GNADENHTTEN MASSACRE

(March 8, 1782), murder of 96 Ohio Indians, mostly Delawares, by an American Revolutionary War officer, Captain David Williamson, and his militia at Gnadenhtten Village south of what is now New Philadelphia, Ohio. The Indians, who had been converted by Moravian Brethren and were peaceful Christians, were under suspicion because of their neutrality in the war. Williamson and his 90 volunteers, seeking revenge for Indian raids on frontier settlements, pretended friendship and disarmed the tribe; on the following morning they slaughtered the villagers in cold blood. Two scalped boys escaped to relate the incident. A 9-acre memorial now marks the site of what has been called the greatest atrocity of that war.