Anarchy and Enterprise on the Imperial Frontier: Washington, Dunmore, Logan, and Land in the Eighteenth-Century Ohio Valley

Anarchy and Enterprise on the Imperial Frontier Washington,Dunmore,Logan,and Land in tbe EighteenthCentury Obio Valley Barbara Rasmussen '1he April30,1774 massacre ofMingo ChiefJohn Logan's kin at Baker's Bottom, 1(, ner cited as the trigger ofD u n more's War,was the tip of : in iceberg lurking under the surface of Britain' s choppy rdationship with her American colonies. ' Ihe actual assailants were established settlers along the upper Ohio. These frontiersinen represented an emerging class of Virginian who enjoyed a level of power and independence unusual for men oftheir status iI,the colony. Equally striking, tlicy enjoyed direct ties to VirgiIiia Governor Lord Dunmore through their leader Michael Cresap. Cresap answered to John Connolly,who , Inswered to I) unniore, who increasingly answered to no one. In the face of crumbling British authority in the 17705, anarchy enveloped the Ohio frontier,afTording unique and treacherous opportfinities for personal gain. Ihe outrageous attack on unarmed Indians at settler JoshuR Baker' s grog shop along the Ohio River looked like a hate crime engineered by a band of renegade whites, but it was far more than a random act of violence that the governor exploited. According to the ShenanChief Logan. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER.CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY doah Valleyi first historian, Samuel Kercheval, " this horrid massacre was effected by an hypocritical stratagem,which reflects the deepest dishonor on the memory of those who were tigents in it." Kercheval asserted that there were strong reasons to suspect that Dunmore orchestrated the raid and was thus " at the bottom of the Indian war."' WINTER 2006 91·1, 1 t ANAR C 11 Y A N I) F.N TER PR] S 10 ON THE 1 Al l'I s cial incqualities in West Virginia had their genesis * 31 - , . 512*. h iii land speculation iii the years after tlic 14encli Qkm * , f,8*,»' f ind Indian Wan: Despite recent scholarship that 'Pe# 17. credits the Prt, clamation of 1763 \ vith cticctive - 95> M·0» t. · * 1:, 37% 2AFAm 11· Stopping land specllatioll in wester n Virginia, Chief Logan,ca.1 7251780 . 4 1,LSON ISTORICAL SOCIETY much evidence points to continuing conflicts over the colitrol of land.'In short,the first ri} Lind of-scholarship on the control otficintier land ended prematurely,leaving the agenda of'Ifirner, Perldns, and Abernethy unfinished. Qicstions remain about the macliinatic)ns of the great Virginia land speculators and Dunmore' s expansive view of his authoritv. Alc, st import, int,why did so many people kill one another in frontier Vilginid, if not tbr land? Equall>· significant,iv]10 exercised authorin-in the west? Simph· plit. there Ivas no effective , Iutlic, ritz·. Brit, zin zvas InallitiStly till211 ]c to e:id lawlessness (311 tlic froitici, . ilid 1) unmore dill 11(, t w,int tz). 1 [ c tob,k adi-zintaire of the tact tliat three tlic,us·,ind miles of'water separated him from anyone with the capacity to enfi) ree tlic orders ot-tlic Prin·Couticil. irginias elite, clustered along the Tidewater and often heavily involved in western land speculation, were likewise unable or unwilling to calm the frontier by limiting or regulating western expansion. Indeed, both liritish and Ainerican colotiial leaders expli,ited \ vhite settlers. Idihile speczilators struweled to secure vast western land claims and Shawnee and Iroquois leaders emplc}\· ed diplomacy to try ·, ind control the frontier, tio one paid much attention to settlers. But the experience ofJoshua Baker reveals that the relationship benveen settlers and the British ministr,· is less well underSto (, d than rhe relationship benvcen whites and Indians. Nonelites deeply influenced politics on the frontier, and ther sziffered mightily for it. \ Vhile some speculators lc, st land and fortunes, C ANARCHY AND ENTERPRISE ON 7 1! E IMPERIAL FRONTIER many nonelites lost lives, homes, and hopes. Baker settled on a highly desirable terracc Inidway between Fort Pitt and Fort Fincastic, but it fell into the hands of speculator Van Swearengen. However,no bill of sale exists to suggest a purchase and no deed to S\ vearengen has been found. In 1775 Baker failed to answer a judgment filed against him for thirtyone pounds Pennsylvania currency,and the court seized his cow...