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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Sept 19, 2003 8:30:40 GMT -5
One of the most tragic events of the American Revolution was the massacre of 96 Christian Delaware Indians at the Moravian missionary town of Gnadenhutten, OH in 1782. This brutal event was condemned by many on the frontier, even those who had good reason to hate the Indians. It was to become one of the most shameful deeds on an already bloodsoaked frontier. On March 8, 1782, a company of Pennsylvania militia led by Col. David Williamson fell upon the Moravian missionary village in eastern Ohio. The town was occupied by 50 Christianized Delaware Indians who had just happened to have returned to the village to harvest corn left in the fields in order to feed their starving people. Soon another group of fifty were captured and brought from near-by Salem village. Williamson's men blamed the Delawares for aiding hostile Indian raids into Pennsylvania, despite the fact that the Moravians had been generally supportive of the American cause. The villagers were held captive overnight until it was decided to execute them, a deed that was carried out by a number of Williamson's men by by smashing their skulls with a coopers mallet one-by-one. Only two children managed to escape to spread the word of the massacre among the other Ohio tribes. The follow-up campaign in June 1782 led by Col. William Crawford intended to finish the job Williamson had started, and also to crush the Wyandot towns at Upper Sandusky. This campaign was not successful and Crawford himself was captured and burned at the stake by the Delaware in revenge for the slaughter of their brethern at Gnadenhutten. Ironically, Williamson, who co-led the Sandusky campaign, escaped unharmed back to Pennsylvania. The Gnadenhutten Massacre is another of the little-known sidenotes to the Revolution as it was fought on the Ohio frontier but one that had great import to those involved and one that exemplified the tremendous tensions that existed between the native and white inhabitants in the trans-Allegheny region. It is interesting too in that it is one of the few events in the history of the West where an outrage commited by Europeans against the Indians was described as a "massacre", reflective of the sheer brutality of the act. A good brief history of the Moravian Missionaries in Ohio and the Gnadenhutten Massacre: www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/pioneer/chap16.html
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Post by Fusilier on Sept 20, 2003 19:52:47 GMT -5
I'm largely unfamiliar with this event...is it related to the Revolutionary War or did it just happen to occur in the waning days of the conflict?[glow=red,2,300]TEXT[/glow]
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Sept 21, 2003 15:33:05 GMT -5
The massacre at Gnadenhutten was directly linked to the depredations of British-allied tribes along the Ohio frontier during the Revolution. Despite the fact that the major fighting had ended in the eastern theater after Cornwallis' surrender in Virginia the year before, some the biggest battles of the war in the West were fought after Yorktown. Engagements like the Battle of Sandusky, Fort Henry, and Blue Licks were all fought a year after the British capitulated in the East.
Williamson's troops were sent out to locate and destroy the Indians (mostly Wyandot and Shawnee) who were raiding into Pennsylvania in the area near Pittsburgh in support of the British during the Winter of 1782. Williamson's men were largely made up of frontier settlers who had been directly effected by the raids and many had suffered loses to the Indians who were supported and supplied by the British out of Fort Detroit. The British, who had a weak force of regulars West of the Alleghenies, encouraged the Ohio tribes to raid settlements in the West, paying a handsome bounty for American scalps and prisoners. But there were a number of engagements where British regulars and loyalist militia accompanied the Indians in the field. Their objective was to contain or destroy the American settlements in the western country, as well as to prevent the Americans from having the ability to launch an assault against Detroit.
The Massacre at Gnadenhutten was a direct result of the fact that most of the American settlers on the Ohio frontier were not willing to make a distinction between friendly and hostile tribes. They simply lumped them all together as enemies, despite the fact that the Christian Delwares at the Moravian towns had remained neutral during the fighting. In fact, their leader David Zeisburger is known to have served as an informer for the Americans at Fort Pitt!
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Post by Ruth on Nov 3, 2004 0:06:52 GMT -5
Some of the soldiers refused to participate in the slaughter of these Indians. Has anyone ever come across an account that names who the disenders were?
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Nov 5, 2004 11:25:37 GMT -5
Interesting question. I am not aware of any account that names these dissenters, but I am sure that one must exist somewhere. Also I came across an old discussionof this topic from another Revolutionary War forum earlyamerica.com/phorum/read.php?f=4&i=455&t=455 and found it interesting enough to link to here. I brings up some interesting arguments about the relevance of this incident and its influence on history. Is this event significant enough to warrant inclusion in an American history textbook? Did the Moravian Indian Massacre of 1782 have any lasting effects on the war itself or the continuing westward expansion of white settlers after the war? Something to think about.
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Post by Anawara on Feb 21, 2005 16:19:21 GMT -5
Hi first I want to say thank you for your help. According to the info I had one of the Militia wrote home or to his commanding officer. Almost braging about not expending one round of Ammo during the dispatch of these people. Does anyone know this mans name?
The two surviving Delaware. where they Man or women. Any idea what their names where? Thank you Again for your help Ana'Wara
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Feb 21, 2005 19:52:10 GMT -5
Captain Charles Bilderback has been recorded as one of the leaders of the group that participated in the killing. He was known to have killed the first fourteen of the Indians with a coopers mallet. Whether or not he was the one who made the remark about "not spending a bullet" I don't know, but seems a likely candidate.
There were known to be two survivors of the massacre, who according to many sources are described simply as two indian boys. According to Allan Eckert's book Dark and Bloody River, the boys were named Thomas (who escaped even after being scalped) and the other was named Adam Stroud. Also according to Eckert, there was supposedly a third survivor, a girl named Esther. Whether or not this was literary license I couldn't say for sure. The boys are not named in other sources that I have seen.
It should also be noted that, as mentioned above, there were eighteen members of Williamson's militia that objected to the killings and sat out the murders, though I have yet to find an account that names them.
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Post by ronnie gunn on Feb 27, 2005 16:28:55 GMT -5
i seen the names of those who voted not to kill the delaware moravians. i'll try to come up with them. one of them was col. david williamson. he was the leader of this war party of scotch-irish frontiersman, and he lived along buffalo creek in washington co.williamson was 2nd in command of the ill-fated crawford expedition. crawford, as we know was put to death, but the indians never caught up with williamson. he bought a watch, which he paid for, but refused to pay the interest, and was thrown in jail for several years. here he died. following his death, his funeral procession was very huge, as he was a local hero. i have visited the site of his blockhouse. his spring is still there. it once ws in the enclosure of his blockhouse. nearby, a brick house was built. it lasted until the 1940's when a tornado took it out. the foundation still remains. at the present time the property is owned by a power company who intends to build a power plant there. needlless to say, this move is being opposed by the local residents.
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Feb 27, 2005 18:02:42 GMT -5
Ronnie, I think you may be mistaken about Colonel Williamson being one of the men who votes NOT to kill the Moravian Delawares. In every account of the massacre I have seen, Williamson is the driving force behind the idea to execute the Indians. And yes he did somehow manage to escape from the debacle that was Crawford's expedition without a scratch. Ironic that Crawford ultimately paid the price that was intended and derserved by Williamson.
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Feb 28, 2005 13:15:40 GMT -5
Interesting. I did pull up this account, from J.H. Newton's History of Northern W. V. Panhandle, 1879, which seems to hint that Williamson might not have participated directly in the massacre. www.rootsweb.com/~indian/gnaden.htmI will have to dig and find the accounts that I know I've seen that accuse him of direct involvement in the killings, because I've always had the notion that this is the case, at least as it is usually given in the popular histories of the event. It is interesting to point out that, as with many cases in this time and place of history (Girty and Wetzel come to mind), that the accounts of an event as horrendous as this are often riddled with inaccuracies due to one side or another wishing to use it as a polemic. Even so, as commanding officer of the militia, Williamson's failure to prevent an atrocity of this magnitude would seem to implicate him of complicity at the very least. History certainly seems to. Any thoughts?
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Post by Anawara on Jan 17, 2006 15:15:15 GMT -5
Hi all, It has been awhile sence I have posted. I am still writing my book on Gnadenhutten. I found this site during my research. The Picture of the Grave mound is worth shareing by its self. According to this site it was some years before the People were even laid to rest in a communal grave. www.graveaddiction.com/gnadenhu.htmlGnadenhutten Memorial Ana Wara
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Post by Harley Dakin on Feb 17, 2006 12:54:00 GMT -5
Hi Al, I live near Gnadehutten in Newcomerstown, another Delaware town. I have a common ancestor in Samuel Williamson, the grandfather of David. I only recently heard that another of my grandfather's, a George Cline may have accompanied David up the Muskingum to Gnadenhutten. Here is my question. Can anyone tell me where to find a list of the members of the Pennsylvania militia who made the trip? I noticed some discussions but never noticed a list. Please email me if you can help. hpdakin@myfamily.com
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Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Feb 17, 2006 14:49:16 GMT -5
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Post by Harley Dakin on Feb 27, 2006 9:40:08 GMT -5
Thank You Matthew.
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itsallrelative2meyahoocom
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Post by itsallrelative2meyahoocom on Mar 1, 2006 2:07:07 GMT -5
I was searching for information on Gnadenhutten and came across this site. I am very impressed with the amount of information exchanged about this tragic event that most of the country knows nothing about. I just got an email from the Washington County Pa Historical Society in response to an inquiry on their holdings on the subject. I asked about a headstone that is supposed to say "one of the 18 non participants in Williamson's Expedition" Thomas Marshal. He is buried in Washington County however, they are not sure if his stone is still readable. Will be making a trip there! Also, the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem Pennsylvania has the records kept by the missionaries-there is a list they complied regarding the names of the victims-reference Box 151 folder 1. Minor detail is that they are mostly in German and the script is faded. I have been researching every available source and documents of the Moravian archives I hold among the highest in accuracy. These documents were written days or weeks after the events not 200 years. If anyone has seen or heard of other sources I should check out, I would sincerely appreciate the direction.
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