In the long history of the English colonization of North America, the term "Indian massacre" was often used to describe mass killings of European-Americans ("whites") by Native Americans ("Indians"), and, less frequently, mass killings of American Indians by whites. In theory, massacre applied to the killing of civilian noncombatants or to the summary execution of prisoners-of-war. In practice, the label was often haphazardly applied, rarely without bias, and was sometimes used to describe an overwhelming (though lawful) military defeat. Similarly, massacres were sometimes mislabeled "battles" in an attempt to give legitimacy to what would today be considered a war crime.

Determining how many people died in these massacres overall is difficult. In the book The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, amateur historian William M. Osborn sought to tally every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890), and determined that 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans, and 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by whites. Osborn defines an atrocity as the murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded and prisoners. Different definitions would obviously produce different totals. For example, Osborn does not count Indian deaths on the Trail of Tears (because these were allegedly unintentional), but he does count several episodes of post-mortem mutilation, even of combatants killed in open battle. Osborn's exact total of 16,349 killed on both sides can therefore be disputed.

List of massacres

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A list of the larger or more notorious events in North America known as massacres: |- || August 31 || Stockbridge Massacre || A battle of the American Revolutionary War that rebel propaganda portrays as a massacre. |- || November 11 || Cherry Valley Massacre || More than thirty settlers killed. |- || August 30 || Fort Mims Massacre || Following defeat at the Battle of Burnt Corn, a band of Red Sticks sack Fort Mims, Alabama, killing four hundred civilians and taking two hundred and fifty scalps. This action precipitates the Creek War. |- || August 1-2 || Battle of Bad Axe || Around three hundred Indian men, women and children are slaughtered in Wisconsin by white soldiers. |- || October 24 || Tonkawa Massacre || Accompanied by Caddo allies, a detachment of irregularUnion Indians, mainly Kickapoo, Delaware and Shawnee, attempt to destroy the Tonkawa tribe in Indian Territory. One hundred and fifty of three hundred and ninety Tonkawa survive. |- || April 19 || Keyesville Massacre || White settlers kill thirty-five Tehachapi men in Kern County, California^*.

Year	Date	Name
1622	March 22	Jamestown Massacre	Powhatans kill three hundred and forty-seven English settlers throughout the Virginia colony.
1637	May 26	Mystic Massacre	English colonists, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, attack a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut, killing around five hundred villagers.
1690	February 8	French and Iroquois destroy Schenectady, New York, killing sixty settlers, including ten women and at least twelve children.
1704	February 29	Deerfield Massacre	A force comprised of Abenaki, Kanienkehaka, Wyandot and Pocumtuck Indians, led by a small contingent of French-Canadian militia, sack the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing fifty-six civilians and taking dozens more as captives.
1757	August	Following the fall of Fort William Henry, between seventy and one hundred and eighty British and colonial prisoners are killed by Indian allies of the French.
1778	July 3	Wyoming Valley Massacre	Following a battle with Patriot defenders of Forty Fort, Iroquois allies of the Loyalist forces hunt and kill those who flee, then torture those who surrendered to death.
	1782	March 8	Gnadenhütten massacre	Nearly one hundred non-combatant Christian Delaware (Lenape) Indians, mostly women and children, are killed one at a time by a hammer blow to the head by Pennsylvania militiamen.
	1813	January 22	River Raisin Massacre	Between thirty and sixty Kentucky militia were killed after surrendering.
1817		Spring	Battle of Claremore Mound	Cherokee Indians wipe out Osage Indians led by Chief Clermont at Claremore Mound, Indian Territory.
1818	April 22	Chehaw Affair	U.S. troops attack a non-hostile village during the First Seminole War, killing an estimated ten to fifty men, women and children.
1832	May 20	Indian Creek Massacre	Indians, mainly Potawatomi, kidnap two girls and kill fifteen men, women and children.
	1833	Spring	Cutthroat Gap Massacre	Osage Indians wipe out a Kiowa Indian village in Indian Territory.
1836	May 19	Fort Parker Massacre	Six men killed by a mixed Indian group in Limestone County, Texas.
1838	October 5	Killough Massacre	Indians massacre eighteen members and relatives of the Killough family in Texas.
1847	November 29	Whitman massacre	The murder of missionaries Dr Marcus Whitman, Mrs Narcissa Whitman and twelve others at Walla Walla, Washington by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, triggering the Cayuse War.
1854	August 17	Kaibai Creek Massacre	Forty-two Winnemem Wintu men, women and children are killed by white settlers at Kaibai Creek, California.
1855	August 17	Grattan Massacre	Twenty-nine U.S. soldiers killed by Brulé Lakota Sioux Indians in Nebraska Territory.
1860	February 26	Indian Island Massacre	At least one hundred Wiyot Indians, mostly women and children, are slaughtered by white settlers in Humboldt County, California, during one of three simultaneous assaults on the Wiyot *
1862	Aug/Sep	As many as eight hundred settlers killed during the Sioux Uprising.
	1863	January 29	Bear River Massacre	White settlers slaughter at least two hundred Indian men, women and children near Preston, Idaho.
1864		November 29	Sand Creek Massacre	Militiamen slaughter at least one hundred and sixty Cheyenne Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado.
1866	December 21	Fetterman Massacre	A compliment of eighty soldiers and two civilians sent to relieve a waggon train under attack from Oglala Sioux led by Crazy Horse are ambushed and annihilated near Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming.
1867	July 2	Kidder Massacre	Cheyenne and Sioux Indians ambush and kill a 2nd US Cavalry detachment of eleven men and Indian guide near Beaver Creek in Sherman County, Kansas *.
1870	January 23	Marias Massacre	White Americans slaughter one hundred and seventy-three Piegans, mainly women, children and the elderly.
1876	June 25	Battle of the Little Big Horn	About two hundred fifty men of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment, under Lt. Col. George A. Custer, are annihilated in a battle against Sioux and Northern Cheyenne IndiansThough widely portrayed as a massacre, Custer's men initiated the battle by attacking a nearby Sioux village and died fighting..
1879	January 8	Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife attempt to escape from confinment in Fort Robinson, Montana; about fifty survive.
1890	December 29	Wounded Knee Massacre	Around three hundred Sioux men, women and children are massacred by US soldiers at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

Footnotes

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See also

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• Indian Wars
• Population history of American indigenous peoples

Racial massacres | Massacres by Native Americans | Massacres of Native Americans | Military history of the United States | Native American history | War crimes