Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/53

 that the Major's reminiscences are valuable. For example, he describes General Wool as " a small, neat man with violet- colored eyes. These I noticed above all the glitter of his uniform or that of his staff. They were very sharp, like a bald eagle's." Again, in commenting on the poor equipment of the Step toe expedition, he pays his respects to the "old, single-barreled pistol, which I have often seen used as a policeman's club in the hands of a sturdy Irish corporal, but never as a weapon in war."

The defeat of the Step toe forces, indeed, was due in no small measure to the inferiority of the soldiers' arms to those of the Indians. Most of the soldiers were armed with the short, wide-mouthed musketoon, which carried a ball and three shot. It was of no account at over fifty yards. The rest had the old-fashioned yager rifle, which carried well, but which could be loaded by a man on horseback only with great difficulty. The worthless pistol and a worse than worthless sabre completed the equipment. The Indians, on their parr, were armed with effective Hudson Bay rifles. It is interest- ing to recall in this connection that Ouster's men likewise did not have as good arms as their opponents. In most In- dian battles, however, the advantage in this respect has been with the whites. In the encounters with the Indians which the Wright forces had only a few months after the Steptoe affair, the Indians, who were exultingly expecting to find the troops at as great a disadvantage as before, were dismayed to find their comrades falling under the fire from the new minnie rifles, while their own bullets fell short. Indian defeats have been due in no small degree to ingenious mechanics fashioning in peaceful shops new devices for de- struction. The conquests of civilized man over his barbaric foes have been the result, indeed not so much of the superior bravery or skill of individuals as of the co-operating energies of organized society exerted against the fitful and in part isolated struggles of individualism. In the Steptoe affair, however, as I have said, the representatives of higher civiliza- tion fought at a disadvantage and a number of brave men fell.