Devotion for Day of Remembrance March 8 – Gnadenhutten Massacre
Lamentations 3:49-51
“The tears stream from my eyes,
an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
the pain breaks my heart.”
In 1772, Moravian missionaries founded a mission for American Indians in the Ohio Country at Schoenbrunn (“Beautiful Spring” in German). Because of its success, Rev. David Zeisberger founded a second village in the same year at Gnadenhutten (“Tents of Grace” in German). Life at Gnadenhutten was like life at Schoenbrunn. The American Revolution made life difficult for the residents of Gnadenhutten and other Moravian settlements. To protect his followers, Zeisberger consolidated the Moravian missions at Lichtenau in 1778, but he eventually reestablished the village of Gnadenhutten in April 1779. In 1781, British authorities ordered the Christian Delawares to abandon their current villages and relocate in northern Ohio along the Sandusky River. Arriving at their new villages in the late fall, too late to plant crops, the Moravians and the Christian Delawares faced serious food shortages during the winter of 1781-1782. Hoping to alleviate their suffering, Zeisberger sent a group back to Gnadenhutten in March 1782, to harvest whatever crops remained in the fields. Mistakenly believing that these peaceful American Indians were responsible for recent raids in nearby Pennsylvania, militiamen attacked the village, captured the inhabitants, and then brutally murdered them. This gruesome event is known as the Gnadenhutten Massacre. After the incident, the Moravians never rebuilt the village. From http://www.gnadenmuseum.com.
The Equal Justice Initiative includes the Massacre at Gnadenhutten on its 2025 History of Racial Injustice calendar, and in a related article notes that the Massacre “has been called the greatest atrocity of the Revolutionary War.” The article also records that the soldiers took a vote on whether to kill the Lenape people, with only a few voting, “no.” The people were informed of their coming execution and “the captured Indigenous people spent the night praying and singing.” Children made up the largest group of those killed.
On this solemn day, Lenape people gather in sorrow and remembrance of their ancestors who faced unimaginable cruelty at Gnadenhutten on March 8, 1782. Ninety-six innocent souls – men, women, and children – followers of Christ, were betrayed by those they trusted. They met death not as enemies, but as peaceful people devoted to faith, community, and hope. We honor their memory and acknowledge the deep wounds that still echo through generations of the Lenape nations.
Prayer of Lament
O God of justice and mercy, we come before You with heavy hearts, remembering the lives lost in the cruelty of the Gnadenhutten Massacre. We mourn for the ninety-six souls who walked in peace and faith, only to meet betrayal from those who bore no mercy.
Why, O God, does violence stain the hands of humanity? Why do innocent people suffer while injustice reigns? Their cries echo through the generations: a plea for remembrance, for justice, for peace.
Words of Remembrance
We remember their faith, steadfast in the face of fear. We remember their song, silenced yet not forgotten. Let their memory be a call to repentance and repair for past wrongs and a spark for justice in our time.
Closing Prayer
God of all nations,
May the memory of Gnadenhutten awaken in us a hunger for peace, a commitment to justice, and a heart that stands against oppression and violence in all forms.
May we honor the spirits of those who died by honoring and working for reconciliation with the Lenape people. May the souls of those lost find rest in Your eternal embrace.
Amen.
Marion Perrin is a member of the Rio Terrace Moravian Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and the MCNP Racial Justice Team
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