Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-06-08
AN INDIAN FIGHT.
between the Bluffs.

SOu VQe SC0FilS pldllts souIii VI VI ~ W
Chad bourne, Tex. There were SIX
teen army wagons loaded with
supplies for the fort. The cavalry
escort numbered only thirty-eight
men. Counting che teamsters, we
had ffty-four. The Indians had
closed in on both sides and IN the
rear, and no one estimated their
number at less than $50, all mount
ed. There was this in our favor
only a few had rifles. AT least
200 were armed with lances, and
so long as we could hold them Oft
with our carbines we need not fear
them. Our route was a narrow
valley blufed on each side, and
these bluffs were impossible Tor
horses. Here and there the val
ley spread out until it was hall a
mile wide, and again it contracted
until only two wagons could move
! abreast. Our safety was to keep
moving gand count on the rear
guard to fight them back.
& That valley was three miles
long. When we had debouched
I on the plain beyond, the Indians
would charge us. We figured our
chance as one in five. The team
sters might or might not fight.
They were all Mexicans, and they
might even be suspected of being
& the allies of the redskins. Thirty
eight men, a dozen of whom we're
lust out Of hospital and in poor
shape for a fight, seemed mere
nothing compared to the masses
of horsemen closing in. The last
half mile of this route was not
over twenty feet wide from the
bluff. When we struck that spot,
the wagons were sent on ahead.
From the rearmost one we took
ten large percussion shells destin-
ed for the cannon at the fort.
These shells were rapidly filed
with powder, bullets, and shot,
the primers inserted, and while a
dozen men held the Indians at
bay we dug holes in the ground
and set eachfshell on end with It's
cap iuft level with the roadbed.
We planted two small kegs OF
powder as we'll, and over the
gravel we scattered the contents OF
a third.
When all was ready the rear
guard was called in and we re-
treated for about thirty rods. We
only made a pretence of fighting
now, as if our object was to let
The wagons get q long start up the
main valley. AT the end of q
quarter Of an hour the Indian
lancers formed for charge up the
narrow way and we retreated IN
seeming confusion to draw them
on. The lancers formed in ranks
of six or seven front and running
back further that we could see. At
given signal this great mass set
up yell and charged. The first
twelve or fourteen safely passed
the shells. Then came a series of
explosions which made the earth
heave and shot agreat black cloud
! half mile high into the sky. 1t
rolled down upon us and envelop-
sd us for a time in midnight dark
ness, and with it was an odor to
nauseate every man. We heard
shrieksof pain and yells of ter
ror, and now and then that strange
sound uttered by wounded horse.
A dozen of us kept firing into the
cloud, but after five or six minutes
it thinned out, and, we stood and
leaned on our carbines and were
almost affrighted at the spectacle.
Tho marrow way, was literally
choked with the dead and dying.
Fragments of men and horses had
fallen all about US.
N, man cared to go nearer. 1T
wou' d have been safe, for the In
dians who escaped disaster were
galloping away in state Of alb
ject. terror, but the spectacle would
have been in ones dreams forever
after. We hurried on out of the
narrow valley, overlook the fast
moving wagons and the pale-faced
teamsters, and thence to the fort
the sharpest eye could not detect
the presence of an Indian any
where on the wide sweep of plain.
So-called humanitarians called it.
q cruel, cold-blooded slaughter;
army records referred to it as a
arn;f11l saluatinn of q troon and