Wagon Mound massacre
| Wagon Mound massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Apache Wars and Jicarilla War | |
The Wagon Mound butte, located in New Mexico. | |
| Location | Wagon Mound, New Mexico Territory |
| Date | May 7, 1850 |
| Target | A wagon carrying mail on the Santa Fe Trail. |
| Deaths | 10 American mail carriers killed |
| Perpetrators | 100 Apache and Ute warriors led by White Wolf |
The Wagon Mound massacre was an attack on a US Postal Service ox-wagon carried out on May 7, 1850 by a band of Jicarilla Apache and Mouache Ute Indians on the Cimmaron Cutoff route of the Santa Fe Trail, near Wagon Mound, New Mexico. The bodies of the 10 Americans killed in the attack were found nearly two weeks after the attack, on May 19, 1850, by a US Cavalry patrol originating from Las Vegas, New Mexico. The patrol discovered the arrow-pierced bodies of the 10 victims while passing by the area, the bodies being discovered not at Wagon Mound, but nearby at Santa Clara Springs.