According to legend, in 1774 Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, gave his impassioned speech of vengeance beneath the Logan Elm to an interpreter sent from Lord Dunmore, colonial governor of Virginia. Logan had refused to attend the peace conference following the Battle of Point Pleasant, but fearing that a treaty ignored by one of the more powerful chiefs would not be honored by the Indians, he sent his message to be read at the conference. It remains one of the most eloquent and pathetic speeches in history. In its prime, the American Elm reached a height of 104 ft., a spread of 180 ft., and a circumference of 24 ft., and it died in 1964.