The Conestoga Massacre, 1763

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Source

Excerpt from: Clare, Israel Smith, 1892. A brief history of Lancaster County; Lyle, Anna, ed, Publisher: Lancaster, Pa., Argus publishing company

Related

Wikipedia:Paxtang_boys A somewhat more though treatment, and considerably more objective.
Sheriff John Hays of Lancaster County recorded a list of Indians killed during the "Paxton Boys" affair. PA Colonial REcords, 9:103-4
Frank J. Cavioli, A profile of the Paxton Boyds:Muerers of the Conestoga Indians. J. Lancaster County Historical Society 87 pt 3, 1983:89.

Text

From Smith, 1892.

Brief Background The people of Lancaster county, especially the Scotch-Irish settlers of Paxton and Donegal townships, suffered terribly from Indian outrages during the whole ten years of the French and Indian War. Men, women and children were murdered while at work in the fields, at their meals, or in their beds at night. Sights of horror, scenes of slaughter, bloody scalps, mangled bodies, hacked limbs — these were the evidences of Indian cruelty and barbarity. Such horrible sights and fiendish atrocities excited the fiercest rage and indignation among the people of Paxton, Hanover and Donegal townships; and they became desperate in their determination for revenge on the savage butchers of their kinsmen and relatives.

Paxtang Boys The Conestoga Indians had never been at war with the whites, and had always been classed as friendly Indians. But several other friendly Indians told the whites that Bill Sock, a wellknown Conestoga Indian, had committed several murders. Colonel John Hambright, Mrs. Thompson and Anne Mary I^e Roy, of Lancaster borough, and Alexander Stephen and Abraham Newcomer, of Lancaster county, made affidavits against Bill Sock, saying that he had made threats of murder, and that he had been seen acting suspiciously. Indians had been traced by scouts to the wigwams at Conestoga. The Paxton and Donegal Rangers watched the hostile and friendly Indians very closely. In September, 1763, the Indians eluded their closely searching pursuers. The "Paxton Boys " and their neighbors, after vainly asking protection from the Governor and provincial authorities at Philadelphia, determined to strike terror into all Indians by exterminating the Conestoga tribe, and thus put a stop to Bill Sock's and George Sock's prowling around the country and to their dances at Conestoga.

The Massacre On Wednesday, December 14, 1763, a company of about sixty men from Paxton, Hanover and Donegal townships, called the Paxton Boys^ and commanded by Captain Lazarus Stewart, attacked the Conestoga Indian town, in Manor township, and barbarously massacred the six Indians at home, among whom was the old chief Shaheas, who had always been noted for his friendship toward the whites. The other five victims were a son of Shaheas, George, Harry, Sally and another old woman. Most of the Indians were absent at the time. After slaughtering and scalping the six at home, the Paxton Boys burned the Indian huts, thus destroying the village. The news reached Lancaster the same day through an Indian boy who escaped, and a Coroner's jury went to the scene of the tragedy. Bill Sock and several other Indians, who had gone to Thomas Smith's Iron Works in Martic township to sell baskets and brooms, fled for protection to Lancaster borough, as did the Indians John Smith and his wife Peggy with their child, and young Joe Hays, who had been at Peter Swarr's, about two and a-half miles north-west from Lancaster. The magistrates of Lancaster brought the other survivors into town to protect their lives, condoled with them on the massacre of their kinsmen, took them by the hand and promised them protection. The Indians were placed in the newly erected work-house to insure their safety. When the news of the massacre reached Philadelphia and the eastern counties of Pennsylvania it caused great excitement among the Quakers and the colonial authorities; and Governor John Penn issued a proclamation, denouncing the outrage and offering a large reward for the arrest and punishment of the murderers.

Lancaster The Paxton Boys were two much exasperated and too terribly in earnest to pay any attention to the Governor's proclamation; and as soon as they heard that the other Conestoga Indians were at Lancaster they proceeded to that town, stormed the jail and work-house, and mercilessly massacred the fourteen Indians confined there for protection, Tuesday, December 27, 1763. The unarmed and defenseless Conestogas prostrated themselves with their children before their infuriated murderers, protesting their innocence and their love for the English, and pleading for their lives; but the only answer made to their piteous appeals was the hatchet. The murderers did their work with' rifles, tomahawks and scalping-knives. The victims were horribly butchered, some having their brains blown out, others their legs chopped off, others their hands cut off. Bill Sock and his wife Molly and their two children had their heads split open and scalped. The other victims were John Smith and his wife Peggy, Captain John and his wife Betty and their son Little John, the little boys Jacob, Christy and Little Peter, and Peggy and another little girl. The mangled bodies of the victims were all buried at Lancaster. Such was the sad end of the Conestoga Indians, the remnant of the once powerful Susquehannocks, who a century before held dominion over all the other Indian tribes of the Susquehanna Valley and those on the shores of the Chesapeake. Sheriff John Hay, of Lancaster county, at once wrote to Governor John Penn at Philadelphia, informing him. of this second massacre. Thereupon the Governor issued another proclamation, denouncing the murderers and offering a large reward for their arrest and punishment, but without effect.

As soon as the Paxton Boys heard that the Moravian Indians had been placed for safety in the barracks at Philadelphia they proceeded to that city and spread terror among its people. Governor John Penn fled to Dr. Franklin's house for safety; and only the vigorous measures of the inhabitants saved the city from the fury of tiie exasperated Paxton Boys, who were disposed to wreak vengeance on the authorities and the Quakers who had undertaken to protect the Indians. The Paxton Boys finally concluded to return peaceably to their homes, leaving two of their number, James Gibson and Matthew Smith, to present their views to Governor Penn and to lay their grievances before the Governor and the Assembly of Pennsylvania.