30 termine what disposal should be made of the Moravian Indians. This military court embraced both officers and privates. Col. Williamson then put the question whether the Indians should be taken as prisoners to Fort Pitt, or be put to death. requesting those who favored saving their lives to step out and form a second rank. Only eighteen stepped out as advocates of mercy. In these the feelings of humanity were not quite extinct, and they took no part in the slaughter that fol lowed. In the majority, which was large, ' ’ there were no manifestations of sympathy. They resolved to murder the Christian Indians who had fallen thus easily into .their ' " custody. Williamson's men pointed to the different utensils which they accused the Indians of having taken from the whites, and also to a bloody dress which they recognized as having belonged to Mrs. Wallace who had * been murdered in one of the hostile raids in Western Pennsylvania. The dress is supposed to have been left at Gnadenhutten by some savages from the northwest. These things, however, served to inflame the minds of Williamson's men and their rage knew no bounds. .The Indians were told to prepare
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