sent this message, which is reputed to have been read aloud beneath this tree's branches:
“I appeal to any white man to say that he ever entered Logan’s cabin but I gave him meat; that he ever came naked but I clothed him. In the course of the last war, Logan remained in his cabin an advocate for peace. I had such an affection for the white people, that I was pointed at by the rest of my nation. I should have ever lived with them, had it not been for Colonel Cressop, who last year cut off, in cold blood, all the relations of Logan, not sparing women and children: There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called upon me for revenge; I have fought it, I have killed many, and fully glutted my revenge. I am glad that there is a prospect of peace, on account of the nation; but I beg you will not entertain a thought that any thing I have said proceeds from fear! Logan disdains the thought! He will not turn on his heel to save his life! Who is there to mourn for Logan? — No one.”
Today, the site is a park with several monuments and a young elm that will hopefully continue to inspire us to learn the history of this land that stretches far beyond the last 250 years.
