Oregon and Washington Volunteers/10

[Captain Jesse Walker’s report to Colonel J. E. Ross, dated November 6, 1854.]
 , Jacksonville, O. T., November 6, 1854.  Having been in active service with my company for upwards of three months on the southern Oregon immigrant trail, and being about to be discharged from the public service, I have the honor of submitting the following report of the expedition:

In pursuance to your orders of the 3d of August last I marched with my company from the head of Rogue River valley on the 8th of that month, and arrived at the crossing of Lost river on the 18th of the same month. Soon after our arrival at this place we saw a party of 13 men from Yreka, California, returning, who had gone out to meet their friends that were expected to come this road from the States this season. They informed me that they had just been fired upon by a large body of the Modoc Indians, of not less than 150 or 200 warriors, who had collected on both sides of the immigrant trail, on the north side of Tulé lake, at the sink of Lost river. Several shots had been fired on both sides, but the Yreka party, being so small, was compelled to flee and seek protection from my company, which they knew was close behind them. As soon as I received this information I set out with sixty men for the purpose of making a charge upon the ranch. On arriving near to the Indian ranches we found it impossible to get our horses within 400 yards of the Indian encampment. We then immediately dismounted and took after them on foot, when they fled in great confusion to their boats and canoes (which lined the bank of the lake near the ranches) and rowed out on the lake far beyond the reach of our rifle balls, leaving behind them the whole of their camp equipage and provisions, which they had carefully collected and piled away in large quantities to subsist upon during the winter. After a careful reconnoitre we found an Indian horse and two squaws in the tulés. After burning the ranches and provisions I released the squaws, upon their promising to use their influence to persuade the Indians to become friends to the whites. From the 18th of August to the 4th of September we had several skirmishes with these Indians, killing several and taking a few prisoners; among the number was a half-breed Indian girl, about three years old. In all of these skirmishes the Indians would (when hard pushed by us) retreat to their boats, where it was impossible to follow them, although we made the attempt several times, wading in water up to our armpits. A few small boats were much needed for the company to attack the enemy successfully. On the 4th of September the Indians, being entirely out of provisions, were compelled to beg for quarters, which were granted them upon their faithfully promising to be friendly and never to kill or rob another white person. These Indians have always been more hostile than any others on this road, but they seem now to desire to live on friendly terms with the whites, and by a small force being stationed in the vicinity of Goose lake I think they can be easily controlled.

Having made peace with the Modocs, and learning that the Pi-ute Indians were very hostile, and were stealing stock from immigrants in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the 1st of October I moved my headquarters to Goose lake, and on the 3d of October took with me 16 men and proceeded along the immigrant trail to the east side of the Sierra Nevada, and there discovered a large Indian trail, running in a northeasterly direction. I followed this trail about eight miles, when I came in sight of a large band of Indians encamped at the head of what I shall now call Hot Spring valley, which lies on the east side of these mountains. The Indians saw us crossing the mountains and immediately fled in all directions. We pursued a large band of them north about forty miles, and on the second day came in eight of them, strongly fortified at the south end of Pi-ute valley. This fortification is a natural one, it being an immense rock of from thirty to one hundred feet in height. We named it Warner’s Rock, in honor of the late gallant Captain Warner, of the United States army, who was massacred, with three of his company, at or near this rock, by the Pi-ute Indians in 1849. The rock somewhat resembles Table Rock, in Rogue River valley. The top can only be approached on one side. On the south side there is a narrow ridge, about thirty feet wide and half a mile long. On the top there is a three-square breastwork, partly natural and partly artificial, of stone, it is five or six feet in height, and large enough for one or two hundred men to lie entirely concealed behind it. We approached this place at sunrise on the morning of the 6th of October, and commenced an attack upon the Indians. The action lasted about six hours, the men taking shelter during the whole time behind the rocks in the rear of the fortification occupied by the Indians. In this action John Low received a slight wound, and we had one horse killed. However, we captured a horse from the enemy, and killed some eight or ten Indians during the action. The precise number of the enemy is not known, but there must have been, from appearances, not less than one hundred warriors. I was at last compelled to retreat, being entirely unable to route them with my little force.

The next day we travelled up Pi-ute valley fifty miles, and discovered several large ranches that had just been abandoned by the Indians, leaving behind them large quantities of fish and the finest grass seed, which they use for food. From Pi-ute valley I crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, about fifty miles north of the immigrant road, and surprised an Indian ranche on the west side of the mountains, in Goose Lake valley, killed two Indians and took one prisoner.

On the 11th of October, with twenty-five men, I again attacked the Indians near Warner’s Rock, and surprised them just at daybreak, after a forced march of forty miles during the night. The action only lasted a few minutes. We took one fine American mare and one prisoner, and killed eight of the enemy. The victory was complete. The enemy were panic-stricken and fled in all directions. In this action Sergeant Hill was dangerously wounded by a rifle ball passing through his arm, jaw and tongue, breaking his jaw-bone and cutting off a portion of his tongue, which was the only damage we sustained in the battle.

The Pi-utes in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada mountains are hostile, brave, and very numerous. It will take a large force to conquer them. They are connected with the Snake Indians, and they own one of the finest countries in Oregon. There are beautiful, rich, and productive valleys on both sides of the mountains, immediately north of the immigrant trail, abounding in the finest grasses, and also a great variety of wild herbs, upon which the Indians subsist. These valleys are about one hundred miles in length, running north and south, and from twenty to twenty-five miles in width, and are surrounded by high and rugged mountains on both sides, to which those Indians flee for safety when pursued by the whites.

During the time I was engaged in these expeditions I kept from twenty-five to thirty men on the immigrant trail, guarding trains, under command of Lieutenant Westfeldt, who, I am happy to say, proved himself to be an able and efficient officer. He travelled as far out on the immigrant trail as the Humboldt river, and found the Indians in that vicinity to be very hostile and unfriendly to the whites. I am informed that among the last of the trains that came down the Humboldt, the Indians near “Gravelly Ford” attacked one of the trains, and took four men and two women prisoners, and after robbing them of everything they had made signal for the immigrants to leave, and as soon as their backs were turned fired upon them, killing two of the men and one woman, and wounding the others. It is therefore indispensably necessary that a strong and efficient force be sent out early next summer to drive the Indians from the immigrant road and conquer them if possible.

I have the honor to be, your most respectful and obedient servant,  JESSE WALKER, Captain, Commanding Company A, 9th Regiment Oregon Militia.  Colonel , 9th Regiment Oregon Militia.