Native American massacres

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 Native Americans and the massacre of Native Americans 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 Native Americans, 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 Native American 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. Osborn's exact total of 16349 killed on both sides can therefore be disputed.

If we loosen our definition further and decide to count all people who died violently in the ongoing warfare between whites and Native Americans -- 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 Native American men, women, and children died at the hands of whites in formal wars, 1775-1890, while some 14,000 white men, women, and children died at the hands of Native Americans. In addition to these, some 5,000 whites and 8,500 Native Americans 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. 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.

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

• March 22, 1622 - Jamestown Massacre - Powhatans kill 347 English settlers throughout the Virginia colony.
• May 26, 1637 - English troops attack a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut. In this and the succeeding campaign, over seven hundred men, women, and children are estimated to have been killed by whites.
• August 1757 - 70-180 British and colonial prisoners killed by Indian allies of the French after the fall of Fort William Henry.
• 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.
• January, 1813 - River Raisin Massacre - 30-60 Kentucky militia killed after surrendering.
• April 22, 1818 - Chehaw Affair - United States troops attack a non-hostile village during First Seminole War, killing an estimated fifty men, women, and children.
• 1832 - Black Hawk War - 850 men, women, and children are slaughtered in Bad Ax, Wisconsin by white soldiers
• 1838-1839 - Trail of Tears - Upwards of 5000 men, women, and children, many of them Cherokee, die of starvation, exposure, and suicide. (see Indian Removal)
• 1854 - Kaibai Creek, California - 42 Winnemem men, women, and children are killed by white settlers
• 1855 - Grattan Massacre, Brule Sioux in Nebraska Territory.
• March 3, 1860 - Eureka, California - upwards of 100 Wiyot men, women, and children are slaughtered by settlers.
• 1862 - As many as 800 settlers killed in uprising of Santee Sioux.
• January 29, 1863 - Bear River Massacre - upwards of 200 men, women, and children are slaughtered by whites
• April 24, 1863 - Keyesville Massacre - Keyesville, California - 53 Tehachapi men are killed by whites
• November 29, 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre - Sand Creek, Colorado - upwards of 160 Cheyenne men, women, and children are slaughtered by militiamen
• 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, slaughtered by whites
• December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre - Wounded Knee, South Dakota - up to 300 Sioux men, women, and children are killed by US soldiers.

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