When one thinks of religious conflict and persecution in the Americas, the slaughter of Huguenots at the hands of the Spanish necessarily comes to mind. Hundreds were killed in northern Florida during the sixteenth century as Spain took exception to the notion of a French Protestant colony proximate to their vast Caribbean empire.
But there was another terrible episode that is almost
unknown. I have mentioned it previously when writing about the Moravians but
after recently visiting the Ohio site again I was moved to call attention to it
once more. There is a great irony in this massacre and perhaps in part it
explains why so few acknowledge it.
In this case, the slaughter of ninety-six Christians in 1782 was
perpetrated not by French or Spanish Roman Catholics but by Scots-Irish
Presbyterians, a militia formed of American colonialists. The Revolution was
effectively over as the Battle of Yorktown had been won in 1781. But the treaty
officially ending the war was not signed until 1783 and fighting continued in
the West and the instability in the region (The Old Northwest) would continue
all the way up to the War of 1812.
Some might argue this was not persecution but merely a rather
brutal militia action against Indians – more of what we today would call a war
crime. Some might argue that it wasn't religious persecution but rather a
racist massacre. There are elements of truth to both of these claims. The
context is more complicated than a simple religious-motivated persecution
though it must be said the same is also true with regard to the Huguenots in
Florida. The Huguenots were French Calvinists to be sure but they were also a
strong political faction that played a part in post-Reformation European
politics and would do so for another century. Spain viewed their presence in
Florida as not just a question of heretics on their frontier but one of French
encroachment. The move against them was political but the vitriol was certainly
enhanced by the fact that they were Protestants.
The American militiamen were Indian haters to be sure and
sought to slaughter indigenous people in the Ohio Country – which they
undoubtedly viewed as an expression of just retribution. But these Indians were
Christians, converted by the Moravians and lived in their own villages. They
had nothing to do with the fighting and massacres along the frontier. And when
confronted by the Americans, they conducted themselves like Christians and died
exercising non-resistance, like sheep to the slaughter – they were singing
hymns as they were murdered by the treacherous militia. And make no mistake the
massacre was pre-meditated, it was not a result of the fog of war or battle
rage run amok. They rounded them up and deceived them into letting their guard
down in order to slaughter them.
As White Protestants, the militiamen led by Lt. Colonel David
Williamson did not recognize the Christianity of the Indians as legitimate.
They only saw Indians they wished dead – and these non-resistors (mostly women and
children) were an easy target for a militia seeking blood.
The colonials exhibited a cold bigotry. Just as Spanish Roman
Catholics did not recognize French Huguenots as Christians and slaughtered
them, these colonials did not (in this case on the basis of race) view these
Algonquian converts as legitimate Christians. The former slaughter was purely
ideological and political – the latter was rooted in racism and what needs to
be called out for what it is – a heretical understanding of Christian identity and
culture, and one that translated into the ethics of apostasy. They behaved as
the children of Satan that they were and slaughtered the children of Christ.
The sacralist Presbyterians had a highly defective view of
the Kingdom (many still do) and in this case it justified their violence
against fellow Protestant Christians.
The truth is the Moravian Indians shamed them by their holy
conduct and while the American colonials despised these natives, these
Algonquian converts obviously knew far more regarding Christ and the religion
of the New Covenant than did these arrogant and wicked militiamen.
Having been forcibly relocated by other British-allied
Indians in late 1781, these people were kept for months in a camp on the Upper
Sandusky River. As the winter progressed, a large and desperate group of them returned
east to their mission villages (Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten) in order to
harvest corn and were subsequently caught by the militia. The Moravians had
been desperate to stay out of the war and refused to support either side.
Zeisberger did send a warning at one point to the Americans in order to avoid a
surprise attack and subsequent massacre. He didn't support the Americans but
knew well enough that when the war was over, regardless of the result, the
American colonists would still be present and he had no wish to antagonize
them. The British came to view the Moravians with suspicion as well and thus
ordered their removal far away from the battle-lines. During the time of the
massacre, Zeisberger was (as a prisoner) en route to Detroit to stand trial
before the British who accused him of treason. He was exonerated.
Always caught in the middle, the hungry Moravian Indians of Gnadenhutten
were met by colonials on the warpath, men seeking Indian blood to shed.
Williamson had to know these folks were innocent and were not involved in
helping the British fight the revolutionaries. He would have known they were
Christians. But it didn't matter – they slaughtered them execution style. On
the way back east, his militia would engage in yet another massacre at a place
later named Killbuck Island.
On an even sadder note, the pagan Indians in the region
didn't take kindly to this – though they were no fans of the Moravian Indian
converts either. A few months later when Generals Washington and Irvine sent another
punitive expedition into Ohio, Colonel William Crawford was captured by pagan
Indians on the Upper Sandusky and burned alive in June 1782. Williamson, the
Butcher of Gnadenhutten was also part of the expedition but escaped. The
Indians were motivated by revenge for the Gnadenhutten Massacre – though
certainly the martyrs would not have wished it.
Zeisberger would lead his Moravians Indians back into the
area in 1798 after years of exile and wandering. Zeisberger died in 1808 and is
buried alongside several of his Indian converts at an easily missed place
called Goshen – the site of his last mission village.
Sadly, the missions would come to end just a few years later
as in the 1820's and 1830's Indian Removal policies forced all natives to
migrate west of the Mississippi. Zeisberger's missionary efforts were
tremendous and reasonably successful but always hampered by government policies
and in particular the wars of colonial America. Forced to flee Georgia as a
result of the War of Jenkin's Ear, Zeisberger's efforts in New York,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio were later stymied by the French and Indian War and the
American Revolution. His world would have likely been turned upside down once
more had he lived just a few years longer unto the time of the War of 1812 and
Tecumseh's uprising.
Located in rural Ohio, only about an hour and a half west of
Pittsburgh, one comes upon the Moravian Mission towns such as the
aforementioned Goshen where David Zeisberger and others are buried, Schoenbrunn
(just outside New Philadelphia) contains a reconstructed Moravian frontier
village with a cemetery. And then there's Gnadenhutten – the pronunciation is
slaughtered by the locals, the hard German 'g' is transformed into a 'zh' or
'j' sound, and the 'a' is long. Let's just say visitors from Germany are left
as confused as a contemporary Frenchman encountering the local patois when
visiting New Orleans.
The memorial site in the Gnadenhutten cemetery is quite
peaceful and it's difficult to imagine those horrific events taking place there
some 240 years ago. There's also a small museum but it doesn't contain a great
deal and is more oriented toward the larger history of the town and the later
canal era than specifically the massacre – though it is clearly a major event
in the town's historical memory. The town as it now exists grew up later and
was largely founded by one of Zeisberger's co-labourers, John Heckewelder.
If one is in the area, it's not too far from the Newark
Earthworks just east of Columbus. Likewise if one drives southeast, after
passing Tappan Lake one comes to Cadiz and the edge of Ohio's Appalachia
region. Wheeling, West Virginia is nearby as is Moundsville and its
curiosities. Or driving due east from the Moravian villages one comes to
Steubenville – known for its Franciscan University, Weirton West Virginia, and
finally Pittsburgh. A trip north takes you into Canton and ultimately the
larger Akron-Cleveland area. Kent State is nearby which is worth visiting
because of the famous shooting that took place there in May, 1970. The area is
not the most exciting but there are things to see and do – but how very few
stop to consider the nearly 100 Christians who died as martyrs at the hands of
a vicious colonial militia?
How many Americans chafe at this martyrdom because the persecutors and villains are members of the American military? It's enough to make one wonder where their true loyalties lie.
See also:
https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2023/12/brutalised-victims-of-their-times-and.html