Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far WestDrannan, William F.
History
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars
When we were across the lava beds, or "Devil's Garden," as the
place was commonly called, I told the man who was leading the
bell-horse to stop and wait until the other animals had come up in
order to see whether we had lost any. This was within a mile of
headquarters. The man in charge, also Jones and the other scouts,
came up, but the young man who had been riding in the middle, also
four mules and their packs, as the saying is, "came up missing."
The train went on to headquarters, but Jones and I returned along
the trail to see if we could find the missing man. One of us,
however, had to leave the trail and scout along on foot.
After following the back-track two miles I found where the four
mules had left it. It was now late in the evening, and we were
within less than a mile and a half of Captain Jack's stronghold.
We tied our horses there and started out, caring but little about
the mules and their packs; it was the man that we were looking
after. We had not gone more than fifty yards from the trail when
we found the body.
The poor fellow had been stoned to death, his head being beaten
out of shape. This the Indians had done to prevent an alarm. They
had evidently been hidden in the lava rocks and had managed to
turn those four mules from the trail, and the fog being so thick
that a person could not see any distance, the man did not notice
that he was off of the trail until too late; and when once off the
trail a few paces it was impossible for him to get back again. The
mules and packs were never seen again. The Indians, no doubt, took
them to the cave, used the provisions, killed and ate the mules
and saddle-horse which the man was riding. We took the body to
headquarters, and the next day it was started to Yreka, Cal. I do
not remember the name of this young man, but he lived near Yreka.
Gen. Wheaton was now fighting, the Indians every day, and at night
kept a strong picket guard around the cave. About this time it was
reported that Gen. Wheaton had received orders to take Captain
Jack if he had to exterminate the entire tribe.
The feeling was getting to be very strong against Captain Jack in
regard to the assassination of Gen. Canby, Col. Thomas and George
Meeks, the interpreter. One evening in a conversation with Gen.
Wheaton he asked me how long I thought it would take to starve
them out. I said: "General, if they took all their horses in the
cave, which I believe they did, and we know for a fact that they
got some cattle from the Klamath river, I think it will be May or
June before you will be able to starve them out."
He said that every Indian that came out of the cave single-handed
or otherwise would not live to get through the picket line, saying
that he had a double picket line now around the entire cave, both
day and night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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