Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-09-04
Historical Town.

CORRESPONDENT. to the Cincinnati
Comm f,.a.itlt from Gnadenhutten, Ohio,
sors This ancient little town, situated
~; +ha line of the Panhandle Railroad,
o1rnost midway between Dennison and
Tnwromerstown has many incidents
connected with its early history, which
nov he of interest to the general reader.
+ : we'll known to all who have read
the early history Of Ohio that this town
tl.o 80 line site Of former Indian vii
~, e 4Lo same name, where on the Sth
i 10 ~ March, 1892. ninety Moravian
gay +;o+1 indians fell victims to most
E \lLI,,,a1Is and inhuman massacre by a
'.'l 49, w., If whites III command of Colonel
II.'J;?,n7son The circumstances of this
h m1i,I tragedy are briefly as follows {:
In the spring Of 1852 band of saw
ares committed depredations in the
Western part Of Pennsylvania and Vir-
oinia and butchered several white fam
lies. They plundered the dwellings
and carried away dresses, Jewelry and
clothing of all kinds. In their course
through the Tuscarawas Valley they
passed through Gnadenhutten, where
the Morayian Christian Indians had sew
eral Years. before made settlement.
The band OF satagas traded their plum
der of clothing, &C., to the Moravians
and passed ON. The party OF whites
under command Of Colonel Williamson,
whowere III pursuit of the Red Skins,
followed-the trail to Gnadenhutten, and
rs some Of the party saw articles of
clothing which they could identify as
belonging to some OF the murdered fam
lies, this fact was taken rs sufficient evil
dence of the guilt OF the Moravians, and
they were therefore notified that they
would be slaughtered. They protested
their innocence of the horrible crimes
with which they were charged, but SO
enraged were the soldiers. at seeing the
clothing Of the murdered victims in pos.
session of the Moravians, that all their
entreaties were in vain. The Moravians,
men, women and children, were driven
to their huts, and there securely guarded
during the night. This was the 7th OF
March. On the morning of the Sth
Colonel Williamson called all soldiers
who were in favor of taking the Mora
VANS prisoners TO step three PAGES IN
front of the line, but not one responded,
and thus the. doom OF these innocent vic
tins was sealed. They must be BUTCH
cred. End horror of horrors, what d
barbarous mode of execution WAS re-
sorted to. The Moravians had in their
village two cooper shops, aud these were
the scenes OF the slaughter. One was
selected as the place to butcher the
women and children, and the other for
the men. The victims were driven from
their nuts in pairs, and taken one by
one to the door of the shop. On the in
side of the door soldier was stationed
with o heavy mallet in his hand, and
Just as the Indian appeared in the en-
trance. this ponderous mallet was hurled
upop his head with fearful violence, lay
inc him corpse III the doorway, only
to be removed that another might share
the same fate. In this manner ninety
souls persisted, some of them infants at
the mothers breast The bodies were
then east into a heap and burned, in
ord r that none might escape to tell the
tale. But III this the whites failed, as
one Indian had escaped from beneath
the funeral pile just before the torch was
applied The bones OF these ninety
Christians hay bleaching in the sun for
''-'tt'' tfti'' lliN'tEILitl4D - iIlG
baEism OF Il pretended civilization, but
we're fnally buried by some of the good
Christian people here, and green
mound pow marks the spot. For many
years after this massacre the people in
the neighborhood were so sunerstltjous
that none could be induced to clear and
cultivate the land, as all who attempted
1t we're suddenly stricken with sickness
and died. On June ), 1872, a monu-
ment was erected to the memory of these
victims which bore the following inscrip.
ton: Here, striumphed in death,
ninety Moravian Christian Indians,
March 6th, 1852, Gnadenhutten. On
the Sth Of next March the hun dredth
anniversary of this event will be OBJ
served With appropriate ceremonies. A
TACT which is not so generally known is,
that Gaadenhutten is, neyt to Marietta,
the Oldest town in the State. 1t was
originally intended rs the site for the
Capital of Ohio, and in the center Of the
town lies two-acre lot belonging to the
STATE, being given rs the site for the
erection of the CAPITOL.