108 NARRATIVE AND ITINERARY ROGUE RIVER VALLEY. 



Blackened and smoking ruins, surrounded by the carcasses of domestic animals, marked the 

 places where, but a few days before, the settlers had lived. We passed a team on the road ; the 

 oxen lay shot in the yoke, and the dark blood stains upon the seat of the wagon told the fate 

 of the driver. Even the stacks of hay and grain in the fields had been burned. After leaving 

 the canon, we followed the narrow but fertile valley of Cow creek for a few miles, and then 

 crossing a steep divide between it and Wolf creek, encamped on the latter stream. Major Martin 

 intended to proceed, in the morning, to join in the battle which was going on among the moun 

 tains, at a distance from the road variously estimated to be from five to twelve miles. As he could 

 not spare us an escort, we determined to press forward as rapidly as possible towards Fort Lane, 

 trusting that the Indians would be too busy to attack our party. In the evening, however, 

 stragglers from the fight began to come in. They reported that the provisions were entirely 

 exhausted, and the powder nearly gone; that the Indians were numerous and very strongly 

 posted ; that several white men had been killed and many wounded ; and that it had been thought 

 best to fall back, for the present, and wait for supplies. The regular troops were on their way to 

 Grave creek, and the volunteers were coming to our camp as fast as they could transport their 

 wounded. The Indians did not follow them, and they all arrived before morning. The forage 

 on the route had been burned, and our animals suffered much from want of food to-night. 



November 2. This morning Major Martin, escorted by a volunteer company, went to Grave 

 creek to see Captain A. J. Smith, 1st dragoons, commanding the United States troops in the 

 valley. He offered us the benefit of his escort, and we accompanied him accordingly. This 

 gentleman, together with Captain Mosher and other volunteer officers, assisted us in every way 

 in their power ; and without this accidental aid our party would have found it very difficult to 

 cross the valley. 



Wolf and Grave creeks are separated by high and steep hills, covered with thick timber and 

 underbrush . On reaching Wolf creek we found Captain Smith in camp, near a house surrounded 

 by a small stockade. His supply of forage had failed, and he was forced, on this account, to 

 prepare to return to Fort Lane as soon as a few men, who had died of their wounds, could be 

 buried. Lieut. Gibson, formerly in command of the escort of our party, was among the wounded. 

 Being compelled by want of forage to press forward as fast as possible, I applied to Capt. Smith 

 for an escort. He gave me one so promptly that in less than fifteen minutes we were again on 

 our way. 



Between Grave and Jump off Joe creeks the road passed over a steep and heavily timbered 

 divide. The Indians had killed two men in charge of a pack train on this hill, and the half 

 burned remains of their wagon and packs were still to be seen. Near this place Major Fitzgerald, 

 1st dragoons, had overtaken with a scouting party and killed several of the savages. At Jump 

 off Joe creek, a man driving swine had been murdered, and a large number of his animals lay 

 dead in the road. On leaving this creek, we passed through an undulating and fertile country, 

 sometimes open and sometimes thinly covered with a growth of oak, sugar maple, and a little 

 pine and hemlock. After travelling until nearly sun down, we encamped at a building which 

 had been preserved from the general ruin by the heroism of a woman named Harris. After her 

 husband had been murdered and her daughter wounded, she had made a desperate and successful 

 defence by shooting at the savages from between the crevices of the log house. The traces of 

 her bullets upon the trees, which had shielded the Indians, and the marks of the tragedy within 

 the dwelling, were plainly visible. Soon after dark a small party under the command of Lieut. 

 Allston, 1st cavalry, arrived with the wounded and encamped. Captain Smith, with a few men, 

 passed us on his way to Fort Lane. The length of our day s march was about fourteen miles. 



