This is a partial list of massacres in the United States; death tolls may be approximate. For single-perpetrator events and shooting sprees, view List of rampage killers in the United States, Mass shootings in the United States, :Category:Spree shootings in the United States, and :Category:Mass shootings in the United States by year. For Indian massacres, see Indian massacres. For massacres in labor disputes, see List of worker deaths in United States labor disputes.
List
Name Date Location State Deaths, including any perpetrators NotesBoston Massacre1770 Mar 5BostonMassachusetts55 Bostonians killed and 6 wounded by soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot. The killed and wounded were part of a mob which was harassing the soldiers, and the soldiers opened fire after being stoned by the crowd. Original printing of the governor's account.Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda. Martin J. Manning, p. 33Brodhead's Coshocton expedition1778 AprOhio CountryOhio1616 Lenape warriors were captured, taken south of the village, and massacred by American soldiers under the command of Colonel Daniel Brodhead.Baylor Massacre1778 Sep 27River ValeNew Jersey16A force of British soldiers under the command of Major-General Charles Grey carried a successful surprise attack against the 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons under the command of Colonel George Baylor while they slept.Long Run massacre1781 Sep 13–14Floyds ForkKentucky32A Native American war party attacked a party of U.S. settlers, killing 15. They also attacked American soldiers under Colonel John Floyd who returned the next day to bury the dead, killing a further 17.Kleber, John E., editor. The Long Run Massacre, The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky, 1992Gnadenhutten massacre1782 Mar 8GnadenhuttenOhio96Christian Lenape who were massacred by American militiamen during the Revolutionary WarGoliad massacre1836 Mar 27GoliadTexas425–445Largest massacre to have taken place on what is today United States territory, occurring after the Battle of Refugio and the Battle of Coleto; 425–445 prisoners of war from the Texian Army of the Republic of Texas were executed by the Mexican Army in the town of Goliad, Mexican Texas, (not the Republic of Texas), which is today in Texas, United States.Hawn's Mill massacre1838 Oct 30Fairview TownshipMissouri19Mob/Missouri Volunteer Militia attacked Mormons.Dawson massacre1842 Sep 17Presidio San Antonio de BéxarTexas6636 of the Texan militia killed by Mexican soldiers during the Woll Expedition. 30 Mexican soldiers were also killed.Philadelphia nativist riotsPhiladelphiaPennsylvania20+20+ Catholics killedBloody Monday1855 Aug 6LouisvilleKentucky>22Scores injured in anti-Catholic religious mob violence and arson.Hutcheon, Wallace S., Jr., The Louisville Riots of August 1855. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 69 (1971), pp. 150–172Pottawatomie massacre1856 May 24–25Franklin CountyKansas5John Brown and followers killed 5 pro-slavery settlers during the Bleeding Kansas period.PBS Online. People & Events: Pottawatomie Massacre "John Brown's Holy War." The American Experience. WGBH, 1999, accessdate December 28, 2012.Reynolds, David S. John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. New York: Vintage, 2005. .Spirit Lake Massacre1857 Mar 5–12West OkobojiIowa35–40A band of Dakota people led by Inkpaduta conducted a series of raids on white settlers.Mountain Meadows Massacre1857 Sep 7–11Mountain MeadowsUtah Territory120–140Emigrant wagon train annihilated by the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia.Marais des Cygnes massacre1858 May 19Linn CountyKansas5Last major outbreak of violence in Bleeding Kansas.Kansas Historical Society. Marais des Cygnes Massacre site, June 2011, accessdate December 28, 2012.Pratt Street Massacre1861 Apr 19BaltimoreMaryland16Political riot between Copperheads, Confederate sympathizers, and Union militias.Sacking of Osceola1861 Sep 23OsceolaMissouri9Tried by drumhead court martial and executed, town of 3,000 sacked and burned in a raid by Jim Lane's Kansas Brigade.Sunderwith, Richard, The Burning of Osceola, MissouriNueces massacre1862 Aug 10Kinney CountyTexas34German Texans killed by Confederate soldiers.Shelton Laurel massacre1863 Jan 18Madison CountyNorth Carolina13Unarmed Unionists, including three boys, were shot by Confederates after capture.Paludan, Philip S. 1981. Victims: A True Story of the Civil War. Knoxville, Tennessee, The University of Tennessee Press. p. 144.Bear River Massacre1863 Jan 29Franklin CountyIdaho 350+Military attack on a North Shoshone encampment described as the largest single episode of genocide in the western United StatesChristensen, Scott R. (1999). Sagwitch: Shoshone Chieftain, Mormon Elder (1822–1887). Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. Lawrence massacre1863 Aug 21Douglas CountyKansas185–200Pro-Confederate Guerrillas killed civilians and burned a quarter of the town.Goodrich, Thomas. Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre. Kent State University Press December 12, 1992. 978-0873384766. 207 pages.Baxter Springs Massacre1863 Oct 6Cherokee CountyKansas115Convoy of Union soldiers led by James B. Pond who were ambushed by Confederate raiders under the command of William C. Quantrill. Many of the convoy were massacred as they tried to surrender.Fort Pillow massacre1864 Apr 12HenningTennessee277–297Black Union troops were killed by Forrest's Cavalry Corps while trying to surrender.Centralia massacre1864 Sep 27CentraliaMissouri24Unarmed U.S. soldiers murdered by their Confederate captors including Jesse James. 123 killed in ensuing Battle of Centralia.Quantrell, Charles W., A History of His Guerrilla Warfare on the Missouri And Kansas Border During the Civil War, Kessinger Publishing, March 1, 2005, pp. 175–176.Saltville massacre1864 Oct 2–3SaltvilleVirginia45–50Wounded/captured Federal black troops by Confederate soldiers and guerrillas.Sand Creek massacre1864 Nov 29Kiowa CountyColorado100–600massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army.Memphis massacre1866 May 1–3MemphisTennessee48Massacre of the black community of Memphis by white mobs and police officers.New Orleans massacre1866 Jul 30New OrleansLouisiana38-204Peaceful demonstration of mostly black Freedmen attack by white rioters, many of whom were former soldiers of the recently defeated Confederate States of America.Camilla massacre1868 Sep 23CamillaGeorgia9–15Attack by the Ku Klux Klan on a gathering of Black republicans.Opelousas Massacre1868 Sep 28OpelousasLouisiana35+African Americans from Opelousas attempted to join the local Democratic party which was controlled by whites. The African Americans were rejected for membership and the white Democrats then subsequently went on a hunt for African Americans. In the end an estimated 200–300 African Americans were killed.Marias Massacre1870 Jan 23Marias River, Montana TerritoryMontana173–217Friendly band of Piegan Blackfeet killed against orders by Eugene Mortimer Baker in retaliation for the Murder of Malcolm Clarke by a member of a different Band of Piegan BlackfeetChinese massacre1871 Oct 24Los Angeles, CaliforniaCalifornia>18Killed by hanging and unknown injured in mob violence against people and property in Chinatown.Zesch, Scott, "Chinese Los Angeles in 1870–1871: The Makings of a Massacre", Southern California Quarterly, 90 (Summer 2008), 109–158De Falla, Paul M., "Lantern in the Western Sky", The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, 42 (March 1960), 57–88 (Part I), and 42 (June 1960), 161–185 (Part II)Goingsnake massacre1872 Apr 15TahlequahIndian Territory (present-day Oklahoma)11Died in a shoot out in a crowded courtroom, the dead included 8 Deputy US Marshals and 3 Cherokee citizens. Six Cherokee were wounded including the defendant and the judge.Smith, Robert Barr, Blood Bath at Going Snake: The Cherokee Courtroom Shootout, 2004. Wild West, History NetColfax massacre1873 Apr 13ColfaxLouisiana83–153Black people killed at courthouse and as prisoners afterwards.Lane, Charles, The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, Henry Holt & Company, New York. 2008. pp. 54–56Coushatta massacre1874 AugCoushattaLouisiana11–26Six whites, remainder black killed as political intimidation.Alexander, Danielle "Forty Acres and a Mule: The Ruined Hope of Reconstruction", Humanities, January/February 2004, Vol.25/No. 1. , accessdate April 14, 2008Shoalmire, Jimmy G., Carpetbagger Extraordinary: Marshall H. Twitchell, 1840–1905, dissertation at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, 1969Election riot of 18741874 Nov 3EufaulaAlabama870 injured. White League Democrats drove African American Republicans from the polls.Hamburg massacre1876 Jul 4HamburgSouth Carolina7Town looted in a racially motivated incident during Reconstruction.Ellenton massacre1876 Sep 15–16Aiken CountySouth Carolina25–100Racially motivated killings after the alleged attack on a white woman.Chico Chinese Massacre1877 Mar 14ChicoCalifornia4A group of armed white men from a labor union fired upon Chinese workers, killing four and wounding at least two others. The next day, the town's Chinatown was burned.Guadalupe Canyon massacre1881 Aug 13Guadalupe MountainsArizona Territory51 wounded; cowboys ambushed while sleeping. Perpetrators disputed.Traywick, Ben T., Wyatt Earp's Thirteen Dead Men: Chapter 6, The Tombstone News, accessdate December 26, 2012.Rock Springs massacre1885 Sep 2Rock SpringsWyoming2815 injured in a racial dispute between white and Chinese miners.Haymarket affair1886 May 4ChicagoIllinois11More than 130 injured by dynamite bomb and crossfire of bullets during a FOTLU rally for an eight-hour work day.Bay View massacre1886 May 5Bay ViewWisconsin7Knights of Labor protesters killed by National Guardsmen.Chinese Massacre Cove1887 MayWallowa CountyOregon10–34Chinese gold miners ambushed and murdered by a gang of horse thieves.Thibodaux massacre1887 Nov 22ThibodauxLouisiana>35Perhaps as many as 300 killed, 5+ injuries to striking black sugar-cane workers.Bell, Ellen Baker, Thibodaux Massacre (1887), KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana, September 15, 2011, accessdate January 2, 2013Rodrigue, John. Reconstruction in the Cane Fields: From Slavery to Free Labor in Louisiana's Sugar Parishes, 1862–1880. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001.1891 New Orleans lynchings1891, Mar 14New OrleansLouisiana11A lynch mob storms the Old Parish Prison and lynches 11 Italians who had been found not guilty of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.Lattimer massacre1897 Sep 10LattimerPennsylvania19Coal miners killed by sheriff's posse.Wilmington massacre1898 Nov 10WilmingtonNorth Carolina60–300A mob of 2000 white men armed from the looted Wilmington armory, led by white supremacist and Democratic politician Alfred Moore Waddell burnt down The Daily Record newspaper building, destroyed numerous black-owned properties, and murdered somewhere between 60 and 300 Black residents of Wilmington.The 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre1906 Sep 22 -24AtlantaGeorgia27+Racially motivated massacre against African Americans.1908 Hickman massacre1908 Oct 3HickmanKentucky4-8A mob of around 50 men who called themselves "Night Riders" shot 8 members of the Walker family, four of which are confirmed to have died.Slocum massacre1910