“ the minds of the Indians--But Sir! altho I have no hesitation to bear testimony to the truth, I wish to inform You, that my situation is such, that would not admit of publishing the whole of my relation, & therefore beg You to consider the enclosed communication as Confidential. I am engaged in commencing a Settlement in the Western Country, & my business will render it necessary for me to be at times in the very Country, (& by the by) among the very people to whom I have in my report alluded, as perpetrators of Murderous acts, especially such as were engaged in Murdering the Moravian Indians on Muskingum, & who, unprincipled as many of them may be to this day, might unite against me & ^c. Yet, whatever in Your Judgement, shall seem necessary to prove, that the account You gave in Your Notes on Virginia, of the Murder of Logans’ family, was the prevailing report of that day, I cannot object to Your publishing. And as to the Account I have given of Logans Character I have no reason to object to Your publishing the whole as I have given it; if You chuse.

"In my Opinion there must be yet People living in or about Pittsburg who have some knowledge of the subject in question. I should think Gen ^l Gibson one.

"I have only to add: that Your complying with my request will put me under great Obligation to You . . .”

The enclosed confidential communication occupies eight pages in his hand and confirms the fact that Cresap was the murderer.

On May 2, 1798, St. George Tucker, a judge of the General Court of Virginia, wrote from Fredericksburg to Jefferson: “M ^r. Lewis of this town this morning mentioned to me, that it might be an acceptable information to you to know of any person who recollected the publication of Logan’s speech at the time when it first appeared in the Virginia papers.

"A few years ago, not more than three or four, being engaged in some enquiries relative to the adoption of our State Constitution I had recourse to the papers of those times. In the research I met with the account of Logan’s Speech, & the speech itself at full length, verbatim. I think, as given in your notes on Virginia, in a Virginia paper printed just after Lord Dunmore’s return from the Western Country, by Purdie & Dixon, or by M ^r. Rind, but I am rather inclined to believe in the former. I strongly incline to believe I have the paper still in my possession--but it is possible that it might have been among some that I borrowed of M ^r. John Byrd deceaced. If it would be of any service to you to find the paper, I will on my return (which will not be till the beginning of next month) endeavour to find it.--But should I fail to do so, if this Letter can be of service to you, you may freely make such use of it as you think proper.--In addition to what I have said on this subject, I will add, that my recollection of the publication, before the publication of your notes, appears to be perfectly familiar. Our mutual friend John Page of Rosewell I am inclined to think will be able to add more satisfactory Information on this subject . . .”

Jefferson replied from Philadelphia on May 9, the same day that he wrote to James Lewis of Fredericksburg quoted in no. 3225 (Volume III, page 311): “ I am much obliged by your friendly letter of the 2 ^d. inst. and your attention to M ( ^~ r) Martin’s libels on the subject of Logan, the first only of which I have ever read: for when I found by his stile that truth was not his object, but to gratify party passions, I determined to read no more, but to make proper enquiries into the fact he questioned, & in due time published it. I turned to the papers of the day (in my own possession) & found Logan’s speech, as interpreted by the common Indian interpreter. I used Gen ^l. Gibson’s version, but in the paper I have there is no statement of facts. if there be one in the paper you have seen, you would infinitely oblige me by procuring the paper itself, or a copy of the statement. ”

As stated in no. 3225, a number of the original autograph depositions are in the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress.