The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1865-02-08

OAu NIIO lacy.
JuLEsBuRa, Col. TER, Jan. 8, '65.


Times Att last Co. F has met the enemy
and zoe ,osrs theirs; at least portion Of it
At 4 o'clock A. H., the morning of the I'll
inst, the coach coming west was fred into
by a party Of Cheyenne Indians, four mile.
east Of this place, and about 7 A. M. tht
same patty made dash upon Rancho
two miles east Of here, for plunder, but
we're Dictated in their Object, there being q
party of 80 or 40 returning pilgrims
camped there, which caused the assailing
party 10 withdraw to the hills, followed by
few Of he more ventursome "pilgrims''
when, turning suddenly, the Indians made
. rush at them, killing one and wounding
anoths before they could reach the Rancho
Wordwas Immediately brought to camp
of tn state of affairs below, and 81 Of Co.
F wse in . very short time on the "war.
path" under command Of Capt. O'Brien
and Lieut.. Brewer accompanied by Col.
Summers, and Capt. Murphy, Of Co. A,
VIII arrived here the evening Of the 9Th.
Up,n our arrival at the scene Of action,
the Indians, about 75 in number, retreated
to the hills, followed by the entire command
fr or 4 miles, who kept up running
fight with them, but sustaining no loss.-
4 party Of ten of our men, under Capt.
Murphy, another Of seven and another of
five under Sergts. Morse and Hanchett,
were detached to cut off and surround the
retreating savages, Capt. NJ. to the right
and in the advance. Ssrgts. M. and H.
making q detour TO the left. When Capt.
NJ, upon gaining the summit Of high
ridge, suddenly found Indians in front,
Indians to the right, and Indians to the
left, who "went for' him with yells, such
as only Indians are capable of producing,
the order was given to fall back to the
command Of Capt. .O'Brien. several hun
dred yards to the rear, where line Of
battle was formed upon high ridge. The
enemy appearing in such overwhelming
numbers upon every side, the order was
now given to retreat to the post, as it was
evidently their design to cut US off from
there-a portionof them to engage US, while
the remainder secured the needed supply
Of grub" from our commissary-which,
of course, they failed to accomplish. It
was while retreating from the hills to the
open plain, with the enemy upon every
side, estimated at from 1000 to 1900, that
Is Of Co. F met their death at the hands
of these fends. because Of their horses
falling or being shot from under them. A
much larger number Of Indians were killed
ESTIMATED at from rs to 100-e're the
pa,,-"s uvys WHO zen were oveIpuwereu
but the exact number will never be known,
as they always carry off their dead when
ever they have the least possible chance Of
doing so. OF the detachment of Sergt
Morse, Ave out of seven were killed; oil
Sergt Hanchett, five out Of six, including
Ssgt H. and it is to the check given the
enemy by these detachments on the left,
that the command was enabled to reach the
open plain with the number it did. Tha,
the fighting was desperate by these detach
ments, was evinced by the appearance o.
the ground where the bodies were found
after the retreat Of the enemy. Sergt
Hanchett, discharging his carbine and re
volver, and beirg too closely pressed to re-
load, was seen to draw his sabre and fight
until pierced by ball and arrow to the death
By the bodies of all were found proofs o
| the desperate character of the encounter
before the men were overpowered; ant
near one, D. Lppincott, Of Fayette Co.
was found .Jiue carbine and eighteen explod
ed revolver cartridge cases, (making 80 O.
more shots fred by him. he having uset
his dead horse for breastwork and i
was but very few of those shots that die
not cause q Cheyenne to bite the dust. =
Upon tie plain, two Of our men were kill
ed before reaching the road-one who's
horse had fallen upon him-Wm. H. Gray
of McGregor, and W. B. Talcott, also Q
McGregor, who stopped to assist him, ant
who was surrounded and killed before b
could again mount his horse and escape
o. NJ. Buck also stopped to assist Gray
but succeeded in making his escape alte
disengaging him from his horse.
Upon arriving At the post, the comman
was recognized, and with piece c
artillery, again attacked the Indians, VIII
were now engaged in plundering the stag
station, telegraph Office and coach; bu
after dropping few shell among them the
retrested to the hills, and communicate
was opened with the rancho below, wher'
being too closely pressed to reach the pos
and to assist in protecting the stock of tn
pilgrims" Col. Summers, Capt. Murph
and Lieut.. Brewer, with few Of our mel
had taken shelter, resolved to bold the plae
if possible until the arrival of assistance
which they did, the herd Of stock there nt
being sufficient inducement for the Indian
to run the risk of losing their scalps ft
the coveted prize. They succeed, howevel
in getting away With considerable plunds
some 40 head Of cattle, taken early
the morning. from near tho rancho, prov
sions from the stage company, expires
packages, mail matter from the coac'
private property Of citizens, telegrap
operators. &C., &C., they appearing to ha,
no respect of person whatever. Ov'
, SIC, 900 in groenbacks WAS taken from Il
coach . portion Of it vas recovered, it b
: ing droppsd in their haste TO- get out