Peaceful Christians Slaughtered

The Americans are coming!

The French and their Indian allies and the British and their Indian allies were at war busy killing and scalping each other.  They both were killing qand scalping Americans.  Thousands of American settlers had been butchered.  The americans were organizing against allof them.  The cry of "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" was heard throuout the land.  As the Americans were coming to power there was more bloodshed and butchery. 

Into this conflict came brave Christian missionaries from Moravia a section of Germany.  Their congregations consisted almost entirely of peaceful Indians, part of a band of Delaware Indians.  Now be it understood that these people believed and practice what Jesus taught which was to "Love One Another" and be kind to everyone.  Some of these migrated to Michigan becoming the first Protestants in Michigan.  Clarence M. Burton the prominent historian stated "A band of Moravians went to Gnaden-huetten" (a settlement just west of Mt Clemens on the bank of the Clinton River) "in the spring of 1782 to collect corn they had planted the previous fall." They were collecting this to feed their starving families in Sandusky Ohio when they were taken prisoners by a band of Americans, then taken to Fort Pitt where they were allowed to send for their families.  These peaceful Christians were no threat to anyone, "When they had all collected together they were told they must all die.  They begged for mercy.  They fell upon their knees in prayer and while thus engaged one of their captors picked up a cooper's mallet and with a hasty stride forward he dashed out the brains of the nearest Indian, whose eyes were closed and hands uplifted as he still knelt in prayer.  Not an Indian stirred as the murderer proceeded down the line.  Again and again he performed the act of murder until a row of fourteen ghastly corpses marked his bloody path.  Breathless with the awful work, he tossed the mallet to a companion, saying: "Go on with the glorious work.  I have done pretty well." this was but the opening of the tragedy.  The flood-gates of murder were open.  The tide would have its way.  Old men and young men, loving mothers, gentle maidens, and nursing babies, innocent in the sight of earth and Heaven, meek and unresisting as lambs led to the slaughter, were massacred outright.  Ninety Six persons were put to death within half an hour." This was done by the Americans.  The British, were also incensed against these Christian Indians because it was part of the Moravian creed to be friendly with all people and to take no part in war.  The British could not get the Moravian Christians to make war against the Americans.  Isn't it ironic that the Americans committed this act against a group of people that would never have hurt them?  Historians feel that those Americans acted in haste without thinking out what would have been best.  Some historians feel that the language barrier was partly to blame.  If some of the parties could have spoken a super simple language such as Esperanto perhaps they could have had better understanding and settled the matter with discussion rather than brute violence.