The Bannock Indians soon persuaded others to join them. They gained recruits from the Duck Valley Indians, the Lemhis, Winnemuccas, Malheurs and Snakes, and with their allies numbered about two thousand warriors, women and boys. As they traveled they killed or stole all the cattle and horses they met and destroyed a large amount of property. From Silver City, Col. Bernard moved on to Fort Harney. Col. Robbins, who was scouting ahead, succeeded in locating the camp of the Indians by night. He followed their trail for some distance and then climbed a steep hillside to a level plateau, along which he crawled until opposite the red men’s camp. In the clear starlight, he could see all the Indian camps and calculated that they contained at least a thousand warriors. The white men had less than three hundred soldiers. After a conference, Colonels Robbins and Bernard decided to attack the hostile camp. Col. Robbins, with thirty-five men, charged and surprised the enemy in the early morning, while Col. Bernard, with the main force, proceeded up Silver Creek to the canyon where the Indians were encamped. Although completely surprised, the red men betook themselves to some fortifications they had made among the rocks, while the soldiers shielded themselves as best they could. The two parties kept up a fusilade throughout the day, and during the following night, June 23rd, the Indians decamped, leaving a hundred dead behind. Five soldiers were killed and a few slightly wounded. Before beginning the battle, Col. Bernard had sent word to General Howard, who was at Malheur, saying that he was about to enter an engagement with a large force of Indians and might need reinforcements. The general arrived the following morning and took command in person. Colonel Robbins and his scouts followed the Indians, who headed in a northwesterly direction, while the troops came on behind. Within a few miles of John Day river, Robbins came to a sheep corral in which a large fire had been built by the Indians. The brutes had then bound together the hind legs of the lambs found on the place and thrown them into the corral to burn to death. They had killed the old sheep and left them to rot. In another place the scouts found a herd of Merino bucks, whose forelegs the Indians had cut off at the knee, leaving the poor animals in agony. Such exploits were typical of the Indian on the warpath. On another occasion the scouts saw a white man on foot running for his life from a party of pursuing Indians, who overtook and killed their victim before the rescuers could arrive. The man was found, scalped and mutilated, and although still breathing, too far gone to give even his name.