"Here Triumphed in death ninety Christian Indians": Commemorating the Massacre of Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, 1782

This paper explores the spiritual, racial, and political meanings of nineteenth century Moravian commemorations of the massacre of Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten, Ohio in 1782 by American militiamen. Beginning in 1843, members of the community of Gnadenhutten, Ohio remembered the story of their martyred Indian brethren through multiple media: relic collecting, monuments, and commemorations. The timing of the forcible removal of the last Native American tribe from Ohio in July, 1843, and the inauguration of a society by the Gnadenhutten Moravian church four months later to commemorate their Indian brethren was not a coincidence. Pragmatically speaking, the removal of the last tribe of Indians from Ohio brought an end to the Moravian experiment of interracial Christian community formation and the closing of the era of Moravian mission to North American Indians. The departure of Ohio's Indians links Gnadenhutten's commemorative culture with the history of Indian removal and the permanent separation of Indians from community with white Moravians. The community of Gnadenhutten maintained its spiritual association with their Indian brethren by remembering and commemorating their highest spiritual moment: the martyrdom of their Native brethren. Church leaders and local congregants contested over the spiritual and secular meanings that the massacre held for the religious community, and whether the spilt blood of their Native brethren during the War for Independence possessed the power to incorporate the Moravian community into the national body politic through their sacrifice. This paper examines how the Moravian community's construction of a collective memory of the massacre was both transformative and traditional, and held political, social, and spiritual meanings.