1864 Mule Train Captain Rescues Stranded Victims
In 1864, “Captain Wood” freighted six wagons of supplies and herded sixty mules for Mormon emigrants in the Salt Lake Train heading from Utah to Wyoming, Nebraska Territory on the Missouri River. Mid-journey, thousands of emigrants suffered a series of robberies along the North Platte River through Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Forest. Many families were left without sufficient horsepower to get out of danger. But this Mr. Wood generously lent his mules to victims of the Platte River Raids … and yet, his story has never been told.
After learning about one particular wagon train’s interactions with Mr. Wood, I wondered if there was anything I could do to give this man the credit that is due. Let’s see if we can find him and say thanks?
Turned Back By Attacks
“One Mormon train on their way back East had fought the Indians three days in the Black Hills and had turned back for Salt Lake again.” (George Forman, July 19–20, 1864)
After turning back and postponing his intended freight delivery, Mr. Wood (who is never given a first name in the trail diarist accounts) probably planned to recoup for a few days from the traumatic experience.
The diarist, George Forman, is a Canadian who packed over the American West with just himself, his bags, and one stubborn Indian pony. When he reached the Upper Platte Bridge & Soldier Station (later renamed “Fort Casper”) and met Mr. Wood, he regarded this story of 3x survival with interest. George had just come through the same stretch of trail and he knew, all too well, the disaster and destruction caused by the Platte River Raids through the “Black Hills of Idaho” (as the Laramie Mountains in Wyoming were referred to at that time).
During his overland journey to the mining fields of Montana, George saw the covered wagons burned to ashes. He helped members of the Granger Company pick up and get to safety when they were stranded on the side of the road after being robbed of every horse they had [1]. He helped bury multiple men and even a child who were left in a gruesome state after hundreds of Northern Plains Indians descended on the Oregon and Overland-California Trails between Fort Laramie and Deer Creek garrison for nearly a week [2].
James Logan, a member of the Granger Company wrote that the Indians “have declared war against the emigrants and are stealing everything they can lay hands on and killing all who they find defenseless” (Aug. 1, 1864 letter, republished in the Salem Weekly Advocate on Nov. 10)
Hundreds Gather for Safety
After the week of openly hostile interactions with Northern Plains Indians, upwards of eight hundred covered wagons gathered around the tiny garrison on Deer Creek in present-day Glenrock, Wyoming. They feared for their lives and many were at a loss for what to do next. Some, like those in the Granger Company, were robbed of their stock animals and left to the mercy of passerbys to haul them on with their own exhausted horse, mules, or oxen. Others were robbed of personal possessions. Most traveling parties fought back, and some lost friends and family members in the process. (See “The Kelly-Larimer Train: One of Many Murders on the Oregon Trail”)
When the emigrants, including the Salt Lake Train, arrived at the garrison that only housed about 40 soldiers, they were ordered not to move on… for their own protection… or so the 11th Ohio Voluntary Cavalry claimed.
On July 18, the 11th OVC at the garrison prepared for vengeance with an expedition into the Powder River Basin. They “pressed” the emigrants for ten-to-twelve days’ food rations, “recruited” (borrowed or stole in the name of war) more horses, and even called for volunteer servicemen to reinforce their regiment. These details come from Corporal Hervey Johnson in an 1864 letter to his sister telling of the preparations for battle. He and his regiment left the garrison that night at one o’clock in the morning with two mountain howitzers (cannons).
Whether the emigrants felt compassion towards the cause or not, this request translated to a loss upon a loss. Some would not have enough resources left after this week to reach their original destination, even if they could leave. Many would have to overwinter in Utah or Nevada to avoid being caught in the deadly cold of the Rocky Mountains or Sierra Nevadas (ie. Donner Party Style).
The next day, George Forman, the Granger Company, and other emigrants affected by this ordeal sat hoping and waiting for news that the regiment that left on the 18th might find the nearly 2,000 stolen horses that were needed to help the families finish crossing the Plains. Another day went by though. No help came. No horses returned.
Many emigrants lost faith in the Union’s ability to protect and provide. One traveler in the Granger Company, Aaron Rockwood, had been ambushed on July 14 and lost over fifty heads of horses (all he had). After sitting stranded on the side of the road, then being helped to the garrison where he watched the Army do nothing for them (in his opinion), he wrote in a correspondence home, “I had seen enough to satisfy me there was no hope, and I came to the conclusion that we could expect no help from any man” (July 25, 1864, republished Sept. 10 in the Chicago Tribune).
But One Man Made a Difference
Soon, word spread through the camps around the garrison that the Salt Lake Train had left, despite the strict military detainment order. Aaron Rockwood recorded, “On reaching [the garrison,] Captain [Samuel] Granger and myself learned there had been a train of six wagons and sixty loose mules left there that morning for Salt Lake.”
James Logan, in the Granger Company, recorded in his letter that, not only did the Salt Lake Train leave against the order, they took on additional families who needed their help. Logan wrote, “Fortunate for these families who had lost their stock[,] there came in a large drove of mules from Salt Lake City going to the Missouri River for Freight[,] which could not proceed with safety … conducted by Capt. Wood who kindly took some twenty wagons with families on to Salt Lake City.”
After seeing that no progress would be made by staying put, and after hearing about this remarkably kind Mr. Wood, Aaron Rockwood got an idea. “We [Granger and myself] mounted a couple of mules and started after them. We overtook them at Platte bridge, twenty-eight miles; stayed over night with them…” (1864).
By defying the military detainment order, Aaron Rockwood took his safety into his own hands, but he and Samuel Granger were more than willing to do so to get their families out of harm’s way. On arrival, they may have appealed to Mr. Wood’s sympathetic side. Maybe Mr. Wood could spare a few mules, as he had done to help twenty other wagons? In exchange, Rockwood and Granger might have leveraged anything and everything they had for the loan. Mr. Wood could have named any price, though it appears he asked for nothing.
To their relief, Mr. Wood allowed them to take more than half of his herd of mules back to Deer Creek garrison the next day. “We got the mules from the Salt Lake Train,” Aaron Rockwood wrote. “They sent back thirty-one mules to help us. …they only had that many animals to spare.”
Mr. Wood must have understood that, under present circumstances, there would be no guarantee that his freighting mules would ever be returned. The Granger Company men could very well have been attacked on their way back to Deer Creek and lost everything, again.
But they didn’t. They made it back within a day.
With those mules, three entire families in the Granger Company were able to get to the Upper Platte Bridge & Soldier Station. Those rescued by Mr. Wood’s act of faith added up to 6 wagons and 23 individuals, including women, children, and infants. The Granger Company and George Forman have forever preserved their respect for Mr. Wood in their 1864 journals and letters … but oddly, Mr. Wood’s story of extraordinary giving isn’t found anywhere else. Nor is a “Mr. Wood” even found in Salt Lake City. Hmm…
Now, are YOU willing to help me find this Mr. Wood?
Read on to join the search! (Click here to continue reading “Finding Mr. Wood, Oregon Trail Hero”)
About the Author
Janelle Molony, M.S.L. is an award-winning freelancer and nonfiction author from Phoenix, Arizona. She has a particular interest in women-centric stories and local history. Her writing has been featured in magazines and journals such as History Nebraska, The Michigan Historical Review, Minnesota Genealogist, Annals of Wyoming, Women’s History, and more.
See more from the author by following on Medium and on social media. More publications by Molony can be found on her official author webpage.
Extended Notes:
[1] Members of the Granger Company included the following household names: Granger, Jewell, Hawley, Rockwood, and Logan.
[2] Why? Briefly: The Northern Plains Indians were attempting to cease emigrant travel and punish emigrants (in general) for the behaviors of two specific wagon trains that had left the Overland-California Trail, hoping to carve a shortcut through a very important Buffalo migration and hunting area. Not only did they literally carve into the land with their heavy-laden wagons, one train slaughtered hundreds of buffalo and left them to rot in the prairies. Then, when the Indians very seriously asked for the next train to turn back and stay on their treaty-designated trail, the emigrants chose to respond with violence. More on this story can be found in the forthcoming nonfiction, Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids (2023, Molony).
