, 1892-04-11

onto the horse Of the dead Indian, while
the other pushed the body up to him,
and away they all went together. But
Shepherd got away with the bulls.
Holmes afterward went to San Fran
cisco and had the bullet removed from
its Judgement under his breast bone.
On the head Of Simcoe creek we found
the body of an Indian who had met his
death in a peculiar manner. The bullet
that laid him cold never touched his
body, but had entered the mouth of ais
powder horn, exploding the powder and
blowing an aperture into his side that
you could have thrown cat through,
and blacking him from the shoulder
down. He may not have been overly
large in life, but his size when we saw
him was tremendous. This occurred
while Major Haller was cutting his way
through the Indians, who had surrounded
his command.
Having run the Indians to their noun
tain fastness. beyond our reach, we
were ordered to return to The Dalles,
and on the 10th of November started
across the Simcoe mountains.
My horse gave out, and sent word
along the line to Adjutant W. Fl. Farrer,
who rode back to me and ordered the
men to kill my horse and put my sad
die and blankets on the pack horses, at
the same time telling me to get on his
horse and ride to the top of the noun
tain, where [ was to tie the animal to a
tree and 60 on foot, and saying that he
would see that my things got through all
right. 1 think such men as General
Farrer should never die. / followed his
instructions, and tying his horse at the
top OF the mountain, set out on foot. On
the night of the 18th set my boots
close to the camp fire and went to sleep,
and on the following morning I found
them burnt to crisp.
The snow was about four feet deep on
the summit, and l think it was the
coldest weather / ever experienced.
Nothing was left for me to do but wrap
my feet in peices of blankets, and had
to trudge along through the snow, in
that biting cold until ~ O'Clock that
night, alone, for the command out
Travelled me considerably and reached
the Klickitat valley several hours ahead
Of me. On the 18th OF November, 1855,
we started for the remainder OF the old
Fort Klickitat, en- route to The Dalles,
and on the evening Of the 10Th Colonel
Nesmith and all the officers left us and
went into The Dalles, leaving me com
mander in chief or corporal until orders
were returned. These were received on
November 2lst, instructing us to come
to The Dalles, and in few days some
Of the boys, myself among the number,
were granted discharge. The dis
charge was granted to me November 26,
1855, as the following copy Of q receipt
| now have in my possession, from my
captain, Samuel B. Stafford, will show
DALLEs, November Is, 1855.
Received Of Milburn G. Mills, one q)
saddle, one ID gun, one Q) powder flask.
SAMUEL B. STAFFORD, y
Captain Company G, First Regiment
o. M. ".
On receipt Of this started for home
on board steamer running between
The Dalles and Portland. arriving there
in a few days and going to work on a
farm, not expecting to ever be called
back to the field Of war again. But in
this was fooled.
OF course there were a numb Der Of in
teresting and exciting incidents during
my first campaign not chronicled herein
but the few ! have mentioned will give
some idea Of the condition Of the Yak
ina valley at the time Of which I write,
when there was not white settler
within radius Of 200 miles, extending
from the Columbia river on the east and
the Cascade range on the west.
General George l.. Curry made the
second call for volunteers February %,
1855. / started out again under Captain
William A. Cason, Company E, Klack-
amas county, with w. G. Moore, first
lieutenant, William Mitchell, second
lieutenant, George Reynolds, first SER
geant and A. Holcomb, second sergeant.
Leaving Portland March 8, 1856, we
reached the Cascades on the 9Th, and on
the Sth we were ordered to The Dallas,
arriving there late in the afternoon. On
the morning previous to our arrival
quite q number Of freight teams started
for Fort Walla Walla laden with provis-
ions for the troops, and seventeen Of our
company, including myself, under Ser
geant Reynolds were detailed to over
take them and guard them to Fort Hen
rietta. We did not reach them that
evening, and as we had started with
nothing to eat but -four and coffee, l
killed a steer to stay our appetites.
The yearling belonged to Nathan OIL
ney. and he should have been paid for
it, but it is doubtful if it was ever re-
ported. Next day our company caught
up, and we camped about half way be-
tween John Day river and Willow creek.
Early next morning some Indians made
q rush on the guards and cut off about
eighteen head Of our horses, stampeding
them. About twenty Of us gave chase,
following the Indians almost to the
mouth Of Willow creek, and came onto
them in camp. The boys fired on them
at long range and Mr.. Depew shot and
crippled squaw, who fell. and jumped
up, picked up her baby playing near the
fire and ran into the willows along the
creek. Part of our crowd went down
the creek and some to the Indian camp,
while others waited on the hill to pick
off the Indians as they ran. was look
ing after the horses, and comrade
named Goshen asked me to look after
the animals in his charge, as he saw q
siwash in the bush.
He then crawled up and hid behind
some grease wood within twenty PAGES
Of the willows, and had not settled in his
position before an Indian, about thirty
yards away, fired point blank at my
head. The ball, or slug Of iron, shaved
off lock Of hair just above my rightear,
and that member has been, though per-
haps ornamental, a useless appendage
ever since. Just as the Indian let drive
at me, Goshen fired at him, and his aim
was good, for the blood spurted all over
the bush. We looked for him, but the
Indian jumped into pool of water,
dyeing it with his blood and disappeared.
We captured some OF the horses and next
morning visited the Indians camp, burn
ing all their outfit, but no savagea were
visible to the naked eye. We next went
to Fort Henrietta on the Umatilla river,
near where now stands the town Of Echo,
and thence to old Fort Walla WaIla.
| think it was April Is, 1855, our
cnlnnanv was narnnad On thn Nnlla