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The John Batchelor Show

30: . Logan's Lament and the Mingo/Cresap Frontier Conflict Professor Robert G. Parkinson, Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier Professor Robert G. Parkinson's book Heart of American Darkness focuses on Logan's Lament, a

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

. Logan's Lament and the Mingo/Cresap Frontier Conflict Professor Robert G. Parkinson, Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier

Professor Robert G. Parkinson's book Heart of American Darkness focuses on Logan's Lament, a famous 1775 document where Mingo chief Logan laments the 1774 murder of his family by "Colonel Cresap." Parkinson notes this is a misidentification; the actual killer was not a Cresap, though the Cresap family were powerful land speculators. Logan's father, Shikellamy, was an Oneida diplomat who partnered with James Logan, William Penn's secretary, establishing the origin of the Logan name. The frontier was characterized by shifting colonial borders (e.g., Maryland/Pennsylvania disputes) and escalating conflict with indigenous people.
1954

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0:31.8

This is CBS. I on the world.

0:33.2

I'm John Batcher.

0:38.7

It is February 1st, 1775, the Pennsylvania Journal.

0:47.3

This begins a story that starts in the 18th century right prior to the American Revolution and continues here in the 21st century in analyzing at the forks of the Ohio, what was the relationship between the

0:58.0

Colonials, all Englishmen in general, and the Native Americans, the indigenous people,

1:06.0

especially the tribes that are famous, the Iroquois, the Shawnee, the Mingo, the Wyandot.

1:12.6

On this time, 1775, we associate with the American Revolution.

1:19.6

Well, simultaneously, there was a contest between the Native Americans on their land and the colonials of Virginia and Pennsylvania on their land.

1:32.3

I welcome Professor Robert G. Parkinson, his new book is Heart of American Darkness,

1:38.3

bewilderment and murder on the early frontier. Rob, the

1:44.9

journal, the Pennsylvania Journal in February of 1775

1:49.1

prints what is famous as Logan's Lament.

1:53.4

This is a document written up by men named John Gibson

1:57.1

sitting with a Native American, a mingo, chief, named, we call him Logan.

2:03.6

He had an Indian name that is important Shikolami. And Logan was reflecting upon what had

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