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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

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; 1st Adobe Walls

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

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.

References

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