On September 3, 1812, a small party of Indigenous people (mostly
Shawnee, but possibly including some Delawares and Potawatomis) led by Missilimetaw (or Missilemotaw), made a surprise attack on the village, which appeared to be coordinated with attacks on
Fort Harrison (near
Terre Haute, Indiana) and
Siege of Fort Wayne the same month. In all, twenty-four settlers, including fifteen children, were killed, and two children were taken. Only four of the Native American party were killed. The Native Americans first came across two hunters near Pigeon Roost and attacked them. Some settlers managed to escape to the blockhouse of Zebulon Collings, but the Collings family lost many members. Henry Collings was killed and his pregnant wife stabbed to death. According to a journal entry by Henry's brother-in-law, George Heinrich Crist, "Henry lived to tell that little Kill Buck shot him". Henry Collings's brother, Richard, was serving in the army under General
William Henry Harrison, but his wife and seven children were among the dead. There is little documented evidence for most of the accounts offered. William Collings' actions during the attack have been the subject of conjecture. One account has him killing four Natives single-handedly and then holding off the remainder of the attackers with broken or unloaded rifles. Another version says Collings and his youngest son sneaked out the back of his cabin and hid in a nearby cornfield, until they finally were able to escape to Zebulon Collings's blockhouse. A third account (from a journal of George Heinrich Crist, Jr) states Capt. John Norris was at the home William Collings. "If Captain John Norris had not been at Uncle Williams, him and John and Lydia would most likely been killed." The wife of John Biggs, a sister of William Collings, heard the war party approach her cabin, and fled with her three children to hide in a thicket. The raiders could tell the cabin had just been evacuated, so they burned it and searched for the family. As one of the Natives approached the thicket, the youngest child began to whimper, and Mrs. Biggs stuffed her shawl into the infant's mouth to keep it from betraying their hiding place. When the raiding party moved on, the Biggs family was able to reach Zebulon Colling's blockhouse, but the infant had died of suffocation. As news of the massacre spread, the other Pigeon Roost settlers fled and assembled at Zebulon Colling's blockhouse. The Native war party left before the local militia, based in
Charlestown, could react. Over one hundred militiamen, mustered the next day, A force of
Indiana Rangers from
Washington County, Indiana under Captain Henry Dawalt intercepted the Pigeon Roost raiders at Sand Creek (in modern
Bartholomew County, Indiana). One of the rangers, John Zink, was shot and later died, but the war party was able to escape with only a few casualties. though other historians point to previous interactions between the Natives and their victims as a source of motivations behind the massacre. One of the massacre's victims reported the name of his assailant prior to succumbing to his wounds, proving his acquaintance with the attacker. According to historian Lewis Baird, "The Pigeon Roost massacre was not an Native raid as has been so often stated. The Natives passed through the little hamlet which was the nucleus of Vienna and never harmed a soul, while there. There had been bad blood between the Collins family and the Natives for some time. The Collins boys had stolen a fawn from the Natives and refused to give it up, and from this cause and possibly some other, the whole trouble originated. Those other than Collinses were killed only because they lived in that neighborhood. Neither before nor after the massacre were other white people harmed, showing conclusively that it was only a local fight and giving no cause for alarm to other settlers." The Pigeon Roost settlement was rebuilt, but was eventually abandoned. Most of the victims were buried in a mass grave, to include members of the Collings and Richey families. Indiana Ranger John Zink was buried in
Salem, Indiana's Brock Cemetery. ==Memorials==