Gnadenhutten Massacre

Gnadenhutten Massacre
Part of the American Revolutionary War
This 37 foot (11 m) monument, located next to a reconstructed mission house in what was the center of the original village, was dedicated on June 5, 1872. The inscription reads: "Here triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians, March 8, 1782."
Date March 8, 1782 Location Gnadenhutten, Ohio Result 96 unarmed civilians killed

Gnadenhutten Massacre Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Gnadenhutten, Ohio
Coordinates	40°21′15″N 81°26′6″W / 40.35417°N 81.43500°W / 40.35417; -81.43500Coordinates: 40°21′15″N 81°26′6″W / 40.35417°N 81.43500°W / 40.35417; -81.43500
Built	1782
NRHP Reference #	70000519
Added to NRHP	November 10, 1970

The Gnadenhutten massacre, also known as the Moravian massacre, was the killing of 96 Christian Lenape (Delaware) by colonial American militia from Pennsylvania on March 8, 1782 at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhutten, Ohio during the American Revolutionary War.

The site of the village has been preserved. A reconstructed mission house and cooper's house were built there, and a monument to the dead was erected and dedicated a century later. The burial mound is marked and has been maintained on the site. The village site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

70000519

During the American Revolution, the Munsee- and Unami-speaking Lenni Lenape (also called Delaware) bands of the Ohio Country were deeply divided over which side, if any, to take in the conflict. The Munsee were generally northern bands from around the Hudson River and upper Delaware River originally. The Unami were from the southern reaches of the Delaware.

Years earlier, many Lenape had migrated west to Ohio from their territory on the mid-Atlantic coast to try to escape colonial encroachment, as well as pressure from Iroquois tribes from the north based around the Great Lakes and western New York. They resettled in present-day Ohio, with bands in several villages around their main village of Coshocton. These villages were named Schoenbrunn, Gnadenhutten, and Salem, and located on what was then called the Muskingum River. Modern geography places Coshocton on the Muskingum River and the three smaller villages on the Tuscarawas River.