News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-14

|
shot by our party. The whole bod
then retreated back of the hill out c
sight, with the exception of few II
dians who were running about from tire
to tree, out of gunshot.
"They now covered the hill for th
second time, bringing up the + bowman
who had not been in action before, an
commenced heavy fire with balls an
arrows, which we returned with wei
directed aim with our rifles. AT this in
slant another chief appeared on horse
back near the spot where the last on
fell. The same question, who is load
edl' was asked. The answer was, 'No
body when little Charles, the mulatt.
servant, came running up with Buchan
ans rifle, which had not been discharged
since he was wounded, and handed it tt
James Bowie, who instantly fred ant
brought him down from his horse. Ht
was surrounded by six or eight of hi:
tribe and borne off under our fire.
'sDuring the time we were engaged il
defending ourselves from the Indians or
the hill some fifteen or twenty of the
Caddo tribe succeeded in getting under
the bank of the creek in our rear, al
about forty yards distance, and opened
q heavy fire upon US, which wounded
Matthew Doy.e, the bal entering the
| left breast and coming out at the back.
AS soon as he cried out that he was
wounded Thomas McCaslin hastened tc
the spot where he fell and observed,
Where is the Indian that shot Doyle?
He was told by more experienced hand
not to venture there, as from the reports
OF their guns they mus. be rifiemen.
| At that instant he discovered an
Indian, and while in the act of raising
| his piece was shot in the centre of his
body and expired. Robert Armstrong
exclaimed, where is the Indian that
shot MoCaslinR He was told not to
venture there, as they must be riflemen;
but on discovering an Indian and while
bringing his gun up, he was fired at,
and part Of the stock of his gun cut of
and the ball lodged against the barrel.
During this time our enemies formed a
complete circle around us, occupying
the points of rocks, scattering trees and
bushes. The firing then became general
from all quarters. Finding our situa-
tion too much exposed among the trees.
we were obliged to leave them and take
to the thickets. The first thing neces-
sary was to dislodge tine rifemen from
under the bank of the creek, who were
within point blank shot. This we soon
succeeded in doing by shooting most of
them through the head, as we hal the
advantage of seeing them when they
could not see US.
'The road we had cut round the
thicket the night previous gave us now
mn advantageous situation over that of
the enemy, us we had fair view of them
when they could not see us. We bafled
their shots by moving eight feet the mo-
ment we had fired, as their only mark
was the smoke of our guns. They would
put twenty balls within the size of
pocket handkerchief where they had
seen the smoke. In this manner we
fought them two hours and had one man |
through the arm and the ball lodged in /
the side, first cutting away small bush, !
whicE prevented il from penetrating
deeper than the size of it.
'sThey now discovered that we were
not to be dislodged from the thicket by
the uncertainty of killing us at random,
they suffering very much from the fire
of our rifles, which brought down half
dozen at every round. They now deter
mined to resort to stratagem by putting
fire to the dry grass on the prairie, for
the double purpose of routing lis out of
our position and under cover of the
smoke carry away their dead and wound
ed which lay near us. The wind was
now blowing from the west and they
placed the fire in that direction, where
1t burned down all the grass to the creek
aud then bore off to the right and left,
leaving about five acres untouched by
the fire. Under cover of this smoke
they succeeded in carrying off n portion
0f their dead and wounded. In the
our party was engaged IN
scraping away the dry grass and leaves
from our wounded men and baggage to
prevent the fire from passing over them,
and likewise piling rocks and bushes to
answer the purpose of breastwork.
They now discovered that they failed to
rout us out by fire, as they had antici-
pated. They then reoccupied the points
of rocks and trees in the prairie and
commenced another attack.
The firing continued for some time,
when the wind suddenly shifted to the
north and blew very hard.
"We now discovered our dangerous
in putting fire to the small spot which
we occupied, and kept strict watch all
around. The two servant boys were
employed in scraping away dry grass
and leaves from around the baggage,
and pulling up rocks and placing them
around the wounded men. The point
from which the wind blew being fayora-
bic to fire our positi N, one of the In
dams succeeded in crawling down the
creek and putting fire to the grass which
had not been burned, but before he
could retreat back to his party was killed
by Robert Armstrong.
cat this time we saw no hope of es-
cape, as the ire was coming down. rap
idly before the wind, flaming ten feet
high nnd directly for the spot we occu-
pied. What was to DO donef We must
either be burned alive or driven into the
prairie among the savages. This en-
couraged the Indians, and to make it
more awful their shouts and yells rent
the air-they at the same time firing
upon us about twenty shots n minute.
AS soon as the smoke hid us from their
view we collected together and held q
consultation as to what was to be done.
Our first impression was that they might
charge us under cover of the smoke, as
we could make but one effectual fire.
The sparks were flying about so thickly
that no man could open his powder horn
without running the risk of being blown
no. However, We finally came to the
determination had they charged, to give
them one fire, place our backs together,
draw our knives and fight them as long
as any one of us was left alive. The
question was should they not charge
and we retain our position we must be
burned up. 1t was then decided that
each man should take care of himself as
best he could until the fire arrived at the
ring around our baggage and wounded
men, and there it would be smothered
with buffalo robes, bearskins, deer skins
and blankets, which, after great deal
of exertion, we succeeded in doing.
"Our thicket being so much burned
and scorched that it afforded little or
shelter, We all got into the ring that was
made around our wounded men and bag
gage, and commence building our
breast work higher with the oose rocks
from the inside and dirt dug up with
our knives? During this last fire the In
dians had succeeded in removing all
their killed and wounded which lay near
US. 1t was now sundown, and we had
been warmly engaged with the Indians
since sunrise, and they seeing us still
alive and ready to fight, drew off ut q
distance of 800 yards, and encamped for
the night with their dead and wounded.
sour party now commenced to work
in raising our fortifcation, and succeed.
ed in getting it breast high by 10 D. m.
lo1 1e.o a Al