This is a partial list of massacres in the United States ; death tolls may be approximate.
Name | Date | Location | State | Deaths, including any perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boston Massacre | 1770 Mar 5 | Boston | Massachusetts | 5 | 5 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. [1] [2] |
Baylor Massacre | 1778 September 27 | River Vale | New Jersey | 16 | A 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. |
Gnadenhutten massacre | 1782 Mar 8 | Gnadenhutten | Ohio | 96 | Christian Lenape who were massacred by American militiamen during the Revolutionary War |
Goliad massacre | 1836 Mar 27 | Goliad | Texas | 425–445 | Largest 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 massacre | 1838 Oct 30 | Fairview Township | Missouri | 19 | Mob/Missouri Volunteer Militia attacked Mormons. [3] |
Dawson massacre | 1842 Sep 17 | Presidio San Antonio de Béxar | Texas | 66 | 36 of the Texan militia killed by Mexican soldiers during the Woll Expedition. [4] 30 Mexican soldiers were also killed. [5] |
Black Bean Episode | 1843 March 25 | Salado | Texas | 17 | Mexican soldiers under Francisco Mexia, governor of Coahuila executed 17 from a group of 176 prisoners, Texans captured in Mexico. He had been ordered to execute all of them, but instead chose to "decimate" them, killing one of every ten. [6] |
Bloody Monday | 1855 Aug 6 | Louisville | Kentucky | >22 | Scores injured in anti-Catholic religious mob violence and arson. [7] |
Pottawatomie massacre | 1856 May 24–25 | Franklin County | Kansas | 5 | John Brown and followers killed 5 pro-slavery settlers during the Bleeding Kansas period. [8] [9] |
Spirit Lake Massacre | 1857 Mar 5–12 | West Okoboji | Iowa | 35–40 | A band of Dakota people led by Inkpaduta conducted a series of raids on white settlers. |
Mountain Meadows Massacre | 1857 Sep 7–11 | Mountain Meadows | Utah Territory | 100–140 | Emigrant wagon train annihilated by the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia. |
Marais des Cygnes massacre | 1858 May 19 | Linn County | Kansas | 5 | Last major outbreak of violence in Bleeding Kansas. [10] |
Pratt Street Massacre | 1861 Apr 19 | Baltimore | Maryland | 16 | Political riot between Copperheads, Confederate sympathizers, and Union militias. |
Sacking of Osceola | 1861 Sep 23 | Osceola | Missouri | 9 | Tried by drumhead court martial and executed, town of 3,000 sacked and burned in a raid by Jim Lane's Kansas Brigade. [11] [ better source needed ] |
Nueces massacre | 1862 Aug 10 | Kinney County | Texas | 34 | German Texans killed by Confederate soldiers. |
Shelton Laurel massacre | 1863 Jan 18 | Madison County | North Carolina | 13 | Unarmed Unionists, including three boys, were shot by Confederates after capture. [12] |
Lawrence massacre | 1863 Aug 21 | Douglas County | Kansas | 185–200 | Pro-Confederate Guerrillas killed civilians and burned a quarter of the town. [13] |
Baxter Springs Massacre | 1863 Oct 6 | Cherokee County | Kansas | 115 | Convoy 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 massacre | 1864 Apr 12 | Henning | Tennessee | 277–297 | Black Union troops were killed by Forrest's Cavalry Corps while trying to surrender. |
Centralia massacre | 1864 Sep 27 | Centralia | Missouri | 24 | Unarmed U.S. soldiers murdered by their Confederate captors including Jesse James. 123 killed in ensuing Battle of Centralia. [14] |
Saltville massacre | 1864 Oct 2–3 | Saltville | Virginia | 45–50 | Wounded/captured Federal black troops by Confederate soldiers and guerrillas. [15] |
Opelousas Massacre | 1868 Sep 28 | Opelousas | Louisiana | 35+ | 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. [16] [17] |
Chinese massacre | 1871 Oct 24 | Los Angeles, California | California | >18 | Killed by hanging and unknown injured in mob violence against people and property in Chinatown. [18] [19] |
Goingsnake massacre | 1872 Apr 15 | Tahlequah | Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) | 11 | Died 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. [20] |
Colfax massacre | 1873 Apr 13 | Colfax | Louisiana | 83–153 | Black people killed at courthouse and as prisoners afterwards. [21] |
Coushatta massacre | 1874 Aug | Coushatta | Louisiana | 11–26 | Six whites, remainder black killed as political intimidation. [22] [23] |
Election riot of 1874 | 1874 Nov 3 | Eufaula | Alabama | 8 | 70 injured. White League Democrats drove African American Republicans from the polls. |
Hamburg massacre | 1876 Jul 4 | Hamburg | South Carolina | 7 | Town looted in a racially motivated incident during Reconstruction. |
Ellenton massacre | 1876 Sep 15-16 | Aiken County | South Carolina | 25–100 | Racially motivated killings after the alleged attack on a white woman. |
Guadalupe Canyon massacre | 1881 Aug 13 | Guadalupe Mountains | Arizona Territory | 5 | 1 wounded; cowboys ambushed while sleeping. Perpetrators disputed. [24] |
Rock Springs massacre | 1885 Sep 2 | Rock Springs | Wyoming | 28 | 15 injured in a racial dispute between white and Chinese miners. |
Haymarket affair | 1886 May 4 | Chicago | Illinois | 11 | More than 130 injured by dynamite bomb and crossfire of bullets during a FOTLU rally for an eight-hour work day. [25] |
Bay View massacre | 1886 May 5 | Bay View | Wisconsin | 7 | Knights of Labor protesters killed by National Guardsmen. |
Chinese Massacre Cove | 1887 May | Wallowa County | Oregon | 10–34 | Chinese gold miners ambushed and murdered by a gang of horse thieves. |
Thibodaux massacre | 1887 Nov 22 | Thibodaux | Louisiana | >35 | Perhaps as many as 300 killed, 5+ injuries to striking black sugar-cane workers. [26] [27] |
1891 New Orleans lynchings | 1891, Mar 14 | New Orleans | Louisiana | 11 | A 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 massacre | 1897 Sep 10 | Lattimer | Pennsylvania | 19 | Coal miners killed by sheriff's posse. |
Wilmington Massacre of 1898 | 1898 Nov 10 | Wilmington | North Carolina | 60–300 | A mob of 2000 white men armed from the looted Wilmington armory, led by white supremacist and Democratic politician Alfred Moore Waddell [28] burnt down The Daily Record newspaper building, destroyed numerous black-owned properties, and murdered somewhere between 60 and 300 Black residents of Wilmington. [29] |
The 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre | 1906 Sep 22 -24 | Atlanta | Georgia | 27+ | Racially motivated massacre against African Americans. |
1908 Hickman massacre | 1908 Oct 3 | Hickman | Kentucky | 4-8 | A 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. [30] |
Villisca massacre | 1912 Jun 10 | Villisca | Iowa | 8 | Unsolved axe murders of members of 2 families. [31] [32] [33] |
Ludlow Massacre | 1914 Apr 20 | Ludlow | Colorado | 19 | Killed by Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families. [34] |
Newberry massacre | 1916 Aug 18 | Newberry | Florida | 6 | A white mob shot and killed a black man and then hung two black men, one of which was a minister, and two black women, one of which was pregnant at the time. |
Everett massacre | 1916 Nov 5 | Everett | Washington | 5 | 27 injured and scores of IWW unionists arrested by police and vigilantes. |
Elaine massacre | 1919 Sep 30 | Phillips County | Arkansas | 100–241 | Racially motivated massacre against African Americans. |
Centralia massacre | 1919 Nov 11 | Centralia | Washington | 6 | American Legionnaires killed by Industrial Workers of the World members. |
Matewan massacre | 1920 May 19 | Matewan | West Virginia | 11 | The confrontation resulted in the deaths of Matewan Mayor Cabell Testerman, two striking coal miners, seven men from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, and an unarmed bystander. |
Ocoee massacre | 1920 Nov 2 | Ocoee | Florida | 56~ | Black population of Ocoee, a town near Orlando, was nearly obliterated during the 1920 election season. [35] |
Tulsa race massacre | 1921 May 31 and Jun 1 | Tulsa | Oklahoma | 39–300 | ≥ 800 wounded. One of the nation's worst incidents of racial violence. |
Battle of Blair Mountain | 1921 Aug 25 | Logan County | West Virginia | 10–33 | Private army and US Troops against union organizers. WWI gas bombs used against union organizers. |
Herrin massacre | 1922 Jun 21 | Herrin | Illinois | 23 | Exchange of gunfire between strikebreakers and union guards at coal mine. [36] |
Rosewood massacre | 1923 Jan | Rosewood | Florida | 8 | The entire population of African-Americans in and near Rosewood, about 350, were forced from their homes and never returned. [37] |
Hanapepe massacre | 1924 Sep 9 | Hanapepe | Hawaii | 20 | 101 arrested. [38] |
Bath School disaster | 1927 May 18 | Bath Township | Michigan | 45 | School Bombing |
Columbine Mine massacre | 1927 Nov 21 | Serene | Colorado | 6 | Miners killed with machine guns by the Colorado Rangers and the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company during a United Mine Workers coal mine strike. [39] |
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre | 1929 Feb 14 | Chicago | Illinois | 7 | Prohibition gang killing in Lincoln Park by Al Capone's Chicago Outfit. [40] |
Kansas City massacre | 1933 Jun 17 | Kansas City | Missouri | 5 | The dead include law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive shot by members of a gang. [41] |
1937 Memorial Day massacre | 1937 May 30 | Chicago | Illinois | 10 | The Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago during the Little Steel strike. |
Utah prisoner of war massacre | 1945 Jul 7–8 | Salina, Utah | Utah | 9 | German POWs killed by an American guard |
Camden shootings | 1949 Sep 6 | Camden | New Jersey | 13 | Included three children in a 12-minute walk through his neighbourhood. |
University of Texas tower Shooting | 1966 Aug 1 | Austin | Texas | 18 including the shooter | 31 others wounded. |
Kent State shootings | 1970 May 4 | Kent | Ohio | 4 | Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed student protesters at Kent State University. |
Easter Sunday Massacre | 1975 Mar 30 | Hamilton | Ohio | 11 | All victims were family members of the killer shot and killed by pistols at a family gathering. |
Golden Dragon massacre | 1977 Sep 4 | San Francisco | California | 5 | 11 injured. Hong Kong American street gang the Joe Boys committed violent shooting [42] |
Greensboro massacre | 1979 Nov 3 | Greensboro | North Carolina | 5 | Violent clash between Ku Klux Klan and Communist Workers' Party demonstration. |
1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings | 1982 Sep 25 | Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township | Pennsylvania | 13 | 1 wounded |
Wah Mee massacre | 1983 Feb 18 | Seattle | Washington | 13 | 1 injured by 3 perpetrators during an armed robbery. |
Palm Sunday massacre | 1984 Apr 15 | Brooklyn | New York | 10 | Three women, a teenage girl, and six children. There was one survivor, an infant girl. |
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre | 1984 Jul 18 | San Ysidro | California | 22 including the gunman | 19 others wounded |
1985 MOVE bombing | 1985 May 13 | 6221 Osage Ave, Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 11 | Philadelphia, Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical black American resistance group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing eleven members of MOVE and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire |
Edmond post office shooting | 1986 Aug 20 | Edmond | Oklahoma | 15 including the gunman | 6 wounded. This incident is the origin of the phrase 'going postal'. |
Las Cruces bowling alley massacre | 1990 Feb 10 | Las Cruces | New Mexico | 5 | Robbers, who remain unidentified, shot seven people, including one employee's 2-year-old daughter, in the bowling alley's office after taking $4–5,000 from the safe. Four died that day; another succumbed to complications of her injuries in 1999. [43] |
GMAC shootings | 1990 Jun 18 | Jacksonville | Florida | 10 including the gunman | The attacker began killing the day before killing 2 others. He wounded a total of 6 people over the 2 days. |
Luby's shooting | 1991 Oct 16 | Killeen | Texas | 24 including the gunman | 27 others were wounded although only 19 of those were from gunfire. |
Brown's Chicken massacre | 1993 Jan 8 | Palatine | Illinois | 7 | Store robbery with murder. |
Waco siege | 1993 Feb 28 – Apr 19 | Waco | Texas | 86 | 4 ATF agents and 6 Branch Davidians killed in a shoot out February 28; on April 19 a final assault on the compound by the FBI occurred. A fire destroyed the compound resulting in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians, including 25 children. The fire started following law enforcement deployment of flammable CS gas. A panel of arson investigators concluded that the Davidians were responsible for igniting the fire simultaneously in at least three different areas of the compound. [44] |
Long Island Rail Road shooting | 1993 Dec 7 | Garden City | New York | 6 | 19 Injured |
Oklahoma City bombing | 1995 April 19 | Oklahoma City | Oklahoma | 168 | 680 others injured, and destroyed more than one-third of the building, which had to be demolished. |
Freddy's Fashion Mart attack | 1995 Dec 8 | Harlem | New York | 8 including the gunman [45] | |
Columbine High School massacre | 1999 Apr 20 | Columbine | Colorado | 15 including both gunmen | 24 others were wounded, 21 of those by gunfire. |
1999 Atlanta day trading firm shootings | 1999 Jul 29 | Atlanta | Georgia | 10 including the gunman | He also killed his wife on the 27th, his 2 children on the 28th then the main attack occurred on the 29th where he killed 9 victims and wounded 13 others. |
Wichita Massacre | 2000 Dec 8–14 | Wichita | Kansas | 5 | Two brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, committed multiple acts of assault, robbery, rape and murder of several people, all white, over the course of a week. [46] |
Red Lake shootings | 2005 Mar 21 | Red Lake | Minnesota | 10 including the gunman | 5 wounded. |
Virginia Tech shooting | 2007 Apr 16 | Blacksburg | Virginia | 33 including the gunman | 23 Wounded, 17 by gunfire. |
Westroads Mall shooting | 2007 Dec 5 | Omaha | Nebraska | 9 | 6 injured; perpetrator committed suicide with the murder weapon after 6 minutes of shooting. |
Geneva County shootings | 2009 Mar 10 | Geneva and Samson | Alabama | 11 including the gunman | 6 wounded. |
Binghamton shooting | 2009 Apr 3 | Binghamton | New York | 14 including the gunman | 4 wounded. |
Fort Hood shooting | 2009 Nov 5 | Fort Hood | Texas | 13 | 30+ wounded by Nidal Hasan, it was the deadliest mass shooting on an American military base. |
Aurora shooting | 2012 Jul 20 | Aurora | Colorado | 12 | 70 people were wounded, 58 from gunfire, 4 from tear gas, and 8 from injuries sustained fleeing from shooting during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises . |
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting | 2012 Dec 14 | Newtown | Connecticut | 28 including the gunman | 27 at the school (including the gunman) and the attacker's mother at her home. 20 of the dead were children aged 6–7 years old. |
Washington Navy Yard shooting | 2013 Sep 16 | Washington Navy Yard | Washington D.C. | 13 including the gunman | 8 wounded, 3 from gunfire. |
2014 Isla Vista killings | 2014 May 23 | Isla Vista | California | 7 including the gunman | 14 wounded. Misogynist terrorism, revenge for sexual and social rejection, incel ideology |
Charleston church shooting | 2015 Jun 17 | Charleston | South Carolina | 9 | 1 wounded. White supremacist shooting at African Methodist Episcopal Bible study |
Broken Arrow killings | 2015 Jul 22 | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma | Oklahoma | 5 | 1 wounded. Two brothers kill their family in preparation for a Mass shooting plot which they hoped would acquire them notoriety and infamy |
Umpqua Community College shooting | 2015 Oct 1 | Roseburg | Oregon | 10 including the gunman | 8 wounded. |
San Bernardino attack | 2015 Dec 2 | San Bernardino | California | 16 including both gunmen | 24 wounded. Attackers brought pipe bombs as well as firearms, they targeted a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event and Christmas party. |
Orlando nightclub shooting | 2016 Jun 12 | Orlando | Florida | 50 including the gunman | 53 wounded. Anti-LGBT ISIS shooting at a gay nightclub |
Las Vegas shooting | 2017 Oct 1 | Las Vegas | Nevada | 61 including the gunman | 867 wounded, 411 from gunfire. Deadliest mass shooting in US history. |
Sutherland Springs church shooting | 2017 Nov 5 | Sutherland Springs | Texas | 26 including the gunman | 20 wounded and an unborn child not counted in the 26 dead was also lost. |
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting | 2018 Feb 14 | Parkland | Florida | 17 | 17 killed; 17 wounded. |
2018 Santa Fe High School shooting | 2018 May 18 | Santa Fe | Texas | 10 | 14 wounded, including the suspect. |
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting | 2018 Oct 27 | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 11 | 7 wounded, including the suspect. Anti-Semitic shooting at a synagogue. |
2022 Buffalo shooting | 2022 May 14 | Buffalo | New York | 10 | Mass shooting against African-American shoppers at a Tops Friendly Markets. Suspect said motive was to prevent others from 'eliminating the white race' |
Robb Elementary School shooting | 2022 May 24 | Uvalde | Texas | 22 | One of the deadliest school shootings in American history, [47] leaving 19 children and 2 adults dead. The perpetrator was killed in a shootout with police. [48] |
2023 Goshen shooting | 2023 January 16 | Goshen | California | 6 | Gang violence. Three others survived the shooting uninjured |
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