The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-08-23
How General JEFF. C. Davis Captured
an Indian Chief.
statement of a soldier in the St. Louis Globe.I

iGlduemenb U d bolultI IL II OF. LOUIE uloUe.J
On New Years day Gen. Davis made
present of a bottle of whisky each to
Sitka chief, a Chilka chief and Sitka
Jack, a welI-known character there. The
Indians collared their fre-water and sat
down on the c~ustOmhouse steps, where
each drank his share of the whisky,
without offering anyto his fellows. They
got drunk, and when shutdown came
they refused to go outside the stock
ade. The place, you know, is divided
into five posts, all guarded with stock
AIDES. Well, they refused to go, and a
corporaPs guard was called to put them
out. They became obstreperous, and
the guard were hurrying them on, when
the Chilka chief, turned upon the cor
poral and seized his gun. Sitka Jack and
the Sitka chief also turned Upon the
two sentinels, but failed to get their
guns, and Sitka Jack was captured and
taken to the guard-house. The Chilka
chief, in his efforts to get the corporaPs
piece away from him, dragged him
nearly to the Indian village, outside the
stockade, and after a struggle took the
gun away. The Sitka chief succeeded
in getting away, but without the third
%sentiners gun. Gen. Davis heard of the
affair about eve o'clock, and ordered a
guard of seventeen soldiers, under Lieut..
Dodge, to go out and bring in the Chilka
chief, dead or alive. They went to the
village, the doctor, who knew the Chilka
house, leading the way. The house, like
all houses of the Indians in Sitka, was a
high wooden one, and the entrance,
which was a small circular hole, in order
to go through which a man had to double
up, was reached by a stairway. When
they had arrived at the house Lieut.
Dodge ordered six of his men to go in.
The six did SO, but discovered that
there were within about. two hundred
Indians, armed with all sorts of weapons,
in which there was a fair sprinkling of
rifles. The men were ordered out,
and it was well for them they came
out when they did, or they might
not have got out at all. Well, they
came out and were coming down
the steps, when some one cried out,
Here's English Mary" "a British Co
lumbia squaw, who stopped in the vii
lage, and spoke pretty fair English).
Mary was questioned as to the where
abouts of the Chilka chief. "Way down
there" said the squaw, pointing toward
the market place. Dodge ordered his
men to the market, after having placed
two men to guard the entrance of the
Chilka house. They had gone but a
short distance when the two drunken
chiefs came staggering along. A private
named Murphy seized the Sitka chief by
his long black hair and dragged him to
the ground, and was about to haul him
away in that style; | caught hold of the
Chilka, and just as l did he whirled mt
around and threw me over a canoe-anC
all at nee about thirty shots were freC
by the Indians into us. One man wa
! shot through the right breast, and W,
/ thought he was killed. Lieutenan
!, Dodge ordered a retreat to the market
| place, after which we went into tn,
: garrison, and matters remained tina
way for the night.
> When We got up in the morning tn
four war-ships-the -, the Saginaw
the Wyandot and the Lincoln-wer
T drawn up in line of battle in the bay
q The artillery on the one side stood t
I their guns, and the infantry were orders
toskirmish near the market-place. Ger
u Davis had matured his plans during tn
!, night. He said he was going to bloV
: the Indian village to pieces or he'd &c
5 the Chilka chief. The Chilka chief SUI
) rounded by about three hundred G
=, his warriors, stood in the village. TIL
: twenty guns on the four vessel
q were pointed at the Chilka house
/! and every man stood to his CUR
, with his hand on the lanyard, read
to fire. Gen. Davis stood on NJ
4 post, that overlooked the town. HI
interpreter was beside him. The Gel
! eral held a handkerchief in his hanC
= The dropping of the handkerchief VIZ
. to be the signal for the firing of til
:, guns. The General raised his rigf
Il hand and let the folds of the handke
u chief fall out. Every man stood read.
L but the handkerchief was slowly folde
n up and taken between both hand
After a short interval the arm WI
again extended, and again the folc
u fell. There was a pause-a moment
= terrible anxiety-during which tt
% white handkerchief was held in positio.
l. But the l~oosening of the few fnge
u that held it and over two. hundre
Is souls would have been blown in
p eternity. We waited the signal, b.
is the General again slowly folded up tt
y handkerchief, and turning to the int
le prefer, said:
"My Cd, 1 don't want to destroy
D many innocent people for one ma
$, Won't you go down and try and get Il
10 Chilka chief out and have a little ia
with him."
q The interpreter didn't want to G
Is He didn't care about risking his Ii
y among the crowd of warriors. &c
"a Davis then remarked that he would {
AZ it himself. He walked down from Il
N post and into the village. All his m,
~ looked on in amazement. Tit
J knew him to be brave, but didr
~ think he would do this. In throus
y the crowd of warriors who surround,
ri their chief the General walked, al
u going up to the chief himself, took tn
y individual by the ear and walked hi
0, back through his two hundred wa
II riors, armed to the teeth, and led hi
Is to the guard-house.
ie Il" 1t was the most wonderful thing
Us ever saw" said the Sergeant, "and the
q amt another man but Gen. Davis cou
u do it."
~ "What did he do with the Chill
LII Chief" asked the reporter, anxious
hear the end of the story.
"He put him in the guard-house, al
kept him there for thirty days on brea
and-water diet, and if he ever had al
- l. u1A &c A. -,,-