John Jacob Leroy - PLAQUE
Limestone Township, Union County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
John Jacob Leroy was killed by the Indians near this spot during the time of the Penns Creek Massacre, October 16, 1755. This was the first act of hostility by the Indians of this province following the defeat of General Edward Braddock, July 9, 1755. A daughter of John Jacob Leroy, Marie, and Barbara Leininger were taken to the Muskingum in Ohio from which they escaped several years later and returned to Philadelphia.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
John Jacob Leroy was among the settlers slain in the October 1755 violence along Penn's Creek, one of the first blows struck on Pennsylvania's frontier after General Braddock's defeat earlier that summer. His daughter Marie and a neighbor girl, Barbara Leininger, were carried west into captivity as far as the Muskingum in Ohio. After years among their captors the two young women escaped and made their way back to Philadelphia, later leaving one of the era's rare firsthand captivity accounts.
Why it matters
It puts a single family's name to the frontier warfare of the 1750s and preserves the memory of two captives whose survival became a lasting record of the period.
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Related people
- · John Jacob Leroy
- · Marie Leroy
- · Barbara Leininger
- · Edward Braddock
Related events
- · Penn's Creek Massacre
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Leroy Massacre
Limestone Township, PA · est. 1947
On October 16, 1755, John Jacob Leroy was killed by Indians near this site, one of the earliest victims of frontier warfare in the region. His death came just after the Penn's Creek Massacre and in the wake of General Braddock's disastrous defeat, events that shattered the fragile peace and opened years of bloody conflict during the French and Indian War. Central Pennsylvania's exposed settlements suddenly found themselves on the front line.
Snyder County
Middleburg, PA · est. 1982
Established in 1855 from Union County, Snyder County honors Simon Snyder, the Selinsgrove miller's son who served three terms as Pennsylvania governor early in the 19th century. Long before statehood, this stretch of the Susquehanna frontier was the scene of the 1755 Penns Creek Massacre, an attack on settlers that helped ignite frontier warfare in the region. Middleburg, the county seat, was laid out in 1800 as the countryside filled with farms.
Penns Creek Massacre
Monroe Township, PA · est. 1947
On October 16, 1755, a war party struck the scattered settlers along Penns Creek, killing, wounding, or carrying off some two dozen people. Coming just weeks after General Braddock's catastrophic defeat near Fort Duquesne, it was the first such attack to fall on the Pennsylvania frontier as the French and Indian War spilled eastward. The raid shattered the colony's fragile peace and sent shockwaves through the backcountry.
Penns Creek Massacre - PLAQUE
Monroe Township, PA · est. 1919
In October 1755, along the banks of Penn's Creek, frontier families were attacked and roughly two dozen settlers were killed, wounded, or carried off into captivity. The raid came just months after General Edward Braddock's disastrous defeat near the Monongahela, which shattered British prestige and emboldened France's Native allies. It is remembered as the first such outbreak of frontier violence within Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War.