Over 400 years ago, my ancestors arrived in what we now call the United States of America. From our earliest arrival, my family has served as politicians, pastors, soldiers, farmers, educators, and whistleblowers who spoke truth to power. My grandfather (x7), John Corbly, did all those things and more!
John immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1747 as an indentured servant when he was just 14 years old. After spending seven years working off his service, he became a minister and missionary, supporting the founding of over 30 Baptist churches in three States.
John was imprisoned twice. The first was for standing up for religious freedom; he was so passionate he kept preaching to onlookers through his prison window! Following his release from incarceration, he moved his family to the Western Frontier where he was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the Virginia Colony (presumably by Patrick Henry). John was recognized for his unwavering support of all people regardless of their religion, politics, or identity. The region’s admiration for John resulted in his election to the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was denied his seat in his second session because the majority of fellow representatives refused to seat a Baptist. When war came, he supported American Independence as a military chaplain. His patriotism is still recognized through the John Corbly Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and at the Greene County Museum.
John’s second arrest came as an influential voice against imbalanced taxation. While not against the need for taxes, he advocated for those whose opinions and sufferings weren’t being addressed. The frustration of those who felt unheard ultimately resulted in the Whiskey Rebellion. John and others who protested the government actions were arrested in Western Pennsylvania. Instead of a local trial with a jury of their peers, they were marched over 300 miles to Philadelphia for trial. It was an attempt to destroy his reputation for taking the side of the underdog.
It didn’t work.
Multiple times in his life, John paid an extremely high price for doing what he thought was morally right instead of acquiescing to authority.
Strangely enough, the most tragic event in John’s life also remains the most mysterious. The Corbly Massacre is one of the most horrific frontier attacks during the American Revolution.
Here’s what we do know from John’s own words shortly afterwards. On the way to church, John’s wife and children were brutally attacked. John wrote:
“On the second Sunday of May in the year 1782, being about to keep my appointment at one of the meeting houses, about a mile from my dwelling, I set out with my dear wife and five children for public worship. Not suspecting any danger, I walked behind with my Bible in hand, meditating. As I was thus employed, all of a sudden, I was greatly alarmed with the frightful shrieks of my dear wife before me. I immediately ran with all the speed I could, vainly hunting a club as I ran, till I got within forty rods of them; my poor wife seeing me, cried to me to make my escape; an Indian ran up to shoot me. Seeing the odds too great against me, I fled, and by doing so outran him. My wife had a sucking child in her arms; the little infant they killed and scalped. Then they struck my wife several times, but not getting her down, the Indian who aimed to shoot me ran to her. My little boy, an only son, about six years old, they sank a hatchet into his brain and thus dispatched him. A daughter besides the infant they killed and scalped. My oldest daughter who is yet alive was hid in a tree about twenty yards from where the rest were killed, and saw the whole proceedings. She seeing all the Indians go off, as she thought, got up and deliberately came out from the hollow tree; but one of them spying her, ran hastily up, knocked her down and scalped her; also her only surviving sister, one on whose head they did not leave more than an inch round, either flesh or skin, besides taking a piece of her skull. She and the before-mentioned one are miraculously preserved; though as you must think, I have had and still have a good deal of trouble besides anxiety about them; insomuch as I am, as to worldly circumstances, almost ruined. I am yet in hopes of seeing them cured; they still, blessed by God, retain their senses, notwithstanding the painful operations they have already had, and yet must pass through.”1
For generations, the story was told of Native Americans scalping and murdering the Corblys. But modern historians have used existing evidence to explore the likelihood of a different account: that the attack on the Corblys was orchestrated by British loyalists and/or those who benefitted from stirring up frontier violence.
John’s two daughters who survived their scalping, Delilah and Elizabeth, were kept alive by Native Americans who administered their long-term medical care. They did what they could to keep the head wounds closed and created an ointment that protected the wounds from infection. The basket that housed the ointment still exists today. For the remainder of the girls’ lives, their Native American neighbors nursed them. Elizabeth lived 14 years after the massacre, dying from her head wound a few days before her wedding. Delilah lived a full life and had five children.
Not surprisingly in the case of such a traumatic incident, testimony was limited and at times, appeared conflicting. One of the facts that seemed at odds with the rest of the story came from one of the girls. She always insisted that she had been scalped by a white man, not an Indian. Her testimony was discounted until reexamined in this generation.
I found a podcast that addresses the complexity of the tragedy in case you want to know more.
A current trend of using the term “revisionist history” as a slur baffles me. If British loyalists and not Native Americans murdered the Corblys, shouldn’t we correct the story to reflect the truth? Why should we be afraid to use all the modern tools at our disposal to get as close to Truth as we can? Dr. Warren Throckmorton is publishing a book on May 16, 2026, The Christian Past that Wasn’t: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History. I received an advanced copy and it’s a compelling narrative with meticulous research detailing what did (and didn’t) happen when our nation was founded. If you enjoy American history, you’ll want to read this book.
As a Christian, an American, and a Corbly descendent, I’m eager to learn more truth about our nation’s founding so we can use the lessons of our past to form a vastly better future.
P.S. Deepest thanks to my mom, Katie Eichenlaub White, who for several decades has worked to gather first hand documents on John Corbly so we can tell a truer story. Also, a nod to my sister, Rachel Corbly, and my son, William Garard, who carry on the Corbly family legacy in their names.
Natalie Kahler 
Leave a comment