Behind the Marker
Logstown was a large Indian community located near modern Ambridge, Pennsylvania. It was established in the mid-1740s, by Shawnee Indians returning to homelands from which they had been dispersed by wars with the Iroquois in the late seventeenth century. Like other Indian towns in the Upper Ohio Valley, its population included Delawares and Senecas as well, drawn to the region by its abundant game and autonomy from colonial governments.

After negotiating a treaty with the Indians at Logstown in 1748, Pennsylvanian fur traders rapidly expanded their business into the Ohio Country, and the village became an important center of intercultural diplomacy. The Iroquois Confederacy of New York, in order to maintain the authority it claimed over the region, appointed Tanacharisson to serve as its spokesman there, earning him the sobriquet "Half King" among the colonial traders.

The French were not pleased with the Pennsylvania fur traders' incursions into the Ohio Country, and they responded with a military expedition in 1749 led by Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville. Meant as a show of force to impress the Indians and evict the Pennsylvania traders, the Céloron expedition also buried or posted lead plates along the Allegheny-Ohio watershed claiming the region for the French. [Original Document]

In spring 1752, agents for the Ohio Company of Virginia treated with the Indians at Logstown to gain permission to build a post at the Forks of the Ohio. The Indians were interested in expanding their trade with the British; the Virginians wanted a toehold for settlement in the region that would pre-empt occupation by either the French or Pennsylvanians. After greasing the wheels of negotiation with £1,000 worth of presents, the Virginians wheedled from Tanacharisson permission to construct a storehouse for the fur trade at the Forks, but the Indians were clearly uncomfortable with the idea of the Ohio Company planting settlers there.