Start date July 17, 1877 | ||
The Wagnus Massacre was an incident that occurred on the Deadwood – Bismarck Trail on July 17, 1877, a trail used for migration, freight, and later as a farm to market road. The massacre of the Wagnus family, consisting of two brothers, accompanied by one of their wives, as they were leaving the Black Hills and attempting to catch up with the main portion of a wagon train traveling north towards Bismarck. They were found the next day by the Bismarck Stagecoach two miles north of Bear Butte, a sacred Plains Indian site located in South Dakota. The two men were found shot and scalped while the woman was shot, scalped, and horribly mutilated, with an Ox-Goad ran through her body. Local Black Hills authorities placed the blame on Indian tribes as other attacks had been fought off in the area that day. It is unknown whether Bear Butte was used as a lookout prior to the attack.