A Brief History of the Conflict

The following is a brief history of the Branch Davidians up to the Waco tragedy, indexed by date and topic.

THE BRANCH DAVIDIANS

1935 --Victor Houteff, a religious dissenter, leaves the Seventh-Day Adventists in California to form a community (Mt. Carmel) in Texas.

1955 -- Victor Houteff dies. His wife Florence takes over the group, now called the "Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists," announcing that "the end" (the culmination of history and the return of Christ) will come in 1959. Many Davidians move to the community from across the country.

1959 -- End fails to come. Most members dissipate; however, about fifty remain and move to a New Mt. Carmel located about ten miles from Waco.

1960 -- Ben Roden takes over the Davidian leadership, naming them "Branch Davidians" to differentiate them from the plain "Davidian" strand. Following Roden's death, his wife Lois takes over. After her death, a struggle ensues for leadership between her son, George Roden, and a relative newcomer, Vernon Howell.

1987 -- Roden challenges Howell to a duel to prove who is the "True Prophet," to be decided by who would raise a long-dead Davidian from the grave. Later, a gunfight breaks out between Roden and Howell and their followers. All Davidians are tried, acquittals and a hung jury result. Roden is later jailed for six months for writing threatening letters to a judge. During that time, Howell takes over Mt. Carmel.

1989 -- Roden murders a man with an axe and is committed to a mental institution. He briefly escapes in 1993. Vernon Howell and his followers maintain an armed vigil against retribution.

DAVID KORESH 1990 -- Vernon Howell legally changes his name to David Koresh, after Hebrew King David and Persian King Cyrus (who freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity). Koresh inherited a millennial view from Houteff and the Rodens, along with their authoritarian style of leadership. He believes himself to the "Lamb of God," drawing many followers from Adventist circles and rebuilding Mt. Carmel into a huge complex combining chapel, residence, gymnasium, water and watch towers, tornado shelter, swimming pool, and utility space.

Koresh focuses on the decoding of apocalyptic passages (such as the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation) that he understands to refer to the present: the inbreaking of God's will into human history, with a cosmic struggle between good and evil. The forces of evil will be concentrated in the present center of earthly power, the government of the United States, whose "Babylonian" might would be brought to bear against the Lamb and his Elect. Koresh accumulates a large stockpile of arms for defense against what he sees as the coming struggle.

Koresh discerns in several scriptural passages, especially Psalm 45, the implication that the Lamb should be united with the "kings' daughters," "honourable women," "virgins," to beget "children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth." His understanding is that only the seed of the Lamb is pure and that the Lamb alone should beget the children who would rule the world in the coming age. To that end, Koresh is accorded exclusive marital rights to all of the women in the community, and their husbands (if they were married) relinquish such rights to Koresh because of their belief that he correctly understands the divine will. As a result, by 1993 Koresh is the father of more than a dozen children by several women, in addition to his legal wife, Rachel Jones (daughter of longtime Davidian Perry Jones).

March 5-9, 1992 -- local law enforcement teams inadvertently conduct SWAT training near Mt. Carmel. David Koresh reacts by 1) bringing back members from California and England, 2) making large purchases of weapons parts, 3) acquiring chemicals which can be used to make explosives, 4) purchasing night vision scopes and sensors, and 5) accumulating large supplies of ammunition.

INITIAL INVESTIGATIONS

In March 1992, the BATF's pubic image is tarnished by allegations of sexual harassment.

May 1992 -- A driver for United Parcel Service reports that a carton for delivery to Mt. Carmel had broken open to reveal a shipment of (inert) hand grenades. The incident is reported to the Waco sheriff's office, which notifies the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) in Austin. An agent named Davey Aguilera is assigned to investigate, and by tracing UPS invoices he compiles a list of $43,000 worth of guns, gun parts, gun kits, grenade hulls, black powder, chemicals, fuses, and ammunition. Perhaps to help improve its prospects at Congressional budget hearings in March 1993, the agency begins in December 1992 to plan a major raid on the Davidians. They obtain warrants for the arrest of Vernon Howell and the search of his property at Mt. Carmel for illegal firearms (both based on an affidavit hastily put together by Aguilera).

THE BATF RAID & THE STANDOFF

February 28, 1993 -- After assembling a large number of agents and rehearsing for several days, the ATF launches its raid at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in what it describes as a "dynamic entry." Four ATF agents are killed and 16 are wounded. Inside, Davidian Perry Jones is killed and David Koresh is wounded. Within hours, the FBI becomes the lead agency in the standoff. By afternoon, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) arrives. Telephone negotiations begin with the Davidians. Michael Dean Schroeder, a Davidian, is killed that day while attempting to reenter Mt. Carmel; two others with him are arrested.

March 1, 1993 -- Acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson, who endorses a negotiated solution, updates President Clinton on the situation. By 5 p.m., 10 Davidian children are allowed to leave Mt. Carmel. Armored vehicles are deployed around the compound for the first time.

March 2- 8, 1993 -- Negotiations continue. During the talks, Koresh rambles about biblical prophecy, mass suicide, FBI plots to burn the compound and destroy evidence, etc. The talks go nowhere.

March 9, 1993 -- At 2:15 P.M., electricity to the compound is cut off for the first time. Several restorations and cutoffs will follow.

March 12, 1993 -- Kathy Schroeder, wife of the slain Michael Dean Schroeder, leaves the compound. On that day, Janet Reno is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General. Electricity to the compound is cut off for a final time.

March 14, 1993 -- The FBI begins to illuminate the compound with bright lights and loud music at night.

March 19, 1993 -- The FBI allows legal documents and other items to be delivered to the compound. Koresh indicates that he is ready to come out and face charges. Two Davidians leave the compound.

March 20-21, 1993 -- A total of seven Davidians, six of them women, exit the compound.

March 22, 1993 -- The FBI reads a new offer to Koresh, allowing him, among other things, to communicate while in jail, provided all Davidians begin leaving by 10 a.m. March 23.

March 23, 1993 -- Another Branch Davidian leaves the compound.

March 29, 1993 -- Over the objections of assistant U.S. attorneys and Texas Rangers, the FBI decides to allow a face-to-face meeting between Koresh and his attorney. For almost two hours, the two men meet at the door of the compound. Several other meetings will follow.

April 4, 1993 -- Koresh's attorneys meet with him and announce that he will leave by Passover (April 5). However, Koresh refuses to confirm an exit date.

April 7, 1993 -- The FBI proposes a plan for tear-gassing the compound.

April 12, 1993 -- FBI Director William Sessions, Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell and other Department of Justice members confer with Attorney General Reno, presenting the tear-gas plan. After some hesitation, she agrees.

April 13, 1993 -- Koresh tells the FBI he is not coming out until God tells him to do so. Hubbell meets for 45 minutes in White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum's office with top Clinton aides Bruce Lindsey and Vince Foster to discuss the CS gas plan.

April 14, 1993 -- A message from Koresh says that he will not surrender until he has written a manuscript explaining the Seven Seals. Attorney General Reno meets with military officials, including Delta Force, to discuss the tear-gas plan.

April 17, 1993 -- A non-Davidian, who had sneaked in earlier, leaves the compound. Reno approves the FBI's plan but gives the prepared material only a cursory review, "leaving tactical decisions to those at Waco."

April 18, 1993 -- Reno briefs Clinton on the CS gas plan, and the President "concurs," but adds, "It is your decision." Armored vehicles clear Koresh's Chevrolet Camaro and other vehicles from the front of the compound. Several Davidians hold their children in the windows and flash "Flames Await" signs.

THE FINAL DRAMA April 19, 1993 -- At 5:59 a.m., the FBI telephones the Davidians, advising them of the tear-gas assault. An agent then reads a message over the loudspeaker, telling them that they are under arrest and should come out. At 6:02 a.m., two FBI combat engineering vehicles

At 11:40 a.m., the last ferret CS rounds are delivered. At 12:07 p.m., according to the FBI, the Davidians start "simultaneous fires at three or more different locations within the compound." At 12:12 p.m., the FBI calls on Koresh to lead the Davidians out to safety. Nine Davidians flee the compound and are arrested near the warehouse-gymnasium. At 12:25 p.m., the FBI hears "systematic gunfire" coming from the compound, leaving the impression with some agents that the Davidians are either killing themselves or each other. Fire engulfs the entire compound, which in a few minutes burns to the ground. At 12:41, fire-fighting equipment arrives and begins efforts to extinguish the flames.


REFERENCES:
1 "Waco: The Inside Story," PBS Frontline, originally broadcast on October 17, 1995, © PBS and WGBH/FRONTLINE.

2. Justice Department, Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas, February 28 to April 19,1993, by Richard Scruggs, Assistant to the Attorney General, et al., October 8, 1993.

3. Justice Department, Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch Davidian Stand-off in Waco, Texas February 28 to April 19, 1993, by Edward S. G. Dennis, Jr., former Assistant Attorney General, October 8, 1993.

4. Dean M. Kelley, "Waco: A Massacre and Its Aftermath," First Things 53 (May 1995): 22-37.

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