Evangelicals really not being Christians to the side (although I completely agree; I see them as Leviticans), I've an issue with the portrayal of 'circling the wagons' being ineffective. It encircled horses and oxen (typically the goal of attackers was to acquire these), allowed travelers to concentrate fire, support each other, and turned what would have been many individual struggles into a single one.

I'd suggest anyone interested in what those westward migrants went through read "The Prairie Traveler", a guidebook for people making the journey. I understand it's available as an ebook these days, minus the appendices that had to do with detailed route descriptions - which really only matter if you're trying to figure their exact routes.