Logan took ten scalps and thirty-two
prisoners, burned two hundred cabins and quantities of corn, and
returned in triumph after a fortnight's absence. One deed of infamy
sullied his success. Among his colonels was the scoundrel McGarry, who,
in cold blood, murdered the old Shawnee chief, Molunthee, several hours
after he had been captured; the shame of the barbarous deed being
aggravated by the fact that the old chief had always been friendly to
the Americans. [Footnote: Draper MSS., Caleb Wallace to Wm. Fleming,
October 23, 1786. State Department MSS., No. 150, vol. ii., Harmar's
Letter, November 15, 1786.] Other murders would probably have followed,
had it not been for the prompt and honorable action of Colonels Robert
Patterson and Robert Trotter, who ordered their men to shoot down any
one who molested another prisoner. McGarry then threatened them, and
they in return demanded that he be court-martialled for murder.
[Footnote: Virginia State Papers, vol. iv., p. 212.] Logan, to his
discredit, refused the court-martial, for fear of creating further
trouble. The bane of the frontier military organization was the
helplessness of the elected commanders, their dependence on their
followers, and the inability of the decent men to punish the atrocious
misdeeds of their associates.
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