But there is a third view as to the outcome of the conflict at the Mattock cabin. This version is sponsored by Major William Williams who was a member of the relief expedition sent from Fort Dodge. Major Williams believed that the Indians purposely concealed their losses. In his report to Governor Grimes, made upon his return to Fort Dodge under date of April 12th, he stated that “the number of Indians killed or wounded must be from fifteen to twenty.”--(Gue’s _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, p. 299.) This estimate would seem to be entirely too high. Only under exceptionally favorable conditions would it have been possible for five men, suffering every possible handicap, to have killed or wounded so many concealed enemies. Again, there were in all probability not more than fifteen or twenty warriors in the party of the red men. The loss or crippling of such a number would have meant practical annihilation. Later when the party was encountered in its flight from the scene of the massacre, various individuals who had the opportunity of recognizing the individual members of the band reported them to be the same in membership as at the beginning of the raid at Smithland. Thus the statement of Major Williams could not have been accurate. Mrs. Sharp speaks of only one Indian as being injured and of no deaths--which is more probable. [159] Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), p. 74. CHAPTER XIII [160] _The Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 894; Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 76-78; Smith’s _History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, pp. 68, 69; Gue’s _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 300, 301 Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Thatcher in later relations of the massacre spoke of their children as having been killed at their own cabin. If such were the facts then their dead bodies must have been carried to the Howe home; for there they were found by the members of the rescue party rather than at the place of death. This fact has led to the statement that five small Howe children were killed in addition to Sardis and Jonathan. There were, however, only three smaller children in the Howe family--Alfred, Jacob, and Philetus. [161] Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 78-80; Neill’s _History of Minnesota_, pp. 622, 623. CHAPTER XIV [162] Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 81, 82. [163] Agnes C. Laut’s _Heroines of Spirit Lake_ in _Outing Magazine_, Vol. LI, p. 692. [164] Gue in his _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 301, 302, says that Marble fired first at the target, and when he went out to see what had been the result of his shot the Indians fired on him; while Carpenter in his article on _The Spirit Lake Massacre_ in the _Midland Monthly_, Vol. IV, p. 22, states that when Marble’s gun became empty and he was defenseless he was shot.