Gnadenhutten Massacre

The Gnadenhutten Massacre was the killing on June 30th, 1782 of 96 Native Americans by militia during the American Revolutionary War. The Gnadenhutten Massacre is also known as the Moravian Massacre. During the Revolutionary War, the Lenape tribe of the Ohio Country was separated over what side to take in the conflict, if any. Their choosing of sides was crucial because their village lay in between two opposing forces in the war. Some Natives decided to fight against the Americans, and move closer to Detroit. Others decided to stay put, and sign a peace treaty with the Americans. The Native American leader who had negotiated the treaty was dead (possibly killed by Americans), and many who were originally against joining the war decided to go against the Americans. Soon after, their village was destroyed by and expedition led from Fort Pitt. Leader of the expedition, Colonel Brodhead, decided to leave the Natives at the Moravian villages, seeing that they were clearly unarmed and neutral. In September 1781, British allied Natives removed the Christian Natives from the Moravian villages. They took them all to a captive village on the Sandusky River. A raiding party led by Williamson accused the captive Natives of taking part in raids on Americans. The Natives denied these charges because they had truthfully not taken part in the raids, but a council was set to vote on it, and they were condemned to death. On March 8, 1782, 28 men, 29 women, and 39 children were murdered and scalped, their skulls crushed with mallets. Two of the Natives who had been scalped survived to spread word of the massacre to others.

The Paxton Boys

The Paxton Boys were citizen law-enforcers who were most well known for their participation in the Conestoga Massacre. The Paxton Boys originated from central Pennsylvania, and were a couple of Presbyterian Scottish-Irish men who created a vigilante group to protect themselves from the Native American revolt known as Pontiac’s Rebellion. The group of vigilantes thought that the government of Pennsylvania wasn’t offering them as much protection as they would like from these Native insurgents. The Paxton Boys soon learned that the nearest rebel Natives were only a couple of miles away from them, so they decided to pay them a visit. The boys attacked the Susquehannock people, who were a peaceful tribe that lived near European settlements in small tribes. The Paxton Boys made up a false accusation that these Natives were aiding the hostiles involved in Pontiac’s Rebellion. This way, the Paxton Boys had some means of justification. Fifty armed men attacked the peaceful Natives on December 14, 1763, and killed six Natives, and burned down their homes. After this first attack, the Conestogos created a treaty that established peace between the citizens of Pennsylvania and the Susquehannas. The 14 Natives that had survived the attack were placed in protective custody was Governor John Penn. Sadly, this did not stop the Paxton Boys, as they broke in anyways and killed all fourteen Natives. Two more Natives were found, and placed, once again, in protective custody. Penn issued the arrest of the men who committed this atrocity, and even added a bounty to whoever came forward with information. The Paxton Boys were so wild and intimidating, not a soul would come forward. Natives living in Eastern Pennsylvania fled to Philadelphia for protection from the insurgents. Approximately 250 men marched to their location, ready for a massacre. Luckily, Benjamin Franklin had stopped the Paxton Boys with the local militia long enough to negotiate with their leaders. This ended the violence at last. To make the situation worse, a third of the Natives in protective care by the government died from small pox due to the crowded rooms they lived in. The Paxton Boys were stopped, and the Conestoga Massacre had ended, but the damage was done.

Possible Blog Post Topics

Topics on Native Americans
• Treaty of Greensville.
• Massasoit
• Squanto
• Sequoyah
• Fort Pickens
• Massacre at Wounded Knee
• Fort Laramie Treaty of 1854
• Conflict and Negotiation with European Settlers:
Taking Native American Land
• Native American Reservations
• Sally Bayne settler in Nebraska Territory
• The Conestoga Massacre
• Gnadenhutten Massacre
• Sand Creek Massacre
• Camp grant massacre

Lord Dunmore's War

Lord Dunmore’s War occurred in 1774 between the Shawnee and Mingo Native Americans and the Colony of Virginia. The clash resulted from increasing violence between the colonists, who were trespassing and expanding westward beyond the Ohio River. The Natives who lived in that region (Shawnee and Mingo) had previous treaties that gave them the right to hunt there. The tribes were fed up, and launched several successful attacks on the settlers. This was the final string that sparked war between the tribes and the British. The fight ended with the British emerging victorious at the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774. The British made the Natives agree to certain conditions, such as their lost right to hunt in their previous area, and their recognition that the Ohio River was the border between their land and the British land. The war is named for Governor Dunmore, who had received word that fighting had broken out at Yellow Creek, as well as other locations in Ohio. He made a request to Legislature that he is given military forces to start an expedition into the Ohio River Valley. Dunmore proceeded down the Ohio River until he reached Kanawha, where he sent a message that announced his intentions to reach the Shawnee towns. On his approach, he faced a surprise attack from some warriors from the tribe, and so began the Battle of Point Pleasant. The British won, and the War ended.

Wounded Knee Massacre

The Battle of Wounded Knee, or Wounded Knee Massacre was the final armed battle between the Great Sioux Nation and the U.S. in the series of the Indian Wars. The incident occurred on December 29, 1890 when over 300 troops surrounded a settlement of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The Sioux and the Americans had made an agreement that they would escort the Sioux to the railroad for transportation to a new settlement in Omaha, Nebraska. The surrounding American troops (7th Cavalry) had these orders, but first intended to disarm all natives and ensure their obedience and understanding of the agreement. The real conflict started with a simple misunderstanding. A deaf tribe member who went by the name of Black Coyote didn’t hear the order to give up his rifle, so he was hesitant to give up his weapon. This disagreement escalated into a full-out battle, and soon both sides were firing. The tribe members who still had weapons open fired on the 7th Cavalry, while the troops open fired on the entire tribe, armed or unarmed. The disturbing part is that many of the Sioux tribe members fled and were unarmed, but still pursued and killed by the U.S. troops. The damage was atrocious. Approximately 150 men, women, and children from this tribe had been shot and killed. Only 25 members of the 7th Cavalry had been killed, many from friendly fire in the chaotic battle conditions. About 150 Lakota were said to have fled the scene, but most died from hypothermia. Pictures were taken as the Lakota were put in mass graves and buried.

Fort Pickens

Fort Pickens is a famous U.S. military fort located on Santa Rosa Island in Pensacola, Florida. The Fort is named after a war hero in the revolutionary war called Andrew Pickens. Construction on the fort began in 1829 and was finished in 1834, and the fort remained active until 1947. Most of the fort was built using slave labor. Following the War of 1812, the U.S. chose to strengthen its primary ports, and hired a French engineer to design Fort Pickens. From 1886 to May of 1887, a famous Apache Indian chief called Geronimo was locked up in Fort Pickens, along with many of his warriors. Geronimo’s family, along with the families of his warriors, was being held captive at Fort Marion. Lieutenant Adam J Slemmer decided to use the fort during the American Civil War, knowing that it would be very useful. A small group of local men attempted to take the fort, but were fought off by Slemmer and his men. Many historians believe that these were the very first shots that the U.S. fired in the American Civil War. Following this incident, Slemmer destroyed a fort he used prior to the renovation of Fort Pickens called Fort McRee, and sent 80 troops to Fort Pickens to fight off the Confederates. Despite the constant threats, the Fort remained under Union control throughout the entire American Civil War. Hurricane Ivan was a threat to Fort Pickens in 2004, but the Fort held its ground and only suffered minor damages. Fort Pickens was a very valuable fort to the Union army throughout the Civil War, and also a very significant location for Indians being held captive.

Sequoyah

When the Early Europeans first landed in America, they discovered a Native American race of warriors called the Tsalagi people. These people were living in what is not known as eastern Tennessee and North and South Carolina. Back then, the white men called them “Cherokee.” Emerging from that tribe was a man named Sequoyah, who was born sometime in the 1770’s in a Tsalagi village called Tuskegee. This village is located in present day Tennessee. Sequoyah’s mother was a member of the Paint Clan called Wurerth, while the father is often argued about. Most historians agree that Sequoyah’s father was Nathaniel Gist, a white man from Virginia. Sequoyah is often referred to as George Gist, but some still believe that he is of pure blood. Sequoyah was raised by the traditions of the Tsalagi people, and followed their customs. He was injured in a hunting accident as a young man, becoming handicapped. In 1809, Sequoyah noticed how the European men had much better methods of recording than their oral traditions. To solve this problem, he decided to create the first Tsalagi alphabet. During his service in the War of 1812, Sequoyah realized that the warriors could not send or receive letters from loved ones and orders had to be memorized, all the more reason to start and alphabet. First, Sequoyah began by making the alphabet as symbols, such as Chinese characters. He soon came to the realization that there would have to be far too many symbols for this to work. Sequoyah had to deal with constant harassment from those in the tribe who did not believe in his work. After discovering that a system of symbols would be inefficient, Sequoyah tried a different approach; a phonetic alphabet in which symbols represented sounds instead of things or concepts. In the Tsalagi language, there were 85 vowel and consonant sounds, which were assigned characters (letters). Sequoyah presented his alphabet before Tsalagi leaders in 1821, and they all accepted it. It was the first official written language of the Tsalagi tribe.