DRENCHED IN BLOOD ...

Early on the morning of November 5, 1871 seven passengers continued on their journey toward Ehrenberg, Arizona Territory. One hour west of Wickenburg their stagecoach was attacked. The driver and five men were murdered. A seventh man and the only female passenger escaped, though severely wounded.

Sixteen hours later a rescue party recovered the bodies of five victims “drenched in blood, rigid in death.” A pursuit posse followed closely behind and the following day the Army’s investigation began.

The result of that inquiry presaged a campaign that would punish the guilty and alter the fate of nearly every Indian in America’s southwest.