The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-08-26
A Historical Town.

A Historical Town.
A correspondent to the Cincinnati
Commercial from GnadenhnsteH; ONO,
says This ancient little town, sithated
on the line of the Panhandle RailToasS,
almost midway between Dennison and
Newcomerstown has many Incidents
connected with its early history, which
may be of interest to the general reader.
It ia well known to all who have read
the early history of Ohio that this town.
occupies the site of former Indian vii.
lage of the same name, where on the Sth-
day of March, 1882, ninety Moravian
Christian Indians fell victims to most
barbarouS and inhuman massacre by
party Of whites in command of Colonel
Williamson. The circumstances of this
horrible tragedy are briefly as follows:
In the spring of 1882 band Of sGv-
ages committed depredatioms In the
western part of Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia 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 Gnadenhuttem, where
Che Moravian Christian Indians had sew
eral years before made a settlement.
The band of savages traded their plum
der Of clothing, &C., to the Moravlans
and passed on. The party OF whites
under command of Coionel Williamson,
who were in pursuit of tie BED Skins,
followed the trail to GnadenhutSen, and
as some of the party saw articles on
elothing which they could identity as
belonging TO some of the murdered fam
lilies, this fact was taken as sufficient evil
dence of the guiIs 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 we're 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 It'll of
March. On the morning of the 9Th
Colonel Williamson called all soldiers
who were in favor of taking the Mona
VANS prisoners to step three PAGES M
front Of the line, but not one responded,
and thus the doom of these innocent vic
tins was sealed They must be butch
cred. And horror of horrors, what
barbarous mode of execution was re-
sorted to. The Moravians had in their
village two cooper shops, and 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 huts in pairs, and taken one by
one to the door of the shop. On the in
side of the door a soldier was stationed
With heavy mallet in his hand, AMI
just as the Indian appeared In the en-
| trance, this pOnderous mallet was hurled
upon his head with fearful violence, lay
ing him a corpse in the doorway, only
| to be removed that another might share
the same fate. In this manner ninety
souls persisted, some of them infants st
the mothers breast. The bodies were
then cast into heap and burned, in
| order that none might escape to tell the
| tale. But in this the whites failed, as
one Indian had escaped from beneath
the funeral pile just before the torch IVES
applied. The bones of these ninety
Christians lay bleaching in the sun for:
many years as monument to the bar
barism of pretended civilization, but
were finally buried by some of the good
| Christian people here, and green
mound now marks the spot For many
years after this massacre the p6sple IN
the neighborhood were so sup i ssttti ous
that none could be induced TO clear and
cultivate the land, as all who attempted
it were suddenly stricken with sickness
and died On June 5, 1872, moeu-
ment was erected to the memory Of these
victims which bore the following inscrip-
ton: Here, triumphed in death,
ninety Moravian Christian Indians.
March 9Th, 1872, Gnadenhutten." On
the 8th of next March the hundredth
anniversary of this event will be OBJ
served with appropriate ceremonies. A
fact which is not 50 generally known IS.
| that Gnadenhutten is, neYt to Marietta.
the oldest town in the State. 1t was
originally intended us the site for the
Capital Of Ohio, and in the center If the
town lies two-acre lot belonging to the
State, being given as the site for the
erection Of the Capitol.