The Indian massacre reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Indian massacre

The long conquest of North America from the Native Americans ("Indians") by newer Americans of European descent ("settlers") produced a vast number of atrocities on both sides. The term "Indian massacre" has been used to label both the massacre of settlers by Indians and the massacre of Indians by settlers. These were a common part of the ongoing conflict that existed at the zone of contact between the two peoples.

How many people died in these massacres overall?

In the book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, William M. Osborn tallies every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890) and determines that 9156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by the Indians, and 7193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by the settlers. Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture or mutilation of civilians, the wounded and prisoners.

While this definition encompasses most of what the average person would consider an atrocity, different definitions would obviously produce different totals. For example, Osborn does not count Indian deaths on the Trail of Tears (because these were allegedly unintentional), but he does count several episodes of post-mortem mutilation, even of combatants killed in open battle. While Osborn's exact total of 16349 killed on both sides can therefore be disputed, it is probably in the right neighborhood.

If we loosen our definition further and decide to count all people who died violently in the ongoing warfare between whites and Indians -- battle deaths as well as murders -- we can turn to the 1894 estimate by the US Census Bureau (cited in Russel Thornton, American Indian Holocaust and Survival). There it was calculated that some 30,000 to 45,000 Indians (men, woman and children) died at the hands of whites in formal wars, 1775-1890, while some 14,000 white men, woman and children died at the hands of Indians. In addition to these, some 5,000 whites and 8,500 Indians were killed in smaller, unofficial fights between individuals up and down the frontier.

Neither side stands out as being more merciful or humane than the other. Many Indian tribes ritually tortured their captives, while whites often tortured their prisoners for sport. Both sides collected scalps and scrota as trophies. Both sides raped. Both sides would promise safe conduct to defeated enemies or non-combatants, and then massacre them as soon as they let their guard down. Both sides attacked easy targets (such as peaceful -- even friendly -- villages and settlements) as retaliation for hostile acts by totally unrelated war bands and militia units. There is probably no example of an atrocity by one side that can't be set along side of a comparable atrocity by the other.

Here is a list of the larger or more widely known massacres of the North American conflict:

• 1610 - 1622 - Deliberate genocide of Powhatans by London Virginia Company. It involved the manipulation of English Law by Sir Edward Coke a prominent jurist whose writings on the English common law were the definitive legal texts for some 300 years. There were two Anglo-Powhatan Wars accompanied by racist polemics preached by associates of the Company in London.
• March 22, 1622 - Jamestown Massacre - Powhatan Indians kill 347 English settlers throughout the Virginia colony.
• May 26, 1637 - English troops attacked a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut. The village was set on fire and the women and children were killed as they attempted to flee. One observer later wrote: "it was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire and the steams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof," William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, page 296. In this and the succeeding campaign about 700 members of the tribe were killed including men taken captive. The tribe was disbanded and the survivors adopted by neighboring tribes.
• 1777 - deliberate devastation of Six Nations as British allies (estimated killed?)
• 1778 - Wyoming Valley Massacre - Iroquois kill 360 settlers.
• 1778 - Cherry Valley Massacre, New York - over 30 settlers killed.
• April 22, 1818 - Chehaw Affair - 7 men killed (estimates from 7-40 killed), American troops attack friendly Indian village during First Seminole War
• 1832 - Black Hawk War - 850 men, women, children killed in war many at Bad Ax Massacre, Bad Ax Wisconsin by American militia and Indian allies
• 1838-1839 - Trail of Tears - 4,000 Cherokees, mainly died from disease and exposure during forced relocation. (see Indian Removal)
• March 3, 1860 - Eureka, California - 80-100 men, women, children, Wiyot tribe killed by local hooligans
• January 29, 1863 - Bear River Massacre - fewer than 250 killed
• April 24, 1863 - Keyesville Massacre - Keyesville, California - 53 military age men, Tehachapi tribe
• November 29, 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre - Sand Creek, Colorado - ca. 163 Cheyenne men, women, and children killed by Colorado militia.
• November 27, 1868 - Washita Massacre - Washita River, Oklahoma - 100 people killed; this is often considered a battle, not a massacre
• January 23, 1870 - Marias Massacre - 200 Piegans, mainly elderly, women, and children
• December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre - Wounded Knee, South Dakota - 300 (est.) people killed.

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