May 1850; Wagon Mound, New Mexico: A band of Jicarilla Apaches jumped a train of U.S. mail wagons on its way from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe. The Indians attacked in the morning, and the fighting lasted all day. Two whites were wounded and placed in a wagon; the remainder managed to hold their own.
That night, a band of Utes joined the Apaches. The Utes said they did not know how to fight Americans, so the Apaches said they would show them. In the morning the mail wagons were moving closer to the high ground at Wagon Mound when the combined force of raiders attacked again, this time with overwhelming force. The Indians killed ten men and every animal. Soldiers from Santa Fe buried the dead. They found some of the men stripped, but none scalped. Arrows covered the ground and the mail was scattered across the plains.
