The Ashland Union

Select Miscellany.
MASSACRE OF THE MORAVIAN
INDIANS.
As early as the year 1762, the Moravian missionaries, Post and Heckewelder,
established a mission among the Indians on the Tuscarawas. Before the
close of the war of the revolution, they
had three flourishing stations or villages,
viz: Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten and Salem. These were respectively about five
miles apart, and stood near fifty miles
west of the site of Steubenville, Ohio.
In the war, their position was eminently
dangerous. They were midway between
the hostile towns on the Sandusky and
the frontier settlements, and being on
the direct route of war parties of either,
were compelled occasionally to give sustenance and shelter to both. This excited the jealousy of the contending
races, although they preserved a strict
neutrality, and looked with horror upon
the shedding of blood.
In February, 1782, many murders
were committed upon the upper Ohio
and the Monongahela, by the hostile Indians. The settlers believing that the
Moravians were either concerned in
these murders, or had harbored those
who were, determined to destroy their
towns, the existence of which they deemed dangerous to their safety. Accordingly, in March, about ninety volunteers assembled under the command of Col.
David Williamson, in the Mingo Bottom, just below the site of Steubenville.
Arriving in the vicinity of Gnadenhutten, they, on the morning of the 8th,
surrounded and entered the town, where
they found a large party of Indians in a
field, gathering corn. They informed
the Indians that they had come on an
errand of peace and friendship--that
they were going to take them to Fort
Pitt for protection. The unsuspecting
Indians, pleased at the prospect of their
removal, delivered up their arms which
they used for hunting, and commenced
preparing breakfast for themselves and
guests. An Indian messenger was dispatched to Salem, to apprise the brethren there of the new arrangement, and
both companies then returned to Gnadenhutten. On reaching the village, a
number of mounted militia started for
the Salem settlement, but ere they
reached it, found that the Moravian Indians at that place had already left their
corn fields, by the advice of the messenger, and were on the road to join their
brethren at Gnadenhutten. Measures
had been adopted by the militia to secure the Indians whom they had at first
decoyed into their power. They were
bound, confined in two houses, and well
guarded. On the arrival of the Indians
from Salem, (their arms having been
previously secured without suspicion of
any hostile intention,) they were also
fettered, and divided between the two
prison-houses, the males in one, the females in the other. The number thus
confined in both, including men, women
and children, have been estimated from
sixty to ninety-six.
A council was then held to determine
how the Moravian Indians should be
disposed of. This self-constituted military court embraced both officers and
privates. Colonel Williamson put the
question, "whether the Moravian Indians
should be taken prisoners to Fort Pitt,
or put to death?" requesting those who
were in favor of saving their lives to
step out and form a second rank. Only
eighteen out of the whole number stepped forth as advocates of mercy. In
these, the feelings of humanity were not
extinct. In the majority, which was
large, no sympathy was manifested.
They resolved to murder (for no other
word can express the act) the whole of
the Christian Indians in their custody.
Among these were several who had contributed to aid the missionaries in the
work of conversion and civilization--
two of whom emigrated from N. Jersey
after the death of their spiritual pastor,
the Rev. David Brainerd. One woman,
who could speak good English, knelt before the commander and begged his protection. Her supplication was unavailing. They were ordered to prepare for
death. But the warning had been anticipated. Their firm belief in their new
creed was shown forth in the sad hour of
their tribulation, by religious exercises
of preparation. The orisons of these
devoted people were already ascending
to the throne of the Most High!--the
sound of the Christian's hymn and the
Christian's prayer found an echo in the
surrounding woods, but no responsive
feeling in the bosoms of their executioners. With gun, and spear, and tomahawk, and scalping knife, the work of
death progressed in these slaughterhouses, till not a sigh or moan was heard
to proclaim the existence of human life
within--all, save two--two Indian boys
escaped, as if by a miracle, to be witnesses in after times of the savage cruelty of the white man towards their unfortunate race.
Thus were upwards of ninety human
beings hurried to an untimely grave by
those who should have been their legitimate protectors. After committing the
barbarous act, Williamson and his men
set fire to the houses containing the
dead, and then marched off for Schoenbrunn, the upper Indian town. But here
the news of their atrocious deeds had
preceded them. The inhabitants had
all fled.
Those engaged in this campaign were
generally men of standing at home.
When the expedition was formed, it was
given out to the public that its sole object was to remove the Moravians to
Pittsburgh, and by destroying the villages, deprive the hostile Indians of a
shelter. In their towns, various articles
plundered from the whites were discovered. One man is said to have found
the bloody clothes of his wife and children, who had recently been murdered.
These articles, doubtless, had been purchased of the hostile savages.
The sight of these, it is said, bringing to
mind the forms of murdered relations,
wrought them up to a pitch of uncontrollable frenzy which nothing but blood
could satisfy.
In the year 1798, when the remnant
of the Moravian Indians were recalled
by the United States to reside on the
same spot, an old Indian, in company
with a young man by the name of Carr,
walked over the desolate scene, and
showed to the white man an excavation
which had formerly been a cellar, and
in which were still some mouldering
bones of the victims, though seventeen
years had passed since their tragic death
--the tears, in the meantime, falling
down the wrinkled face of this aged
child of the Tuscarawas.
About a hundred yards east of the
present town of Gnadenhutten, is the
site of the ancient Indian village, with
the stone foundations of their huts, and
marks of the conflagration that consumed the bodies of the slain in 1782.
Here and there, may be excavated burnt
corn and other relics of the fire. Apple
trees, planted by the missionaries, are
yet standing, surrounded by underbrush.
A row of Lombardy poplars were planted for ornament, one of which yet
towers aloft undecayed by time, a natural monument to the memory of those
who are interred beneath its shade.