The Gnadenhütten massacre was an attack during the French and Indian War in which Native allies of the French killed 11 Moravian missionaries at Gnadenhütten, Pennsylvania (modern day Lehighton, Pennsylvania) on 24 November 1755. They destroyed the mission village"Lehighton", Encyclopædia Britannica and took one woman prisoner, and only four of the sixteen residents escaped.Clarence Marsh Case: The Social Psychology of Passive Resistance, PhD Dissertation, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1915, p. 120 Following the attack, Benjamin Franklin was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Provincial Council to construct forts in the area, and in other parts of the Province of Pennsylvania, to defend against Native American attacks, which were becoming increasingly frequent due to the French and Indian War.Sipe, Chester Hale. The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania: An Account of the Indian Events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian War, Pontiac's War, Lord Dunmore's War, the Revolutionary War and the Indian Uprising from 1789 to 1795; Tragedies of the Pennsylvania Frontier Based Primarily on the Penna. Archives and Colonial Records. Telegraph Press, 1931.
Background
Moravian missionaries first established a mission at Friedenshütten ("Tents of Peace"),George Henry Loskiel, The history of the Moravian mission among the Indians of North America, from its commencement to the present time, with a preliminary account of the Indians, London: T. Allman, 1838 near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1744, but in 1745 decided to move some distance northwest of Bethlehem, to a site they named Gnadenhütten ("Tents of Grace," often written Gnadenhuetten and sometimes referred to as "Gnadenhütten on the Mahoney" to distinguish it from Gnadenhutten in Ohio), near the junction of Mahoning Creek and Lehigh River.Richard Calmit Adams, A Brief History of the Delaware Indians, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 1906Katie Faull, "Places of Peace: Moravian Missions on the North Branch of the Susquehanna 1769-1772," Lecture delivered at the Dietrich Theater, Tunkhannock, PA on October 15, 2023 The new community grew rapidly, and in 1751 the missionaries were able to convert 61 residents from a nearby Lenape village called Meniolagomeka. The missionaries began translating hymns and "several parts of the Scriptures" into the Mohican language and the Mohawk language. A nearby plot of land was purchased and planted with crops, and a sawmill and a gristmill were built in 1747. The community was visited by Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg, Bishop John F. Cammerhoff, David Zeisberger, and Christian Frederick Post. By May 1749, over 500 Native American converts were attending church services in Gnadenhütten. Paul Peucker, Lanie Graf and Markus Gill, "The Attack on Gnadenhütten, Nov. 24 1755," This Month in Moravian History, Bethlehem, PA, Nov 2005
In 1752, representatives from the Nanticokes and Shawnee came to Gnadenhütten "to establish a covenant with the Brethren." Secretly, however, contact was made with Native American converts living in the community, and they were advised to move to Wyomick (Wyoming, Pennsylvania), as plans were being made, by Indians sympathetic to the French, to attack Gnadenhütten. In April 1754, 65 converts moved to Wyomick. Concerned for their safety, another 49 Lenape converts moved to Gnadenhütten from the village of Meniolagomeka. In June 1755, most of the community of Gnadenhütten relocated to "New Gnadenhütten," to the north of the Lehigh River, although many of the Lenape and Mohican converts remained south of the river.
Following General Edward Braddock's defeat on 9 July 1755 at the Battle of the Monongahela, Pennsylvania was left without a professional military force.Samuel J. Newland, The Pennsylvania Militia: Defending the Commonwealth and the Nation, 1669–1870, Annville, PA, 2002 Lenape chiefs Shingas and Captain Jacobs launched dozens of Shawnee and Delaware raids against British colonial settlements,Matthew C. Ward, Breaking the Backcountry: The Seven Years’ War in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1754–1765, Pittsburgh, 2003 killing and capturing hundreds of colonists and destroying settlements across western and central Pennsylvania.William Albert Hunter, "Victory at Kittanning", Pennsylvania History, vol. 23, no. 3, July 1956; pp 376-407 In October and early November 1755, the communities of Penn's Creek and Great Cove were attacked and destroyed by Lenape and Shawnee warriors.Denaci, Ruth Ann "The Penn's Creek Massacre and the Captivity of Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 74(3): Summer 2007. Pp 307–332
During 1755, the Shawnee living in Wyomick had been affected by hunger, as game was becoming scarce due to overhunting. Gnadenhütten was also affected by food shortages after a May frost devastated the wheat crop, and the Moravians had to rely on a hundred bushels of corn sent from Philadelphia, however "deserters from the Moravian Indian congregation," who had moved to Wyomick, reported that there was "good living at Gnadenhuetten and abundant food to be had by all."Joseph Mortimer Levering, A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America, Bethlehem, Pa., Times publishing company, 1903. This may have been a contributing motivation for the attack.
Massacre
It remains unclear whether the attackers were Shawnee or, as some accounts indicate, Munsee.Daniel Ingram, "Anxious Hospitality: Indian “Loitering” at Fort Allen, 1756–1761," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. CXXXIII, No. 3, July 2009 Some sources state that they were Lenape from a community on Nescopeck Creek.Hunter, William Albert. Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier: 1753-1758, (Classic Reprint). Fb&c Limited, 2018. The attack on Gnadenhütten was initiated late in the evening on 24 November, when about a dozen warriors surrounded a mission house in which 16 people lived: "The family, being at supper, heard an uncommon barking of dogs, upon which brother Senseman sent out at the back door to see what was the matter. On the report of a gun, several ran together to open the house-door. Here the Indians stood with their pieces pointed towards the door, and, firing immediately upon its being opened, Martin Nitschman was instantly killed. His wife and some others were wounded, but fled with the rest upstairs into the garret, and barricaded the door with bedsteads. Brother Partsch escaped by jumping out of a back window. Brother Worbas, who was ill in bed in a house adjoining, jumped likewise out of a back window and escaped, though the enemies had placed a guard before his door. Meanwhile the savages pursued those who had taken refuge in the garret, and strove hard to burst the door open; but, finding it too well secured, they set fire to the house, which was soon in flames. A boy...up on the flaming roof, ventured to leap off, and escaped;...Sister Partsch, seeing this, took courage and leaped likewise from the burning roof...Brother Fabricius then leaped also off the roof, but before he could escape was perceived by the Indians, and instantly wounded by two balls. He was the only one whom they seized upon alive and, having dispatched him with their hatchets, took his scalp, and left him dead upon the ground. The rest were all burnt alive...The house being consumed, the murderers set fire to the barns and stables, by which all the corn, hay and cattle were destroyed. Then they divided the spoils, soaked some bread in milk, made a hearty meal, and departed."Pennsylvania Society of New York. Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, Second Edition, Thomas Lynch Montgomery, ed. Harrisburg, 1916Israel Daniel Rupp, James Young, John Van Etten, and James Burd, History of Northampton, Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon, and Schuylkill Counties: Containing a Brief History of the First Settlers, Topography of Townships, Notices of Leading Events, Incidents, and Interesting Facts in the Early History of These Countries; with an Appendix, Containing Matters of Deep Interest; Embellished by Several Engravings. G. Hills, 1845.
An article in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 4 December reports that the Shawnee attackers were only "about twelve in number," and that five people died in the burning house. A sixth man was killed trying to escape. A boy escaped by jumping from a window, and another man had left the house immediately prior to the attack, having gone to lock the chapel door, and was unharmed."Massacre at Gnadenhütten November 1755," Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, 4 December 1755 Altogether, eleven missionaries are reported to have died.
None of the Native American converts were harmed, however they prepared to attack the assailants until a missionary told them to flee instead. David Zeisberger, who was on his way from Bethlehem to Gnadenhütten, heard the shooting from a distance but initially thought nothing of it until he observed the house in flames. He alerted the militia commander in Bethlehem, but as they had no idea how many attackers they were facing, they chose to wait until daylight to investigate.
Susanna Nitschman, Martin's wife, escaped from the burning building, and was captured and held prisoner in Tioga County, Pennsylvania for six months until her death.Paul de Schweinitz and W. H. Rice, "Gnadenhuetten on the Mahoning, Historical and Commemorative, 1746—1755," Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, Moravian Historical Society, 1906, Vol. 7, No. 5, pp. 347-386
Aftermath
Colonel John Anderson arrived from New Jersey that night with a company of militia, but after being informed that over 500 Indians had swarmed the settlement, he waited until the following day to approach Gnadenhütten. A number of the Native American converts fled to Wyomick, while others were sent to Bethlehem to live with Moravians there. Throughout the French and Indian War they experienced significant poverty, and discrimination by the people of Bethlehem.
Governor Robert Hunter Morris ordered a company of 72 soldiers from Northampton County, under the command of Captain Hays, to guard the abandoned property at Gnadenhütten until it was safe for the residents to return. They built a small stockade for security, but on 1 January 1756, twenty of these troops were lured into a trap, ambushed and killed. The remaining soldiers fled and the stockade was burned. This led to generalized panic among settlers in the area, and Benjamin Franklin was commissioned in Philadelphia to investigate the situation and devise a plan for the defense of Pennsylvania against further attacks.
On 14 April 1756, Pennsylvania Governor Morris officially declared war on the Delaware Nation,Weslager, Clinton Alfred. The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press, 1989. offering a bounty of $130 for the scalp of every Lenape male over ten years of age and $50 for a Lenape woman's scalp, or $150 for a male Lenape prisoner and $130 for a female one,John Franklin Meginness, "Otzinachson: Or, a History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna; Embracing a Full Account of Its Settlement--trials and Privations Endured by the Early Pioneers--full Accounts of the Indian Wars, Predatory Incursions, Abductions, and Massacres, &c." in American County Histories: Pennsylvania county and regional histories. H. B. Ashmead, 1857Wallace, Anthony F. C. (1990) King of the Delawares: Teedyuscung, 1700-1763. Syracuse: University of Pennsylvania Press. although an exception was made for the Native American converts.
Victims of the attack are buried in the Lehighton Cemetery, where a monument was erected in 1906.Laura Klotz, "Gnadenhuetten," Historical Marker Database, May 16 2019
Fort Allen
Attacks on settlements continued, and in December as many as 89 settlers were killed in the Northampton massacre.