The Westervelt massacre , also known as the Westerfield massacre , was an indigenous attack on a caravan of Dutch frontier settlers that occurred during the American Revolutionary War around 3:00 am on June 27 , 1780 in Kentucky County , Virginia , the present day state of Kentucky . It remains one of the largest massacres in Kentucky state history . The settlers were traveling southeast from Low Dutch Station to Harrod 's Town . The settler relocation was in part a reaction to British Captain Henry Bird 's invasion of Kentucky . The area immediately east of Low Dutch Station had been overrun with British allied Indians . Harrod 's Town was fortified and a move south would lead the settlers away from Captain Bird 's invading army from the north . The caravan was ambushed in a surprise attack , during the night , after a day 's travel of twelve miles . The exact location of the massacre is not definitively known . However , it is likely to have occurred at Floyd 's Fork and Broad Run . The caravan was formed by Jacobus Westervelt and consisted of forty-one settlers from ten different families . Ten of the seventeen settlers killed were members of the Westervelt family . The victims included men , women , and children . The Indians responsible for the massacre were allied to the British and received ₤ 5 for each victim 's scalp cut off and returned to the British authorities . The Indians were thus awarded ₤ 85 by the British for massacring the Dutch settlers . The Westervelt Massacre had a chilling effect on the region . A number of settlers from Low Dutch Station joined Colonel George Rogers Clark 's militia after the massacre
indigenous attack
List of Indian massacres
Westervelt massacre