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.

Neither side stands out as being more merciful or humane than the other. Both sides collected scalps and scrota as trophies. Both sides raped. Both sides would promise safe conduct to defeated enemies or non-combatants, and then massacre them as soon as they let their guard down. Both sides attacked easy targets (such as peaceful -- even friendly -- villages and settlements) as retaliation for hostile acts by totally unrelated war bands and militia units.

List of massacres

Here is a list of the larger or more widely known massacres in North America:

• March 22, 1622 - Jamestown Massacre - Powhatans kill 347 English settlers throughout the Virginia colony.
• May 26, 1637 - In the Pequot War, English colonists, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, attack a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut and kill perhaps 500 villagers.
• February 8, 1690 - French and Iroquois destroy Schenectady, NY, killing 60, including 10 women and 12-17 children.
• August 1757 - 70-180 British and colonial prisoners killed by Indian allies of the French after the fall of Fort William Henry.
• July 3, 1778 - Wyoming Valley Massacre -- Occurred during the American Revolutionary War; labeled a massacre but most deaths were in battle.
• 1778 - Cherry Valley Massacre, New York - over 30 settlers killed.
• 1782 - Gnadenhutten massacre - in the final stages of the American Revolutionary War, nearly 100 noncombatant Christian Delaware (Lenape) Indians (mostly women and children) are killed one at a time (with a hammer blow to the head) by Pennsylvania militiamen.
• January, 1813 - River Raisin Massacre - 30-60 Kentucky militia killed after surrendering.
• April 22, 1818 - Chehaw Affair - United States troops attack a non-hostile village during First Seminole War, killing an estimated fifty men, women, and children.
• 1832 - Black Hawk War - 850 men, women, and children are slaughtered in Bad Ax, Wisconsin by white soldiers
• 1836 - Fort Parker Massacre - 6 men killed by a mixed group of Native Americans in Limestone County, Texas
• October 5, 1838 - Killough Massacre - 18 members of the Killough extended family, one of the last massacred in Texas
• 1848 - Whitman massacre in Walla Walla, Washington
• 1854 - Kaibai Creek, California - 42 Winnemem Wintu men, women, and children are killed by white settlers
• 1855 - Grattan Massacre, Brule Sioux in Nebraska Territory.
• February 26, 1860 - Humboldt County, California - upwards of 100 Wiyot men, women, and children are slaughtered by settlers.
• 1862 - As many as 800 settlers killed in uprising of Santee Sioux.
• January 29, 1863 - Bear River Massacre - upwards of 200 men, women, and children are slaughtered by whites near Preston, Idaho.
• April 19, 1863 - Keyesville Massacre - in Kern County, California - 35 Tehachapi men are killed by whites [1]
• November 29, 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre - Sand Creek, Colorado - upwards of 160 Cheyenne men, women, and children are slaughtered by militiamen
• November 27, 1868 - Washita Massacre - Washita River, Oklahoma - 100 people killed. (This is often considered a battle, not a massacre.)
• January 23, 1870 - Marias Massacre - 200 Piegans, mainly elderly, women, and children, slaughtered by whites
• December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee Massacre - Wounded Knee, South Dakota - up to 300 Sioux men, women, and children are killed by US soldiers.

See also

• Indian Wars
• Population history of American indigenous peoples