From Squaring the Boston Globe, we learn how a local historical society in Massachussetts has sanitized the Deerfield Massacre:

The year 2004 is the 300th anniversary of what less sensitive times commonly referred to as the “Deerfield Massacre”. This was a raid during the French and Indian War in which over 50 colonists were killed, and about 150 captured and taken on a forced march to Canada.

This story in the Sunday Globe (which carefully avoids using the judgemental term in the paragraph above) tells how the local historical society has covered some stone tablets from the 19th century which contain text deemed too coarse for our highly sensitive 21st century ears. References to “savages” and “Negro servants” are two examples. The offensive text is now safely behind hanging flaps of cloth which have been designed to match the stone tablets, but contain revised descriptions that use current terms for Native American tribes and are more nuanced…

Read on for more savage p.c.

CLARIFICATION: A reader notes that the war that is generally titled “The French and Indian War” occurred in the 1750s. The Deerfield Massacre occurred in 1704. While this was indeed a raid by the French and Indian allies, it was not during the war of that name.”

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