Fig. 12.—Bliss Log.officer, and the latter is an official journal. In steam
vessels a rough and fair engine room register are kept,
giving information with regard to
the engines and boilers.
In the British mercantile marine
all ships (except those
employed exclusively in
trading between ports on
the coasts of Scotland)
are compelled to keep an
official log book in a form
approved by the Board
of Trade. A mate’s log
book and engine room
register are not compulsory, but are usually kept.
(J. W. D.)
LOGAN, JOHN (c. 1725–1780), also known as Tahgahjuté,
American Indian chief, a Cayuga by birth, was the son of Shikellamy,
a white man who had been captured when a child by the
Indians, had been reared among them, and had become chief of the
Indians living on the Shamokin Creek in what is now Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania. The name Logan was given to the
son in honour of James Logan (1674–1751), secretary of William
Penn and a steadfast friend of the Indians. John Logan lived
for some time near Reedsville, Penn., and removed to the
banks of the Ohio river about 1770. He was not technically
a chief, but acquired great influence among the Shawnees, into
which tribe he married. He was on good terms with the whites
until April 1774, when, friction having arisen between the
Indians and the whites, a band of marauders, led by one Greathouse,
attacked and murdered several Indians, including, it
appears, Logan’s sister and possibly one or more other relatives.
Believing that Captain Michael Cresap was responsible for this
murder, Logan sent him a declaration of hostilities, the result
of which was the bloody conflict known as Lord Dunmore’s War.
Logan refused to join the Shawnee chief, Cornstalk, in meeting
Governor Dunmore in a peace council after the battle of Point
Pleasant, but sent him a message which has become famous as
an example of Indian eloquence. The message seems to have
been given by Logan to Colonel John Gibson, by whom it was
delivered to Lord Dunmore. Thomas Jefferson first called
general attention to it in his Notes on Virginia (1787), where he
quoted it and added: “I may challenge the whole orations of
Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if
Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage
superior to it.” Logan became a victim of drink, and in 1780
was killed near Lake Erie by his nephew whom he had attacked.
There is a monument to him in Fair Hill Cemetery, near Auburn,
New York.
Brantz Mayer’s Tahgahjuté, or Logan the Indian and Captain Michael Cresap (Baltimore, 1851, 2nd ed., Albany, 1867) defends Captain Cresap against Jefferson’s charges, and also questions the authenticity of Logan’s message, about which there has been considerable controversy, though its actual wording seems to be that of Gibson rather than of Logan.
LOGAN, JOHN (1748–1788), Scottish poet, was born at Soutra, Midlothian, in 1748. His father, George Logan, was a farmer and a member of the Burgher sect of the Secession church. John Logan was sent to Musselburgh grammar school, and in 1762 to the university of Edinburgh. In 1768–1769 he was tutor to John, afterwards Sir John, Sinclair, at Ulbster, Caithness, and in 1770, having left the Secession church, he was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Haddington. In 1771 he was presented to the charge of South Leith, but was not ordained till two years later. On the death of Michael Bruce (q.v.) he obtained that poet’s MSS. with a view to publication. In 1770 he published Poems on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce with a preface, in which, after eulogizing Bruce, who had been a fellow student of his, he remarked that “to make up a miscellany some poems wrote by different authors are inserted, all of them originals, and none of them destitute of merit. The reader of taste will easily distinguish them from those of Mr Bruce, without their being particularized by any mark.” Logan was an active member of the committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland which worked from 1775 to 1781 at revising the “Translations and Paraphrases” for public worship, in which many of his hymns are printed. In 1779–1781 he delivered a course of lectures on the philosophy of history at St Mary’s Chapel, Edinburgh. An analysis of these lectures, Elements of the Philosophy of History (1781), bears striking resemblance to A View of Ancient History (1787), printed as the work of Dr W. Rutherford, but thought by Logan’s friends to be his. In 1781 he published his own Poems, including the “Ode to the Cuckoo” and some other poems which had appeared in his volume of Michael Bruce’s poems, and also his own contributions to the Paraphrases. His other publications were An Essay on the Manners and Governments of Asia (1782), Runnamede, a tragedy (1783), and A Review of the Principal Charges against Warren Hastings (1788). His connexion with the theatre gave offence to his congregation at South Leith; he was intemperate in his habits, and there was some local scandal attached to his name. He resigned his charge in 1786, retaining part of his stipend, and proceeded to London, where he became a writer for the English Review. He died on the 28th of December 1788. Two posthumous volumes of sermons appeared in 1790 and 1791. They were very popular, and were reprinted in 1810. His Poetical Works were printed in Dr Robert Anderson’s British Poets (vol. xi., 1795), with a life of the author. They were reprinted in similar collections, and separately in 1805.
Logan was accused of having appropriated in his Poems (1781) verses written by Michael Bruce. The statements of John Birrell and David Pearson on behalf of Bruce were included in Dr Anderson’s Life of Logan. The charge of plagiarism has been revived from time to time, notably by Dr W. Mackelvie (1837) and Mr James Mackenzie (1905). The whole controversy has been marked by strong partisanship. The chief points against Logan are the suppression of the major portion of Bruce’s MSS. and some proved cases of plagiarism in his sermons and hymns. Even in the beautiful “Braes of Yarrow” one of the verses is borrowed direct from an old border ballad. The traditional evidence in favour of Bruce’s authorship of the “Ode to the Cuckoo” can hardly be set aside, but Dr Robertson of Dalmeny, who was Logan’s literary executor, stated that he had gone over the MSS. procured at Kinnesswood with Logan.
Logan’s authorship of the poems in dispute is defended by David Laing, Ode to the Cuckoo with remarks on its authorship, in a letter to J. C. Shairp, LL.D. (1873); by John Small in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review (July, 1877, April and October, 1879); and by R. Small in two papers (ibid., 1878). See also Bruce, Michael.
LOGAN, JOHN ALEXANDER (1826–1886), American soldier and political leader, was born in what is now Murphysborough, Jackson county, Illinois, on the 9th of February 1826. He had no schooling until he was fourteen; he then studied for three years in Shiloh College, served in the Mexican War as a lieutenant of volunteers, studied law in the office of an uncle, graduated from the Law Department of Louisville University in 1851, and practised law with success. He entered politics as a Douglas Democrat, was elected county clerk in 1849, served in the State House of Representatives in 1853–1854 and in 1857, and for a time, during the interval, was prosecuting attorney of the Third Judicial District of Illinois. In 1858 and 1860 he was elected as a Democrat to the National House of Representatives. Though unattached and unenlisted, he fought at Bull Run, and
