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Northampton massacre
The Northampton massacre was a series of attacks on white settlers in Northampton County, Pennsylvania in December 1755. These attacks terrified the population, who then demanded military protection from the colonial government of Pennsylvania. On 10 and 11 December, a party of Native American warriors (estimates range from 200 to only 5) attacked the Hoeth family farm and killed Frederick Hoeth and his wife, and took three of their children captive. They also set fire to Daniel Brodhead's Plantation, and attacked and burned about a dozen farms in the area. The Moravian mission at Dansbury was also destroyed.
In one account of the attacks, 78 people were listed killed and about 45 buildings destroyed. Other sources reported up to 89 dead. These attacks led the provincial government to put Benjamin Franklin in charge of designing a defensive chain of stockade forts and blockhouses to protect European settlements in central and eastern Pennsylvania. This defensive line offered some protection for settlers during the French and Indian War.
Relations between European settlers and the Lenape Indians, and with the Minisink, a phratry of the Lenape, had deteriorated following the 1737 Walking Purchase, in which the government of the Province of Pennsylvania brokered an agreement which allowed them to take possession of lands along the northern Delaware River that the Lenape considered to be theirs. There is some evidence that this was a deliberate deception on the part of the Pennsylvania government. Most of the Lenape were forced to relocate into western Pennsylvania.
On 24 November 1755, tensions rose in Northampton County after settlers in the neighboring Province of New Jersey detained a group of 15 Minisink Indians, including three men and a dozen women and children, and brought them to the jail at Easton. The reasons for detaining them are unclear, but the people of Easton were concerned that this act would provoke violence from the Indians, and the next day the prisoners were transferred to another prison in New Jersey.
On 11 December 1755, the Moravian bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg wrote to Timothy Horsfield, a justice of the peace from Bethlehem, who forwarded his letters to Governor Robert Hunter Morris. Spangenberg described an assault on several farms in the area, by a band of 200 Native American warriors, who had killed a number of settlers and destroyed about a dozen farms. A number of settlers died when they were trapped inside burning buildings. Over 300 people fled to Bethlehem and Easton.
On 25 December, the Pennsylvania Gazette published a letter from the Pennsylvania Commissioners, describing some of the attacks and reporting a plan to build forts and blockhouses in the area to protect the populace:
In an account of the attacks from the Union Iron Works in Jersey, dated 20 December, 78 people are listed killed and about 45 buildings destroyed. Other sources report as many as 89 dead.
The Hoeth farm on Pohopoco Creek (then known as Heads [Hoeth's] Creek) was attacked and only two settlers survived. Michael Hoeth (referred to in some documents as Michael Hute) gave a deposition on 12 December to Judge William Parsons, in which he described the attack on the Hoeth farm:
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Northampton massacre
The Northampton massacre was a series of attacks on white settlers in Northampton County, Pennsylvania in December 1755. These attacks terrified the population, who then demanded military protection from the colonial government of Pennsylvania. On 10 and 11 December, a party of Native American warriors (estimates range from 200 to only 5) attacked the Hoeth family farm and killed Frederick Hoeth and his wife, and took three of their children captive. They also set fire to Daniel Brodhead's Plantation, and attacked and burned about a dozen farms in the area. The Moravian mission at Dansbury was also destroyed.
In one account of the attacks, 78 people were listed killed and about 45 buildings destroyed. Other sources reported up to 89 dead. These attacks led the provincial government to put Benjamin Franklin in charge of designing a defensive chain of stockade forts and blockhouses to protect European settlements in central and eastern Pennsylvania. This defensive line offered some protection for settlers during the French and Indian War.
Relations between European settlers and the Lenape Indians, and with the Minisink, a phratry of the Lenape, had deteriorated following the 1737 Walking Purchase, in which the government of the Province of Pennsylvania brokered an agreement which allowed them to take possession of lands along the northern Delaware River that the Lenape considered to be theirs. There is some evidence that this was a deliberate deception on the part of the Pennsylvania government. Most of the Lenape were forced to relocate into western Pennsylvania.
On 24 November 1755, tensions rose in Northampton County after settlers in the neighboring Province of New Jersey detained a group of 15 Minisink Indians, including three men and a dozen women and children, and brought them to the jail at Easton. The reasons for detaining them are unclear, but the people of Easton were concerned that this act would provoke violence from the Indians, and the next day the prisoners were transferred to another prison in New Jersey.
On 11 December 1755, the Moravian bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg wrote to Timothy Horsfield, a justice of the peace from Bethlehem, who forwarded his letters to Governor Robert Hunter Morris. Spangenberg described an assault on several farms in the area, by a band of 200 Native American warriors, who had killed a number of settlers and destroyed about a dozen farms. A number of settlers died when they were trapped inside burning buildings. Over 300 people fled to Bethlehem and Easton.
On 25 December, the Pennsylvania Gazette published a letter from the Pennsylvania Commissioners, describing some of the attacks and reporting a plan to build forts and blockhouses in the area to protect the populace:
In an account of the attacks from the Union Iron Works in Jersey, dated 20 December, 78 people are listed killed and about 45 buildings destroyed. Other sources report as many as 89 dead.
The Hoeth farm on Pohopoco Creek (then known as Heads [Hoeth's] Creek) was attacked and only two settlers survived. Michael Hoeth (referred to in some documents as Michael Hute) gave a deposition on 12 December to Judge William Parsons, in which he described the attack on the Hoeth farm: