A memorial gravesite beneath the trees north of Gold Beach commemorates the spot where pioneer John Geisel and his three sons were brutally murdered by a small band of Tututni Indians on the night of Feb. 22, 1856. His wife Christina and her two young daughters were taken captive, but later released in a prisoner exchange during the siege of Fort Miner. The hostilities were part of the Indian uprising that swept down the Rogue River to Gold Beach on Washington's Birthday that killed about 25 white miners and settlers and burned down scores of buildings at Gold Beach and up the coast. Although unmarked, the Geisel Monument is also the location of a vengeful ambush two years after the end of the war by local whites, who attacked a column of surrendered Indians who were being returned to the reservation on the Central Coast. At least 19 men, women and children were killed, and their bones left in the woods near here.