David Zeisberger's Account
This all started on a cold morning in Sandusky where the Moravians were suffering from hunger. The Moravians decided to send a group back to their villages to get crops that survived the winter so they could have food. They left to march down there right after the snow melted. David said when they were on their way they were suspicious and went straight into the danger anyways. The American militia consisted of around 200 men. They greeted the Moravians and said that they bring no harm. Right after that they tied up all the men and put them in one building and tied the women and children up and put them in a different building. They started off by killing Abraham, then killed everyone else right after. As David Zeisberger would say, the killing happened on 2 separate days. He believes the Americans murdered the Moravians who were located in Gnadenhutten on March 7, 1782. But didn't murder the Moravians from Salem until the next day, March 8th. David says before the killing happened, a boy named Jacob set of to Salem to tell the Moravains about the American Militia. He brought them back to Gnaden and before they could even get across the river, a group of Americans took their weapons and supplies and tied them up. They then took them to the buildings where all the other Moravians were to be killed also.
That day David Zeisberger sent a messenger to Gnaden to let them know what was happening. Before the messenger got to Gnaden, he found a young boy who had been killed and scalped. When he looked about he saw that many white people had gone to Gnaden. At this point the messenger turned around and went to Schonbrunn to tell them the news. The Moravians then fled. The next day the Americans had went to Schonbrunn and Salem to finish off the Moravians. When they got there they didn't find anyone. Around April 7th, the realized that only 86 Moravians were killed so the other 10 must have been friends who did not belong to them. |