On July 26, 1764, four Delaware (Lenape) Native Americans entered a settlers' log schoolhouse in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

and killed the schoolmaster, Enoch Brown, and ten students. One other student named Archie McCullough was wounded. Historian Richard Middleton described the massacre as "one of the most notorious incidents" of

Pontiac's War Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of Native Americans dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754–176 ...

.Middleton, p. 171

Attack

On July 26, 1764, four Delaware (Lenape) Native Americans entered a settlers' log schoolhouse in the

in what is now Franklin County, near the present-day city of Greencastle. Inside were the schoolmaster, Enoch Brown, and a number of young students. Brown pleaded with the warriors to spare the children; nonetheless he was beaten with a club and

scalped Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the tak ...

.Dixon, p. 223 The warriors then clubbed and scalped the children. Brown and ten children were killed. One scalped child, Archie McCullough, survived his wounds. A child survivor recounted "Two old Indians and a young Indian rushed up to the door soon after the opening of the morning session. The master, surmising their objective, prayed them only to take his life and spare the children, but all were brutally knocked in the head with an Indian maul and scalped." A day earlier, the warriors had encountered a pregnant woman, identified as Susan King Cunningham, on the road. She was beaten to death, scalped, and the baby was cut out of her body. When the warriors returned to their village on the

Muskingum River The Muskingum River (Shawnee: ') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country o ...

in the Ohio Country and showed the scalps, an elder Delaware chief rebuked them as cowards for attacking children. John McCullough, a settler who had been held prisoner by the Delaware since 1756, later described the return of the raiding party in his

captivity narrative Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans ta ...

Aftermath

Incidents such as these prompted the

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...

, with the approval of Governor John Penn, to reintroduce the scalp

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

system previously used during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. Settlers could collect $134 for the scalp of an enemy American Indian male above the age of ten; the bounty for women was set at $50. Settlers buried Enoch Brown and the schoolchildren in a common grave. In 1843, the grave was excavated to confirm the location of the bodies. In 1885, the area was named Enoch Brown Park and a memorial was erected over the gravesite.Dixon, p. 318

Bibliography

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References

{{coord, 39.8246, -77.7559, type:event_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title 1764 in Pennsylvania History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania Lenape Massacres in the Thirteen Colonies Massacres by Native Americans Murdered American children Pontiac's War School massacres in the United States Crimes in Pennsylvania Mass murder in Pennsylvania Mass murder in the United States Massacres in 1764 1764 murders in North America