The Moravian Massacre By Randall D. Wilkins

Imagine. More than ninety people singing praises, praying prayers of gratefulness to their God. Imagine the gut-wrenching pain as they cling to every last second together with hearts of gratitude. Could the same group of people, knowingly, be about to be slaughtered? The picture is not only heartbreaking, but it was reality for the Moravian Indians. Commonly called the Gnadenhutten Indians, the Moravian Indians were the victims of a tragic slaughter which they did not deserve. A group of Pennsylvania Militiamen raided the Indian village, forced them from their homes, and stole any resources they could find that could be useful to them. The Militiamen voted to massacre the Indians the following morning and the Moravians spent the night worshipping

Wilkins. In the documentary, Allan W. Eckert, Phillip Hoffman, and Earl Holmstead give their commentary and their conclusions put a slightly different spin on the motives of the Pennsylvania militia. As opposed to Worthington and Cummings, the historians did not just say that the anger and mourning from the loss of their loved ones curtained the militia’s judgment. Instead, the historians proposed a much clearer motive. The group says that yes, the militiamen were directly affected by the Indian raids; and yes, they were probably still grieving the loss of their loved ones. But, those men were solely out for blood. They knew who they were dealing with when they saw the Moravians picking corn that day, and they knew that the Moravians were peaceful, but they did not care. In fact, when the men came to murder the Moravians, the Indians submitted to them because they had no reason not to do so. They were allies with the colonists and they had always dealt peacefully with them. But, the militia wanted revenge, and even though the Moravians had no part in killing the colonists, the militia considered every Indian, even innocent ones, deserving of torturous

Unfortunately, only two victims survived to tell the truth about what happened on March 8, 1782 and the militia who committed the atrocity were never given more than a slap on the wrist. For those reasons, it is difficult to determine what exactly was going through the minds of the Pennsylvania militia when they decided to take over ninety innocent lives. From the sources provided Allan W. Eckert, Phillip Hoffman, and Earl Holmstead from The Moravian Massacre documentary prove to be the most accurate sources of information. All three men are published writers and historians who have proven themselves as established professionals and agree in their accounts of the massacre. Worthington and Cummings, who, although, prove they are very knowledgeable, are only single opinions. Daryl Worthington’s theory that the rage and grief the soldiers were experiencing was so great that it somehow overtook their judgement and they unknowingly had the wrong Indians, and killed over ninety innocent people accidently just sounds like a lousy excuse. Jim Cummings’ theory that the militia held a grudge against the Moravians and massacred them to “pay them back” also does not seem quite right considering the tension that was over the Ohio Valley at the time of the massacre. It seems as if the events in the Valley at that time should have play more of a role in the massacre. The historians’ are the most credible source of