The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-10-11

ridge. The soldiers could only wall,
their horses over this ground, and the
only preparation the officer made wss &c
wheel them into line and give us q
front of twelve men. Rogers and
were beside the officer. Daylight came
slowly but surely, enabling us to see
further and further And at length, as
we rose ridge, Rogers called out:
"Just as l told you, Lootenant. See
therel"
On the plateau, half a mile beyond us,
were about seventy-five Indians on
horseback Rogers knew, and so did l.,
that the gullies on our right and left
held other Indians, and that to go
ahead was to ride into trap The Off
Ger was more of fool than a coward.
AS soon as he saw the Indians he gave
the command to draw sabers, but Rog-
ers cried out:
Don't do it, Lootenant; It's trap
If ye charge that crowd yell be done
fur in two minutesw
"You mind your own business, or FL
put you under arrestw
But tell you it's trapP'
"Now, men, we'll drive right through
'em if they'll only stand long enough!
Draw sabers! Forward d-trot-gallop-
charged"
Rogers and | rode beside him, each
with revolver in hand, but when we
had covered half the distance there was
volley fired from the ravine to the
left, quickly followed by one from the
right, and men and horses went down
in heap. l twitched on rein and
bore sharp to the right, and in cross
ing the gully my horse knocked an In
dian down. / had gained the level
ground beyond when l heard Rogers
calling from the rear:
keep more to the right-to the right!
We want to reach that mass O. rockw
The point designated was about half
a mile away, and i saw at once that it
was natural defense. 1t seemed as if
hundred shots were fired at us as we
raced for the spot, and we had scarcely
reached it when the Indians swarmed
about and we had to open fire on them.
The spot to which we had retreated is
still called Rogers Grave" although
that is a misnomer. Aside from the
natural outcroppings, loose powders
had been rolled together until there was
a circular fort covering a space fifty feet
across. never knew who made 1T, but
have always believed it was used as q
defense by party of trappers many
years before. 1t was big jump for our
horses, but they cleared the parapet, |
and minute later we opened such a |
hot fire on the Indians as to drive them |
back. There were, as was afterward |
known, exactly two hundred and thirteen |
of them, hut we killed three and |
wounded two as we beat them off. AS |
they sullenly retired out of range we |
had time to think of the soldiers, but |
before | had asked a question Rogers |
pointed to a spot half mile away, and |
said:
There are three of the horses. The
others are dead in that gully, and every |
man with them"
A little later on we saw eight or ten |
of the redskins riding about with |
soldiers hats on, and we were forced to |
believe that the party had been wiped |
out to the last man, and that without |
having struck a blow. 1t was miracu-
lous how we had escaped, but neither
man nor horse had received scratch.
Luckily, the horses had drank their fill |
half an hour before, and though there
was little in the way of food for them,
we knew they could hold out for
couple of days.
Our first move was to get out our am
munition. Each of us had Winchester
and two revolvers, and each had
at least two hundred cartridges. After
the first rush the Indians drew off in
crowd half mile away, leaving few
sentinels to watch us. They robbed the
dead, and perhaps tortured some poor
wretch who had spark of life left.
They also built fires and cooked
Breakfast, and seemed to take things
as easy as if our capture was a sure
thing. Seeing them thus employed, we
set to work to contract the dimensions
of our fort. There was no bowlder
which our united strength could not
handle, and at the end of an hour we
had contracted the circle until it was not
more than twenty feet across We had
at the same time strengthened and in
creased the height of the walls, and
now no horse could leap them. How
long the siege would last or to what
straits we would be brought, no one
could say, butwe meant to give them
good fight. |,
1t was about 10 o'clock when they
moved on us. AS was expected,
they first sent flag of truce, demand
ing our surrender and promising us good
treatment. When this was refused they ,
began circling our defense and firing
upon it. They had no idea of its
strength. or they would not have wasted
heir powder. The circle kept growing
as they rode, and by and by {
Rogers and l got in two shots apiece. {
Ind each dropped warrior off his horse. {
That broke them up, and they retired for
council. While they were holding q I
onfab / slipped over the rocks and Sc 9
ured the rifles and ammunition of the !
hree dead warriors and got safely back, s
nd now we were ready for their next
move. They had concluded on Sur
ound," and four-fifths of their number 7
catered on foot and formed circle '
'hen they advanced by creeping and
rawling and taking advantage of such
over as they could find Each Indian
red as fast as he could. They proba-
ly hoped that some chance bullet C
aight kill, and they reasoned that
ullabaloo might affect our nerve. We q
new that IL would end in a charge, :
nd we held our fire and made ready for
!