The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-03-10


After extraordinary suffering from
the cold, and n long march of three
days. they at length arrived upon the
Indians, and Immediately the fight be-
gan in all its fury. The Indians had
the advantage Ofthe ground. The held
fought over was about two miles square,
and IA large portion OF 1t was very mach
cut up with gullies and ravines, and
bore also n great quantity of Spanish
broom, THE Indians could not have
selected a field better adapted to their
style of warfare. The Indians discoy7
cred the three columns coming DASH
ing down on them when about mile
distant, and then they could be dis
tinctly seen preparing for battle-divi-
ding off into squads of four and six,
and selecting their places for combat
where it would be most difficult to ma
nonuvre cavalry. Each warrior had
from fifty to seventy-ive poisoned ar
rows, giving each squad from two hun
dred and fifty TO three hundred and
fifty shots. The moment before the
battle commenced, owing to the extreme
cold, n dense cloud of frost commenced
flying, so thick that n horseman could
not be distinctly seen over one hum
dred yards.
This gave the Indians great advan-
tage, as it compelled the soldiers to fight
at short range, so that the bow and ar,
row c0ulu- Dp uSeuR tllu SilSO
the chances Of escape for the Indians.
Had the frost commenced flying earlier,
no doubt many of them would have es-
caped. The plan of battle was such
that the right and left columns hanked
the Indians and soon surrounded them'
They fought with desperation. In no
instance did a warrior lay down his
arms till he laid down his life. They
arranged their arrows between their
fingers in such n manner that they
could shoot them very rapidly, ana
charged with us much bravery as any
soldiers in the world. The excitement
was intense. Soldiers, citizens and the
savages charging and yelling, each
straining all his powers to destroy the
other; the wild, ringing war-whoop,
the rapid firing of eighty disciplined
men, the thunder of n cavalry charge,
altogether created u scene that beggars
description. 3 -.H
The battle continued in full force for
two and a half hours, when the conflict
was reduced to points, at which several
warriors had selected deep, short gull
lies, and were making what they knew
to be their last fight.
The battle, with the exception ofa few
struggling shots, was over The Indians
had fought with n heroism that aston
ished every one who had witnessed 1t.
They made no offer to surrender; ut
IeTeu SOuuu Dub JtlA5 VI
and continued to fire their poisoned ar
rows until they were SO weak that they
could throw them but a few feet; and
some of them dying would shoot nm ar
row straight up into the air, in the hope
thatthe deadly missile would fall on the
hated and victorious foe.
At the close of the battle thirty-hye
dend Indians lay. on the field, with their
bows and quivers still clntchedin their
hands. All ofthem were large, power
fulImen-a picked company of braves
prepared for battle. But i've squaws
were in the band, and they were acting
in the capacity of "a pack train. Two of
them were killed in battle by mistake,
the other three were furnished with
some provisions, and LEFT unmolested.
Scouting parties made the entire cir
cult of the field, and found that no liv-
ing thing had escaped, as the snow was
three inches deep, and there were no
tracks leading from the camp.
I Ohithe Union side seven were wounds
ed. 5l-i
The Indian camps were all destroyed,
the wounded all cared for, and the
command marched for Fish Creek,
where wuter could be obtained, and
camped, the train having arrived there
before them. n rio ~ '