Penn's Creek Massacre, Monroe Township, Pennsylvania
These weathered tablets commemorate two historical occurrences which took place in close physical proximity to each other and only days apart.
The left tablet, above, is inscribed: “In commemoration of The (John) Penn’s Creek Massacre, which occurred along this stream on October 16,1755 when the settlers were attacked by the Indians and about 26 were killed, wounded or carried into captivity. This was the first Indian outbreak within the Province of Pennsylvania following the defeat of General Edward Braddock, in the French and Indian War.”
The tablet on the right, above, is inscribed: “On October 25,1755 John Harris, Founder of Harrisburg, and a party of 40 men who came up the river to investigate the (John) Penn’s Creek Massacre, were ambushed by a party of Indians near the mouth of this creek at the head of the Isle of Que, one third of a mile south of this spot.”
The tablets were erected, on the same stone monument, over 100 years ago and placed along the road now named Old Trail.
Union County Historical Society
Attacks on settlers took place in the region at the same time as was the case in the LeRoy attack which was part of the Penn's Creek Massacre southeast of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania.
The attacks of 1755 in more detail
Located a letter in the National Archives where John Harris corresponds with Benjamin Franklin referencing the situation in the Susquehanna Valley late October, 1755.
Proper citation: “John Harris to Benjamin Franklin, 31 October 1755,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-06-02-0103. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 6, April 1, 1755, through September 30, 1756, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1963, pp. 232–233.]T
The Penn's Creek Massacre tablet distance from the National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: 49.6 miles.
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