Wickenburg massacre

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Coordinates: 33°57′47″N 112°47′50″W / 33.963072, -112.797253 (Wickenburg Massacre Historical Monument)

Fred W. Loring, in his campaign costume, with his mule "Evil Merodach". Taken about 48 hours before the massacre
Fred W. Loring, in his campaign costume, with his mule "Evil Merodach". Taken about 48 hours before the massacre

The Wickenburg massacre was the November 5, 1871 murder of six stagecoach passengers en route from Wickenburg, Arizona Territory westbound for San Bernadino, California on the La Paz road. In mid-morning, about 6 miles from Wickenburg, the stagecoach was attacked by fifteen Yavapai Indians (sometimes mistakenly called Apache-Mohave Indians) from the Date Creek reservation.[1][2] Six men, including the driver, were shot and killed, including Fred W. Loring, a young writer from Boston.[3] One male passenger and the only female passenger escaped, though wounded.[4]

Over the next two years General George Crook conducted an investigation into the attack, and finally identified all the participants. He tried to arrest the ringleaders, but failing, sent Captain J. W. Mason to Burro Creek, where he encountered both guilty and innocent Indians in three rancherias. Many were killed in the battle which followed.

Seven months earlier 135 Indians had been killed in the Camp Grant massacre, near Tucson, and Eastern sentiment was with the Indians, but the death of one of Boston's most promising young writers at Wickenburg turned the tide against the Indians. In February 1875, after being promised reservation land near Prescott "forever and forever," the Yavapai tribe was uprooted and driven 180 miles south to the San Carlos reservation, where they were forced to live beside their enemies from centuries past.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Indian Attack Upon an Arizona Stage - The Driver and Five Passengers Killed.", The New York Times, 1871-11-20. Retrieved on 2008-03-23. 
  2. ^ "THE INDIANS.; Verdict of the Coroner's Jury in the Wickenburg Massacre", The New York Times, 1871-11-22. Retrieved on 2008-03-23. 
  3. ^ "The Late Frederick W. Loring.", The New York Times, 1871-11-24. Retrieved on 2008-03-23. 
  4. ^ "THE WICKENBURG MASSACRE; First Authentic Account from an Eye-Witness", The New York Times, 1872-01-01. Retrieved on 2008-03-23. 

[edit] Further reading