Siege, Murder, and Burials at the Emigrants' Campsite

Siege, Murder, and Burials at the Emigrants' Campsite. . Members of the Arkansas wagon train set up camp at this site on Sunday, September 5, 1857. On Sunday they likely rested and gathered for a Christian worship service-a pattern they had followed throughout their journey., The next morning they were attacked without warning. They pulled their wagons into a circle slightly larger than the fenced area where you are now. They chained the wagon wheels together and dug below each wheel to lower the wagon beds to the ground. This provided a shield against gunfire. They also dug a long defensive trench that served as a rifle pit. About 140 men, women, and children tried to take cover in the wagon circle, with many huddling together in the trench., At least seven emigrants were killed here in the first attack. The emigrants repulsed the attackers, killing one and wounding two. Three or more other emigrants died here during the five-day siege that followed., Each time firing resumed on the camp, the women and children could be heard screaming with fear. And with each attack, the emigrants put up a brave and determined defense. Not all the defenders were men. Survivor Milum Tackitt told of his aunt Eloah Angeline Tackitt Jones valiantly joining the fight, grabbing a gun that had belonged to one of the fallen men., Throughout the siege, the emigrants were cut off from their water supply. Courageous men ran from the wagon circle to get water at the nearby spring. Despite heavy gunfire, some managed to fill their buckets and return to the circle. Two men once left to gather firewood, finished their task under gunfire, and returned unharmed. , Others bravely left the wagon circle. Stories about these men differ. Some accounts say that three or four young men left the safety of the camp and went northeast. They were most likely going to Cedar City to seek help. Only one of those young men made it back to the campsite alive. Another account tells of three other men, one of them with the last name Baker, escaping during the siege. They headed southwest, carrying a document that described the emigrants and what they had endured. All three were tracked down and murdered in the desert. The document they carried has disappeared., On the fifth day of the siege, attackers came to the camp. Under a white flag, they deceived the emigrants with a false promise of safe passage to Cedar City. The emigrants were almost out of ammunition. They needed water. The wounded required attention. Realizing that they could not endure much more, they surrendered. Grieving, they wrapped their dead in buffalo robes, buried them reverently, and walked away from the campsite. The men were the last to leave, relying on their captors' promise to protect them and their families.