HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 225 



with orders to proceed against the Clear Lake Indians, 

 and exterminate, if possible, the tribe. 



" The troops arrived in the vicinity of the lake, 

 and came unexpectedly upon a body of Indians num- 

 bering between two and three hundred. They imme- 

 diately surrounded them, and as the Indians raised a 

 shout of defiance and attempted escape, poured in a 

 destructive fire indiscriminately upon men, women, and 

 children. ' They fell,' says our informant, ' as grass 

 before the sweep of the scythe.' Little or no resist- 

 ance was encountered, and the work of butchery was 

 of short duration. The shrieks of the slaughtered 

 victims died away, the roar of muskets then ceased, 

 and stretched lifeless upon the sod of their native 

 valley were the bleeding bodies of these Indians — 

 nor sex, nor age was spared ; it was the order 

 of extermination fearfully obeyed. The troops re- 

 turned to the stations, and quiet is for the present 

 restored." 



Here is the account of more Indian troubles. 



" Fight with the Sacramento Indians. — Trea- 

 ty. — In consequence of depredations of the Indians of 

 the Sacramento valley and outrages committed by them, 

 General Thomas J. Green, 1st Division, State Militia, 

 ordered out two companies of Mounted Volunteers, 

 under command of Captain Allgiers and Captain 

 Charles Hoyt, and marched from Oro, on the 17th of 

 flay, in the direction of Deer Creek. On the same 

 day Lieutenant Bell, of Captain A.'s company, with 

 ten men, encountered a large number of Indians, 

 killed five, and took six prisoners. 



" On the 18th the command scoured the country in 

 the region of Deer Creek and Bear River. On the 

 19th, the trail to Colonel Holt's mill, where he was 



