On July 11 (or July 9--accounts vary) about 2:00 p.m. a party of perhaps a dozen Indians invaded the log schoolhouse of Miss Ann Whitney. The school was a small log cabin which had a door on the south and a small window on the north. Large cracks gapped between the logs in both the walls and the floor. Early schools could be taught only during warm months because the schools were unheated and each would last only for a few weeks.

A daughter of Alexander Powers saw a group of men rapidly riding toward the school and alerted Miss Whitney who was certain that the riders were cowhands of John Barbee who was coming to see his daughter Olivia that day. Olivia Barbee was boarding with a family so that she could attend school. Hence, Miss Whitney made the fatal mistake of ignoring the warning. Watching the approach of the Indians through the cracks in the wall, the Powers child became frightened and pushed her little brother through the window and they escaped into the brush. Going to the door Miss Whitney witnessed the Indians taking Mary, her horse. Closing and barring the door, Miss Whitney instructed the children to escape through the window. As Miss Whitney was pushing the last two girls--Mary Jane Manning and Jane Kuykendall through the small window on the north side of the cabin, Miss Whitney was fatally shot with arrows. Miss Whitney had pleaded with the Indians to kill her and to leave the children alone. The Indians were led by a red-headed white man. All but two of her students were able to escape through the small window on the north side of the cabin. As Miss Whitney lay dying, she spread her skirts attempting to cover cracks in the floor where John Kuykendall and Louis Manning were hiding. Jane Kuykendall, shot by an arrow, fell down and the Indians assumed that she was dead.

The red-headed attacker asked John and Louis if they wanted to go with the Indians. John Kuykendall, who replied "yes," was taken captive.

Olivia Barbee was seized by the English-speaking Indian who forced her on his horse. Olivia slid off the horse and escaped into the dense underbrush when her captor's attention was distracted. Olivia was so consumed by terror, that when John Massengill spotted her the next day, he had to run her down.

At the time of the attack Miss Amanda Howard and her sister-in-law Mrs. Sarah Howard had ridden their horses into the valley from the east. Believing that the Indians were hunters, Amanda and Sarah rode toward the school. The Indians spotted these ladies and pursued. Amanda and Sarah reversed directions and rode toward the home of John Baggett half a mile east of the school. Amanda's horse leaped over the Baggett's eight-rail fence, but Sarah's horse turned hurling her over the fence as an Indian captured her horse. Sarah was not hurt seriously and quickly found refuge in the Baggetts' home.

While one group of Indians was attacking the school near the middle of the valley , another group waylaid the Stanaland [not Strangeline] family who were traveling through the valley from the west. Both Mr. and Mrs. Strangeline (correction-- Stanaland ) were shot as were their two children. Mr. Hugh Strangeline ( correction-- Stanaland ) was killed but not scalped.

Amanda Howard formulated a plan to alert other settlers and to secure help. Amanda had to ride past the Indians and outrun them to get to the only road that crossed the high hill to the south that led to a lower settlement. Amanda's dash through the valley interrupted the Indians who were attacking the Stanaland [not Strangeline] family. The daring seventeen-year-old Amanda escaped the Indians only by a few rods as she reached the road to the south.

Amanda's riding skills distracted the Indians from the school, and away from the Strangelines ( correction-- Stanaland ) . Her courage saved many lives as the Indians hurriedly beat a retreat to the west with their captive, John Kuykendall.

Some of the men who joined the posse to search for the Indians were Abe Pierson, Chapman and Volney Howard, and Abe Hendrix and four others.

School children in Hamilton County later raised money to erect a monument placed in Graves Gentry Cemetery in Hamilton in memory of the brave Ann Whitney.