Count Zinzendorf and the Indians 1742

In December of 1741, Count Zinzendorf came to Philadelphia to begin one of the most remarkable journeys any man ever traveled through the wilderness of America searching for the original peoples, the Indians of the Eastern Frontier. As the newly recognized head of the Moravian Movement among the Indians of the New World, this amazing man wasted little time venturing into the Wilderness. With God as his leader, Zinzendorf labored far into the Frontier traveling extensively to meet with tribal leaders as no man before him had done, and it was through the eyes of this man of the cloth and his amazing grace, that would allow him to record the narratives that speak to us today, giving us glimpses in that moment in time of what life was really like on the frontier of 1742.

Count Zinzendorf’s acquaintances were many. Conrad Weiser, Henry Antes, Martin Mack, Allumapees or Sasoonan to name but a few. Yet the key to this book is the pages of footnotes by Editor Reichel that fills in the blanks with vital knowledge about the critical French & Indian War years. But the most curious part of the book is “An Account of the United Brethren at Bethlehem with the Province of Pennsylvania during the Indian War 1755, 56, and 57.” It was after the brutal attack against the Christian Brethren at Gnadenhutten near present day Lehighton, PA, that the survivors retreated to Bethlehem as the Indians desired to throw themselves under the eventual protection of Pennsylvania’s Provincial government.

Zinzendorf may have failed at baptizing many Indians to Christianity, but he paved the way for David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder to live among the Delaware and unknowingly preserved for all eternity the long-forgotten ways of the Indians of the 18th century Eastern Frontier.

384 pages, limited edition, hardback with extensive footnotes, $49.95.