thumb|upright=1.2|1841 lithograph depicting the Paxton Boys' massacre of the Conestoga at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in December 1763

The Paxton Boys, also known as the Paxtang Boys or the Paxton Rangers, were a mob of settlers that murdered 20 unarmed Conestoga in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in December 1763. This group of vigilantes from Lancaster and Cumberland counties formed in 1763 to defend themselves from Indigenous attacks during Pontiac's War. The Paxton Boys justified their actions by claiming that the Conestoga were colluding with the Lenape and Shawnee who were attacking Pennsylvania's frontier settlements. According to historian Kevin Kenny, the Paxton Boys were Pennsylvania's most aggressive colonists.

In February 1764, the Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia with the intent of murdering the Moravian Lenape and Mohican who had been moved to that city for their protection. However, the marchers dispersed at Germantown after meeting with a delegation headed by Benjamin Franklin. Members of the group led by Lazarus Stewart later supported settlers from Connecticut in the Wyoming Valley during the Pennamite-Yankee Wars and the Revolutionary War.

Formation

The Paxton Boys were drawn from Scots-Irish Presbyterians who lived in the hill country northwest of Lancaster and across the Susquehanna River in Cumberland County. Many of these settlers were squatters encroaching on Indigenous territory. As a result, the Lenape and Shawnee targeted their scattered farms during Pontiac's War.

Reverend John Elder, who was the parson at Paxtang, was a dominant Presbyterian figure on the Pennsylvania frontier. In the spring of 1763, Elder recruited 110 associators to defend against Lenape and Shawnee attacks. Elder realized that he did not have enough men to mount an effective defense, but he was unable to convince the Pennsylvania government to allow his rangers to take offensive action.

Citing their Presbyterian faith, the leaders of the Paxton Boys declared that the "Indians" were "Canaanites" and needed to be destroyed. The Paxton Boys struggled with the idea of "friendly" indigenous groups and insisted that “the distinction between 'friendly' and 'enemy' Indians was invalid. All Indians were enemies and must be treated accordingly.”

The Conestoga

In the late 1680s, a remnant group of Susquehannock who had been living among the Seneca returned to their traditional homeland in the lower Susquehanna River valley. They established a village north of the Conestoga River near the confluence with the Susquehanna River, where they later were joined by several Seneca families. By 1697, the village had an estimated population of 132. Most inhabitants were of Susquehannock and Seneca heritage, but some Cayuga and Oneida were also present. Collectively they became known as the Conestoga.

From this group William Penn acquired a deed for the Susquehannock's traditional territory in 1700. A treaty in 1701 confirmed the ownership transfer but also recognized the right of the Conestoga to continue to live on and use the land. The population shrank as some families migrated west to the Ohio Country or returned north to the Iroquois homeland.

Will Sock was one of fourteen Conestoga who had been away from Conestoga Town when the attack occurred. He and the others were given refuge in the Lancaster workhouse. Angry that many of the Conestoga had escaped, the Paxton Boys rode into Lancaster two weeks later. Elder appeared before the angry mob and tried to restrain them, but to little effect. On December 27, 1763, under the leadership of Smith and Stewart, the Paxton Boys broke into the workhouse and killed, scalped, and dismembered all fourteen of the surviving Conestoga, including the women and children.

thumb|upright|A stone memorial stands at the location of the original Conestoga Indian town.

Following this second attack, Governor John Penn offered a substantial reward for the capture of the ringleaders involved in the massacre, but none were ever identified. Many of the residents of Lancaster County expressed sympathy towards the Paxton Boys, so no arrests occurred.

Elder, who was not directly implicated in either attack, wrote to Governor Penn on January 27, 1764:

March on Philadelphia

thumb|upright=1.2|Pennsylvania Associators assemble after news of the Paxton Boys marching on Philadelphia, published 1764.

A month before the Conestoga Massacre, the peaceable Moravian Lenape and Mohican who lived near Bethlehem had been moved to Province Island near Philadelphia for their protection. Following the massacre Governor Penn ordered a relocation to New York. However, the governor of New York at that time, Cadwallader Colden, refused to accept the refugees, and they were forced back to Philadelphia, where they were housed in the city barracks.

In February 1764, the Paxton Boys and their followers, a few hundred in total, marched on Philadelphia intending to "put to death all the Indians in the Barracks."

On February 5, the Paxton Boys entered Germantown, a village six miles northwest of Philadelphia. A resident of the town, David Rittenhouse, described the occupation: "I have seen hundreds of Indians traveling the country, and can with truth affirm, that the behavior of these fellows was ten times more savage and brutal than theirs.” The Paxton Boys, he wrote, paraded through the streets, “frightening women, by running the muzzles of their guns through windows, swearing and hallooing: attacking men without the least provocation; dragging them by their hair to the ground, and pretending to scalp them.”

The Paxton Boys halted their march in Germantown after learning about the sizable force that was prepared to meet them in Philadelphia. Seeking an end to the situation, Penn appointed Franklin to lead a delegation to meet with the Paxton Boys. On February 7, after a day of negotiations, they agreed to disperse and to submit their grievances in writing.

Two documents were submitted. The Declaration justified the killing of the Conestoga, criticized the government's failure to establish a scalp bounty, and accused the government of favoring the indigenous population over the colonists. The Remonstrance repeated the accusation of favoritism and the demand for a scalp bounty, but also insisted that the Moravian Lenape and Mohican were enemies of Pennsylvania. According to the authors of the Remonstrance, "all Indians were perfidious and deserving of annihilation during wartime."

The most notorious incident was the January 1768 murder of ten Lenape and Mohicans, including women and children, by Frederick Stump and John Ironcutter in Cumberland County. Stump and Ironcutter were arrested, but an armed mob broke into the Carlisle jail and freed them. Stump escaped to Georgia and served under Francis Marion during the Revolutionary War.

Ogden arrived in the valley in January 1769 and established a fort which became known as Fort Ogden. In February, the settlers from Connecticut arrived, followed a few months later by a second group led by John Durkee. As a counter to Fort Ogden, the newcomers constructed fortified houses surrounded by a stockade which they named Fort Durkee. In November, however, Ogden captured Fort Durkee and expelled or arrested most of the Connecticut settlers.

Meanwhile the Susquehanna Company began offering land to disaffected Pennsylvanians. In December 1769, Lazurus Stewart agreed to bring the Paxton Boys to the Wyoming Valley in exchange for land. Two months later, Stewart accompanied by Susquehanna Company agent Zebulon Butler and about forty of the Paxton Boys set out for the Wyoming Valley.

In fiction

Each of these books references the Paxton Boys:

  • The Light in the Forest (1953) by Conrad Richter
  • Mason & Dixon (1997) by Thomas Pynchon
  • Conestoga Winter: A Story of Border Vengeance (2013) by Robert J. Shade
  • The Amish Seamstress (2013) by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould
  • Ghost River: The Fall & Rise of the Conestoga (2019) by Lee Francis 4 and Weshoyot Alvitre

See also

  • Enoch Brown school massacre
  • Gnadenhutten massacre

References

  • Digital Paxton. Digital collection of primary sources and contextual essays relating to the Paxton Boys.
  • "A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of this Province, by Persons Unknown". Benjamin Franklin's account of the Conestoga Massacre and criticism of the Paxton Boys.