Conestoga Massacre

(noun)

The Conestoga Massacre was a series of events in which the Paxton Boys vigilante group in central Pennsylvania murdered twenty Susquehannock near Conestoga Town, Millersville.

Related Terms

Examples of Conestoga Massacre in the following topics:

  • Discontent on the Frontier

    • Colonial relations with American Indian tribes were severely tested following the events of Pontiac's Rebellion and the Conestoga Massacre.
    • Two events in 1763 severely tested colonial relations with American Indian tribes on the frontier: Pontiac's War and the Conestoga Massacre.
    • Many Conestoga were Christian, and they had lived peacefully with their European neighbors for decades.
    • On December 14, 1763, more than fifty Paxton Boys marched on the Conestoga homes near Conestoga Town, Millersville, murdered six people, and burned their cabins.
    • Nineteenth century lithograph of the Paxton Boys' massacre of the Indians at Lancaster, published in 1841

  • The Western Lands

    • In December of 1763, following the end of the French and Indian War and the signing of the proclamation, a vigilante group made up of Scots-Irish frontiersmen known as the Paxton Boys attacked the local Conestoga, a Susquehannock tribe who lived on land negotiated by William Penn and their ancestors in the 1690s.
    • Many Conestoga were Christian, and they had lived peacefully with their European neighbors for decades.
    • Although there had been no American Indian attacks in the area, the Paxton Boys claimed that the Conestoga secretly provided aid and intelligence to the hostiles.
    • On December 14, 1763, more than 50 Paxton Boys marched on the Conestoga homes near Conestoga Town, Millersville, and murdered six people and burned their cabins.

  • The Boston Massacre and Military Occupation

    • The Boston Massacre was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which nine British Army soldiers killed five colonial civilian men.
    • The Boston Massacre, called "The Incident on King Street" by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five colonial civilian men.
    • The Boston Massacre is considered one of the most important events that turned colonial sentiment against King George III and British parliamentary authority.
    • Although five years passed between the massacre and outright revolution, it is widely perceived as a significant event leading to the violent rebellion that followed.
    • A sensationalized portrayal of the skirmish, later to become known as the "Boston Massacre," between British soldiers and citizens of Boston on March 5, 1770.

  • The Economy of the Middle Colonies

    • The colony also became a major producer of pig iron and its products, including the Pennsylvania long rifle and the Conestoga wagon.

  • The Year of Blood

    • The Native Americans executed these captives in retaliation for the Gnadenhütten massacre.
    • This painting depicts the ritual torture Crawford endured in retaliation for the massacre of Christian Delawares (though Crawford had no role in that massacre).

  • The Decimation of the Great Bison Herds and the Fight for the Black Hills

    • Major battles for the Black Hills included the Battle of the Rosebud, Battle of the Little Bighorn, Battle of Slim Butte, and the Fort Robinson Massacre.
    • However, the most renowned, as well as the most brutal of the battles over the Black Hills, is the massacre which took place at Wounded Knee.
    • The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek (Lakota: Čhaŋkpé Ópi Wakpála) on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

  • Settling the Middle Colonies

    • The colony also became a major producer of pig iron and its products, including the Pennsylvania long rifle and the Conestoga wagon.

  • The Aztec in the Colonial Period

    • Alvarado allowed a significant Aztec feast to be celebrated in Tenochtitlan, and in the pattern of the earlier massacre in Cholula closed off the square and massacred the celebrating Aztec noblemen.
    • The biography of Cortés by Francisco López de Gómara contains a description of the massacre.
    • The Alvarado massacre at the Main Temple of Tenochtitlan precipitated rebellion by the population of the city.

  • The First Crusade

    • The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city, and captured it in July 1099, massacring many of the city's Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.
    • The massacre that followed the capture of Jerusalem has attained particular notoriety, as a "juxtaposition of extreme violence and anguished faith."
    • Nevertheless, some historians propose that the scale of the massacre was exaggerated in later medieval sources.
    • Still, it is clear that some Muslims and Jews of the city survived the massacre, either escaping or being taken prisoner to be ransomed.
    • The Eastern Christian population of the city had been expelled before the siege by the governor, and thus escaped the massacre.

  • The French Wars of Religion

    • However, the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to have begun the Wars of Religion; up to a hundred Huguenots were killed in this massacre.
    • Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, when Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots in Paris.
    • Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following.
    • By September 17, almost 25,000 Protestants had been massacred in Paris alone.
    • The massacre also marked a turning point in the French Wars of Religion.