The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1849-04-10
MISCELLANEOUS.



Rockets among Kioways, ar Adventures o" the road
o California.
from the MS Journal Of friend who travelled few
wears since California uy the overland route, al
lowed to take the f'owing extract, giving days adyen-
the banks of the Gooalpah river To Introduce
the mo,nin1 while our friend, party Were Were SUI IN camp
robbed beaten by the Camanches, who had been in
great numbers and that there danger in proceed
strong numbers and dee rmnation and every felt
himself able cope with dozen antagonists mmedi-
a'ely after breakfast they formed in line with ontridng
all directions, and took their march And
the action of our extract commencesl
On went the caravan nearly mile in length, while on
right the Geo-a pah growing narrower oamed and
fretted within the rock bound canon The scene, the
ctement generated by the and the fresh
ing breeze which blew in faces tossing hair and
boards made each feel "feve O. the mad which
relieved itself and then loud noises being forbdden) in
hasty gaop TO and fro Suddenly, having my eyes fixed
in front, the rifle OF our foremost scout waved in
the air. The order was given to close little emnence,
about mile distant, on which were dozen cotton
woods--he only trees we had for two days-was
selected the standing place. and had scarcely time
TO reach it and form our wagons into ring, with the
mules in the CENTRE before scouts joined us, La
Queue de BGuf at their head He reported a large BODY
OF Indians coming down the river path The mules and
horses made by their larats to the heaviest
wagons and the trees the ammunition wagon opened
the rifles and pistols examined and freshly capped and the
bowe-knives loosened in their sheaths The minute af-
ter the form of single Indian made dark spot
on the horizon from the summit of eminence some
miles to the northwest. examined him with my glass
He was mounted on horse taken from the whites as
the size and Spanish equipments proved; was naked
with the exception CT breech CLOTH eggns and
sins; and was armed with long lance shield bow and
arrows Tie refined up his horse, though to examine
us carefully offered the glass to La Queue de BGu,
who pushing II aside with his hand and muering the
word "Camanche, Invested his head of its ornaments
leaving the scalp-lock bare.
now that serious work before us, and call
ang the men together told them that fight be
Plundered-perhaps murdered The odds against us
would be probably great but position good in
case they made an onset which, confident in their supe
hnkl d.
took to lay siege should attack them as could not
afford time to remain.
piled by enthusiastic shout. when the scout disappear
ed AS suddenly though he had sank in the earth. A
few minutes passed away, when body of several
hundred horsemen, arrayed in column about twenty
deep, suddenly rode into sight AT about the distance OF
mile they halted while four of them separated themselves
from the main body, and rode at respectful distance half
around US, examining the numbers and disposition OF
force. Presently they returned-a somewhat animated
conference ensued and the whole body remained quiet
As thought this to be an invitation to parley, was
about to despatch La Queue de Beuf and Hurley with
white flag when the taest of the savages rode about
thirty PAGES in front OF the res and suddenly wheeling
his horse made gesture equally vulgar and significant
which amounted to declaration of My gorge
at the insult and observing them to be closely hudded
together told OMeara that he had opportunity of
trying the heavy rockets, which he had persisted
making at St Louis The eyes of the Irshman sparked
al the proposon and he brought out his rocketstand
While ne was fixing his apparatus, La Queue de Bnuf
touched me on the shoulder looked around, and less
than half mile distance behind band of TWEEN
ty Indians, armed with rifles, who seemed to be watching
us closely. supposed them at first to be division OF
the Camanches but La Queue de BOeuf rode out to
them, when the whole party came rushing into camp
Ihey proved to be Cheyennes headed by La Queue de
Beufs brother. They had been out beyond their hunt
nggounds in search of buffalo, when, their return
was league with u.s. which they did more readily when
they saw who guide l was rather pleased with
this addition to our strength, as they were wea armed
herce-looking fellows, and brought with them Six pack
horses, loaded with buffalo meat-quite addition to
the general store.
OMeara sgnifed that he was ready, and bringing
small signal fired off the proper eleva
ton. Il fell somewhat short, poughing the ground
font OF the enemy, and scattering the dirt and stones
over the foremost. They gave way in little alarm at
the novel missile and the eyes of Cheyennes opened
wider at the trail of fire made by messenger in its
flight In moment the ranks of the Camanches closed
up, apparently preparing 10 make charge.
Our pyroicchnIcal friend had now his angle of aim
correctly ascetained, and, lighting the fuse OF one of his
three inch rockets, it started on its Grand of death Our
mules and horses plunged furousy the unusual spec
tacle; and one OF our Cheyenne friends nearly
horsed altogether The rocket struck directly in the
force, scattering the fragments of its head in all drec
hons, and family tearing the and horses around to
pieces The horses of the surviving Camanches took
flight and gallOped off, perfectly unmanageable while
Cheyennes started in pursuit oil the fugves. Our
would have followed, but restrained themas it would
expose our mules and horses to depreciation during
absence. / thought beside. we had fairly got rid of
them, which was all we wanted and so told the men,
Old La Queue de Beuf, who had not followed his coun
trymen, listened to what said shook his head,
pressed his lips, shrugged his shoudershe had caught
the French shrus from the half breed trappers-and then
dashed of ahead of US, the scout. | ordered the
mules put TO, and were soon in motion, VMeara
paating in great glee the effects of his projece He
thought, and he right there, that if the of this
new movement in prairie warfare was fairly spread
among the tribes might be of remaining unmo-
Tested during the rest OF our travel
When opposite to the spot lately occupied by
the enemy left the train and rode up to it, accompanied
by OMeara, Vache, and the Doctor. most fearful
and revolving spectacle presented We counted the
mangled bodies OF twenty-eght men and twenty-six
horses There also bones and flesh, torn into
shreads which probably belonged to the bodies OF two
three more. Certainly, nearly thirty Camanches had
fallen by that one explosion The rocket had done
execution than ! had supposed it would although its
which OMeara had assured me as powerful as one
hundred pounds of gunpowder: Nevertheless the Ca
manches must have been in closer order than we sup
posed. We gathered up the lances and lance blades
of the latter had been struck and bent by fragment
of rocket headtogethe with rifle poor affair, and
several knives of Sheffield make We rode with them
to Join the train and deposited them trophies in one of
the wagons On looking round we saw our Cheyenne
friends returning from their pursuit. engaged in scapIng
the bodies had just left Directly they galloped up
and joined us.
They were in high spirits having oveaken and killed
eighteen of the enemy without losing single man, al
though their leader severely wounded. We exam.
ned his heart, and Dr. Sweezer found that arrow had
penetrated the right side, and, strange TO say without
making circuit, the head had broken rib and lodged
between the two pieces. 1t wonderful that II did
not either 60 round the rib, enter the lung. The rac
ture gave much pa and after extracting the head
his red-skinned patient placed in tent wagon, over
which fixed a Temporary cover He was very uuch