Near here, the Elijah P. Utter wagon train was attacked by Indians on September 9 and 10, 1860. The two-day encounter resulted in the deaths of eleven emigrants and an estimated twenty-five to thirty Indians. The forty-four-member train was composed of four families with twenty-one children, some single men, five recently discharged soldiers, and an army deserter. The first attack occurred on the high ground just west of Castle Creek when the Indians attempted to stampede the stock. The strong position of the hurriedly circled wagons and the distribution of food to Indians discouraged additional aggression. The train was allowed to continue toward Snake River, where the party intended to fill their water barrels. Keeping to the high ground, the train was attacked again while passing down to Henderson Flat. The wagons were circled, and the fight continued into the next day. Toward sundown on the second day, each family hitched up a wagon and left the remaining wagons and loose stock for the Indians, but the hungry, thirsty, and wounded oxen could not advance. The attackers pressed their advantage and forced the emigrants to abandon their property and flee. A wounded Elijah Utter was shot down, and Abagel Utter and three Utter children refused to abandon him; all were killed. The survivors escaped with only the clothes they were wearing, some firearms, and a few basic necessities. For more than a week they followed along the Snake River until they reached the Owyhee River crossing in Oregon. They traveled some seventy-five miles until they could not physically go on. Some were wounded, and all were hungry and exhausted. There, eighteen children, six surviving parents, and a young man waited to be rescued. Two weeks later, a few Shoshone Indians visited the camp, traded salmon for the few possessions the survivors still had, and forcefully took their firearms. After receiving some salmon, the Van Ornum family, a young man named Gleason, and the two surviving Utter boys left the camp in hopes of finding a relief party. Near Farewell Bend, they encountered Indians, and the three Van Ornum girls and their little brother were taken captive. Soldiers later discovered the bodies of the others, "gleaming in the moonlight," in a crater near the site. At the Owyhee camp, four children died from starvation. After much discussion and prayer, those who remained ate the flesh of the dead in an attempt to survive until relief arrived. On October 24, 1860, an army expedition led by Captain Frederick T. Dent rescued ten survivors. No other Oregon Trail wagon train suffered greater losses.