Paxton Riots
The Paxton Riots, occurring in late 1763, were a violent response by a group known as the "Paxton Boys," led by Matthew Smith. Frustrated with perceived threats from Native Americans amid the turmoil of Pontiac's Rebellion, a conflict that had seen significant violence against colonial settlers, the Paxton Boys targeted the Conestoga Indians, who had lived peacefully with colonists for many years. On December 14, they attacked Conestoga manor, resulting in the deaths of several individuals, including women and a child. Following this initial assault, the group further escalated their violence by storming a Lancaster jail where surviving Conestoga members had sought refuge, leading to additional killings described by contemporary observers as inhumane.
The riots were not solely about violence against Native Americans; they also reflected deeper political tensions in Pennsylvania, particularly the frustration of western settlers over the perceived lack of representation and support from the Quaker-dominated colonial government. These events highlighted the complex interplay of ethnic, religious, and political dynamics of the time, as the Scots-Irish Presbyterians sought to challenge the prevailing pacifist policies of the Quakers. Ultimately, the Paxton Riots underscored a significant political stalemate in colonial Pennsylvania, revealing the challenges of addressing frontier security and governance during a period of rising tensions.
Paxton Riots
Date: December 14 and 27, 1763
Place: Conestoga, Lancaster (Pennsylvania)
Tribes affected: Conestoga, Lenni Lenape
Significance: The Paxton Riots, a series of attacks by frontier settlers on innocent Conestoga Indians in Pennsylvania, were motivated by fear of Indian attacks and frustration with Pennsylvania politics
On December 14, 1763, Matthew Smith led fifty-seven armed and mounted men from Paxton to Conestoga “manor” fifty miles away. Conestoga manor was home to the Conestoga Indians, who had lived peacefully with colonists for nearly a century. The Conestogas survived by selling handicrafts, begging, and subsistence farming. They had remained at peace with their neighbors during the past summer despite the outbreak of “Pontiac’s Rebellion.” Smith and his “Paxton Boys” were riding to Conestoga because they were frustrated. They were convinced that the Conestoga were spies for the enemy Indians who attacked the frontier with seeming impunity. Once at Conestoga, the Paxton boys killed three men, two women, and a child. Fourteen Indians escaped, and the Pennsylvania government took the survivors into protective custody. Two weeks later fifty Paxton Boys swept into Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and stormed the Conestogas who had taken shelter in the Lancaster jail. There the Conestogas were, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “inhumanely murdered! In cold Blood!”
The Paxton massacres took place against the backdrop of Pontiac’s Rebellion. By December, 1763, the “rebelling” Indians had killed or captured nearly two thousand colonists. Officials reported that the Indians had driven the frontierspeople eastward nearly 50 miles since the war began. John Penn, the great-nephew of William Penn and the current governor of Pennsylvania, issued a proclamation for the arrest of the Paxton boys when he learned of the attack. Although the citizens of the western counties knew who participated in the murders, no one stepped forward with information.
Not content with these attacks, Smith and his followers threatened to attack Philadelphia. Moravians had sent 125 Christian Delawares eastward, where these pacifists were now housed at Province Island for their protection. Smith and his followers marched on Philadelphia, where only the timely intervention of Benjamin Franklin prevented more bloodshed, this time between colonists.
Although Smith and his followers directed their anger at the Indians, it was apparent that political antagonisms were also part of the equation. In their “Remonstrance” to the government they wondered why eastern counties denied their western counterparts equal representation in the colonial assembly. In this protest against political oppression, they also exhibited the religious tensions that underlay Pennsylvania politics.
Quakers dominated the assembly. Given their religious convictions, the Pennsylvania assembly had refused to sanction the military buildup frontiersmen believed necessary to protect themselves from the Indians. The frontiersmen, many of whom were Scots-Irish Presbyterians, believed the Quakers refused military help because they were overly parsimonious and not sufficiently religious. Many of Smith’s followers were influenced by the end of the Great Awakening and the recent arrival of new immigrants. These Presbyterians wished to challenge the Quaker stranglehold on Pennsylvania politics and end Pennsylvania’s official policy of pacifism toward the western Indians. In the end, the Paxton massacre produced a political stalemate in Pennsylvania politics that not even Lord Dunmore’s War (which began as a Pennsylvania-Virginia dispute) could break.