Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-01
TIE LOSSES.

soon.
THE LOSSES.
LAVA BEDS, Cal April 27-54 am.
A full list of the killed and wounded
cannot now be obtained, but il is known
that privates Ward of Battery.K, and
Parker and Collonis of Battery A, were
killed. Private Boyle of Co. E, 18th
Infantry, and onc other man of the same
company, are missing 1t is supposed
the Modocs burned the bodies of the
two latter In addition the names of
First Sergeant ToOmer, of Battery A,
and private John Higgins, Battery K,
4th Artillery, are given as badly wound
ed. Matt Murphy. Co. E, 10Th Infant
ry, Jas. Noble and Chas. G. Riff, Bat
terry B, 4th Artillery, are slightly wound
ed. Acting Assistant Surgeon D. Liwig
was wounded in two places while at
tie nding to the wounded.
MORE REPORTED LOSSES.
LAVA BEDS, April 27-5 p. IN.
From a second dispatch, sent by Col.
Green, it appears that there are now col
lected and awaiting conveyance to camp
. the bodies of sixteen men killed, in
Guiding Captain Thomas, Lieut.. Howe,
of the Fourth Artillery, Lieut.. Wright,
Twelfth Infantry, and eight wounded,
including Lieut.. Harris, Fourth Artil-
lery. These added to the number of
wounded men above cited show large
e l,o all
number of men engaged.
THE REDS WELL ARMED
Some sixty .or sixty-one Modocs are
armed with Spencer carbines and breech-
loading muskets. In more than one in
stance the Modoc has been known to
| have two or more Spencer rifles, ena-
| bling him to keep up a rapid fire from
| his natural or artificial breastwork-
rock surface ground, in many places
torn up by volcanic actions, which form
crevices, and these arc adaptable to pur-
| poses of hiding or for points Of 5efence.
AMBUsHKn,
In several instances soldiers knowing
nothing of the Topography haze come
unawares on such assures, and before
they could escape were confronted with
a willy Indians rife feyeled, and finger
on trigger. Death, or at least dangerous
/ wound is the result Too often coward
~ redskins escape by SO many paths
known only to- themselves
TREACHERY AND CUNNING.
As sample of their treachery and
cunning it may not be amiss to state that
portion of Batteries A and X, Fourth
Artillery, and Company Il, Twelfth In
fantry, finding themselves in danger of
being outflanked, took shelter in a hol-
low spot affording partial cover. No
sooner had they done so than the Indi-
ans, who knew and commanded every
egreSs from the cavity at that point,
numbering twenty-One warriors, de-
tached seven of their number on one
side, fourteen remaining on the other
They then opened
CROSS FIRE
on the poor fellows, who could not show
head or hand without the certainty of
being struck Very few escaped injury,
and the rest are either killed or
wounded 1t is impossible to ascertain
the number of Modocs killed and
wounded. Yesterday Capt. Mckay re
ported that his Warm Spring Indians
had taken four scalps. This may be the
whole, or it may be only portion of
the killed, the Modocs being very care
full to destroy, as far as possible, all
traces of their casualties, carrying their
wounded into the caves and burning
dead bodies.
TIE WOUNDED HIDDEN.
Their wounded are supposed to be
hidden in caves, and but four of them
have been seen so far Justice to the
memory of the gallant dead compels
me 10 record the following well authen-
ticated facts
When Captain Thomas found himself
and men surrounded by his vindictive
/ foe, true to his nature as a soldier he
/ tried to cheer his men on to the bitter
end, and obtain, if possible life for life,
and sell their own as dearly as possible,
saying. "Men, we are
SURROUNDED, -
we must fight and die like men and sol
diers y In his noble efforts to
sustain the courage of his small COM
mand, he was ably seconded by Lieut..
Howe and Lieut.. Wright. After re-
oeiying mortal wounds he buried his gold
watch and chain among the rocks and