Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Indian massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
In the history of the European colonization of North America, the term "Indian massacre" was often used to describe either mass killings of Europeans by indigenous people of the North American continent ("Indians") or mass killings of indigenous peoples by Europeans. In theory, massacre applied to the killing of civilian noncombatants or to the summary execution of prisoners-of-war. In practice, the label was often haphazardly applied, rarely without bias, and was sometimes used to describe an overwhelming (though lawful) military defeat. Similarly, massacres were sometimes mislabeled "battles" in an attempt to give legitimacy to what would today be considered a war crime. Some incidents remain disputed as to whether they were massacres or battles.
Determining how many people died in these massacres overall is difficult. In the book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, amateur historian William M. Osborn sought to tally every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890), and determined that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans, and 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by whites. Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners. Different definitions would obviously produce different totals.[1]
Contents |
This is a listing of some of the events reported then or referred to now as "Indian massacres":
| Year | Date | Name | Description | Claimants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1540 | Mabila Massacre | Hernando de Soto’s expedition ambushed by Choctaws[2] burns down palisaded town of Mabila and kills in a battle lasting several hours approx. 2,500.[3] | Duncan, E., Hernando de Soto, pp. 376-384; Steele, I., Warpaths, p. 15. | |
| 1598 | Acoma Massacre | In retaliation for the killing of 11 Spanish soldiers, Juan de Oñate leads punitive expedition to slaughter the natives in a three-day battle at the Acoma mesa. Approx. 800 dead. Spain's King later punished Oñate for his excesses.[4] | Weber, D., The Spanish Frontier in North America, pp. 85-86. | |
| 1622 | March 22 | Jamestown Massacre | Powhatans (Pamunkey) kill 347 English men, women and children throughout the Virginia colony, almost one-third of the English population of Jamestown colony. | [5] |
| 1623 | Pamunkey Peace Talks | The English poison the wine at a "peace conference" with Powhatan leaders, killing ca. 200 in retaliation for the Jamestown Massacre. | Steele, I., Warpaths, p. 47. | |
| 1637 | May 26 | Mystic Massacre | English colonists commanded by John Underhill, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, launch a night attack a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut, burning the inhabitants alive and killing the survivors, with about 600-700 killed. | Cave, A., The Pequot War, pp. 144-154. |
| 1643 | Wappinger Massacre | In 1643 an Iroquois tribe, the Mohawks, attacked a band of Wappingers. Wappingers flees to Manhattan Island seeking protection of Dutch governor, who has hired John Underhill. The sleeping village is slaughtered with about 80 deaths, and the group exterminated. | Churchill, W., A Little Matter of Genocide, p. 198. | |
| 1644 | English Massacre of sleeping village | At New Amsterdam (present day New York), John Underhill, hired by the Dutch, reproduces successful Fort Mystic strategy of burning sleeping village and slaughtering about 500 people. | Steele, I., Warpaths, p. 116. | |
| 1680 | August 10 | Pueblo Revolt | Pueblo warriors killed 380 Spanish settlers, counting men, women and children, and drove the other Spaniards from New Mexico. By 1690s sedentary Pueblo farmers wanted the Spanish to come back to protect them against Apache and Navajo raiders. | [6] |
| 1689 | August 5 | Lachine massacre | Fifteen hundred Mohawk warriors attacked the small settlement of Lachine, New France and killed more than ninety of the village's three-hundred seventy-five French residents. | [7] |
| 1690 | February 8 | Schenectady Massacre | French and Algonquins destroy Schenectady, Province of New York, killing 60 settlers, including ten women and at least twelve children. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 33 |
| 1704 | February 29 | Deerfield Massacre | A force comprised of Abenaki, Kanienkehaka, Wyandot and Pocumtuck Indians, led by a small contingent of French-Canadian militia, sack the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 56 civilians and taking dozens more as captives. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 48 |
| 1757 | August 9 | Fort William Henry Massacre | Following the fall of Fort William Henry, between 70 and 180 British and colonial prisoners are killed by Indian allies of the French. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 224 |
| 1763 | September 14 | Devil's Hole Massacre | Seneca double ambush of a British supply train and soldiers, just South of Fort Niagara. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 260 |
| 1763 | December | Killings by the Paxton Boys | Pennsylvania settlers kill 20 peaceful Susquehannock in response to Pontiac's Rebellion. | [citation needed] |
| 1764 | July 26 | Enoch Brown School Massacre | Four Delawares kill a schoolmaster, 10 pupils and a pregnant woman. {Two pupils scalped but survive} | [citation needed] |
| 1774 | April 20 | Yellow Creek Massacre | Members of Chief Logan's family killed by Daniel Greathouse. | [citation needed] |
| 1778 | July 3 | Wyoming Valley Massacre | Following a battle with rebel defenders of Forty Fort, Iroquois allies of the Loyalist forces hunt and kill those who flee, then torture to death those who surrendered. | |
| August 31 | Stockbridge Massacre | A battle of the American Revolutionary War that rebel propaganda portrayed as a massacre. | ||
| November 11 | Cherry Valley Massacre | More than 30 settlers killed. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 321 | |
| 1781 | September 1 | Dietz Massacre | The home of Johannes Dietz, Berne, New York, was attacked by Indians during the Revolution. Johannes, his wife, their daughter-in-law (wife of their son, Capt. William Dietz), and four children of their son's family, and a servant girl were killed and scalped. | Priest, Josiah, "Stories of the Revolution", first published 1836 |
| 1782 | March 8 | Gnadenhütten massacre | Nearly 100 non-combatant Christian Delaware (Lenape) Indians, mostly women and children, are killed with hammer blows to the head by Pennsylvania militiamen. | Konstantin, Phil, This day in North American Indian history, p. 57 |
| 1812 | August 15 | Fort Dearborn Massacre | American settlers and soldiers are killed in ambush near Fort Dearborn (site of present-day Chicago, Illinois)[8] | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 231 |
| 1813 | January 22 | River Raisin Massacre | Between 30 and 60 Kentucky militia were killed after surrendering. | |
| August 18 | Dilbone Massacre | Three settlers killed in Miami County, Ohio. {David Garrard and Henry Dilbone and wife Killed} | ||
| August 30 | Fort Mims Massacre | Following defeat at the Battle of Burnt Corn, a band of Red Sticks sack Fort Mims, Alabama, killing 400 civilians and taking 250 scalps. This action precipitates the Creek War. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 245 | |
| 1817 | Spring | Battle of Claremore Mound | Cherokee Indians wipe out Osage Indians led by Chief Clermont at Claremore Mound, Indian Territory. | [citation needed] |
| 1818 | April 22 | Chehaw Affair | U.S. troops attack a non-hostile village during the First Seminole War, killing an estimated 10 to 50 men, women and children. | [citation needed] |
| Year | Date | Name | Description | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | May 20 | Indian Creek Massacre | Indians, mainly Potawatomi, kidnap two girls and kill fifteen men, women and children. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 128 |
| August 1 | Battle of Bad Axe | Around 150 Indian men, women and children are killed in Wisconsin by soldiers under General Henry Atkinson and armed volunteers. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 213 | |
| 1833 | Spring | Cutthroat Gap Massacre | Osage Indians wipe out a Kiowa Indian village in Indian Territory. | [citation needed] |
| 1836 | May 19 | Fort Parker Massacre | Seven men killed by Comanches in Limestone County, Texas. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 127 |
| 1838 | October 5 | Killough Massacre | Indians massacre eighteen members and relatives of the Killough family in Texas. | [citation needed] |
| 1847 | November 29 | Whitman massacre | The murder of missionaries Dr Marcus Whitman, Mrs Narcissa Whitman and twelve others at Walla Walla, Washington by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, triggering the Cayuse War. | Konstantin, P., This day in North American Indian history, p. 336. |
| 1850 | May 15 | Bloody Island Massacre | The murder of 60-100 Pomo people on Bo-no-po-ti island near Clear Lake, (Lake Co., California), by Nathaniel Lyon and his U. S. Army detachment, in retribution for the killing of two Clear Lake settlers who had been abusing and murdering Pomo people. (The Island Pomo's had no connections to the enslaved Pomos). This incident led to a general mass killing of native people all over Northern California. | Letter, Brevet Capt. N. Lyon to Major E.R.S. Canby, May 22, 1850, cited in Heizer, Robert F., The Destruction of California Indians, pp. 244-246. |
| 1853 | Before December 31 | "Ox" incident | Unreported number of Indians killed in the Four Creeks area (Tulare Co., California) in "our little difficulty" and "the chastisement they have received" | Letter, Bvt. 2nd Lieut. John Nugens to Lieut T. Wright, Dec. 31, 1853, quoted in Heizer, pp. 12-13. |
| 1854 | August 17 | Kaibai Creek Massacre | Forty-two Winnemem Wintu men, women and children are killed by white settlers at Kaibai Creek, California. | [citation needed] |
| August 19 | Grattan Massacre | Twenty-nine U.S. soldiers killed by Brulé Lakota Sioux Indians in Nebraska Territory. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, p. 27 | |
| August 20 | Ward Massacre | Eighteen of the 20 members of the Alexander Ward party were killed by Shoshoni Indians while traveling on the Oregon Trail in western Idaho. This event led to the eventual abadonment of Fort Boise and Fort Hall, in favor of the use of military escorts. [1][2] | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 28-29 | |
| 1855 | January 22 | Klamath River massacres | In retaliation for the murder of 6 white people and stealing of some cattle, "whites" commenced a "war of extermination against the Indians" in Humboldt Co., California | Crescent City Herald, quoted in Sacramento newspaper, cited in Heizer, pp. 35-36. |
| 1860 | February 26 | Gunther Island Massacre | About 188 Wiyot Indians, mostly women and children, are killed by white settlers in Humboldt County, California, during one of three simultaneous assaults on the Wiyot [3] | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 72-73; Heizer |
| 1862 | August-September | Dakota War of 1862 | 300-800 white settlers killed throughout Minnesota as part of the U.S.-Dakota War[9] | [citation needed] |
| October 24 | Tonkawa Massacre | Accompanied by Caddo allies, a detachment of irregular Union Indians, mainly Kickapoo, Delaware and Shawnee, attempt to destroy the Tonkawa tribe in Indian Territory. One hundred and fifty of 390 Tonkawa survive. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 105-106 | |
| 1863 | January 29 | Bear River Massacre | Col. Patrick Connor leads a regiment killing at least 200 Indian men, women and children near Preston, Idaho. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 110-111 |
| April 19 | Keyesville Massacre | White settlers kill 35 Tehachapi men in Kern County, California [4]. | [citation needed] | |
| 1864 | November 29 | Sand Creek Massacre | Militiamen kill at least 160 Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 157-159 |
| 1865-1871 | Yahi Massacres | Several massacres of native encampments by American settlers exterminate the 200 members of the Yahi tribe, such as the first in 1865 (74 killed), the 1866 Three Knolls (40 killed) and Dry Camp (33 killed) massacres, ending with the Kingsley Cave/Morgan Camp massacre (30 killed) in 1871. The Yahi were Ishi’s tribe. | Cook, S., The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization. | |
| 1867 | July 2 | Kidder Massacre | Cheyenne and Sioux Indians ambush and kill a 2nd US Cavalry detachment of eleven men and Indian guide near Beaver Creek in Sherman County, Kansas [5]. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 201-202 |
| 1870 | January 23 | Marias Massacre | White Americans kill 173 Piegans, mainly women, children and the elderly. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, p. 241 |
| 1871 | Camp Grant Massacre | Led by ex-Tucson mayor, William Oury, vigilante band from Tucson slaughter Apache women and children while the men are doing their spring planting. More than 100 dead. | Terrell, J., Land Grab, pp. 4-10. | |
| 1879 | January 8 | Ft Robinson Massacre | Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife attempt to escape from confinement in Fort Robinson, Nebraska; about fifty survive. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, pp. 322-323 |
| 1880 | April 28 | Alma Massacre | Settlers killed by Apaches led by Victorio at Alma, New Mexico. Likewise on December 19, 1885 an officer and 4 enlisted men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment killed by Apaches near Alma, New Mexico. | See P.Reed Albuquerque Tribune story 12/22/2005 listed under References of Bibliography under article Alma, New Mexico {Reference only} |
| 1890 | December 29 | Wounded Knee Massacre | 128 Sioux men, women and children are massacred by US soldiers at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. | Michno, Gregory, Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, p. 351 |
- ^ The Wild Frontier: Atrocities During The American-Indian War
- ^ Biography - Hernando de Soto - by Dr. Lawrence A. Clayton
- ^ De Soto'S Trail: Courage and Cruelty Come Alive
- ^ Conquistador Statue Stirs Hispanic Pride and Indian Rage
- ^ Around 347 people were massacred in the attack
- ^ Resistance and Accommodation in New Mexico
- ^ George, Charles; Douglas Roberts (1897). A History of Canada. Boston: The Page Company (no copyright in the United States), pp. 93-94.
- ^ In all, the massacred are twenty-six soldiers, two officers (Captain Wells and Surgeon Van Voorhees), two women and twelve children, and twelve trappers and settlers hired as scouts.
- ^ Kunnen-Jones, Marianne (2002-08-21). Anniversary Volume Gives New Voice To Pioneer Accounts of Sioux Uprising. University of Cincinnati. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- Heizer, Robert F., The Destruction of California Indians, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1993. ISBN 0-8032-7262-6.