Paxton Boys

In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, no Europeans had yet settled in the frontier of Pennsylvania. A new wave of Scots-Irish immigrants encroached on Native American land in the backcountry, often in blatant violation of previously signed treaties. These settlers claimed that Indians often raided their homes. Reverend John Elder, who was the parson at Paxtang, became a leader of the settlers. He was known as the "Fighting Parson" and kept his rifle in the pulpit while he delivered his sermons. During Pontiac's war in 1763, John Elder was given command of 110 men named the Paxton Boys or Paxtang Boys to defend the frontier. John believed that he did not have enough men to defend that frontier and petitioned the local government to allow him to take offensive actions against the native tribes. Paxton leadership struggled with the idea of allied Indian tribes and constantly insisted “the distinction between “friendly” and “enemy” Indians was invalid. All Indians were enemies and must be treated accordingly.”[1] This anti-native ideology would influence all Paxton actions throughout its existence.

The Susquehannock tribe which inhabited Conestoga Indiantown had lived on the land which William Penn ceded to their ancestors in the 1690s. Once the crossroads of diplomacy and trade, it was now in permanent decline. Many Conestoga were Christian, and they had lived peacefully with their European neighbors for decades. They lived by bartering handicrafts, hunting, and from subsistence food given to them by the Pennsylvania government. The Indians could not hunt for fear of being mistaken for an enemy by colonial forces. Will Sock, the prominent member of the tribe, became a target by the Paxton boys as they made unsubstantiated claims that the Conestoga secretly provided aid and intelligence to rebellious tribes. These claims came from a man named Mathew Smith, who, along with five companions, decided to investigate the Conestoga village. "Smith believed he could see dozens of strangers armed Indians in the little village and the six returned for help." John Elder sent a short message to the party to dissuade the coming violence, but it had little effect.

At daybreak on December 14, 1763, a vigilante group of fifty-seven Scots-Irish frontiersmen attacked homes in Conestoga Town (near present-day Millersville), murdered six, and burned their cabins. Fourteen of the Conestogas had been unable to reach home, having been away selling personal wares the previous evening, and spent the night with neighbors. After hearing of the murders, they fled to Lancaster town where the new governor, John Penn, offered them refuge in the local prisons.

The colonial government in the wake of the massacre held an inquest and determined that the killings were murder. The new governor, John Penn (William Penn’s grandson), offered a reward for the capture of the Paxton Boys. Penn placed the remaining fourteen-sixteen Conestoga in protective custody in Lancaster. Believing that one of the protected Indians was a murderer, the Paxton Boys rode to Lancaster, believing their job was only half done. John Elder himself appeared before the angry mob to try and restrain them, but to little effect. On December 27, 1763, under the leadership of Matthew Smith and Lazarus Stewart, a mob of Paxton Boys broke into the Lancaster prison. They killed, scalped, and dismembered six adults and eight children. The government of Pennsylvania offered a new reward after this second attack, this time 200 pounds (US$53,363 in 2022) for the capture of any of the ringleaders involved with the massacre. The attackers were never identified. Many of the residents of where they lived had sympathy towards the Paxton Boys and their efforts; therefore no prosecutions were put into action. There was a strong feeling among many of the Quakers that many of the law-keeping officials such as the sheriff, the coroners, and the magistrates were not fully cooperating with the government to bring the leaders of the massacre to justice. The Conestoga murders were meant to “convey a message”, not just to scare the Philadelphia provincial authorities, but also the local elites. Following these successful acts of violence, it was clear to the Paxton leaders that local authorities would struggle to respond to any escalations of violence in the future.

Many colonists were outraged about the December killings of innocent Conestoga, describing the murders as more savage than those committed by Indians. Benjamin Franklin's "Narrative of the Late Massacres" concluded with noting that the Conestoga would have been safe among any other people on earth, no matter how primitive, except "'white savages' from Peckstang and Donegall!"[2]

I saw a number of people running down the street towards the gaol, which enticed me and other lads to follow them. At about sixty or eighty yards from the gaol, we met from twenty-five to thirty men, well mounted on horses, and with rifles, tomahawks, and scalping knives, equipped for murder. I ran into the prison yard, and there, O what a horrid sight presented itself to my view!- Near the back door of the prison, lay an old Indian and his women, particularly well known and esteemed by the people of the town, on account of his placid and friendly conduct. His name was Will Sock; across him and his Native women lay two children, of about the age of three years, whose heads were split with the tomahawk, and their scalps all taken off. Towards the middle of the gaol yard, along the west side of the wall, lay a stout Indian, whom I particularly noticed to have been shot in the breast, his legs were chopped with the tomahawk, his hands cut off, and finally a rifle ball discharged in his mouth; so that his head was blown to atoms, and the brains were splashed against, and yet hanging to the wall, for three or four feet around. This man's hands and feet had also been chopped off with a tomahawk. In this manner lay the whole of them, men, women and children, spread about the prison yard: shot-scalped-hacked-and cut to pieces.

— William Henry of Lancaster[3]

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

The storm which had been so long gathering, has, at length, exploded. Had Government removed the Indians, which had been frequently, but without effect, urged, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated to madness? All that I could do was done. I expostulated; but life and reason were set at defiance. Yet the men in private life are virtuous and respectable; not cruel, but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of those ebullitions of wrath, caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected.[4]