The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-12-12
From Che Journal ofan Odicer.
ltefaf11 Of the War i'm OrewOn.

Details of the. War i'm Oregon.
"Major Haller's command entered the
Simeooa valley, and were fifty-six Mill
from the Dalles before they saw an In
dian. The war-whoop, in reply TO the5B
Lchief. was the first intimation of q large
number, for most of them were concealed
in the brush. The action commenced
about 3 o'clock, p. M, on Saturday, and
before sundown the enemy was driven out
of the brush and the field was in orr pos
session. Our loss was, one killed, two
mortally wounded, TWO severely wounded,
and three slightly--total loss eight -
While the notion was going on, the In
dams poured in from the plain in view in
great numbers, and fairly surrounded our
position. There were, at shutdown, ak OF
seven hundred Indians nthe. field. Not
withstanding this number, the troops ad.
vanced towards the North, bound for tie
Yakima mission, but on crossing some
heights, they beard the Indians talking
and their horses peighiugs and itsbeing
too dark to see before them, they halted
for fear Of an ambush, posted the soldiers
for a night attack. and every man lay on
arms all night. Two Indians rode Int
our camp, installing it for their own, and
discovering the mistake, attempted to get
away; as their heads rose above the brow
Of the hill, their long hair betrayed them,
and a sudden FIRE brought DIVA one Of
their horses
The Indians understood the fires, and
many hassrDel through the darkness gui-
ded by the liglrtpf these signals, to our
rear. At daylight we saw the plain full
of Indians charging for as. We muster
ed eur pcnaud found only about forty of
them available 70 guard the wounded and
oppose The indians in our retreat. We
had not gone far when they commenced
their assault, and u running fight took
place1for six or eight miles, which reject
ed great credit on the officers and men. as
only two were wounded, although fairly
surrounded by the Indians. Tie froops
then selected u spot for defence, aud du-
ring the rest of M onday kept off the In
dians. They fred the prairies TO burn us.
nut, aud lastly fired the woods ali around
us. At night VIC again advanced, and
were not afterwards molested.
In the retreat, the howitzer carriage
broke down and it had to be abandoned,
bat the piece was carried until the mule
was ready to.break down, when coming
to some brush. We cached it.
The. men had marched all day1of Satur-
day, fought and then were on tie alert all
ufght, fought all Of next day, marched
next night until two o'clock, aud at day
light again, marched and fought, then de-
Tended camp until sunset Veteran sol
diers could not have done more Next
day the command met the rear guard who
had not seen an Indian, the fres of San
day night having drawn. all the warriors
after The party on tho summit Of the noun
tain. Every man, except four of tho
dead, were brought back TO the Dalles.-
The total loss was five killed, aud IL woau-
ded-oSer one ffth of tho eo1sfhand.
Early in the merufae, the enemy clo-
sed 10 around us aud com meneed firing.
AS they closed on US, they were driven of
with the bayonet, and the Whole, force was
kept at bay; although during the day,
squadron after squadron Of The Indians
came constantly over.the hills on the north
side and poured into the plain before us.
On Sunday evening the Indians bad
apparently doubled their Eumbers-say
HOO or $500. The men had fought
them all day without water or wood Ia
cock with, aud scarcely had touched food
Their suft rings and fatfgne could not be
endured much logger, aud something bad
to be done. The enemy saw ohfsReed Of
water and grass, and about sundown SEEM
ed to concentrate on the bluffs overlook
ing the water. a night march was re-
solved upon as the safest means of getting
beyond the nfountains, on the Dslles, no
as to be in communicative rwi,h the tn ops
to be called for. Il was expected 10 be n
attack frlm the indians, as they
held the bYush; SO every man avsiIable
was marched on foot TO eneageth the eRelay,
The horses and pack mules, exeep,fng
,se With the sick, the amunition, &C.,
were let run loose, and not having eaten
for SO long a time, were determined TO
feed themselves Macy of these went in
to the brush To feed, aud in the darkness
not be found. The troops, by a
worthless guide. were led oft the trail, and
in const qucnce, the rear guard wh9 kept
the trail became detached. At 2 o'clpck
4. NJ. Maj Haller,s party had gained a
grove Of fir Of timber on the muuntai p
here built two fires; as a signals to
those in the ii ey u inis Them. The
men. almost ready tn die of fatigue, Jay
to rest until daylight.
MrLtNcHoEY OccrRRExcE -Ol last
TbnrStav an saauahter of Sir. Valentine