On March 25, Jefferson wrote to Dr. Samuel Brown of Ohio: “
You were a witness, before you left our side of the continent, to the endeavors of the tory party among us, to write me down
as far as they could find or make materials. ‘Oh! that mine enemy would write a book!’ has been a well known prayer against
an enemy. I had written a book, and it has furnished matter of abuse for want of something better. m
(
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Martin’s polite attack on the subject of Cresap & Logan, as stated in the Notes on Virginia, had begun before you left us.
it has continued & still continues; tho’ after the perusal of the first letter had shewn me what was to be the style of those
subsequent, I have avoided reading a single one. a friend of mine having wished for a general explanation of the foundation
of the case of Logan, I wrote him a letter of which I had a few copies printed, to give to particular friends for their satisfaction,
& on whom I could rely against the danger of it’s being published. I inclose you a copy as well for these purposes, as that
I think it may be in your power to obtain some information for me. indeed I suppose it probable that General Clarke may know
something of the facts relative to Logan or Cresap. I shall be much obliged to you for any information you can procure on
this subject. you will see by the inclosed in what way I mean to make use of it. I am told you are preparing to give us an
account of the General, which for it’s matter I know, & for it’s manner I doubt not, will be highly interesting. I am in hopes
in connecting with it some account of Kentucky, that your information & his together will be able to correct and supply what
I had collected relative to it in a very early day. indeed it was to Gen
l. Clarke I was indebted for what degree of accuracy there was in most of my statements. I wish you to attend particularly
to the overflowage of the Mississippi, on which I have been accused of error. present me affectionately to the General, &
assure him of my constant remembrance & esteem: and accept yourself salutations & sentiments of sincere attachment from Dear
Sir . . .
”
Mann Page replied to Jefferson’s letter, on February 13, 1788 [
sic
--
Ed.
]
: “Since I wrote to you I have been so fortunate as to obtain such Proofs of the general Authenticity of your Publication in the Notes on Virginia, as will fully justify what you have said respecting Cresap’s Murder & Logan’s Speech, & must entirely confute Mr Martin’s impudent unfounded Assertions. I enclose them for your Satisfaction. You will no doubt wish to know who this Mr Anderson is, whose Narrative I have taken from his own Lips, which I read to him, & which he affirmed to be substantially true.
“He has for
many years past been settled in Fredsburg in the Mercantile Line. I have known him in prosperous & adverse Situations. He has always shewn the greates Degree of Equanimity. His Honesty & Veracity are unimpeachable. These things can be attested by all the respectable Part of the Town & Neighbourhood. If what I now send you should not be satisfactory, return Anderson’s Narrative. He will certify it, & I will obtain an ample Certificate of his Character.
“Colo Lewis Willis has favoured me with the enclosed Copy of Logan’s Speech for your Use. He says it was guven
[
sic
--
Ed.
] him by the late Genl Mercer twenty odd Years ago . . .”
This letter is in the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress, which has also a number of other letters on the same subject.
Dr. Brown replied from Lexington, Kentucky, on September 4: “The letter you did me the honor of writing me, in March last, I intended to have answered long since; & to enable me to do
so, the more to your satisfaction, I took the earliest opportunities of informing General Clarke & several other gentlemen,
who had been the companions of his youthful campaigns, of the illiberal attack made on you, by the Attorney General of Maryland.
I have defered replying to your friendly letter hitherto, from an expectation of collecting from different sources, a variety
of statements & facts relative to the murder of Logans family. But as most of the Gentlemen to whom I wrote on the subject,
reside in remote parts of the country, at a distance from post Roads, I am induced to attribute their silence to the want
of safe modes of conveying their letters to Lexington. I am, however, happy, in having it in my power to transmit to you,
an interesting letter, from your friend General Clarke, which, indeed, appears to me, to render further investigation quite
unnecessary. The only point for which you contend (viz) that Logan is really the Author of the Speech ascribed to him, in
your Notes on Virginia is now established beyond the possibility of contradiction. The incidents in General Clarkes narrative
follow each other in a manner so simple & so natural as to afford, to every liberal & candid enquirer, the highest internal
evidence of their reality. To those who have the happiness of being acquainted with that truly great man, his statement will
bring the fullest conviction. His memory is singularly accurate, his veracity unquestionable. To such respectable authority
I can suppose no one capable of objecting, except Mr Luther Martin. I have shewn General Clarkes letter to Major Morrison,
the Supervisor of the Ohio District, who resided near Pittsburg, when the transactions respecting Logan occurred. He assures
me that he knows most of them as stated in the letter to be true for they are within his own recollection. Colo. Paterson
who likewise lived in that Country about that time mentioned to me a circumstance which appears worthy of notice. There were,
then, in that, as ”
