On August 20, 1862, shouts of terror and gunfire shattered the early morning calm as Lake Shetek settlers fled for shelter in the large cabin of John and Julia Wright. Henry Watson "Wat" Smith and his wife Sophia C. Smith, who had settled along the lake in 1856, joined the fleeing settlers at the Wright cabin. In the opening engagement with the Indians at the slough, Henry Smith fled the battle with others, but Sophia Smith was killed there and was later buried at the Shetek Monument. Thirty-four frightened settlers and eight Dakota Indians initially took refuge in the Wright cabin. John and Julia Wright had come to Lake Shetek to begin farming in 1859 and built their cabin in the spring of 1861, while in August 1862 John was away in Olmsted County, Minnesota, doing farm labor and Julia remained with their two children. After a short stand-off, the crowded settlers decided to leave the temporary shelter of the Wright cabin and head east for New Ulm, but they reached only a shallow wetland later known as Slaughter Slough, two miles east. There Julia Wright and her children were captured and held by Indians until their release nearly three months later.