Fall Creek massacre facts for kids
The Fall Creek massacre was a terrible event that happened on March 22, 1824, in Madison County, Indiana. Nine Native Americans were killed by seven white settlers. The group included two men, three women, two boys, and two girls. They were living in a camp near Fall Creek, where the town of Pendleton, Indiana is today.
This event became very well known across the United States. Newspapers at the time shared details about the killings and the trials that followed. It was the first time in U.S. history that white Americans were found guilty and put to death for killing Native Americans.
Six of the seven white men who took part in the killings were caught. The seventh man, Thomas Harper, was never found. Four of the captured men were charged with murder. The other two men helped the prosecution by giving testimony. All four accused men were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. James Hudson was hanged on January 12, 1825. Andrew Sawyer and John Bridge Sr. were hanged on June 3, 1825. The governor of Indiana, James B. Ray, pardoned John Bridge Jr. He was only eighteen years old, and the governor believed he was influenced by the older men.
We don't know much about the Native American victims. The white men knew the two Native American men only as Ludlow and Logan. The names of the other victims were not recorded. It is thought that the group might have been a mix of different tribes, like the Seneca, Shawnee, and Delaware. This was common for tribes in that area. A government agent named John Johnson said they were Seneca people. They had come to the area for the winter from their home near Lewistown, Ohio.
Even though this case was famous and the white men were punished, it did not create a lasting rule for equal justice under American law. Today, a stone marker in Pendleton's Fall Creek Park remembers the place where the hangings happened. Another historical marker along State Road 38 near Markleville, Indiana, shows where the killings took place. The events also inspired a novel called The Massacre at Fall Creek, written by Jessamyn West in 1975.
Contents
Remembering the Fall Creek Massacre
Stone Marker in Pendleton
In Fall Creek Park in Pendleton, Indiana, there is a stone marker. It says: "Three white men were hung here in 1825 for killing Indians." In 1991, the Pendleton Historic District, which includes this park and marker, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This list recognizes important historical places in the United States.
Highway Marker for the Event
In 1966, the Indiana Sesquicentennial Commission put up a historical highway marker. It is located along State Route 38, about half a mile east of Markleville, Indiana, in Madison County. The marker reads: "In 1824, nine Indians were murdered by white men near this spot. The men were tried, found guilty and hanged. It was the first execution of white men for killing Indians."
Images for kids
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Governor Ray arrives to pardon John T. Bridge Jr., as shown in the book Stories of Indiana, by Maurice Thompson.
