In the fall of 1860, a wagon train of eight prairie schooners made their way from Wisconsin toward the Willamette Valley in Oregon. They numbered 44 souls including men, women and children. They stopped at Fort Hall, in present day eastern Idaho and requested an army escort across Indian country toward Fort Boise. The garrison commander, Colonel Howe, invited the girls and women to join him and his troops for an evening of dancing. The women, being of sound mind and moral character, declined. The colonel showed his displeasure by ordering his men to escort the wagon train for six days only. We have all heard that when Stalin says dance, the wise man dances. Unfortunately, this maxim was coined by one of Stalin's generals, many years too late to be of service to our hearty travelers. A few days after the army escort turned back, two Indians and a skinny, one-eyed white man approached the wagon train and asked for food. Our travelers weren't terribly concerned because at Fort Hall they were joined by five recently discharged soldiers and an 18-year-old deserter. The deserter managed to slip away from Fort Hall with his bugle. The wagon train settlers were covering about 12 miles per day, so they were both surprised and alarmed when this same one-eyed white man showed up three days later with a different, and larger, Indian escort, asking for food. These Indians were both Shoshone and Paiute. The wagon train moved on to about 40 miles south of present-day Mountain Home, Idaho. There, our weary travelers were attacked by a large number of Indians and thus began the largest Oregon Trail massacre in history.