The mention of the Santa Fe Trail brings forth images of long trains of alluring Conestoga wagons wending their way across the open prairie. That prairie was Kansas, and to a lesser extent, the Cimarron Cutoff, across the present-day Oklahoma panhandle into New Mexico.

Traders made and lost fortunes transporting merchandise from the United States to New Mexico (part of Mexico at that time). One such trading company was J. M. White & Company. By 1848, James White had made a fortune selling goods in Santa Fe and beyond. In November, White returned from Santa Fe to Independence, Mo. His caravan was filled with gold and silver reportedly valued at $58,000. Once in Independence, White arranged to move his center of operations from Independence to Santa Fe.

Preparations for the move were not completed until the fall of 1849. White’s wife, Ann, and daughter, Virginia, accompanied him on their trek across the prairie to their new home in the southwest. They were attended by a Black female servant whose name has been lost to time. Moving the company involved the relocation of a host of employees and 13 “goods-laden wagons.” The White caravan joined a train of wagons being organized by fellow trader, Francis Aubry.

Far to the west, events were unfolding with dire consequences. Increased settlement in New Mexico brought scattered raids from Jicarilla Apaches, which, in turn, brought military action against the Jicarillas. At the very time when one band of Jicarillas were supposedly seeking a peace settlement, another band of Jicarillas fought an extended hand-to-hand battle with the army near Las Vegas, N.M. The daughter of Jicarilla Chief Lobo Blanco was taken prisoner. The capture of his daughter brought increased attacks on the settlements by Lobo Blanco.

Meanwhile, the Aubry-White caravan passed uneventfully over the Kansas prairie. The caravan turned southwest on the Cimarron Cutoff into northeast New Mexico. An early winter storm killed so many mules the caravan was forced to halt and “cache” two wagonloads of goods in the hills north of present-day Clayton, N.M. Their plan was to return to the cache after fresh mules were obtained in Santa Fe.

While the goods were being cached, James White, anxious to reach his destination, set out in advance of the caravan with a party of seven or eight men, his wife, daughter and servant. A day later, approximately 100 Jicarilla warriors, led by Chief Lobo Blanco, swept down upon them from the Point of Rocks, a distinctive bluff east of present-day Springer, N.M.

The fight was swift and bloody. Every man, including James White, was killed. Mrs. White, her daughter and the servant were taken captive. Aubry employed Pueblo Indians and Mexicans to negotiate the return of the captives. Chief Lobo Blanco’s daughter was sent with troops to negotiate with her people for the release of the captives.

South of present-day Ulysses, she broke from her own captors with a knife. Slashing at the soldiers, she dashed for the mules, hoping to stampede them and make her escape. A shot from a soldier’s gun turned the chaos to silence and Chief Lobo Blanco’s daughter was dead.

Meanwhile, men in Kit Carson and Capt. William Grier’s First Dragoons located the Jicarilla camp on the Canadian River south of Tucumcari Butte. Carson tried to persuade Grier to mount an immediate charge, but Grier wanted to “parley” with them first. When the Jicarilla discovered the presence of soldiers, they began to “scatter like flushed quail.”

Grier ordered a charge, but it was too late for the captives. Kit Carson found Mrs. White shot through the heart with an arrow. The daughter and servant were nowhere to be found.

Carson also found something that haunted him the rest of his days. A “dime novel,” the first of its kind that he had ever seen, was found in camp. The novel portrayed Kit Carson as a great hero, the slayer of hundreds of Indians.

“I have often thought that Mrs. White must have read it, and knowing that I lived nearby, must have prayed for my appearance in order that she might be saved. I did come, but I lacked the power to persuade those that were in command over me to follow my plan for her rescue.”

Stories often surfaced of a young girl being seen in various Indian camps, each one bringing renewed hope for the return of the little girl, Virginia White. But she and the servant girl were destined to join the long list of missing travelers whose secrets are only known to the whispering wind on The Way West.

“The Cowboy” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st Rd., Geneseo, KS 67444, (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.