Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 237 



aroused; but the sight of bloodshed maddened 

 them as if they had been so many wolves. Wrongs 

 stirred to the depths their moody tempers, and filled 

 them with a brutal longing for indiscriminate re- 

 venge. When goaded by memories of evil, or when 

 swayed by swift, fitful gusts of fury, the uncon- 

 trolled violence of their passions led them to commit 

 deeds whose inhuman barbarity almost equaled, 

 though it could never surpass, that shown by the 

 Indians themselves. 29 



,But Logan's people did not profit by Cresap's 

 change of heart. On the last day of April a small 

 party of men, women, and children, including al- 

 most all of Logan's kin, left his camp and crossed 

 the river to visit Greathouse, as had been their cus- 

 tom ; for he made a trade of selling rum to the sav- 

 ages, though Cresap had notified him to stop. The 

 whole party were plied with liquor, and became 

 helplessly drunk, in which condition Greathouse 

 and his associated criminals fell on and massacred 

 them, nine souls in all'. 30 It was an inhuman and 



29 The Cresap apologists, including even Brantz Mayer, 

 dwell on Cresap's nobleness in not massacring Logan's family ! 

 It was certainly to his credit that he did not do so, but it does 

 not speak very well for him that he should even have enter- 

 tained the thought. He was doubtless, on the whole, a brave, 

 good-hearted man quite as good as the average borderer ; but 

 nevertheless apt to be drawn into deeds that were the reverse 

 of creditable. Mayer's book has merit; but he certainly 

 paints Logan too black and Cresap too white, and (see Ap- 

 pendix) is utterly wrong as to Logan's speech. He is right 

 in recognizing the fact that in the war, as a whole, justice 

 was on the side of the frontiersmen. 



30 Devereux Smith's letter. Some of the evil-doers after- 



