McMurty and his neighbors abandoned the idea of a fort and built a block house instead. It was made of logs large enough that bullets wouldn't penetrate.

Even so, the families often ran into the woods to hide when they believed the Indians were near. In the rain they covered one another with quilts as their only protection. McMurty's wife died from consumption after exposure to the rain on one of these nights, leaving six motherless daughters, the oldest, thirteen.