136 RIOTERS MARCH ON PHILADELPHIA. [1764, Jan. 



tors harangued them on theh violated rights ; self- 

 constituted preachers urged the duty of destroying 

 the heathen, forgetting that the Moravian Indians 

 were Christians, and their exasperated hearers were 

 soon ripe for any rash attempt. They resolved 

 to assemble and march in arms to Philadelphia. 

 On a former occasion, they had sent thither a 

 wagon laden with the mangled corpses of their 

 friends and relatives, who had fallen by Indian 

 butchery ; but the hideous spectacle had failed of 

 the intended effect, and the Assembly had still 

 turned a deaf ear to their entreaties for more 

 effective aid.^ Appeals to sympathy had been 

 thrown away, and they now resolved to try the 

 efficacy of their rifles. 



They mustered under their popular leaders, 

 prominent among whom was Matthew Smith, who 

 had led the murderers at Conestoga ; and, towards 

 the end of January, took the road to Philadelphia, 

 in force variously estimated at from five hundred 

 to fifteen hundred men. Their avowed purpose 

 was to kill the Moravian Indians ; but what vague 

 designs they may have entertained to change the 

 government, and eject the Quakers from a share 

 in it, must remain a matter of uncertainty. Feeble 



1 This incident occurred during the French war, and is thus described 

 by a Quaker eye-witness : " Some of the dead bodies were brought to 

 Pliiladelphia in a wagon, in the time of the General Meeting of Eriends 

 there in December, with intent to animate the people to unite in prepa- 

 rations for war on the Indians. They were carried along the streets — 

 many people following — cursing the Indians, and also the Quakers, 

 because they would not join in war for their destruction. The sight of 

 the dead bodies, and the outcry of the people, were very afflicting and 

 shocking." — Watson, Anrials of Phil 449 (Phil. 1830). 



