Branch Davidian Compound Siege

In 1993, federal agents besieged the Branch Davidian Compound at Mount Carmel, 12 miles from Waco, Texas. More than 80 people, including women and children, perished during the lengthy standoff. For the far-right militia movement, Waco became a rallying cry against the perceived injustices of the U.S. government.

David Koresh had become the leader of the Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that believed in Christ's Second Coming after an apocalypse. Koresh declared himself the “father” of all the Davidian children, insisted on Spartan living conditions, armed the compound, and began daily paramilitary training as a defensive measure to prepare for the apocalypse.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) believed Koresh had stockpiled illegal weapons, and on February 28, 1993, agents raided Mount Carmel. Four ATF agents and six members of the cult died in the ensuing gun battle, and many others, including Koresh, were wounded. It was the beginning of a 51-day siege.

In the first week of March, 37 people left the compound, 21 of whom were under 18. A nine-year-old girl reportedly wore a note from her mother pinned to her jacket, stating that once the children were gone, the adults would die. Federal agents continued negotiations for weeks. By mid-April, FBI agents began to clear the ground around the compound. On April 19, federal agents in armed tanks pumped tear gas into the compound. The subsequent fire, either set by the Davidians themselves or caused by the tear gas, burned the compound to the ground.

Many on the right saw the ensuing investigation as a sinister cover-up by the government. Indeed, Waco seemed to justify the militia movement's growing fears about governmental abuse of power, and it give weight to conspiracy theories claiming that the government was systematically disarming the public to prepare for a UN-led invasion, which would result in the New World Order. These speculations sprung, in part, from the 1992 government-initiated siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Federal agents had issued a warrant for illegal possession of firearms for Randy Weaver, a white separatist living in rural Idaho. In the subsequent confrontation, Weaver's wife and son were killed by a U.S. marshal sniper. Much as Ruby Ridge reinforced the militia movement in Idaho, the events at Waco, which were televised, inflamed antigovernment sentiments across the country.

On the second anniversary of Waco, the Northeast Texas Regional Militia of Texarkana erected a granite headstone as a memorial. It read, “On February 28, 1993, a church and its members known as the Branch Davidians came under attack by ATF and FBI agents. For 51 days, the Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, stood proudly.” Three hundred miles away, in Oklahoma City, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was still smoldering from a 9 a.m. bombing that took 168 lives. The trial of the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy James McVeigh, would later reveal that the first disaster spawned the second.

McVeigh had stopped to observe the siege at Waco while selling survivalist materials on the gun circuit. By 1993 he was already a part of an anti-government movement based primarily on the supposed right to bear arms granted by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the following months, McVeigh watched conspiracy-laden videos about Waco, including Waco: The Big Lie and Day 51, which reinforced and deepened his antigovernment beliefs.

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