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The Gnadenhutten Effect: Moravian Converts And The Search For Safety In The Canadian Borderlands, John Bowes

John P. Bowes

In 1782, 96 Moravian Indian converts, mostly Munsee Delawares, were systematically massacred at the Gnadenhutten settlement on the Muskingum River in Ohio. After the massacre, they struggled to find a new home in the Great Lakes region. Often finding themselves living in a war zone, the Moravians and the Indians were subject to raids, rumors, and misunderstandings, and in 1792 they made the decision to cross into Canada, where they established a successful settlement on the Thames River in Ontario. Ironically, during the War of 1812, the Battle of the Thames destroyed their settlement, but in 1815 they returned to …