Utter Party Massacre
{{Short description|1860 attack by Native Americans on the Oregon Trail}}
{{Infobox event
| title = Utter Party Massacre
| image = ReubenVanOrnum.png
| caption = The boy (front, center) was said to be Reuben Van Ornum after being rescued from captivity.
| date = {{start date|1860|09|09}}
| time =
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| location = Fork of the Oregon Trail, Washington Territory (modern day Idaho), United States
| coordinates =
| also_known_as = Van Ornum party massacre, Myers massacre, Utter train massacre, Salmon Falls Massacre, Sinker Creek Tragedy
| type = Attack
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| target = Emigrant group
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| participants = 44 emigrants
| outcome = 29 killed or captured; 10 survivors found in a dire state
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The Utter Party Massacre was an attack by Native Americans on September 9 or 13, 1860, that killed or captured 29 of a group of 44 emigrants on a fork of the Oregon Trail in Washington Territory (modern day Idaho), United States. 10 survivors were found on October 24, 1860, emaciated and eating the disinterred remains of a party member.Schlicke, p. 5 Historian Charles Henry Carey described the attack as "more atrocious than any that had preceded it".Carey, p. 661 It was noted as a "rare [occasion] when Indians not only attempted but sustained a prolonged assault on encircled emigrant wagons".Site of Utter Party Massacre, p. 1
Name
The incident has been referred to by many names. Some have referred to it by family names of party members, including the Van Ornum party massacre, the Myers massacre, the Utter train massacre, and other variations.McArthur, p. 97.
It has also been referred to by its location, including Salmon Falls Massacre (referring to Salmon Falls on the Snake River)Site of Utter Party Massacre, p. 3 and the Sinker Creek Tragedy.
The Interstate 84 road sign lists it as the Van Ornum Battle site.
See also
- {{slink|List of incidents of cannibalism#1860s}}
Citations
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book
|last=Carey
|first=Charles Henry
|title=History of Oregon
|volume=1
|date=1922
|publisher=Pioneer Historical Publishing Company
}}
- {{cite book
|last=McArthur
|first=Scott
|title=The Enemy Never Came: The Civil War in the Pacific Northwest
|date=2012
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press
|isbn=9780870045707
}}
- {{cite journal
|last=Schlicke
|first=Carl P.
|title=Massacre on the Oregon Trail: A Tale of Horror, Cannibalism & Three Remarkable Children
|journal=Columbia Magazine
|volume=1
|issue=1
|date=Spring 1987
|pages=33–43
|url=http://www.washingtonhistory.org/files/library/01-1_Schlicke.pdf
}}
- {{citation |url= https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0233.pdf |title= Site of Utter Party Massacre |work= Reference Series: Number 233 |agency= History.Idaho.gov |publisher= Idaho State Historical Society |date= June 1993 }}
{{refend}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal
|title=Tragedy on Sinker Creek, 1860
|first=Kelsie Ramey
|last=Osborne
|journal=Prairie Schooner
|volume=26
|number=4
|date=Winter 1952
|pages=400–408
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press
|jstor=40624468
}}
- {{cite book
|title=The Utter Disaster on the Oregon Trail: The Utter and Van Ornum Massacres of 1860
|series=Snake Country
|volume=2
|first=Donald H.
|last=Shannon
|edition=2nd
|publisher=Snake Country Publishers
|date=1993
|isbn=9780963582829
}}
Category:1860 in Washington Territory
Category:Incidents of cannibalism