Hooked on History: Ann Charity met fiery end after witchcraft accusation

On the evening of May 26, 1782, Col. William Crawford and his army camped in the ruins of the Moravian mission town of Schoenbrunn on their way to attack the villages of British-allied Native Americans along the Sandusky River in North Central Ohio.

That night as Crawford slept, according to legend, he had a terrifying dream. In his dream, he saw a Delaware Native American woman, Ann Charity, leading the skeletons of the 96 Christian Native Americans who had recently been massacred in the mission town of Gnadenhutten by Pennsylvania militiamen.

More Hooked on History:Swiss Hat Restaurant known for savory fare that drew crowds

More Hooked on History:Talent, car show wins in '65 marked Sam Hitchcock's good year

"They were singing the Indian song of sorrow, and calling on ‒ not our God ‒ but their Manito or Great Spirit, to avenge their deaths," C.H. Mitchener wrote in his book "Ohio Annals: Historic Events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys," published in 1876.

Crawford and his men continued their march the next day. Near the Sandusky River towns, his army was defeated by a combined force of native and British forces. Crawford was captured by the Native Americans, who tortured him and burned him at the stake in revenge for the Gnadenhutten Massacre.

According to Mitchener, the surviving members of the American army camped for the night near Schoenbrunn on their way home. They were under the command of Col. David Williamson, who had also commanded the militia at Gnadenhutten.

"But there was no rest for him," Mitchener wrote. "In the midst of the desolation a terrific storm arose, revealing by its lightning Ann Charity and the skeleton spirits filing, this time down the trail, followed by a band of warriors, each dangling from a pole a white man's scalp, all moving toward the massacre ground, while the unearthly scalp yell of the Great Spirit echoed up and down the valley, and silenced for the moment even the thunder of heaven."

Williamson and his terrified men immediately resaddled their horses and fled the Tuscarawas Valley.

In his account, Mitchener noted that Charity was a real person.

"Gifted with a mysterious mental power, her religion was half heathen, half Christian," he wrote. "She claimed to be able to call up the dead, and when the massacre took place she resolved to try her power, and revenge her friends and kindred."

She is also a character in the "Trumpet in the Land" outdoor drama.

Early years spent in Pennsylvania

Charity was likely born in Pennsylvania around 1735. She was baptized into the Christian faith at the Moravian mission town of Gnadenhutten, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 25, 1749. She was described then as "a big girl of 14 years." The missionaries named her Caritas, Latin for "Charity."

She was married twice, first to a native named Johan Jacob and then to a Native American convert named David. She and David were married on May 15, 1760. Moravian records show that she separated from David in March 1763, but she was won back by his kindness.

Mission records offer other glimpses into her life in Pennsylvania. On Aug. 21, 1760, she was in tears over her disloyalty to the faith. On Nov. 1, 1762, she was longing for her former spiritual happiness. She became a foster mother for an orphaned child in March 1762. On April 2, 1764, she was in tears after reading the story of Christ's passion.

Eventually, she and her family moved to the Ohio country to live in the Moravian mission towns along the Tuscarawas River. She visited Gnadenhutten, Ohio, on Sept. 21, 1774, and she and David settled here for good in 1777.

They remained in the Tuscarawas Valley until the mission settlements were broken up by the British in 1782.

Charity later settled among the Delaware Native Americans living along the White River in Indiana.

Missionary John Heckewelder wrote about her in his book "A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians," which was published in 1820.

"Ann Charity, an aged woman, who from a child lived in the congregation, until the dispersion of the Christian Indians in 1782, when she was taken by her heathen relations, to the White River, to be out of the way of the murdering gang of white people who had destroyed so many of their relations already," Heckewelder wrote.

"This woman, having been while a child placed in the family of the missionary (John) Youngman, and brought up to all manner of labor in the house, belonging to women, she was particularly noticed, as an active industrious woman, and admired for her cleanliness, both in dress, and in household affairs."

Accusation of witchcraft

Charity's adoption of the white man's ways proved to be her undoing.

In 1806, the Delaware villages along the White River were being ravaged by disease, and many people were dying. Witches were blamed for this misfortune.

The Delaware turned to Tenskwatawa, known as the "Shawnee Prophet," for help. The younger brother of Tecumseh, he had been urging Native Americans to return to traditional ways and forsake the ways of the white man. Tenskwatawa traveled to a Delaware village on the White River to determine who was guilty of sorcery. Most of those condemned had been associated with the white people.

Charity was the first person condemned to die for witchcraft. She was tortured until she confessed that she had given her Indian medicine bag to her grandson. A medicine bag was a container for items believed to protect or give spiritual powers to its owner. Her grandson was questioned but was not punished.

Charity was not so lucky. After she confessed to being a witch, she was burned to death on April 1, 1806.

Jon Baker is a reporter with The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Ann Charity killed after being accused of witchcraft