Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-01-25

IN just the nick OK time. The man
| were surrounded, or nearly so, and
were fighting hard to escape. The In
dams saw ua coming and dropped back
and that gave the company chauce
| to get out of the trap.
Leaving one company to guard
camp, Carson gathered his forces and
| made charge, and it was a tremen-
dous rush, too. We killed quite num-
Der of the Indians, but came very
near getting being surrounded. Until
o'clock in the afternoon there was
| a continuous skirmish. Sometimes the
| Indians would come at us in a bunch
and get within close range, but our
shots were SO telling that they did
| not remain together. None of their
| plans worked, for we just hung to-
gether and finally, at o'clock, a con-
sultation was held by Carson and Nc
CleaVe and it was concluded to retreat.
The Indians were overwhelmingly SUI
| perior in numbers, but being poor
shots were afraid to get within range
of our rifles. They were armed with
rifles, mostly, but were poor shots. as
they were unaccustomed to firearms,
and learned lesson so severe when
ever they came near to us that they
were afraid to get very close. That was
probably what saved us from being
butchered.
When we withdrew, we found two
of our number missing They must
have been killed in the first charge
on the village, for when the Indians
made one of their charges we saw two
of their number uniformed in the
clothes of the missing men. After
taking a view of the situation, while
stopping for breathing spell at safe
distance, Carson concluded to go over
the smaller village, and burn the
tepees. None of the Indians were
there, all being down at the other vii
lage. There were about $50 of the
lodges, We found, and one of them
was filled with ammunition, which we
blew up. In one of them we found a
fine carriage and new set of double
harness. Every tepee and all of the
stuff found about them were fired.
When the Indians saw the smoke of
their burning wigwams curling sky
ward they grew frantic and the entire
mob came at us with a vengeance.
Carson ordered the hoWitzers in posi-
ton and the situation looked more
serious than at any previous time. The
valley was black with the bowling
crowd, looking like big wave, sweep
ing toward us with irresistible force.
The companies were massed about the
battery when one of our bullets must
have struck a chief. All at once the
crowd sWayed over to one side and
gathered in a spot covering about five
or ten acres of ground. The howitzers
poured shells into the mass, scattering
them. Then they retreated.
LAS it was nearing night, a council
was again held to consider whether
we should attack them again or not.
Some OF us felt that we had them on
the run and wanted to follow them up.
Carson, however, decided it was best
to retreat, as it was so near nightfall.
The men were tired and hungry, as
they had been in the saddle fighting
all day without bite to eat, so it was
decided to retreat to the wagon train
But it grew dark, and we could not
locate our camp. Finally, after trav-
cling for a while, it was concluded to
camp on the prairie for the night. A
hollow square was formed and we had
dismOunted, when some one saw a
small light at distance, thought to
be our camp. The bugler sounded a
few shrill blasts and others were
waited to us from the direction of the
fire in answer to our call. Then we
moved on and reached the camp. The
fire was put out and we all slept by
our arms and horses until daybreak,
when we retreated toward the fort,
not stopping until 10 o'clock, when we
found a good camping place. Then
for the first time in over fifty hours
some of us took meal.
Some of the officers and men want
ed to go back and have another fight
with the Indians, but Carson said
there was no use, as there were too
many of them, SO we returned to Fort
Union. Afterward we learned that all
the Indians in that pa1S of the coun'
| try had congregated at Adobe Walls.
There were Comanches, Arapahoes,
Kiowas and Cheyennes. 1t was one
of the biggest Indian fights that ever
| took place on the plains. l think one
thing that made the Indians fear us
was that Kit Carson was discovered
| to be in command and they were
afraid of him. He became the target
for many of their rifles at the outset
| He had two horses shot under him and
half a dizen bullets struck his gun
and saddle. At the suggestion OF NC
| Cleave he took off his hat, consplcu'
Gus, light-colored, broad-brimmed one,
and exchanged it for the hat OF one
of the scouts. The scout had his rifle
broken by an Indian bullet after that,
which showed conclusively to us that
they were after our commander more
than anybody else.
"The Indians had been melted by
renegades living among them. | re-