Reminiscences of a PioneerThompson, William, Colonel
History
Reminiscences of a Pioneer
Thompson, William, Colonel
Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon; Modoc Indians -- Wars
As soon as the squaws and children reached the men, a party headed by
"Black Jim" mounted and started down the shores of the lake butchering
the settlers. They came first to the Body ranch, where the men were
getting wood from the hills and heartlessly butchered them in cold
blood. The manner is best told in Mrs. Body's own words in a letter to
me in which she says:
"I reside three miles from the Indian camp on Lost river. The Indians
had told us time and again that if the soldiers came to put them on the
reservation they would kill every white settler. Through hearing of
these threats, we requested the messengers never to come with soldiers
without first giving the settlers warning. This they failed to do. . . .
The male portion of my family, not being aware of any disturbance, were
out procuring firewood, and were suddenly attacked within a mile and a
half of the house and butchered in cold blood. About a quarter to twelve
my daughter saw her husband's team approaching the house at a rapid
gait, and as the team reached the house she noticed that the wagon was
covered with blood. Thinking the team had run away she ran up the road
to find him. About a quarter of a mile from the house she discovered
him. I hastened after her with water, and as I arrived at the spot my
daughter was stooping over the body of her husband. Six Indians then
dashed out of the brush on horseback. Two of them rode up to me and
asked if there were any white men at the house. Not dreaming that there
was anything wrong with the Indians, I told them that the team had run
away and killed white man. They then gave a warwhoop and rode off
towards the house. On examining my son-in-law, we found that he had been
shot through the head. We then knew that the redskins were on the
warpath, and determined to find the other men. Going a short distance we
found my eldest son killed and stripped naked. The four horses were
gone. About a quarter of a mile further on we saw more Indians in the
timber where my husband was chopping wood, so we concluded we had better
not go any further in that direction, and made our way to the hills. My
youngest son, a boy of thirteen years of age, was herding sheep about a
mile from the house when he was killed. They shot him and then cut his
throat. We continued to travel until it became too dark to discern our
way, and then sat down at the foot of a tree and stayed until daylight.
We then started again, not knowing where we were going, but hoping to
strike some house. There was two feet of snow on the ground and our
progress was slow and tedious. Finally we arrived at Lost river bridge
about 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon. Here we learned for the first time
that there had been a fight between the soldiers and Indians. If the
settlers had been warned in time not one white person would have been
killed, as we all had arms and ammunition sufficient to defend
themselves successfully."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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