Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-10-11

|
| fighter. "The reds no doubt had spies
around the fort who saw us leave, and
they know just where we are going.
| They'll have time after daylight"
AS the hours went by and we were
unmolested, the Lieutenant called our
attention to the fact that the Indians
| were afraid, and later on he claimed to
be disappointed that they would not
| give us show.
We've had Injuns riding behind us
and to tho right and left of us ever
since we started" replied Rogers.
Daylight won't be half an hour old
before we'll have plenty of business on
hand"
DO you believe they'll dare attack
us?r
"Sartin.,
well, l only hope so. Pm aching
for sweep at them"
All night long, with only an occa-
| sional halt of five or ten minutes for
the horses to blow or quench their
thirst at pond hole, we rode over the
rough and sterile ground, and three
| different times during the night | was
| sure that heard our enemies close at
hand. Half an hour before daylight,
as our horses climbed out of a deep
gully, Rogers said to the officer:
'Lootenant, hev ye got any pertick-
Ter plan as to how yell fight emp"
What do you mean?"
why, daylight is fast coming. Just
as soon as you kin see any thing you'll
see redskins, and they'll be ten or
fifteen to one. How ar ye going to
fight emp"
IL don't believe wo shall see a living
Indian. If we do, we can soon put
them to flight"
The ground was now moro broken
with frequent outcroppings of rock,
with gully at the bottom of every
ridge. The soldiers could only walk
| their horses over this ground, and the
| only preparation the officer made was 10
wheel them into limo and give us a
front of twelve men. Rogers and L
were beside the officer. Daylight came
slowly but surely, enabling us to see
further and further. And at length, as
wo rose ridge, Rogers called out:
"Just as told you, Lootenant. See
there'
On the plateau, half mile beyond us,
were about seventy five Indians on
horseback. Rogers knew, and so did /,
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 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 .s .
"You mind your own business, or I'll
put you under arrest!'
'But tell you it's trap!' -
"Now, men, we'll drive right through
'em if they'll only stand long enough!
Draw sabers! Forward rd-trov-gallop-
charge!"l ~ La.g
Rogers and I rode beside him, each
with revolver in hand, but when we
had covered half the distance there was
yolley fired from tho ravine to the
left, quickly followed by one from the
right, and men and horses went down
in a heap. l twitched on rein and
bore sharp to the right, and in cross
ing the gully my horse knocked an In
dian down. l had gained the level
ground beyond when / heard Rogers
calling from the rear:
keep more to the right-to the right!
We want to reach that mass o rock!'
The point designated was about half
mile away, and saw at once that it
was natural defense. 1t seemed as if
hundred shots were fred at us as we
raced for the spot, and we had scarcely
reached it when the Indians swarrned
about and we had to open fire on them.
The spot to which we had retreated is
still called Rogers Grave" although
that is misnomer. Aside from the
natural outcroppings, loose powders
had been rolled together until there was
q circular fort covering space fifty feet
across. / never knew who made 1T, but
have always believed it was used as
defense by party of trappers many
years before. 1t was a big jump for our
horses, but they cleared the parapet,
and minute later we opened such
hot Are 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 question Rogers
pointed to spot half a 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 we're forced to
believe that the party had been wiped
out to the last man, and that without
having struck 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
L.. r. H..