Penns Creek Massacre

Penn's Creek massacre
Part of the French and Indian War
Penn's Creek
Location	Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°48′49″N 76°51′22″W / 40.813649°N 76.856207°W / 40.813649; -76.856207
Date	October 16, 1755
Target	The settlement of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
Attack type	Indian massacre, kidnapping
Deaths	25
Non-fatal injuries	1
Victims	Settlers of what will be Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania
Perpetrators	Delaware Indians

The Penn's Creek massacre was a massacre and Indian raid on October 16, 1755 near Penn's Creek where it flows through Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, US. The Indians killed all but one of the 25 settlers; a man who managed to escape and notify local authorities. The Indians responsible for the raid were Delaware Indians. They were dressed in war paint and war costumes during the attack. The area near where the massacre took place was also later rumored to be haunted.

Indian raids and violence were fairly common in Pennsylvania during the autumn of 1755. The Penn's Creek massacre was encouraged by the French army. The Delaware Indians who committed the raid were relatively harmless to European settlers until shortly before the massacre.

In 1754, the land near where the Penn's Creek massacre took place was bought, and by the summer of 1755, there were 25 families living there. Meanwhile, on July 9, 1755, a combined force of American and British soldiers led by General Edward Braddock was decisively defeated while attempting to capture Fort Duquesne. Excited by their victory, a group of Indians began a raid. This raid started in Buffalo Valley and went on to Penn's Creek. Raids also occurred on much of the frontier. This was primarily due to the failure of Philadelphia's Provincial Government to intervene after the French Army won the battle on July 9. Settlers in the area that the Indians were attacking, which ranged from the Juniata River to Sunbury, requested that the Provincial Government send aid, but it did not. In early October 1755, Indians set out for confluence of West Branch Susquehanna River and Susquehanna River. They passed through Clearfield County and Centre County before climbing over Paddy Run and proceeding to attack settlements along Penn's Creek.