CHAPTER XII

RELIGIOUS HISTORY

Religious Spirit of Pioneers-Roman Catholicism-Moravian Mission on the Big Beaver (Friedenstadt)-Presbyterianism-Methodism-United Brethren in Christ-Church of God-Baptists-Lutheranism-Disciples of Christ-Evangelical Association-Congregational Church-Protestant Episcopal Church.

Walk about Zion, and go round about her;
Tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks,
Consider her palaces;
That ye may tell it to the generation following.
PSALM xlviii., 12, 13.

WE turn now from the study of the facts and forces’ which built the fabric of material and political greatness in western Pennsylvania and in Beaver County, to trace, in brief outline, the story of the founding here of that kingdom which “cometh not with observation.” It will be found, we think, that the spiritual kept pace with the physical development of the community. We have no desire to idealize our picture of the pioneer settlement of our section. On the contrary we have shown previously that it was “a mixed multitude” that came into these parts, and that deeds of shame are in the record of their conduct for which even the rude time and the terrors of their wilderness life afford no excuse. But still, if they were often violent and lawless, as even the best of them sometimes were in dealing with the Indians, we may charitably seek to find the fault in their position rather than in a radical want of humanity and justice in their characters. The best of them were but men, and-
No perfect whole can our nature make;
Here or there the circle will break;

411

412 History of Beaver County

The orb of life as it takes the light
On one side leaves the other in night.
Never was saint so good and great
As to give no chance at St. Peter’s gate
For the plea of the Devil’s advocate.

Taking into account all the conditions, we believe that a high claim can be made and maintained for the general worthiness of the early settlers of this region. Of those who formed the largest element it may be said that they brought with them not only the axe and the rifle, but that they brought also, at least in their heads and their hearts, the Bible and the Shorter Catechism. They reared family altars in their forest homes and gathered for social worship in the forest shades, “God’s first temples,” and drew the witness of His presence and perfections alike from the book of nature and the Book of grace.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM-ATTEMPT TO FOUND A ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION

A recent graceful writer (Stewart Edward White) has said that the French of North America “have laughed in farther places than the Anglo-Saxons, “-his meaning being that they have led the way in wilderness explorations. Long before the English had penetrated the unknown regions of the west, the French voyageurs had threaded its pathless forests or paddled their canoes over the dancing waters of its lakes and rivers, singing their songs in the wigwams of the natives, conforming to their customs, often taking to themselves as brides the dusky daughters of the forests. And the faithful cures were not long behind them, as brave as any of their light-hearted children in facing untried perils, enduring all hardness in order to care for their sheep scattered abroad in the wilderness, or to bring the message of the Gospel to the red man. Thus the French found their way along the St. Lawrence, the Lakes, the Wabash, and the Mississippi to the heart of the continent, and thus, too, they came first into the valley of the Ohio. Perhaps earlier than history has brought us any record of names and dates,

Merry JeanBaptiste
Paddled his pirogue on La Belle Riviere,
While from its banks some lone Loyola priest
Echoed. the night-song of the voyageur.

History of Beaver County 413

The first minister of religion to arrive in the valley of the Ohio was, so far as history records, the Rev. Joseph Peter Bonnecamp, S. J. He was the chaplain and mathematician of Celeron’s expedition, and was at Chiningue, as the French called Logstown, on August 8, 1749, and afterwards passed down the Ohio River, and it is probable that he said mass somewhere within what is now Beaver County, 1 as it was the law and the invariable practice of the Jesuits to say mass wherever they served as chaplains.
Eight years later a mission was established at the mouth of the Big Beaver by the Jesuit Father Virot. The brief record of this mission is found in Dr. Shea’s History at the Catholic Church in the United States, in the following words: “The Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot, who had labored in the Abnaki Missions in Maine, was sent to the Ohio about 1753 to found a mission among the Delawares who had settled near the French. He planted his mission cross at Sawkunk, as the Indians styled the mouth of the Big Beaver. Here he persevered in his good work until Pakanke, chief of the Wolf tribe, drove him off.” 2
In a letter in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,s dated October 21,1757, the writer, Father Peter Joseph Antoine Roubaud, says that he set out July 12th, from the Abnaki Missions to bring to Montreal a deputation of twenty Abnakis appointed to accompany Father Virot, “who has gone to try and found a mission among the Loups [Wolf tribe] of the Oyo or Beautiful river.” The date of his mission is shown from this letter to have been somewhere between July 12 and October 21, 1757, but it is not known how long it lasted. It must have been short on account of Pakanke’s opposition, and we know

1 “In 1749 the Jesuit Father Joseph Peter de Bonnecamp, who had been professor of hydrography at Quebec. accompanied an expedition under de Celeron. The party descended the Ohio as far as the great Miami, and then crossed to Lake Erie. Father Bonnecamp was the first priest who offered the holy sacrifice in the southern part of Ohio.” The Catholic Church in Colonial Days. 1521-1763, by John Gilmary Shea, New York, 1886, p.613.

2 VoL i .. p, 614-

“Father Claude F. Virot was born February 16, 1721 [according to The Jesuit Relations, vol. lxx., p, 85, his name was Louis Virot, and February 15, 1722, the date of his birth]: entered the Society of Jesus in the province of Toulouse, October 10, 1738; was sent to Canada in l750. After his Delaware mission he acted as chaplain to Aubrey’s force, and was killed in the attempt made to relieve Niagara in July, l759.” Pouchot’s Memoires, vol. i., pp. 109-110.

The Aubrey here mentioned was Captain de Aubrey, Knight of St . Louis, who commanded a part of the French forces in the western part of our State. and who defeated Major Grant on what is now known as Grant’s Hill, Pittsburg. Sept. l4, I758.
VoL lxx., p. 91.

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that Father Virot was killed by the Iroquois Indians near Fort Niagara, July 24, 1759.1
Local Catholic history really begins, however, with the arrival of the first Catholic settler in the person of James McGuire, who fled from Ireland during the political troubles in that country at the close of the eighteenth century, and, crossing the Allegheny Mountains into western Pennsylvania, came to the Beaver valley in 1793. It is claimed that despite the danger from the Indians he at once located a large tract of land lying immediately north of the present New Brighton, a large part of which has remained in possession of his descendants, being at present owned and resided upon by Hugh McGuire of Oak Hill, a grandson. Having cleared a small space, he built thereon his log-cabin home, one of the largest ever erected in Beaver County, upon a site which is within a few feet of the old stone “Schofield” house below the New Brighton reservoir.
The second settler of Catholic faith was John Daugherty, who a few years after McGuire’s settlement located upon a tract upon Bennett’s Run, north of Eastvale. He erected his house just within the angle formed by the meeting of the present two roads, at the forks of the run; but the log house now standing at this point is of a later date, and not the original. John Daugherty died at an extreme old age.
About the same time, Daniel McGuire, a cousin of the James McGuire mentioned above, and the grandfather of Michael McGuire of Economy township, settled at Vicary, now a part of Freedom, where he lived until 1830, when he removed to the Big Sewickley Creek, near Wall Rose post-office, where several of his descendants still reside. The fourth Catholic settler was Edward Daugherty, grandfather of the late Edward Black Daugherty, Esq., of Beaver, and a younger brother of the above mentioned John Daugherty. He came to Beaver County in 1796, and settled on a tract of land southeast of New Brighton. He was early joined by his brother Manasseh Daugherty and his family, and John Black, a Protestant, whose children later became Catholics, took up a tract lying nearer New Brighton. During the erection of Mr. Black’s log barn, Manasseh Daugherty, who was giving neighborly assistance, was killed by the falling upon him of a heavy piece of timber. This
1 The Jesuit Relations. vol.1xx., p. 251. See note on Virot in Jes. Rel., vo1.1xxi.,
p .78.

History of Beaver County 415

was the first death of a Catholic resident, and there being no Catholic graveyard, his brother Edward buried him in a plot of ground on his (Edward’s) farm, which he thereupon set aside and donated to the Catholics forever as a burying-ground.
During a period of about thirty years succeeding the coming of Mr. Black, the members of the above-named five families constituted practically the entire Catholic population. They had no resident priest, and had to go to Pittsburg to old St. Patrick’s Church to be married and to have their children baptized. Some of the older Catholics living in the county to-day were baptized under these conditions. Beaver, in 1830, became one of the regular missionary stations of Rev. Patrick O’Neil of Sugar Creek. In 1834 the Catholics began the erection of a church, but it was not finished until 1837. Rev. J. O’Reilly of Pittsburg visited this field at distant intervals about 1824; and after it became a regular monthly station it was attended successively from St. Paul’s, Pittsburg, by Rev. E. F. Garland, Rev. Francis Kendrick, 1 A. P. Gibbs, J. Powers, and Thos. McCullagh. In 1847 Rev. James Reid was appointed first resident pastor, with the additional charge of the entire Beaver valley; and when, in 1866, he became too feeble to attend to his duties, the Passionist fathers from Pittsburg visited the congregation on two Sundays in the month.2 The further history of this church will be given in the chapter on Beaver borough.
The history of other individual Roman Catholic congregations may be read in the chapters of this work devoted to the different townships and boroughs of the county.

THE MORAVIAN MISSION IN WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY BEAVER COUNTY 3

Father Virot’s attempt to found a Roman Catholic mission among the Indians on the Beaver was, as we have seen, unsuc-
1 Father Kendrick became a well-known archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and died several years ago in St. Louis, being at the time of his death archbishop of that diocese.
2 See History of the Catholic Church in the Dioceses of Pittsburg and Allegheny, Rev. A. A. Lambing. D.D., page 455.
3 Authorities: History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians of North America, by George Henry Loskiel, London, 1794; Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren to the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, by John Heckewelder. Phila., I820; Life of Heckewelder, by Rev. Edward Rondthaler; Phila., I847: Diaries of Zeisberger in the Moravian archives at Bethlehem, Pa., extracts from which, kindly furnished by Mr. John W. Jordan, Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, will be found in the notes to this sketch of the Friedenstadt Mission; Life and Times of David Zeisberger, by Edmund De Schweinitz, Phila., 1870; Article” David Zeisberger” by Rev. Wm. H. Rice, in American Heroes on Mission Fields. Series r, Amer. Tract Soc., New York, 1894.

416 History of Beaver County

cessful. The next effort to evangelize the Indians here was made by representatives of a branch of the Protestant Church which, though small in numbers, has always been noted for its successful missions to native tribes, whether dwelling amid Arc­ tic snows or under the burning sun of the equator, namely, the Moravian Christians, properly called the Unitas Fratrum, or Brethren’s Unity. This church was composed of the successors of John Huss, who, at times tolerated, at times persecuted, had ever since I468 preserved among the mountains of Bohemia and Moravia a church organization. and who in I722 were collected into a community by Count Zinzendorf at Berthelsdorf, on his estate in Upper Lusatia. Here they built their famous town called Herrnhut, or “the Watch of the Lord,” and ten years later began their glorious enterprise of foreign missionary work, in which they have surpassed all other churches, and which their successors maintain to the present day with unabated zeal. In 1735, their first missionaries arrived in America and established a mission among the Creek Indians, near Savannah, Georgia. In 1741, Bethlehem, seventy-five miles north of Philadelphia, the station which has ever since been the chief center of the Brotherhood, was founded, and from this center influences reached out over the whole country. In Connecticut and New York and in many places in Pennsylvania, the labors of the Brethren were especially consecrated to the conversion of the Indians, and they were rewarded with a considerable degree of success. At Friedenshutten, Gnadenhutten, and other hamlets around them, grew up villages of their converts, who, amid every kind of trial and persecution, gave evidence of the genuineness of their faith.

FRIEDENSTADT ON THE BIG BEAVER

One of the most devoted of the missionaries of the Brethren’s Unity, who had labored in many parts of the country among the Iroquois and Delaware Indians, was David Zeisberger.1 In the fall of 1767, learning that some Indians on the

1 David Zeisberger was the son of a wealthy and pious farmer in the village of Zauchtenthal, in Moravia, where he was born, April 11, 1721. His parents had emigrated to the Moravian settlement at Bethlehem upon the breaking out of the persecutions in Moravia, leaving David in the care of the brethren at Herrnhut. When he was nineteen years of age he followed his parents to Bethlehem, where he was converted, and shortly afterwards began his career as a missionary, which for sixty-seven years he continued with marvelous

History of Beaver County 417

Ohio (now the Allegheny) River were desirous of hearing the Gospel, he went thither, accompanied by his assistant, Anthony, and a convert named Papunhank, and located his station at a Delaware town of three villages called Goschgoschunk. This Indian town was situated on the Allegheny River, near the mouth of Tionesta Creek, in what is now Venango County. Here, in the month of June, I768, Zeisberger, with the assistant, Gottlob Senseman, and three families from Friedenshutten, settled, built a log chapel, planted corn, and commenced the work of evangelization.1They were soon rewarded by gaining a number of converts, among whom was the blind old chief, A1lemewi, who was baptized with the name of Solomon; but, as usual, their success excited opposition and their lives were threatened by the hostile Indians.2 Wangomen, an Indian prophet, declared that he had had a vision in which he was shown by the Great Spirit that the white men had displeased him by coming among the Indians; and the old squaws went about complaining that since their arrival the corn was devoured by worms, that the game was leaving the country, and that neither chestnuts nor bilberries ripened any more. Some said, “The white men ought to be killed”; and others agreeing, said, “Yes, and all the baptized Indians with them, and their bodies thrown into the river.” The name of the town, Goschgoschunk, meant “the place of hogs,” and from their treatment there the missionaries had good reason to consider it well named. In the spring of I769 the dangers of their position had become so great that they determined to leave, and accordingly they removed with their converts to Lawunakhannak, a place on the other side of the river and several miles above Goschgoschunk.3 While here, Wangomen, their chief opponent at the former station, became friendly, and the news of their success in gaining converts was

love and power. In 1771 he established a mission on the Muskingum River in what is now Tuscarawas County, Ohio. but which ten years later was broken up by the Wyandot warriors. When, in 1796, Congress granted to the Moravian Indians the tract of land which they had formerly occupied, Zeisberger returned with a considerable number of converts and built the town of Goshen, where, at almost eighty-eight years of age, he died, Nov. 17, 1808.
1 Loskiel, Part III., pp. 20-36.
2 The hostile Indians called the converts “Sunday Indians” or “Swannocks,” a name of great opprobrium. Id., p. 35.
3 Zeisberger’s labors at Goschgoschunk furnished the subject for Schussele’s historical painting, The Power of the Gospel, the original of which is in the Moravian archives at Bethlehem, Pa.
VOL. I.-27.

418 History of Beaver County

carried to the great Delaware town on the Big Beaver, called Kuskuskee. 1 From this place Pakanke, the chief of the Wolf tribe of the Delawares, sent Glikhickan, a celebrated Delaware warrior and orator, to refute the teachings of the missionaries. On his arrival Glikhickan heard the preaching of Zeisberger, and was privately instructed by the assistant, Anthony, in the doctrines of the Gospel. He was completely won by them, and in the presence of the chiefs of Goschgoschunk declared his belief in the new religion, and returning to Kuskuskee made a favorable report to Pakanke, who later joined with Glikhickan in inviting the missionaries and their converts to remove to the Beaver, where, in the neighborhood of Kuskuskee, a tract of land was promised them for their exclusive use. War having broken out between the Six Nations and the Cherokees, and the station at Lawunakhannak being immediately in the path of the war-parties, it was finally decided by Zeisberger, with the consent of the Mission Board at Bethlehem, to accept this invitation, and they prepared to remove to the Big Beaver.
Accordingly, on the 17th of April, 1770, the congregation at Lawunakhannak broke up, and setting out in sixteen canoes they passed down the river to Fort Pitt, which they reached on the 20th of the same month. Here, says Zeisberger’s biographer, the garrison and the traders looked with wonder upon the sight of savage Indians “changed into consistent Christians.” 2
In the forenoon of April 23d they arrived at the mouth of the Big Beaver and rowed up this stream to the Falls.3 At this point a portage was necessary, and from April 24th to 28th they were engaged in carrying their canoes and baggage around the rapids. They were met here by Glikhickan and others with horses from Kuskuskee, who assisted them in this labor.

1 See note on Kuskuskee, ante p. I5.
2 Life and Times of David Zeisberger. DeSchweinitz, p. 360.
3 In his diary Zeisberger says:
“23d April [1770]. In the forenoon came to Sakunk (i.e .. the place of an outlet) at the mouth of the Big Beaver. No one at present lives at this old Indian station. Here during the occupation of Fort DuQuesne by the French there resided a French priest, who labored to convert the Delawares to Romanism, but he was driven away by Pakanke, chief of the Wolf tribe of that nation. Rode 3 miles up the creek to the Falls, and en­ camped.
“April 24-28. Busy with transporting the canoes and baggage across the Falls.
“I May. Resumed the journey. Proceeded but 4 mile
“2 May. Navigation good.
“3 May. Passed a settlement of 5 or 6 huts-inhabited altogether by women. Two miles above this came to a flat on the left bank of the river, where we landed and encamped. Jeremiah, one of my Indians, stated that 10 or 12 years ago [I759] a large town of Delamatinos [the Delawares called the Hurons or Wyandots-Delamatinos.-Ed.] occupied this flat. There was enough land cleared for corn-lands for 100 families. Wood, however. is scarce.”

History of Beaver County 419

On the 1st of May they resumed their journey, and three days after passed a small settlement, the first they had seen since leaving Fort Pitt. This consisted of five or six huts, inhabited, strange to say, by a community of women, all single, and all pledged never to marry.1 The site of this squaw settlement must have been near the present village of Wampum. Two miles above this, probably not far from the present site of East Moravia, they reached a broad plain on the left, or east, bank of the river. Here an encampment was made, and on the 5th of May Zeisberger and some of the Indian brethren visited the chief, Pakanke, at his home at New Kuskuskee, and the formalities usual on such occasions were observed, several speeches being made in order to give the inhabitants of the Indian village a just idea of the mission of the visitors and of the new religion which they came to preach to them. Pakanke, on his part, bade them welcome in the same number of speeches. Pipes were passed, strings of wampum were exchanged, and the land was officially designated which was to be for the exclusive use of the missionaries and their adherents. 2
On the site of their encampment on the east side of the Beaver a settlement was begun on the 7th of May; corn was planted, a large hut for the meetings of the congregation, and smaller ones of bark for dwellings, were put up, and the Breth­ ren rejoiced in the foundation in the wilderness of a Christian village.3 This station was named by them Langundo-utenink in the Delaware tongue, and in the German Friedenstadt, or the “town of peace.” Its site was within the limits of Beaver County as originally formed, and is now in Lawrence County. The missionaries began at once the preaching of the Gospel, and their meetings were numerously attended by the Indians

1 Life of Zeisberger, De Schweinitz. p. 361.
2 Loskiel’s History. Part III., p. 56; De Schweinitz, p. 361. Zeisberger says:
“5 :May. Set out to visit Pakanke. Came to the fork of the Big Beaver, to the site of Old Kaskaskunk. Followed up the fork – and at noon came to New Kaskaskunk, the home of Pakanke. The town lies on a large flat, composed of but 20 huts – the Indians being scattered along the creek.”*
3 ” 7 May. Have determined to settle on this site – we staked off 12 plantations, each one of which borders on the river.- and began to plant.
“21 May. Done with putting up a temporary meeting-house.
” 31 May. Finished fencing the entire flat. ”

* Old Kaskaskunk (or Kuskuskee) was at the forks of Big Beaver, and not far from Mahoningtown. New Kaskaskunk was probably on the south side of the Mahoning, and about a half-mile southeast of the present Edenburg, Lawrence County: some prefer the site of New Castle (see De Schweinitz, p. 36r).

420 History of Beaver County

from Kuskuskee. Glikhickan, the chief spoken of above, became a devoted friend of the Christians and desired permission to leave Kuskuskee and reside at Friedenstadt. The missionaries exhorted him to count the cost in forsaking his Indian friends but, finding him resolute, gave their consent. His friends were very angry at his leaving, calling him a sorcerer, and old Pakanke attacked him publicly, saying: “And even you have gone over from this council to them. I suppose you intend to get a white skin? But I tell you, not even one of your feet will turn white, much less your body. Were you not a brave and honored man, sitting next to me in council, when we spread the blanket, and considered the belts of wampum lying before us? Now you pretend to despise all this, and think to have found something better. Sometime or other you will find yourself deceived.” Glikhickan replied calmly, “It is very true I have gone over to them, and with them I will live and die.” Colonel George Croghan, the Indian trader, used his influence to appease Pakanke, and secure a fair hearing for the missionaries, but the enmity of the chief and his people became daily stronger. Nevertheless, some of the Indians continued to come from Kuskuskee to the meetings at Friedenstadt, and the labors of the Brethren began to bring forth fruit.1
On June 12th the first baptism was administered in this place, to the wife of the blind chief Solomon. So far as known this was the first time that the rite of Christian baptism had ever been administered in the valley of the Beaver. Six months later, Christmas Eve (December 24, 1770), Glikhickan and Genaskund, a convert from Goschgoschiink, were baptized and remained until death faithful to their vows. The former took the name Isaac and the latter Jacob. 2 Glikhickan became a “national assistant” in the work of the Gospel, and met his death at the hands of Williamson’s men at Gnadenhutten in March, 1782.3
On July rath of this year (1770) an event took place which was of great service to the missionaries. 4 This was the adoption of Zeisberger into the Monsey tribe of the Delawares, the ceremony taking place at Kuskuskee in the presence of Pakanke.

1 Loskiel, Part III.. p. 57, et seq.
2 De Schweinitz, Life of Zeisberger, p. 366.
3 Heckewelder’s Indian Nations, p, 341.
4 De Schweinitz, p. 364.

History of Beaver County 421

At the same time the question of paying tribute on the part of the converts was settled. It had been objected that the Chris­ tian Indians were not willing to contribute their share towards the expenses of the tribal government. The missionaries now took steps to procure a formal declaration from the Brethren Indians of their willingness to bear their part of the public burdens in all matters except those of warfare, and, this being done, the arrangement proved satisfactory to the chiefs at Kuskuskee. Old Pakanke professed himself reconciled to the Brethren, and even sent word to the Susquehanna Moravian Indians to come and join their friends at Friedenstadt. 1
In the meantime it was resolved to change the location of Friedenstadt. July 23d (1770), Zeisberger laid out a new and larger town on the west side of the Beaver.2 It was opposite the first station, but on higher ground, and its site was a short distance up the Beaver from the present location of Moravia. The settlement here was more substantially founded than it had been on the east side. The houses were built of logs, with stone foundations and chimneys, and the church was larger. Here, too, they built a blacksmith shop and stockades, working with such diligence that before winter all were safely and comfortably housed.3 On the a 28th of October the missionary, John George Jungman and his wife had arrived from Bethlehem to assist Zeisberger; and the month following the faithful assistant, Senseman, who had labored here from the beginning, returned to the home station.
The life of the missionaries at Friedenstadt proceeded with many joys and sorrows commingled. On the one hand, they were successful in winning many of the Indians to a Christian profession, and, on the other, they were subjected to much disagreeable treatment by those still unfavorable to them; their lives being more than once seriously imperiled by visits of hostile and drunken savages. But they continued their labors

1 Loskiel, Part III., pp. 59-6o.
2 Zeisberger says:
“23 July. Began to build on the right (west] side of the river, immediately opposite our plantations. Staked off 17 houses and a meeting-house, sufficient for our present use. The bank it is here rather precipitous, but there is good water, and plenty of wood at hand. Went to work to clear and to build.
“4 August. Abandoned our huts on the left bank of the river – and occupied the
right bank – so as to be able to prosecute our work.”
” Says the diary:
” 5 October. Brought the houses under roof.
“3I December. At this date the population of our settlement is 73 souls – 44 adults and 29 children.”

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undaunted by trials and persecutions. May 27, 1771, the foundation stone of the chapel was laid, and on the 20th of June the house was dedicated with great rejoicings.1 In all probability this was the first church building dedicated to the worship of God west of the Allegheny Mountains.
On October 21st (1771) John Heckewelder,” who had been appointed to assist Zeisberger, arrived at Friedenstadt. Few nobler characters than his are to be found in the annals of missionary enterprise. Frequent mention of him has been made in these pages, but the full record of his simple life of love and good works would require a volume. He was associated with the missions of the Moravian Church here and in Ohio for ten years, and to the end of his life found his chief employment in connection with similar undertakings. Soon after his arrival at Friedenstadt he nearly lost his life by the upsetting of his canoe in the Big Beaver when it was in flood. He was rescued by the heroic efforts of two of the Indian brethren.3
In the beginning of the year 1772 the enmity of the greater part of the inhabitants of Kuskuskee and others of their savage neighbors increased, although their old foe, Pakanke himself, was more favorable, and had gone to Friedenstadt as a hearer of the Gospel, and even exhorted his children to embrace it. 4 About the same time there came from the chief and council of the Indians living on the Tuscarawas, 5 in what is now Ohio, to the Brethren on the Beaver and to the two congregations on the Susquehanna, an invitation to settle on land in that country; and Zeisberger, with a few Indian brethren, set out on the 11th of March to look over the ground and see if the removal would
1 From Zeisberger’s dairy:
“20 June. 1771. Dedicated the meeting-house. At this date 24 dwellings in the town. 12 were baptized in this year, and 50 souls came from Friedenshirtten or Wyalusing” [on North Branch of the Susquehanna].

2 John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder was born in Bedford, England, March 12, 1743. He emigrated to America in 1754, and labored for many years among the Indians in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, in connection with David Zeisberger, From 1788 till 1810 he was agent of the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen. From 1810 till his death January 31, 1823) he lived quietly in Bethlehem, preparing his two books, An Account of the History Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations ‘Who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States (Phila., 1818) and A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians (1740-1808, Phila., 1820).
3 Rondthaler’s Life of Heckewelder, p. 68.
4 Loskiel, Part III., p. 72; one of Pakanke’s sons was baptized at Gnadenhutten, in 1775. Id., p. 107.

“Then called the Muskingum, Now it does not bear that name until after it unites with the Walhonding at Coshocton.

History of Beaver County 423

be expedient. He was well received and decided upon beginning a mission there at once, but it was determined that the main body of the people from Friedenstadt and the Susquehanna should delay for some time their final settlement on the new field. In the meantime, however, it was arranged that the eastern Brethren Indians should come to the Beaver and there await the moment for safely proceeding farther.1 Accordingly, on June r rth, two hundred and four persons, under the leaders Ettwein and Roth,2 set out from the Susquehanna for the West. They were more than a month in toiling over the Alleghenies, constantly tormented by sandfiies, in danger of rattlesnakes, and subjected to all manner of hardships; but at last they reached the Allegheny River and dropped down to the Beaver, arriving at Friedenstadt in August.3 The accession of these brethren did much to encourage the little congregation on the Beaver, and the day of their arrival was a gala-day in the village. The month following this event there came to Friedenstadt a Congregational minister from New England, the Rev. David McClure, whose description of the Moravian town and people in his diary is so interesting that we shall quote it at length, as follows:
It was a neat Moravian village, consisting of one street & houses pretty compact, on each side, with gardens back. There was a convenient Log church, with a small bell, in which the Indians assembled for morning & evening prayer. The village was full, as their brethren, the Susquehanna Indians, had arrived with Mr. Etwine, The name of the German Moravian Missionary stationed there is Roth. David Leizburgher [read Zeisberger] is the minister of the Indians going to Muskingum. The Missionaries have their wives & families with them. They received me with great hospitality. At the sound of the bell, the Indians assembled in the church for evening prayer. It was lighted with candles around the walls, on which hung some common paintings of Jesus in the manger of Bethlehem, with Joseph & Mary; Jesus on the cross, & the Resurrection, &c. On one side set the elderly men & the boys by themselves, & on the other the women & girls. The evening exercise consisted of devout hymns in the Indian language, & in singing they all, young & old bore a part, & the devotion was solemn & impressive. After singing a number of hymns, the missionary addressed them, in a short exhortation in the indian language, & they retired with great order & stillness to their houses. Their hymns are prayers addressed

1 Loskiel, Part III., pp. 64-65.
2 This was John Ettwein, appointed a bishop of the Moravian Church in I784. John Roth was born in Russia in I726, and died in 1791.
3 See Penna. Mag. of History and Biography, vol. xxv., pp. 208-2I9 for notes by John Ettwein describing this journey. See also Loskiel, Part III., pp, 75-80.

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to Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who died for the sins of men, & exhortations & resolutions to abstain from sin, because sin is most displeasing to him & to live in love & the practice of good works, as he has given us example.
The same exercise was observed also early in the morning, of the following day. I was agreeably surprised to find so devout & orderly a congregation of christian Indians in the wilderness, & pleased with the meek & friendly deportment of the Missionaries.
The Moravians appear to have adopted the best mode of christianizing the Indians. They go among them without noise or parade, & by their friendly behaviour conciliate their good wil1. They join them in the chace, & freely distribute to the helpless & gradually instil into the minds of individuals, the principles of religion. They then invite those who are disposed to hearken to them, to retire to some convenient place, at a distance from the wild Indians, & assist them to build a village, & teach them to plant & sow, & to carry on some coarse manufactures.
Those Indians, thus separated, reverence & love their instructors, as their fathers, & withdraw a connection with the wild or drinking Indians. Among other instances of the attachment & respect which the Indians shew them, I noticed the following circumstance, which my Interpreter explained.
In the morning an Indian with his gun & small pack, & his wife, came into the house of the missionary. After conversing in a very friendly manner, the missionary affectionately saluted the Indian man on the cheek, shook the hand of his wife; & the Wife of the missionary saluted the cheek of the squaw, & they departed well pleased. The substance of the conversation was as follows-
Indian.-Father, I am going a hunting.
Missionary.-How long, my friend, do you expect to be gone? And where will you go?
Indian.-About six weeks (mentioning the place or point of compass he was going).
Missionary.-Well, dear friends, be always mindful of your blessed Saviour, & do nothing to displease him, who loved you & died for you. Go not in the way of the wild Indians; but if you meet them shew them much love & kindness. Be careful to pray your hymns to Jesus, every night & every morning. May God bless & prosper you, & bring you back in peace & safety.
Each family has a small, well cultivated garden, & a part in a large corn field adjoining the town. The missionaries are remarkably attentive to the cleanliness of the Indians, & have caused necessary houses to be built for the conveniency of the town.
Two soft feather beds were carried to the church, where Mr. Etwine & I lodged. His conversation was pleasant. He observed that the principal object of the Brethren was to carry the knowledge of J. X. among pagans, & not to build on other’s foundations, or enter on other men’s labours. 1

1 Diary of David McClure. pp. 50-52.

History of Beaver County

REMOVAL FROM FRIEDENSTADT TO THE TUSCARAWAS 1

In 1773 the state of the frontier had become so alarming, and the opposition and jealousy of many of Pakanke’s tribe so great, that it was not thought safe for the Brethren to remain longer at Friedenstadt. Kuskuskee was not far off, and the whisky trader was already there. Drunken mobs coming down from that place overran the town, and the” City of Peace” was often converted into a Bedlam. The resolution of the missionaries was taken, and accordingly, on the 13th of April, 1773, the Moravians deserted Friedenstadt. They destroyed their chapel with their own hands, that it might not be desecrated by the wild Indians who had intimated their intention to convert it into a house for dancing and sacrifice. Thus they bade farewell forever to the scene of three years of toils and triumphs,

1 About thirty-three years ago a movement was started by the Moravian Historical Society to erect a memorial stone upon the site of Friedenstadt. The project was delayed on account of the expense; and the death of Mr. William M. Darlington, of Pittsburg, one of its promoters, occurring soon after, nothing was done. It is thought that this worthy design will yet be carried out.
Mr. Darlington had visited the site of Friedenstadt in behalf of the Moravian Society to study the situation. and a very interesting letter was written by him to Mr. John J. Jordan. Jr., of Philadelphia, enclosing a draft of the town as he supposed it to have been built and located. Both of these have been put into our hands by Mr. John W. Jordan, a son of the above. A reproduction of Mr. Darlington’s draft is on page 427; and the letter, valuable for its statements of fact made by persons now all deceased. reads as follows:
PITTSBURG. Dec. 2, 1871.

My DEAR SIR,-
I left Pittsb’g early on the morning of Nov. 22 and in two hours time left the train at Moraoia station. Enquiring for the oldest inhabitant I found him in a country store near by -Sam’l Copper, a man now 7l years of age, active and vigorous, and a resident of this section for 60 years. I have known him for 30 years; he for a long time kept a Tavern near the Canal in “Old Moravia;” where we occasionally stopped on shooting & fishing excursions.
I enquired of Mr. Copper respecting the site of Friedenstadt, as he calls it. a Moravian Town. He went with me to a small field of about 3 acres on a high bluff overlooking the Beaver and the flat opposite. “Here,” said he, stood the remains of the town of the Moravians.” For many years after he first saw it, the chimneys of stone were standing in regular order – or on “streets.” Respecting the church, he said he knew nothing – but that one building had been much larger than the rest was evident from the greater amount of foundation stone.
I asked him. whether he could shew me its locality. Without hesitation he took me to a spot in the field about the middle of it – saying “here. where the rear row of chimneys stood.” I did not shew him the draft you sent me, but his description tallies with it closely.
He also pointed out the locality of what was supposed to have been the smithshop ­ from the unusual quantity of ashes, cinders and scraps of iron, he & others found there. (The locality of the large building Mr. Copper calls the church and of the smithshop I have marked on the plat annexed.)
Respecting the stockade on the east bank of the Beaver. – he and others I spoke to called it the” old Fort.” They pointed out its locality. as I have it marked on the plot. You will observe it is the same as marked on the draft you sent me. A moderately elevated ridge of earth yet remains.
I left Mr. Copper, who was going into the woods with a neighbor to cut wood. I was fortunate in finding him when I did. He resides in “Old Moravia.” I had supposed he was dead some years.
I next called on Mrs. Esther Jackson, a middle-aged widow lady – the owner of the land. I explained the object of my visit – stating it to be the desire of the Moravian Historical Society to erect a memorial stone on the site of Friedenstadt, with her consent and promise of protection. She seemed much puzzled for a while, spoke pleasantly about the matter but cautiously – desired me to write on a sheet of paper which she produced

426 History of Beaver County

of joys and sorrows, and, at the call of Zeisberger, set out for the valley of the Tuscarawas. Part of them in twenty-two large canoes proceeded down the Beaver and the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum, and thence up that stream to Gnadenhutten and Schonbrun. These were in charge of Heckewelder, and many others went straight across the country with John Roth.1
The place chosen for the new settlement was about seventy­five miles southwest from Friedenstadt, and about an equal distance from Lake Erie.2 Here they built first, on the land set apart for them by the Delawares, on the west bank of the Tuscarawas, the town called Schonbrun (“beautiful spring”). It was about three miles south of what is now New Philadelphia, Ohio. Shortly afterward they made the settlements known as Gnadenhutten (” tents of grace “), situated on the east bank of the river, and Salem, on the west side, a little lower down. All of these towns were within the limits of the present county of Tuscarawas, in Ohio.3 They were prosperous and beautiful villages, with churches, schools, comfortable log houses, good plan-

a statement of the object and purport of erecting a monument. I did as she desired briefly. She said she wished to shew it to a friend (probably her minister or lawyer). “in order to know that it was all right!’
I was fortunate too to find with Mrs. Jackson her mother, Mrs. Lucretia Chapman, a sprightly old lady of 71 years. She resides in the village of Newport. 2 miles South from Moravia. Mrs. C. confirmed the statement of Mr. Copper, Her father, she went on to say, owned the land years ago – her brother plowed up on the site of the town two china cups & saucers – very handsome, but unfortunately the plowshare broke them. He also plowed up a jack-knife with a broken blade. and a saddle tree, from the iron of which he had a pair of pot-hooks made. The knife and hooks are now at her home in Newport. Her father, she added, once found about half a bushel of buttons, by the root of a tree on the river bank on the east side – where they had been buried.
The site of Friedenstadt is very peculiar – smooth table land of about three acres in the form of an oblong-with deep ravines bounding it on the north and south extremities. On the east from the edge of the table land, there is a sharp slope to the river, a hundred feet below at the extreme point of the land, around [opposite to?] the large plot or bottom, on which the first settlement was made. Immediately in the rear, or west of Friedenstadi, passed the old Indian path from Sakunk, at the mouth of the Beaver – to Kuskusky on the Mahoning (now Edenburgh); and west of this the path rises gradually to the summit of a high wooded hill. The whole scene forms a most beautiful picture, even in winter. I am sorry I cannot better describe it.
On the site of the old town there is not a tree or stone, excepting a boulder of sandstone – the owners of the land having carefully cultivated it. Stone abounds on the heights, but of its fitness for a monument I am no judge To place the memorial on the site of the church would no doubt be the choice of the Hist’l Society. True, it would somewhat interfere with the culture of the lot, but it could probably be bo’t for a small sum – i. e. the plot, necessary for the purpose. If that should not be deemed expedient, then I would suggest, either the spot marked S. on the draft, east of the field on the top of the bank above the R. R.d – or on the west (marked 5) near the site of the church and close to the high-road. Either of these two would be outside of the fencing of the 3 acre lot.
There being no train for home for some hours, I left Moravia station about I P.M,. walked 4 miles in a snow storm up to Mahoninztown near the Forks of Beaver where I stopped some 2 hours. The land here belonged to my father. Thirty-five years ago, he and Mr. Hays laid out the town. I frequently visit here.
Left Mahoningtown at 4.30 P. M., reached New Castle,, 2 miles in a few minutes. Staid 2 hours – then took the train south repassed Mahoningtown, and proceeded up along the Mahoning thro’ Edenhurgh, the site of New Kuskusky.

1 Loskiel, Part III.. p. 89.
2 Western Annals, p. 371.
3 Wash.-Irvine Cor., p. 91, Western Annals, p. 37I.

History of Beaver County 427

tations, and farmyards filled with cattle and poultry. For a while, too, they were beyond the region of the border disturbances, and the influence and hostility of the white people. But

428 History of Beaver County

their peace was soon broken. With the breaking-out of the Revolutionary War the Moravian Indians found themselves between two fires. To the westward were the British, with headquarters at Detroit, and their partisans, the Shawnese and Wyandots and-some of the Delawares; and to the eastward the Americans. The Christian Indians were non-partisans, in accordance with their principles, but could not avoid the necessity of showing hospitality to war-parties of both sides, and were consequently brought under the suspicion of both. It is true that some renegade Moravian Indians took part in border forays, though when this was known, they were expelled from the church 1; and it is true also that the missionaries, Zeisberger and Heckewelder, though outwardly maintaining a position of strict neutrality, did often communicate secretly to the commandants at Fort Pitt valuable warnings of intended incursions of the hostile savages.2 Nevertheless their declaration made to a chief of the Wyandots, who, in the spring of 1781, visited them to advise them of their dangerous position, was true. They said: “Uncle, and you Shawanese, our nephews, we have not hitherto seen our situation so dangerous as not to stay here. We live in peace with all mankind and have nothing to do with the war. We desire and request no more than that we may be permitted to live in peace and quiet.”3 They continued to resist the most urgent appeals from other friendly chiefs and from Brodhead to remove nearer the settlements, and the blame for this must doubtless be given to their white teachers, Zeisberger and Heckewelder.4
In August, 1781, Zeisberger wrote to Brodhead at Fort Pitt advising him of the fact that a large body of Indians under Matthew Elliott was approaching the settlements, intending, probably, an attack upon Fort Henry (Wheeling). Brodhead immediately warned the officer commanding at Fort Henry, and also sent letters to the county lieutenants and one to the com-

1 The Germans in Colonial Times, p. 291.
2 See Penna. Arch. 1781-83, vol. ix., pp. 57, 16I: 1790, voL xii., pp. I92, 196, 203, 214. 219, 22I, 23I, 243.

“It was the peculiar hardship of these inoffensive religionists, that every act of benevolence or humanity on their part was sure to excite distrust and hostility in some quarter. But whatever appeared like a complication with the savage enemy was so notorious as to provoke exaggeration, while the evidence of an opposite or friendly disposition to the Americans was diligently guarded by Morgan, Mcintosh, or Brodhead as confidential communications.”-Tayior’s History of Ohio, p, 345.
3 Western Annals, p. 372.
4 See Brodhead’s letter to Zeisberger, Penna. Arch., vol. xii. (1790), p. 203.

History of Beaver County 429

mandant at Fort McIntosh (Beaver). A part of this hostile band did make an appearance before Fort Henry, but finding the garrison prepared to receive them, they dispersed. From a boy whom they captured outside of the fort they learned, however, of the manner in which the whites had been apprised of their approach. The warriors were thereby so much exasperated against Zeisberger that they returned to the Moravian towns, destroyed everything they could, and drove the Christian Indians and their ministers off to the Sandusky River, where, at a point near the present Upper Sandusky, they prepared to spend the winter. Here they were left in great destitution, and in order to relieve the distress of the congregation, about one hundred and fifty of them-men, women, and children, having obtained leave of the Wyandots, returned, in February, 1782, to the Tuscarawas, to gather the corn that had been left in the fields and carry it to Sandusky for their support. At Sandusky the Moravian Indians were strictly watched by the British and their savage allies, and threatened with severe punishment if they should attempt to give information to the Americans of the movements of their foes.1
Early in 1782 several Indian descents were made upon the borders of Pennsylvania. On the 10th of February the farm of Robert Wallace, on Raccoon Creek, in the present township of Hanover, Washington County, was attacked during his absence and his wife and three children carried off. Mrs. Wallace and her youngest child, an infant daughter, were, soon after the capture, tomahawked and scalped. The other two, who were boys, were taken to Sandusky, where the older one died. The younger boy was finally rescued by his father.2 The war-party which had done this outrage passed, on its retreat, through the Mora­ vian towns, selling the property of their victims while encamped near Gnadenhutten. The guileless Moravians purchased some of the household utensils from the Wallace home, and a young squaw came thus into the possession of the blood-stained dress of Mrs. Wallace. It was perhaps the intention of the savages to divert suspicion from themselves onto the Moravians in this manner, and if such was their plan it succeeded only too well, as will presently be seen. A captive white urged the Moravian

1 Washington-Irvine Cor. (Butterfield) p. 60.
2 Id., p. 318; History of Washington County, Pa. (Crumrine) pp. 103-4.

430 History of Beaver County

Indians to flee, for he was sure, as he said, that pursuit would be organized, and as the war-party would be tracked to their settlement, they would certainly be destroyed. But it was decided by them in a council that they would remain, “relying, in the event of the appearance of the American militia, on their innocence and their common religion.” 1

THE MASSACRE OF THE MORAVIAN INDIANS AT GNADENHUTTEN 2

The attack upon the Wallace family threw the whole border into a frenzy of excitement, and the frontiersmen had begun to organize an expedition into the Indian country, when fresh fuel was added to the flames of popular indignation, and suspicion definitely directed toward the Moravian converts. Shortly after the outrage on the waters of the Raccoon, a man named John Carpenter, living in the western part of Washington County (Doddridge says near Wellsburg in Virginia) had been captured by another war-party and carried toward the Muskingum. A day or two afterward he escaped, and made his way in safety to the Ohio at Fort McIntosh. On reaching his home Carpenter reported that in the party which had taken him were two Indians who called themselves Moravians, and who spoke good Dutch (German).3 This confirmed the suspicion which had for some time been entertained by many that the Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas were “half-way houses” for the marauding parties of the savages. It was known also that the Moravians had returned, as above stated, to their towns, and the desire now became strengthened to move at once to these towns and so lay them waste that they could not, in the future, afford harborage to the war-parties coming from Sandusky, and at the same time to kill any hostile savages who might be discovered there and drive the Moravians away or take them to Fort Pitt. Beyond this, it is claimed, there was,

1 The Germans in Colonia! Times (Bittinger) p, 292
2 For accounts of this affair see Pennsylvania Archives (1781-83) vol. ix., pp. 523-525, 540-S42; Doddridge’s Notes on the Early Settlements and Indian Wars. Munsell’s Ed. Albany, I876. pp. 24&-262; Washington-Irvine Correspondence (Butterfield) pp. 67, 99, 100,102, 236-246, 282, 288-289; History at Washington County (Crumrine) pp. I03-110; Loskiel’s History, Part III., pp. I75-184; De Schweinitz’s Life of Zeisberger, pp. 537-558; The Germans in Colonial Times, pp. 291-296; Heckewelder’s Indian Nations, pp. 184-283; Heckewelder’s Narrative, pp. 311-326; Life of Heckewelder (Rondthaler) pp. 90-98; The Winning of the West (Roosevelt), vol ii., pp. 142-157.
3 These were probably Wyandot or Shawanese warriors who were trying in this way to arouse the whites against the Moravians.

History of Beaver County 431

at first, no intention (at least among the leaders) of making the expedition a punitive one.
Acting under the authority afforded him by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania (in instructions contained in circular letters to lieutenants of the western counties, dated January 8, 1782 1), Colonel James Marshel, county lieutenant of Washington County, yielded to the popular demand, and promptly called out from the militia of that county one hundred and sixty men to go to the Tuscarawas. This force was a mounted one, and was placed under the command of Colonel David Williamson 2 of the Third Battalion. In the morning of the 4th of March (1782) the expedition crossed the Ohio River to the Mingo Bottom, two and a half miles below the present town of Steubenville. Thence they marched by the direct trail to the Moravian villages, arriving late in the evening of the 6th of March close to Gnadenhutten, where they encamped for the night. Shortly after leaving the river they had passed the spot where the captors of Wallace’s family had killed his wife and infant, and discovered that the mutilated body of the mother had been impaled on the sharpened trunk of a sapling. That this ghastly sight should have filled them with rage and made them, as the French say, “see red,” was natural; but it is strange that they should have found in it, as they did, additional evidence of the guilt of the Moravians. Men capable of reasoning would have seen that had the latter been the murderers, they would not have placed this bloody index of their crime in the very path to their settlements, but now and in all the succeeding stages of their proceedings these were men bereft of reason.
With the dawn of the morning of the 7th, Williamson’s men moved in two divisions, and in strict military order, toward Gnadenhutten. They found the river swollen and filled with ice, and with difficulty attained the western side. Here they first discovered a young half-breed named Joseph, son of an

1 Col. Rec.; vol. xiii., p. 169.
2 David Williamson, was a son of John Williamson. and was born near Carlisle, Pa., in 1752, coming to the western country when a boy. His parents later followed him and settled upon Buffalo Creek, about twelve miles from the Ohio, in what was subsequently Washington County. From the beginning of the Indian troubles Williamson was active in the defense of the western border, and was very popular. In 1787 he was elected sheriff of the county, having previously been county lieutenant. He married Miss Pollie Urie, daughter of Thomas Urie, of Hopewell township, Washington County, by whom he had four sons and four daughters, descendants of whom are still Iiving. Williamson died in 1814, and was buried in the old burial ground in the borough of Washington.

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elder of the Moravian congregation known as Shebosch, or John Bull. Him they instantly shot, breaking his arm, and while, according to the account given by the murderers themselves, he was begging piteously for his life, telling them that he was the son of a white Christian man and a minister, they killed and scalped him. The main body of the Moravian Indians were at work gathering their corn some distance away, and seem not to have heard the shot when young Shebosch was fired upon. These the militia surrounded quietly, and, assuming a friendly manner, told them to go home and to have no fear. They even pretended to pity them on account of the injuries done to them by the English and the Shawanese, assured them of the protection and friendship of the Americans, and announced the purpose of their coming to be the removal of the Moravian congregations to Fort Pitt, where they would be safe from their enemies. Believing this declaration the gentle Moravians surrendered their guns, hatchets, and other weapons cheerfully, and set about preparing for their departure and for the present entertainment of the white men.
In the meantime John Martin, one of the assistant teachers, was sent to Salem to tell the news of the arrival of the deliverers of the Christian Indians and to summon them to Gnadenhutten. The Indians of the latter place were then placed under guard in two houses some distance apart, and when the Salem Indians arrived they were disarmed and confined with their brethren. A council of the officers was then held to decide the fate of the prisoners, but these refused to make any decision, well knowing that the wishes of their men for the death of the Indians could not be resisted. Williamson now referred the decision to the men themselves, drawn up in line, and the question was formally put to them, “Shall the Moravian Indians be taken as prisoners to Fort Pitt or put to death here?” Those in favor of saving them were ordered to step three paces to the front, and eighteen did so, remaining there until the commander announced the fatal result.1 They then withdrew, calling upon God to witness that they were innocent of the blood about to be shed. Among the majority opinion was now divided as to the mode of execution, whether to shut the Indians up in their houses and burn them alive, or tomahawk and scalp them.

1 Withers’s Chronicles of Border Warfare, p. 323.

History of Beaver County 433

The latter mode was at last decided upon, and the Indians were informed that they were to die on the following morning, and that, as they were Christians, they would be given the night for preparing themselves for their end. They answered by renewing their declarations of their innocence of any crime, but affirmed themselves ready to die without fear, assured of their acceptance with God through the merit of Jesus Christ. They then spent the night in expressing their love for one another and for Christ, and in prayer and praise, and the morning found them calmly awaiting the messengers of death.
The work of butchery was done in the forenoon of the 8th of March. The militia chose two houses which they grimly and appropriately called” the slaughter houses,” and into these the poor Indians were dragged with ropes around their necks, some singly, some bound together two by two, and there butchered like sheep. One of the murderers took up a cooper’s mallet which lay in sight, saying” how well this will answer the business.” He then began knocking down one after another until he had killed fourteen, when he handed the mallet to one of his fellow-butchers, saying, “My arm fails me; go on in the same way; I think I have done pretty well.” In a few moments the two houses were veritable shambles, ninety-two persons “of all ages and sexes, from the aged, grey-headed parents down to the helpless infant at its mother’s breast, being dishonored by the fatal wounds of the tomahawk, mallet, war-club, spear, and scalping-knife.” Four others, supposed to be warriors, were tomahawked and scalped at some distance from the houses. Of all the Indians in the two lower towns-Gnadenhutten and Salem-only two, youths about fifteen years of age, escaped. One of these boys managed to hide himself in the cellar of the house in which the women were killed, where he lay till night undiscovered, and then crept out and fled to the woods. The other, who was named Thomas, received a blow on the head and was scalped, but after some time regained consciousness. Among the bleeding corpses by which he was surrounded he saw another boy named Abel, who had been wounded and scalped, still alive and struggling to rise. Thomas prudently lay quite still, feigning death, and was saved by this caution, for soon after a militiaman looked into the room and, seeing Abel’s movements, dispatched him. Though suffering the most exquisite
VOL. 1.-28.

434 History of Beaver County

tortures, Thomas remained motionless until dark, when he crawled over the dead bodies to the door, and seeing the way clear, escaped to the forest. Here he found the other youth who had escaped, and together they traveled safely to Sandusky. Before they left the neighborhood of Gnadenhutten, from the place of their concealment in the thickets, they saw the murderers rejoicing over their bloody work, and at last setting fire to the two houses filled with the bodies of their victims. The Indians who were at the upper village of Schonbrun escaped the massacre by the fortunate circumstance that a messenger going to Gnadenhutten came upon the mangled body of Joseph Shebosch, and gave the alarm. The Schonbrun people immediately fled to the woods, where they lay concealed while a party

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