Wickenburg Massacre

Stagecoach attack in the Arizona Territory (1871)

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

Wickenburg Massacre

Frederick Wadsworth Loring in a photograph taken two days before his death

Location| Wickenburg, Arizona
Date| November 5, 1871

Attack type

| Killing
Deaths| 6
Injured| 2
Victim| White European Settlers
Perpetrator| unknown

* v
* t
* e

Apache Wars

Jicarilla War
Point of Rocks
Wagon Mound
Bell's Fight
Cieneguilla
Ojo Caliente Canyon

Texas–Indian wars
Diablo Mountains
Antelope Hills Expedition
Little Robe Creek
Peña Colorado Creek
1st Adobe Walls
Packsaddle Mountain

Chiricahua Wars
Cooke's Spring
Bonneville Expedition
Madera Canyon
Mimbres River
Bascom affair
Tubac
Cookes Canyon
Florida Mountains
Gallinas Mountains
Placito
Pinos Altos
1st Dragoon Springs
2nd Dragoon Springs
Apache Pass
Big Bug
Mowry
Mount Gray
Doubtful Canyon
Fort Buchanan

Black Hawk's War
Pipe Spring

Yavapai War
Camp Grant
Wickenburg
Burro Canyon
Tonto Basin
Salt River Canyon
Turret Peak
Sunset Pass

Buffalo Hunters' War
Yellow House Canyon

Victorio's War
Battle of Ojo Caliente (1879)
Las Animas Canyon
Hembrillo Basin
Alma
Fort Tularosa
Battle of Tres Castillos
Carrizo Canyon

Geronimo's War
Cibecue Creek
Fort Apache
McMillenville
Big Dry Wash
Lordsburg Road
Devil's Creek
Little Dry Creek
Nacori Chico
Bear Valley
Pinito Mountains

Post 1887 period
Kelvin Grade (1889)
Cherry Creek (1890)
Guadalupe Canyon (1896)

The Wickenburg Massacre was the November 5, 1871, murder of six stagecoach passengers en route westbound from Wickenburg, Arizona Territory, headed for San Bernardino, California, on the La Paz road.

## Massacre

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Around mid-morning, about six miles from Wickenburg, the stagecoach was allegedly attacked by 15 Yavapai warriors, who were sometimes mistakenly called Apache-Mohaves, from the Date Creek Reservation.[1][2] Six men, including the driver, were shot and killed. Among them was Frederick Wadsworth Loring,[3] a young writer from Boston working as a correspondent for Appleton's Journal and assigned to cover a cartographic expedition led by Lieutenant George Wheeler.[4] One male passenger, William Kruger, and the only female passenger, Mollie Sheppard, managed to escape.[5] According to Kruger, Sheppard eventually died of the wounds she received.[6]

Memorial plaques have been installed near the site several times, including in 1937 by the Arizona Highway Department and in 1948 and 1988 by the Wickenburg Saddle Club.[7]

Wickenburg Massacre

* Vicinity marker where the Wickenburg Massacre took place (33°57′47″N 112°47′50″W﻿ / ﻿33.963080°N 112.797239°W﻿ / 33.963080; -112.797239)

* Old Stage Coach Road where the November 5, 1871, Wickenburg Massacre occurred

* Grave of one of the victims of the Wickenburg Massacre

The Wickenburg Massacre was featured on an April 12, 1996, episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

## See also

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* Arizona portal

* List of Indian massacres in North America

## References

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1. ^ "The Indian Attack Upon an Arizona Stage – The Driver and Five Passengers Killed". The New York Times. November 20, 1871. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
2. ^ "The Indians; Verdict of the Coroner's Jury in the Wickenburg Massacre". The New York Times. November 22, 1871. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
3. ^ July 29, 1876 The Arizona Citizen, front page
4. ^ "The Late Frederick W. Loring". The New York Times. November 24, 1871. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
5. ^ Own, Our (January 1, 1872). "The Wickenburg Massacre; First Authentic Account from an Eye-Witness". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
6. ^ "What Really Happened to Mollie Sheppard?"; by: Jan MacKell Collins
7. ^ Collins, Jan MacKell (2015). Wild Women of Prescott, Arizona. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. p. 92\. ISBN 9781626198630.

## Further reading

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* Wilson, Michael (2008). Massacre at Wickenburg: Arizona's Greatest Mystery. TwoDot. ISBN 978-0-7627-4453-4.
* Dan L. Thrapp: Al Sieber: Chief of Scouts. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1964, ISBN 0-8061-2770-8 pp. 87–105
* Another account of the massacre from University of Arizona
* Bill W. Smith. A Collection of Newspaper Articles, Letters, and Reports, Regarding the Wickenburg Massacre and Subsequent Camp Date Creek Incident. Phoenix: Privately Published, 1989. 68 pp. ASIN B00KJ80PLM, OCLC 22103156

## External links

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* "The Wickenburg Massacre" – via Google Sites; a proposed archeological investigation

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