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Gnadenhutten massacre
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 | Subjects: monument--indian massacre--German missionaries--Moravian Christians;
Places: Tuscarawas County (Ohio); New Philadelphia (Ohio); Gnadenhutten;
Collection: Ohio Guide Photographs
Source: State Archives Series 1039 AV
Item ID: OhioGuide: SA1039AV_B15F01_032.tif
Description: 37-foot-high monument made of Indiana marble dedicated Wednesday June 5, 1782. The Gnadenhutten massacre of 100 Christian Delawares by American militia (Pennsylvania) is often called the worst atrocity of American Revolution.
Inscription reads "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782."
Led by Lieutenant Colonel David Williamson, Pennsylvania militia executed 96 Christian Indians: 28 men, 29 women and 39 children. Their skulls were crushed by mallets and they were scalped. Two young boys escaped.
The town was burned and a missionary later found the bodies and buried them in a mass grave.
Earlier, in late 1781, the British had moved the Christian Indians from the Moravian villages west to what was called Captive Town, on the Sandusky River in north-central Ohio.
The Indians, starving that winter, returned to Gnadenhuetten to harvest crops and collect stored food. They were surprised by a raiding party of 160 militiamen.
The Americans accused the Indians of raids and voted to put them to death. The Indians spent the night before their execution praying and singing hymns.
Width: 2176 pixels
Height: 3604 pixels
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