Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-05-10
"REMINISCENCES OF 1918.
Something More About The Indiaii
And Wars of Early Days.

Oii at ht l<diIesi WHi' w
just arrived and wcrs preparing to
make raid into the Indian coun-
try. We spent two or three days in
preparing for thhNfip, and after us
ing all ting means at>eVr compand
we foundfthat we could espip only
about l3S mH out of the |hple of
our sevelkcahpani.s that were nov
at this place. This was mainly
owing to the worn out condition of
our horses, they having no shoes on
their feet. So on about the third day
in the morning, after the main COM
panies arrived at The Dalles, we
were ready, and without much prers
aration and with a small supply OF
provisions, we struck out in south
erly direction, hoping to be able to
trail the Indian warriors to their re-
treat, but after moving out for eight
or ten miles, we found that they had
circled around, and a portion of
them crossed over the Deschutes
river, at or near its mouth on the old
emigrant wagon road. We however
soon learned of this change of direc-
ton and followed them up as fast as
we could, and crossed over the river
and camped just before dark in a
SMOOTH safe place for the night.
Aside from our regular guard we
also had out a picket guard, so as to
guard against surprise.
We were very cautious all night
and kept good lookout for the In
dians, thinking that if they should
find us the least off our guard they
might attack us. We were up at an
early hour and commenced to move
up the Deschutes river on the east
bank, finding plenty of Indian
signs, and feeling assured by the
signs that the Indians were moving
their families to safer position, we
therefore determined to move more
swiftly in pursuit of them, but kept
our scouts well out to the front. Af-
ter travelling some distance up the
river and finding that we could not
overtake them with our whole force
we stopped few moments to let
our horses rest and feed some. While
here, twenty men We're detached
from the companies to act as scouts
to see how far the Indians were
ahead of us. Those scouts were
placed under command of Capt.
ii. A. Lee, who pushed forward as
fast as the horses could be made to
travel. His instructions were to
find out ifpossible where the Indians
were congregated. But his men
rushed on with such fury and speed
that IN about eight or ten miles they
began to see dust in the distance
and were soon up with them and
waiting for the order to
,harge or retreat, they went pell nell
n hot pursuit after the retreating In
iians and commenced to shoot and
,hase them like wild animals. But
before they knew what they were do
ng or where they were going, they
'ane suddenly upon a large force of
warriors coming back to the relief of
heir women and children. AS soon
IS they saw the situation they hasti-
stopped the chase and took to
heir heels and made for the main |
quad who had already taken
trong position IN the rocks where
hey could defend themselves
gainst almost any force. AS soon
the Indians came up to this place
nd reconnoitered n while they be-
anne satisfied that it would be dan
erous to attack the men, and they
red few shots at them, which ,
ere readily returned by our boys.
his caused the Indians to hastily
'treat toward their families again.
There was only one casualty that
ny that is worthy of notice and 7,
iat was the wounding of William 8
Iillwell, who was in the front
INK as he always was in an Indian
ght' When the rest Ofthe men took
lie panic and retreated he was i'm
len hot pursuit after an Indian c,
lal he didn't notice when his COM
ues commenced to retreat and WAS
most surrounded by the Indians
'iore he knew it. He had fine
out horse and made a bold effort To CT
I away from them by running IA
III would have succeeded admir- M M
ly but for deep canyon that Law
way, which his horse could not
-, and there being no es-
pc only TO leave the horse
the brow of the hill
ieaped from his horse and ran
wn the hill and escaped, but not
III after he was wounded in the Do
P oy an arrow. 1t was now near
dark aud the red men pursued
II only a short distance. The
IN squad, as soon as they got rid pa
the Indians, hastily returned 10 Oh %