Massacre at Point of Rocks

Massacre at Point of Rocks is an historical fiction, a gripping tale of historic events along the Santa Fe Trail. In 1849, Santa Fe trader James White took his family ahead of the slow moving caravan to rush his wife and child to safety and comfort in the city of the Holy Faith of St. Francis. He was met near Point of Rocks by Jicarilla Apaches. This is the first time their side of the story is told explaining how and why Ann White and her daughter were abducted. The event could not be ignored. Soon all New Mexico was roused and numerous rescue operations were under way. Buffalo hunters, Comancheros, Indian agents, and multiple military patrols sought her. A reluctant Kit Carson was recruited to go to her rescue. Only he could find the trail and follow it for 200 miles. Kit Carson found himself and his friends embroiled in a war not of his choosing.

Massacre at Point of Rocks is an historical fiction, a gripping tale of historic events along the Santa Fe Trail. In 1849, Santa Fe trader James White took his family ahead of the slow moving caravan to rush his wife and child to safety and comfort in the city of the Holy Faith of St. Francis. He was met near Point of Rocks by Jicarilla Apaches. This is the first time their side of the story is told explaining how and why Ann White and her daughter were abducted. The event could not be ignored. Soon all New Mexico was roused and numerous rescue operations were under way. Buffalo hunters, Comancheros, Indian agents, and multiple military patrols sought her. A reluctant Kit Carson was recruited to go to her rescue. Only he could find the trail and follow it for 200 miles. Kit Carson found himself and his friends embroiled in a war not of his choosing. Massacre at Point of Rocks is also the tale of a young man who goes West to meet his hero, Kit Carson, then at the height of his fame and popularity. He is disappointed with the short, soft-spoken Carson, but learns through numerous adventures to appreciate the famous scout as a real and special man. The story takes the reader into Jicarilla villages and ceremonials and through the paisano towns of the Rio Arriba. The background to the story is the real New Mexico of 1849 recreated so that the reader may understand the men, their times and their challenges. The Santa Fe Trail comes to life.

Doug Hocking grew up on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in the Rio Arriba (Northern New Mexico). He attended reservation schools and an Ivy League prep school. Doug enlisted in Army Intelligence out of high school and worked in Taiwan, Thailand and at the Pentagon. Returning home he studied Social Anthropology (Ethnography) and then returned to the Army as an Armored Cavalry officer (scout) completing his career by instructing Military Intelligence lieutenants in the art of war. He has earned a master’s degree with honors in American History and completed field school in Historical Archaeology. He has worked with allied officers and taught at Cochise College. He is now an independent scholar residing in southern Arizona near Tombstone with his wife, dogs, and a feral cat. He is on the board of the Southern Chapter of the Arizona Historical Society and of Westerners International and is Sheriff of the Bisbee Corral of the Westerners. He began writing a few years ago and has published in Wild West, True West, Buckskin Bulletin and Roundup Magazine. His books include Massacre at Point of Rocks and Mystery of Chaco Canyon.