Paxtang, Pennsylvania

Paxtang is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,561. The borough is a suburb of Harrisburg and is one of the earliest colonial settlements in South Central Pennsylvania.

History

Paxtang dates to the 18th century when Euro-Americans settled at the site of the Conestoga village of Peshtank. Peshtank means "still waters". Several important trails and routes crossed the area. William Penn purchased the area known as Paxtang, or "Paxton".

Paxtang is the site where Presbyterian Scots-Irish frontiersmen organized the Paxton Boys, a vigilante group that murdered twenty Native Americans in the Conestoga Massacre. On December 14, 1763, more than 50 Paxton Boys rode to the settlement near Millersville, Pennsylvania, murdered six Natives, and burned their cabin. Governor John Penn placed the remaining fourteen Conestogas in protective custody in Lancaster, but the Paxton Boys broke in, killed, and mutilated all fourteen people on December 27, 1763. In January 1764, 140 Natives living peacefully in eastern Pennsylvania fled to Philadelphia for protection. The Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia in January 1764 with about 250 men. British troops and Philadelphia militia prevented them from doing more violence.